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is there beginning in verse number seven where the Bible reads but which of you having a servant plowing or feeding cattle will say unto him by and by when he has come from the field go and sit down to meet and will not rather say unto him make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thyself and serve me till I have eaten and drunken and afterward thou shalt eat and drink doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him I trow not so likewise ye when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do what I want to preach about this morning is the subject of setting the bar too low in our lives or just doing the minimum in our lives and that's what Jesus is talking about here a servant who does the minimum that is expected of him he's just doing his duty and the Bible says look the master isn't really going to thank him for doing that you know it'd be like if you went to your job and you put in your time and you did the minimum do you get thanked every day by your boss at work just for showing up to work and doing your job he doesn't thank you for doing what it is your duty to do he doesn't thank you for doing what you are paid to do and that's what Jesus is saying here look if you had a servant and you know he comes in from plowing the field for you you don't sit there and serve him and do everything you tell him no you serve me you know you get my food ready and then after you've eaten and drunk then you will give him something to eat and you're not necessarily gonna thank him for doing what it's his job to do what he's being paid to do what it's his duty to do and it says in verse 10 so likewise ye when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you pat yourself on the back and say I am an amazing servant I am just an unbelievable servant of God because I did what I was supposed to he says no say that you're an unprofitable servant because you've only done what he's saying here is that you've only done what was your duty to do meaning you have done the minimum you've done the minimum go to Romans chapter 12 you see sometimes we could become prideful or puffed up we start to get some things right in our life we start serving God we start going to church we start reading our Bibles and it's easy to become puffed up and say wow I'm a pretty good Christian I read my Bible every day I pray every day I go to church three times a week I'm out soul winning well I am just an amazing Christian and you know what that pride and that arrogance is something that we need to make sure stays out of our life because we ought to always stay humble no matter how much we do for God we can never do as much as he did for us so we should stay humble and remember that all the time look at Romans chapter 12 the Bible says in verse 1 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God watch this which is your reasonable service is that going above and beyond I mean is that just some amazing thing that you did you believe it he is actually willing to offer his body as a living sacrifice under the Lord Jesus Christ God saying look that's your duty to offer your body a living sacrifice it's your reasonable service and and this is why it's your reasonable service go to 1st Corinthians 6 right after Romans is the book of 1st Corinthians see we just need to get the right attitude in our minds that is a humble attitude not an attitude that praises ourself and lifts ourself up but an attitude that says you know what serving God is something that I'm supposed to be doing it's something that I'm required to do it shouldn't be something that I look at as above and beyond like anything that I give God he should just be happy for what it was what he can get from me right and if I throw God a bone every once in a while by going to church and if I show up at church every once in a while and if I show up you know at soul winning every once in a blue and if I read my Bible every once in a blue you know what God should just be happy with what he gets from you know whatever I do hey at least I'm doing something you know and I hope God's really gonna bless me because I'm doing something but look what the Bible says in 1st Corinthians 6 19 what know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God and you're not your own for you are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's the Bible says you've been bought with a price your body belongs to God your spirit belongs to God and so it is your reasonable service it is your duty it is what is expected of you to use your body and your spirit to glorify God to serve God to offer your body a living sacrifice to God to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind look God expects of us to serve him when we serve him we're not doing some extra good deed wow we did something for God know you're doing the minimum when you serve God because God demands it he expected he owns us and so we should not become too prideful number one but number two we should also not set the bar too low in our lives once we realize that okay the zero line see we put the zero line at just doing nothing for God that in our minds we think of that as zero if we don't go to church at all if we don't read our Bible at all if we don't go so any at all if we don't pray at all we'll call that zero in our minds right and then anything we do above that we think hey we're in the positive we're doing something for God God's got to be thanking us for what we're doing because we're doing so much for any time we get above the zero line but you know what God does not set the zero line at nothing God has