You
This is my song
Praising my
Savior
All the day long
Perfect
submission
Perfect
Eli
Visions of rapture
Now burst on my
side
Angels descending
Bring
from above
Echoes of mercy
Whispers of love
This is my
story
This is my
song
Praising my
Savior
All the day long
This is my
story
This is my
song
Praising my
Savior
All the day long
Perfect submission
All is
at rest
I am my
Savior
I'm happy and blessed
Watching and
waiting
Looking above
Filled with
His goodness
What's in His love
This is my
story
This is my
song
Praising my
Savior
All the day long
This is my
story
This is my
song
Praising my
Savior
All the day long
All is at rest
Song number
162
To God be the glory
Song number
162
Everybody sing it out
real loud together on the verse
To God
be the glory
Great things He
hath done
So loved He
gave us His Son
Who yielded
His life and
atonement for sin
And opened
the life game that
all may go in
Praise the Lord
Let the earth hear His voice
Praise the Lord
Let the people rejoice
O come
to the Father
through Jesus the Son
And give
Him the glory
Great things He
hath done
O birth and redemption
the purchase of
blood
To every believer
the promise
of God
The vilest
offender who truly
believes
That moment from Jesus
a pardon
receives
Praise the Lord
Let the earth hear His voice
Praise the Lord
Let the people rejoice
O come
to the Father
through Jesus the Son
And give
Him the glory
Great things He
hath done
Great things
He hath
done
And great are rejoicing
through Jesus the
Son
But purer and higher
and greater
will be
Our wonder
our transport
will be
Praise the Lord
Let the earth hear His voice
Praise the Lord
Let the people rejoice
O come
to the Father
through Jesus the Son
And give
Him the glory
Great things He
hath done
Thank you so much for coming to
Steadfast Baptist Church. If you do
need a bulletin, we still have some printed out
and we can get you another
copy if you need one. On the
front we have our Bible memory passage
Psalm 58
and
any child that can quote
the verse of the week is able to receive
an ice cream treat immediately following
the service. They just
have to quote it to one of the ushers, myself or
Brother Oz. And then
also we have our service times
so many times
regional so many times also listed there.
Church stats, please continue
to turn that
in. I think I have
an outdated bulletin
and I want to make sure I can I get a different one
because I want to make sure
I get the paragraph right.
And then
also we have
several ladies who are expecting
please be in prayer
for all of those ladies. Also we have
our prayer list.
We've been praying for the Negeris for health.
We've been praying for Miss Lucy's mother.
We've been praying for Brother Cameron's leg.
We've been praying for
Wallach's daughter. We've also
been praying for Miss
Cooley's stepdad.
Praying for the
Adari family. Unfortunately
they lost their son John
and so we're just praying
that the Lord comfort them during
their loss. Also we've been
praying for
Brother Awe's brother
and then we've been praying for
the Scott family for their health as well.
Also if you'd be
in prayer for Brother Conley
he got sick too and he's
we're hoping that he can have a quick recovery
as well. So
several people to be in
prayer for. We can go ahead and just say
a quick word of prayer now
as a church family. Thank you
Heavenly Father so much for our church
for this opportunity to be here
for this service. I pray that you
bless all these expecting ladies.
Please be with them.
Please help them during their pregnancy.
Please help their baby's development.
I pray that you give them a timely birth
and that you would help bless
them through that process. I pray that you'd also
help our church family that's struggling
with health. Please give them
strength. Please give them comfort if possible.
I pray that you just give them a miracle.
Give them a speedy recovery.
Church family is just
temporarily sick. I pray that you would just help them
to get over that very
soon and that they could return back to church.
Also if you'd please help our church
family that has
various needs with
their jobs, with travel, with
loved ones who they want to be saved.
I pray that you would help give favor.
Open doors for them and that you
would bless our congregation so that we could keep
giving you the honor and glory. And in Jesus' name
we pray. Amen.
On the back
we have note about church reminders,
upcoming events. We have
the Mighty Men's Conference which is happening
tomorrow.
If you are planning
on kind of carpooling
we're going to meet
here at the church and
leave around 8 30
a.m. So if you want to carpool with us
from this location, you
can. The spot that we're going to be
meeting, it's not necessarily
super far.
So some people may just want to drive there
directly and that's totally
fine. But if you do want
to just carpool or ride with us
you can show up and
you can probably
either ride in the church van or
I know some other people might just be driving down
and you can ride with
them. So really
looking forward to that. Also if you
are planning on coming
later or at a
different portion during
the event, if you're just coming for the evenings
and everything like that, it's totally fine.
You might just check the email because
I believe the email has instructions on how to go
into the property and where to go.
Sometimes cell phone reception can be a little
spotty at where we're at
so don't get mad
at me if I don't respond to your text or
Brother Oz or anything like that because
it's very unlikely that
we're going to be responding to
your texts or emails or calls
in a very immediate fashion so
just keep that in mind.
But really looking forward to
tomorrow. There's also an email that
went out that had a lot of instructions regarding
just things and reminders of what to
bring. But imagine going
to prison and
those are the accommodations that you have, what
you would like to bring with you. So
that's kind of a good
basis of like what type of things
you might need to bring. So more
than just a metal cot and
that's about what you
get. You get a metal cot
or wooden cot and
running water. So that's good
but if you'd like a pillow
or any of those things please
do make sure that you're bringing that just
as an FYI. The first year
we went we didn't really anticipate all that
so I just called it prison camp.
Since then we've
updated
our itinerary and
can plan a little bit more accordingly.
But of course we're really
grateful and thankful that
Pastor Thompson is able to join us
on our men's retreat and
I asked him, I said, hey since you're coming
all this way why don't you preach for us on Wednesday
too? And so it's a great honor
that he's here with us and he's
going to be willing to preach for us
tonight as well. And so
make sure to thank Pastor Thompson for being here
and preaching to us.
And then also he's going to be preaching
again for our men's conference
and so really looking forward to both
of those sermons. And I'm not
talking about just tonight, both the sermons tonight.
So the sermon
also in the future. That's a joke because he
preaches long, okay? But none of y'all
got that. Alright, alright.
You're like, does he preach longer than you? Probably
not but it's okay.
Also
FBBF is
October 12th to the 15th
and we're really excited
Pastor Thompson is also going to be preaching for us
for that event on Sunday morning
and then we have other guests that are going to be coming
and preaching for us on Thursday and on Friday.
We're going to have events
on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
So definitely
if you can or you're able
to take off some time
that might be a good time. We'll have
God willing, we'll have our
spelling bee on Saturday
morning and we'll also
have a couple other fun activities for you.
And so I'm really looking forward to
that conference and that fellowship.
Also, November
4th is an Abilene, Texas
soul winning marathon and so
if you want to pencil that in on your calendar.
That's pretty much all I have as far
as announcements. We're going to go
ahead and sing our
Psalm of the Week,
Psalm 119.
And just again
as a reminder, unfortunately
the copy y'all have does have
one small lyrical
change
and that's just on that
bottom repeating chorus
where it says the wicked have laid
a snare for me. It's
actually not supposed to have the snare
held out. It's supposed to just go
snare to four and then the four is held out.
So it's kind of sung like
the wicked have
laid a snare for
me. So that's how it should
be sung and
written. So that's how we practice it
and play it and sing it. So
just as an FYI, if you actually can
read music, I don't know if any of you can,
but just a
reminder of how that kind of flows so you
don't get confused. So
we're going to sing it out nice and loud. Psalm
119.
All right. That was Psalm
119 in your Bible or in the laminated
handout.
Sing it out real loud together on the first.
The
righteous
man
I
did
very much
way.
