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Oh You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You Amen Him number one six zero Him number one sixty Him number one six zero Him number one sixty Crown Him with many crowns Crown Him with many crowns Him number one sixty First hands up First hands up Crown Him with many crowns First hands up, ready, sing Crown Him with many crowns The lamp upon His throne I cannot have me have them from all music but it's all Awake my soul and sing of Him who died for me and had Him as thy matchless king through all eternity on the second Crown Him the Lord of love behold His head and side which would yet visible above in beauty glorified no angel in the sky carefully bear that sign but that is wondering at mystery so bright on a bird Crown Him the Lord of love triumph Lord of rain who rose victorious to the sky foremost we came to say His glory is now we sing through thine and rose on high who died eternal and is the death or the last Crown Him the Lord of heaven Lord with the mother Lord one with the Spirit through Heaven for yonder glorious soul to Thee the endless praise for the for us the Lord who in this state adoring thine and in thine amen salamat salamat salamat salaam salaam sala foreigner salaam salaaz salaam salaam sal ransom salaam salaam God send us Alright, good morning everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church. Take out your bulletin. We'll go through a couple things real quickly. First, let's count up any salvations from this past week or salvations I'm not aware of. Is there anybody in the back that had any salvations to report? Three. Anybody else? Alright. Anybody up here? Salvations that I'm not aware of? Anybody? How about over here? Any salvations? Four. Four. Five. Four. Four. Five. So 13 plus a 3. 16. Was there anybody I missed? Alright. Great work everybody. We do have soul winning at 1.45 here today. We do have ladies choir practice later today. Mother's Day is coming up in a couple weeks. We do have a soul winning marathon tomorrow for anyone who's able to come. It will be in Quesa Memorial Circle. And obviously this time of year it gets very hot. I know a lot of people are getting sick and stuff like that. So you know you don't have to push yourself or if you can only come out for a couple hours that's perfectly fine. I'm not saying you got to be there for every second. I mean if you're tired you need to rest that's perfectly fine. And the other thing we do have the sign up sheet for the ladies event coming up in a couple weeks. And so I cannot guarantee it's going to be bowling because we've already tried to reserve and it's really hard to reserve a bowling alley. So it might be another activity but we do need to know today's the last day to sign up for that you know and if you're planning to be a part of that that's for Mother's Day in two weeks. But something active for the ladies while the guys are throwing darts with little babies around here you know at church. But anyways that'll be it for announcements while Brother Rafi lead us in another song. Hymn number 256. Hymn number 256. Hymn number 256. Hymn number 256. Look to the Lamb of God. First stanza puta yang ganu last stanza. Say amen. First stanza. If you're from sin. First stanza ready sing. If you're from sin are longing to be free. Look to the Lamb of God. He to redeem it I don't worry. Look to the Lamb of God. First look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. Oh yes again. When Satan's hand send out a fear of the same. Look to the Lamb of God. You and his friend shall over-open them. Look to the Lamb of God. First look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. Are you weary? Does the way seem slow? Look to the Lamb of God. His love will cheer and fill your heart with song. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. Oh the last fear not when shadows on your path will go. Look to the Lamb of God. Enjoy your sorrow. Crisis all in all. Look to the Lamb of God. Everybody first. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. Amen for scripture reading. Please open your Bibles to the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6. And we will only be reading verse 1 down to verse number 10. Galatians chapter 6. Please say amen if you're there. Amen. Galatians chapter 6 verse 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teach it in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For to ever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be wary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men. The word of the Lord is today. We love you Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, we're here in Galatians chapter six, and tomorrow is Labor Day. And obviously Labor Day is not celebrating the labor of preaching the gospel, or spiritually speaking, but I do want to make that application here today. So I want to preach a sermon that is themed on Labor Day and working hard. And the name of the sermon is, Growing Weary in Well-Doing. Growing Weary in Well-Doing. Verse number seven of Galatians chapter six, Baba reads, Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing. Weary means tired. Let us not grow tired or exhausted in doing well. For in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are the household of faith. I want to give you three reasons in this sermon why we grow weary or tired in well-doing. Because I think everybody in this room would say we ought to love God, we ought to read the Bible, we ought to go soul winning, we ought to go to church, we ought to memorize the Bible. And when you're right with God, it doesn't feel like a burden, it's not hard. You're like, man, I love God. And then at other times, we just don't feel like going to church, don't feel like preaching the gospel, we don't feel like reading the Bible. Why is it that even though we know we should, and even though we love God, we grow tired and weary in well-doing? One reason is sin and worldliness. Sin and worldliness will cause you to grow weary in well-doing. Notice what it says in verse 7. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. And you know, these are kind of some of the scariest verses in the Bible as a child of God. Because the Bible's saying, hey, don't be deceived, don't think you're going to get away with it. Maybe nobody else is aware of it, but God knows what you're doing. And as a saved person, you're going to go to heaven. You don't have to worry about your eternal destination because it's everlasting life. But be not deceived, you'll be punished here. That's what the Bible's saying. Go back to Galatians 5. Galatians 5. Galatians 5. Is it any coincidence that right before it says, you know, growing weary in well-doing, it talks about sinning? Obviously it's not a coincidence. What the Bible's saying is, when you sin, when you're worldly, when you do wrong, it will cause you to grow tired or weary in doing well. Anyway, this is not just here in Galatians 6. Galatians 5 tells us about this. Notice what it says in Galatians 5 verse 16. This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. What the Bible's saying is, you've got to choose every day to walk in the Spirit, not walk in the flesh. And if you walk in the flesh, you're not going to do the things that ye would do, because they're warring against one another. Think about a fight between people. Think about a boxing match or a wrestling match. You know, I remember when I was in high school, I went running