Let's look back at verse number five where the Bible reads,
And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ.
Now what's interesting in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, which pretty much has one main
context is that it reminds you that we're talking about being directed into the love
of God.
Now there's a lot of ideas of what love looks like today, but the love of God is defined
by the Bible.
It's not defined by what you think or what I think or what the world tells us love looks
like.
Love is defined by how God tells us what love truly looks like.
And this chapter, while it's not a very pleasant topic, it's still the love of God, my friend.
And sometimes love can be tough love.
Sometimes love can be used with discipline.
When we talk about a father loving his son, it's through discipline.
But discipline's not a pleasant topic.
Discipline is not something that's fun or necessarily enjoyable for a parent to dole
out to his children.
But true love is going to be shown through discipline.
A parent who truly loves his child will discipline them.
You know, if you spare the rod, it doesn't say spoil the child, it says he hated his
son is what the Bible says.
And so we have to understand that if you won't exercise discipline upon somebody, if you
won't tell them the things that they need to hear, if you won't give them some tough
love every once in a while, you really don't have the love of God, okay?
Now let's keep reading in this chapter that says this, now we command you, brethren, in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Could you have much stronger of a statement?
I mean, and this is going to be reiterated throughout the Bible.
This is not the apostle Paul's personal opinion here.
He's saying, look, this is by the authority and power of God, what I'm about to say, that
you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the
tradition which he received of us.
Now you know what's funny about this is the word disorder or disorderly is only found
in your Bible three times, okay?
And they're all in the exact same chapter, okay?
So there's not even confusion of what about it means to be disorderly.
Now people that are unlearned and unstable and they rest the Scriptures, okay, they don't
understand what this is talking about.
So people like Manly Perry falsely accused myself and the entire New
Avenue Bee as being disorderly.
But here's the thing, if you actually understand what disorderly means according to the Bible,
that's a stupid accusation to make against us, okay?
Because it's not just whatever you want it to mean, it's what the Bible is trying to
tell us, okay?
And it makes it clear what disorderly means.
Look at verse 11, for we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly working
not at all but are busybodies.
So notice someone who's a disorderly person is someone who's working not at all.
That's what it means, okay?
It's not whatever you want it to mean, it's not whatever I want it to mean, it's what
God told us.
It says someone not working is in disorder or they have disorderly conduct.
Now go backwards to verse number seven because I want to read all this passage for a moment.
It says, for yourselves know how you ought to follow us for we behave not ourselves disorderly
among you.
So the apostle Paul saying, I was not disorderly in any way.
There's nothing disorderly about me, okay?
And you know, the things that they would falsely accuse us for being disorderly would be stuff
like naming names.
Well, Paul did that, you know, causing drama or controversy or fighting or calling out
false providence.
Hey, Paul did all of that and he was never disorderly.
You know why?
Because he was always working because it had nothing to do with any of what you're trying
to attach a definition to, okay?
It says in verse number eight, neither did we eat any man's bread for naught.
Naught just means for nothing.
So he's just saying, I never one time ate food from any person for no reason.
Like it wasn't that I didn't deserve it, earn it, pay for it or something similar.
He's saying I never took any handout.
There was zero handouts I've ever taken from you guys, none, okay?
Some people might think that the apostle Paul and these traveling evangelists are just getting
all these freebies and gimmes and handouts.
The apostle Paul said, never did I ever eat any person's bread, period, for no reason,
just like just taking it or gimmes or anything, nothing.
He says, but wrought with labor and travail, night and day that we might not be chargeable
to any of you.
He's saying there's not a single person in the church at Thessalonica that could get
up and say, well, we just gave Paul stuff and he hasn't done anything for us or, no,
no handouts, nothing.
He says, verse nine, not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensemble unto
you to follow us, for even when we're with you, this we commanded you that if any would
not work, neither should he eat.
Notice what Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost at the commandment of Jesus
Christ in the name of Jesus Christ, is saying, if any would not work, neither should he eat.
I didn't just make that up.
That's been in your Bible for thousands of years, okay?
For hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, it's said the exact same thing.
It's been the exact same policy.
God didn't change.
He says, if you won't work, you should not be allowed to eat, period.
It doesn't say, and notice it says any.
It's not like, well, this, but what about this guy?
What about this lady?
What about this person?
No, it says any, okay?
Verse 11, for we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not
at all, but are busybodies.
Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness
they work and eat their own bread, but ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing.
And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and of no company
with him, that he may be ashamed, yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a
brother.
So notice the whole essence of this chapter is one really clear thought.
People that are in your church that are not working, they should not be given any handout,
okay?
No handouts, no freebies, nothing.
Not only that, okay?
I want to make sure you understand this passage very clearly, okay?
It doesn't even say that they got any freebies necessarily.
It's just saying they're not working at all and they're busybodies.
So even if they don't get any handouts, if someone's just not working, they're not doing
work at all, and they're going around and just busybodies themselves in the church,
they are in violation of this commandment.
Now the fact that they're getting freebies and getting handouts makes it even worse.
It exacerbates the situation even further, saying, wow, this person's really a detriment
to the cause of Christ, a detriment to the congregation, is in severe violation of God's
commandments, and they need to be publicly noted, publicly marked, so as you have no
idea they're just not with you guys anymore until they fix their issue.
Now notice the phrasing here, and this is where I'm going to get the title of my sermon
this morning, but notice this phrasing here in verse 12.
It says that with quietness they work and eat their own bread.
You know, everyone in this room, every man in this room, you should work quietly.
You should work quietly, and this is usually what you tell your children, right?
Hey, work quietly, right?
But this is something that we should all learn and we should all do is we should all work
quietly, and what does it mean by the quietness?
It's meaning like nobody knows what you're doing.
Nobody needs to know about your situation.
Nobody needs to know how much money you're making.
Nobody needs to know what your financial woes are.
Nobody needs to know what you ate last night.
Nobody needs to know about your situation.
With quietness you work and you eat your own bread, and here's the thing.
If you're doing that, I don't need to know.
I don't need, look, you could potentially be out of work for a few months because you
got let go or you're on bad times, but if you're quietly on your own doing your own
thing and eating your own bread, I don't need to know about it, but you know the opposite
person is the person that's not working in their busy body.
They go around and everyone knows that they're not working.
Everyone knows that they're having this hard time, and everyone knows that they're down
on their luck, and everybody knows, and yeah, no one will hire me, man.
You know any jobs out there, and it's like here's a wanted ad list.
No, but you know any like any jobs out there, man?
It's like yeah, they're everywhere in America, okay?
And look, don't take this sermon and necessarily apply it to like the most impoverished country
in the world where they're living communist hell hole or something like that.
