The verse that I wanted to focus on for the sermon and I was in verse 29 where the Bible
read, he that is slow to wrath is of great understanding, but he that is hasty of spirit
exalteth folly.
And the title of my sermon tonight is hasty of spirit, hasty of spirit.
I think a lot of ways people can be hasty and I think if we take just the primary application
of this verse, we see that it's in regards to anger or we see it's in regards to being
of great wrath because it says there at the beginning of that verse, he that is slow to
wrath is of great understanding, but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.
Meaning if something were to irritate you or to greatly anger you, the Bible is saying
it's not good to just immediately come to wrath.
It's not good to just immediately pour out your wrath and your anger onto somebody.
But you should not be hasty, you should not be hasty of spirit because guess what's going
to happen?
You're going to make a foolish decision.
When you just make a quick judgment to go to wrath, maybe you're going to in hindsight
or after the fact realize, hey, I shouldn't have got that angry.
Hey, maybe I misread the situation.
Hey, maybe I didn't understand what this person was really doing.
And if you just take in the time to just wait, find out more details, maybe meditate on the
situation or whatever anger do a little bit, you would realize that's not something for
me to get angry about.
That's not something for me to pour out my wrath on this person.
Hey, I did the same thing five minutes ago.
Why don't I give this person a little bit of grace?
We see hasty of spirit can be a lot of different things, but let's focus on what it would be
in anger.
So go to Proverbs chapter 15, if you would put back just a foot forward, just one to
verse 18.
It says, a wrathful man stirs up strife, but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
So he's saying, look, a wrathful man, he's going to stir up a lot of strife.
Whenever you get angry and you start bringing your wrath, it's going to bring a lot of contention.
It's going to bring a lot of strife.
People are going to get really upset.
It's going to make the situation worse.
It's not going to make the situation better.
He's saying, look, be slow to anger.
Slow to anger is going to appease the strife.
You know, there might be some kind of contention there.
But if you don't respond to their provoking, maybe, maybe they're trying to get you to,
you know, bring them some of the wrath.
So let me see this in like sports all the time, right?
I mean, constantly players are trying to provoke one another and get them to, you know, pour
out a little wrath so they get a penalty or they can, you know, get them on edge or get
them distracted from what they're really trying to do.
We see maybe Satan's a lot of times just trying to provoke you or your enemies are trying
to provoke you just to distract you, to get your mind off the things that you should be
doing.
Look at Proverbs chapter 16 verse 32.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.
He that ruleth his spirit, then he that taketh a city.
Now, I think this verse is making it clear that this is not necessarily something that's
very easy or something that's just natural.
It's saying, look, this is going to take some, you know, strength.
I mean, you're better than the mighty.
You're better than someone that's trained physically and is very strong and is a great
warrior and can go out and take a whole city.
Just by being able to control your spirit, that's going to be a great victory in your
life.
But we see it's not going to just come with ease.
You're not just going to overnight, oh, now all of a sudden I control my anger and I can
control all the bad situations because most people when they're sober, they're like, well,
I wouldn't get angry.
You know, I would just quickly get mad at somebody and punch them or say something mean
or pour out some wrath.
It's really easy to say when you're not mad.
It's when you get in that situation and someone's really provoking you and they're really on
your nerves and they just make that comment about one of your family members or something
in your life that just really irritates you.
It's that moment when you're going to be the weakest and that's when the Bible's saying,
look, you've got to be slow to anger if you want to be better than the mighty there.
But people today, they blow up a lot of little things too.
It's not just big things.
It's not just, you know, somebody really having a comment against you that just really means
a lot or something.
Sometimes just little things.
I mean, it could be even not even a direct statement.
You make an indirect statement about somebody and they get all upset about it.
They get all frustrated.
You're not even trying to say anything mean, it's just they blow up at you.
You say, well, you know, uh, this, this meal is really good tonight.
Also all the meals, you know, in the past weren't good.
You know, you're like, no, I'm just saying this feels really good tonight.
What are you trying to say?
I can't cook other nights.
I mean, people can just blow up for any kind of reason.
I mean, maybe, you know, your wife's like, Hey, you're looking good today.
It's like, what?
I don't look good every day.
What?
You know, people just blow up for the littlest things today.
And obviously if you're going to be a Christian, if you're going to follow what Proverbs is
teaching us, we shouldn't be hasty of spirit.
We shouldn't just immediately react to every situation.
A lot of times people aren't even trying to be negative or mean or don't even realize
what they're saying might be hurting your feelings.
And so we should give them the benefit of the doubt.
We should let some time pass.
We should try to clarify situations.
The Bible says, be not hasty in my spirit to be angry for anger rested in the bosom
of fools.
The Bible says in Proverbs 1 0 3 8, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and
plenteous in mercy.
Even if someone does provoke you or say something mean or ugly, I mean, just pass over the transgression.
Just let it go.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Go to John chapter two if you would.
You know, some people would wrongfully say that it's just, it's bad to always be angry.
It's bad to ever get angry.
It's bad to ever get mad.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible does say in Psalms 1 19, it says, great peace have they which love thy law and
nothing shall offend them.
I truly believe that you getting offended and your love for the law are directly connected
is what the Bible teaches.
If you truly love God's word with all your heart and you're trying to observe his commandments,
nothing's going to offend you.
You're not going to be offended with this world when they curse and swear and blast.
I mean, you're not going to be, uh, it's not going to personally offend you.
Obviously if someone takes the name of the Lord in vain, you know, I don't like that.
Okay.
I mean, but I'm just saying it's not going to personally offend me.
If someone calls me all names under the sun, that's not going to personally offend me if
I know what the Bible says.
I mean, the Bible says the leap for joy when men persecute you and say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my name's sake.
So if you're living right and you're following God's commandments and you really have a love
for the law, you're not going to be easily offended.
You're not going to let the little things bother you even when it comes to a brethren
because when it comes to brethren, you're supposed to pass over transgression.
You're supposed to love your brother.
You're supposed to bless them.
They curse you.
I mean, you're supposed to love your enemies even when Saul is persecuting David.
I mean, he has great love towards Saul.
You see that we don't see him getting really angry with Saul.
We don't see him pouring out wrath against Saul.
No, he's taking all these transgressions.
I mean, Saul literally threw a javelin at him.
I mean, talk about somebody trying to do something against you.
I mean, but we see he comes back and plays the harp again and then he throws the javelin
at him again and then he's chasing them across the country trying to kill them.
But David's kindling that wrath.
