Extended fields, I turn, we are the plane.
And in the sunlight of his love, I meet the golden crane.
Sunlight, sunlight, in my soul's name.
Sunlight, sunlight, all along the way.
Since the Savior found me, took away my sin.
I have had the sunlight of His love with Him.
Soon I shall see Him as...
get to that chorus. We're not in a hurry. Lift it up to our Lord this morning and let our
voices be heard. Sing it on that last verse now.
In our seats, we will go ahead and get started.
Once everybody found a seat, let's grab a hymnal and go to song number 274.
song number 274 come unto me I will give you rest song number 274 let's all
sing it out together on that first song 274
hear the blessed Savior calling me oppressed
Lord, thank you so much for this awesome church.
Thank you for the ability to gather here and hear your word
and sing unto you, Lord.
We just ask that you help us lift up our voice
and praise you and glorify you and everything
that we say and do, Lord.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, for our next song,
let's go to song number 70.
Song number 70.
Doesn't look like we've done this as a church together,
but some of y'all might.
Know this song those that do sing it out
Think you'll find it easy to sing. It's a great song. Will Jesus find us watching song number 70. It's all singing out together
When Jesus comes to reward
Thank you for watching!
This time we'll go through our announcements.
If you need a bulletin, please raise your hand
nice and high, and one of the ushers
will come around and get that to you.
On the front of our bulletin, we've got the verse
for the week, Jude, verse number seven.
I encourage you guys to keep up the hard work
and memorization.
There in the inside, you should have a congratulations flyer
for the Scots, Elijah, and Olivia Scott.
We want to congratulate them on the birth of their son,
Elisha James Scott.
And hopefully he got a double portion of Elijah's spirit.
And he was born on May 18th at 6.50 AM,
weighing 5 pounds, 10 ounces, and measuring 19 inches long.
So let's go ahead and give them a quick congratulations.
Sighted for them.
On the inside we have our service times and our summoning times of course we'll have so many this afternoon at 2 p.m
If you would like to go out with us, please meet here by 2 and we'll partner you up and send you out
We've got our stats for the month of May down below just killing it this month
Just a great month of soul winning and of course we've broken our record from last year for both
Salvation and baptisms on the right. We've got our list of expecting ladies
Be sure to keep those ladies in your prayers throughout the week
Ups upcoming events. We have the father's day float
For father's day on June 15th. That'll be in the evening service
And then we have the soul winning marathon in Shreveport June 28th. I'll have a sign-up sheet for that
Probably on Wednesday just to get the ball rolling on that. It's a great soul winning marathon opportunity to go to if you have never been soul winning in Shreveport
I highly recommend I've been twice now and
I'm looking forward to going as a steadfast Texas member, and this is a great soul-winning there,
very receptive, encourage you to partake in that. We did have a soul-winning marathon this past
Saturday, yesterday in Durant, Oklahoma. We had 130 plus soul winners, and we had a total of 59
We had to travel north to Samaria, but you know, there were still a few women at the well that need to be saved
And so that was a huge blessing there
A new event that we are going to be introducing is the teen summer event
Our pastor Shelly has posted in the group chat about this. There is a sign-up sheet on the table
the way in which this is going to work is
Only ages 13 through 19
are going to be allowed to participate in this and of course we will accept those who want to help
and and uh be counselors if you will for that uh each one of the events are going to be from
5 30 to 10 p.m and there are three different events that are going to take place and each
event has three dates associated with it now that doesn't mean we're doing nine events
we're doing three events and this is one time you actually get a vote
in church and so what you will do is you're going to sign up for every date
that works for your schedule. We want the most participation
that we can possibly get out of each one of these events so
whichever date for that event is the most popular is the one that is going to be
established as the date for the event so
If that wasn't confusing, just see me after service.
I can point you in the right direction.
But sign up for as many of the dates that work for you
and really encourage you guys to sign up for that
if you have teenagers.
Also, if you're a larger family
and you do have some teenagers, all that we ask
is that if you're gonna bring your whole family
that the teenagers event would be separate.
For instance, if you wanted to do bowling with your family,
you could do that, there's no problem with that.
But we want to keep that kind of a separate event for the teenagers just to make it something special for them and
And so that's all the information I have for that. Please sign up invite any friends or family members as well
The more the merrier
Everyone's welcome on the back. We have a prayer list for the week. So be mindful to think of that
That's all the announcements. So we'll go to our next song
And I'll let brother Dustin announce that for us
All right for our next song let's go to Psalm 150 Psalm 150 or Psalm of the week
Should be able to find it in your binders
Psalm 150
Let's all sing it out together
Raise him, Lord, as mighty he acts.
Raise him, according to his excelling greatness.
Raise him with love, sound of the trumpet.
Raise him with love, sultry and hard.
Raise him with the timbrel and dance.
Raise him with string instruments.
the first Corinthians chapter number 15 as the offering plates are being passed
around that's first Corinthians chapter number 15
Corinthians 15, the Bible reads, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which
I preached unto you which also ye have received and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are
saved.
If ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that,
he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained
After that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles.
And last of all, he was seen of me also as of one born out of due time.
For I am the least of the apostles that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain,
but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach and so ye believed.
resurrection of the dead. But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yay! And
we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up
Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not,
then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men, most miserable, but now
is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
But every man in his order, Christ the firstfruits, after word they that are Christ's, at his coming.