Yeah, there are situations, there are countries where someone could legitimately struggle
to find work.
Hey, there's been times even in American history during the Great Depression and other where
men are literally unable to find a job even though they're diligently searching and looking
for it every single day.
But until you're looking for a job 80 hours a week with no avail, you know, you don't
fall in this category for me.
And if you in America are looking for a job for 80 hours a week, you will find a job.
Period.
And you know there was a time where I lost a position.
You know I was working and they let me go.
They didn't want me to work remote for them anymore.
And so what I did is I put in over a hundred applications in one week.
Over a hundred.
Not only did I put in that many applications, I literally went to places that I knew that
were hiring and walked in the door and said, here's my resume.
Would you interview me?
And some of them interviewed me on the spot.
Why?
Because my full time job was getting a job.
And you know what my criterion for a job was?
One that paid.
It wasn't like, well, this one's really, this one's not super close to my home and this
one doesn't really, you know, fit my schedule as well as I want it to work.
Look, when you don't have a job, it's any job.
Just take a job.
And then, and as soon as you have that job, then you can start looking for another job
if you don't like that one.
You know what?
It's stupid and foolish to not be working.
Okay?
It's stupid and foolish to not be searching.
And over the hundred applications, let me tell you, I got three job offers.
Okay?
And in that one week, I looked, I put in over a hundred job applications and I went into
places and I got three.
That's a 3% success rate or less.
So obviously it takes work.
Now, you know, because I, some people aren't ready to hire like tomorrow, you know?
Okay?
So obviously then I had lots of other job offers, you know, that were trickling in,
but then I just took, of those three.
I took the best one of those three and you say, was it what you wanted?
Not necessarily.
Was it, did it meet all your criteria?
No.
I was working from home and now I had to drive over an hour away to go to work now.
Okay?
But guess what?
I had to get a job because as a man, you're supposed to provide and with quietness, work.
It's not okay for me to go around.
I can't find any jobs within my house, guys.
Can I, can I bum a few bucks and y'all just pay my bills?
I go soul winning and that's what people do and it's a shame on the cause of Christ.
Look, the apostle Paul, he went soul winning, but you know what?
He worked night and day too.
He just figured it out.
He just had a way to provide for his own needs.
And look, it's a busy body when everyone knows your problems and issues.
It's a busy body when they're indirectly asking for handouts.
Okay?
You know, look, unless you're just a brazen bum on the street, they never just directly
ask for money and even then they struggle to do it.
They're like, hey man, my car, I was trying to drive this to my brother-in-law and my
car, you know, is ran out and I just need a few bucks to get over there.
Well, hey, how about I fill up your car with gas?
No.
Like, could you just give me like 20?
Could you give me like 40 bucks or something?
You know, it's like, well, what if they're like, I'm so hungry.
Here's some food.
No.
Do you have like 40 bucks?
It's like, but even then, they never, they're like, hey, I don't want to ask for any money,
but would you just fill up my tank?
Sure.
Let's, I'll pull it over here and I'll fill it up.
No.
Do you have 40 bucks?
It's like, look, it's always this weird story where people just come up to you like, man,
I lost my job and I lost my dog and you know, my country album didn't go well and I've just
been having a really hard time and you know, nobody will help me.
How was your Christmas?
I haven't gotten a present in so long and just, man, I don't, food sounds really good
right now, but I haven't had a bite in a while.
Look, they don't, that's asking for money, my friend.
Don't, don't be naive.
Don't be stupid.
That's, that's someone being a busybody.
Is that your normal conversation with me and other people in this church?
Do I walk around and just complain about everything that's going on in my life just so that you
have pity on me?
And look, if you go on hard times and you're just real direct with somebody, you know,
maybe they'll help you out, but at the end of the day, it's a busybody to go around and
just fish your little story to every single person to try and get sympathy and to try
and have them help you.
Look, it says to work quietly.
You work quietly and I have three points this morning, but my first point is this.
You work quietly so that you're not disorderly.
You're not disorderly.
Whenever you're not working quietly, you are disorderly, okay?
Now what is disorder?
If you look it up in a dictionary, it says lack of order, okay?
Pretty self-explanatory, right?
It's not something that's in order.
Or disorderly, engaged in conduct, offensive to public order.
It says it's offensive.
People don't like it.
Look, it's annoying when people, men come up to me, able-bodied men come up to me and
they claim that they can't get a job.
You're pathetic.
You know what I think?
You're a loser.
You're lazy.
You're a loser.
You're pathetic.
That's what I think.
Okay?
And that's what the Bible teaches.
Now, going to Exodus chapter number 20, Exodus chapter number 20, and look, I'm not saying
someone that legitimately goes on hard times, I wouldn't help them, but you know what?
It's pathetic when you can't provide for yourself.
In America today, you should be able to provide for yourself, and you know what?
If there was any point in your time in the past where you were like that, you were pathetic.
I'm sorry.
That's just reality, and you need to be told that it's reality, and then say, you know
what?
I don't want to be pathetic anymore.
I want someone, or I want to be a man.
You're not a man when you can't provide for yourself, because a man has to provide for
others, and when you can't even provide for yourself, that's so disorderly.
Men are supposed to be the providers.
Men are supposed to be the ones that take care of the family.
You know, it's sick, and look, young ladies, don't marry a guy that won't provide for you.
If you find a guy, and he's struggling to take care of himself, don't think he's going
to take care of you very well.
I mean, if you can't even take care of yourself, he's got major issues, okay?
He's already really far from marriage material, okay?
You want to make sure he's self-sufficient before you want him to start taking care of
you.
Otherwise, you're going to be taking care of him.
Exodus chapter 20, look at verse 9, six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work.
This is in the Ten Commandments.
I heard that they're famous, or something.
People know this.
It says, six days shalt thou labor, saying you're permissible to work six days.
You're supposed to keep the Sabbath, but let me tell you this, this is good advice.
You should labor six days.
You should do some work.
God created us to work.
He put Adam and Eve in the garden, and you know what Adam was supposed to do?
He was supposed to tend to the garden.
He was supposed to work.
He was supposed to get stuff done.
God didn't create you to just sit here and enjoy.
It's not for you to just sit and play video games, and lay around, and do nothing like
a little child, like a little boy.
No, you need to man up and work.
Now, go to Proverbs chapter 13.
I'm going to look at a lot of verses this morning.
Proverbs chapter 13.
But what you have to understand is the apostle Paul, because he's traveling, and he's doing
the work of the Lord, people could falsely accuse him of being like a homeless person
or something, and being like this just freeloader, where he's just going around, and just taking
advantage of people.