Oh
oh
okay
oh
Oh
My princess
Oh
My princess
Right now is the offering plates are being passed around
James chapter 4 we're gonna turn to James chapter 4
Oh
James for the Bible reads from whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that warn your
members ye lust and have not ye kill and desire to have and
Cannot obtain ye fight and war yet you have not because he asked not
He asked and received not because he asked amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts
Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God
Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God
Do you think that the scripture saith in vain the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy
But he giveth more grace wherefore he saith God resisted the proud but giveth grace under the humble
Submit yourselves therefore to God
Resist the devil and he will flee from you draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you
Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purify your hearts ye double-minded
Be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up
Speak not evil one of another
Brethren he that speaketh evil of his brother and judges his brother speaketh evil of the law and judges the law
But if thou judge the law thou art not a doer of the law
But a judge there was one lawgiver who was able to save and to destroy who art thou that judges another
Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow
We will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appearth for a little time and then vanish away
For that he ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that
But now you rejoice in your boastings all such rejoicing is evil
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and do with it not to him
It is sin. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer father in heaven. We thank you for Pastor Thompson
I pray Lord that
You would bless him with the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit as he preaches to us and help us to apply the message
To be doers of the word not hearers only Lord so that we may serve you to the best of our ability
We love you and in Jesus name I pray amen
It's great to be back at steadfast and see the new building it's great and
I'll have to see the other things that usually are out there. So that's awesome, too
But I just want to thank Pastor Shelley miss
Mrs. Shelley for having me here and the whole steadfast family you guys are like family to me
So I really appreciate you coming out tonight it's nice to have
My other family here Dylan and Jasmine and the girls and great to see that. She's expecting another baby
So that's awesome. And I think Remy's gonna show up late, but he'll be here and I got Brandon from he traveled all the way
Down here just to hear me preach. He didn't know I
Think he was disappointed but you'll get to hear pastor Shelley tomorrow. I'm just kidding
No, but I just want to say thank you for having me here tonight
and I'm I'm preaching kind of a simple sermon tonight, and I hope that's alright, but
it's kind of like a maintenance sermon, but
Tyler sermon is blessings and cursings
And so basically, you know, obviously we can't be cursed like the unsaved
We're never gonna go to hell for one second
But we can be cursed in our lives when we don't do what God wants us to do
Well, we don't live how God wants us to live. And so that's why it's you know, blessings and cursings obviously
you know we can be blessed but we can also
Get chastened on this earth for the things that we are supposed to be doing and really, you know, I basically have
Just a simple solution for people to get on track in
their spiritual life and and I believe that you know
Obviously living this separated life is one of those things you have to learn to
you know get sanctified and that's a process that takes place when we are doing the things that God wants us to do and
You know, we need to be faithful to church
that's one of the things that God tells us that he commands in the New Testament that we are to be in church and
We're supposed to give unto the Lord not just monetarily but also, you know of our time and our talents and then
We're to pray to the Lord, you know, obviously
we're gonna get blessings when we pray and then we're gonna miss out on things when we don't and then
Obviously, we're supposed to be so wanting, you know, these like I said, it's basic, right?
So I'm gonna go through some of these things and just kind of talk about the blessings that we get
For keeping these types of commandments that God has us
to do in the New Testament and also from the Old Testament, but
Simple things but yet the blessings and the cursings that
Might come to follow if we don't do what God wants. So let's look down at
You know, I had I had him read James 4, but I think I just know okay, it's there
All right. Look at verse number 4 there. The Bible says the adulterers and
Adulteresses know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God
Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. So point number one tonight
We need to be you know, the we're supposed to have a separated life
So basically the blessings and the cursings the separated life versus the worldly life
So in James chapter 4 verse 4 it says, you know the he's calling
You know Christians adulterers and adulteresses because we have a tendency to whore ourselves out to different things that we shouldn't
Be doing and so he's basically talking about being a friend of the world
So we're not supposed to be and obviously God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son
we know that but when it's talking about the world's talk about the things and the lust of the world the pride of life and
You know just being a worldly Christian. So look at 2nd Corinthians chapter
6 verse 14
Because the Bible commands us to be separated onto the Lord, you know, we're a holy nation
We're a royal priesthood and God expects us to fulfill those roles
And yeah, we have the choice of whether we want to serve him or not
But in reality, you know, we should want to serve God. Why why wouldn't we want to serve God?
Especially when he saved us by his grace
We don't have to go and chop up animals and burn them off and have a barbecue even though that sounds nice right now
But you know, we don't have to do those things
I mean that was a lot of tedious things that they had to do in the Old Testament. We're saved by grace
We really have it easy in the New Testament compared to the Old Testament people in a lot of ways and
But obviously God's given us more
Responsibility as New Testament believers because we have the whole Word of God
We know what he expects from us
And so this is just one of those things that when you become a Christian and you know
There's a lot of people here that I've known for a long time
But there's some new people and and I realize that there's you know
I talked to a gentleman before the service only been here for two months
So these are things that we all need to be reminded of and we also
You don't need to maybe hear for the first time but look at what it says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14
The Bible says but be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. So are we supposed to hang out with unbelievers?
Are they supposed to be our best friends? No, they're not for what fellowship hath righteousness
With unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and the answer of those questions. They don't have we're not supposed to be
With the unrighteous we're not supposed to you know
The the picture of the Christian is that we are the light of the world
And so why would we want to hang around with the darkness?
Right, and then it says and what Concord hath Christ with Belial. I mean, what do Christ and the devil have in common?
They don't have anything in common. They're not hanging out Christ doesn't hang out with the devil
And so, you know, it's just giving us these companies these little, you know tidbits to help us understand that
You know, he's just driving the point in here it says or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel
So there it is again, you know the believer with the unbeliever and infidel is an unbeliever, isn't it?
and it says of what agreement hath the temple of God with idols for you're the temple of the living God as
God has said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be
My people so think about this we as Christians we carry God around with us all the time
He's in us and so any place we go anything we look at everything we listen to
God is with us in that and the Bible says we're not supposed to grieve the Holy Spirit of God
So to the best of our ability we should try to live a separated life
Unto the Lord look what it says in verse
17 wherefore
You know for this reason come out from among them and be separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean
Thing and I will receive you so God does call us to be separated from the world. He doesn't want us
Into worldly activities that you know, and look I'm not saying don't have hobbies don't have fun
Yes have fun
But you know not sinful hobbies not sinful fun because you know
We're not supposed to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season sin is pleasurable. That's why we do it
It's pleasurable to our flesh, but you know, we are different we're changed
And we should live as Christians in this world a separated life
It says that he will receive us and we're not to touch the unclean thing
So stay you and you know, what's unclean and what's not and if you don't maybe you should just read your Bible
Because the Bible is going to tell you everything that you need to know in your life for this world
it's the whole we got the whole Council of God at our fingertips probably multiple copies in our house and
We're to live a separate life so
God's gonna be you know on our side
So to speak when we live a separate life and obviously there's gonna be trials and troubles from the world and without
But God's gonna be pleased with us. That's what's important
So yes, I'm not and look I'm not saying if you do all this stuff
You're never gonna have trouble in your life because obviously there's temptations
Obviously there's trials that we go through and you know, really the worst enemy that we have
You know, obviously Satan's the worst enemy that we have but our own flesh is can be our own worst enemy
That's why we have to learn to master these things in our lives and I'll just read James 4 for again
It says the adulterers and adulteress is know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God
So when you want to be the world's friend when you want to love the world's things
When you want to count out for the for the queers and the homos and you want to just you know
Oh, well, I found out my cousin's a homo
So now I'm just you know, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go to this church anymore or something, you know, don't who cares
Does that person have some major effect on your life or something your queer cousin or whatever?