Then come at the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father,
when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For he hath put all things under his feet,
but when he sayeth all things are put under him,
it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him,
then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him
that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead
if the dead rise not at all?
Why are they then baptized for the dead?
And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
I protest by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
I, after the manner of men, if after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus,
what advantage is it me, if the dead rise not?
Let us eat a drink, for tomorrow we die.
Be not deceived, evil communications corrupt good manners.
Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God.
I speak this to your shame, but some man will say,
How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?
Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.
And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be,
but bear grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain.
But God giveth it a body as it heth pleased him into every seed his own body.
All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars for one star deferred from another star in glory.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption.
It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.
and so it is written the first man Adam was made a living soul the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit how be it that was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and afterward
that which is spiritual the first man is of the earth earthy the second man is the lord from heaven
as is the earthy such are they also that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they also
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Because, behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God which give it thus the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ therefore my beloved brethren
Be he steadfast unmovable
Always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord
Let's borrow heads for what a prayer
Father in heaven, we thank you for our church services today. I pray that you fill
Brother Tannifer with your Holy Spirit now and enable him to preach the sermon you've laid on his heart with boldness and clarity of mind
Help us to pay close attention to the message and apply it to our lives so we can glorify you better
We love you in Jesus name. I pray amen
Amen. Well, first I want to start off by just thanking Pastor
Shelley for the opportunity to preach. It's always a privilege
to get up and preach, especially to this church.
And so I'm very thankful for that. Also, I just asked for a little
bit of grace this morning. I don't know what happened. My voice
is just like literally starting to fade yesterday. So,
you know, I'm going to try to make it through the sermon the
best that I can. And so with that, let's just begin.
in verse number 58, I think this is a fitting verse to start the sermon, the Bible says,
therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord
for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Of course, we're very familiar
with this verse. This is the theme verse of our church and I was thinking about this verse and
As I was thinking about what it means to be steadfast and unmovable that there's this
correlation here in the Bible between being steadfast, unmovable, and always abounding.
There's a correlation between steadfastness and being successful in the Christian life.
The only way to be successful is to remain steadfast, to remain unmovable.
And not only just in Christianity, really just in all areas of life.
This is a true saying.
This is a true truth that we can get from the Bible.
What are some definitions of being steadfast?
How about firmly established, unwavering, resolute, faithful, and this is probably my
position. That's what it means to be steadfast, is that you are not moving,
that you're firmly fixed in a position or in a place. And the title of my sermon
this morning is spiritual drifters. Spiritual drifters, which would be the
opposite of being steadfast, wouldn't? That would be something that or somebody
steadfast in the Christian life.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 28.
Proverbs chapter number 28.
And I want to show you from the Bible that this is a consistent truth that we see over and over and over again.
That if you want to be successful at something, you have to be steadfast.
You have to be firmly fixed.
With that same, with that same thought, that same, you know, motivation, the same, you know, desire to continue to follow the Lord.
The Bible says in Proverbs 28, verse 20, a faithful man shall abound with blessings.
But he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
So notice this concept of the faithful man, the person who's steadfast,
the person who is reliable, the person who's resolute, is going to what?
They're going to succeed.
They're going to abound with blessings.
You know, I don't know about you.
When I go to hire somebody to do some work at my house,
I don't want to hire somebody who's a jack of all trades.
You know, what's funny is we think of that term as being a positive thing, right?
You know, especially for you do-yourselfers at home, you know, I consider myself somewhat
of a jack of all trades.
I try to, you know, fix a plumbing issue or electrical issue or, you know, some issue
with the irrigation system or whatever, right?
You try to do some of those things on your own.
You maybe look up some YouTube videos and we'd say, yeah, I'm a jack of all trades.
But if you stop and think about it, that's actually a negative saying.
because we often stop with a jack-of-all-trades but it goes on to say he's a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none
Right and I don't know about you. I don't want to hire somebody who's just
Got all this, you know minimal experience in a lot of different areas
But doesn't actually have the expertise in the area in which I'm needing to be fixed or corrected, right?
You know, I don't hire the plumber to fix my electrical issues or vice versa, right?
I don't hire the lawn man to
Come in and put windows in my house or to put up trim or or crown moldy or whatever, right?
When you want to hire somebody to do a job and don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's bad to do it be a
Do-it-yourselfer, right? I think that's good. You should try to learn new things
But at the end of the day if you need a
An experienced person to do the job you want to get on Google reviews, right and see who has that 10 years worth of experience
You say, well, why is that the person we choose?
Because they're steadfast in mind, in that purpose of being
a plumber, or being an electrician, or being whatever
trade that they have.
They've been steadfastly at that job.
And so they're going to be very experienced, very well.
They've encountered all the things that a person could
encounter in that situation.
So you want the person who's experienced so that way the
job gets done.
Right, and of course, you know, the Bible kind of brings or backs up this concept
Go to James chapter number one, you know, and this is something I've seen with young guys and and I just want to preach to the
young guys for a minute is
You know, I've seen this a lot where these guys will change a career or a profession just at every two years
And listen, that is a stupid choice to make don't do that. Hey stick with what you're doing
Stick with the job, the profession, the career that you've chosen.
Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with going and trying to find a better job
within that career, a better employer or somebody who's going to pay you better or, you know,
improving yourself.
But listen, don't, you know, be in an electrician for two years and just think, you know what,
I'm going to be a plumber now.
And they'd be a plumber for two years and think, oh, I'm going to be a mechanic now.
You know, it's just really stupid because every time you do that, you're literally just
starting over at ground zero.
