Good morning everybody, brother Jim, this Bible is way too nice for me, thank you.
So first of all I want to say thank you to Pastor, I want to say thank you for the
opportunity to be here, I want to say thank you as we were reminded last night for starting
this church.
You know, many many years ago I certainly wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Pastor
Jimenez starting this church, so thank you for your leadership that you've been
giving me in Fresno, thank you for not firing me, yet everybody's like, how's it going in
Fresno?
I was like, well I haven't been fired yet, I'm trying not to mess it up, but anyway
I just want to say thank you, thank you for the conference, appreciate it folks.
On that let me just say, you know, don't ever take your church for granted, you
know, let me give you, you know, turn to Matthew chapter 20 and while you're turning
there let me give you some perspective, the last year that I was here I told some of
the guys, you know, there's this constant debate that would go on between the guys like
Chevy versus Ford, right, and it like it was just like mind-numbing to me like the third
year I was here and I told the guys the last year I was here I was like, man, if
I get into another Chevy versus Ford or, you know, debate or argument here I'm quitting
this church, you know, that's where I was at and yesterday I walk into the church
and here's brother Joel and brother Ray and they're like toe to toe, right, and brother
Joel's like everybody knows that Chevy makes the best diesel motor and brother
Ray's like Chevy didn't even figure out how to make their engines out of metal
for like until ten years ago, you know, and I walk right in the middle of this
and they're like what do you think and I'm like this is great, like man
it's good to be back, you know, I think you're both right. Brother Ray
there's no Fords in Fresno, I don't know what the deal is, unless you got
you got to have an El Camino or a Camaro to live in Fresno, I don't know what the
deal is, there's like a silent city ordinance or something. Anyway, don't ever
take your church for granted. Look, this is fun, right, this is
entertaining, right, this conference, this is a good time, this is fun, we're all
fellowshipping, we're listening to great preaching, I mean the preaching is
just a little bit more entertaining during the Red Hot Preaching
Conference, you have to admit that, right, this is fun, this is entertaining, but
look, today is what we do for other people, right, today is what we do for
others, right, turn to Matthew chapter 20 if you're there and let's just read
the first couple verses here. In Matthew chapter 20 we see a parable,
the Bible says, for the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a
householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his
vineyard, when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day he sent them
out into his vineyard, and he went out the third hour and saw others
standing idle in the marketplace, and he said unto them, go ye also into the
vineyard and whatsoever is right I will give you, and they went their way, and he
went about the sixth and the ninth hour and did likewise, and about the
eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle and said unto them,
why stand ye here all day idle? So first of all let me just make a
couple, point out a couple things about this parable for you this morning.
First of all, the Bible calls it labor, what you're gonna do today. The Bible
calls it labor. And look, don't forget that, I mean I know that especially at the
Red Hot Preaching Conference, this is fun, this is entertaining, you're gonna
go out and you're gonna see, you're gonna hang out and fellowship with
people you haven't seen in a long time, but look, there might be days out soul
winning when it feels like work. I mean last, last Sunday was 108 degrees
at two o'clock on Sunday afternoon, soul winning in Fresno. It felt a little
bit like work, right? But look, when things start to feel like work,
you need to just realize, you know, I kind of actually like that because, you know, I
just want to just like work harder then, and that's how you should be
because the Bible actually calls it labor. You know, I tell my kids all the
time, you know, hey, if it was, you know, it's called work not fun. You know, it
said go to work, not go to go to fun, right? So I mean sometimes work feels
like work, but you need to get to be the kind of person that when, you know, things
get a little bit hard, you just kind of start to like it and just, just go a
little bit harder. All right, so that's just the first, first introduction, but
the point I want to make about this is that this guy went out the third, the
sixth, and the ninth, and even the eleventh hour. We're talking about a
12-hour shift here. He's going out and he's getting people like on the
eleventh hour. So I mean the good news about this is that there's a ton of work
to be done, right? I mean, look, when I go out, when I, if I'm gonna build a
fence or hire somebody to build a fence in my backyard, I'm not gonna go
out and like hire like 500 people, right? I'm gonna hire maybe two, maybe
three, maybe four people to get that job done, right? But here's the thing, the
Bible says that we have too few laborers. This job is too big. I mean, there's a lot
of people here, but we're not gonna get all this work done today, right? I mean,
there's too much work to be done. So you're never gonna run out of work.