all the time, and I had very good long-distance cardio, but if I wrestled a friend for like five minutes, it's like, how is it I can run for an hour and not get tired in a five-minute wrestling match, but you get tired when you're in a boxing match or wrestling match or doing something active. And the analogy the Bible is saying is, is that if you're just constantly fighting against the flesh because you keep sinning, you're just not going to have the energy to do what's right. You know, isn't this true that if you're living a sinful life and you try to read the Bible, it's hard. It's hard to focus. It's hard to want to read the Bible. I mean, times that you know you should read the Bible but you're not right with God, it is hard to really just open the Bible and read it. Why? Because you cannot do the things that you would. When you're not right with God, you don't want to be at church. When you're not right with God, you don't want to preach the gospel to people. When you're not right with God, you don't want to memorize the Bible. I mean, it's a fact. We all know this, that if you're not serving God and if you're filled full of sin and worldliness, it's hard to do what's right. And the Bible says, the spirit and the flesh, they war against one another. Look, when you get saved, this war does not end. In fact, it begins. Because now you've got the spiritual man, but your flesh still wants to do what it's always done. Look, if you're a drunk and you get saved, your flesh still wants to drink. If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day and you get saved, you still want to smoke a pack of cigarettes. Right? The flesh and the spirit, they're going to war against one another, and you've got to figure out, am I going to walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh? And if you walk in the spirit and you read the Bible and you go to church and you have a clean mind and a clean heart, you're going to find yourself wanting to do what's right. If you're walking in the flesh, you're going to find it very difficult to do what's right. Why? Because you're fulfilling these lusts and you're making the flesh strong and powerful. Think of this analogy. I've never smoked a cigarette before, but you know what? It's an addiction that people can struggle with their whole lives. Let's say somebody is addicted to smoking cigarettes. Right? They smoke a pack a day or smoke two packs a day and they decide, I'm going to quit. Which everybody that smokes a lot of cigarettes, they decide at some point they're going to quit. Doesn't mean they're successful though. But let's say they decide, today I'm going to quit on April 30th. Right? Before May starts, I'm never going to smoke a cigarette ever again. And then today goes by, they don't smoke a cigarette. And they have that strong desire to smoke that cigarette. And a week goes by and they fight and fight and fight against that temptation. And they don't smoke a cigarette. A month goes by. Six months go by. They do not smoke a cigarette. After six months, do you think their desire to smoke cigarettes is as strong as it was the day they quit? No, it's not. Their desire is going to be less. Now, I'm not saying there won't be any desire, but I'm saying it's a lot less. You say, why? Because you're starving that desire. You're not feeding that desire. And it's getting weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker. Or how about this example? I mean, if you love God, one of the big things you need to change when you start serving God is the music you listen to. Is that not right? All of us when we got saved listen to the wrong music unless you grew up in a Baptist church. Anyway, here's the thing. After you get saved, you start feeling guilty about that music, right? When I got saved, I listened to Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses. You don't even need to know. Even if you've never heard of Guns N' Roses, just listen to the name of the band. It's not exactly godly music. It's not exactly hymns and spiritual songs. And you know what? When I first tried to change my music, it was hard. I desired to listen to that sinful music even though I knew it was wrong. You know, I can say I don't have a desire to listen to Aerosmith today. You say, why? Because I killed off that desire. Because it's been over 15 years since I listened to a song by Aerosmith other than when I hear it out and about at a grocery store or whatever. And what happened? I killed off the desire. And see, if you quit feeding the flesh, the flesh is going to get weaker. That desire is going to go down. Now, I'm not saying it's going to be fully gone because maybe you hear that song and then the sound sounds good inside your head and all of a sudden before you know it, you're saying the words without realizing it. And look, I've been there before. The song comes on and you're singing the song and you're like, wait, what am I doing? I didn't even realize it because you just used to do that all the time. But your desire is less, isn't it? I mean, today I have a lot of desires that I'm fighting against, but you know what? They're less than they used to be. You say, why? Because if you don't feed them, they start to die off. And see, every single day, what are you going to do? Walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh. If you walk in the flesh, you cannot do the things that you would. But if you'd be light of the spirit, verse 18, you're not under the law. Now, the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variants, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like of the witch, I tell you before, as I've also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Now, that phrase there in verse 21, it's similar to Revelation 21 8 where all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. It's not saying, hey, you know what? If you're ever envious, you're going to go to hell, because obviously all of us can be envious from time to time. But here's the thing, if you're saved, you're not judged as a sinner because you're 100% forgiven. The Bible's saying that, hey, if you've committed any of these sins, then you deserve the penalty of hell, which all of us are guilty of that, just like Revelation 21 8 also teaches. Go to Psalm 51. Right in the middle of your Bible, you get the Book of Psalms, Psalm chapter 51. Psalms 51. And Psalm 51 is a very famous psalm. And the reason why is because we're getting an inside look at the mind and heart of David after getting right with God about the sin with Bathsheba, where basically he's cleansed himself, he's gotten right, and he feels horrible about what he had done. Psalm 51 verse 7, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness. The bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. He's asking for his joy and gladness to come back. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Now, people get confused on verse 11 because they say, why is he saying, take not thy Holy Spirit from me? Is he saying, help me not to lose my salvation? Well, no, because in the Old Testament, they were not indwelled with the Holy Ghost. They got indwelled with the Holy Ghost after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Comforter has not been sent at this point. But what you see in the Old Testament is the Spirit of God comes upon someone to do something mighty. So in our modern day, when we get saved, we get indwelled with the Holy Ghost. However, God can also fill you with his Spirit, which gives you boldness, gives you confidence. It helps you do things that in your flesh you would not be able to do. For example, if you're going to preach a sermon, you better be filled with the Spirit of God because nobody just naturally likes to just speak in front of people. You go soul winning, and if you go soul winning and you're not right with God, isn't it true you have no boldness? You're afraid to talk to people. You're afraid of rejection. But when you're filled with boldness, you don't really care what people think. Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. And you're filled with boldness. Why? You're filled with the Holy Spirit. It gives you boldness, and you're more effective as a soul winner. So what he's saying is, hey, don't cast me away from thy presence. Please don't take the Holy Spirit. I want to be filled with your Spirit to do great things like I used to do before I was in sin. Then he says in verse 12, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. He doesn't say, can you please give me my salvation back? Because you can't lose your salvation. It's eternal life. It's everlasting life. But what you can lose is your joy. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted onto thee. If I get my joy back, I can win souls to the Lord according to verse 13. I can convert sinners onto you. Go to Hebrews 12. Hebrews chapter 12 in your New Testament. Hebrews 12. Why is it so important? Why is it so important to have joy? Because if you're living in sin, you're not filled with joy, are you? If you're not right with God, there's nothing more miserable as a saved person. When you know God does not approve what you're doing, and you know you're not right with God, you feel horrible. And here's the thing. The reason why it's so important to live your Christian life with joy is because we do things that we enjoy. Right? Think about how you spend your free time. Think about your hobbies. Think about what you do when you have extra time. What do you do? Things that you hate or things that you enjoy? Right? Now, I don't really do this anymore because I'm older, but when I was younger, my favorite thing was playing soccer. Why is it, Brother Stuckey, you played soccer? Because there's nothing I enjoyed more. That's why I did it. I enjoyed it. Think of the hobbies, the things that you do. Why do you do them? Because you enjoy it. I'm going to go on vacation to somewhere I hate. Does that make any sense? Go on vacation to somewhere that you want to go. Right? You do things that give you joy. And here's the thing. If you don't enjoy something, you're not going to do it. My biggest hobby today is probably exercise. Why do you do it, Brother Stuckey? I enjoy it. I don't consider it a burden to do. I just literally enjoy working out. Right? You do the things that you enjoy in life. Here's the thing. Should we serve God out of duty? Absolutely. Should we read the Bible out of duty? Absolutely. Should we go soloing out of duty? Absolutely. I mean, if you don't want to go soloing, you don't want to read the Bible, you don't want to go to church, come to church anyway. Go soloing anyway. Read the Bible anyway. I'm just saying that if you're doing things out of duty and you don't enjoy it, you're not going to do it forever. You're not. I mean, if you hate being at church, you're not going to be here forever. You're going to quit because you don't enjoy it. I mean, if you don't like going soloing, you're going to quit because you don't enjoy it. What would cause you not to enjoy the most exciting thing that could ever be created? Going soloing. What could cause you not to enjoy it is sin and worldliness. You have one foot in the world and one foot serving God. What takes place? You don't enjoy it. You cannot do the things that you would. The reason why you don't enjoy the things you do in the Christian life of reading the Bible and going soloing, it's not because, oh man, it's just too much Bible reading. It's because of too much worldliness. That's the reason why. Too much sin. That's going to cause you not to enjoy it because if you're serving God, you enjoy it. If you're right with God, you enjoy it. When you stop enjoying it, it's because of the fact you've got too much worldliness in your life. That's the reason why. Right? Go to Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12, verse 1. Hebrews 12, verse 1. I'm a big advocate on reading the Bible on a Bible reading schedule because it helps you on times that you're a little bit down. But what's interesting is when I'm right with God, I do my Bible reading and I'm like, all right, what else? I want to read more. On days I'm not right with God, I'm just like, oh man, I just want to get through this. Is that not true? If you use a Bible reading schedule on days you're right with God, you finish it and you're like, man, I want to read more. But when you're not right with God, you're just like, oh man, this is tough. Why do I advocate a Bible reading schedule? Because we're all going to have days where we don't feel like doing it and we're not right with God. And it kind of forces you to finish it. Right? Hebrews 12, verse 1. Now the Bible has two different words here. It has the word wait and it has the word sin. What is a sin? Sin is the transgression of the law. God says don't do this and you do it anyway. Or God says to do something and you don't do it. It's when you specifically break a law of God. A wait is not the same thing as a sin. A wait is something that's not sinful. It's something that doesn't profit, but it's not sinful either. For example, I mentioned exercise. Is working out a sin? No. You could never point to a verse in the Bible that would say, well, you know what? Doing a push-up just caused wrath from God upon your life. You couldn't point to a verse that would say that. But of course, it's not something that's going to get me eternal rewards in heaven either. Now it's not wrong to have a hobby or have things you enjoy doing. I'm not saying that. We'll talk about that later on in the sermon actually. But here's what I'm saying. If your life is filled full of weights, you're going to run into problems. For example, if you have a hobby of playing basketball, that's great. Play basketball. Have fun with it. But what if you're playing for four hours a day? Well, that's going to prevent you from reading the Bible because four hours is a lot. Let's say you're exercising for four hours a day, playing billiards, playing darts, playing whatever for four hours a day. There's nothing sinful about the action in and of itself, but if you fill your life with that, it will prevent you from doing what's right. And so what the Bible is saying is, hey, make sure you lay aside all of your sins absolutely. But even the weights can bring you down. Because the Bible says here we're running a race. We're running a race. When I was in high school, I ran more than an hour, usually seven days a week, to train for soccer. I ran, I ran, I ran, I ran. Right? I did not weigh much. I was very light. Now, translating from pounds to kilograms, I was less than 50 kilograms as a freshman in high school. I was very light. I never got tired. I ran, I ran, I ran, I ran because I was training for soccer, which that was a very important part, especially being a midfielder. I didn't have much weight, so I was able to run and run and run. But what if I went from, like, 50 kilograms to 60 kilograms? Is it going to be as easy to run? No. Because I weigh