I was thinking about this earlier, how cool it is to just be able to travel from place
to place and it's just like you're with family.
You guys have been great to me.
I really appreciate it.
And it's funny when people will ask me from work sometimes, they're like, well where are
you going now?
Have you got family down there?
You got friends?
Yeah, I got friends and family down there.
And I could really say that about this church and of course Old Path Baptist, I appreciate
the Texas tornado turn that I've taken this weekend and I'll be going back home to Vancouver
but hopefully I'll be able to come back down and see you folks again or you'll come up
and visit sometime if you're ever in our neck of the woods.
So turn with me, well you're already there, we're going to focus on Galatians chapter
2 verse 20.
Just one focus verse tonight, it says, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live,
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Let's pray.
Lord we thank you so much for this great verse, this powerful verse in the Bible, I pray Lord
you'd help me to preach tonight and convey the message that you put on my heart.
Pray Lord for this people, I pray for this church, I pray that Lord you'd build into
a mighty, mighty soul-winding machine, it already is a great church Lord.
Let's pray Lord that you just build it and that you keep it pure, in Jesus' name, Amen.
The title of my sermon tonight is, Live Your Best Life Now.
Live Your Best Life Now.
Now of course you know that Joel Osteen wrote a book by that same name, Live Your Best Life
Now.
Now my version of Live Your Best Life Now is a little bit different than Joel Osteen's
Best Life Now.
So what I've done is I've just taken his seven points, the main seven points from his book,
and then I'm going to show you what he says you have to do, which is complete garbage,
okay, it's complete prosperity gospel, it's just ridiculous.
And I'm going to show you what the Bible way to living your best life now is.
Now in that verse in Galatians chapter 2 and 20 it says, Paul says this, he says, the life
which I now live, I live in the flesh.
See we're living here in the flesh.
One day these old tired bodies are going to be remade in the image of Christ, and Christ
is going to come back, He's going to give us brand new bodies, all that old dander of
shampoo is going to get thrown away in the garbage can.
I was telling brother Eli, I'll have a six pack in heaven.
That's my wish, that's my hope.
But right now we have to live our best life now for Christ and for His kingdom.
But the way that Joel Osteen puts it, you should live your best life so you can build
wealth and amass riches and positive, positive everything and all this other garbage, you'll
see what he says.
I'm just going to recap the book tonight, but Paul, wait, how did Paul live his life?
He hazarded his body for the Lord Jesus Christ.
He went from place to place being abused by a heathen, and what did he do?
Did the greatest missionary work of all time.
He lived his best life then, didn't he?
So we have another life after the life in our flesh that we're going to live, and that's
going to be all eternity.
And what we do in our life during this life now, in this mortal flesh that we live in,
it says I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.
That's how we're supposed to live our life is in the faith, okay?
And that doesn't mean quitting church.
That doesn't mean it's too hard, I'm not going to go soloing anymore.
That means you live your best life now for the Lord Jesus Christ, amen?
So number one on Joel Osteen's list of how to live your best life now, he says this,
enlarge your vision.
Sorry, my Joel, I'm going to have to have Eli come up and read these.
But it says, enlarge your vision, believe that God will make you successful, expect
God to do good things for you.
Perhaps you're searching for a parking spot in a crowded lot.
Osteen sympathizes, say, Father, I thank you for leading and guiding me.
Your favor will cause me to get a good spot.
So enlarge your vision, hey maybe you can get that good parking spot, you've just got
to enlarge your vision.
Maybe that crazy Houston driver is going to let you over into the lane that you're trying
to cut over into.
Anyway, I've been railing on the Houston driving.
On our way here, Eli had to almost risk death to try to go over to the left lane when we
were driving on the freeway.
But what does the Bible say we should do?
How do we live our best life now?
Number one on my list would be to develop a prayer life.
Develop a prayer life.
And what I'm going to give you tonight, it's nothing complicated, I'm not going to have
to dig into the deep well, it's just simple stuff.
But it's the things that will help you to live your best life now in the flesh by the
faith of Christ.
In our flesh that we live in now.
So develop a prayer life.
We get the privilege of praying to God.
Nobody else gets that privilege.
We get that privilege.
And turn to Hebrews 4, 16.
And then some of these I'll just read to you, but turn to Hebrews 4, 16.
The Bible says in Hebrews 4, 16,
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need.
So God wants us, He doesn't want us to go, please God?
He wants us to say, hey Lord, I need this.
He wants us to be bold.
Not arrogant, but bold.
Why do we get to come to God with boldness?
Our prayer should be a bold prayer that we believe is going to be taken.
Remember I was telling you about praying against those psychic places?
I prayed a fervent, bold prayer.
I'm telling you, it wasn't that long before.
Were you there, Scott, when I told you about that?
And that place was shut down.
You know, I believe that if, you know, look, we can have faith.
If we have faith, we can move mountains, the Bible says.