He's going to say, well, the Lord's going to repay.
You know, I'm not going to stretch forth my hand against God's anointed.
You know, we shouldn't try to revenge ourselves against the brethren or the unsaved.
God will take care of that.
So we need to try our best not to be slow of anger and to slow of wrath.
But that's not to say that anger doesn't have its place.
Okay.
The Bible does teach that there would be a time to be angry.
It says in Ephesians 4 26, be angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
So having a natural emotion of anger in itself is not a sin.
There's nothing wrong with being angry.
It's how do you respond in that anger?
What is your response?
Are you going to just immediately pull out your wrath?
Are you just going to be hasty of spirit or are you going to have righteous anger?
We see in John chapter two, look at verse 14.
Let's see what Jesus did when he got angry.
It says in John chapter two verse 14, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and
sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting and when he had made a scourge of
small cords, he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured
out the changers money and overthrew the tables and some of them that sold doves, take these
things hence, make not my father's house and house of merchandise and the disciples remembered
that it was written, the zeal of thine house had eaten me up.
So you see Jesus Christ, what does he do?
Well first of all, he makes a small cord of whips.
Now I don't know how long that takes, but I'm not, I'm imagining it probably took a
little bit of time.
He's sitting there, he's making his, his whip of cords and we see when he's making his whip
of cords, he's probably thinking about why he's angry.
He's thinking about, you know, what's going on.
Now some people get really angry today or they would attack the Bible for saying, well
you should never throw anybody out of church.
You should never get anybody out of church.
That's not the spirit of Christ, you know, that's not loving.
What did Christ do?
I mean, he didn't just throw people out of church, he whipped them out of church.
I mean, he's throwing the tables, I mean, he's getting out there whipping them and rebuking
them.
But we see, it's not wrong to have anger.
It's not wrong to follow God's commandments that are biblical, but we see he wasn't hasty
a spirit.
I mean, he took the time, he's making his cord of whips.
We see that Jesus Christ would have never committed any sin.
The Bible says in Amos chapter 5, verse 15, hate the evil and love the good and establish
judgment in the gate.
It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious under the remnant of Joseph.
We are supposed to hate evil, we're supposed to hate sin, we're supposed to hate wickedness
and we don't want that anywhere around us.
The Bible, the Bible teaches, you know, I hate them with perfect hatred.
I mean, there's time and place for hatred, there's a time and place for anger.
The Bible says there's a time of love and a time of hate.
I mean, we have these emotions, but how do we respond to them?
I think when someone is angry and you check it with the Bible and it's, hey, I'm supposed
to hate evil.
I'm actually upset about sin.
I'm actually upset about something in the Bible saying this is wrong.
The Bible says to judge righteous judgment.
If I'm looking at the Bible and this is a wicked sin that we see admonition in the Bible
of how to react in that situation, it's not wrong to then follow through.
It's not wrong to rebuke somebody when they're in great sin.
You know, maybe you're angry because someone committed a grievous sin against you or did
something.
The Bible says rebuke a wise man and he will love thee.
The Bible says in first Corinthians five to cast out all the fornicators and the extortioners
and the covetous and the drunkers and the railers with such and one know not to eat.
We see it's not unbiblical to be upset about someone bringing that kind of sin into the
church and trying to affect other people, but we shouldn't be hasty of spirit.
We shouldn't be quick to just judge people in every single situation.
We should, you know, if it's just a minor thing, why don't you just pass over the transgression?
I think the example we see with Jesus here is that he took a little bit of time to think
about what he was going to do.
Even when the Pharisees brought the woman that was caught in adultery onto him, the
Bible makes it clear he didn't immediately even answer them.
He sat there and just kind of ignored them and took a little while and then eventually
he gave his judgment unto them.
He said, you know, let him that is without sin cast the first stone.
But I think the righteous thing for a Christian to do is not make an immediate quick judgment.
Take the time, look at what the Bible says, meditate upon his word, let his word, you
know, dwell richly in your heart.
Don't just make a quick judgment.
But that doesn't mean that there isn't a time and a place to be angry.
We should just make sure if we're going to do that, it's judging righteous judgment.
The Bible says he that loved the Lord, hate evil.
He preserved the souls of the saints, he delivered them out of the hand of the wicked.
And I would say like 99% of the time, I mean, you probably should let it go.
I mean, I don't want anybody to get the wrong idea, okay?
I mean, 99% of the time your brother sins against you, just let it go.
I mean, I don't think we should just be going around just rebuking every person for every
little thing or every little grievance or something that we don't agree about or something
that's not right.
But when somebody is in fornication, when somebody is a drunk, when somebody is doing
one of these grievous sins that the Bible clearly lines, hey, maybe you could take that
person aside and say, hey, look, brother, you're in grievous sin.
I don't want you bringing this in here, you know, or they trespassed against you greatly
with some kind of a grievous trespass.
I mean, maybe there's a time and place.
We ought to be quick to forgive and slow to anger, quick to forgive our brethren and slow
to anger.
Let's go to Titus chapter 1.
I have a lot of different points I want to cover.
I think when it comes to being hasty, it could really be a lot of things.
You see, the primary application of that verse was talking about anger, it was talking about
wrath, you know, but we could be hasty in a lot of things.
I remember not too long ago, it was a couple of weeks ago, I usually take the trash out
on Thursdays because they pick it up on Friday mornings and so after church it's kind of
late so I'm kind of tired, I'm kind of frustrated and I'm going into my boy's bedroom and I'm
trying to get their trash from their diaper pail and their diaper pail has this really
special trash bag that you have to kind of insert a real special way and I didn't know
what to do and it has real clear instructions just like right on the front of it but instead
of just reading the clear instructions, I just rip it open and I started like pulling
the paper and I'm like trying to figure it out and I guess like almost even ruined the
entire trash bag because it's like this big circle and you're not supposed to open it.
I mean it says real big on the front of it like do not open right here and I'm just like
ripping it open.
Why?
Because I was too hasty, because I was just too quick, I was too much in a hurry and you
know what?
It would have probably taken like 10 seconds to do it right but instead it took like 10,
20, 30 minutes to try and roll it all the way back up and try and get it in the exact
same spot that it's supposed to be and then put it all the way back in.
A lot of times when you're hasty, you're not going to even save any time, you're just going
to not do the things right that you're supposed to do and you're not going to have to redo
them later.
We should be, we should be taking our time, we should be patient and make sure that everything
we do is in the proper time, is in the proper way, that we shouldn't just be hasty.