You know, you're gonna go in and get paid what that 18-year-old or 19-year-old that's just starting on the job is getting paid
Right, and you say well, I just don't like it. Hey stick with it
No work is fun
You know, I mean, it's very rare that you get to do something that you just really love.
I mean, it's called work for a reason.
You know, it's not easy.
You know, it's going to be challenging at times.
There's going to be things that are difficult, and you know what, you have to power through
those things.
You know, we live in such a weak society today where everybody just wants to quit.
You know one thing that you should be teaching your children is if you they sign up for a sports league
Or they sign up for music lessons, or they sign up for some hobby or or something that they're learning
Hey, don't let them quit especially when things get tough, right? You're setting them up for failure
They're only going to fail. They're gonna
They're gonna
Basically develop this bad habit of any time the going gets tough. They're just gonna quit hang it up
Go do something else
What did Jacob prophesy of Reuben?
You know Jacob at the end of his life
He gave all the these prophecies of his sons and the one thing that kind of stood out to me about Reuben his firstborn son
Is he called him he said you're unstable as water thou shalt not excel
Why because there's correlation between being steadfast unmovable and being successful
If you want to be successful at something, you have to stay the course.
You cannot allow yourself to just quit or to give up, especially when we're talking
about serving the Lord.
It's something that really just irritates me when people have been serving God and then
they just quit.
They just give up.
James chapter number one, look at verse number six, the Bible says, but let him ask and
For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed
For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord a
Double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. We're gonna hit several verses here go to Proverbs chapter 24
the book of Proverbs
Chapter 24 the Bible is teaching this concept that somebody who's just all over the place
Somebody who's unstable that can't make up their mind
Well, they're not going to be successful.
In that particular context, their prayers
are not going to be answered.
Proverbs 24, verse 21, the Bible says,
my son, fear thou the Lord and the king,
and meddle not with them that are given to change.
You know what the Bible's instructing us is,
A, if we see somebody who's just unstable as water,
that's just all over the place,
that's not really somebody you want to be best friends with.
You know, I preached this before, I love this analogy, is I want, personally, I want to be around the most zealous people.
Why? Because that's going to rub off on me.
You know, it's like a piece of charcoal, you stick it in, you know, I like to smoke, you know, brisket, meats and stuff.
Can I get an amen back there?
That's right.
And, one thing you'll notice when you're preparing your grill with charcoal is you can put fresh
charcoal on coals that are already burning red hot, and guess what?
Those coals then turn red hot.
It's that transfer of he that's taking place and that's the type of people we want to be around
That's the type of people you should desire to be friends with and to get close with are those that are
zealous for the Lord those that are wanting to serve God and you don't you're not seeing all these
unstable characteristics
Luke chapter number 11
Luke chapter number 11 verse 34 the Bible says the light of the body is the eye
Therefore when nine I is single
My whole body is full of light think of that concept
When that I is single that can be kind of a difficult passage to understand
But it's just saying that they have one purpose
They have their their mindset is already fixed
Is that they're going to serve the Lord, right? Their eye is single,
singly fixed on the Lord. They're not being distracted by all the other things that this world has to offer.
They're fixed on serving the Lord. And the Bible says because of that,
thy whole body is also full of light.
But then it goes on and says, but when thine eye is evil,
thy body also is full of darkness.
Go to Hosea chapter number seven.
The first book of the Minor Prophets, right? After the book of Daniel, you have the book of Hosea.
Hosea chapter number seven, Hosea seven verse number eight, the Bible says, Ephraim, he
hath mixed himself among the people, Ephraim is a cake not turned, strangers have devoured
his strength and he knoweth it not, yea gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he
And this idea here of Ephraim, of course Ephraim is that northern kingdom of Israel,
and they've been just in years and years and years of rebellion against God, right?
They're not, their eye is not single in serving the Lord.
And the Bible says it gives this analogy of Ephraim, the northern kingdom of Israel,
as being a cake that's not turned.
They beat, you know, another way to put it is they're half baked, right?
They're unstable
Right there they're being let astray by all the nations the wicked heathen nations around them as opposed to just
Holy with their whole heart steadfastly following the Lord
It's a negative connotation here to be a cake not turned. You're out of balance
You know, and this is what spiritual drifters look like
Spiritual drifters are passively moved by emotions,
circumstances, or cultural winds
that slowly cause them to drift away from the Lord.
And I've seen this happen just over and over and over.
You know, it's a sad thing.
When you see Christians stop serving the Lord.
In Oklahoma City, you know, you would see this all the time.
You know and and it really it hurts, you know, it's something that you know that doesn't sit. Well, it's not fun to see
But it's reality
Listen when you serve God long enough, you will see people come and go. I mean, that's just the sad reality of
Christianity and and the reality is that people are just going to be
You know, they're gonna not remain steadfast in their heart
because of a couple different reasons.
And I've jotted down three reasons
that I personally seen people, you know, quit on the Lord,
quit serving God, quit going to church, you know.
And if you've, you know, maybe you've never seen this happen.
Well, just wait, it will happen.
right? It's going to take place. It could even be somebody who's close to you,
somebody that's a friend, somebody that you've spent a lot of time with, and all
of a sudden they'll just disappear. But usually it's not just like that, right?
Usually it's like this progressive drifting away, slowly drifting away from God.
And you'll notice the characteristics of that.
And, I mean, it just seems like we are in an epidemic of people just quitting today.