So we should come boldly.
Hebrews 10, 19 says,
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
Look, if you're saved today, the blood of Christ covers all of your sins.
And the Bible says, having therefore, brethren, boldness.
If you're a brother or sister in Christ, you're saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, you're covered
with His blood, His blood has covered your sins.
You can enter into the holiest place by that blood and ask God for anything you need.
Anything that you need.
Not necessarily everything you want, okay?
We were talking about cars on the way here.
And for some reason, I always end up in some kind of a small car.
But I was telling Eli, I said, well, if I could have the perfect car that I want, you
know, that just fell in my lap, it'd be a Cadillac.
So I'm a big guy, Cadillacs fit me well.
But I'll tell you what, I'm not going to start praying for a Cadillac.
If God wants to give me a Cadillac, then He's going to give me a Cadillac.
But I'm not going to just ask for things that I don't need.
You know, the little tiny hamster car that I have right now is getting me back and forth
to work just fine.
And it's not costing me a lot of gas to do that.
So I mean, we've got to think about what we're praying for.
You know, are you praying for things that are important or are you praying for what
you want?
Romans 12-2.
Actually, if you turn to Philippians 4-6, I'm going to read for you Romans 12-2.
Romans 12-2 says, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer.
See, God wants us to continue our prayer life.
It's not just a, oh I'm in trouble, I better get down on my knees and pray for something
and then the next time He hears from you is like three weeks later.
He wants you to continue in your prayer life.
Not to just stop.
That's why it says, pray without ceasing.
You know, people say, well, pray without ceasing.
That means that I always have to be praying 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
That's impossible.
That's not what that's talking about.
I don't believe that's what that's talking about.
Pray without ceasing means you don't quit your prayer life.
You don't stop your prayer life.
You continue.
Pray without ceasing.
Don't stop.
You know, if someone says a cigarette cessation program, you want to stop smoking.
That's ceasing to smoke cigarettes.
So when you cease smoking cigarettes, you've ceased cigarette smoking, right?
But what we're talking about here is prayer.
You don't want to cease your prayer.
You want to continue to pray.
And it says, continuing instant in prayer.
Philippians 4, 6, where you're at, it says, be careful for nothing but in everything by
prayer and supplication.
With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
So God is, you know, you talk about prayer requests.
That's a biblical term.
Your request.
With thanksgiving, with supplication, by prayer, let your requests be made known to God.
And God wants to, He wants to hear from you.
He wants to hear from your requests.
Your children, dads, your children will ask you for things, right?
Do you like when they ask or do you like when they just take stuff when they're not supposed
to?
You like when they ask, right?
I like to give my kids nice things.
I like to do nice things for my kids.
And most normal dads like to do that, right?
God is our Father and He wants to give us and do nice things for us and He wants to
answer our prayers.
But the Bible says you have not because you ask not, you know?
You don't ask.
And so why is God going to do something for you if you won't even talk to Him?
You don't even ask for it.
You're like, oh, I can't believe I don't have this.
Why don't you ask for it, you know?
James 5 13, turn to James 5 13.
James 5 13.
The Bible says in James 5 13, it says, Is any among you afflicted?
Let him pray.
Is any merry?
Let him sing psalms.
Is any sick among you?
Let him call for the elders of the church.
And let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
And verse 15 says, And the prayer of faith shall save the sick.
So when we pray for people that are sick, that earnest, bold prayer that we do, when
people have prayer requests, we should just be like, eh, okay.
Pray for that person.
Pray for them to get better.
Pray for their sickness to be healed.
God's going to answer the prayer that says the prayer of faith shall save the sick.
Do you think God just put that in there for us to just read over?
No, He wants us to pray for the sick.
People get sick in our church.
People get sick that we're friends with.
I don't know if you guys have a prayer time on Thursday night, but we should be praying
for each other.
And God said, The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up,
and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed.
See, that's what the whole thing about, you know, there's many different aspects of prayer,
but one of those things is that you can pray for each other, that you can be healed from
your sicknesses and your diseases.
The Bible says, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
And when we pray fervently and righteously and rightly towards God, He's going to hear
our request, and He's going to answer them.
And the answer isn't always yes, is it?
Sometimes the answer is no.
Sometimes it's wait.
Sometimes we've got to wait for the answer.
Sometimes He doesn't answer right away, but He always is going to answer our prayer.
If you're a saved person, He's going to answer your prayers.
It might just not always be the answer that you want.
So Paul prayed thrice that the thorn in the flesh would be taken away from him, and God
said no.
He said, I'm not going to heal you.
And because we don't know why.
Well, it says that he wouldn't be exalted above measure.
Paul was a very powerful man, and he did a lot of great things.
Maybe that thorn in the flesh being taken away from him would have made him prideful.
Sometimes God keeps us from being lifted up in pride by having us be afflicted in some
way.