bought us and God said zero at doing all the commandments of God if we do all God's commandments if we just do the minimum of just you know church soul-winning Bible reading prayer if we do the minimum of those things but we're still doing them all that's what he calls zero we did below that we're in the negative with God because the Bible says to him that know it to do good and do it that not to him it is sin that sounds like you're in the negative when you're not doing stuff you're supposed to do that sounds like not reading the Bible at all it's not zero it's negative not going soul-winning at all is not zero it's negative Jesus said he that is not with me is against me and he that gathers not with me scatter it he didn't say well if you're not gathering with me if you're not a fisher of men if you're not bringing people into the kingdom of God well then you're just not in the battle he said no you're scattering it's negative my friend it's below zero you see zero is when you're doing everything you're supposed to do at a minimal level you know what when you go above and beyond when you do more when you read the Bible more when you pray more when you go soul-winning more when you're more involved in church you know that's when you're going the second mile that's when you're doing something great for God and we should still never get puffed up but let me tell you something many of us think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think because we think of doing nothing as zero when actually doing nothing you're harming the kingdom of God you're you're actually defrauding the Lord Jesus Christ who has bought you with the price you're basically like a servant who's being paid who's been hired who's been bought with a price and then you're just loafing on the job you're you're committing fraud you're stealing from the boss if you did that or in an earthly sense well you know what when you defraud the Lord Jesus Christ if your body and spirit which are God's and you yield your body and your spirit under the world and you yield your body and spirit under the the the devil and the cares of this world and you serve pleasure and sin and and drunkenness and wantonness you know what you are below zero so we need to first of all make sure that we do the things that are commanded us we need to make sure that yes we are reading our Bible we are praying that we do go to church that we do go so any but you know what that's just to be a zero Christian but then we should try to strive to do more to take our Christianity to greater heights and to really excel in our service for the Lord Jesus Christ that he will say one day well done now good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of the Lord and that we would not be unprofitable servants basically a breakeven servant it's like a servant that you hire and they don't really make you money but they're not really costing you money they're just kind of a breakeven guy that's not what we want to be if you're that way on your job you'll probably get fired you know some some employees the company probably loses money on them but you know what we want to be a profitable servant one who brings profit into the company not one that does the minimum go to Matthew chapter 5 Matthew chapter 5 so we don't want to set the bar too low in our lives we don't want to be one that just does the minimum and you might say well you know I'm just gonna do the minimum I'm just gonna go to church minimum I'm gonna go soul winning men and you know going to church minimum is probably like Sunday morning you know if you show up every more Sunday morning that's pretty much what most people consider okay I go to church if you go to church less than every Sunday morning then you're considered like a hit-and-miss kind of a guy right but if you go on Sunday morning and you're there every Sunday morning you're considered a faithful member of the church you know most people would consider you you come in faithfully but you know what I don't want to just be at that zero level of just I come to church on Sunday morning I'd rather get into some bonus right let's get into Sunday night let's get into Wednesday night hey let's go above and beyond let's do something great for God and not just be a minimum kind of guy you know soul winning you know probably a minimum that most people would think of is maybe you're going out once a week for an hour right you know what kick that up to an hour and a half two hours three hours you know you can do more for God don't set the bar low in your life you know a minimum I would and again am I God no so when I say you know Sunday morning is kind of like just showing up once a week on Sunday morning's kind of the zero line or that you know going soul winning for an hour weeks kind of that zero line you know that that's just my that's just my opinion right it's really between you and God and I don't really know what God up in heaven considers the minimum before he gets upset you know what I mean because I know I know that if he looks down and you're not going to church at all he's upset and I know that Christmas and Easter only is making God upset if that's if that's your church attendance probably everybody in here would agree that that is not the level of church attendance that God expects Christmas and Easter right and you know what I know if you're not going soul winning at all that God's upset because he commanded us to go out and preach the gospel to every creature I know if you're not reading your Bible at all that God's upset and I don't think reading one verse a day is making God happy either I don't think that that's what