You know, quitting on the Lord, you say, you know, who would quit being a pastor?
Well, that's exactly it, pastor who.
You know, pastor who quits on being a pastor.
You know, you have people who just quit serving God.
They quit following Him.
They quit being steadfast in their heart.
They go off to the world, they get offended,
they get weary in the Christian life,
and then they stop serving the Lord.
And so I want to preach this sermon for you guys this morning
to help you to identify these areas
in which many people quit on God.
The first point that I have is that many people get offended.
Many people just get offended by the preaching of the Word of God.
They get offended by the Bible, and so because of that, they quit.
Go to John chapter number six.
John chapter number six.
I want to take a look here at Jesus Christ.
You know, of course, Jesus Christ was the greatest preacher.
among men, right? He's the greatest preacher who's ever walked on this earth.
So he's a pretty good example to look to if you want to be a
preacher someday, you know, you should really study how Jesus Christ preached
the Bible.
Right? That'll help you with becoming a better preacher.
But notice even Jesus Christ caused people to be offended.
And people stopped serving Jesus Christ.
So of course it's going to happen in our church and other churches John chapter number six
We're going to skip ahead, of course, Jesus just preached this powerful message about salvation
and of course many of it was going over the heads of the Pharisees, he's telling them
they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, right, and he's using these very hard sayings.
And of course this wasn't literal, like this, you know, the weirdo Catholics believe, where
they literally believe they're consuming the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ through the
Eucharist.
but rather it's a spiritual saying.
Notice what the Bible says here in verse 60.
It says, many therefore of his disciples,
when they heard this said,
this isn't a hard saying, who can hear it?
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples,
we're not talking about the Pharisees here,
we're not talking about unbelievers here,
we're talking about saved people.
Saved people got offended by the preaching of Jesus.
It says, when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them,
Doth this offend you?
What?
And if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before, it is the spirit that
quickeneth, the flesh profited nothing, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit
and they are life.
But there are some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, that believe not, and who should betray him.
And he said, therefore, said I unto you, that no man come unto me, except that we're given him unto him of my Father.
Verse 66, pay attention here.
The Bible says, from that time, from the moment he preached that sermon, from that time.
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
Listen, if people are going to quit on Jesus,
if they're going to quit Jesus' ministry, just mark it down,
they will quit church, you know, from time to time.
There's going to be people where we're going to see that happen to them.
They're going to become a casualty of being offended by the Word of God.
He said in verse 26 or I'm sorry verse 67. It says then said Jesus unto the 12. Will you go away also?
You know Jesus was not worried about offending people was he he was worried about preaching the Bible
Right and listen if you get offended by the preaching of God's word, it's not the preacher's fault. It's your heart
It's your fault. You're the person that's not right with God if you don't want to
Listen and receive the preaching of God's word
You know, say, oh, well, Jesus wasn't a hard preacher.
Pfft.
Give me a break.
Let's go to Luke chapter number nine.
Let's just debunk this stupid idea of this smiling Jesus portrayal that the world wants
to give us.
That Jesus was just this limp-wristed, effeminate, long-haired, faggot-looking dude, like the
Catholic church portrays, like the Orthodox church portrays.
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was a hard preacher in fact
He was mistaken as being some of the hardest preachers in the Bible
Luke chapter number nine look at verse number 18
Luke 9 verse 18 the Bible says and it came to pass as he was alone praying his disciples were with him and he asked them saying
Whom say the people that I am?
Somebody really nice, somebody who's soft, was that the answer?
Verse 19, it says, they answered and said, John the Baptist.
And some say, Elias and others say that one of the old prophets is risen again.
Last time I checked the old prophets, the ones that are the most notable in the Bible,
most of them got martyred.
Most of them were being put to death because of what they preached.
some leather lung preachers, and Jesus is being compared.
He's being mistaken for John the Baptist rising from the dead.
Now, one thing that's interesting between John the Baptist and Elijah
is they were very similar in the way, in their preaching style, right?
These were, you know, we wouldn't have thought of John the Baptist or Elijah as being soft preachers.
And these are people who are rough around the edges.
They're gritty.
Right there. They're hairy men. They wore a leather girdle, right? You know, they had
And it's funny. It's like that girdle stood out enough to that's what they're kind of notable for is I always think of in Oklahoma
There's a lot of cowboys, right? They always wear the the big belt buckle, right? They must have had some like some interesting, you know
You know
accoutrements on that belt buckle or something, you know,
or they had some, some cool designs or something,
something that made it stand out that came across
as somebody who's very strong, somebody who's very tough,
somebody who's very gritty.
These people were strong preachers, hard preachers.
And really what makes them hard preachers
is that they just preached the truth and the truth hurts.
You know, many people just do not like hearing the truth.
That's what made Jesus Christ a hard preacher.
That's what makes any preacher a hard preacher
is just by them preaching the truth.
The truth often offends people.
Just like we saw the disciples of Jesus,
they left Jesus because they were offended at his word.
And Jesus, he's being compared
to some of the hardest preachers in the Bible.
So, Jesus Christ, you know, he was somebody who, you know, offended a lot of people.
And one thing that kind of stood out to me about John the Baptist, you think about probably
his most notable sermon that got a lot of people offended or got one particular family
offended was Herod, right?
Herod and his wife.
He married his brother's wife.