So the Bible says in verse 17, it says, Elias was a man subject of like passions as we are,
and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the
space of three years and six months.
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
See, Elijah was just a man just like anybody else was.
But when he said, God, let it not rain for three and a half years, it didn't rain for
three and a half years.
It says he was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly.
So the earnest prayer, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much that's
going to get it done, and God's going to do it for us.
So you want to live your best life now?
Learn to develop a prayer life, a time where you get on your knees, and you go to God,
and you talk to the Lord.
And the prayer closet isn't this, okay?
That's not the prayer closet.
I mean, I guess if you're like tucked in a corner somewhere and you just wanted to cover
up or whatever, it could be, but you know, that Jew prayer shawl thing, that's a bunch
of garbage.
Anyway, we were in Galatians, too, so I thought I might say something about the Jews, anyway.
So yeah, so I mean, we got to develop a prayer life in our Christian life.
That's one way to live our best life now, because, you know, that's one of the things
that, I mean, what do we see Jesus doing throughout his whole ministry?
He'd get up early in the morning and go pray by himself.
He'd pray for long periods of time.
The disciples are all sleeping.
What's he doing?
He's out praying.
And the example that Jesus gives us, he was constantly praying, even over his food, he'd
bless the food and break bread.
We have an example in Jesus Christ.
Prayer was important to him, and it should be important to us as Christians.
So number two on Osteen's list, though, number two is develop a healthy self-image.
Doesn't that sound like what the world says?
You know, you've got to love you before you can love other people, you know.
But it says, so it says, after all, just like in the case of Gideon, God sees you as strong
and courageous as a man or woman of great honor and value, so stop thinking of yourself
as a loser with a bad job and a small apartment and a lemon of a car.
Start believing you can become what God says you can become.
Take Sarah, for example.
It took a long time for God to fulfill his promise that she would become pregnant, so
why so long?
The key to the promise coming to pass is that Sarah had to conceive it in her heart before
she was able to conceive it in her physical body.
Wow.
And we all have promises from God, don't we?
I wonder how many great things God is trying to do in your life.
We're just like Sarah.
We can't conceive it.
We're not in agreement with God, so we're missing out on his blessings.
So start believing.
God didn't make you to be average.
God created you to excel.
Therefore if you'll start acting like it, talking like it, seeing yourself as more than
a conqueror, you will live a prosperous and victorious life.
That's Joel Osteen's key to living your best life now.
That's number two.
But key number two from Pastor Thompson, from the Word of God, is Bible reading.
He put a little Bible in there just to kind of, oh Gideon, he's like when the Hollywood
Stars mentions Jesus or something, you know what I mean?
Oh, he said Jesus, oh, Nicolas Cage or whatever.
But that's complete garbage.
Develop a healthy self-image.
Well, I'll tell you what.
Number two for me is Bible reading.
You know, God preserved a book for us that's perfect in the English language.
We need to be reading it.
And my number two is a lot different than his number two, isn't it?
Psalm 12-6 says, the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the furnace
of earth, purified seven times.
You guys heard that verse before?
Oh, I was just wondering.
Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.
God's word is something we can count on.
God promised to preserve His word from this generation forever, and God doesn't lie.
So what can we count on?
The fact that we have a perfect Bible.
The fact that we have a Bible, something we can count on, that's God's word.
It's not the original manuscripts.
It's not found in all different translations.
Look for English speaking people, it's the King James Bible.
It's perfect.
It's without error.
We can trust in it.
There's nothing wrong with it.
But do you read it?
That's the real question.
Do you actually pick it up and read it?
And a lot of Christians fail in this department of knowing God's word.
You better know God's word, because that's what protects you.
That's what helps you to learn new doctrine and write doctrine.
That's what helps you to know the promises of God, the Holy Spirit in your heart, the
King James Bible in your hand, and going into your eyeballs is the best thing you can do
for yourself.
You got the prayer first, read your Bible.
Turn to Joshua chapter 1 verse 8.
This is a very popular verse in the Bible, Joshua 1.8.
And especially some of the new people, some of you kids.
You kids can read the Bible too.
Who can read in here if you're a kid?
Raise your hand if you can read.
Alright.
You can read?
Okay, good.
But you can read the Bible too.
If you're saved in here, you should be able to pick up the Bible and read it and understand
it.
You're not, you know, you're smart.
Have positive thoughts and say, I think I'm smart enough.
But look what the Bible says in Joshua 1.8, it says, this book of the law shall not depart
out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe
to do according to all that is written therein.
For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
You want to be prosperous?
Read this book, that's what the Bible says.
You want to have good success in your life?
Read this book, it's going to teach you those things.
Read through the book of Proverbs, it teaches you how to deal with your money and your finances
and things like that.
But it's not a prosperity gospel.
It's not read the Bible and you're going to have a Corvette, you know what I mean?
It says read, meditate therein day and night.
