In 2 Corinthians 4, we're going to be talking this morning about not fainting, and not quitting,
not stopping, because I tend to believe that things are going to get harder for us. I mean,
I know that kind of sounds negative, but I want to prepare. I want to be ready. That soul wanting
might get more difficult. I mean, it already has. It's not as easy as it was to go up to someone's
door, as most of you have experienced. And I believe the apostle Paul in this chapter,
chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians, he's writing to this church to encourage them to say,
stay in the fight. It might be getting tough, and he kind of gives some examples
that they were going through. They were troubled on every side. They were perplexed.
But they kept pressing on. So in verse 1, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 1, it says,
Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, look, we faint not.
We faint not. Why? Because we've received mercy. And what was that mercy? God sent someone to you
when you were lost to give you the gospel, to preach you Jesus Christ. And that's a reason
right there, not to faint. So the first point this morning is I want you to focus on others.
If you're going to stay in this thing, if you're going to stay in this fight, your focus has to get
off yourself, and it has to be on others. Look at verse 5. We find this theme out through this
chapter. Look at verse 5. It says, We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord,
and ourselves, look, your servants for Jesus' sake. Drop down to verse 12. And it says,
So death worketh in us, but life in you. The Apostle Paul says, we're struggling. We might
even be close to death, but we're trying to encourage you to go out and preach the gospel,
to continue on if we don't, but we're going through great lengths to be a blessing to you.
Look at verse 15. It says, For all things, look, are for your sakes. See others, that the abundance
of grace might through the thanksgiving may redound to the glory of God. See, eyes off self.
It's so many times in the Christian life, we get our eyes on ourself. And it's easy to do that.
And when you start doing that, what you're going to do, you're going to say, well, maybe I don't
need to show up Saturday. Maybe I don't need to come to church. Maybe I can miss Wednesday night.
You start doing it. Oh, I got problems. No one else has problems. You start getting eyes on self
when you should be thinking, hey, I need to preach the gospel. Amen. I need to go out and preach the
gospel. Look at verse two. But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking
in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience and the side of God. See, look at that word,
manifestation. What's that mean? To make it known, right? Truth. In your life, you should
be walking in a way that is showing everyone that you're a believer, that you have light inside you.
But think about this. I'm not going to get into it this morning for the sake of time. But it
talks about the earth and vessel having the treasure. Do you realize everyone here that's
saved, you're walking around with that inside you? You have that. And what's God wanting us to do?
He wants to give us to others because we have the truth. That's a reason right there not to quit
because you have the truth. Not like the cult. So you want to know, you can identify a cult
really quick. They lie. They will change. They say one thing, and then if you went into their church,
then they start changing it. I'll never forget a quick example. I remember that the Church of
Christ knocked on my door at like nine o'clock at night. I'm like, what are you guys doing?
You know, it was pitch black, two guys coming to my door. They knocked on my door, and then
you know what they said to me? They go, yeah, we're just in your neighborhood. We want to have
a Bible study with people. And I'm like, who are you? I mean, they didn't identify themselves.
They didn't want to tell me. I had to get it out of them, right? So look, being deceitful.
You know, the Mormons do the same thing. The eyewitness do the same thing.
When you get in, if you went into their church, they would start changing things on you.
Well, guess what? We're not doing that. People might think when we're not showing up to their
door this morning that we're doing that, but we're not doing that. See, we do not change what
we believe. And you know what? One thing you need to be thankful for, if this is your first church,
that when pastor and his wife started this church, nothing has changed. Do you realize it was King
James only when he started it? It's still King James only. You realize it was a soul winning
church when it started, and it has not changed. And you should be very thankful for that, that
there's a man of God that's using the Bible and leading the church in that way. And you should
be able to get behind that. I mean, that's a blessing. And what we want to do, we want to
bring more people into that. Because I am trying to steal people from the church, because I know
they're not in a place like this, all right? I mean, you might not want to say that, but I'm
saying is that you want to get them to where the truth is being preached. And we have it. Look at
verse three. It says, but if our gospel be hid, look, it's hidden in them that are lost,
in whom the God of this world, Satan, had blinded the minds. You realize it says minds and not eyes?
I always found that interesting. You know why? Because people's minds are messed up.
When you talk to them, and I know this is a God song every week, people have messed up minds. The
media, Satan's been very diligent about getting people's minds is so messed up. Look at that.