God considers Bible reading because he said that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God the Bible says we should read therein all the days of our life and I believe that God expects us to read the entire Bible not just part of it the whole Bible all 66 books he gave it to us as as doctrine he gave it to us as a comforter he gave it to us as encouragement he gave it as our food job said I've esteemed the words of my mouth more than that the words of my mouth more than my daily food look I know that God expects us to read the Bible every I know that praying not at all makes God upset but where is that minimal line where God says hey you know at least show up once a week to church you know at least and I would I would say a minimum and again this is just my opinion I'm just throwing this out there you know I'd say a minimal Bible reading should be to read your Bible cover to cover once a year like in a year's time get through that's just my opinion 15 minutes a day get through the whole thing in a year I'd put that as a zero line again just my opinion you know prayer what's the minimum of prayer I mean for sure praying every day I mean how long of prayer per day I don't know you know God doesn't really give us hard numbers but I do know that God expects us to pray without ceasing to pray every day I know Daniel pray three times a day I know David said he seven times a day praise the Lord because of his righteous judgments I don't know exactly what the minimum line is but I'll tell you one thing I don't want to do the minimum whatever it is say well Oh God just told me what the minimum is stop don't tell me I don't care because I don't want to do the minimum I want to do more because we should not strive to be an unprofitable servant we should not strive to be a zero Christian an absolute zero Christian that's just right there just doing the minimum to get by and let me tell you something we should be pressing on the upward way and gaining new heights every day look what the Bible says in Matthew 5 it says in verse 43 you've heard that it has been said thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy now stop first of all that's not something that God ever said a lot of people misunderstand this and say oh the Old Testament teaches you to love your neighbor and hate your enemy no the Old Testament tells you to love your enemy the Old Testament tells you in the book of Leviticus that if you're if your enemy's ox or ass falls into the ditch you lay hold on it and lift it out I mean the Bible teaches you to love your enemies okay but it says here that it has been said not saying that God said it just that someone has said it or that people have said it but I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven for he make of this son to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust and we learned that the last three days on the camping trip that God does send rain on the just also but anyway it says in verse 46 for if you love them which love you watch this if you love them which love you what reward have you now look isn't loving people that love you something that we should do if we did not love those who love us wouldn't we be in sin wouldn't we be doing something amiss we'd be below the zero line but you know what if we just love those that love us that's zero that's the minimum you see what I'm saying that's why he says what reward have you because you're not really doing anything above and beyond that's what I'm saying showing up every Sunday morning at church you're not really going above and beyond just reading your Bible a minimal Bible reading every day you're not going above and beyond just doing a little tiny bit of soul winning you're not going above and beyond he says look if you love those that love you what reward have you that's just the basic decency of a human being to love those that love them he says and if you salute your brethren only what do you more than others do not even the publicans the same he's like just a minimum that if you're out and about and somebody says hi to you you don't just you know you know hey how you doing and they're just kind of I mean look if you go to church right and somebody says hi to you at church and you just ignore them wouldn't you say that's rude hey hey brother Corbin how you doing he's just like you know that's right right okay but here's the thing he's saying look if you say hi to those that say hi to you that's just a minimum you know basic politeness and courtesy but what's better is when you go out and greet someone else what does it mean to salute someone we're not talking about you know this kind of when it says to salute someone it means basically to say hi to him to greet them hey how you doing right so if you come to church and you only interact with the people that come talk to you and come say hi to you okay thank you for showing us that you're not a complete barbarian but what is better is if you would actually approach someone and salute someone else then you have reward now you are going above and beyond now you're doing well and you're not just doing the minimum do you see that there or you know even out and about just just greeting people just being friendly says if you salute your brethren only what do you more than others do not even the public and so be therefore perfect even as your father which is in heaven is perfect now look a lot of people probably think that if you did the minimum church minimum Bible reading minimum prayer minimum soul-winning minimum courtesy at church minimum works they'd say you're perfect you're doing everything you're supposed to but God says