Look at Titus chapter 1 verse 5, for this cause left by thee and create that thou should
have set an order to the things that are wanting and ordained elders in every city as I had
appointed thee.
If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot
or unruly.
For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not
given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality, a lover
of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word as he had been
taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
Now we have a very clear passage here and we have another parallel passage in 1 Timothy
chapter 3 that say almost the same, exact same things, there's a few differences, that
give the qualifications of a bishop, the qualifications of a pastor, the qualifications of an elder.
But you know a lot of people in their zeal, they want to just go out and be a pastor without
actually meeting the qualifications of a bishop.
They say, well I don't have any children, but I mean we need pastors so I'll just go
out and start a church.
Or hey I don't really need any of these qualifications but you know I just gotta go out and start
a church.
I'm not even married.
I'm just gonna start a church in my basement, I got my buddies over, call me elder so-and-so.
I mean that's not how you're supposed to do it.
We shouldn't be hasty of spirit because guess what, God's not going to bless them.
If a man goes out and just starts his own church called Joseph Smith, he's not going
to bless it.
God doesn't bless the church because the church.
Elders ordain elders.
And you know elders should ordain elders that are qualified according to the bible.
Now when it comes to these qualifications, I believe they're sufficient.
So if someone meets the qualifications, I'm not going to stand in judgment of, you know,
how quick they go out.
That's not what I'm trying to say here, okay?
If someone meets the qualifications of a bishop, you know, Paul's like let's get them going.
Let's get them in every city, come on, there's an urgency, okay?
But the urgency isn't to just disregard the bible.
Disregard the qualifications of a bishop.
Because you know the guy that doesn't qualify according to the bible, how's he going to
preach this part of the bible?
How's a guy that doesn't have children going to stand up and rip on pastors needing to
have children?
He can't do it.
I mean unless he's going to be complete hypocrite.
I mean hey, pastor's got to have children.
I know I don't, but I mean that doesn't make any sense.
The guy can't fulfill all the bible.
What if his children aren't in order?
Is he going to really get up and rip on, you know, parents needing to be able to discipline
their children?
He that spared the rod hated the son?
Oh, but I don't do that.
Oh, but I don't have my kids under control.
My kids are down here just screaming and yelling and tearing up the place and everybody's like,
I don't want my kids to be like his kids.
How much respect do you have for a sermon that a pastor gets up and preaches about parenting
when his kids are just out of control, when his kids aren't even right?
And we see the bible's giving these admonitions for a reason.
It's not for no reason.
And the guy that doesn't follow these qualifications, he's not going to be able to preach effectively.
He's not going to be able to follow God's commandments the way that you would have him
do it.
He can't preach the whole bible.
And if you're not going to follow a part of the clear bible, the person in the pew knows
it.
I mean, the people in the pew know it many times, especially in a, you know, independent
Baptist church especially.
Maybe in other churches they might not know it, but anybody that actually cares about
the bible, actually cares about what it says, they're going to look at this verse and they're
going to say, wow, it's obvious this guy's not even qualified to be a pastor.
So they're going to come to one or two conclusions.
Either this guy's wrong, or it's, you know, the bible's just kind of like good guidelines.
It's just kind of good suggestions.
You know, there's an area in my life where I don't really know if I should follow that
part of the bible.
It's not that big a deal for me to not follow it, because look, the pastor's not even following
the qualifications of a bishop, and it just gives everybody license to sin.
It's just for approach unto Christ.
If he doesn't have a high regard for scripture, how can you have a high regard for the King
James Bible when you're not even going to follow it for the office of a bishop?
If you don't meet the qualifications of a bishop, you should just sit down and let someone
that does qualify get up and preach the word of God.
And you say, well, we need churches everywhere in this country and everywhere in the world.
You know what's not going to help our movement?
If we have a whole bunch of guys go out and start churches that aren't qualified according
to the bible.
That's not going to help us.
That's not going to be good in the long term.
This world does not need more unqualified pastors.
It needs more qualified pastors.
You know, and if a guy meets the minimum qualifications, great, go, start a church.
Start tearing it up.
I'm not going against people that, you know, barely meet the qualifications.
I'm talking about people that just clearly don't.
They just, they're not even kind of close or maybe they, you know, if you're nine out
of ten, why don't you just wait till you get to the tenth one going?
I mean, in the grand scheme of things, I mean, a young man that's wanting to be a pastor,
he may be a pastor for ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years, what's waiting one more
year to make sure that you have a high regard of scripture?
Because, you know, once you start that church, in my opinion, your pedigree is kind of sealed
forever.
I mean, hey, this is who I was when I started the church.
I mean, you can't change that.
Why?
You might as well get it right.
You know, if some guy found himself in that situation, because you know bible calls today,
they'll just send out anybody in their cat to go start a church.
You know, maybe, you know, if the guy finally does meet the qualifications, great, you know,
continue being a pastor, if you meet the qualifications now, I mean, put those things behind, reach
towards those things which are before.
I mean, I don't think that you should just, you know, jump in a lake, okay?
But I'm just saying, let's let qualified men preach the bible.
Let's let qualified men go out and preach the word.
Let's not be too hasty in our decisions, because I want God's blessing.
If I were to go out and start a church, I don't want to just be in clear violation of
the bible, of the picture that God gives us, of the clear commandments he gives us of what
a bishop is supposed to be like.
Go to Numbers chapter 17, if you would.
The bible says in Jeremiah 14, it says, then the Lord said unto me, the prophets prophesy
lies in my name.
I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them.
They prophesy unto you a false vision and divination and a thing of not and of the seed
of heart.
Oh, I think all pastors are sent from God.
No, there's a lot of pastors that are not sent by God.
God makes that clear.
He says, these prophets, hey, I didn't send them.
I didn't give them any commandment, neither did I even speak to them.
You know what?
The guy that doesn't meet the qualifications of the bishop, when God's speaking his bible
to the bishops, he's not speaking to that guy.
He's not commanding them.
He's not sending them.
No, you've got to be following God's commandments.
Look at Numbers 17 verse 1, then the Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the children
of Israel and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers.
Of all their princes according to the house of their fathers, twelve rods.
Write the other man's name upon his rod, and thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod
of Levi, for one rod shall be for the head of the house of the fathers, and thou shalt
lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony where I will meet with
you.
And it shall come to pass that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom, and I will
make to cease from thee the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur
against you.
So we see here, it's an interesting story, but all the children of Israel, there's some,
they had Nathan and Abiram and Korah, they were, they were going against Moses.