That means when the sun comes up or whatever, whatever time you get up in the morning, I
read the Bible in the morning when I get up, and then at night, I read the Bible at night.
So and a lot of times during the day and all day because I'm a pastor, so I have to read
the Bible at different times than other people, but the book of Joshua says day and night.
That's a good benchmark to meet, right?
Did you know that if you read the Bible for seven and a half minutes in the morning and
seven and a half minutes at night, you'd read the whole Bible in a year?
What kind of things do you do in seven and a half minutes in a day?
How much time do you waste during the day that you can just pick up the Bible?
Seven and a half minutes.
And then later on that evening, seven and a half minutes.
That's not a lot to ask, is it?
That's how long it takes you to read through the Bible.
Kids, seven and a half minutes.
That's all you've got to do.
You spend more time playing with your toys than you do.
You have plenty of time to still play with your toys and read the Bible for seven and
a half minutes in the morning and in the night.
That's 15 minutes a day, right?
So turn to Luke chapter 4.
Luke chapter 4 verse 3, I'm going to read for you in Isaiah 34 verse 16.
Isaiah 34 verse 16 says, seek you out the book of the Lord and read.
God wants you to seek out this book right here and he wants you to read it.
And should you read it?
Is listening better than reading?
Look, God said to read it, didn't he?
Now I don't think there's anything wrong with listening to it either.
It's good to listen to the Bible, but at some point your eyeballs should read across and
read those words.
Here in Luke chapter 4 verse 3, it says,
And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone, that it be
made bread.
And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word of God.
So in order to have every word of God read, you have to read the whole book.
It's pretty simple, isn't it?
It's pretty easy to understand.
So he wants us to read every word.
We don't live by bread alone.
We live by every word of God.
And how did he defeat the devil?
How was that temptation overcome?
He had scripture memorized that he told the devil.
He didn't have his Bible in his hand.
Well, maybe he did, but he didn't eat it.
He's the word of God.
He had it memorized, amen?
So that's a good thing for us to do also.
Brother Eli was talking about it earlier.
It's not about the prize of memorizing scriptures.
The prize that you get for doing it is the fact that you've hid his word in your heart
that you might not sin against God, right?
And so, number three on Osteen's list of live your best life now is, discover the power
of your thoughts and words.
Discover the power of your thoughts and words.
If you think negative thoughts all the time, how can you expect God to bless you, you negative
person?
But when you think positive, excellent thoughts, you will be propelled towards greatness, inevitably
bound for increase, promotion, and God's supernatural blessings.
The Bible tells us that we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
So there's his little scripture quote.
If you will transform your mind, God will transform your life.
But I don't think he's talking about the transformation that the Bible's talking about.
He's talking about transforming your life from the lemon car to the Rolls Royce or whatever.
So I don't think Joel Osteen's hurting for money today, is he?
Three hundred dollars is what he charges to go see him preach somewhere.
Three hundred dollars.
Hey, I want three hundred bucks from each and every one of you right now.
No, just kidding.
But how ridiculous is that?
Discover the power of your thoughts and words.
You know what my number three is?
That you need to get out and get soul winning.
You need to get soul winning.
And you know what's going to help you in this life and in the life to come?
Soul winning.
Every soul you win, that's an eternal reward in heaven.
Now I'm going to go out on a limb and I'm going to say this because I've heard some
people say that you can lose your rewards.
I don't believe that you can lose your eternal rewards.
That person's always going to be saved, aren't they?
So how do you lose that reward?
That rejoicing in heaven.
I don't believe that.
Now, again, if Pastor Shelley believes something different, then I'm wrong and he's right.
But I don't believe that.
I don't believe you can lose.
I think when the Bible talks about you losing rewards, it's the rewards that you could have
had, had you been living your best life now.
Had you been soul winning?
Had you been getting people saved?
Look, I've been a Christian for a long time, but I didn't start doing the type of soul
winning I'm doing now until way later.
I didn't get it figured out right away.
I would try to get people saved, but I wasn't doing it right.
And I would get people saved, but it just wasn't on the level that it's happening now.
Because I just needed some more clear instruction on that.
I want to redeem the time.
I want to have more rewards in heaven.
I want to get people saved.
Proverbs 11 30 says, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that win his souls
is wise.
There's a lot of Christians that are saved that are not winning souls.
They're not.
They're not even trying.
And Brother Eli was talking about getting ready for the mega marathon.
You know what builds the church is when you obey God.
And this church is going to get big.
And you guys are obeying God.
You're doing a great job.
But another thing, another key, and I talked about this in San Antonio, is that at our
church what I've seen, what I've observed with my eyes, is that when we had like a mix
of maybe, I don't know if it was half and half, half talkers, half not talkers, but
as we started moving along, those non-talkers became talkers and started winning people
to the Lord.
And then God started increasing the number of our church.