It's like why would people quit on God and quit on a great church over something like that
So but look what it says also and well you I had you turn away from it
But it says whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God
So that's strong language, isn't it? Who wants to be God's enemy in here?
Nobody, right
But the Bible says if we're gonna be friends with the world then he's gonna be our enemy
And so that would be kind of a curse in your life, wouldn't it? I mean who wants to have God as their enemy?
He's the worst enemy you could actually possibly have because God has the power, you know, obviously he's not going to destroy our
Soul in hell but he can destroy our life here on earth and make it very miserable
And so, you know, this is something that we have to get under control look at 2nd Chronicles chapter 19 verse 2
2nd Chronicles chapter 19 verse 2
So the first point that I'm talking about is the separated life versus the worldly life
You know you want God's blessings then separate yourself from the world if you want God's you want to be God's enemy
Well, then just by all means just continue to do all the worldly things that you used to do, you know
And and you know, if you're a Christian you're going to a bar you're a Christian and you know, you're looking at things
you're not supposed to I mean, obviously there's just a
Multitude of things that we can get wrapped up in because the old man always just wants to get out
The old man wants to take control and that's why we have to kill that guy every single day
That's why we have to take up our cross daily and follow
after him it says in 2nd Chronicles 19 verse 2 it says and
Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat
Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord therefore wrath is upon thee
From before the Lord so when you help the ungodly when you love the ungodly
Then God is going to be against you and he's going to put wrath upon your life
You know, I think that sometimes that we as Christians
We just don't realize that some of the things that we're going through
Might be chasing him from God and we really got to be in tune with that because obviously, you know, not everything is
Persecution sometimes, you know, we we're gonna get punished and you have to kind of realize that in your life and say well
What am I doing differently than I was doing last week? Why is this happening?
And it's good to question why things are going wrong in your life number two tonight is
The difference between you know
The blessings of someone who's faithful to church versus the curses of someone who's not now
Let's look at Psalm chapter 92 verse 13 Psalm chapter 92
verse 13
The Bible calls
Being in his house a blessing
look at verse 13 the Bible says
those that be
Planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God
So when we're planted in the house of the Lord tonight, there's a lot. I'm kind of preaching the choir
There's a lot of people planted in the house of the Lord tonight, right?
and the Bible says that when you do that you will flourish and
You know, it's it's reef. It's referencing plants, you know plants
Grow and you know when you plant them plants don't move
So don't move as this being the place that you plant yourself on Wednesday on Sunday morning and Sunday evening
And basically just whenever the doors are open here and there's something going on as much as you can be be involved in church because you
Know how you how you can kill the old man really easily is be around God's people
Because you know, you're not gonna just want to just sin in front of all of God's people. Are you I mean
It's just like, you know, I'm just gonna light up, you know, I'm just here
I mean, it's like you're not gonna do wicked thing
You're not gonna think of wicked things necessarily when you're in God's house
Planted in the house of the Lord and then just doing activities that the church has
You know
Do you think that pastor Shelley just does activities just because he doesn't have anything better to do and he's just like well
Let me just play another activity
no, he plans activities so that you guys can get involved get plugged in and just and obviously this church is a blessing to people
But you know the more that you're in church the more that you learn the better your Christian life is going to be and
Don't tune out the preaching, you know
Anything can just get get you can get used to anything, you know
There's some hard preaching that comes through this pulpit and we don't want to get numbed or calloused
To the things of God because you can get numbed and calloused even to hard preaching
People are sinful no matter what and we'll we can learn to callous our hearts
We can learn to just callous over the things of God and then you can just drift away and you know
If you're gonna be worldly, that's what's gonna happen. You're gonna drift away
But if you're planted in the house of the Lord then that is gonna be good for you plants
Don't move plants take roots, don't they when you plant them and you know some good soil they take roots
We're supposed to be rooted and grounded in the faith
You know, we're supposed to be here the pillar of the in the ground of the truth, which is God's house
Now we're God's house. We're all gathered together as believers. We all have God in us. The Holy Spirit is in us
But you know plants grow when they're water
Plants grow when they get Sun, you know
and of course you're gonna get the Son of God preached to you every single time you're in this place and
Plants create oxygen out of co2 and that blesses those that breathe that air in so you're gonna bless each other by being
planted in the house of the Lord and
In plants also produce fruit, you know a lot of plants, you know
Some of them don't I get that but the the trees that God's talking about the plants of God's talking about do look at verse 14
It says they shall still bring forth fruit in old age. So how long should you be in church?
Is there like is it when you retire then you just say well, you know
It's time for somebody else to be here and take care of this
No, we're supposed to still bring forth fruit in our old age
It says they shall be fat and flourishing. So, you know, there's your biblical reason to be fat, right but
It's talking about the plants, you know, sometimes those plants just get really bushy, right and
You know sometimes, you know, you get the the fruit that's coming on it and it makes it really heavy
But that's a blessing to bring forth fruit when you're older and you're still bringing forth fruit
It's talking about because you were planted in the house of the Lord so we should stay planted in the house of the Lord
Don't skip Wednesday just because you're tired. Don't skip Sunday nights because you're tired go to church. You'll be glad that you did
Now, let's look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24
So I talked about the blessings of being in church. Obviously, there's way more than I could ever talk about
I mean I could preach whole sermons
Hours and hours long sermons on each of these topics and I'm gonna try not to do that tonight to you
You know pastor Shelley was bringing up how I preach a long time
It's you know, you in order to pull the moat out of my eye. He has to pull that beam out of his own eye
I'm just kidding, but
He still has the record. All right
anyway
Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 the Bible says let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works
So this is this is a purpose of us being in God's house to provoke each other and to consider one another
You know, don't be selfish. It's important for you to be in church. It's not just important for you
It's important for the people around you to be in church to provoke people to love and good works
And it says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Don't forsake the assembly. What is this?
This is the assembling right here. Don't forsake that don't don't let it get old to you
You know just don't ever don't even have a mindset where it's we're not, you know
I don't should we go to church Sunday night?
Should we go to church Wednesday night because really the main service the Sunday morning service the Sunday morning preaching service is the one?
That's the biggest isn't it? Why is that because some people don't they forsake that assembling on Sunday night?
They forsake that assembling on Wednesday night now if someone lives like three or four hours away then yeah
Give them a break, right?
But you know, I'm sure that most of the people live far away and travel on Sunday. They stay for the whole day
they want to go soul winning, you know, hang out and fellowship with each other and then hit the next service and
You know, obviously you start your week off, right every week
We should start our week off right and go to the house to Lord pastor. Shelley doesn't have a choice. He has to show up
He's the pastor if he's just like well, you know, I just don't really feel like preaching on Wednesday night
So I'm just not gonna come he doesn't get that choice
And you know what? I don't get that choice unless I have somebody preaching for me and I'm somewhere else, right? So
Why don't you just say I'm gonna I'm gonna be planted in the house of the Lord
I'm gonna not forsake the assembling of ourselves. It says as the manner of some is
So some people do it right but exhorting one another so encouraging
One another the two good works right and so much the more as you see the day approaching, you know today is
Closer to Christ coming back than yesterday was right and you know tomorrow
He's gonna be even closer and Sunday's gonna be even closer
So the Bible is saying hey don't go to church less go to church more the more as you see the day approaching
for if we
What's it say there sin?
Willfully
What's it talking about here? Did it change subjects? No, it's talking about sinning willfully. It's a sin to not go to church
Is that what it's saying?