So, you know, very wicked and John the Baptist wasn't going to just stand around and just be silent about that
What did he do? He decided to preach against Herod for doing something wicked and sinful and it ended up getting him martyred
You know, and this is something that I've learned in the last year
Is that a lot of people get offended at the preaching on about marriage?
You know, a lot of people get offended about the preaching on fortification
on, you know, when a person should get married, on divorce, you know, these are all topics
in which people get very offended by.
I mean, most people will stop serving God just from hearing a preacher preach what
the Bible says on these topics.
I mean, it's just, you know, most people today, they just want to hear that preacher that
They don't want to be told all the things that they're doing wrong the book of Isaiah says, you know prophesy not unto us write things
Preach unto us smooth things
prophesy deceits
You know, that's what the person who doesn't like hard preaching wants to hear
He just wants to hear how he's right in his own eyes
The things that he's doing are fine. No big deal
You know, we need to get stronger as a church
when it comes to receiving hard sayings.
Not getting so stinking, easily offended.
You know, and of course, this is my own opinion,
but I have some anecdotal evidence, I suppose,
but when I grew up, my dad offered me
a lot of harsh criticisms, a lot.
And, you know, it honestly prepared me for the real world.
You know I can the the job I'd been fired from in the past for preaching the Bible
That boss that I worked for was probably the most
Harshly critical person I've ever worked for. I mean he said things that I'm just like
You know and so you know some things that he said were probably true other things
Maybe I didn't agree with but you know what I just said. Yes, sir. I'll do it anyways
You know, if we just get so easily offended you're never going to succeed at anything.
If you just quit the first time somebody offers you some harsh criticism, you're never going
to be successful.
You know, when it comes to raising my children, I'm often offering them harsh criticisms.
You know, and if you don't agree with that, that's fine.
You know, I don't have a Bible verse to point to, so, you know, you do you, but I want to
You know, I want to prepare them, my son, for going and working for somebody who's potentially an unsayed person
that has a lot of harsh criticisms to offer. And I don't want him to just quit, just because he got his feelings hurt.
He told me all the things I did wrong.
I mean, it really, it drives me crazy to see just how easily people are offended today.
You know, we have, we need less dove soap discipleship
going on in Christianity.
You know, this desire to only have the comfortable things,
you know, that soft soap preaching
that makes you feel good, that makes you comfortable.
No, we need the lava soap discipleship, right?
The soap that's gritty.
It's got some rocks in it, the rock of Jesus Christ, right?
That's gonna get down deep in the crevices
Right, that's the type of discipleship that we need I you know
I my dad was a mechanic and so I spent a little bit of time just helping him in the garage and and working on cars
And you would get really dirty and I'm telling you dove soap would not do the job
You needed that orange whatever a goo it was. I don't even remember the name
It was just like a goo and a container and you would grab some of it
And you know lather those hands up and it was gritty. It was rough
But you know what it was effective
It got the job done and that's the type of preaching
That's the type of discipleship that we need today and in churches is that gritty uncomfortable preaching
That's gonna make you feel a little bit uncomfortable about the things that you're doing wrong in your life
But you know what it's effective
It gets the job done. It's gonna help you clean up your life
You know, don't be this dove-soaked Christian,
just always wanting things to be soft and easy.
You know, teach your children, raise your children
in a way in which you're gonna prepare them
for the next season of their life, right?
The real world.
Don't set them up for failures.
You know, so many parents today are just,
You know, they don't do a good enough job
when it comes to raising their children in this way.
This is why we see so many people quitting.
You know, I played sports growing up
and you know, I can think of a couple people
who anytime the going got tough,
they were out.
They quit on you.
You couldn't rely on them.
You know, you didn't want to put your trust in them
to win the game.
Because you knew that as soon as things got tough
they were just gonna quit.
You know, and oftentimes it would just be out on the court.
You know, and just like, dude, play some defense.
Who cares that you missed the shot?
Get back and play some defense.
You know, and then, because you can't trust them,
what do you gotta do?
You gotta get off your man and go and make up the hedge,
right?
You got to, you have to fill in the gaps sometimes.
And it can be burdensome.
So even when you're thinking about it from your own perspective,
quitting on God doesn't just affect you,
it also affects those around you.
The second reason I've seen people quit on God
is because they covet the world.
Go to Matthew chapter number 13.
What did Paul say?
Demis hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.
I mean, Deimos is a guy that's being commissioned,
going out, starting churches, right alongside the apostle Paul,
doing great works for the Lord.
And yet, at the end of Paul's life,
at the end of his ministry,
he quit on God because he loved the world.
He allowed the world to draw him away from serving God.
And listen, this happens a lot in Christianity.
You have the example of aching
All of these coveting things causing them to get out of the fight to stop serving God. How about Saul?
Saul was
Somebody when he was first chosen to be king was somebody who was looked at as being a great man
Right. He's humble in his own side. He was a great leader
Up until the point that he decided that he's gonna covet a gag's sheep
and not obey the voice of the Lord, right?
Really, when you look at the life of Saul,
that's kind of the beginning of his demise.
It's when he spares Agag in the best of the sheep.
And then what does he do?
He blames everybody else for his problems, for his choices.
You know, and this often happens
with those who quit on God, what do they do?
They wanna blame everybody else, right?
They wanna point the blame to those around them
for the reason why they quit,
as opposed to just saying, you know what, it was me.
It was my fault. I was weak. I wasn't steadfast. I wasn't somebody who was strong in the heart.
And, you know, this happens just time and time again.
The Bible says love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
For any that love the world, the love of the Father is not in them.