There's something to be, there's some kind of, I'm not going to say magic formula, but
it's God's formula.
It's the way God builds the church.
So if this whole room is filled with talkers, you know what he's going to do?
He's going to bring a bunch of non-talkers to this church.
And then guess what?
You're going to be able to train up another group of people and you'll have silent partners
again.
You're not fighting over, hey, this is my door, knocking each other out of the way and
stuff.
I know how you guys get.
But you know what's going to build this church?
You get out there and get to the doorstep and you get trained up.
If you're a silent partner now, work hard at it.
Don't be afraid.
God's going to help you.
God helped Moses' mouth.
He said, you know, I'm not eloquent of speech.
You're going to fumble through your first few times.
You're going to go beep, beep, beep.
That's all folks.
You're going to be like Porky Pig up there sometimes.
I watched a guy give the most painful sowing presentation I'd ever seen.
I mean he was just blowing it left and right, but you know what?
That person that he won to the Lord was the perfect person for him to win to the Lord
because he ended up winning her.
It was weird because she would ask him questions and he would sit there for a long time and
then he would like look in his Bible and I'm just like dying over here, but I let him swing.
He said, I want to win somebody.
I'm going to do it today and I just sat there and let him.
I just let him go.
I was really interested to see how it was going to work out, but he ended up getting
that lady saved.
That was the perfect person.
And look, if you go out by faith and you start giving the gospel and hey, if you get into
trouble you've got your lifeline.
You just go, you know, you just kind of give them a look like hey, I need help.
And then if, you know, but try to charge through it.
That's how you do it.
That's how you start winning souls is you just do it.
You know what I did?
I just listened to a couple of Pastor Anderson's sermons about sowing instruction and then
I just went out there and just made a fool of myself, you know, a little bit.
But after doing that so often you just, you have your Bible marked out and you know, it's
real nice to have your Bible marked out so that you know where to go next.
And then when you're like, oh man, I forgot what the next point is, oh it's right there
in my Bible.
I can just turn right over there.
And that makes it super easy for you and even, you know, you forget some of the stuff, you
got it marked out.
All you got to do is just rely on those marks.
Rely on those things.
And if they ask a question you don't know, have the other person step in and say something.
But then they take over.
I think that's the rule, right?
That Pastor Shelley's rule.
I don't know.
I haven't seen what he said but I think that one, you know, you got a silent partner and
they're supposed to stay silent until, you know, I don't want to say, again, I don't
want to say anything that Pastor Shelley doesn't teach.
So anyway, but that's how you build the church.
You know, get trained up and I guarantee you, just watch, just remember this sermon that
Pastor Thompson said, if we all get trained up, there's going to be more people that come.
It's going to happen, I'm telling you.
That's what's going to happen.
So it's not discover the power of your thoughts and words.
It's get out and go soul winning, okay?
That's how you lead your best life.
Now Romans 10, 13, oh actually I'm going to skip that, Daniel 12, 3 says, and they that
be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness
as the stars forever and ever.
And you notice that some stars shine brighter than others?
It's probably going to be like that in heaven too.
There's going to be that, you're going to be like, oh that guy's shining bright.
Well that lady's shining bright.
Well that's probably because she won a lot of souls in this life now that we're living
in now.
And the Bible says, you know, I believe that that's rewards that are forever.
Because it says, right, it says and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever
and ever.
How do you lose something that's eternal?
I mean, do we teach that, do we believe that you lose something that lasts forever?
No.
That doesn't make sense.
So when we get those rewards, those will never be taken away from us, no matter what.
That's what I believe.
So, anyway, number four on Joel Osteen's list is, let go of the past.
Now that sounds, you know, that sounds okay, we're supposed to look forward and let the
past go, but let's see what else he says about it.
You can't live successfully and with God's favor all over you if you're bitter and disappointed
all the time.
You can't unscramble eggs.
So just fill your home with oil, like Samuel did.
And you know, he doesn't apparently understand that that was to anoint the king, okay?
But that's his, that's his number four, right?
Fill the land, anyway.
I don't know, he has seven million viewers a week.
He must be doing something wrong.
My number four, though, is church attendance.
Look, Pastor Shelley preached three to thrive, right?
You guys heard, were you here for that sermon?
So I'm not going to beat that horse to death, but I'm just going to tell you, that's a key
to living your best life now.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24.
I'm just going to show you a few scriptures there and I'll move on.
Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24.
Hebrews 10, verse 24 says this, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love
and to good works.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
So we're supposed to consider one another.
So one of the reasons why, you know, we're supposed to assemble in church, because God
said to, okay?
Number one.
But the other reason is to consider one another, your brothers and sisters in Christ, to provoke
unto love and good works.
Well, what's the love and good works that we're supposed to be doing?
Hey, you want to provoke someone to go soul-wanting, well, you better show up for church.
That way you can say, hey, why don't you come soul-wanting with me?