He does not want the gospel to look like this freeloading, homeless type lifestyle.
So he's living above reproach.
He's going above and beyond what's even necessary by only providing for himself his needs, so
that nobody would misunderstand what he's doing.
And unfortunately, churches like ours, they think that because someone's a soul winner,
they can just ignore all the rest of the commandments of the Bible.
And you know, they're a soul winner, like, you know, they go once a year or something.
It's like, okay, look, the apostle Paul is not just preaching the gospel on a daily basis,
he's working on a daily basis too.
And he wants to be a good example, and they don't want people to take the wrong idea.
Look, even him doing the preaching and the work that he's doing, he's doing work, okay?
It's not that he's not doing work, he just doesn't want anybody to ever be confused about
the need for men to work, okay?
Now it says in verse 11, look at Proverbs chapter 13, and let's look at verse number 11.
Now one application I take from this is, look, when someone just gives you a handout, that's
not going to make you any better of a person.
That doesn't help your character.
It doesn't help anything about you as a person, it's vanity, okay?
It's just a freebie.
Now obviously, we all like freebies, right?
Wouldn't it be nice if people just give you stuff and hand you out things and it'd be nice?
But people that win the lottery, it's not like their character increases any, okay?
It's not like they're a better person all of a sudden magically.
You know what makes someone a really good person?
Working hard.
If you take two people, you take a guy that has a million dollars from lotto winnings,
and you have a guy that has a million dollars because he worked really hard and created
his own business.
Those are going to be two radically different people, even though they have the same bank
account.
Why?
Because wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished.
And you know the guy that got the million bucks on the lottery ticket, he's going to
waste it on booze and women and drugs and just stupid crap because easy come, easy go.
But the guy that built his business and worked really hard, you know what?
It's not going to be easily taken from him and the government will try to rip it out
of his cold dead fingers, okay?
But at the end of the day, you know, if you don't work hard for something, you don't appreciate
it.
You don't value it.
You know, a person who raises children for years, for decades, they're going to see that
child as a great value to them.
But these faggot sodomites that adopt children, they see them as nothing.
They will just trash them and they will just hurt them and abuse them.
They're not even theirs in their mind.
And look, there's something to be said about working hard.
It changes your perspective about the things that you own.
When people just give you stuff for free, you just don't take it, you know, with care.
You're not a good steward of it oftentimes.
And you know, a church like ours where we give everything out for free, you see this
firsthand.
People just don't care about the freebies.
They don't care about free water bottles and free church material and free events and free,
you know, they'll just sign up for free events and then not show up and just cost the church
hundreds of dollars because, why?
It didn't mean anything to them.
Although I guarantee if they had put several hundred dollars down of their own money for
a trip, they would have showed up or they would have canceled it or they would have
done something.
You know, when things are free, people just take advantage.
You know what?
You shouldn't take advantage of it.
How about the gospel?
The number one thing taken advantage of in this world is the gospel.
People will get saved and then they'll literally do nothing in response to what God has given
them.
And you know what?
They're a freeloader and they should be ashamed for what they're doing.
Go to Proverbs 14, and let's look at another verse here, verse 23.
In all labor there's profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only the penury.
You know, you need to stop talking and start working.
Work quietly.
You know, it doesn't benefit, and even, let me just, you know, there's probably plenty
of people here that work.
But you know what?
If you work, you should work quietly too.
It's not like just showing up physically.
You need to actually quietly work while you're there.
And you know what?
The boss really appreciates the quiet workers, not the guys standing at the water cooler
chatting it up with every single person, being a busybody at work.
That'll get you fired too.
Hey, you need to get to work and you need to do work quietly.
Look at chapter 16 and look at verse 26.
He that laboreth, laboreth for himself.
For his mouth, crave it of him.
It's like God was so intelligent, he thought, you know what?
I need to have this internal motivation in every man to make him work.
It's called hunger.
Because look, if you don't start working and providing for yourself, your stomach's going
to say, hey, idiot, feed me.
Hey, start working.
Hey, do something.
Hey, go get some food.
And you know, if it wasn't for hunger pains, people would kill themselves all the time
because they'd be too lazy to actually go out and feed themselves.
You know, that hunger pain is needed to remind you to work.
And you know what's really cool about this is you cannot eat for 40 days and 40 nights
and still live.
But you know, no one goes that long.
No one's even gone that, even near that.
You know what?
I guarantee if you haven't eaten for a couple of days, you'll be ready to do about any kind
of work.
But you know, these people that are on the street corner begging, they don't look emaciated
like the people in Africa, my friend.
They don't look like they've gone 40 days without eating.
They don't look like they're missing every single meal.
And you know what?
It's good if they miss some meals.
Because guess what motivates you to work?
Hunger.
You know what stops motivating you to work?
Getting freebies.
So the worst thing I can do is help you not work by giving you food, money, clothing,
or whatever.
You know, maybe you need to, look, Jesus Christ had nowhere to lay his head.
Hey, read in the Bible, Jacob, he's laying on rocks as his pillow, okay?
Tell me how, he's going out where it's the cold frost that he has to go and tend to the
sheep at night, working super hard.
Come cry me a river, okay?
Look, I don't care what situation you think these people are going through that's really
hard.
Read the Bible.
Elijah's sleeping by a brook and having birds feed him.
You think that was really fun?
That was what God wanted him to do, okay?
But don't tell me that God would not want these people to have a hard night, to miss
a meal every once in a while.
I mean, I'm pretty sure Ezekiel had to eat the worst kind of bread for like a year and
lay on his side.
Oh, God would never want them to go through anything hard.
He does want them to go through something hard.
He's the one that gave them the hunger pains.
Wake up.
If God didn't want them to experience pain, why did he put it in their body?
He put it in their body so that they would work.
Look, pain is a good thing.
You know what pain does?
It stops you from destroying yourself.
It's like, oh, I'm feeling all this pain.
Yeah, God's trying to wake you up and tell you not to destroy yourself.
The worst thing you can do is offer them drugs and alcohol and food, which does what?
It temporarily takes away that pain.
That's why they're all addicted to what?
Drugs and alcohol and food, because it temporarily takes away the pain that God built in their
system to wake them up and say, go work.
Quit trying to meddle with God's system.
That system works, my friend.
And I tell you this, if our society would not give out all these handouts and all these
freebies to people, we would have way less homeless, because their stomach would fix
the problem.
The stomach will fix the problem, but people just don't care.
They want to just give money to anything and everything.
Proverbs 21, Proverbs 21, look at verse 25.
The desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labor.
Hey, if someone is literally going to stand on that street corner and never work, I will
let him die.
Did you hear me?
I will let him die.