They said, hey, Moses, why are you special?
All, all the congregations holy.
We've seen Moses go up on the mountain, he's getting the commandments of God, and these
other guys are starting to envy Moses.
They're starting to say, hey, why is he the only one that's in charge?
We should be in charge too.
We're holy.
We're righteous.
And we see even later, God's going to say, hey, I've already ordained Levi, I've already
ordained Aaron, they're going to be the priests, they're going to be the ones in charge of
the service, but just to clear it up one last time, he has one man from every tribe come
and bring a rod, come and bring a staff, and they're going to present it, and the Lord
says the one that I've ordained, the one that I've chosen is going to bud, is going to bring
forth this budding.
Look back at chapter 16 verse 10, or verse 9, it seems that but a small thing unto you
that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring
you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before
the congregation to minister unto them, and he hath brought thee near to him, and thy
brethren the sons of Levi with thee, and seek ye the priesthood also, for which cause both
thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord, and what is Aaron that ye
murmur against him?
So he's speaking to Korah and Nathan and Abiram, he's saying look, you're already set apart
in a way, all the children of Israel are set apart in the fact that they got to worship
God as the children of Israel, to serve him.
Now only one tribe, the tribe of Levi, was going to be the priest, he's saying why can't
you just be content that you're serving me, that you're in the congregation, that you're
in the church, do you also have to be the priest?
You just have to be the pastor, do you just have to be the guy in charge?
I mean that's basically what he's saying.
We see some people that come in, they can't be satisfied to just go to the right church,
just go to a God-filled church, a Spirit-filled church that's going out preaching the gospel,
that's following God's word, that's serving him in spirit and truth.
I've got to be in charge.
I just got to be the guy in charge, I've got to be the guy that's getting all the recognition.
So what do they want to do?
They want to forsake God's commandments and lift themselves up and put themselves in a
position of power.
That's what they want to do.
We see it's the same thing with a guy that doesn't meet the qualifications of a pastor
that's just going to self-ordain himself, or just, you know, I've got to be a pastor,
I don't meet the qualifications, but I just want to be a pastor.
It's the spirit of the Torah.
We see that later in the story, only errands rod butts, you know, I think it's a picture
when it comes to the staff of what a shepherd, what is a pastor like?
He's the shepherd, God's ordained him to be the shepherd over the people, to take care
of the flock, feed the flock, feed the sheep.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 if you will.
Says in Ezekiel 34, I'll just read for you, he says, Son of man, prophesy against the
shepherds of Israel.
Prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord unto the shepherds, Woe be to the shepherds
of Israel that do feed themselves.
Says because, and they were scattered because there was no shepherd in Ezekiel chapter 34.
Says in verse 8, that because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherd search for
the flock.
Says in verse 10, Thus saith the Lord God, behold I am against the shepherds.
Now it's interesting, forsake a time and then skip it, but he was saying, look, there's
these shepherds in Israel, I'm against them.
And he's saying, well, the people are scattered because there was no shepherd.
He said, there's no shepherd.
And then later he says, I'm against the shepherds.
You say, well, that's a contradiction.
He's saying there's shepherds and then there's not shepherd.
He's just saying the point of the fact that, look, there's a lot of pastors out there today
that call themselves a pastor, that pretend to be a pastor, that look like a pastor.
But God's saying, look, my people are scattered because there's no pastor anywhere.
There's no one that's meeting the qualifications of a bishop, that's standing in a gap, like
Aaron did.
He stood in the gap.
But you know what?
He's against those pastors, even though they call themselves a pastor, he's not a true
pastor.
What makes you a true pastor?
If a man, you know, is going to be a bishop, he must be blameless.
The Bible's not saying, well, maybe hope so.
Maybe kind of.
No, if you're a pastor, you're blameless.
So that's my second point.
Third point I had tonight of the way that people are hasty.
Look at verse 13, it says, Meats for the belly and the belly for meats, but God shall
destroy both it and them.
Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body.
A way that a lot of people are hasty in this country is through fornication.
They're not willing to wait for marriage anymore.
They're not willing to satisfy that desire within marriage.
So they have to go out and they have to commit fornication.
Well, see, this is a major sin.
And not only is it a major sin, but you're not going to be pleased with this decision.
When you go out and you just make a hasty decision, you're going to realize it was foolish
later.
You're going to realize it was a bad decision later.
If you commit fornication before you get married, you're going to be really upset with that
when you, after you get married.
Or maybe if you don't even get married and you just commit fornication just over and
over and over, if you then do want to get married or later get married, you're going
to bring a lot of baggage in that relationship.
You're going to ruin the gift that God's given to people within marriage.
You see, when you're hasty and you can't wait, you're going to ruin a lot of things.
We shouldn't be hasty as spirit.
Look at verse 18.
Flee fornication.
Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that comitteth fornication sendeth
against his own body.
It's not going to be good for you to commit fornication.
Look at chapter 7, verse 2, nevertheless to avoid fornication, let every man have his
own wife and let every woman have her own husband.
You know, if you commit fornication before you get married, you're going to have a lot
of regrets in your life.
You're going to regret that decision.
Go to Proverbs chapter 28, I'll read for you from 2 Samuel 13, it says, then Amnon hated
her exceedingly so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith
he had loved her.
And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone.
You know, the Bible talks about people committing fornication.
It always brings up this story how after the fact, they hate the person.
Because you know, fornication, a lot of people are like, oh, I have strong desire and strong
feelings for this person, but then after they commit that act, after they commit this sin,
a lot of times they feel differently about the person.
They say, wow, I really like this girl.
She was so nice and so kind and so godly, but then after she just let me commit fornication
with her, she must be a whore.
I mean, she must be a harlot.
I don't even want to be around her anymore.
And that's not fair to the woman.
I'm just saying what happens when a girl is just easy, a guy doesn't like it anymore.
He was going for the chase, he was going for the kill, and once he gets it, he moves on.
Once he gets it, he feels differently about the woman.
We see Amnon, he's desiring his sister, he's desiring his sister, and then when he gets
what he wants, he's done with her.
He hates her more than he loved her at the beginning, is what the Bible says.
We even see this in Ezekiel, it talks about two sisters that are whores, and it says that
as soon as he saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them and sent messengers under
them in Calvia.
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with the whoredom,
and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from her.
So even the woman, sometimes when the man finally gets what she wants, she may have
a lot of resentment towards him.