You know, I'll teach you how to go soul-wanting.
Take someone under your wing and train them up and get them to go.
But if you're not here at church to do that, then how are you going to provoke someone
to love and good works?
How are you going to get the fellowship that you need?
If you're sitting at home, not going to church.
This is not forsaking.
This is a commandment.
People think it's a suggestion.
It's not.
It's a commandment.
Not forsaking the assemble of ourselves together as the manner of some is, because we know
that there's people, that their manner is to sit at home and only come to church once
a week or whatever.
And that's fine, but three to three, hey, as much as the doors are open, you should
be here.
If you possibly can, and I know a lot of people travel here, and we have people at our church
that travel from a great distance, I don't expect them to necessarily show up for Thursday
night.
But you know, we make it easy at our church to just be there all day, at least you're
getting two.
You're getting two good services a week, you're getting to go soul-wanting, and you're
getting to fellowship with each other, and that's super important.
Your fellowship together is also important, and it says, but exhorting one another and
so much the more as you see the day approaching.
So are we supposed to go to church more tomorrow or less?
As we see that day approaching, what's it talking about?
The day of Christ.
The day that Christ returns and gives these mortal bodies a new body, right?
The day that the great appearing of the great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we're supposed to go to church more, not less, okay?
Because what?
The days are evil, and we've got to redeem the time, right?
It says in verse 26, and this is where it gets kind of scary because it starts talking
about some judgment here.
Verse 26 says, for if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking, for of judgment
and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses, of how much
sore punishment suppose ye that 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 to spite unto the Spirit of grace.
That's some harsh stuff right there.
What's the context, not going to church when you know you're supposed to be going?
So I mean, there's times when we don't feel like going.
There's times when you get sick.
I'm not saying come here when you're sick.
Please don't come when you're sick and get everybody else sick.
I mean, I wouldn't want someone to do that to me.
I was just sick a couple Thursdays ago, and I stayed home because they don't want to get
everybody else sick.
But sometimes you got to stay home, but if you can make it, if you can be here, if you
don't have milk in the fridge or whatever, show up for church, okay?
What do I mean by that?
Well, sometimes one excuse is just as good as the next, right?
Some people will find any excuse to not show up for church.
I got my cats behind the microwave, I can't come.
I got milk in the fridge, I got to make sure it stays cold.
If you don't want to do something, one excuse is just as good as the next, isn't it?
I mean, why make a fake excuse if I just say, you know, I got milk in the fridge, you know?
Anyway, number five from Joel Osteen says, find strength through adversity.
God wants you to be a winner, not a whiner.
So take challenges in your life head on.
Don't back down from them because God has promised that He will turn your challenges
into stepping stones for promotion.
You know, it's so funny, you know, this guy is supposed to be a preacher and he doesn't
use scripture to back his points up.
You know, he just throws a little, you know, a little weak sauce on there.
Anyway, my number five is get under hard preaching.
Well, you're already doing that, so you're doing a good job.
The Bible says in Isaiah, turn to Ezekiel 6, 11.
The Bible says, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people
their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.
Why are people so drawn to a church like this?
Because the pastors in this movement of churches will rip face.
They'll rip face on sin and they'll rip face on lots of different things.
Look, if you've read the Bible at all, the prophets in the Old Testament, they're not
a bunch of soft-soaked, lily-livered, Joel Osteen preachers.
They're ripping face, they're cutting people into chunks, they're doing all kinds, you
know, Samuel cut a guy up with a sword.
He was a prophet.
He was a hard-core dude.
When he came into town, they were like, comest thou peaceable, Samuel?
They were afraid of him.
Do you think when Joel Osteen comes in, you know, he's in this town, but if he comes into
another town, that that town goes, comest thou peaceable, Joel?
They don't do that.
He's like, 300 bucks, please.
I've never heard him lift up his voice like a trumpet, ever.
He just says, don't let the devil steal your joy.
Ezekiel 6-11, that's where you're at, it says, Thus saith the LORD, God, smite with the hand,
stomp with the foot, and say, Alas, for all the evil abominations is the house of Israel,
for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
That's the way God wants His men to preach.
Not like Joel Osteen.
So you've done the right thing.
Every Thursday night, Pastor Shelley's ripping face, isn't he?
And the pastors that you probably listen to on the internet rip face.
How did you find your way into the doors of this church anyway?
By hearing face-ripping preaching on the internet, didn't it?
See the internet's not all bad.
There's some stuff in there that's pretty good.
You know, who found this church through, like, ultimately through, like, After the Tribulation
or one of those other videos?
Or just any preaching on, you know, on the internet.
Who all found it by preaching on the internet from, okay, almost everybody.
It's like 90%.
So, you know, you're in the right place for listening to this kind of preaching, and that's
the kind of preaching that you should always be under.
You know, if you want to go down to Joel Osteen's church, it's going to cost you more than you
want to pay.
