(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

["Pomp and Circumstance"] Alright, good morning everybody and welcome to Sunday morning service at Shield of Faith Baptist Church. I'm so glad it's dry and warm in here. So let's just grab our hymn books and turn to Psalm 45 when I can read my title clear. Great song, we'll sing it out loud. Psalm 45 when I can read my title clear. ["When I Can Read My Title Clear"] When I can read my title clear Two mentions in the skies I'll bid farewell to every fear And wipe my weeping eyes And wipe my weeping eyes And wipe my weeping eyes I'll bid farewell to every fear And wipe my weeping eyes Should earth against my soul Engage in fire If the darts be hurled Then I can smile at Satan's rake And face a frowning whirl And face a frowning whirl And face a frowning whirl Then I can smile at Satan's rake And face a frowning whirl And face a frowning whirl And cares like a wild deluge Curl And storms of sorrow May I but safely reach my home My God, my heaven, my all My God, my heaven, my all My God, my heaven, my all May I but safely reach my home My God, my heaven, my all May I but safely reach my home My God, my heaven, my all May I but safely reach my home My God, my heaven, my all May I but safely reach my home My God, my heaven, my all May we with the wave of trouble Roll across my peaceful breast All right, amen. Brother Kaitlin, will you open us with a word of prayer, please? Amen. All right, let's turn to Psalm 224. There shall be showers of blessing. Get there myself. Psalm 224, there shall be showers of blessing. On the first, there shall be showers of blessing. This is the promise of love. There shall be seasons refreshing, sent from the Savior above. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing, precious reviving again. Over the hills and the valleys, sound of abundance of rain. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing, sent them upon us, O Lord. Prayer to us now are refreshing. Come and now honor thy word. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing, O that today they might fall. Now as to God we're confessing, now as on Jesus we call. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead. All right, well, good morning. Welcome to Shield of Faith Baptist Church. If you need a bulletin or a pen or something, just raise your hand and keep it up. We'll have somebody get you one. So let's go through these announcements here. Front page of the bulletin, weekly church service times. We've got Sunday mornings at 1030, Sunday evenings at 6, and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Underneath there's a list of our soul winning times. So we've got Saturday morning at 1030, meeting right here. Sundays at 2 with Brother David. Mondays at 630 with Brother Mauser. Wednesdays at 11 a.m. with Brother Briley. And Thursdays about 630. Don't forget to call or text if you're going to go Thursday, 208-391-5323. Praise report for October. So we're at five salvations, and that's 83 year today. And we had 17 soul winners out in the community last week, so praise God for all of that. Back page, so tonight we'll be in 2 Samuel, chapter number 20. Next Sunday evening we'll be having our chili cook-off after the evening service. And the Halloween sermon that evening. So we'll take a break from 2 Samuel. Let's see what else here. A look ahead. So please come join us on Saturday, November 6 at 3 p.m. for a baby shower to celebrate baby Kara. Baby Celebella Acres. It will be a potluck, so please bring a dish to share. Baby sprinkle for Miss Rachel is November 14th. And it's not a baptism. It's a baptism of gifts. Let's see here. Birthdays for October. So next up will be Miss Alex's birthday on the 31st. And this week's memory verse is Revelation 3.19, which says, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore and repent. We are a family-integrated church. And what that means is children and infants are always welcome in the service. There is a daddy baby room right over here to your left. The mother baby room is right across the hallway there. Tides and offerings for October are right below that. Please turn your phones off or place them on silent so they're not a distraction. And we took that food down off the table. So all the stuff that was back there is in a red bin. So it's like the last chance. And then I'm going to donate that to somewhere else. If you guys don't want anything in there, and the very bottom line says, People that shift expectations are pulling you into their planned accusations. And that was from last Sunday morning. So we'll have one more song before we receive the offering. All right, let's grab those hymn books one more time, please. Turn to song number 244, Amazing Grace. Amazing Grace, song number 244. On the first Amazing Grace How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost But now am found Was blind But now I see Twas grace that taught my heart to fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed Many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far And grace will lead me home on the last When we've been there ten thousand years Bright shining as the sun We've no less days to say God's praise Than when we first begun Amen. All right, let's go ahead and pray. Thank you so much, Lord, again for allowing us to be able to meet here this morning. Just pray you bless the service, Lord. Fellowship, so many, everything we have going on today, Lord. Again, thank you for all that you do. Just pray you bless these tithes and offerings. Hope to use them for your glory. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen? Amen. Amen? Amen. Amen. All right, please turn your Bibles to Deuteronomy Chapter Number 3. Deuteronomy Chapter Number 3 I'm gonna get there starting at Verse Number 1 the Bible reads, And Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us, he and all his people to battle at Indre. And the Lord said unto me, Fear him not, for I will deliver him and all his people and his land into thy hand, and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people, and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. And we took all his cities at that time. There was not a city which we took not from them, three score cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og and Bashan. And all these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars, beside unwalled towns of great many. And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city. But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities we took for a prey to ourselves. And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites, the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto Mount Hermon, which Hermon, the Cydonians call Cyrian, and the Amorites call it Sheanor. All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salcha and Idre, cities of the kingdom of Og and Bashan. For only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnant of giants. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron, is it not in Raboth of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man. And this land, which we possessed at that time from Aroor, which is by the river Arnon, and half Mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites. And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants. Jair, the son of Manasseh, took all the country of Argob, unto the coast of Geshuri and Meakathai, and called them after his own name, Bashan-Havoth-Jair, unto this day. And I gave Gilead unto Makor, and unto the Reubenites, and unto the Gadites. I gave from Gilead, even unto the river Arnon, half the valley, and the border, even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon. The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth, even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdod Pisgah, eastward. And I commanded you at that time, saying, The Lord your God hath given you this land to possess it, and you shall pass over, armed before your brethren, the children of Israel, all that are meek for the war. For your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, for I know that ye have much cattle, shall abide in your cities, which I have given you, until the Lord hath given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the Lord your God hath given them beyond Jordan. And then shall ye return every man unto his possession, which I have given you. And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto these two kings. So shall the Lord do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest. Ye shall not fear them, for the Lord your God, he shall fight for you. And I besought the Lord at that time, saying, O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant, thy greatness, and thy mighty hand. For what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon, where the Lord was wroth of me for your sakes, and would not hear me. And the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee, speak no more unto me of this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes. For thou shalt not go over this Jordan, but charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him. For he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see. So we abode in the valley over against Beth Peor. Brother Victor, would you pray for us? Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to gather here safely today, and to listen to your words, and to pray for them. I ask you to listen, sir, and to pray for them. Bless you, Lord, and to pray for them. All right, amen. Deuteronomy chapter number three, look at verse number 11, it says this, it says, For only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnant of the giants. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron. Is it not in Raboth, of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of man. Now, if you ever need justification to buy a king-sized bed, just drop this verse right here, and it's a done deal. It's over with. You've got permission from God. I'm just kidding. So keep your place there, but go to Revelation chapter number three. We're going to come back and unpack that verse, and start talking about how that applies to the sermon today, but I just wanted to open with that, just to kind of get that in your mind, so that we can come back later and talk about it. Now, the title of the sermon this morning is The Church of the Laodiceavers, The Church of the Laodiceavers, and what this is about is about complacency. It's about the dangers of being complacent in your life, especially in your Christian life. If you're like, what in the world does that mean? What is complacency? When you're satisfied with your current condition, despite dangers that are looming, that is the definition of complacency. It's the old government attitude of, hey, it's good enough for government work, meaning I didn't quite reach the standard because I know no one's checking on me, or at least I think no one's checking on me, so I'm just going to go ahead and let these things slide. I'm going to show you this morning how that leads to burnout and all sorts of problems, but I really want to say this, that complacency, I believe, does more damage than the devil and his armies, and you're going to see that this morning. We're going to learn how to basically dismantle that, how to recognize that, how