If he's just going to stand there until someone gives him a handout, he will die for me.
If everyone was like me, he would stand there until he dies.
Because if he's going to refuse to work, notice the Bible says it's going to kill him.
And God's going to allow someone to do that.
God's going to allow this person to take themselves out.
If you're that stupid, and look, it's not your fault.
It's not my fault.
You shouldn't even feel bad.
It's their problem.
And if you want to fix every poor person and every person starving from hunger, good luck,
because there's billions on this planet.
You're not going to solve that problem.
You know what I'd rather solve?
The fact that most people are going to hell.
I can only solve so many problems in my life.
I only have so much money to give out.
Look, if I gave money to every single person that asked me, I would never be able to feed
my family.
I would never be able to do anything.
People ask for money every second.
Everyone's looking for a handout.
You have to be righteous, and you have to consider the cause of the poor, my friend.
And you have to pick and choose what you're going to do.
I try to help people that come to my church.
That's what I've decided.
I want to help people that are already working and going on hard times, not the disorderly,
not the people that the Bible tells me not to.
Why would I want to give money to somebody that Jesus is literally saying no?
Hey, if I'm standing here with a person that's not working, and they're saved where two or
three are gathered together, there am I in the midst.
Jesus is standing right here.
Jesus is saying, don't give him money.
Don't give him money.
Don't do it.
And you're just like, going to do it anyways.
It's like, it's stupid.
Why would you do that?
Look, the natural person doesn't even want to give money away.
Why would you then want to give money away against God's commandments on top of that?
It makes no sense.
And you're like, well, the Bible says to help the poor.
What verse is that?
Well, it says to consider the cause of the poor.
It says, hey, if someone has need, but let me tell you something, someone is not willing
to work, you know what they don't need is food because their stomach being hungry is
what they need.
Hey, I'm going to give you exactly what you need.
No food.
No money.
I'll offer you a job, but you know, you don't want to work.
Well, that's your problem.
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number two, Ecclesiastes chapter number two.
You say, this is mean, Pastor Shell, you just hate homeless people.
No, I love them.
You hate them by disobeying God's commandments.
I don't want to disobey God's commandments, number one.
And even if it didn't make sense to me, I would still obey God's commandments, but it
does make perfect sense to me, actually, because you know what, the Bible is logical.
The Bible makes sense.
Ecclesiastes chapter two, look at verse 24.
There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that he should
make his soul enjoy good and his labor.
This also I saw that is was from the hand of God.
God gave us something really great.
You get to work hard and then you get to eat the fruit of your labor.
Hey, it's a gift from God.
Look at Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse 13, and it says, and also that every man should
eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor.
It is the gift of God.
So God gave us this awesome gift.
You can work and then you can provide the things that you need.
It's great.
Go to chapter six.
He doesn't say enjoy other people's labor.
He says, enjoy your labor, enjoy your work.
Ecclesiastes chapter six, look at verse number seven.
All the labor of man is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not filled.
You know, it's interesting, even though you work to satisfy yourself, you know you're
never satisfied because you need to eat again.
Then you need to eat after that.
Is anybody on their last meal?
Is anybody done with food?
I'm going to pray for you.
Okay.
You're going to need, look, and it should be that way hopefully that we'll have the
same hunger spiritually to bless it or they which hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Okay.
And whenever you seek the Lord, you're going to be filled, but you know what?
You need that filling every single day, physically and spiritually, and you know what?
You should work till Jesus comes.
Isn't that a song?
How does the person that's not working even sing that hymn will be worthless till Jesus
comes.
Take every hand out, we'll disobey and sin will be disorderly till Jesus comes.
That's not how it goes.
We'll work.
Hey, how can you honestly sing that song if you're not working?
Maybe we should sing that song to finish.
I don't know.
Go to Proverbs 24.
Here's my second point.
Look, if you're not working quietly, you're disorderly.
That's what the Bible said.
How many times do you want me to prove it?
I only need it once, okay?
But unfortunately, most people need this type of teaching because our society does not emanate
this doctrine.
The government believes the exact opposite.
They believe in welfare.
They believe in just government assistance and handouts and stealing from you and just
giving it to worthless drug addicts and losers and people that won't provide for their family.
There's worthless men who will just knock up women and not take care of them and then
the government has to take care of them so we have to provide for all these whores and
whoremongers and derelicts and deadbeats and drunks and drug addicts and it's sick and
it's gross and it's not godly.
And I don't care what they whitewash it with, I don't care how many Bible verses they twist
to try and wrap up this message, it's not of God.
And I don't care how many food pantries and charities and Bethesda outreach environments
that these churches have, that's not what the Bible teaches.
And you can get mad at me, look, I got people saved, I brought them into this church and
you know what their first question is, where's your food pantry?
And I'm like, it's right here.
It's called spiritual food.
I feed it, you know, Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday night.
And if you're lucky, you get some extra videos on YouTube.
And you can go to Houston if you're real hungry and I'll feed you on Thursday night too, okay?
That's the food pantry that we offer at Steadfast Baptist Church and that's the food pantry
that Jesus Christ offers and you know what, every once in a while, you get the feeding
of 5,000 but that's the exception, not the rule.
And notice, when he stopped the food pantry, everybody left.
Hey, they break the attendance record when they offer food but you know, when it's spiritual
food, nobody really wants to show up.
Isn't that interesting?
It seems like that's the same situation we have today, isn't it?
But number one, you need to work quietly so that you're not disorderly, okay?
Number two, you need to work quietly so that you're not publicly marked, so that you're
not publicly marked.
Look at Proverbs chapter 24 and let's look at verse number 23.
The Bible says,
These things also belong to the wise, it is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.
He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous, hem shall the people curse, nations shall
abhor him, but to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good blessing shall come
upon them.
Look, you're not supposed to be a respecter of persons in judgment, that's wicked.
What does that mean?
Deciding that someone doesn't fit God's judgment.
That you remember what God's judgment was, if any, would not work.
And you get mad at me for not wanting to help any person, you're the respecter of persons.
I'm supposed to be impartial, I'm supposed to make judgment based on what the Bible says.
And notice what it says in the next verse, it says,
He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous.
You know, some people would look at the homeless person and, oh, you're such a good guy and
you're so wonderful.
Look, if someone's not working, they're wicked.
And I'm not going to get up and sugarcoat it and be like, this guy's really great down
in his heart though.
You know?
No, if you're a wicked person, you're wicked.
Fix it.
Stop being wicked.
Stop being evil.
Stop being worthless.
Stop being a lazy bum and get your butt out and work, okay?
Now it also says, Hem shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him, but to them that
rebuke him shall be delight.