Matthew 13 verse 22 the Bible says he also that received seed among the thorns is he that here at the word and
The care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
Choke the word and he become ath unfruitful
There is this proclivity for Christians to see success in their career to
See riches in this world and to chase after those things
all the while they forget and leave off Christianity.
They stop serving God.
They spend more time building their business.
They spend more time trying to gather up wealth
here on this earth.
When the reality is that their life is but a vapor.
I mean, I wish people would just get this into their mind
that we have such a short time here on this earth
to serve God.
Such a short time and you know many of us we got saved later on in our life
Right, so it's even shorter. It's not like we have a full life where we're able to serve God
Hey, praise the Lord. We're raising our children in church. Many of them will have an opportunity to do greater works than us
But why is that because of the amount of time that they're gonna spend serving God?
You know, it's not about how you start. It's about how you finish
You know, somebody could have started with Jesus Christ
and ended before his ministry ended.
And you know, that saying wouldn't be true for them
where Jesus said, hey, greater works than these
will you do, right?
You're gonna go on to do greater works.
Not that the quality of the work would be better.
You know, we're not going out and healing people.
At least I hope that's not what you're doing out there.
You know, laying hands on people and healing them.
And if you serve God for years and years and years, you will do greater works quantity-wise,
not quality, than Jesus Christ.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter number six.
1 Timothy chapter number six.
The Bible says in verse number 10,
for the love of money is the root of all evil,
which while some coveted after,
they have aired from the faith
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Notice again, we're not talking about unsaved people here.
We're talking about saved people.
And time and time again, I've witnessed this in my own life
where they want their Sundays back.
so they can watch football and waste their life.
So that they can go on vacations and trips
and they can build up their company
or they can amass this huge amount of wealth.
And all the while they just neglect God,
they quit on God.
They think their life's going to be better.
That's what's so deceitful about riches
and about this world is they think that it's better out there.
I mean you are deceived if you think it's better out there. Have you not looked lately how wicked and perverse this generation is?
I mean what in what mind makes you think oh well being like them is gonna be better
You know those things might be fun for a temporary season
They might be you know the Bible says that sin can be fun for a season
But you know, it's never going to have a good outcome
If you want to be successful in the Christian life, you have to remain steadfast.
Don't allow the cares of this world.
Don't allow the Egypt that's out there.
to draw you away from serving God
and where you're supposed to be.
Sunday morning, Sunday night,
Wednesday the midweek service,
so many times, hey,
you need to get involved in all of those things.
You need to serve the Lord.
Every day you should wake up and read your Bible.
Hey, we've got a prayer list here.
Every day you should try to make a point
to pray for somebody on this list.
Right serve God with your whole heart be zealous don't allow the restless world to distract you
There's a lot of distractions in this world today
TV social media
Listen, and I think probably everybody falls into that trap from time to time
Right, but as soon as you see yourself going that down that direction say hey, let's my eye needs to be single on the Lord
The third point, or the third reason why people often quit on God is because they become weary.
Go to Jeremiah chapter number 12.
Jeremiah chapter number 12.
Jeremiah, of course, was a great preacher.
But, you know, it's interesting, you read the Bible, especially Old Testament,
you have these Old Testament prophets, these preachers,
and, you know, many of them throughout their ministry,
They got weary and well-doing
All right, they wanted God to take their life and this is just a theme that you see in the Bible
It's like and you say well, why is that? Why did they want to quit? They became weary
You know weary through the threat of physical violence or the threat of death the third the threat of persecution the threat of imprisonment
You know, and these are all areas in a Christian's life where if they encounter those things, it can be a fearful time, right?
And it's definitely an area in which people will quit on God
just because of a little persecution or adversity comes in their life.
Jeremiah, I love this verse. The Bible says in verse 5,
this is God. In fact, I don't have time to kind of develop the whole story,
but if you read this whole passage and even the prior chapter,
Jeremiah, he's fearful of his life from his own brethren,
the men of Anathoth, right?
And that's his hometown, that's where he's from.
And they sought to kill his life, or to take his life.
And in the prior verses, he starts questioning God,
he's doubting God.
And this is God responding to Jeremiah's doubt.
Him growing weary, it says in verse number five,
they have weary thee, then how can't thou contend with horses? And if the land
and if in the land of peace, talking about the land of Anathoth, wherein thou
trustest, they weary thee, then how will thou do in the swelling of Jordan? He's
kind of bringing up this idea that, you know, this is just a small affliction,
Jeremiah. This isn't that bad. What are you doubting me for?
Well, you know, why are you whining and sniveling, right?
Gird up your loins like a man, Jeremiah.
If the footmen have weary thee, how will you ever contend
with the horses?
When something worse or harder persecution or trials of death
come upon you,
How are you going to withstand that?
How are you going to be steadfast through that
if you're weary in such a small persecution?
And this is real.
I had people in Oklahoma City that came up to me
and this is during the really hot season of battle
for this church where people are just protesting this church.
Every single service...
And I'm gonna kind of get to that towards the end of the,
I wanna bring that back up,
but I had some people in Oklahoma City that came up to me
and they said, you know, if we ever get protested,
I'm not coming to this church.
And I'm just like, if the footmen have weary thee,
how are you gonna contend with the horses?
You know, if you're willing to quit
with just a little bit of persecution,
You know, what's it? What's it gonna be like when the threat of death comes upon you for serving God?
Are you gonna deny Jesus?