to overcome that. Let me just also say this, everybody gets complacent. I'm up here preaching this, and I've been complacent for the last two weeks. I've got two screws in my tire out there, okay, in my rear tire, and just the other day, the low pressure light came on, and I'm like, look at this. I'm going to preach a sermon about complacency, and I'm driving around town with two screws in my back driver's side tire, and the check tire light thing comes on, and I don't know what it is. I'm just sick of taking the vehicles down there. I don't know if somebody's sabotaging me out here, but I had to take the Tahoe down to Les Schwab to get that dealt with about two weeks ago, and then I'm looking, and I'm like, what is that shiny thing sticking out of my tire? Oh, it's another screw. Oh, okay. And then the other day, getting out of the vehicle, I'm like, there's another screw, and it's a lot smaller than that one. So I'm kind of silly, but you know what it's going to do in the end? It's going to cost me more time and more money, because I didn't deal with it when I saw the first screw. The guy, when I bought those tires, was like, oh, these are pretty thick. If you run over a nail or something, depending on the length or a screw, he's like, you might be all right for quite a while. So I held onto that over the last two weeks, and I'm like, yeah, I've been so busy. I'm like, I don't have time to go down there, but I need to make the time, you know? You know, but going back to this complacency thing, you know, it affects us all, and if it goes unchecked, you know, if it becomes a way of life, if it becomes who you are, you're going to find problems going all the way to your work, how you raise your children, the decisions that you make, your church life, all of these things, it's going to bring you down, and it will ruin you, I promise you that, okay? And so we all need to recognize that and learn how to deal with it. You know, this thing of complacency, you know, we've been talking about the voice of the flesh, you know, or we talked about the voice of the flesh, rather, and the voice of the world the last two Wednesdays, and, you know, this is one conversation that our flesh just loves to have with us, right? And I just showed you the perfect example. You don't have to go to Les Schwab and wait five hours to get your tire fixed. And is that ever how long it takes? No. Well, depending on where you're at. The point is, you know, we lie to ourselves, we deceive ourselves, we keep telling us it'll be okay, it doesn't matter. I'm not going to run out of air on the freeway when I'm taking Steve home and it's raining out. Don't even, you know, don't worry about it. So let's go ahead and look at something here. Revelation chapter number three, you already know where we're starting. Look at verse number 14. Revelation chapter three, so this is the last of the letters to the seven churches of Asia, and look at what the Lord says. Verse 14 says, and unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these things saith the amen, the faithful, and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Obviously, that is setting us up for something very important here. Look at verse 15. He says, I know thy works that thou are neither cold nor hot. I would thou were cold or hot. And we talk about this all the time, right? It's always better to be on one side or the other. Obviously, we don't want to be cold, but what's worse is when you're in between. And look, everybody in here knows this. When you talk to somebody, that one guy at work that just loves everyone, who's on everyone's side all the time, and you get that feeling in your gut, and you're like, there's just something about you I don't trust. Right, it's because a person's a lukewarm individual and can never take sides on anything, right? Just everybody's right, just what is truth, right? We call that pilot syndrome. The Bible is telling us here that Jesus hates that, but I'm gonna show you what's at the root of that. Okay, what's at the root of that is complacency, because people who are like that, they are afraid of conflict. They are afraid of getting their hands dirty. They're afraid of actually taking a stand, which is what gets them into that so-called center position. Well, I don't take either side, okay? Jesus is like, look, just pick one side. Hopefully, you pick the hot side. Hopefully, you pick the zealous side, according to knowledge, right? But if not, at least be cold, rest for a season, and hopefully something will spark up a little fire under your backside and get you out working. But look at verse 16, he says this. So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. And we all kinda probably know what that's like. You go to Black Rock and you order a hot coffee or a hot tea or something like that, and they serve it to you lukewarm. It's going right out the window, at least it is if you're me. Cuz you're not expecting that, and you're expecting it to be hot. Or if you ordered a cold drink, you're expecting that to be cold, okay? It's the same thing in regards to zeal in our lives. Look at verse 17, it says this, because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, right? So what do you have there? You have deceiving, you have deceivers. This is the Church of the Laodiceans, right? I titled the sermon The Church of the Laodiceavers, because this is what happens, right? When we get this attitude here, I talked about this, what, two weeks ago about us lying to ourselves. This relates to that sermon wholeheartedly, okay? Now skip for sake of time, look at verse 19. Jesus says this, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore and repent. Well, it tells you there are saved people in this church. It's lukewarm, but he's like, hey, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. And that's where we get the phrase, you as a Bible-believing Christian cannot play by the rules of the world. If you're gonna be lukewarm, Jesus will rebuke you, and he will chasten you. Your chastening is coming, and it's never fun, right? It's never fun. Just think back to when you were a child and you got disciplined in some manner. It's never easy, it's never fun, right? Well, guess what? You're the child of God, and his righteousness and his judgment is coming for you. And that's what this is telling us here, be zealous therefore and repent. So he's saying, hey, you better just do a 180, okay? Not for salvation, he's just saying you need to do a 180 and get some fire under your backside and start doing the first works. Stop lying to yourself, stop being a congregation of deceivers. Now I'm not saying we have a congregation of deceivers, but this is something that is very big, very problematic that plagues every church. Every organization in the world falls, and if you look at the root cause, it starts with people being complacent. People saying, you know what, it's good enough for today, it's all right, it's not that big of a deal. Look again what he says there in verse 17, it says, thou sayest. So this is what they're telling themselves, right? They're like, hey, we have need of nothing, God's met all of our needs. Look at the size of our building, look at our bank account, look at the vans that we have. I was driving down Eagle Road, and I was just looking at all the huge churches. And every time I drive down Eagle, north of Fairview, and I see Tree City Church of the Nazarene. It's just this massive, monstrous brick building. And I just can't imagine, what are the property taxes on that thing? You know, look at the buses, the vans that they have out there. And in the windows, they got people up in these big lifts cleaning the windows. There's like two cars in the parking lot. There's hardly anybody ever there, but they've got this massive thing going on, right? All of this stuff. You know what they're telling themselves, because I've checked? You know, God has blessed us. We have need of nothing. We've increased in goods and riches and all these things. But you know what, they do absolutely nothing for God because they teach that you have to turn from your sins in order to be saved. They are a church filled with Leo deceivers, okay? Now, I'm sure there's a couple of saved people in there, maybe a small handful, maybe. I haven't met them yet, I'm just giving them the benefit of the doubt, okay? But what Jesus is telling these guys here, that attitude is causing you to deceive yourselves, right? And you know why I'm picking on them this morning, is because they are a denomination. And I have talked to people out in the community and say, hey, what church do you go to? Oh, Tree City Church. We're non-denominational. Really, it says Church of the Nazarene underneath your sign, right? But what they're doing in their organization, right, is they take their standard, which comes from their Nazarene manual. And they're not meeting those standards, and they're like, well, that's just good enough, well, that's just good enough, well, that's just good enough. And over time, what you're gonna see is they're just gonna become your typical megachurch, just not taking a side on anything, not even cold or hot regarding their own policies and their own doctrines. And Jesus would still look at that and say, you know what, you guys are lukewarm. I would spew the right out of my mouth. Now go back to Deuteronomy chapter number three. And I wanna show you something here. So the key thought for this morning is this. Good enough becomes today's watchword and tomorrow's standard. Good enough becomes today's watchword and tomorrow's standard. And so what that means is that when you adopt this philosophy, and you're okay with your status, especially in the Christian life. And I'm gonna tell you right now, no matter how many times you've read the Bible, no matter how many people you've given the gospel to, no matter how great of a Christian that you think you are or that you are, you should never be satisfied in that. You should never be like, well, this is just good enough. Because the moment you do that, you adopt that as your watchword, as your philosophy. And what happens is, over time, the very next day, that becomes the standard. And then the next day, it drops. And you're like, well, that's good enough. And you can see, that's good enough, that's good enough. A couple days go by, a couple weeks go by, a couple months go by, years go by. And the next thing you know, you are so far away from what you were once doing, what you once were regarded as, that you can't even be recognized as a Christian anymore. You can't even be recognized as a husband. I've seen this so many times in my life. And I'm telling you, this here is a giant of a problem. So let's go back to where we started the sermon, Deuteronomy chapter 3. Let's read verse 11 again. It says this. It says, for only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnant of the giants. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron. Is it not in Raboth of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man. So this bed here was about 14 feet by 7 feet wide, okay? This is very interesting here. Now, if you don't know the history, I'm just gonna fill you in real quickly. We talked about this last week. Right now, the children of Israel are in the plains of Moab, just like I mentioned last week, okay? And they are awaiting a transfer in leadership. Moses has been told by God he's not gonna go into the promised land, but he will be able to see it. So Joshua is going to take command, and what they're doing is they're reviewing policies and getting things sharpened and getting things ready to go and take over the promised land, okay? Now, up until this point, you know the history. You know that Israel was in Egypt, in bondage for 400 years, over 400 years. And then after that, they get freed, there's murmuring and complainings, they get the law from God. And they're like, Moses, take it too long, let's go worship these golden calves, that sounds like a great idea. And so what happens? People die. And you kinda see this up and down cycle with these people. And then they wind up spending 40 years in the wilderness. And along the way, they are having victories. And keep in mind, this nation at this time, they're not trained in warfare, right? They don't have a boot camp, they don't have a basic training. They're not out there practicing. I'm sure they're learning it as they go. But the reason why I'm bringing that up is because it all points to God giving them the victory, okay? That's what's going on. And so they're having these battles, they're taking little bits here, they're taking little bits there. And then they're having to face these giants. You remember the reason why they spent 40 years in the wilderness, right? Moses sent 12 spies out, and then what happened? Two of them came back and were on us and said, hey, yeah, there's some giants, yeah, there's some people of great stature, they're strong, they have a lot of resources, whatever. We can take them because we recognize the power that God has been giving us in this early nation, okay? And they recognize that, and they realize, hey, we can do this. But everyone else, the other ten are like, no, no, no, no, no. We're not gonna be able to do this, they're too strong, too big, right? God gets angry, they wander for 40 years, that generation goes down, and this new generation is up, right? And then the Bible says that they start defeating these giants with the help of God. So they defeat Sihon, the king of Heshbon. And what I think is interesting about these giants is that Og, right? He's the original OG of the Bible, if you didn't know. The original gangster, he was the king of Heshbon. So when you read in the Bible about these giants, there's always something that's attributed to them, right? So like Sihon, for example, what was his big thing? Every time you read about him, what do you read? Well, he wouldn't let the children of Israel pass, right? They said, hey, look, we just wanna come through your land, we're not gonna take your resources, we'll pay for everything. Just let us pass through. And he's like, no, you're not coming through here, right? So he was known for just being real stubborn, hard-headed, obviously a large man, obviously very strong. These weren't like Great Dane-type people, right? They weren't just like tall and goofy. These people, the Bible says, especially in Amos chapter two, they were tall and they were very physically strong. They were athletic, okay? These were just specimens of people here. And God destroys Sihon, okay? But he's remembered for his hard-nosed attitude. What about Goliath? What was he known for, right? His, yeah, his armor, his sword, right? After David defeated Goliath, what'd they do with a sword? Well, they put it up in the temple probably, I think, so that they could look back and say, remember the past, remember the victory that God gave us through David, okay? Obviously David had to take that and use that. Now Goliath's brother, Lammy, what was he known for? Having a staff like a weaver's beam, right? And what about the big Egyptian with six fingers on each hand and six toes? Well, he's known for great balance and just being a freak, right? Just being a freak of nature. That's what he was known for. And then we get all the way back in time here and we're reading about the last giant that Israel is gonna defeat. Before they go into the promised land, right? I mean, think about this. They've had unstability. They haven't had rest. They're about to go into the promised land where they're gonna have stability, be able to build homes, be able to set up an economy. No more running to and fro. They're gonna have God as their king. They're gonna have the system of judges. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be stable. It's gonna be what they want. They're gonna have the leeks and the garlic and the onions and all that stuff that they missed back in their history. And the last giant that they have to beat, what is he known for? He's known for his bedstead. He's known for his bed frame, right? I'm thinking like, what does this mean? Because nothing's in the Bible by coincidence. This has to mean something. Now, a bed in the Bible can mean a lot of different things, okay? And for today's sermon, what it's gonna mean is the bed of complacency, okay? Because what you have to understand is chronologically now, what happens immediately after God helps them beat all King of Bashan? Well, then you have the whole debacle with Balak hiring Balaam to put a curse on the nation of Israel, right? And then God protects them. And so at this point, what do you notice? Well, God is still protecting them. God is still on their side. But what does Balak do after he realizes he can't curse them? He seduces them to commit fornication with the strange women of Moab. Complacency sets in. So if you just kind of pull back and just look at the broad picture, right? You've got the last giant, the last giant in the Bible. You