If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins
but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation
Which shall devour the adversary so, you know when we sin
We should realize when we sin willfully that we're looking, you know, you better be looking for that judgment because
It's coming but it's not a judgment that it's going to devour the adversaries that fire, but it's not going to devour us
but you know God can make our lives really uncomfortable and
So it says he that despised
Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses
So was Moses saved?
Yes, were the children were a lot of the children of Israel saved yes
If if a saved person committed murder under Moses's law, would they be dead without mercy?
Yes, so, I mean it's talking to Christians here, but it's also kind of jumping back and forth and saying hey
This is what the unbelievers are gonna get but that indignation in that judgment
It's could come from God on our lives in this world. It says or how much sore punishment verse 29
Suppose you suppose he shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden
Underfoot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and
Hath done despite the Spirit of Grace. Look Jesus died for the church
Isn't that what the Bible says his blood was shed for the church. So why would you despise?
You know the assembling of believers the church that he died for
You have a responsibility as a Christian to come to church
You have a responsibility as a Christian to exhort one another you have a response, you know to think of other people beside yourself
Think about everybody else quit being selfish come to church as much as you can. We need it
We need the spiritual recharge. We need every single sermon is preached in this pulpit. You guys need that
You need it to grow you need it to plant deeper roots to flourish more in your Christian life
It's for the perfecting of the Saints the Bible says and it says in verse 30 for we know him that hath said
Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense saith the Lord and again the Lord shall judge his people
So is it talking about God judging his people? Yes or no?
It is so and it's it's in regards to forsaking the assembly
Isn't that what the context was and then it says and this is I think one of the most scary verses in the whole Bible
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God
And that's a scary verse for Christians because when it says in the lot and the verse before that the Lord shall judge his people
You know, we ought to get we ought to get some fear of the Lord when we just just willfully sin and break his commandments
That's when we should be afraid and you know, well, you're like, well, we're not supposed to be we are supposed to be afraid of God
Our kids are you afraid of your dad? He should be because he's the one that probably gives the worst spankings, right?
Who kids raise your hand if you think your your dad gives the worst spanking raise your hand?
All right, the moms
There's still some moms some moms are laced in India, huh?
But you know, we should fear God
Because he is our Heavenly Father and he's gonna he's gonna chastise us
harshly sometimes
Especially when we're willfully sinning it amazes me how I can preach these verses
And yet the same people skip church over and over again without any fear and I just think
They I know that they heard me
I've preached a lot about this in the last year and
Then those same people don't understand why their life is falling apart while their marriage is going bad why they're broke
Why they're always sick and why their life seems cursed and I'm just thinking
The Bible says you're gonna be judged and I'm not saying that everybody that's sick
Okay, so don't take me out of context here. Obviously people still get sick and job was sick and I get that
But it you know, it seems like the people that miss the most church have the most problems
I mean, that's just kind of my experience as a pastor and I'm just like hey dummy get back into church start serving
God again start being faithful to the things of God again
Encourage other people and provoke them under good works and then maybe your life will turn around a little bit
Maybe God's gonna let off and real and you know, here's what we got to do though. We got to confess those sins to God
Because if we just act like there's no problem
Isn't it funny how the people that skip church the most they don't realize that everybody realizes that their excuses are weak
They're like, here we go again
it's just like I
Just look people that people know that you just it's noticeable when you're not here
Your pastor notices when you're not here and obviously there's there's valid excuses to miss church
I'm not saying like, you know, if you're got in a car accident, you need to go to the hospitals like Church Hospital
You know, which one should I do?
But every week it shouldn't be another excuse why you couldn't make it. That's all I'm saying. So number three tonight someone
Who is giving versus someone who is not
so
The blessings of those that give and I am going to talk mainly about just money
Okay, and I know that this is not a popular subject in the new IFB
But it is still true that you if you don't give unto the Lord, you know
And I would include the spiritual sacrifices that we're supposed to make
But I'm just gonna mainly talk about money. I'm sorry
I didn't clear this with Pastor Shelley, but I think that you know, it's in the Bible
It needs to be preached every once in a while. So let's just look at Malachi chapter 3. This is where everybody goes. This is the
main
Text where people will go for tithing. You're like, well tithing isn't in the New Testament. We'll get there
but
And you're like, well, you just want money
If I was in this for money
Look, I gave up the golden ticket to be a pastor
I knew the day that I became a pastor that my career was gonna be gone someday and I just I counted that cost
I knew it was gonna happen. So when it happened, I wasn't really worried about it
You know what? My philosophy is on that. I was looking for a job when I found that one
So if I actually need to go get another job, I have skills that I could go and work someplace else and be just fine
but
You know, I mean I put a lot off for the ministry, but you know what that God calls us to forsake
Oh anyway, so who cares?
We got way more riches waiting for us in heaven that cannot be taken away
We can't get those rewards are not going to disappear
We're gonna we need to be stacking up treasure in heaven and not worrying so much about the things of
This earth but look what it says in Malachi 3 verse 6
It says for I am the Lord I change not therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. So obviously it's a very popular verse
but
The fact that he doesn't change is an advantage for us because we would be consumed
You know if God changed, but he says I'm gonna give you eternal life
I'm never gonna destroy you in hell. So look at verse 7
It says even from the days of your fathers
You're gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them
Return unto me and I'll return unto you sayeth the Lord of hosts, but you said wherein shall we return?
So then they're like, well you got you can ask the dumb question. Well, here's the here's the good answer
Well a man robbed God
Yet you have robbed me but you say wherein have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings
You're cursed with a curse
So what happens when you rob God what's it say there you're cursed with the curse everybody repeat with me
You're cursed with a curse. That's what it says, right for you have robbed me
I mean just think about the audacity to just rob God
And and just fully think about that for a second
Even this whole nation. Do you think that the time Malachi wrote this scripture that there was saved people?
He's talking to here or is the whole nation just corrupted unsaved and reprobates. No, he's right. It says the whole nation
So there are saved people that God's talking to here
It's not you know, not just in the unsaved, you know Jews in Israel or whatever. He's talking to his people
He's saying you robbed me the whole nations robbed me
But then, you know, he gives us these blessings that we can he gives us a way to not be cursed
It says in verse 10 bringing all the tithes in the storehouse
that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now here with sayeth the Lord of hosts if I will not open the
Windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it
God says to prove me. This is one of the the great commands that God gives to us
He says, you know what? Why don't you prove me and see if it's true or not?
Give what you're supposed to give give the tenth. That's what God requires
Well, I'm not up here preaching whole check paychecks Sunday
I'm not up here saying give till it hurts give till you bleed or something
But what does God require 10%? That's what he requires
That's what tithe actually means in case you didn't know that but it says
That he will pour he said prove me
That I won't open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there will there not be room enough to receive
It and look, you know, I used to live before I was like a real faithful tither when I was a first a baby Christian
I
Would I would I was afraid to tithe because I just the math wasn't adding up. How's this gonna work?
but then when you get the faith of you know, I mean just think about this we put our trust our
Salvation trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and eternal security, but we can't trust him with our money
The money that he allowed us to make the money he allowed us to
You know to hang on to and he said just give a little portion back and I'm gonna bless you for sure
It's just gonna happen and I remember like
Pastors would get up and say, you know when I first started tithing, you know, I was afraid, you know
It wasn't adding up and I was like
How am I gonna pay for this bill and then like a check would come in the mail to cover the exact amount?
I was like is this you know, some kind of Benny and stuff or something?