more. Now, of course, I was in high school training for something specific. I mean, when you become older, it's like obviously you want to be a man. Strength is an important part of being a man. Right? I'm not saying make that your life. But obviously, you know what, I don't want to be that thin now that I'm an adult. But here's the thing. If I was training for a marathon, I mean, I'm not super heavy now, but I would probably try to lose like 20 pounds before I ran that marathon. You say, why? Because the more weight, the more difficult it is. And we're spiritually running race. In fact, I want to give you an example now. I asked Brother Ehrman and also Brother Franklin, can you come up here? Brother Ehrman, Brother Franklin, for the example I'm going to give you. This is an interactive day of preaching. Right? So we got these two guys that are going to run a race for us. They're not actually running a race. But let's say these two guys ran against one another. Who thinks that Brother Franklin would win? One person, two people, a few people. Who thinks Brother Ehrman would win? Right? I don't know how fast they're on the basketball court. Divided room. Okay? This is a church split taking place. Okay? And everybody else doesn't understand the question or they don't want to answer. No, I'm just kidding. Well, let's say, for example, that they're equal in distance running or speed or whatever. All right. Brother Franklin, you ready to put this on? Is this light or heavy? This is filled full of books and a lot of weight. Let's say these two guys ran against each other now. Who's betting on Franklin to win this? I mean, he's literally got like 15 kilograms on his back. Who is betting on Franklin to win this race? Not a single person. I wouldn't bet on Usain Bolt if he had 15 kilograms on his back. Right? You can take it off now. He's going to wake up tomorrow morning with a sore back. You guys can sit down. No, I'm just kidding. You say, why wouldn't you bet on Franklin now to win that race? Because he's got a lot of extra weight. What's the Bible stating? Well, the Bible's stating if you're running a race, you better not have things that are dragging you down. You better not have your life filled full of things that do not matter. Why? Because if you have all of these weights in your life, you're just not going to have the time or energy to fight the spiritual fight. That's just the way it is. Right? Go back to Galatians 6. I mean, the Bible speaks about reaching forth unto those things which are before. How can you reach forth if you've got all of these things weighing you down? All of these things that are just not that important. Oh, Brother Stuckey, I don't have time to read the Bible. Really? You never get on Facebook at all during the day? You're never texting at all during the day? You're never just watching YouTube during the day? I don't have any time. Really? You work like 15 hours a day? Because I'll tell you what, you can have a very busy schedule and all of us are there at various times in our life, but there's still time to set aside to spend at least 15 minutes in God's Word. Don't tell me you don't have time. It's just you have to change your priorities. Your problem might not be sin. Your problem might just be weights in your life. Things that you need to set aside so you have time to do what you need to do. One thing that takes place is when people grow up, they tend to have a lot of free time. Right? And when you're growing up and there's nothing wrong with kids playing and having fun because you're a child, you play games, that's great. But as you get older and your situation in life changes, you don't have the same amount of free time. You're just going to have to make the decision, well, what am I going to do with my free time now? Am I going to still play the games that I used to, or am I going to set that aside so I have time to read the Bible and do things that are more important than just spending my life with a bunch of games? One thing that will bring you down and cause you to grow weary is sin and worldliness. Number two, forgetting about the rewards for well-doing will cause you to grow weary. Galatians 6 verse 7, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. That's a famous verse, and we quote it, and usually we quote it in the context of, hey, if you do bad, you're going to pay for your sins. And that's true. That's the way I usually preach it. But that's really only half of what's being said. Because it says, for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. What's that saying? The Bible's saying, when you do right, you get eternal rewards. You get everlasting rewards. So if you do wrong, you get punished in this life. If you do right, you get rewards in heaven. Then the Bible says, and let us not be weary in well-doing. So here's what the Bible's saying. The Bible's saying, hey, you know what, one thing that can cause you to grow tired is if you forget about the fact you'll get rewarded for the good that you do when you go to heaven. Go to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, verse 24. Forgetting about the rewards for well-doing. Hebrews 11, verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. I don't believe this is because he hates Pharaoh's daughter. I mean, Pharaoh's daughter raised him as her own. I'm sure he had a love and respect for his mom, who essentially adopted him. Did not, you know, adopted him, and she raised him. But why is he refusing? Because he's refusing the Egyptian religion. And it says, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Now look, most people, when they need to make the decision to serve God, they don't necessarily have to give up that much. We all have to give up something. But I doubt there's anybody in this room that would have to give up as much as Moses had to give up to serve God. You say, why? Because he's raised in royalty. I'm sure he had a nice job, prestige, fame, anything the world had to offer. Why? Because he was raised by Pharaoh's daughter, and he was raised as her son. He had everything in life, but he chose to suffer affliction. I'm pretty sure the people around Moses said, Moses, what are you doing? I mean, that religion thing is cool, but don't let that bring you down. I mean, if you get too zealous about that religion thing, I mean, look at all the money you're going to give away. Look at your job. Look at your fame. What are you doing? I mean, isn't it true that many of us have heard things like this from people in our lives? It's like, yes, I know you believe that, but you know, don't spend all your life on religion. Don't spend all your life. It's going to hold you back. That's what people tell us. It's like, you're too zealous with this stuff. Moses, what are you doing? You're a fool. Well, would any saved person call Moses a fool today? No. Why? Well, because notice what it says in verse 26, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of their reward. Moses chose to suffer affliction because he said, you know what? Yeah, Egypt is a powerful nation. They rule the world. This great job and all this money, but you know what? My life is not about money. My life is not about pain. My life is not about every nice vacation I get to go on to and the nicest clothes and the nicest food. It's like my life is about serving God. And he said, you know what? I look at the rewards in heaven as being more important than what I have here on earth. Turn your Bible to 1 Peter chapter 