know, is he known for his spear, for his sword, for his shield, for his armor, for his chariot or any of that stuff? No, his bedstead. So you've got this picture in the Bible that God leaves us with as this giant bed. And then the next thing that happens is they get destroyed because of the decisions they made to neglect the word of God and to go after the Moabite women. Complacency has set in. So that's what I'm talking about here. Now go to Luke chapter number 18, and I'll give you some further proof. So we're gonna talk about the giant bed of complacency. And obviously that also tells us that complacency sets in when we start to just neglect the blessings that God gives us. You know, when we, I believe that as a church, if we were to stop talking about all the individual victories that God has given us, and we start taking credit for them, those things for ourselves, like we just say, okay, we're just gonna have the prayer list on Wednesday, we're gonna forget the praise thing because nobody's paying attention. I think that could be detrimental over time. I don't think that's good. I don't think that's a good thing. I think that every little victory that God gives you throughout the week, you should tell somebody about that. You should let somebody know about that. You should let us know. Write it down on a card or give it to me or text it to me so that we can put that on the praise list so that we never lose sight of God, so that we never cease to be excited and in awe of the things that he does for us. Because the moment you do, the moment you're like, oh, that's good enough, guess what, it becomes your watchword and it becomes tomorrow's standard, and the next thing you know, we will fall as a church. We can't let that happen, okay? We cannot let that happen. And just to kind of give you another picture, we're gonna go to Amos chapter six here in a little while, and in that chapter, it's talking about complacency of the nation of Israel, and guess what it uses as figurative speech? Beds, okay? Now, we just got done reading Revelation chapter three at the beginning of the sermon, right? Think about this, what was Jesus rebuking them for? For being lukewarm. How did they get lukewarm? By becoming complacent. What happens immediately after that? You start reading about the three and a half years of tribulation and the three and a half years of God's wrath. How does that happen? What's the days gonna be like? Because I do believe, I mean, I don't believe it's a coincidence that the last letter that we read about to the seven churches in Asia have to do with being complacent. Because I do believe that that is, I'm not a dispensationalist, but I do believe that that is the attitude that we are gonna see prevail in the times and the days before the second coming. Luke chapter 18, look at verse number eight. Jesus says this, I tell you that he will avenge them speedily, obviously God will avenge his children speedily, look at this, it says, nevertheless, when the son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? That's a sobering statement right there. Go to second Thessalonians chapter two. Second Thessalonians chapter number two. So Jesus is letting us know, hey, when I come back, is there gonna be anybody saved? Is there gonna be anybody that has any kind of faith left on the earth? So does that sound like we have an abundance of faith today? We've got an abundance of churches today. There's churches all over the place. I wonder how many churches are on Fairview alone, or even near Fairview. I believe, you know, in my life, this is like the most church-dense area I've ever lived in. There's churches everywhere. But if Jesus were to come and physically talk to us right now, you know what he'd say? Luke chapter 18, verse number eight. Because when we talk to these people on a weekly basis, what do we find? No faith. It's all on human achievement and what they've done and the sins they've done or turned from and the works that they've done in the community. That's what they always wanna point back to. It's never about Christ. It's never about faith alone. Or very rarely, I should say. Second Thessalonians chapter two, look at verse number three. Let no man deceive you by any means. That's pretty important what he's about to tell us. Because if you believe something different than what this says, then guess what? You're deceived. For that day, well what day is that? The day that Christ returns. For that day, the day of the Lord, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. And that falling away is not talking about a revival. It's talking about people falling away from the faith. Go to First Timothy chapter number four. First Timothy chapter number four. And look at what Paul says. We've looked at these verses several times over the last couple months, but I think it's important. First Timothy chapter four, look at verse number one. It says this, now the spirit speaketh expressly. So it's just like what we read in Second Thessalonians. Let no man deceive you. This is very important. Pay attention to this. That in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. How does that start? How do you get a church filled with doctrines of devils and just people that are lukewarm and seducing spirits and all this? It all starts with complacency. I mean, you can just walk throughout the Bible. I mean, just take Samson for an example. When did he reveal his most complacent moment? When he had his head on Delilah's lap and he was like, okay, fine, I'll just tell you. You know, she wore him down. He should have told her to be quiet a long time ago before that, you know what I mean? Now, go to Amos