You know, obviously if they're saved they they're not gonna lose their salvation, but you know out of fear of death
Some people will deny that they believe in Jesus Christ. I
Mean it's gonna happen and the reality is is that if you want to be successful in the Christian life, it's not about how you start
It's about how you finish
Right, and so when those times of trials persecutions come in your life, don't look at it as something that's negative
You should look at it as something that's positive
Because all adversity all resistance that you're gonna face in the Christian life is actually good for you
It's for your benefit. It's preparing you for that tougher trial. That's down the road
You know God, you know, he's not able to you know, he's not gonna give us things that we can't handle
He's going to put things in our path, though, to develop us, to cause us to grow, to where
we can face even more difficult situations, more difficult persecutions.
Even Jeremiah can have times of doubt.
So you know what that tells me?
Is that anybody can have times of doubt.
Anybody can be wearied.
being weary the Bible says and be not weary and well-doing for in due season
ye shall reap if you faint not right that's the comfort that we have in the
word of God is knowing that hey if I just don't quit there is gonna be fruit
at the end of that persecution there's gonna be a benefit to me and you know we
don't want to quit those who quit are weak they're weak go to Proverbs chapter
number 24
Proverbs chapter number twenty-four.
And they can make all the excuses that they want.
This is the reason why I quit or, you know, this is the reason why I'm not going to go
so many anymore.
This is the reason why I'm not going to read my Bible anymore.
They can come up with all the excuses in the world, but at the end of the day just mark
it down.
The reason they quit is because they're weak.
Proverbs 24 look at verse 10 the Bible says if thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small
You're weak
You know, we don't want to be these weak soft-soaked Christians that just quit on God at
Every moment of persecution at every hurdle that comes in our life
We don't want to be distracted by the cares of this world go to Hebrews chapter number 12
Hebrews chapter number twelve, I mean Jesus Christ is probably the greatest example of
not quitting when he has a job to do.
You know, all of us, we've been given that ministry of reconciliation.
We have a job to do.
You know, we went to Durant and it was just a field wide under harvest.
You know, we went to Sherman, field wide under harvest, right?
The Pacific Islanders, a field wide under harvest.
But there are so many people in this world,
we were talking about this,
I was talking with a couple of guys before the service is,
you know, we go to people and we preach to them,
and oftentimes what will they say?
Man, I was just praying about this.
I was just seeking this out.
I was wanting somebody to show me from the Bible
how to be saved.
And I was just thinking,
how many other people are just like them
in all the other little towns and cities around DFW?
You know how many how many people are out there that are seeking after God yet?
They have no man to show them the way to salvation
how many people are
Desiring the truth of salvation and yet there's just so few people delivering it
So few people out there in the highways and hedges bringing the gospel the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ into them
you know the
The field is wide under harvest, but the laborers are few.
You know, in Jesus Christ, he had a job to do.
He had a mission that he wanted to accomplish,
and I think he's a great example for us in how we can avoid quitting in the Christian life.
It was there in verse number one the Bible says wherefore seen we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily be set us and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him notice this and
dirt the cross
despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself,
lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
See, Jesus Christ, he had a mission. It was the joy that was set before him.
The joy of the adoption into the the family of God the joy of the resurrection
The joy of providing salvation for all mankind. That was the mission in front of him
You know, and he didn't allow those that he even loved and was dying for
That were persecuting him. He didn't allow them to stop him
right says that
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners. I believe what the Bible is trying to say here is that
Though the people who put him to death were the people he was saving
Right. What did Jesus say?
You know, Lord forgive them for they know not what they do
Right, so he didn't even allow people who hated him that wanted him dead to cause him to quit
what motivated him was the joy that was set before him.
You know, I think of the Christian life,
you know, we have a joy that's set before us,
and that's finishing our race with patience, right?
Receiving that crown of glory at the end of our life,
ruling and reigning with Christ here on earth
for a millennium.
You know, there's so many joys that we have
to look forward to in the life after
And we need to run that race with patience, patience.
You know, people who quit on God, they're not patient.
People who quit on God, they're sporadic.
Bible says, tribulation, work with patience
and patience, experience and experience, hope.
and hope make it not a shame, right?
So the Bible is teaching this concept that,
hey, you're going to endure tribulations,
persecutions, things that are gonna weary you,
but you need to be patient through those things, right?
Patient to the end, don't allow, you know,
these persecutions, tribulations
to cause you to stop serving God.
You know Jesus Christ, he's a great example of somebody who endured so much and he never quit
Aren't you thankful that Jesus didn't quit?
I mean I have to say this at the door is you know Jesus Christ
He could have just struck all those people dead that were trying to crucify him. He's God
He could have just put him down
But you know what he willingly went through all of that so we we could have eternal life. We could have salvation
He's a great example of somebody who endured the weariness of the flesh to serve God, to
serve the Father's will.
Don't be surprised when people quit.
Don't be surprised.
Go to Psalm chapter number, in fact, actually just go to 1 Peter chapter 5.
First Peter chapter number 5.
I'm going to read for you Psalm 12-1.
for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
The Bible's just explaining to us that, hey,
it's rare to see people who serve God throughout their life
that are faithful, that are steadfast.
Proverbs 20, verse 6, the Bible says,
most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness,
but a faithful man who can find.
It's rare.
It's rare that people don't quit on God.
So don't be surprised when people do.
It's going to happen.
You know, I don't want you to become a casualty
just because other people were weak,
just because other people gave up on serving God.