She may have a lot of resentment towards the fact that he didn't, you know, think that
she was precious, think that she was special, think that she was worth, you know, being
with even though she wouldn't just give in.
There's a lot of resentment and anger and hatred that comes with fornication.
When you're hasty of spirit, you're going to make bad decisions, and there's going to
be a lot of consequences to those decisions.
Look at, did I have your turn in Proverbs 28?
Look at verse 19.
He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread, but he that followeth after vain
persons shall have poverty enough.
So not only can you be hasty of spirit in regards to anger, to people, you know, not
qualifying to the offices of God, just deciding to go out in their own zeal, even though they're
going against the commands of God.
Not only can you do that within the, outside the bounds of marriage, going out and committing
fornication.
I think probably one of the things that affects most people's riches is trying to acquire
wealth too quickly.
Trying to go out and just acquire a massive amount of riches, a massive amount of wealth
very quickly.
Why?
Because if you go down to the store today, the convenience store, what do you have?
Lottery.
I mean, you have all these get-rich-quick schemes.
You have people playing in the stock market.
You have people trying to do all these type of things, trying to get money, pyramid schemes
and Ponzi schemes and all kinds of door-to-door sales and all kinds of gimmicks and frauds
and phonies, and people are just constantly trying to get rich quick because they think
that'll solve all their problems, that'll make them, you know, happier.
What did this say?
It says, but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
Look at the first part of this.
He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread.
You know, the person that goes out and just decides, I don't want to be rich.
I don't want to just go out and get quick riches.
I'm just going to work hard.
What does the Bible say?
He's going to have plenty of bread.
If you go out with the, I'm just going to work hard.
I'm not trying to get rich.
I'm not laboring to be rich, as the Bible says, but I'm just going to go out and work
hard by the sweat of my brow.
The Bible says God's going to give you plenty of bread.
You're going to have plenty enough.
You know, riches isn't going to give you happiness.
Look at verse 20.
A faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he that maketh haste to be rich shall
not be innocent.
And you know, this is, this is true as the day is long.
These get rich quick schemes, these Ponzi schemes, they're just cheating people and
stealing money and defrauding people.
You know, I almost got caught up in one of these things.
When I was working for a bank, I was getting really interested, there's these people that
instead of renting houses, what they do is they'll do this for sale by owner type option,
but then they'll finance the property for the people and they charge them these exorbitant
interest rates.
They'll charge them like 18 or 20 or 25 or 26, I mean just huge amounts of interest just
for these people to own their own home.
What they'll usually do is people that are poor, they'll get, you know, a four or five
thousand dollar check in the mail after tax season.
And so, you know, these people say, hey, give us four or five thousand dollars down and
for 700 or 600 dollars a month, you know, we'll let you have this house and we'll finance
it because most of these people can't qualify for a mortgage.
I mean the qualifications to get a mortgage today in this country are very high.
So there's these people that are in a bad situation and these predators, these predatory
lending practices, they go after these people and they just take even more money from them.
I mean they just keep taking from the poor.
They go out and they say, you know, hey, sign your mortgage and what happens is most of
these people just default, they can't end up paying after a few months or a few years
and they just wore clothes on them and then they sell it again and then they sell it again.
So they're just taking their four or five grand, you know, on that initial entry whenever
they try to buy the house and they're just charging these 15, 17, 20, 25% interest rates.
I mean it is so bad that you're literally going to make like 10 to 15 times more money
than the house is worth and we're talking, that's where I live, houses would be like
30, 40, 50 thousand dollars.
I mean you're going to get, you're going to charge them like 250 thousand dollars over
the life of that loan with these exorbitant interest rates.
I mean they're just stealing from the poor, just outright from their pocket.
You know what I, I'll be honest, I actually entertain the idea.
I thought, hey, maybe I can do this, this is a good way to make money, this is a good
way to get riches.
But I wasn't really thinking about it, you know, very soberly and once I was realizing,
you know, they try to trick you, they say, oh, you're helping people because otherwise
they could never buy a house.
That's not helping people and the Bible, you know, it condemns you three.
It condemns usually of 1%, not even 15 and 17 and 20.
I mean even just mortgages today, they're just robbing people blind.
I mean just you go to the mortgage and you get a 5% mortgage or a 3% mortgage, you're
going to pay three times the amount of the loan over the life of that loan.
And you know, they're, the bankers today, they're just laughing all the way to the bank.
I mean they're, they literally are the most corrupt and evil and wicked people in their
hearts.
They're just consumed with money and the Bible says the love of money is the root of all
evil and it is so true.
I remember sitting in a banking meeting and these bankers are looking at this guy's balance
sheet.
He lived in like New York or something.
He had all these businesses and things that he owned.
He had like a billion dollar net worth, just, I mean, not something you see every day when
you're working in the bank.
Most people, much less than that, but he had it and they just, it was like they were just
feasting their eyes on the greatest meal you've ever seen or the greatest, I mean, they were
just, just like drools coming out of their mouth.
They're just like, look at all those assets and look at, look at all those houses and
look at all those, that's literally what banks are like.
That's literally what these people are like and if you consume yourself with riches, if
you consume yourself with the love of money, you're going to be making a lot of ethically
bad decisions.
You're going to justify a lot of wicked things.
You're going to try and come up with reasons why it's okay to just rob and steal from the
poor and you just take advantage of them completely because look, you're completely taking advantage
of these poor people that just don't have a chance.
They don't have, they don't have any, you know, money to their name.
They're just kind of, you know, down on their luck.
That's what these people do and it's wicked.
Says he that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye and consider it not that poverty shall
come upon him.
That's why the Bible said that the rich shall not be innocent because these people that
are getting rich quick, they're not going to be innocent.
They're going to be robbing from the blind.
They're going to be violating God's commandments.
They're going to be committing all kinds of violence and wickedness and just all kinds
of filth.
Go to Proverbs 13 if you will.
The Bible said in Luke chapter 15, it's talking about a parable, it said, and he had, and
he said, a certain man had two sons.
The younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falls to
me.
And he divided it unto him his living and not many days after the younger son gathered
all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with
riotous living.
And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land and they began to be in
want.
People say, oh, if I won the lottery, everything would just work out for me.
Well, let's see a guy who gets his entire inheritance is just one lump sum.
I mean, he gets the cash out from the lottery.
He's one big, what is he going to do?
He's just going to go waste it all on riotous living right away.
And then what?
He's going to be in want for the rest of his life.
He's just going to waste it all.