But I remember when I the first time I did that and I was I was like
I just don't know how I'm gonna there was a certain bill and I'm not saying it was the exact amount
It was more than what I needed actually, but I did get a check in the mail and I was just like there's no way
This is real. It's like but it is
Prove God you trust him with your salvation trust him with the the promise that he says he's gonna bless you
For giving I mean, isn't that what it says?
Okay, this isn't me. Just trying to get your money. All right
So and then look what it says it not only that not only is he gonna bless us those that have robbed him before
but then it says and I and I
will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and
He shall not destroy the fruits of your ground
Now either shall your vine cast your fruit before the time in the field saith the Lord of hosts
It's obviously we're not farmers in this world. But you know, what does that mean to us?
You're not going to run out of work. You're not going to run out of substance
You're gonna be taken care of you know, God's gonna destroy the devourer for your sake
And it says and all nations shall call you blessed for he shall be a delights
um, you shall be a delight some land saith the Lord of hosts, so
Like there that's that's a pretty big list of blessings just for giving back something that God already allowed you to have right
Now let's turn to Haggai chapter 1. I mean I could probably just move on from there
But let me just tell you something if you just make the decision tonight
Maybe you are here and you you don't really fully
Give to the Lord like you should maybe you give some and that's great
But you're still robbing him if you're not giving them the whole 10%
So you're right you're being right but you're being wrong at the same time
It's kind of probably canceling things out
Because what do you think the opposite of that is if you continue to rob God, what's he gonna do?
He's gonna send the devourer. He's going to not bless you
He's not going to make sure you have enough to make the ends meet. He's not gonna call you blessed
He's not gonna call you a delights on land. He's gonna curse your life
Remember what it said in verse 9 your curse with the curse. So in order for them to break that curse
What do you have to do? You have to get right with God you have to give what you're supposed to give right Haggai
chapter 1 verse 5
now the context of this is is basically the children of Israel are kind of just putting off building the temple and
They're building their own houses and making sure that they got the remodel that they needed and and all this other stuff
But God says this in verse 5 now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts consider your ways
Think about think about what you're doing basically you have so much and bring in little
You eat, but you have not enough you drink, but you're not filled with drink
He clothes you
But is none warm and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes
Thus saith the Lord of hosts consider your ways
So
When you're not doing that which is right when it comes to monetary things like that
Then it's like you're earning a check
But the money is just dropping out of your pockets. You know you pop a tire on the way
You know to not go to church
You know you pop you
You lose your job
I mean God will find ways to punish us
But like the brand new washer and dryer that by the way the new washer and dryer suck
but I still have old-school wash machines and
I just get them repaired if I need to but maybe God
Part of God's blessing he's gonna allow your car to just run on
You know you drive it till the wheels fall off. It's like you got three hundred fifty thousand miles on it or whatever
It's still going you know that's a blessing
It's like the children of Israel their feet did their shoes of the souls of their feet didn't wear out
The whole 40 years God blessed them and allowed them that their shoes to supernaturally not lose its tread
But God can supernaturally make sure that that old wash machine you have still works
Or that old beater car still getting you back and forth to work. There's a lot of ways that God can bless you
You know that the house that you have is still not they're not raising the rent
But you know if you don't trust God with your finances then all those curses can be the opposite everything you buy
Sucks the warranty was worthless. You know the cars are all breaking down at the same time I
Mean and you laugh about this stuff, but it happens
It really does and then you know obviously we're not supposed to have evil surmises or just think well
They must not be telling it or something now don't have that attitude
Let them deal with that with God in the preaching right look at Luke chapter 12
Luke chapter number 12
The
Bible says in Luke 12 19, and I will say to my soul. This is the guy that wanted to build bigger and
Plan his retirement and his hedge funds and his 401k and that was more important than anything else
Building bigger barns. He says and I said and I will say to my soul soul
Thou as much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry
But God said unto him thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee then
Who shall those things be which thou has provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not what's it say they're rich toward God
So we know God's rich toward us. We need to be rich toward God and not just
Hoard everything like Scrooge McDuck or something or you know like a literal Jew right, but anyway
You know right now. We're experiencing a lot of big inflation and
This you know every time something like this happens where there's like a big recession or things like that the churches are affected by this
And obviously people can lose their job, and and that's a big portion of it
but the Bible doesn't say
Don't tithe as much when the economy is bad does it is that when you pull back and say well five percent
No, you should still continue to do the normal ten percent no matter
What's going on in the world and let me tell you something we can be recession-proof as Christians. We really can
But when you when you say it's more important to just get you know I would say this
It's more important even more important to give in the lean times because that really shows how much you really trust in God
So I'm not trying to punch you in the money here tonight. You know but
You know if why would God bless you in the times of lean when you're robbing him
So when if you're lean, and then you're robbing him it's gonna be even more lean for you
You know I knew a guy that was a contractor and during like the big house Fannie Mae Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac or whatever it was a
Lot of people were losing everything you know what he did
He just kept his prices the same as a contractor
And he trusted God with his finances, and he never lacked work that whole time because what usually gets hit construction
You know the blue-collar jobs
People don't want to get their bathrooms retiled people don't want to spend extra money for a roof
You know everybody just kind of tightens up
but you know God can make you recession-proof no matter what you're doing if you're faithful and
That's just a little bit of advice
And I've just seen these things play out in my life, so God can still bless you in the times of lean
But don't rob God just because you're cut short and you're waxing short just be faithful, and he'll make sure that you
Can get through it
so
There's some maybe there's some you know instead of cutting God short. Why don't you just cut your Starbucks bill short?
Instead of cutting God short why don't you just take your video you know stop paying for all those video subscriptions
You know we can be recession-proof, but don't start saying well. I'm cutting God short
and
because I still want to maintain my
Abundant life in Starbucks and Dutch brothers, and you know whatever just whatever it is your hobbies
So going out to eat for every single meal you know when the recessions happen
that's the time to maybe just hunker down and
You know make some meals at home
so
Don't cut back on the fuel that allows God's church to function at a high capacity
Because you guys have a high capacity function in church here. You guys are doing all kinds of things
You know I think that the great thing about one of the great things about the new IP
There's a lot of great things about it
But one of the great things about it is that we're just we do all these events
And then we just put them on with what God gives us and somehow we always just have enough
And that's and that's a blessing isn't it it's a blessing to be a part of this church
I mean your cure for wanting to leave a church like this. Just go to an old IFB Church for like one service
I'm not I'm not telling you to skip church
I'm just telling you to learn to appreciate what you have here because we can start seeing the moles
You know you know we can start
You know just seeing the weeds
And stop focusing on how great this church is and how great things are being done through it
And you start just thinking it's just like any old church. Just go to an old IP church
I'm not saying all old IP churches are bad. I'm just saying they're different
They recently had a someone from our church that was attending an old IP church, and they came back
fired up
All took was like a few altar calls
And
You know not tithing sermon a lot of times
You know these old IP churches will do like a tithing sermon every single service like you're just having to hear it one time
I don't know when the last time Pastor Shelley preached about it is but sure it's been a while
but
anyway, so
But now let me just get to 1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse 3 1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse 3
You're like what about the New Testament well, and I just kind of want to say this also not only does
You know
tithing help the church to do all these functions, but also helps support your pastor and
Do you want your pastor to have to work like some side job just because?