That's the good news, right? I mean, I've been on some projects in my life
from like, you know what, this is a really fun project. There's some good
people that work here. I wish this project would go on forever, but you
know what, the project always ends. The project always comes to an end. This
project will never come to an end. That's why the Bible is showing us here that
even at the 11th hour, look, there's just not enough time to get it all
done. I mean, people are dying every single day, right? I mean, that's all we
hear about is people dying now, right? People are dying of all sorts of
different things every single day. So the job is too big for all of us, all
right? I mean, that's the good news is the job will never end. That's why
he kept going back for more people, all right? But look, the bad news is this.
The bad news is the same point. That means that there will be work that
is left undone. And you know, that's, you know, think of it, the 11th hour.
Look, if you got a 12-hour shift and you're going and you're like, we need more
people at the 11th hour of that shift, you're not gonna get that job done
that day. So that means that there's, and the people that were standing
there, it's not that they didn't want to go to work. They're just like, hey, no
one has hired us. And when they went and they hired them, they went, didn't
they? There was always those people that still went. But the point is this, and
kind of the sad thing about this is that, you know, the field is ripened
unto harvest and we're gonna leave grain on the ground because there's not
enough laborers to do the work. And when you think about this, I mean, you
think about the people that you meet today. When you're gonna go and maybe
you have 20 people not interested, but you're gonna meet the guy that you
ask him the question and you say, you know, do you know if you're going
to heaven? He's like, no, I don't know. And you're gonna meet the guy
that you say, do you want to know? And he's like, yeah, I'd like to
know. Some of you will meet that person today. And then you'll be able
to tell him, we're gonna leave people like that on the ground.
We're not going to get them all. Isn't that sad?
Last week in Fresno, the ladies met these three teenage girls and
they came to the door and they were so bored, they just wanted to
talk to somebody. They just wanted to talk to somebody and they all
got saved. They just listened and they couldn't believe it and all
this. We're gonna leave people like that because there's not enough
people and there's not enough time.
Right? I mean, what we're doing today is a function. Look, getting
a job done is a function of man hours.
It's a function of how many people you have and how much
time you spend doing it.
We're gonna leave these people. We met a lady yesterday
and it was just, she understood everything. It was just a
bridge too far for her. You ever heard of people needing to
hear the gospel more than once before they get saved?
I was like that. I didn't get saved the first time somebody
told me. What if we don't have enough time to get to that
lady again? What if there's not enough people to get to?
We're gonna leave people like her on the ground because
there's not enough people. There's not enough time. I mean,
this is low hanging fruit. It's all over the place and
the sad thing about the amount of work that needs to be
done is that we're gonna leave some behind.
So that's how important that this is what we're doing today.
That's how important it is. So look, it is a privilege to be
here. I've always felt like it's a privilege to be at this
conference and especially at this church and under the
leadership that I'm under. I've always felt privileged for
that. But I wish there was more of us here.
I mean, why aren't the majority of saved people here?
I wish there was more. So look, don't ever get bored with
this Christian life. There's too much to do. I mean, this
is exciting. This is exciting. This is fun. I've been looking
forward to this since last year. But don't ever get
because look, young people, you wonder what's what you know, I
don't know about my life, especially right now. Look, I
mean, when things change, people get stressed out. I've
never seen things change so much in this country as they've
changed this year. In my 43 years, this is the most
change I've ever seen. Even if you're not affected by it,
when things change, you get stressed out. Young people maybe
are thinking, what does life have for me? Well, this is your
mission right here. This is your base. This is your
mission. And guess what? It'll never end. It may start. This
is your base. You get in a good church, you get under good
leadership. And you start with this base. And guess what? All
the other details, your work life, your marriage, who are
you going to marry, your kids, all of that. I mean, the Bible
says God gave you pastors and teachers. Start with this
base. Don't worry about all the change around you, your
mission, everybody in this room, your mission has not
changed. Even in a crazy year like this, our mission, that's
the beauty of the Christian life. Our mission is the
same. It's the same. So I understand, you know, it's
just it's stressful. But that's our comfort. This mission that
we have today is going to be the same at the end of your
life. And everything else God will fill in the details once
we're doing what we're supposed to be doing. All
right, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear
Heavenly Father, I thank you for today. I thank you for
this church. I thank you for the pastor of this church. I
thank you for Pastor Jimenez that he that he started this
church, and he's changed so many lives with this church.
We're asked that you fill us all with the spirit. You
help us feel that Holy Spirit within us as we're
ambassadors for you today. Lord, we love you. Keep us
all safe and bless the rest of this conference. In
Jesus' name we pray. Amen.