Blinded the minds of them which, believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. So if you want to stay in this thing,
if you don't want to faint, you must focus on others. Number two, you must focus on the renewal
of the inward man. Look at verse 16. For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man
perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. See where it says is renewed? Paul's preaching
in his church. He says, we're doing this. I expect that you're doing this as well. It's not an option.
It has to be renewed. Everything that has value has to be renewed. You have to take care of things.
And look, we got nine chapters coming up in January. That's a great start on your Bible
reading, but that's not the end of it. That's just to get you going, get you going. And I'll
park it there for a minute. Daily Bible reading. It's daily Bible reading. Because if you're
reading less today than you did yesterday, guess what? You know less Bible. You forget.
If you keep trying to live on what you've done in the past, you're going to forget.
And what about prayer? You realize if you pray less today, you have less power than you did
yesterday. If you want God to work in your behalf, and maybe that's why we're not as successful as we
should be, is because we think, well, I prayed a little bit. No, you need to pray more. You
need to develop that more because there's power in it. There's power in it. And church,
everyone should know that, guess what? Missing church is a bad idea. Don't just blow it off.
It's a bad idea. You just don't need one of these. You need all of these. Missing church
is critical for your strength. It's critical. And when you're not here, guess what? You miss
something. And even if you watch the live show, and like I said, if you're sick or something,
I get that. Stay home. But if you're able, don't plan to miss it. Say, you know what,
like tomorrow, guess what? I already planned to be here. Just plan it, guess what? Going to church
tomorrow. It's already scheduled. I'm going to be here. So not only must we focus on others
and the renewal of the inward man, not the faint, number three, let's focus on the things that are
not seen. Look at verse 18. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen, but the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen
are eternal. So what are those things? Souls. Can't see a soul, but that song we just sung,
that was awesome, brother. Millions are waiting darkness, waiting for God's word.
Millions. Okay. We're going out to the community here. There's someone out there is waiting to
hear God's word. Because you realize you might not get someone saved today, but someone will
get saved today. With this many people going out, someone's going to get somebody.
They're going to get someone into heaven, and you get to get excited about that.
Souls, what? In heaven? I say this to people all the time. I'm like, hey, I might not see you in
church, but I want to see you in heaven. I want to see heaven. I want to think about heaven.
What about hell? Jesus spoke more about hell than he did heaven. Why? Because he did not want people
to go there. It was a priority. So, number one, focus on others. Jesus came to serve,
not to be served. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many. Number two, focus on the renewal of the inward man
daily. Renew that inward man, that spiritual man daily, that he would grant you, according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit and the inner man.
Number three, focus on the things that are not seen. Souls, heaven, hell,
where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Famous old IFB preacher,
Jack Hollis, used to always say, is there a hell? People would ask him what kind of preacher I should
be, and he wouldn't really go into depth. He'd say, is there a hell? Is there a hell? He would
keep saying that. And if you needed any other motivation, just think about your family members
that won't listen to you. I pray all the time. I have older kids, and I have family members,
a brother. I have people that I just hope someone's going to knock on their door today.
But do you realize in Vacaville, where I live, there's not really good churches that are doing
that? But you have a church here that's doing it, and you're being sent out. You have a man
of God that's sending you out with the power of God upon your life to reach those that are lost.
Galatians 6-9 says, and let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if
we faint not. And what's a way to kind of look at if we don't get lazy, if we don't get backslidden,
and as corona, if it keeps going, and Lord knoweth what's going to happen with it, it could get very
difficult. We might not be able to do things the way we always did it, but we got to adapt,
and we got to keep going forward because the condition is still to go out and preach the
gospel to every creature. We got to do it. We got to do it. We can't get lazy about it,
so next time when you're laying in bed on Saturday, you go, why should I go?
Remember all these points, and if you forget everything I said, just remember that there's
a real hell, and people are going to go there. And God is sending you to help that person,
to give what you've been freely given. Let's pray. Your heavenly Father, Father, thank you for
your words, Father. Thank you for the encouragement of your words, Lord. I just pray that
your power rests on Verity Baptist Church as we go out to preach the gospel this morning,
Lord. Just be with us. Keep us safe, and just fill us with your spirit, Lord. In Jesus' name,
ask all those things. Amen.