2. Look, when we get people saved, if you were to ask people after they get saved, do you want to serve God with your life? Everybody's going to say yes. Everybody. Now, if you follow that up with, hey, you want to come to church on Sunday? Well, I mean, here's the thing. I mean, they have all these reasons why they can't come to church. They're going to say they want to serve God. They're going to say they love God. And yeah, there's a small part of them that does, but it's not important enough to them. That's the truth because they don't want to give up anything. Everybody would serve God if they could keep their old life and serve God. Right? When I got saved, it's like, hey, I could have tried to keep my old life if I wanted to, but would I serve God? No, because you cannot do the things that you would if you're doing things that are wrong and simple. It's a fact. I mean, you cannot keep your old life and then reach onto those things which are before you. You can't forsake the past, forget about those things that are behind. You know, if you reach onto those which are before, you must forget about the things which are behind. You must move on. It means making changes in your life. This is why the Bible says not many mighty, not many noble are called. Why? Because people that have a lot of success and fame, it's kind of hard to give it up. It's hard. Right? I mean, if you don't have major things to give up, you know, it's pretty easy. Right? It's like, hey, you know what? Why not? Why not serve God? You have a lot. It's very difficult. But make no mistake about it. Everybody that gets saved, if they're going to start serving God, they're going to have to make some changes. And here's the thing. If you forget about the rewards waiting for you, the attitude you're going to develop is, it's vain to serve God. What's the purpose, as they say in Malachi, right? What's the purpose in serving God? I mean, look, I've changed my music. I've changed my movies and all these things. And what has it got me in life? Wait a minute. I thought you were serving God for the rewards in heaven, not all these things that you get in this life. I thought you were serving God because you love God, not what's in it for me. Don't develop this attitude. What's in it for me, serving God? Who cares what's in it for you? Our lives are not about what's in it for us. What's in it for God? What about other people? What about Jesus being here to minister on to other people? It wasn't about Himself. I mean, we have the Alpha and Omega. We have Jesus Christ here, and He willingly just served other people. It wasn't all about Him, right? I mean, the song we sang number seven, I left my Father's throne above. It's like, He gave up everything to be here and to help us and to serve us. Moses, a great man of God, he was raised in royalty. He literally had one of the greatest jobs in the world. He gave it up. Why? Because of the recompense of the reward. Look, all of us are going to grow weary sometimes. What I would say to you if you're in those down moments is realize that, hey, you know what? There's a reward waiting for you. You're not doing it in vain. You're reaping up eternal rewards. You say, why? Because God gave you a gift. It's a gift, meaning everything good that you do after you receive the gift of eternal life, you're not paying back the gift, nor could you pay back the gift. Otherwise, you wouldn't have died for you to begin with if you could just pay yourself. You can't pay it back. What you're doing is getting rewards in heaven. That's what the Bible's teaching. 1 Peter 2, verse 11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul. Once again, the desires of the flesh they war against the soul. But notice, it says strangers and pilgrims. What does the Bible mean by strangers and pilgrims? Think of songs we sing like, this world is not my home, I'm just passing through my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. We're living here on earth for 70 to 80 years usually. We're not trying to build up the biggest mansion here on earth. What we're trying to do is build up our rewards up in heaven. For example, a lot of people work as overseas Filipino workers, but they don't have the intention to stay overseas forever. They consider the Philippines their home and it's the best paying job. They do the job to save up money with the intention of coming home. I don't know how many, but a lot of people in this room have worked as OFW's before and you had the intention to come back here. What you're doing is saving up money to prepare your home with what you consider your home. You weren't trying to live the greatest life overseas because you said, that's not my home, I'm just preparing for my home. Here on earth, this is not our home. Your home is not overseas, your home is also not here. The ultimate thing you're preparing for is actually up in heaven. So what's the purpose of preparing something big and amazing here and forsaking your rewards in heaven? We only live 70 to 80 years. You say, Brother Saki, that's a really long time. You must be a really young person if you say that. Because as you get older, it's like, actually, I used to think 70 to 80 years was a really long time. And then all of a sudden, I didn't realize that my parents were right when they said time speeds up as you get older. Isn't that true? I don't know how that works, but it does. You start getting older. I mean, when you're a kid, like a 30 minute ride in the car, mom, are we there yet? Mom, are we there yet? Mom, are we there yet? When you get older, months go by, it's like, man, we're in May tomorrow? How are we at the end? I thought it was Christmas time. Where are we going to be in May? It's like, you got to be kidding me. I mean, there's so many marathon. You remember the one we did in Cavite? It was like the first event of our church four years ago, our first big event, where we went down on Labor Day, May 1st, to Cavite when they had Baptist Day. That was four years ago. You can look at that picture wherever it is. Boy, we look young, don't we? What happened? Four years flew by. I mean, literally at the time, there's like only a few people at our church married. Now it's like a bunch of people are married, a bunch of people have kids. It's like, you know what? A lot changes in four years. It flies by. Your life is going to flash before your eyes. And if you're just living for this world, you're going to be sorely disappointed once you get to your end. Go to Luke chapter 12. Now make no mistake about it, all of us grow weary in well-doing. And I'll give you a verse at the end of the sermon that's going to prove that. All of us do. Every single one of us struggles with sin and worldliness, at least from time to time. No doubt about it. And it zaps and destroys your energy to serve God. Everybody's going to kind of struggle with remembering, why did I start serving God to begin with? Because I don't believe anybody starts serving God because, man, if I start going soul winning, I'm going to be rich. That's not why you started going soul winning. Now I start reading the Bible, so money's just going to be raining down from heaven. It's raining dollar bills. It's not why you started serving God. You started serving God because you wanted God to be happy with you. You wanted to obey God. You wanted to be right with God. You wanted to have a clear conscience and a clean heart before God. That's why you started serving God. And here's the thing. Honestly, most