Notice people that actually have their head straight.
Whenever you actually curse Joe Biden, people are like, wow, that's great.
You know, foreign nations don't look at America loving Joe Biden and think like, oh, wow,
they're so great.
They're like, you guys are a bunch of idiots.
You're falling for this?
People think Americans are stupid.
They think they're fat and stupid and wicked.
That's what they think Americans are because they look at their leaders and they're like,
how do you not even care?
You know, most other countries, there's constant civil unrest because their government's so
wicked and oppressing them and they're trying to resist and they're trying to fight and
there's been all these revolutions and there's all been this infighting and this constant
stress over who's in power and who's in control.
America we're just like, we don't care.
Biden, Hillary, Kamala Harris, I mean, just let the pedophiles and the bureaucrats come
in and I don't care how much money they take from foreign governments, I don't care how
much money they siphon off, I don't care how much drug money and all kinds of pedophilia
sex rings they have and whatever's going on, hey, just bring them on in, America.
We should be rebuking these people like crazy.
Every church should be rebuking the government because you know what?
It's there for the taking.
I mean, John the Baptist, he wasn't like, oh, Harrod, you're such a good guy.
He called him out for a sin.
He rebuked him for having an unlawful marriage and you know what?
Virtually everybody in our government is way worse.
It's not even close.
I mean, the things that they're involved in, the things that are public and I'm not saying
get up and you know, start talking about Hillary Clinton's death list because who knows, probably
longer than you think, but why don't you just rebuke them for the stuff you know?
Why don't people call these people out and look, just like I should call out Biden, I
should also call out the brother in church that's walking disorderly and if you don't
like that, you're a respecter of persons.
If you only want me to get up here and preach against Biden, you're a respecter of persons
and frankly speaking, Biden will probably never hear this sermon.
Google will, but you know, whatever.
Go to Proverbs 13, go backwards.
Word to God would hear the message, but he's probably too reprobate anyways, so it doesn't
really matter for him.
I don't even think he knows where he's at, so.
Proverbs 13, look at verse number eight.
The ransom of a man's life are his riches, but the poor heareth not rebuke.
You want to know why most people are poor?
It's because they refuse instruction.
And look, obviously poor is a relative term.
In America, in the land of opportunity, look, if you can't provide yourself a place to stay
and food to eat, I mean it's because you're refusing to receive instruction.
Obviously I'm not saying you have to have a five car garage or anything like that, but
at the end of the day, we have so much abundance and so much blessing here, the people that
can't even put food on the table, they don't have a place to lay their head.
It's because they're lazy.
It's because they're slothful.
It's because they're stupid.
It's because they refuse to work.
It's because they refuse instruction.
And you know what?
If you refuse instruction, you're stupid.
If you refuse to hear advice, you're dumb.
You should take the advice that people are giving you and you should take heed and you
should get a job and you should work hard.
But you know what?
The poor oftentimes, they don't hear rebuke.
You can't even rebuke them.
You can't even tell them that they're doing something wrong.
They just don't care.
Apathy.
Apathy will make you poor.
Start caring.
Care about your life.
Care about your circumstances.
God didn't put a bunch of people on this earth to represent him that are lazy.
What a reproach on the name of Christ.
What an embarrassment.
I don't want to have a church.
Here's all our homeless.
Everybody in our church is just homeless.
What an embarrassment to the cause of Christ.
That's a shame.
How can you get up and say you're a Bible-believing Christian and you won't work?
That's like step one.
That's even so basic, you typically don't even have to say it, it seems like.
Everyone just gets that point.
It's an embarrassment.
You know what?
It's so embarrassing, you have to be publicly marked.
Proverbs 28.
Go to Proverbs 28.
I'm going to get a few verses in here quickly, but I want to get my last point.
Proverbs 28 verse 23.
The Bible says, he that rebuketh a man afterward shall find more favor than he that flattereth
with a tongue.
I'm not going to flatter people.
I'm going to tell them what they're like, and if they don't like the message, they can
go anywhere else.
Go to Proverbs 19 and look at verse 15.
Proverbs 19 verse 15.
The Bible says, slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep and an idle soul shall suffer
hunger.
Why would I want to take away God's punishment from them when this is what he's doled out?
Look at verse 24.
A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom and will not so much as bring it to his mouth
again.
Look, it's hard for people to believe this, and then they live it and they watch it and
experience it, and it's like, oh wow.
There are literal people.
You can just hand them food.
They say they're hungry and they will throw it in the trash.
They'll let it drop on the ground.
They are not hungry.
I guarantee it.
Look, when I was dieting and I was hungry, I would eat anything.
I got excited to eat carrots.
Everything tastes amazing when you're starving.
All those vegetables you don't really like, when you're hungry, you'll like them.
You'll be like, celery?
Oh yeah.
Carrots?
Oh yeah.
Cucumbers?
You know, if you're just full though, even chocolate cake can sound bad.
Isn't that crazy?
When you're really full, even your favorite dessert.
Hey, you go to the all-you-can-eat buffet, that steak eventually has a diminishing return,
doesn't it?
I mean, it doesn't matter what it is.
Eventually you're just like, eh.
You know what?
To the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.
That's what the Bible says.
And let me tell you what, if you're hungry, you will eat.
But there are people, they will not eat because they're so lazy, it's in their hand, and they
won't even eat it.
They're so lazy, you could put them in the shower and turn it on and they wouldn't even
like wash themselves.
They're so lazy, you could just put them at work and they'll just sit there and not work.
They just refuse to do it.
It's a sickness of the mind that does not need to be catered to.
Look at verse number 25 here, it says, smite a scorn or in the simple will beware and approve
one that has understanding and he will understand knowledge.
Like sometimes you have to smite someone publicly so other people can learn from that
admonition.
I can't fix him, but at least I can fix the other people.
I can warn other people.
Proverbs 26, Proverbs 26, look at verse 13, the Bible says, the slothful man saith, there
is a lion in the way, a lion is in the streets, I can't go work.
There's a lion out there.
Look, if there was a literal huge lion right outside the front door, I wouldn't go outside
either.
Isn't that like a pretty good excuse theoretically?
Let's think about it.
If there was a literal lion sitting on top of your car, you'd probably call into work.
You'd be like, there's a lion on my car.
I'm going to wait that one out.
I'm not going to go and wrestle the lion and get to work, but this guy doesn't really have
a lion.
You know what he does?
He creates a fictitious fake lying story that sounds like there's a lion so that you'll
feel bad for him because nobody in their right mind would be mad at their employee for not
showing up to work because there was a lion trapping them in their house.
I mean, if there was a literal lion, you'd feel like a pretty crappy employee, like employee
fired because lion kept him from getting to work.