Alright?
I don't know if he charges his church members $300 to listen.
I don't know.
He probably doesn't, but he doesn't?
No.
But they pay other ways by getting their ears tickled.
Anyway, so, number five, my number five was get under hard preaching.
His was find strength through adversity.
So and that adversity is a stepping stone to being promoted.
I don't know what he means by that.
To be promoted at your job or something, right?
Stepping on the backs of other people to get up to the top, I don't know.
His number six is live to give.
Live to give.
Be compassionate, empathetic, and kind.
God has created you to give, and whatever wealth, possessions, and success he gives
you, he intends for you to use for the good of other people.
That sounds okay, right?
But listen on.
Besides, if you plant seed in other people's lives, God will cause there to be a great
harvest sometime down the road.
I guess that's not something that's like, you know, if you give somebody something,
they're going to get saved.
I don't know what that means exactly.
It says, so when a waiter offers to pay for your breakfast in a fancy hotel, even when
the breakfast is included in the price of the room, it would be free anyway.
Don't tell him.
No.
Better to leave the poor guy in the dark, for as you whisper sagely to your wife, we
can't rob him of his blessing.
He's planted a seed by doing something good for us.
We don't want to pull his seed out of the ground and give it back.
So let him spend 40 bucks for no reason, because you know that when he planted that seed in
the ground, God was going to multiply it back to him.
I mean, what?
When's the last time you had a waiter offer to pay for your meal anyway?
I've never had, has anybody had a waiter pay for your meal?
That's crazy.
So apparently that's happened to him before.
He's Joel Osteen, I'll pay for your meal, pastor.
You know, guy's got millions of dollars.
It's like, give me a tip, pastor.
Anyway, but apparently God was going to multiply it back to him because he was going to pay
that 40 dollars, so even though it was included in the price of the room, it was free.
Let him pay for it anyway.
That's ridiculous.
So my number six is a little different than his, though.
Mine is live by faith, and this is just a short, quick point.
Hebrews 11, verse six, if you'll turn over there real quickly with me.
Hebrews 11, verse six.
Hebrews 11, verse six says, but without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that
cometh to God must believe that he is, and he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him.
See, I believe that one of the ways that we live our life, and it's obviously in our text
scriptures, that we've got to live our life by faith.
We can't worry about how, you know, just take the tithe for instance.
You give that tithe, and sometimes it's like, I don't know how I'm going to make it for
the next two weeks, but you know what, God always seems to get you through, doesn't he?
And there's been some times that I'm like, man, I don't know, I'm just going to trust
you, God.
You know, he says, prove me.
When you give the tithe, he says, prove me, right?
He wants you to prove him, and has he ever been proven wrong in your life ever since
you've been saved?
Do you always still have enough to get by?
Yeah.
So that's just one example of how to live by faith, but we have to live by faith every
day.
When we go soul winning, hey, do you have faith that someone's going to get saved that
day?
Because I'll tell you what, when your attitude is, hey, I'm getting someone to save today,
I'm grabbing three Bibles because I want to give three Bibles out today when I go soul
winning.
You know, and how many times do you do something like that, and then people get saved?
You know, one thing I used to do when we first started the church is I would set extra
chairs up in the back, and I would say, God, I want you to fill these chairs up.
And he would.
I mean, I don't know how many times I filled the back room up with extra chairs and then
a whole bunch of people would just come and sit in those chairs.
You know?
You've got to have faith.
You've got to have faith to get through this Christian life, and that faith is the fact
that God's going to get you through the things that you need to get through.
He's going to make sure that you're taken care of.
Number seven on Joel Osteen's weird list.
Choose to be happy.
Happiness is a choice, so smile a lot.
That's why he smiles a lot, I guess.
God will bless you if you do.
Also become a person of excellence.
God doesn't bless mediocrity, he blesses excellence.
So do you want a new car?
Then wash the one you have.
You want a bigger house?
Keep it looking nice.
Make sure it looks like a person of excellence lives there.
If you'll start taking care of what God has given you, he'll more than likely give you
something better.
You know, so I guess if you have a Rolls Royce, he's going to give you a Maserati.
I don't know.
Make sure you wash and wax that thing, and then next thing you know, poof, a Maserati's
in your driveway.
I don't know which one's better.
It's probably a Rolls Royce.
Anyway, it says God has great things in store for you, so start living with some enthusiasm.
If you'll do all these things, follow these seven steps, then God will take you places
you've never dreamed of, and you'll be living your best life now.
Well, you know what?
My number seven disagrees with his number seven also.
My number seven is keep God's commandments.
So if you want to live your best life now, you don't want to live it in a sin-riddled
life, right?
You don't want to live where God's just beating you constantly because you can't keep his
commandments.
John 14, 15 says, if you love me, keep my commandments.
Jesus wants us to keep the commandments.
I don't understand how Christianity turned into, oh, that's all in the past.