you're not perfect unless you're doing above the minimum above what is expected of you go to second Corinthians 10 and I'm going to show you why a lot of people tend to set the bar very low in their lives and why they think more highly of their service for God than what they ought to think here's the reason why a lot of people set the bar too high second Corinthians 10 12 says this for we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves commending yourself is what praising yourself thinking that you're great watch this the Bible tells us about people who praise themselves and think that they are wonderful it says but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise so what is the Bible telling us here that some people think more highly of themselves than they ought to think basically they commend themselves look how great I am by comparing themselves to other people and by comparing themselves to other people they're able to lift themselves up and commend themselves by comparing themselves amongst themselves and measuring themselves by themselves that's all plural they're not just racing with themselves but they're looking at the people around them and saying why I'm better than so-and-so now look at you would Luke chapter 18 with that in mind Luke chapter 18 you see in America today the bar is pretty low if you want to start comparing yourself amongst yourselves I mean if you want to feel like you're just a really great Christian yeah you can just compare yourself to the most Christians in America today in 2013 I mean if you want to feel pretty good about our church if you want to think that our church is just the greatest church in the world you know what just start comparing it to the typical Baptist Church in 2013 I mean if you put faithful word Baptist next to a typical Baptist Church it's going to look great but wait a minute is that the standard now put it next to the book of Acts you know what I mean and now all of a sudden we're thinking wow our church has a long way to go you know if we look at faithful word Baptist Church and and put it in the light of God's Word in the light of the book of Acts in the light of what Jesus did then we feel humbled then we feel like yeah let's do more let's take it up a notch let's do better but we can just find some liberal loser Baptist Church down the street and say well look how much better we're doing for them they do zero soul winning look how much we did they they preach to Bible verses on a Sunday morning we had 50 you know they're doing that look at them all scantily clad you know at least at least we're wearing clothing but let me tell you something that is not the standard and God says if we start comparing ourselves to other churches to make ourselves feel good we're not wise that's a bad comparison forget what other churches are doing forget what the rest of independent fundamental Baptists are doing forget what the liberal Southern Baptists are doing or all these other denominational Baptist forget what other Christians are doing forget what the non-nomination look what are we doing and how does it measure up with what the Bible says now we're humble now we're saying oh man we need to be more like Jesus in this way we need to be more like the Apostles in this way we need to be more like the early church in the book of Acts in this way and it causes us to grow see it says in Luke 18 here's the example of the guy who compares himself to other people Luke 18 verse 9 says he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others right they think they're great by looking down on someone else two men went up into the temple to pray the one a Pharisee and the other Republican the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself he's not even praying to God he's praying with himself he's just going through the motions of prayer he's just saying where it's not even directed to God he's saying it to himself he prayed thus with himself God I thank thee that I'm not as other men are that's how I start all my prayers to man I'm so glad I'm not like other people I'm so glad that I am NOT as other men are and look what he lists off extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this publican now look those are some major sins extortion adultery I mean these are huge massive sins so this guy pats himself on the back by saying well hey least I'm not committing adultery least I'm not an extortioner and look that's a way to make yourself feel pretty good I mean if you want to feel good about yourself if you want to feel like you are just an awesome person and you are just a stellar Christian I mean I know you barely ever make it to church I know you barely ever go soul winning I know you barely revolve a man you are awesome because you are at least you're not an adulterer you are the man I mean that's what this guy's saying hey at least I don't work for the government at least I'm not a publican you know at least I'm not an extortioner at least I'm not an adulterer you know I'm not like this guy and he says you know I fast twice in the week I give tithes of all that I possess right okay but here's the thing isn't tithing the minimum I mean tithing is just something that God tells you to do that doesn't even belong to you you know he says that the tithe is the Lord's so I remember you know one time this lady walked up to my pastor back in Sacramento and said you know I want to know where the money I've been given to this church has been going and he said okay have you been giving some of your money and she said well yes I've tithed and he said well that's not your money did you give above your tithe because