people when they start serving God, they probably don't realize that they're going to get rewards in heaven for what they do. You start serving God. You might not know the entire Bible and realize that, but that's what you're getting. You didn't even start serving God for rewards, but then you find out along the way, actually, I'm going to get rewards for this. But when you first start doing it, it's exciting. Everything is exciting when you start, right? And then as time goes by, the newness wears off. It's not as exciting. I mean, the first time you read through the Bible, it's really exciting because you don't know what the Bible's really about. You're learning all these stories, all these examples. And now when you're reading the Bible, it's like, yeah, I've heard that priest 20 times. It's like John chapter three. It's like, I get it. And here's what's foolish about that. Let me be honest with you. I learned a lot preparing the sermon on the only begotten. I learned a lot. In John 3, a chapter I thought I knew really well. Apparently there's a lot more to learn in that chapter that I didn't even think about. The link between us being sons of God and the only begotten son. Look, you can keep reading the Bible and keep learning, but don't develop this attitude where it's like, I already know everything. It's like, no, you don't. And there are rewards waiting for you for the good that you do. Luke 12 verse 16. And he spake a parable onto them saying, Luke chapter 12 verse 16, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. Man, what am I going to do? I'm so rich. What am I going to do? I got all this money. What can I do? And he said, this will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater and there I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry. What he's saying is, you know what? I'm going to build this amazing life and then I'm just going to sit there and relax and enjoy it. Now, first off, people that retire and sit around and do nothing are the most miserable people in the world. It's like, you have this idea. I mean, every week like, man, I can't wait till it's Saturday. Get done with my job. I can't wait till work's over so I can come home and watch TV. And then they get to retirement. They think they're going to be happy. And they're like the most miserable people because sitting around doing nothing is not actually fun. I've had jobs where you don't have to do anything. They're the worst jobs. You're looking at your watch like 50 times, like when will this day be over? It's like, can't I have something to do? But that's what people think. They think I need to sit around and, you know, eat, drink and be merry and do nothing, right? That's what this guy says here in this parable. And it says here in verse 19, or verse 20, But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, then who shall those things be which thou hast provided? He's saying, you spent your whole life on building up this amazing life here on earth. And you did not even consider your life up in heaven. Thou fool. Then he says in verse 21, So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Now it's important to note this is not saying that you cannot have a nice life here. Because verse 21 says the problem is laying up treasure in this life and not laying up rewards up in heaven for the good that you do, right? It's not wrong to go on vacation. It's not wrong to have a nice house. It's not wrong to be blessed in your job and make money. There's nothing wrong or sinful about that. I mean, the love of money is the root of all evil, not money in and of itself. But if all of your life is about this life and not about up in heaven, thou fool. Are you calling me a fool? If the shoe fits. I'm sorry that offended you. I just assumed that you were reading the Bible and serving God, right? I mean, if that's what your whole life is about, thou fool. Because in heaven you're going to have nothing. There's nothing wrong with having a nice life here. But let me say this. One of my favorite quotes that is not a biblical quote but is a great statement and is true is this, the possessions you own in life end up owning you. The things you own in life, they end up owning you. You say, what are you saying, Brother Stuckey? I mean, if you've got a ton of possessions and everything life has to offer, you got to make sure you take care of those possessions. You got to clean them. You got to do maintenance on them. It's like, you know, people that are rich, they have like 50 cars. Who would want 50 cars? You get any oil change done like every other day? What a miserable life. But the possessions you own, they end up owning you. Now, there's nothing wrong with having a nice life. But if you have everything, it's going to be like, man, all my time is spent maintaining all these things. Maybe I'd be happier if I just didn't have all these things. Yeah, that's actually wisdom from the Word of God. Maybe you'd be happier just spending your life not worrying about the things here in this life, but worrying about what's going to take place in heaven. Turn to Esther chapter 10. Esther 10. You say, Brother Stuckey, you know, if I just had a bigger house, I would be happy. If I just had a bigger car, I'd be happy. If I just got a raise, I'd be happy. No, you wouldn't. Because you're basing your happiness on outward circumstances that can change. Your happiness should be built on serving God and being right with God on the inside. If your attitude is, I'll be happy if I just have this. Once you get this, I'll be happy if I just have this. Once you get that, I'll be happy if I just have this. Everybody knows what I'm saying is true. Everybody knows that. Because of the fact we've all felt this way before. Even if we know this is not true, we feel this way sometimes. Man, I'll be so happy if I just get this. And then that takes place, and you're not happy. Right? I mean, and look, being married and having kids is a blessing. But if you take the attitude, I will be happy if I just get married, you're preparing a miserable marriage. Because you're basing your happiness on outward circumstances. Then you get married, I'll be happy if I just have kids. You're going to be miserable once you have the kids. I'll be happy if my kids get a little bit older so I don't have to take care of them so much. I mean, it's a foolish attitude. How about learning to be content as the Apostle Paul said in Philippians chapter 4? I almost said in Philippians chapter 4. In Philippians chapter 4. Right? Esther 10 verse 3. Now I want to be very clear. It's not wrong to have money in this life because he says that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. The problem is not having the right balance in life. Esther 10 verse 3. For Mordecai the Jew was next unto the king of Hazlewares and great among the Jews and accepted of the multitude of his brethren. And it mentions two things here. Seeking the wealth of his people and speaking peace to all his seed. What does the Bible mean by speaking peace to all his seed? I think it's pretty obvious. Speaking the gospel of peace. The gospel of peace, he cares about the people that he knows getting saved. I mean, you live in an area, you got to care about the salvation of those that are around you. Right? But it also says seeking the wealth of his people. What's that referring to? He wants other people to be successful. You know, I pray that people in our church are successful. Are financially