You didn't want to be rich with God
So we don't and I'm not trying to say pay Pastor Shelley more anything. That's none of my business
I'm just saying that when Paul was asked about this question, and he didn't even take a paycheck at this point
But here's what Paul says look at 1st Corinthians 9 3 it says my answer to them that do examine me is this
So people are always messing with preachers about the money that they make just that's just a fact
How we not power to eat and drink have we not power to lead about a sister a wife as well as the other
other apostles and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas or I only in Barnabas have not we power to forbear working he's like
we should be able to take a
Paycheck and forbear working a secular job all a lot of the other apostles did that's what he's saying
Who goeth to warfare any time in his own charges who planted the vineyard and it's not the fruit
There of or who feedeth the flock and eateth not the milk of the flock
He's saying hey if the pastor is leading and working and working hard
He should be able to or the full-time work or whatever you want to call it
Be able to eat the fruit of the things that he's doing you know the shepherd should be able to eat of the flock
And so on and so forth but look at verse 8
say I these things as a man or saith not the law the same also, so
What's he referring to the law of tithing, right?
Because look what it says for his written in the law of Moses thou shalt not muzzle the mouth
That of the ox that treadeth out the corn doth God take care for oxen
He didn't write that for the for the beast he wrote that for the the working ox
That's working hard and plowing the fields of God's
Harvest right it says 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 and hope should be a partaker of his hope
If we have sown unto you the spiritual things, excuse me, spiritual things
Is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? What's he saying?
He's like, is it like a big deal that we're we need to pay to get a paycheck or we should get a paycheck
It's not a big deal. It's actually something that the law teaches
And so when Malachi is talking about that he says that my house would be filled that meat would be in my house
And that's that's what the the Levites lived off of the tithes and offerings
So it's just how God's system is and it works beautifully if we're participating as we should
Do you not know that they which minister about the holy things live of the things of the temple and
They which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar
Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel
So New Testament tithing is covered
This is specifically what it's talking about that these things help the ministers to be able to minister in a better capacity
Turn to Proverbs chapter 3 verse 9
Proverbs chapter 3 verse 9. I realize I'm taking a long time on this point, but I think it's important
Especially at the times that we're living in right now and uncertainty all over the place. Where do we run?
Let's let's all be afraid. No, let's not be afraid. Let's just trust God
He's gonna get us through it and and yeah, it might get lean
I mean in Washington State we have the most expensive gas prices in the whole nation even over, California
And it is it's it's hurting people, you know
$5 a gallon. What are you guys paying here?
All right, what I think I'm called to Texas and I'm sure
I'm kidding
350 Wow
That's good. You guys are blessed see
Anyway, it says honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase
So shall thy
Barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. So it's just it's just saying give God
the first fruits
Give God what he asked for and you're gonna be blessed. Look at Luke chapter 6 verse 38 Luke chapter 6 verse 38
Luke chapter 6 verse 38 says give and it shall be given unto you good measure
Press down and shaken together and running over shall men give
Into your bosom for with the same measure that you meet with all it shall be measured to you again
So it's like, you know the sowing and reaping principle applies with giving of
Your monetary things and I'm not going to have you go to the verses about alms, but giving people to the poor
That's a separate thing than tithing but it's still something that you know
We should we should help the poor but not you know derelict bombs that won't work, right?
Now so I'm gonna have you turn to 2nd Corinthians 9 6 and it's just gonna kind of repeat this principle
I'm just gonna read while you're turning there
But it says but this I say he that so sparingly shall reap also sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart
So let him give not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth a cheerful giver now before you start saying
We'll see there's it doesn't says you just have to be a cheerful giver. This is talking about a collection
That was for the poor saints in Jerusalem. This was a love what's called a love offering
In our circles or whatever
But it says and God shall be able to make all grace
Abound toward you that ye always having all sufficiency and all things may abound to every good work
So Paul would take this collection
He'd go to Jerusalem and help the poor saints that were there and he would do like a collection with these other churches
But look what it says in verse 9
You think that money doesn't matter but it does it says as it is written he hath dispersed abroad
He hath given to the poor his righteousness
remaineth forever
so I mean
It's it is a good work to help people that are poor and obviously I think that we should help the working poor
You know, some people are just gonna be poor and that's just the way it is
But you know, it's as Christians
We should help each other out when we can and obviously this also lacks in the times when it's lean
but again God's
You give and God's if however you give that's how it's gonna be given back to you if you so
Sparingly, you're gonna reap sparingly, but if you are a cheerful giver and God's gonna bless you. So
Anyway, let's move on to the next point here point number four
Those who pray versus those that pray not those who pray versus those who pray not look at James chapter 4
We'll go back to James chapter 4
James chapter number 4 the Bible says in verse 2
You lust and you have not you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain
You fight and war yet you have not because you ask not
So what's stopping us from getting blessings and prayer just not asking doesn't that what it says?
You know instead of just fighting and warring and coveting and lusting after things
You have a father in heaven
Which you only have to just ask I mean multiple times
We're gonna see some some different scriptures here that just tell us just ask
That's all you have to do is ask
But look what it says in verse 3. Let's make sure we're asking for the right things
You ask and you receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust
I mean if you're praying for a Lamborghini
You're just an idiot God's not gonna give you a Lamborghini. All right, he knows what you're gonna do
You're gonna crash into a telephone pole and die someplace
Trying to be the fast and the furious or whatever
So, you know, it's important, you know when we pray that we ask for things in God's will and you know, he's not
He's obviously, you know, sometimes he's just gonna say no, maybe we don't need that extra money. Maybe we don't need that better job
maybe we should be
Staying at the job that we're already at maybe not making as much but being happy
I know some of the worst things I've ever done was change jobs thinking that just more money is better and just work for tyrants and
It's miserable. So
Just because an opportunity knocks doesn't mean you need to walk through that door, but look at James chapter 1
We have James chapter 1
So God will give you
Things willingly and and not sparingly he'll give you what you ask. So you have not because he asked not
We're in James 1 5 it says if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God
Well, how do you ask you pray right?
That giveth to all men liberally in a braideth knot
He's not going to hold it back from you because of your social status or anything like that
It says that he'll get he give it to all men liberally and a breath not and it shall be given him
And you know, maybe you need to get some wisdom, but you know how you get that wisdom
Asked for ask God to give you wisdom and it says he'll give it to you, right?
but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that waver it is like a wave of
The sea driven with the wind and tossed for let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord
Double-minded man is unstable in all his ways turn to James chapter 5 verse 13 James chapter 5 verse 13
Trying to keep you awake turning all these verses so I don't know if it's having the opposite effect or what but
Anyway, James chapter 5. I know it's a Wednesday night James chapter 5 the Bible says in verse 13
Is any among you afflicted let him pray is any Mary let him sing Psalms is any sick among you
Let him call for the elders of the church and let him pray over him
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and
The prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if you have committed sins
They shall be forgiven him
Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed the effect the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much so
Basically God's saying you're being held back from blessings
Because you're not asking for them
and obviously God's gonna bless us to a certain measure for certain things, but
If you're asking for things God's gonna give them to you isn't that what it says just keep saying ask in each passage
I'm going to write, but you know God knows what you need. He knows that you need clothes
You know he knows you need food. He knows you need raiment
But you know there's certain things that you need to ask for well, what are those things wisdom?
You know and maybe you need a job ask for a job
But you know don't ask for a job, and then it's it's on every every time you have to go to church
You take that job instead of taking a different job. That's a mistake
That's a mistake that Christians make I've seen it happen lots of times, and you know what's gonna get you out of church faster than anything
Accepting a job that takes you out of every single service at church
It's gonna make you backslidden. It's gonna happen like oh, no not me. I'll just watch online. That's not that's not enough
That's not what it's that's not what the Bible says
So or you know some people ask for a wife, and you know you single guys need to start asking a little harder
Ask for a wife, and then put yourself out there
You know talk to girls
And
You know you'll find a girlfriend and hopefully a wife, right?
You ask for children here you want more children ask
What's the Bible say ask ask for these things?