You know, he'd be like, everybody's like, why'd you fire that guy?
He had a lion.
Okay.
Look, when someone comes up to you and he asks for money, they're not going to give
you a story like there was a chicken in the way.
There was a gray stray cat and I can't cross cats, you know, you're like, come on bro.
There was a caterpillar on the door handle.
I couldn't touch it.
Yucky.
You know?
No.
They're going to say there was a lion.
I heard there's a lion out there.
You know, they're going to come up with some excuse that sounds legitimate, but notice
it says it's the slothful man.
Verse 14.
Hey, you know the diligent man, he'll get the gun and he'll kill the lion.
He's not going to just hide until the lion walks away.
Okay.
Verse 14 as the door turned upon his hinges, so did the slothful upon his bed.
The slothful hides his hand in his bosom and grieve with him to bring it again to his mouth.
He's so lazy, he can't even just pick it up to eat.
Maybe you've been really sick where it's like feeding yourself was really hard, but I mean,
this is the slothful guy's life.
He doesn't even want to feed himself.
He wants to be on a feeding tube.
Go to Ephesians chapter number four, Ephesians chapter number four.
If I can't call this guy out, who am I going to call out?
Well, the Bible commands me to do that.
That's why you have to work quietly.
You're not working quietly when everybody knows what you're doing.
Everybody knows your situation.
Everybody knows how much money is in your bank account.
Everybody knows how many overdraft fees you have.
Everyone knows everything that's going on.
Look, when someone comes up to me and I didn't ask and they're telling me about their financial
situation, I don't think good things.
I'm thinking like, what do you want?
Or they start buttering you up.
That was the best sermon I've ever heard, Pastor Shelley.
That was so amazing.
Man, I just, I'm really hungry.
And there's that outback you keep mentioning down the street, it sounds really good.
No one's taken me there in a while.
And that would be really cool if someone took me there, you know.
What are you doing for lunch, Pastor Shelley?
Where are you going?
Oh, we're going home.
What are y'all having?
That sounds so good.
That sounds delicious.
Oh, man.
You probably have an extra chair at your table, right?
You could probably fit me in your car, huh?
Move the kid over a little bit.
Maybe you could just hold the kid.
You don't mind if I take a nap on the couch, do you?
I'll just be here a couple days.
Said no one ever.
It actually never happens.
It's like they'll live there for the rest of their life.
Look, you need to be careful what people, the people will lie and flatter you.
You're not special.
People don't really want to be your friend.
They're probably lying to you, okay?
I'm not saying that to be mean.
I'm just saying, you know, you have to show yourself friendly.
People don't just walk up and just want to be your best bud for no reason.
If they do, beware of that person.
Ephesians chapter 4, look at verse 28.
Let him that stole still no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the
thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Look, you should be able to provide not just for yourself, even for other people.
When you can't even provide for yourself, how are you going to provide for others?
Don't be a thief.
Don't be someone that steals from people.
Now go to Leviticus 23 and I want to show you, look, if someone is in this situation,
the only thing that really the Bible shows that you would offer them would be a job.
And you know, the Bible talks about helping the poor, but let me show you how they help
people in the poor in the Bible, okay?
Let's say there's someone that's legitimately poor.
We're not even going to talk about why.
We're just saying they're legitimately poor, okay?
What does the righteous person do to help this person?
Okay, Leviticus 23, look at verse 22.
And when you reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the
corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest.
Thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and unto the stranger, I am the Lord your God.
Notice what he says.
It says, leave the corners of your field and don't reap them.
So does it say here, reap the corners of your field and bundle them up pretty and hand them
to poor people?
No.
It says, leave them alone and let the true poor person come and work and gather themselves
and then picket and then they can have.
It does not say to just hand them the stuff that you reaped.
Hand them the stuff that you worked hard for, okay?
And yeah, the Bible talks about giving alms to the poor, but let me tell you what, it's
going to be people that are in need, not people that are going around being lazy and jerks
and flattering me and trying to rip me off.
And you can just, you can put that in your pipe and smoke it, okay?
Go to Proverbs 29, go to Proverbs 29.
You say, well, I'm righteous because I just give to people indiscriminately.
No.
You're not righteous then.
You're violating clear scripture.
Proverbs 29, look at verse number 7.
The righteous consider it the cause of the poor, but the wicked regardeth not to know
it.
You're actually wicked.
Did you know that?
Indiscriminately giving money to the poor means you're wicked.
If you consider why they're poor, that makes you righteous.
The person that just is a Democrat and just indiscriminately gives all this welfare and
assistance to people is wicked.
The person that's righteous says, why do you need money?
Oh, your car broke down and it literally did?
Let me help you.
Hey, you literally, you got injured and you can't work?
Let me help you.
Hey, this tragedy happened, this horrible thing.
How about the person that gets beat up and he's laying by the side of the road and
there's no one to help him.
And then what?
The Samaritan comes and he helps him.
But the guy laying on the ground wasn't like, help me.
He didn't even talk.
He saw his need and then he helped him.
He didn't have the guy come up to him and be like, some guy's beat me up, bro.
Really?
Yeah.
All the wounds are underneath my clothes, I don't want to show you.
He had obvious need.
It was obvious.
He considered what was going on and then he helped that person.
He helped legitimate poor people.
Go if you would to 1 Corinthians 9, 1 Corinthians 9.
And when you don't work quietly, you will be publicly marked.
Praise the Lord that you can come to a church where you're held accountable.
Hey, if you come to this church, you can't just live however you want.
You actually have to work.
You can't be a drunk and you can't be a fornicator and you can't bring leaven into this church
because it's a shame and reproach to Christ.
We're here for God, not for your handouts.
If you thought this was a food pantry, you're wrong.
We're here to serve God, not to serve you.
And if you come to church thinking what you're going to get out of it, you already have the
wrong mentality.
You're here for God.
We're here to serve Him and worship Him and obey Him and be a better person, not to try
and rip people off and go around and sell crap or steal crap or freeload.
That's not this place.
And if you think that's this place, you're mistaken.
Now I had you turn to 1 Corinthians 9, this is my last point.
You need to work quietly to be a good example, like the Apostle Paul.
And the Apostle Paul took this to such an extremity because he wanted to set the best
possible example.
Look at verse number 7.
Who goeth the war for any time at his own charges?
Who planted the vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof?
Or who feedeth the flock and eateth not the milk of the flock?
Say I these things as a man, or saith not the law the same also?
For it is written in the law of Moses, thou should not muzzle the mouth of the ox that
treadeth out the corn.
Does God take care for oxen?
Or saith he altogether for our sakes?