successful. God blesses your work. God blesses your business. God gives you raises. But, but here's the truth. If getting a raise and getting a bonus will cause you to not serve a God, I hope you don't get that promotion. I pray that God doesn't give it to you. Because here's the truth. For a lot of us, if we have more success financially, it's not going to cause us to love God. It's going to cause us not to love God. No, I want you to get a raise. I want you to get a bonus. I want you to get that new job you want with more money. But here's the truth. If that's going to cause you not to serve God, I hope you don't get it. Right? I mean, that's the truth. Because yes, I want the wealth of God's people. I want the wealth of our church members. I want you to be successful. But not if you're not going to speak peace to all your seed after this. Right? Turning your Bible to Galatians 6. We'll close up soon. Galatians chapter six. I mean, I just remember so many people in Sacramento where Verity Baptist is located. And I remember just people that I got saved and I brought to church. A lot of people that are receptive to the gospel might not be the most blessed financially because those that are rich say, hey, I'm in need of nothing. So a lot of people that got saved and started coming to church, a lot of them didn't have jobs. They weren't all that successful. And of course, you know what? You want them to get a job and to be busy in their personal work, but then also serving God. And they're coming to church throughout the week. And they're excited about the sermons. They're learning. And they're saying, hey, can you pray for me to get this job? It's like, yeah, you know what? I'll pray that God blesses you. They get that job. You never see them at church again. It's like they say, you know what? God, I want this job. And they believe that God is blessing them. They say, man, God has blessed me with this job. Never see him at church ever again. Why would they have never gotten a job? Because they went to church before that. But then just having a little bit of success, it shows that they were more concerned with the riches of this life than the treasures up in heaven. Point number one, one thing that will cause you to grow weary and well-doing is sin and worldliness. That's probably the biggest thing that will cause you to grow weary and well-doing. Number two, forgetting about the rewards for doing well. Forgetting about that there are rewards waiting for us. Number three is actually found at the beginning of Galatians 6, and it is attached, and that is doing too much. You say, Brother Stuckey, we're talking about Labor Day, and you're saying don't do too much. I'm a bit confused. Well, let's look at the context here in Galatians 6, verse 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. The Bible tells us and commands us to help other people that are going through troubles, help bear other people's burdens. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he rejoice in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Now what is the Bible really trying to say? What it's saying is every one of us, we're going to bear our own burden. The Bible says, consider yourself, realize all of the responsibilities and burdens you have in life, if you have the ability, help out with other burdens. But the idea is this, that you have a lot of burdens and responsibilities and things you need to do, and if you try to do too much, you're going to burn out. You're going to go tired. You're going to grow weary in well-doing. Turn to Ecclesiastes 7. Ecclesiastes 7. Ecclesiastes 7. I mean, one of the great examples is Mary versus Martha. I was going to turn there, but for the sake of time, I'm not going to do that. Martha is not a bad character. She's a great person in the Bible, but she's more concerned with all the things that are going on in this life. Here's the truth, okay? If you're going to serve God, you have to let your life get a little bit muggled a little from time to time. It just is what it is. If you're going to serve God, you're not going to necessarily have everything in life always in order. You just have to let it just spin out of control from time to time. What you don't let spin out of control is your Bible reading. What you don't let spin out of control is your soul winning on a weekly basis. What you don't let spin out of control is your church attendance. What you don't let spin out of control is your daily walk with God. These are things that you must have preeminence because you put God first. But you also have a lot of other burdens and responsibilities in life. Here's the thing. I tell people, come to church on a weekly basis. Read the Bible daily. Go soul winning every week. Sometimes you might not be able to go above and beyond. Here's the truth. Do I want people to show up for the soul winning marathon tomorrow? Yes. If you're really busy and you have a lot of things on your plate right now, go soul winning today and do those things tomorrow. Because there's a lot we have going on in life. It's not like God commands you to read the Bible five hours a day. Now if you have all the time in the world, then read the Bible as much as possible. But the reality is we have other things that we need to do. This also shows you why you shouldn't spend your life on things that are not that important. On all these weights. Because you've already got enough burdens and responsibilities and things you need to do. And you've got to put God first in your life. And sometimes you can get so focused on this and you can get frustrated like Martha gets. Right? You know, Martha is a great character. I said this yesterday. If I say this tomorrow, my mom is going to kill me if she hears this sermon. But my mom really loves the character Martha. And Martha is a great character in the Bible. My mom is extremely hard working. She would always clean the entire house from top to bottom every single week. Still to this day. And my mom has told me before, she's like, I really relate to Martha because I'd be the person that's like getting everything done. And that's true about my mom. That's a great trait. She's very, very hard working. But sometimes we have to allow things to spin out of control and say, you know what? It's time to read my Bible. It's time to hear from Jesus. It's time to hear the Word of God. I have a ton of things to do today, but you know what? It's church time. I have a ton of things to do today, but you know what? I haven't gone solo this week. I need to go solo. Right? Ecclesiastes 7 verse 16. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 16. Be not righteous over much, neither makest thyself over wise. Why shouldest thou destroy thyself? What does it mean by making yourself righteous over much? It means putting on too many responsibilities upon yourself that you're not going to be able to do. What is going to take place? You're going to get burned out. You're going to grow weary in well doing. That's the truth. Make sure you come to church. Make sure you go soloing on a weekly basis. Make sure you have your personal walk with God on a daily basis, but ask yourself inside yourself, consider yourself, do I have the ability to go above and beyond and to volunteer to help out? Because the reality is you could easily get burned out. Why? Because in your own life you got a lot of burdens and responsibilities. Right? Turn in your Bible to Isaiah chapter 40. Now the reality is all of us are in different positions and places in life. This is why you don't compare yourself to other people. Right? I remember when I was in college, I would show up to church before six in the morning. You say, why brother Stuckey? Because the church ran a church bus route. And so I was one of the backup workers to pick up kids in the bus. Am I against children's ministry? Yes, I am, but it doesn't mean you can't help if you're at a church like that. And church was an all day thing. Then you drop off the kids, get a little bit of soul when you get in, evening service, you get back and literally it's like wake up at five, get back at eight thirty at night. That was my day every Sunday. Right? I stayed very busy. I wasn't married. I didn't have three kids. It's like it's a little bit different now when you have three kids. You're just in a different position in life. There's no need to compare yourself one to another. People are in different positions in life. There's certain things we need to do all the time because God commands you read the Bible every day. God commands you to go soul winning and go to church. Doesn't necessarily mean though that you have the ability to do this much even if somebody else can do that much. Why? You're in different positions in life and there's no need to compare or think about who's going to get more awards. Who cares? Who cares? Do your best for God. Be honest with yourself. How much energy do I have? And you know what? You don't have to feel the need to compare. I don't feel like as an evangelist I've got to do more soul winning than any other church leader that's out there. I don't feel that way. What I feel is I go soul winning several times every single week and when I have more ability I do. When I don't, I don't. Tomorrow I'm going to be part of the soul winning marathon in Pampanga but you know what? It doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to go soul winning every single day. You say why? I have burdens, responsibilities, and work to do. I don't necessarily have the ability to go every single day especially raising three young kids, right? Nor do I feel the need that I need to compare myself with other people. That's a foolish attitude. The Bible says don't compare yourself. It's an unwise thing to do. Isaiah 40, let's close up here, verse 28. Has thou not known, has thou not heard, Isaiah chapter 40 verse 28, has thou not known, has thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding. God doesn't get tired. He doesn't get weary. He doesn't get exhausted. I mean the everlasting God, he doesn't get tired at all. I mean he created the earth in six days. He rested on the seventh day but not because he's tired. Now of course it gives us wisdom that hey take some rest sometimes, right? But we do get tired. God doesn't get tired. He doesn't get weary. He does not get exhausted. Verse 29, he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall. Now why does the Bible say here in verse 30, even the youths, even those that are young, shall faint and be weary? Because have you ever seen kids running around? They run and they run and they run and they run and as a parent you look at them and you're like do they ever get tired? They're running, they're running, they're running, they're running and then all of a sudden what you notice a minute later it's like hey Christabelle come up here. Where's Christabelle? Oh she's asleep. What? It's like I mean the car ride up she's jumping around and all of a sudden she's tired? Because even the youths get tired also. Everybody gets tired. Everybody gets exhausted. So a sermon like this is important because I'm not saying hey if you do these things you're never going to get tired because you are going to get tired. But you're going to get tired a lot quicker if you're not applying these three things that I mentioned. Then it says in verse 31, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint. The bible speaks about renewing your strength and it compares us to the eagle. Now what is the significance of the eagle in the bible? Well just looking at an eagle as an animal outside of the bible what you see with eagles is they glide through the air and it looks like they're not doing anything. I mean it's an amazing animal. And there are a lot of birds like this but the eagle is really the bird where basically it just glides through the air effortlessly. It's like how are you doing that? It's like doing nothing. Just glides and glides and glides and glides from mile after mile after mile after mile. It's like it's not doing anything. And it just hits the wings a little bit and it goes another 20 miles. Like how are you doing that? It's an amazing animal that God has created. The bible is saying you know what we're going to have those times where we do get tired but God has the ability to renew your strength to keep going. Don't give up when you're tired. And even in a secular sense I mean you have the expression of hitting a wall just in a physical sense you know or getting a second wind as you say. When I was an avid runner sometimes you hit that wall where you're like man I'm so tired and you just kind of keep going and then a couple minutes later you get that second wind and then you just keep going. Right? And that's an example we can use spiritually where basically you're serving God, you're excited, you're going soul winning, you're reading the bible, you're coming to church and then you hit a wall. And then it's just like man I'm tired. Now what they tell you when you're working out and exercising at least what I've heard is you drink pickle juice and that solves it. The secret spiritually though is pray to God. The secret spiritually is spend some time with God because if all your energy is spent on work then you're not getting the source of energy right? The spiritual food with God. You need that balance where you get your spiritual food, you get your energy and then you use it. But look in this room I don't know we have like 80 people here today or whatever. I promise you there are people in this room that are growing weary. Right now you're in that time period. You're exhausted. You used to enjoy reading the bible, you're not really enjoying it right now. You used to enjoy soul winning, now it's like a chore to go soul winning. The excitement's not there. Here's the thing, that feeling comes and goes. Don't live your life on emotion. It's going to change. Just keep doing right, renew your strength, get rid of the sin, get rid of the worldliness, maybe get rid of some of your burdens that are bringing you down. Remember the rewards that are waiting for you and you can renew your strength and keep going and keep laboring for the Lord. Let's close in word of prayer. Dear heavenly father thank you for allowing us to be here today and ask you to help all of us in this room including myself and my family. Help us to fight through the times where we grow weary. Help give us strength. You know help all the people in this room that love God and are serving you. Help us to renew our strength and keep going for you God. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Hymn number 155 doxology. Praise God from all blessings flow. Praise him all creature here below. Praise him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise God our son and holy ghost. One second. Praise God from all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise father son and holy ghost. Let's pray. Let's close our prayer. Brother Mark. Amen. Amen.