Winning the lottery is going to be the worst thing that happens to any person because they're
just going to waste it all.
They're just going to spend it on riotous living and then they're going to be in want
for the rest of their life.
That's not going to bring you any happiness.
Look at Proverbs 13 verse 11, wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he that
gathered by labor shall increase.
You know, there's nothing wrong to grow in wealth and grow and increase by working by
the sweat of your brow, by working hard, by being diligent, by doing good.
We see a lot of men in the Bible in the Old Testament, they became wealthy in the latter
parts of their life through what?
Working hard every single day.
We see Jacob worked very hard and at the end of his life, God's blessing him and sending
him out to have all the cattle, Laban's cattle.
We see a lot of men like Abraham, he didn't want to get the rich quick scheme.
What happened?
He got all the goods back from Sodom whenever he went out to fight the kings and he's like,
I don't want any of these goods, lest you say that, you know, I've been rich other than
by God.
He was going to be blessed by God.
He was just going to take the riches that came to him by working hard, by being diligent.
He didn't want the hasty riches.
He didn't want just the quick, get rich quick scheme.
He didn't want to just get the winning ticket number.
He wanted to get it by working hard, but you know, the young people, they fall for this
trap and they want to live it up now.
They don't want to go out and work hard.
They don't want to go work out hard in their young life.
They want to go to college first and they want to get all these student loans and they
just want to live it up.
Hey, let's go, you know, drinking and partying and just have a good time.
I don't need a job right now.
I can worry about that later.
Let's just live it up now and let's just have a good time and let's just enjoy the
college life.
Hey, let's even go travel and let's just, you know, I'm young.
I'm not going to want to travel no more.
Let's just travel now.
I don't need to get a job.
I don't need to think about these.
Let's just go backpacking through Europe and let's just have a good old time.
Why should I worry about those things now?
Let's just live it up and you know, not only that, but maybe they do get that first job
and they just immediately go out and buy this big fancy house that they can't afford
and this big fancy car that they can't afford.
They're not willing to just work hard and work by the sweat of their brow and be humble
for a long time and then slowly, gradually get to that wealth.
They want to max out the credit cards.
They want to get all this loan and all this debt and they want to just put themselves
in these heavy burdens.
The Bible says in Lamentations 3.27, it is good for a man that he bear the yoke and his
youth.
You know, young men today, they need to just go out and work hard and be diligent and all
the riches will come later.
What?
If you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things shall be added
unto you.
You know, if you're seeking God and you're seeking him first and you're working diligent,
you're going to have plenty of bread.
You're going to have plenty of the things that you need in this life.
You don't need all these riches and all these fancy things anyways.
I think it's just going to pull you away from God and serving God, but we shouldn't be trying
to desire to live it up when we're young.
We should be wanting to work hard when we're young.
The Bible says that, I'm not going to be able to quote it, but it says like the best thing
about young men is their strength, is the fact that they're built strong and the gray
hair for the old man.
I mean, the Bible makes it clear that the best part about a young man is his strength.
The fact that he can go out and work hard, work long hours, because you're not always
going to be like that.
You're not always going to be able to do that.
I think that could be for physical labor and spiritual labor.
We need to work hard as young men.
We're not going to be hasty to be rich.
Go to 2 Chronicles chapter 35.
There's another way that people can be hasty.
They can be hasty to persecution.
Say hasty to persecution, what does that mean?
If people, they don't want to be persecuted rightly, or they don't want to be persecuted
for doing the right things, they just want to go out and just get some persecution right
away.
They just want to like look for it.
They want to go out and stand on the, you know, the sodomite parade and go scream at
a bunch of homos and have them yell at them, hey I'm being persecuted.
That's not what God's calling you to do.
Philippians chapter 1 verse 15 says, some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife
and some also of good will.
The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to
my bonds.
You know what?
Yea, and all that will live God and in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
You don't have to look for persecution.
You don't have to go out and look for people to persecute you and to hate you and to speak
all manner of evil against you.
If you just live Godly and you just follow God's commandments, it will come.
You know some people today, they want to go out looking for you.
They want to go and like do this street preaching or this obnoxious evangelism where they're
just getting in people's faces and like rebuking them and screaming at them.
Look, Paul said that he's going to preach Christ and then crucify him.
If you're talking to an unsaved person, the only thing you should tell them is the gospel.
I don't think you should get up and just be rebuking all their sin to their face and you
know just condemning them and saying you look like a whore and you look like a whoremonger
and you're such a, you're like a murderer in your heart.
Look at that satanic shirt on you're wearing.
I mean these people are unsaved.
What do you expect?
Why would they follow God's commandments if they don't even believe in Jesus Christ?
That doesn't even make any sense.
Get them to the first base, get them baptized, then, then after they're coming to church,
then teach them all that Christ had commanded them to break, right?
I mean that doesn't make any sense.
Let's go to first base and second base and then let's teach them.
It'd be like trying to send a baby down.
I mean and you're trying to give them a lecture.
That's not going to do anything for the baby.
A baby doesn't, you got to get them to the stages.
They got to grow a little bit.
Give them a little time to be mature.
If you go out and you just scream at babies, they're just going to scream back at you.
I mean it's pretty clear.
You don't have to go and look down for persecution.
It'll come.
Look at 2 Chronicles 35, 19, in the 18th year the reign of Josiah was his Passover kept.
After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Niko, king of Egypt, came up to fight
against Karkamesh by the Euphrates and Josiah went out against him, but he sent ambassadors
to him saying, what have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah?
I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war.
For God commanded me to make haste, forbear thee from meddling with God.
Who is with me that he destroy thee not?
Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself that he might
fight with him and hearken not in the words of Niko from the mouth of God and came to
fight in the valley of Megiddo.
The archer shot at king Josiah and the king said to his servants, have me away for I am
sore wounded.
The servants therefore took him out of the chariot and put him in the second chariot
that he had and they brought him to Jerusalem and he died and was buried in one of the sepulchres
of his fathers and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned him for Josiah.
So you see this king Josiah, he was a great king.
The Bible says there was no Passover in such a long time that he had performed.
He restored the word of God, he restored the temple, he restored a lot of things, he was
bringing people back to the word of God in a very dark time.
I mean, this is not that far from Jerusalem being destroyed, you know, for the first time
by the king of Babylon with a great destruction, but we see Josiah with this like shining light
in the moment of darkness, but at the end of his life, he was too hasty to fight in
the battle.
He was too hasty to go out and get that persecution.
He was too hasty to go and fight.