It's gonna happen.
I mean, even Peter is jaded a little bit about this.
You know, I think the first time I had this pointed out,
I was listening to a sermon by Pastor Anderson,
And he got to this end, and of course he was going through some difficulties, I think, at that time as well.
And, you know, maybe that's what caused this verse to kind of stand out to him.
But anyways, we'll just read it, verse number 12.
The Bible says, but Sylvanus, a faithful brother unto you, notice this, as I suppose.
I have written briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God, wherein he stands.
Sylvanas, if you study the Bible, it's Silas, right?
You think of Silas as Paul and Silas.
Paul and Silas in the Macedonian call, right?
They're going out and preaching the gospel.
They're getting tons of people saying,
I mean, Silas is somebody who is a great Christian.
He's serving the Lord.
But Peter's probably a little bit jaded
at this point in his life.
You know, he's seen people become casualties and quit on God, and stop serving God, and
stop going out and going soul-winning, and stop reading their Bible, and stop coming
to church.
And he says, Sylvanas, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose.
Because he realizes that, you know what?
Anybody could fall victim to becoming weak and quitting on God.
I don't think it's a, I don't think it's a slight toward silence.
I don't think he's, you know, I don't, we don't really know, you know, we can all speculate
why he even said this.
I just tend to think it's because he's, he's seen it already happen a lot.
And he realizes that he doesn't think if he stand to take heed lest he fall, right?
That many people who think, oh, well, I would never quit on God.
You know, sometimes those are the people that actually quit on God.
Those are the people that quit going to church.
Those are the people that quit serving the Lord.
And the last thing that we need is people to quit on God today.
You know, we need more people serving God.
We need more people getting on board with that lava-soaked discipleship,
receiving the hard sayings,
you know, looking at the rest of this world and say,
hey, nuts to this world.
My life's short.
I want to serve God with every breath that I have.
You know, I don't want to waste any second.
I don't want to waste any minute serving God.
You know, I don't want to allow persecutions, trials,
tribulations to cause me to fall away or to stop coming to
church.
And, you know, those who quit on God, and this is kind of my
last point, go to Psalm 78.
Last place I'll have you turn.
Psalm 78.
People who quit on God, their heart is not right with God.
I mean, you just mark it down.
Why they quit?
The reason they quit is they're not right with God.
Psalm 78, the Bible says in verse number eight,
and might not be as their fathers. Of course, we're talking about
the children of Israel as they're coming into the Promised Land.
This is one of the Psalms about this passage of the Bible.
Verse number eight, it says, it might not be as their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation that set not their heart a right
and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows
turned back in the day of battle.
We're talking about this passage where Ephraim and Nassi
they're going to inhabit the land, the promised land,
and they didn't fully obey the commandment of the Lord
They turned back in the day of battle, their heart was not right with God, why?
Because they quit on God.
And let us not have this weak, easily offended spirit.
Let us be a people that can receive the Word of God.
There's plenty of times Pastor Shelley gets up and preaches on something that is applicable to my life.
And you know what? I'm not sitting around saying, oh, wow, is he talking about me?
Oh, that really just didn't I didn't like the way he said that
You know don't have that attitude don't have that spirit of being easily offended
You know don't be
You know straight away by the appeal of this world
You know, I believe that we could be, you know, have fun and do a lot of fun things
and serve God at the same time.
Some people, they just think, well, it's either one or the other, right?
And listen, we have tons of fun in this church.
I mean, the fellowship in this church is comparable to none, bar none.
Don't blame others for your failures.
You know people use excuses all day long the reason why they quit. They don't want to admit that they're weak
You know, we don't want to become the spiritual drifter
And you know, I'll even say this there's been definitely times in my past where I would be it would have been classified as a spiritual drifter
You know times where I was in and out of church. I wasn't very faithful
You know bouncing from church to church, you know drawn by the appeals of this world
You know, and I think everybody has that proclivity and it's not something that you want to sit there and say well
It could never happen to me. You want to guard yourself and remain steadfast and realize
Hey, I don't want to be weak in heart because it could happen to me
You know, I don't want to be that next casualty
The the great thing though is you know for those who
have fallen into that trap and, you know, maybe some of you can relate to that.
You know, the Bible says the Lord's mercies are new every morning.
Great is thy faithfulness.
And I'm thankful that God is not a spiritual drifter.
You know, he's somebody who's faithful.
He's somebody who's the same today, yesterday, and forever.
Somebody that is always gonna have that mercy for us.
Hey, if we screw up, if we decide to quit on God,
we can always come back.
Today's a new day, right?
We can always come back and serve the Lord today.
And, you know, what we need to do as Christians
is we just need to choose to be steadfast today,
not quit on God, not allow these things
to get us out of the fight.
With that, let's end the word of prayer.
Divinely, Father, God, I pray that you would help us all
to just take account of our own lives, Lord,
that we would apply some of these truths
that we've seen from your word to ourselves, Lord,
and that we wouldn't allow ourselves to become a casualty,
that we wouldn't quit on you, Lord,
that we would desire to serve you with our whole heart,
Lord, that we would desire to be zealous,
and Lord, that we would avoid the pitfalls
and and not just follow all the cultural winds that seem to just drag people away from church
Well, we love you and thank you for all that you do and Jesus and pray amen
All right in closing let's go to song number 327
Song number three two seven
Higher ground
The opposite of being a spiritual drifter. We're gonna press on the upward way song number 327
I'm pressing