if you give above your tithe then you're giving your money but the Bible says the tithe is the Lord's so this guy's basically saying I did the minimum because I you know and the fasting thing okay he gets props for that I don't I've never fast I'm not gonna fast twice a week okay so I will give him credit let's give credit to this Pharisee you know whatever he's not eating as much as I eat okay so I will give him that point I eat like I eat five meals a day but anyway so what I'm saying is you know he's the stuff he's listing you know outside the fasting okay that's pretty good you're doing that twice a week but then again I mean you know that who knows how long that fast was maybe he's just fasting one meal twice a week I don't know but I'm gonna tell myself that but anyway what I'm saying is this guy said oh I tithe everything yeah but isn't that just what God told you to do I'm not an extortioner Wow big deal hey I'm not committing adultery oh wow great job man that's amazing you didn't commit adultery good job but look he's using that to lift himself up because you know what he can find some people that are extortioners like that publican or he can find some people that did commit adultery right and they will hey at least I'm not as bad as so-and-so is committing adultery I mean and you'll go out so many and people will say that they're going to heaven because they haven't done anything that bad and they'll be like well I'm not like Jeffrey Dahmer I mean I'm not like Charles Manson I'm not like Adolf Hitler I mean it's like wow great job that's not really something to get excited about that you're not a mass murderer you're not a serial killer you know put her there pal but do you see them the mentality here of one who compares himself to others in order to make himself feel good well you know some people don't even tie the least I'm tithing some people are out committing adultery at least I'm not committing adultery yeah but look is that what you're trying to do just the minimum now look for marriage yeah the minimum is to not commit adultery right minimum is just to stay married and just be there and do it suppose do yeah but is that what you're trying to do in your marriage be the minimum husband be the minimum wife is that what you're doing in your parenting just being a minimum parent a minimum child children is that what you're doing just the minimum obedience look if you say but every time my mom tells me to clean my room I do it you're unprofitable we're not going to thank you for cleaning your room every time she tells me to unload the dishes I do it that's what you're supposed to do you expect to be thanked but you know what we'll thank you for is when you do something without being told are you listening kids when you take your chores that have been given you and you take the task that you've been given you of cleaning your room or mowing the lot and then you go out and you do something else extra you clean the kitchen you clean the bathroom you sweep the floor you do something above and beyond that's where mom and dad are gonna say well thank you for doing that that is something I mean look wives who probably never cook at home they probably expect to be thanked like a hundred times for cooking like a real meal once look I actually cook something from scratch look that's life that's your job you know that's like that's like is my wife gonna thank me every day I come home from work thank you for going to work again thank you for working eight hours again thank you for doing another eight hour shift thank you for breakfast thank you for lunch thank you for dinner thank you for baby but I mean look that's just way too many thank yous but let me tell you some if maybe I could see if I worked a 12-hour day or a 15-hour day or a 20-hour day right I come home late at night I'm all grimy and she says man thank you for working so hard you're such a great provider you know or you know what I'm saying is that we need to strive to do more we need to not try to just be people who do the minimum you know sometimes I'll jokingly somebody will say hey thanks for doing sus and so I always say well you know that's the least I could do you know that's a saying that people use a lot and I always say and that's always what I can do though that's always what I do the least I can do that's what I like to do the minimum whatever the minimum is you know as a pastor that's what I want to do as a pastor I just want to do the minute I mean what's the what's the shortest shallowest sermon I can preach and people will still consider it a sermon you know what I mean I mean what what's the minimum sermon I can do where I just get up and I get I got some outline I downloaded off the internet some book that I got that's you know a 13 part series on grace or whatever that I bought from some ministry somewhere you know if I can just get up and just go through those points and just go through the motions a 20-minute sermon and just give out the minimum truth the minimum Bible the minimum doctrine just so that people will feel like it was worth the drive no I want to preach the best sermon that I could possibly preach I preach the minimum what's the minimum Bible knowledge I should have as a pastor what's the minimum level of service for God I should do look these questions should never enter our mind and I think that's part of why earlier in the sermon I had to guess about the minimums because God doesn't even tell us the minimums because he doesn't want us to do the minimum because if he told us here's the minimum Bible reading here's the minimum Church here's the minute you know what that's what