Look what it says in Luke 11 verse 9
Sorry, I didn't have you turn there Luke 11 9
You all might get out here before 10 o'clock tonight
Just
Joking
You're like is he serious
Don't tell me to preach it
Luke 11 9
Luke 11, but don't tell me preach it so it's his fault Luke 11 9. It says and I say unto you ask
And it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be open unto you
What's it? What's the key word there again ask?
For everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be open
If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father
Will he give him a stone or if he asked a fish will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Or if he shall ask an egg
Will he offer him a scorpion if you then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children?
How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask you're like
Why am I not filled with the Holy Spirit ask?
Ask
What do you need ask God?
Do you ask you did you ask your dad for stuff when you were younger?
And he might have told you know a lot, but you know, we're mean sometimes
But God might tell you no to but you still should ask
ask
Psalm chapter 55 Psalm chapter 55
When should we pray and this is I think a struggle with a lot of Christians, especially
busy Christians
But we got to get better at prayer, I think that that holds us back from a lot of different things in our lives and
You're like instead of complaining about what you don't have. Why don't you just ask?
That's what the Bible says right Psalm 55 verse 16 the Bible says as for me. I will call upon God
And the Lord shall save me
Evening and morning and at noon while I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice
I was David a man after God's own heart
They prayed in the evening and prayed in the morning. He prayed at noon three times a day
and I'm not gonna have you go to the verses in Daniel, but
You know when they made a rule a law that he could not
Even pray I mean we've never gotten to that point in America
It's gotten pretty wicked, but maybe there is gonna be a time
But maybe if you've never were praying before it won't be a big deal to you when they try to take it away later
When your smartphones telling on you or whatever
Throw that thing it will have to throw those things in the garbage or whatever
But it says he hath delivered my soul and peace from the battle verse 18
That was against me for there were many with me
God shall hear and afflict them even he that abideth of old see law because
They have no changes
Therefore they fear not God so God will deliver our enemies
Again, you know the enemies that rise up against us
You know Moses used to say when he would move the tabernacle rise Lord and let the the enemies of the of the Lord be scattered
God will
Defend us against our enemies and sometimes it seems like our enemies are beating us
But they're never gonna beat us. They're never gonna win. They are not gonna win
These enemies that have come against your church are not going to win. God will give you the victory just watch
But you know what pray also
You know sometimes we sometimes we just say well, I'll pray for you or you know, I'm praying about this, but are you really?
Because that is something that we should get right as Christians Daniel prayed three times a day
You don't just remember this acronym. I'll just say this really quickly
the acronym of acts
Who's heard of this acronym for prayer anybody?
Okay, just one person so good. Well write this down put it in your Bible acts
acknowledge God
you know when you go to God in prayer acknowledge him as you know your Lord and
and just make sure that you're just acknowledging God when you pray so like
Your only father in Jesus name. Amen. I mean that's not how we should pray right I
Mean you got to put some stuff in between there
You know you see these heathen they'll even pray a longer prayer than that
He's heathen that like at Thanksgiving when you go to your family's house or whatever
And there's like, you know, good bread good meat. Good God. Let's eat or whatever. Have you ever heard somebody say that before?
totally disrespectful
We don't want to be like that
So it says, you know, so acts a is acknowledge God see confess your sins and faults to God
So when we're confessing our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
Thank God for the blessings you get in life. You know, a lot of times we give victories or prayer requests get answered
Do you thank God for those things because you know what we should
You know think when when your enemies are vanquished, thank God
When you win a victory, thank God when your children are healed from some kind of sickness
Thank God when you're healed from a sickness, thank God when you're feeling better. Thank God
We ought to be thankful to God for the things he gives us. That's the teeth and then s is supplication
That's when you ask things for others or yourself
so
Daniel
Was caught making supplication before his God. I hope you caught me making supplication
But what ended up happening they throw him in the lion's den an angel shuts the mouths of the lions
Then all those people that went against them what happened to them into the lion's den you go boys and they were starving. I
Mean they're breaking bones there. I mean lions are some pretty ferocious things
They threw all of them in there like, you know
And so God has a way to just turn things around that even though things seem bleak even though things seem tough
He's still gonna come through for us in the clutch every time he's always gonna hit the home run
Grand slam with all the bases loaded. He's gonna hit the game winner
He's gonna he's gonna hit the final shot in hockey. What's some other dumb games that you guys like?
He's gonna he's huh
He's gonna get the smash in the ping-pong or whatever
He's gonna he's gonna spike it hard and someone's face on the final point of volleyball
I'm just you know, I'm using sports because it's just down how I think but
You know God is always gonna come through the clutch even in the most impossible situations
So we were just remember we we serve a big God
Sometimes we lack faith that we need to have a little more faith sometimes so acts is a knowledge
confess thanks and
Supplication so if you kind of add that into your prayer life
It might be helpful to you to just kind of remember that acronym. It's like what am I supposed to pray about again? Oh, yeah
Let me confess my sins. That's important acknowledge God
You know acknowledge his greatness
I mean if you read the songs David's just always saying how mighty and wonderful and great and merciful and long-suffering
And all these things we need to brag on our God a little bit more
And the time to do it is not when someone's listening to you do it it's the time when you're just by yourself
Just you and God in your prayer closet. I know it's not your coat lifting over your head. But anyway, so
you know and
once God answers your prayer don't just spit in God's face and
And then just say you know what I got everything I want now. I'm out of here. I'm gonna quit church
I'm gonna quit sowing and I'm gonna quit
You know all these things that I used to do
Be careful of that you asked for you asked for something for God and then you're like, well
I'm hoping that he's just gonna help me
Just have this job that I can take care of my whole family
Then you just take your whole family out of church and go to Disneyland and said or whatever
That ought not be how we respond to God's blessings because remember
He's God he can turn it around on you real quick and everything that you've got
Can be just turned around and be made a curse
So, you know once you get the wife once you get the children once you get the house once you get the new hemi dodge
Ram mega diesel
Cummings engine whatever make a rammer charger or whatever
Then and you get that job to support the whole family don't give up on God and turn your back on him
See, it's the times when we're blessed the most sometimes where we're the least spiritual
So just keep that in mind because that seemed to be the Achilles heel so to speak of the children of Israel
They'd have it good. Everything was great great leader
Won the victory and then it's like the next generation
done and
You know some of the times the main reasons why people will leave a church
And pastor men has kind of made this list up
It's not you know unique to me, but I thought I thought that I think that the things that he says in it are true
One of the reasons why people will leave a church is a new job
you know for whatever reason it's a new job a new baby a
death in the family
When you move church locations, have you lost anybody on the church?