We see this in a lot of people, other people's lives in the Bible, but you know, you don't
have to go out and look for that persecution.
You don't have to go out and look for the fight.
Just live God, they follow God's commandments, and if you are, he'll give you that persecution,
you know.
But if you go out and you just get rid of strife and envy, I don't believe you're going
to get any reward.
The Bible says, give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under your feet, and turn again and rent you.
That's, if you're not following that commandment, if you're literally going out and casting
your pearls before swine, how is Christ going to reward you for not following his commandments?
I don't want to be persecuted and then also be sinning and also not get any reward for
it.
If I'm going to be persecuted, which is not a good thing, no chastisement at the time
seem as joyous but grievous, hey, I don't want that unless it's for the cause of Christ.
If it's going to be rewarded by God.
So I'm not going to go out looking for, you know, how I can be persecuted.
I'm not going to look for the battle that I shouldn't be in.
I'm not going to take a dog by the ears with strife belonging not unto me.
I'm not going to meddle with strife belonging not unto me.
Go to Proverbs 18 if you would.
We need to just serve God and be patient.
What's the opposite of being hasty?
Just be patient.
Be patient with the Lord.
Be patient to make your riches.
Be patient following his commandments.
We shouldn't be equipped to anger, look at Proverbs 18 verse 13, he that answereth the
matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.
You know, a lot of people today, especially, you know, in the modern evangelical churches
and stuff like that, they want to correct you on your doctrine.
But you know what's interesting?
You'll say, hey, what does the book of Jeremiah say?
There's like this one main theme in the book of Jeremiah.
It's the second largest book in the Bible.
What is the talk?
What is the one theme of Jeremiah?
They couldn't even tell you.
You say, what's Isaiah about?
I don't know.
What's Ezekiel about?
I don't know.
Have you ever read the Bible cover to cover?
No.
Oh, but I'm interpreting it wrong.
Oh, but I don't know what the Bible says.
Why don't you just read the Bible one time cover to cover before you start correcting
people?
Before you start giving your judgment about what the Bible says.
We shouldn't be too hasty to correct somebody about something we don't even know.
That's just foolish.
That's just unlearned.
That's just ignorant.
If you're ignorant of what the Bible says, don't go around telling people what it says.
Hey, you're not interpreting that right.
Well, have you ever read it?
No.
How do you know that I'm not interpreting it right?
How do you know I don't know what the Bible says?
Don't correct somebody if you don't even have any knowledge of the subject.
Don't correct somebody if you don't even, you haven't even read the Bible yourself.
Hey, I'm going to tell you what the Bible says.
We see the Bible says that you must have two witnesses before you make any judgment.
You know, we shouldn't even base anything off of hearsay.
We shouldn't be so hasty.
Someone comes and tells us something.
We shouldn't just immediately believe it and respond to that and go out and do something
with it.
That's hearsay.
Do we have two witnesses?
Is there something else that can verify what you're telling me?
Because guess what?
If you only have one witness, I'm not going to do anything about it.
Is it clear evidence?
Are you going to get the information from the horse's mouth?
I've been so, there's been so many times where someone's told me something, somebody I trust.
Okay.
But it wasn't from them.
It was like told to them.
Okay.
And then I, and then when I hear it from the actual person, it's way different.
I mean, it's not even kind of the same.
I'm not going to take any information that's gone through the gossip tree, gone through
the phone call game.
I'm not going to take that for, you know, any kind of, uh, uh, something I should act
on any kind of judgment that I make.
I'm not going to make judgment on hearsay.
I'm not going to make judgment on unclear evidence.
I'm not going to make judgment when I don't even hear it from the horse's mouth.
Why don't you make diligent inquisition whenever you're making a judgment?
But people today, they're so hasty in their judgments.
They're so hasty to judge, to give out, dull their judgment.
You know, they'll even be saying it while they're saying, we shouldn't judge.
We shouldn't judge.
Don't judge.
But I think you're, you're, you're interpreting the Bible wrong.
Oh, are you judging me?
I mean, I mean the Bible today is so clear about what it says, but people don't know
what it says and they're constantly wanting to rebuke you because of false preaching because
of false understanding.
It's just like the telephone game.
Somebody tells somebody something and they tell somebody something, they tell somebody
something, and then all of a sudden people are making all these decisions and judgments
based on that knowledge.
That's how it is with the Bible.
You get a false prophet parodying some false doctrine they read in a commentary and then
it gets perverted by the next guy that hears it, perverted by the next guy.
By the time it gets to the pew, I mean, they're just listening.
It's like a Gandhi quote.
I mean, I mean, they don't even know what the Bible says at all.
They're just, they're ignorant, they're sadist children, they're foolish.
My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.
If we're going to make judgment, Jesus said, just not after the appearance, but judge righteous
judgment.
We shouldn't be hasty to judge somebody.
Hey, you know, I want to know the Bible and I want to be able to give righteous judgment.
Okay.
Read the Bible.
Read the Bible one time.
Read the Bible two times.
Read the Bible five times.
Read the Bible ten times.
Now you can't give righteous judgment.
Now you know what the Bible says.
Go to Proverbs 29 if you would.
The Bible says, be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry for anger arrested in the bosom
of fools.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 17, at the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall
he that is worthy of death be put to death, but at the mouth of one witness he shall not
be put to death.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 19 and 15, one witness shall not rise up against a man for
any iniquity or for any sin and any sin that he sinned.
At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be established.
You know, that also goes with just interpreting the Bible in general.
If you see one passage say something, but you can't find it anywhere else in the Bible,
you can't find two or three witnesses of what you're seeing, don't believe it.
Every word is established by two witnesses.
Hey, I saw this one story, this one guy say something or hey, I saw one person say something
in Acts.
I mean, is that true?
Well, do you have two or three witnesses?
No.
Then that's not a doctrine of the Bible.
That's not something.
Take the clear statements of the Bible, take two or three or four or a hundred witnesses.
I mean, that's how people get all these false doctrines.
They just have their one witness.
They have their James chapter two, they have their Acts two thirty eight, they have whatever
it is, they have their one verse, but they can't confirm it with two or three witnesses.
It falls apart when they're trying to get that other witness to come in.
For the sake of time I have to skip a little bit of my notes, but look at Proverbs twenty
nine.
I think I had the reference wrong, I'm sorry.
Go to Proverbs twenty nine verse seven, the righteous considered the cause of the poor,
but the wicked regardeth not to know it.
You know what?