We don't got to keep the commandments anymore, bro.
God loves you just the way you are with your long hair.
It's foolishness like that that has just turned Christianity upside down.
God expects us to keep his commandments.
That's Jesus talking.
So if Jesus is saying, if you love me, keep my commandments.
Keep my commandments if you love me.
So do you love Jesus tonight?
Well, then you should keep his commandments.
Obviously, we're sinners.
We're trapped in a body of death.
We're going to sin.
I understand that.
But he wants us to keep his commandments.
So we should try.
There's a sanctification process that takes place in a Christian's life.
When they get saved, that sanctification process begins.
And then God slowly just weeds those sins out of your life.
And sometimes those things are painful to remove.
Sometimes they're sins you've been committing for a long time.
And we've seen that people can go back to the same sins that they were doing before.
And once you start dabbling back into those old sins that God's already given you the
victory of, that's when you're in trouble.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 12 verse 5.
Hebrews 12 verse 5, I'm almost done.
So which ones do you like better, Joel Osteen's or mine?
How about, you know, Joel Osteen's or God's ways, right?
To live your best life now.
I like God's ways a lot better, right?
Hebrews 12 verse 5 says, And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as
unto children.
My son despiseth not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of
him.
For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.
For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and
not sons.
So we're going to get chastened from the Lord.
If you never get chastened from the Lord, that would be a time to check and see whether
you're saved or not.
Because nobody's perfect.
Nobody always keeps all the commandments.
No one always does the right thing.
And sometimes you know when it's God chastening you, right?
You didn't go to church, you just didn't want to go, you're like, I'm not going to church.
And then the next thing you know, you get a cold.
That's how God chastens us sometimes, just little things like that.
Then you've got to cough for like two and a half weeks.
You know, I mean, he might do it, he does it different with other people, you know.
But if you get into some really wicked sin, God can destroy you, he can destroy your life.
And so why is my number seven keeping God's commandments?
Because if you want to live your best life now, your best life now is not getting beaten
with many stripes every day until the day that Jesus takes you home.
I would rather live a life where I'm not getting beaten every day and I'm keeping God's commandments
and I'm living my best life now because I'm not getting beaten all the time because I'm
breaking his commandments all the time.
You know what I mean?
That's living your best life now.
So I've given you seven things that I think are better than Joel Osteen's Live Your Best
Life Now, right?
Let's see, I just have a couple more verses here for you.
But I just want to say this, Joel Osteen's book is nothing but a motivational self-help
book with a couple little bones thrown to Jesus, that's it.
So Victoria Osteen said this one time.
She said, when we obey God, we're not doing it for God, we're doing it for ourself.
Because God takes pleasure when we're happy.
Do good, because God wants you to be happy.
When you come to church, when you worship him, you're not doing it for God, really.
You're doing it for yourself.
Because that's what makes God happy.
Are you kidding me?
She stood up and said that in front of God and everybody.
You're not doing it for God, really, you're doing it for yourself.
She probably is doing it for herself.
She looked possessed when she said that too, by the way.
Has anybody ever seen that clip where she says that?
So you know, God's word says in Galatians 2, it says, the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Jesus Christ loves us, he gave his life for us, and he is who we should be doing all the
things that we're doing for.
John 15 verse 13, and we'll close here, go ahead and turn there, it'll be our last verses
we turn to.
It's always good to keep Jesus in perspective in our Christian life too.
We can get so busy doing all this other stuff that we forget who we're doing it for and
why we're doing it, right?
John 15 verse 13 says, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life
for his friends.
You're my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.
Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but
I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made
known unto you.
You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and
bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
Now whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
These things I command you, that you love one another.
So Jesus loved us, he calls us his friends.
We're his friends if we do whatsoever he commands us to do.
And notice he's talking about soul winning, go forth and bring forth fruit.
Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost and these people in this room right here,
all of us in this room, are people that were lost, that he came and he sought out.
And our job is to go out and do the same thing.
Go and do likewise.
That's what we're supposed to do.
You know, our trophy bucks in heaven are going to be the souls that we got saved here on
this earth.
Amen?
You know, I wish I had like a feeder thing that we could get and they'd just come to
us though.
But that's just not the way it is.
We got to go find them.
See, the feeder thing is too easy.
We got to go knock the doors, we got to go win the people out there, right?
So live your best life now so you can live an even greater eternity.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for these great friends that I've made here.
And Lord, I just pray again that you would just bless this church tremendously.
Bless Pastor Shelley and all the hard work he's put in.
And Lord, I just pray that you would just have this church to have a heart that's knit
together, one in hope, one in doctrine.
And I just pray that you bless their lives tremendously, Lord.
And bless the soul-winning, Lord, I know it's so ripe unto harvest here, Lord.
I pray that you'd send many more soul-winners, you'd train these people up, Lord, and help
them to win this city to Christ.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.