For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope,
and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.
If we have sown in you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal
things?
So the Apostle Paul's bringing up this idea, saying, hey, is it okay for a minister to
be paid for his work in the ministry?
And he says absolutely.
In fact, when it talks about not muzzling the mouth of the ox, he cares way less about
the cow and more about the preacher of the gospel.
He says that's the whole purpose of that even being written.
It wasn't really for the cow, it was for you guys.
Because people aren't stupid to think that I can just work a beast all day in the field
and not feed it and it's going to keep working.
You got to keep feeding that beast.
You got to put the carrot out for him to want to keep working.
And you have to feed him the carrot so that he'll keep working.
And here's the reality.
People that are working and serving God, they deserve to be paid.
They have the power and the right and the privilege of being paid because it's still
work.
So the Apostle Paul lays down this very clearly.
And when he was going and working for the church of Thessalonica, he had every right
to take a paycheck, to take money and to be provided for, but he never did.
Not even one time with them, not even one piece of bread, because he wanted to set an
example to them and teach them how they needed to work so that he wouldn't have this stupid
mentality.
These young single guys, and it's not just this church, it's been every church like the
New Ivy Church.
These young stupid single guys, they come up and they go soul winning and so they feel
like they should get paid to just show up at our church and go soul winning and be provided
for.
Wrong.
Why don't you be like Paul?
And you know, people that I'm going to put on my staff, they can minister to God and
provide their own bills and they've already proven that.
If someone can't provide for themselves in the secular world, they're not going to get
paid on staff to do the ministry work.
This isn't like your plan of like, I can't keep a job down in the real world, maybe if
I went in ministry it'd work out.
Wrong.
Like the ministry is above secular work, okay?
So if you can't keep a job down in the real world and pay your bills in the real world,
don't expect to ever work for me or for the church or for God, okay?
Maybe somewhere else, but not here.
He says in verse 12, if others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather?
Nevertheless, we have not used this power, but suffer all things, lest we should hinder
the gospel of Christ.
Do you not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple
and they which wait at the altar are partakers of the altar?
Even so, hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the
gospel.
He reiterates it even more.
Hey, they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel, saying, you know what?
The full-time evangelists and the full-time pastors and deacons and whatever, they should
be able to eat from the gospel.
They should work and be able to be paid.
We have this power.
But he says, you know what?
I suffer, meaning it wasn't pleasant, all things, just so I don't hinder the gospel
in any way.
He wanted to set the most perfect example possible.
He said in verse 14, even so, hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel
should live of the gospel, verse 15, but I have used none of these things, neither have
I written these things, that it should be so done unto me, for it were better for me
to die than that any man should make my glory void.
So Paul felt so strongly about this, he said, I'd rather die than start taking a paycheck
from the ministry, because part of his ministry was to set forth an example for all churches
to know how to operate for the rest of time.
When we say, like, where do we get instructions from the church, it's Paul.
So he wants to set the most perfect example, the most ideal example, and he's going to
go above and beyond what he's able to do, just to prove a point.
He's proving a point here.
He's saying, look, I don't want people to think that serving God is a meal ticket, necessarily.
No, I'm willing to serve God even without the paycheck, okay?
And he says here in verse number 16, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory
of, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.
For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward.
But if against my will a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me, what is my
reward?
Then verily that when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge,
that I abuse not my power and the gospel.
For though I be free from all men, yet if I may myself serve it unto all, that I might
gain the more.
What is the apostle Paul saying?
And this is kind of a tricky wording here.
He says, for if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward.
What does he mean by willingly?
What he's saying is this.
He is willing to pay his own bills and then still preach the gospel, okay?
And if he does that, he has a reward.
What's the opposite of that?
Being paid to preach the gospel.
Meaning he doesn't necessarily want to do it.
He's obligated to do it because he's been hired to do it, okay?
And he's saying if you're hired to do something and you just do it, not because you necessarily
really want to at that moment, it's just a dispensation of the gospel has been committed
unto you, okay?
But if he does on top of it, he preaches the gospel and he's doing work for the Lord and
he's serving in the ministry and he's paying his own bills, he's not doing any of the work
of the Lord to pay his bills, then he's saying he has a reward.
And what's that reward?
That he can make the gospel free.
He's not chargeable to any single person.
And you know what?
There's plenty of men in this room.
They serve the Lord and make it free to others.
They travel and they go preach to other churches.
They're going and preaching the gospel every single week and they're not getting a paycheck.
They get zero money from it.
In fact, some cases they're paying to do these things.
They're spending their own gas money and they're spending their own money for lodging or food
or whatever at times.
And the apostle Paul saying, hey, I was paying my whole way to set this example that I'm
not a hireling.
He's saying I don't want you to get confused about me.
I'm not going around traveling from church to church so that I can feed my family.
I'm going around from church to church because I care about the gospel.
And he doesn't want anyone to get that idea.
He's not a muchinary.
Oh, did I say that out loud?
What is that?
These missionaries, they travel from church to church, they don't even really care about
the minister anymore.
They're doing it because they have to feed their family.
They're obligated to go.
You say, how do you know that, Pastor Shelley?
Well, because they don't go soul winning.
Oh, because they're going to a foreign land to preach the gospel and they're not even
learning the language.
That person doesn't care.
That person's just taking a paycheck.
And look, whenever you do take a paycheck, there could be times in your ministry where
you're just kind of obligated to do some task for the gospel and you didn't really want
to, but because you're paid, you have to.
That's life.
Just like there's parts of your job that you're not like, I really want to do that today,
but you've got to do it because you're hired.
That's part of your job.
The apostle Paul's saying everything I did was just because I wanted to.
It was never because I had to.
It was never of necessity in the sense that I had to pay my bills.
It was necessity because I feel the burden of the gospel.
That was where the true necessity was laid.
Go to chapter four real quick and I'm going to wrap this up, all right?
This is a lot of verses here, but I want to lay down a clear doctrine and look, I feel
like I preach on this and then people just don't care.
People should be working quietly and if someone comes up to me and is, you know, laying it
on thick about asking me for money, I just tell them you need to work quietly.
They'll get a job.
Here's where you can get a job.
Do you want me to help you get a job?
You know, here's the wanted ads.
Here's a ministry that will help you out.
I'm not going to just sit here and just dole over money indiscriminately and you know,
I've helped plenty of people that legitimately need help, legitimately can't provide for
their needs, legitimately working, they struggle, they have problems, okay, and you should too.
I don't want to be a church that's not charitable.
I don't want to be a church that's not loving and not kind and not willing to help a brother
and sister in Christ out, but let me tell you something.
If you're helping the lazy out, you're not helping them.