most people die end up doing but you know what we don't want to do the minimum go to numbers chapter 32 numbers 32 so what we've learned so far in this sermon is that we need to adjust our zero line we don't want to think of zero as doing nothing for God and anything we do for God is great no we should think of doing the basic commands of God at a minimal level we should call that zero because if we're not doing what we know to do that's good it's sin so that just gets us up to the zero level when we're just doing a minimal Bible minimal whatever what we want to do in order to be a profitable servant what we want to do so that God is thankful to us is to do something extra go above and beyond be a Christian that is not just doing the minimum or going the one mile but rather Jesus said to go the second mile if any man will compel thee to go a mile with them go with him twain look God is compelling us to do certain things in our life let's do let's do more than what he told us to do I like what Paul said to Philemon he said what did he say to Philemon let me turn I have I have the book of Philemon memorized but when you get up here you know and everybody's looking at you sometimes you draw a blank but he says having confidence let me find here we go having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say did you hear that having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say and look yeah that's that's that's Paul talking to Philemon but that's also the Lord talking to us that's also got you know there's a spiritual application it's not like the book of Philemon was just for Philemon that's not for us that was just for Philemon that's like these people say you know Matthew that's just for the Jews that's not for us you know Hebrews is just for the Jews not I mean who in here is a Hebrew okay why do we ever why did I preach to that book verse by verse on Wednesday night then total waste of time right no because every promise in the book is mine every chapter every verse every line the Bible is written into us and when the when Paul says to Philemon having confidence in thy obedience I wrote to thee knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say that's what God's saying to us he's saying look I have confidence in your obedience I want you to do more than what I say when I tell you to go a mile I want you to go two miles I want you to be a profitable servant I don't want you to do the minimum that it's your duty to do but rather to do extra my friend in every area of life this will change your life go to your job and don't say what's the minimum I have to do to get by no do more do extra you want the boss to thank you do extra do more go above and beyond in your marriage in your child rearing and your job and your service for God at church don't be a person that tries to do the minimum do extra do more see we set the bar too low in our lives now here's a great example of this I'm going to finish off with this point in numbers 32 because we see in numbers 32 the tribes of Reuben and Gad basically what we see is that they get satisfied without reaching the final destination ok because Reuben and Gad were two of the tribes of Israel that came out of Egypt God wanted to bring them all the way into the promised land God wanted the children of Israel to go to this wonderful land flowing with milk and honey the land that he had sworn under their fathers and that was the goal and that's where they needed to be but what happened is when the children of Israel defeated Aug and Sihon the kings of the Amorites before they crossed the Jordan River into the promised land on the east side of the Jordan River ok before they crossed over they defeated Aug and Sihon and Reuben and Gad looked at the land of Aug and Sihon and they said look this is good enough for us we don't need to go over Jordan we don't need to go into the promised land we don't need the land flowing look we have cattle this is a great land for cattle we just want to stay right here we're satisfied with this land and Moses rebukes them and says look you need to go all the way go into the promised land and they say no this is where we want to be and he says ok you know they basically come to a a compromised agreement that says well if you come in to the promised land fight the battles with the rest of the children of Israel help us inherit all the land then when that war is over you guys can come home and this will be your land and they left their children and their little ones there they built them booths to dwell in they built houses they planted everything and they left it there and they said okay we will pass over armed with the children of Israel we will help them inherit the promised land but we are going to inherit this land on the other side we're going to stay here we're comfortable here we're happy here we like it look what the Bible says in verse 5 where you're at there it says wherefore said they if we have found grace in thy sight let this land be given unto thy servants for possession and bring us not over Jordan and Moses said unto the children of Gad and the children of Reuben shall your brethren go to war and shall ye sit here and wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them thus did your fathers when I sent them from Katish Barnea to see the land. Look he's saying when you guys stay behind other people are going to start getting the same idea thinking well maybe we should all just stay over here I mean this is a nice land and if he rebukes them and tells them they must go to war they're not going to sit here they're going to go to war now if you think about it in the end Reuben