This is a huge topic, probably it's the only sermon in itself, we need to not be hasty
to trust people.
We need to be hasty not to trust people in a lot of areas, okay?
One would be, how about the guy standing on the corner begging for money, hey I'm a vet,
and I love America, and I've served, and I do all these things, they got the little billboard.
Don't trust that, that guy's a liar.
That guy probably didn't even, he probably didn't even fight with army men when he was
growing up.
But he's going to say, oh I'm a vet, and you know, I'm disabled, he's standing there taking
your money, why can't he go out and get a job?
And you know there's so many jobs today where you're sitting.
I mean, I work with tons of people that are even disabled, and they make really good money.
I mean, you know, we need to not trust people in a lot of areas.
You know, one area would be with our children.
We shouldn't just, hey I just met this guy yesterday and he invited my kids over, let's
just take them over there, let's just bring them over, let's just let them stay with whoever
we want.
Hey I know this guy's a drunkard in my family, but I'm just going to let them hang out with
him.
Hey I know my family, you know, some of their best friends are sodomites, and they're going
to have them over for dinner, I'm going to drop my kids off with them tonight.
No!
We need to not just trust people with things that are precious unto us, we need not be
hasty to trust people, hey I just met this guy yesterday, and I gave him my wallet and
my car and my key, I mean, be not quick to trust anyone, period.
I don't think you should trust anybody that you initially meet, ever, for any reason,
for even the smallest matter.
The Bible says in 2 Kings chapter 2, and he turned back and looked on them and cursed
them in the name of the Lord.
And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and there were forty and two children
of them.
You know a lot of people, they're quick to just drop their kids off daycare, drop their
kids off with strangers, drop their kids off with just whoever, and guess what, when parents
and their kids are separated, bad things happen in the Bible.
I mean you see a bunch of kids by themselves running out, they're just torn in two by two
she-bears, but people today, they just quickly trust strangers.
I was going to read for the story, but there's a story in Joshua, where the children of Israel
are going to inherit the land, and they're just destroying everybody, God's just giving
them deliverance, they're just wiping out their enemies, I mean there's some battles
where the children of Israel, none of them die.
But the children of Gibeon, the high vikes, there's a certain group of them, they come
unto the children of Israel, and they trick them, they prepare their saddles to look really
old sacks of mildew and moldy bread, and old vessels of wine that have spilled or burst,
and they're like, hey we came on this long journey because we heard how great the Lord
is, can we be your servants?
I guess just because of all the flattery, Joshua falls for it.
He doesn't inquire of the Lord, and what?
He just accepts them, and then it becomes a snare unto them for the rest of their lives.
The high vikes are dwelling in the land, and they have to dwell with them forever.
Their enemies tricked them, why?
Because they just immediately trusted what they said.
People will lie to you today.
There's so many stories in the Bible where people are just lying to one another.
Even men of God are lying.
I mean David's committing all kinds of wicked sins by lying.
He literally gives his friend a letter of death, and has him go take it to the army
captain to then kill him.
Uriah.
He sleeps with his wife, and then hands him a letter to deliver that's going to kill him.
I mean, don't trust anybody, don't just put all your trust in people, don't be quick and
hasty to trust people.
All men are liars is what the Bible says.
Now that might be out of context, but it's true, all men are liars, the Bible says.
Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, it will be the last place we turn.
There's a lot of ways that we need to not trust men, but my last point is that I think
today people, unfortunately, they're too hasty to go through the life stages.
They're too hasty to go to the next stage.
Teenagers today, they just can't wait until they're in college.
College kids, they can't wait until they're this young adult.
Young adults today, they can't wait until they're married.
People that are married, they can't wait until they have kids.
People that have kids, sometimes they can't wait to be a grandparent.
And then by that time, they're like, man, I wish I could go back and start all over
again.
I mean, but we see that people today, they're not satisfied with where they're at.
They're not content with the situation that they're in.
They're always looking to the future, they're always looking to the greener grass, they're
just too distracted on the future, they can't focus on the present.
The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
We need to be taking advantage of every second we have.
People today say, well, I'll take care of that later.
I'll start serving God when I get everything right and maybe when I'm out of college because
right now I'm in college, I'm having a lot of fun.
So I'll serve God when I get out of college and then, well, I'm kind of young.
I'll serve God when I get married.
Well, she wasn't really godly so maybe I'll wait until we have some kids.
Once we have kids, then we'll start going to church, then we'll start living godly.
Well, maybe when they become teenagers, maybe by that time we'll start living.
You know what?
Before you know it, your life's going to be over and you're not going to have done anything
for God.
Now is the day to serve the Lord.
Now is the time.
You know, there was a guy that was rich and he thought he was going to have all the time
in the world in the Bible.
He thought, oh, I'll go to the city tomorrow and the Lord says, thou fool, tonight I'm
going to require your life.
Tonight you're going to die.
We never know when we're going to die.
We never know when the last moment is.
You need to serve God now.
Think about Abraham.
You know, God had given this promise to have a son, but you know what?
He didn't want to wait for that.
So he decided to sleep with his handmaiden Hagar and he got Ishmael.
What a horrible decision.
What a horrible decision he made.
He was too hasty in his life.
He couldn't just wait for the children to come naturally.
He had to go out and do it his own way and cause all this sin and have this great enemy
of the children of Israel.
Look at verse 13 verse 14, now we exhort you brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort
the feeble minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
The Bible says that we should be patient.
Says in Psalms 37, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him.
Fret not thyself because of him who prospered in his way because of the man who brings wicked
devices that pass.
The Bible says in James chapter 7, be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the
Lord.
Behold the husband that waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and have long patience
for it until he receive the early and latter rain.
Be also patient, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
We as God's people need to be patient today.
We need not be hasty in all of our matters.
We need not be hasty in anger, we need not be hasty in our fornication, in the offices
of God that has given us in our life stages and trusting people.
There's so many areas of our life that we can be hasty in and riches.
We need to just trust in the Lord and be patient.
Serve him now but be patient with your life.
Be patient and run the steady race.
Christianity is not a sprint, it's a marathon.
And if we're just hasty in all of our matters, you're going to end up in hindsight regretting
the decisions you made and having to redo them and a lot of times redoing them not as
well as you could have the first time.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you Father so much for your word, thank you for all the promises and gifts that you
give us.
I pray that we would all with patience endure patiently to receive the prizes and the callings
that you've given us in this life, that we take advantage of every moment that we have
but that we would be patient to receive the fruit in its due time.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.