It's a wrong mentality.
First Corinthians chapter four, verse nine, I think that God has set forth us the apostles
last as it were appointed to death for we are made a spectacle unto the world and to
angels and to men.
We are fools for Christ's sake, but you're wise in Christ.
We are weak, but you're strong, you're honorable, but we are despised.
Even in this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted
and have no certain dwelling place.
Now if I just read that verse by itself, wouldn't that be every description of a homeless person?
And what did God do?
He ordained that the apostles would be like that.
So if someone wants to come to me and say, hey, Pastor Shelley, I'm going to be a full
time evangelist like in the Bible, so give me money and food and clothing, I'll be like,
hey, here's your verse.
Why don't you be like the apostles then?
You can hunger and thirst and have no certain dwelling place and you can be in pain.
If that's what you really want to do, here's your life verse.
But don't expect me to put you in some mansion while you go live your gospel life.
I want to bring people on staff that actually are succeeding in the world because then they'll
succeed in the ministry too.
If you've been faithful with the unrighteous, then we can trust you the true riches.
I'm not going to employ the lazy.
That doesn't even make sense.
He says in verse number 12, and labor, working with our own hands.
Notice the apostles were working with their own hands.
They worked.
And yet, some of them got paid too.
Other ministers got paid.
There's nothing wrong with getting paid, but the apostle Paul wanted to go so above and
beyond getting paid so as to set this example so that nobody would become a freeloader.
And you know what, it makes sense.
But obviously, if we don't ever pay ministers, less work will get done.
You think the apostle Paul couldn't have done more if he had taken a paycheck?
He could have personally.
But here's the thing.
He was setting an example for millions in the future, and by him setting this example,
he's going to get more work done for the cause of Christ that way.
But as for us, we already have Paul's example.
So then we can employ ministers full time so they can focus on the ministry of God.
They can focus on the ministry of the work of the Lord, and more can be done for God.
Look, I've done both.
I've worked where I made no paycheck, worked for the church, and let me tell you what,
I did a lot less for the church.
I can do a lot more if I get a paycheck.
I get a lot more done when I have Dylan on staff.
I have a lot more when I can get other people employed.
And you know, would the God, I'd hire every single person if it was humanly possible that
was good.
You know what, if you can't show yourself faithful out there, you're not going to show
yourself faithful in here.
And we need to work quietly to show ourselves a good example.
The apostle Paul was the ultimate example, and people were like, oh, Jesus, he didn't
have no where to lay his head.
Okay, well now you're blaspheming Christ because if you're going to put that in the context
of him being like a homeless person or lazy, you're a jerk.
Because that is not, Jesus Christ humbled himself, and yeah, he didn't have any where
to lay his head, but when he went into town, people are offering for him to stay with them.
No one's offering the homeless person to stay with them just because.
They're not like, will you please stay with me?
They're doing it out of, they feel like compassion, you know, out of empathy or something.
People genuinely want Jesus to stay with them.
Why?
Because he's a blessing.
Because he's healing your daughter of sickness.
Hey, people are like, please come to my house.
I'll come eat with me.
Hey, come over here.
People are begging him not to depart from him.
People are telling homeless people to get away from them.
It's the exact opposite type person.
They're like, take a shower.
Okay.
You know, get away, you know, trim, trim those nails.
Like Jesus, everywhere, look, when Jesus went to work anywhere, they always were like,
he's the hardest worker.
He's like beside himself.
They weren't thinking like, oh, who's this guy getting free food?
He's providing the food.
He's providing the food, the spiritual food.
He's providing all the places where they stay.
Look, when they just go into town, he's like, go to this guy.
It's already been prepared for me.
Look, you weren't already preparing a place for the homeless person tonight, but they
were already preparing a place for Jesus.
Why?
That's Jesus.
Okay.
Don't use him as an idea of like, oh, this is a glorified homeless person.
No, that's stupid.
That's foolish.
That's nonsense.
That's blasphemy.
Okay.
Go to first and before and we're going to finish this sermon.
And he blesses every home he visited.
You know, when you have these, these jerk freeloaders come to your home, you're not
thinking like, I can't wait for them to come back.
But people are wanting Jesus to come back because they're like, this was awesome.
This was great.
This was fantastic.
This was a once in a lifetime experience.
First Timothy chapter number four.
Look at verse 12.
Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers.
Look, ministers are supposed to be an example of how to live, not the opposite.
You should look at them and say, wow, that person's got it all together.
Not, man, that guy just can't even hold down a job.
That guy's lazy.
That guy's a jerk.
Look at verse 75 verse eight.
But if any provide not for his own, especially for those of his own house, he hath denied
the faith and is worse than an infidel.
That's what the Bible says.
That's if you don't provide for others.
How much worse when you're not providing for your own self.
It's sick.
Look at verse 17.
Let the elders that rule well be kind of worthy of double honor, especially they who labor
in the word and doctrine.
For the scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the
laborer is worthy of his reward.
You know what?
Worthy of a reward when you labor.
And notice, ministers should work hard.
They should be a good example of working hard so that the congregation will work hard.
And you know what?
We're all ambassadors for Christ.
We're all in that royal priesthood and we should all work hard.
And you know what?
God is going to reward you according to your labor.
If you're saved, your destination's heaven no matter what, okay?
And at the end of the day, there's only one thing that's going to matter.
You're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and you're going to be judged
according to your what?
Your works.
You know what the worst thing I can do is let a brother be lazy, physically, spiritually,
in any area of his life because eventually he's going to be judged according to his works
and the only thing that matters is his work.
So if I give him handouts till Jesus come, what does that profit him?
Riddle me that.
If I give people physical and spiritual handouts till now till Jesus comes, what does that
profit him ever?
Well, he won't die young.
Okay.
What if he dies a thousand years old and all he got was handouts?
Did that profit him anymore?
No.
And the Bible says to depart and be with Christ is far better anyways.
So you need to encourage them to work and to work quietly.
Why?
So you're not disorderly, so you don't get publicly marked and number three, so that
you set a good example.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Father, so much for your word.
Thank you for these clear teachings and these instructions.
I pray that we'd all be motivated to work hard, that we'd understand the importance
of working and that we'd see that we want to set a good example so that people want
to be attracted to Christ, that we'd be a good ambassador to Christ so that we could
do more work for you and the work that we do is honoring and glorifying you.
And I pray that you would just bless the fruit of our hands, that you would bless the labors
that we do, that you would bless Steadfast Baptist Church in 2021 and that we would not
be looking for the handouts this year, but rather we'd be looking for what we could
do to work and that we work hard and what do we find our hand to do that we do with
all our might.
And in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.