and Gad kind of end up with the worst of both worlds because they still have to go fight the same battles they still end up going into the promised land fighting all the battles and then going back to their lesser land. So basically when we look at this if we were to apply this to our lives it's getting satisfied before we reach the destination. What is the destination in our lives? Look well the destination in our lives is to be like Christ to be conformed under the image of the Son of God. The destination in our lives is that we would serve God to the fullest right that we would get all the sin out of our life you know that we would basically be living a Christian life where we're doing the minimum and then we're going above the minimum we're reading our Bible more we're praying more we know we're living the best possible Christian life we can we're as fully surrendered to the Lord as possible in every area of life you know that's our goal now are we ever going to fully get there in this life are we ever going to get to a point where we could really say I've arrived I have no more room to grow I cannot do any better than I'm doing right now I cannot learn anything else from the Bible I know everything in the Bible I need to know no we're never going to get there but that's what we're aiming for Paul even the Apostle Paul who we'd look at Paul and say wow this guy has arrived he is the ultimate Christian he said not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after that which for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus he said brethren I count not myself to have apprehended he's saying I haven't arrived but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth under those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus he's saying look I have not arrived I'm still wanting to grow more and I'm striving and I'm pressing toward that mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus so all of us are pressing toward that mark in our lives we're never going to get there but we get closer and we get closer and we get closer we get back look your life's never going to be perfect it's just never going to be but you're getting better right you're better than you were last year you're better than you were the year before hopefully you should be otherwise your backslidden if you're not growing if you're not moving forward so you're doing better you're doing better you're doing better you're doing better but see a lot of people before they get to that destination they get to a point where they just say you know I'm satisfied where I'm at I'm satisfied I don't want to grow anymore at this point I just want to coast I don't really want to go further and you know that's like the children of Reuben and Gad you know they fought some battles they've won some victories they've inherited some land and they say you know what this is good enough and I heard somebody say good enough never is go all the way go to the destination don't stop short don't settle for something that's second best in your life go all the way to the promised land do the the high calling of God not the medium calling well I'm not doing the zero column I'm doing medium no go for extra-large go for family size econ you know you're not trial size not fun size something fun about fun size fun size should just be renamed too small okay the fun side fun size is king size that's the one that's fun I mean ask a kid which one's more fun you know king size or fun size okay so what I'm saying is I don't want to live a fun size life I want to live a king-size life you know I want to live a life that is always pressing upward always pushing the boundaries always doing more always growing always taking it further not like Reuben and Gad who quit before they make it to the promised land and look you know why people quit before they make it to the promised land because here's what they think well it's easier to stay on this side Jordan it's easier this will be easier it's already done the battles are fought we're done we just stay here and it's done but then Moses has to mess it up by saying yeah you can stay here long as you fight all the same battles everybody else does so look it seems like it's going to be easier but it's not because God you know Moses representing God here God steps in and says oh no you don't you're not going to park it here I mean look if you want to go back to Egypt and and and and and go back into bondage and slavery that's one thing that's not where these people are at these people want to observe God they want to do right they want to inherit the land but they don't want to go all the way and God sees them trying to get comfortable halfway a halfway measure well we're not in Egypt we're not in the wilderness but we're on the promised land we're just kind of right there and God sees you stopping short God sees you where you say well you know what I want to serve God I want to be near the promised land you know I want to do something for God but I just don't want to go all the way I don't want to fully surrender to God's will in my life I don't really want to push myself as far as I could I just want to just kind of just find a comfortable place near the will of God and I mean come on it's right near the will of God but it's more comfortable it's easier there's less fighting there's less blood and guts and shouting and you know just get a little more comfortable and God sees you and he says oh no you oh no you don't I'll make sure that you fight all the same battles and have all the same blood and guts and screaming and you know what you'll just have a lesser result in the end