More people just keep coming you guys love it. So
but I mean sometimes that is a that is a
case where you know that that's their time to just jump ship or whatever and then buy a new home acquire more stuff because
Remember the borrower servant to the lender. So when you get more money people tend to want to spend that money
They go into debt. I mean we had a guy leave our church
that
You know, he he was doing great and then he bought a brand new truck
It's like oh I got to work overtime so I could pay for this truck and then slowly but surely gone
Back in the world over a truck
And it wasn't even a mega Ram diesel charger Cummings engine or whatever. It was it was a lesser model
so
Obviously, I don't know much about trucks, but I have one I
Drive it. That's not all I know how to do. Anyway, and then
the lat
Let's let's go on to another point here. So
Someone that's so winning versus them that don't
Turn to Psalm chapter 126 verse 5. So the blessing of so winning is that we do get rewards for that
It's an eternal reward
and
You know, I'm not sure how pastor Shelley feels about this
But I don't believe that you and if I'm if he teaches something different then I'm wrong
He's right, but I don't believe you can lose an eternal reward
So when it talks about you losing rewards on the the judgment seat of Christ
I believe that it's talking about things that you lost the opportunity to or you were doing something that wasn't
Didn't have an eternal value
Look at Psalm 126 verse 5 it says they that so in tears shall reap in joy
He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing
Bringing his sheaves with him
So what is the what is the blessing of soul name that someone else is going to heaven because you decided to go out and?
knock some doors
Someone's eternal destiny has changed because you decided to do what God says and he said go
And priests the gospel of every creature
John chapter 4 verse 36. I'm going to go ahead under to 1st Corinthians 3. I'm gonna read John 4 36
It says in John 4 36 he that reapeth
receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto
eternal life that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice
Together so the people that we get saved someday
We're gonna rejoice together in heaven also
And we're gonna get receive wages and that fruit that we're gathering is eternal
It's something that lasts forever so and you might have lost track of the names
Maybe you wrote down the names of people you got saved and maybe you've stopped doing that
But you know what they're never gonna forget you
When they when you're in heaven and you're a soul winner you're gonna have people coming up to you
And saying thank you for getting me saved, and that's a blessing isn't it because it's not only a blessing that they get eternal life
That's a blessing. That's a huge blessing
But it's also a blessing because we get rewarded for those things and you know God told us to go soul winning
And what he didn't stutter we work in his vineyard or co-laborers with God. We're ambassadors for Christ
He sent us out to all nations to preach the gospel
starting here at your Jerusalem and and then you know to
Judah Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth right look at 1st Corinthians 3 9
It says for we late for we are laborers together with God your God's husbandry your God's building
According to the grace of God which which is given unto me as a wise master builder
I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth there upon so
says for other foundation can no man lay
Than that that then that is laid which is Jesus Christ so everything that we do has to be upon the foundation of Jesus Christ
He's the sure foundation
He's the rock the stone which the builders disallowed it says now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones
Wood haste stubble every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because
It shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is if any man's work abide
Which he hath built there upon he shall receive a reward if any man's work shall be burned
He shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet. So as by fire, so that's kind of what I was talking about
That you know there are things they're gonna make it through that fire
And those are the eternal rewards that we're gonna get for being the sole winner and what a sad day
It's gonna be when we have that great reunion in heaven with all the saints of God at the same time
And there's gonna be some people there that don't have any sheaves that they collected
They don't have anybody because they never went soul winning and look
I'm sure most of the people in this room go soul winning or have gone soul winning or whatever
If you've kind of slacked off in that area
Get refired back up
You know it's hot here
I get that now bring a little fan with you or something so you blow that hot air on your face, right?
Develop some sort of suit that has air conditioning or something
But you know this is probably the toughest time to go sewing
I'm sure here
You know and then or when the tornadoes are coming or whatever else you guys deal with
They can like do everything on the same day here from what I understand right rain snow sleet hail thunder and lightning
And then sunshine right that's miss anything
Sleet hail tornadoes yeah
hurricanes no
That's Houston
But anyway so last thing I have here and I'll be done as quick as I possibly can here
Bible readers versus non Bible readers Bible readers versus non Bible readers turn to Psalm chapter 1
Psalm chapter 1 for sake of time is gonna read it really quickly
It says blesses the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners
Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful
But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night
So our delight should be in the law of the Lord
We should be meditating it day and night should be reading it every single day
It says and he shall be and he's gonna use this analogy
This this this symbol again as a plant or a tree and he shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season his leaf shall not wither and whatsoever
He doeth shall
Prosper so God is promising a blessing to the people that read and love God's Word. So
Don't do the New Testament challenge and then just forget about your Bible reading for the rest of the year
Because when you read a lot of Bible, it really can drain you
So if you're having a problem where you're just not able to kind of keep up with your plan or whatever
Just dial it back a little bit, but still keep reading the Bible. You need that daily dose of the Bible
so it says
We'll turn to Matthew chapter 4. So last verse I'll have to turn to
But how how are you cursed well, how could you be cursed in the Bible reading thing?
Well, how about just not knowing what God's Word says?
Because ignorance is no excuse to God
It's like have you ever like done something against the law and you didn't realize that was against the law who's done that?
You don't have to tell me. Okay
Well officer I didn't see the sign that was said 55 or whatever
But you know what? They always say when you when you say something like that ignorance of the law is no excuse
So God expects us to know
The whole Bible or to read the whole Bible and we should read it for the day all the days of our life
But you know because Jesus would would mock people when they'd ask him a dumb question. He'd be like have you not read?
Have you not read like these are you're a master of Israel and you know, not these things I mean
We we we don't want to be the ones who's like I've never heard that verse before
I didn't know I was supposed to be tithing. Well, you know now suckers and I'm just kidding
Now, you know
But anyway, Matthew 4 4 says but he answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone
but by every
Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. What is our responsibility not to just you know
Go live off bread and your food isn't enough. You need every word of God and so the the curse that can come is
You know not knowing what you're split what God requires of you, you know, not knowing the crew
You know, there's a lot of stuff in this book. It's a big book and it takes a long time to read
but there's a lot of stuff in here that God wants us to know and
The more we read through the Bible the more things we're gonna pick up the more God's gonna teach us
You know, you want to learn all the the deep truths of God. Well, why don't you learn the simple truths of God first?
Why don't you drink the drink them up first little baby and then you'll grow up and you know
Get your toddler teeth and you can kind of dig into a little more meaty stuff
We shouldn't just try to figure out all these crazy
You know thing and just try to just looking constantly for this new stuff
Obviously God's gonna teach you things that you never knew before every time you read the Bible just ask him remember ask
You know show me wondrous things out of thy law
so
God wants to bless his people but
Listen, if you're not balanced in your life, and these are just really basic things tonight. They really are
they're the basic building blocks of our Christian faith and
If we can get those things right then we can move on to perfection
Right, and and I'm not talking about walking on water
I'm talking about just being a balanced well-rounded Christian and when God calls people perfect in the Bible
He's not saying they walked on water. He's just saying that person, you know, it's because when we sin
We have options when we don't you know, when we pray we're supposed to pray read God's Word go soul-willing
Go to church and then that's gonna help us become a more complete Christian
right, so
In backwards order we need to read our Bible
We need to go soul-willing. We need to have a prayer life. We need to give unto the Lord
We need to go to church whenever the doors are open and we need to live a separated holy life
And these are the things that will get you know, obviously there's a lot more
but these are the basic things that you need to really just take off and be a balanced Christian and
You know, God will bless you when you abide by his word, let's pray Lord
Thank you so much for the scriptures and Lord just even the simple things Lord. Sometimes we need to hear him over again
Maybe we're all doing well at most of these but I'm sure there's people in this room and that aren't necessarily
Aren't necessarily doing all these things so Lord
I just pray that you'd help us to make the right decisions on in our lives and and
Not to spit in your face when you give us what we want what we asked for pray Lord you bless
Steadfast Baptist Church and this great church
I pray that Lord it'd be a powerhouse of soul-willing and hard preaching for many many years to come Jesus name. We pray. Amen
All right in closing let's go to song number 364
Song number 364
Standing on the promises
Is the price
Coloring the highest I will shout
Especially
I will shout and sing, standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God,
my Savior.
Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises I cannot fail.
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
by the living Word of God, I shall prevail.
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God,
my Savior.
Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
bound to Him eternally by love's strong core,
overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword.
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God,
my Savior.
Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises I cannot fall.
Listening every moment to the Spirit's call.
Resting in my Savior as my all and all.
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God,
my Savior.
Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God.
Great singing, everybody.
You are all dismissed.