and look where would you rather be living if you're the children of Israel would you rather be living in the nation of Israel with that geographical boundary of the Jordan River protecting you or would you rather be in these borderlands of Gad and Reuben where they're exposed to enemies they're constantly getting invaded read the Old Testament they're getting invaded they're vulnerable look that was not the best land to inherit the best place was God's original plan for them on this side Jordan they settled for something else they settled for being near God's perfect will and they ended up fighting all the same battles and going through all the same stuff in fact they had the added strain of being separated from their families because you know they left the families behind and they keep going out and fighting these battles the other people had their families with them I mean I'd rather have my family with me than just have my family you know left behind in this in this land of the Amorites so all that to say this look at Psalm 17 Psalm 17 15 we don't want to be a Christian that strives to do the minimum we don't want to be a zero Christian first of all we need to figure out what a zero Christian is it's not what you think it's not somebody who does nothing it's somebody who does the bare minimum that's the zero Chris but we don't want to be the zero Chris we don't want to set the bar really low for ourselves and the way that we set the bar low for ourselves when we look at other people because we can always find somebody that's worse than us we can always I mean I mean Hitler probably made himself feel better like well at least I'm not Stalin I mean it's you can always find somebody worse you know Charles Manson's probably saying well at least I wasn't Dahmer you know what I mean you can always find somebody worse but you know what that doesn't mean anything that means nothing okay just to find somebody oh well we'll look at that church it's even lamer than ours is you know look at that guy look at his family look at what he's doing you know look what these people are living their life look quit comparing yourself amongst yourself get the Bible in your hand figure out what the minimum is and then do more figure out the mile that God wants you to go and go two of those miles and say I want God to be pleased with me I want God to be happy with me I want God to thank me I don't want God to just look down and say oh well you were another minimum run-of-the-mill guy very good at doing the bare minimum to scrape by and do more look what the Bible says in Psalm 17 15 as for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness you know what we should not be satisfied until that day when we are in the image of the Lord you know when we are caught up together with him in the clouds we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is that's when we should be satisfied when we're fully conformed to the image of the Son of God until then we should keep striving toward that mark striving to be Christlike striving to be conformed to the image of the Son of God we're not going to make it in this life but let's keep pressing on the upward way let's keep trying to do more let's never get satisfied and content and say let's stay on this side Jordan no let's cross the Jordan River you already crossed the Red Sea or you probably wouldn't even be in this church you've already been across the Red Sea you've already wanted in the wilderness it's time to cross the Jordan River and go all the way into the promised land and then once you get in the promised land don't even be satisfied to be down in the valley be like Caleb that says okay now I'm in the promised land now I want to go to the top of that mountain and I want to fight an uphill battle all the way against iron chariots because I can because I'm 85 years old and because my strength is just as strong now as I was when I was 45 I'm gonna fight an uphill battle all the way to the top of the highest baddest mountain because I want to be a man that God looks down and says you know what you did very well I mean look how much Caleb is mentioned in the Bible as just being a great guy you know you'd hate to be off Neil it's just every time he's mentioned you know Caleb's brother Caleb's brother kid it's like man off me I'll probably wish this he could get out of Caleb shadow but you know what it's a pretty big shadow because he said I want to go to the top I want to go all the way and that's the mentality we should have in our lives not just a minimal you know let's just scrape by let's brides never word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word and we thank you for the the great things you've done for us Lord we could never we could never do enough for you where it would even come close to outweighing what you did for us so just help us to do the best we can help us to strive to do more and and strive to be profitable servants help us not to get proud and and and and haughty like that Pharisee who thought he was so great just because he's not an extortioner help us not to get that mentality help us to say you know what I can do better I'm gonna do better and God please just help no one to get discouraged about the past part of that formula that the Apostle Paul gave was forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth under those things over help us to forget the past help us not to beat ourselves up about past failures and oh man we wanted in the wilderness for 40 years help us just forget that and just go into the promised land and just go forward we love you and thank you for your grace and in Jesus name we pray amen