chapter number six. Amos chapter number six. So you're gonna go past the Psalms and the Proverbs, go past all the major prophets. Go to Amos chapter number six. Amos chapter number six. And so you say, well, why is this significant here? What are you talking about? What does this mean here? Well, it means that this attitude is gonna be very prevalent in our day, and it's only going to get worse. And we all know that we have to be in the world. We have to be around other people. We have to go to work. We have to go out and try to reach the lost. And with that, what you're gonna see is a giant can of complacency. And complacency always breeds compromise. Don't forget that. Complacency always breeds compromise. You will see that in this church. It's just part of human nature, okay? We're not gonna be able to protect everyone. I can sit up here and scream all week long about being complacent, and there's always gonna be somebody that falls prey to it, okay? But, you know, that doesn't mean that we hate them. It doesn't mean they become our enemies, right? What do we do? Well, we just pray for them, right? Just pray for them whenever you think about them, you know? And then let God sort it out. That's the only thing that you can do. So we don't want to be rude to people that fall into this that are saved, that were once zealous, right? We want to help them. We want to encourage them. We don't want to drag them down and cause them to hate us, okay? We've got enough people that hate us out there. We don't need saved people hating us, which apparently there's plenty of saved people that do hate us anyways, okay? All right, so Amos, quick overview. You're in Amos chapter number six. So Amos was a herdsman in Tekoa. He was kind of like the people's prophet, okay? So you got the major prophets. You got Isaiah running around. You got Jeremiah, and these guys, you know, they went straight to the government officials. They went to the king, and they went crazy. And you got guys like Amos. What they did is they went to the people, okay? Now Amos was a, he didn't regard himself as a prophet, but everyone else did, okay? And he, I mean, he's awesome, you know? He went after everybody. I mean, he prophesies against Damascus. He's going against Moab. He's going against the Ammonites. He's going against Judah. He's going against Israel. I mean, he's just prophesying against everyone because he's upset. But he is a prophet during the times of Jeroboam II, son of Joash, not Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Jeroboam II. And in the nation of Judea, which you have, or the nation of Judah, what you have is you have King Uzziah. And this nation here, the nation of Israel, is soon about to be conquered by the Assyrians. And you say, okay, great. You talk about that all the time. What's the whole point here? Well, the point is, right now, they're actually in a financially stable situation, okay? They've got an abundance of resources. They've got an abundance of time. And with that, what have they done? Well, they've been doing it all along. They've neglected the statutes. They've neglected the commandments of the Lord. And so we're gonna pick this up here in verse one just to get the attitude of these people here. Look what it says in verse number one. It says, woe to them, now don't miss this, that are at ease in Zion. I think we need to stop right there and ask ourselves this question. Are you, are we at ease in our current situation? If so, you need to be very careful because you are automatically immediately susceptible to becoming complacent in your Christian life. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations to whom the house of Israel came. And so what that means there is these people, they're just fine with the religious system that Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, set up. Because remember, Jeroboam, he didn't wanna lose control of the people after the nation split. So what did he do? He set up a calf in Bethel and a calf in Dan, and he ordained priests of the land, just the, it says the lowest of the people. You know, just the people that didn't know anything, they're just the base authority. You wanna be a priest? Hey, he's like, I'm a co-exist guy, I'm a tolerant guy. You can just come on down and I'll ordain you. I'll ordain anyone, just give me five bucks, your certificate's in the mail, you go buy you a plaque, put it on your wall, you're good to go. You're a priest in my religious system. And these people were trusting in that. They were becoming okay with that. They were looking to that system and saying, you know what, this is good enough. We don't need to go to Jerusalem, to the temple. We don't need real priests. We don't need the full extent of what God said. That's just for the zealous people. Look at verse number two, he says this. He says, pass ye unto Calnea and sea, and from thence go ye to Moth the great. Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Be they better than these kingdoms, or their border greater than your border? And so what is he trying to do here? Well, he's trying to wake these people up. He's trying to bring awareness to them. And he's saying, hey, you know, you're about to fall. You better go look at these other nations and see the destruction, the captivity, and the things that they've lost. And think, you know what, that's gonna be me. That is gonna be this nation here. Look at verse three, he says, ye that put far away the evil day and cause the seat of violence to come near. Now that sums up all those New Testament verses that we read. Right, because what do people do that are Luke one, that are complacent? They put away in their minds that evil day. They put that far away. It's kind of like me with my tire, right? I know that I am risking breaking down on the freeway in the rain today because I was too lazy, too complacent. It wasn't important enough for me to go deal with that situation, right? But this is far worse, because they've had profit after profit after profit warning this nation, what you're doing is wrong. God is not happy with you. You're going down. And they said, that's for a future generation. We don't need to worry about it. What we're doing is fine. But what does that really bring? It brings tomorrow's standard, which look at the end of that verse there in verse three, and cause the seat of violence to come near. Because the attitude of people in the last times will be a complacent attitude. It's gonna open up the opportunity for the Antichrist to come out and just be like, worship me. No one's gonna buy or sell, save he that had the mark. You say, how is that possible today? How is that gonna work? You're seeing it right now with a stupid magic potion jab. It's very possible today. So I'm gonna have you stay right there. So I'm gonna stop right there and I'm gonna give you the first point for today. So what do we have? Just a quick recap here. The people rejected Amos' message by and large. In fact, when you read chapter number seven, there's a prophet named Amaziah. And you know what he does? He comes up to Amos and is like, you know what, Seir, you old Seir, he's like, you need to go speak this Bible stuff down in Judah. You need to go talk to those people. Your message fits better down there, okay? But what was the admonition? What was the challenge that Amos gave to these people? He's basically saying, hey, stop and go look at these other nations. Look what happened to them. Look at what the end of their decisions were. It was destruction, right? And what did they do? We don't need to do that. We don't need anything new. We don't need to try anything new. So my first point about complacency this morning is this. Complacency makes people fear the unknown, mistrust the untried, and hate the new. Let me say that again. Complacency makes people fear the unknown. You wanna know why people oftentimes will shy away from starting a business? It's because they're complacent. You wanna know why people often won't take a step in faith and go out and try to preach the gospel, learn the verses, pray for someone, come to church? It's because they're complacent. What complacency does is it builds fear inside of you and then you start to fear the unknown because it takes you out of your comfort zone. You see, the people in Amos' day here in Israel, in the northern kingdom of Israel, they are very comfortable and they don't want anything to disrupt that. That's what I'm saying here. This is a huge, huge thing that you see in the Bible and you see in people's lives. Like, man, if I do that, I don't know what the outcome's gonna be. I hear what you're telling me, right? But your mind's like, hey, and your flesh is just like, hey, just let me rock you to sleep here, right? I'll put you right to bed. You don't need to try anything new. You don't need to take a leap of faith. You don't need to do anything like that. And so you develop this mistrust for trying new things. You're not gonna even try. You're not going to even attempt. You're going to stay in that situation that you're in and then what begins to happen is you start to hate the new. You start to hate any kind of change. This is at even the lowest levels of government, I'll tell you right now, right? They, you go to a government office or something there and you try to bring some new idea and they're just gonna hate it with a passion because they just love that set schedule and the way that they do things and they don't want anything in there that's new. Hey, I figured out a way that you could save a lot of money. Go tell it to a business. This ain't the corporate world. That's the attitude you're gonna get there, okay? And if that's at the lowest levels of government, what do you think it is at the highest levels? That's a whole nother sermon, okay? So complacency makes people fear the unknown and so you start to develop this attitude. You know, if I start to learn more of the Bible, if I start to apply what I'm actually learning, then God's gonna expect more of me and you start to get that attitude because inside your conscience is smiting you saying, you need to learn these things. You need to go forth and do these things. You have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you saying, hey, wake up. You don't know what tomorrow holds. You don't know how much more free time that you have. You see, this is something we need to understand as a church. We don't know what laws are gonna be passed tomorrow. We don't know what laws are gonna be passed next month and the odds are if you won't go share the gospel, if you won't go preach the gospel now, what makes you think you're gonna do it when it's illegal? Oh, GI Joe slogan, right? When the tough gets going, the going get tough, right? Or something like that when the, yeah. That's a cartoon, okay? And the odds are that's probably not going to be most people because Jesus said, when I come again, shall the Son of Man find faith on the earth? That's a good question. But this doesn't just apply to preaching the gospel. It also applies to you reading the Bible, coming to church, praying for other people, serving other people, and doing all the things that the Bible lays out. The reason why we don't do these things is because of complacency. It causes you, it causes us to start to fear the unknown. And look, I'll tell you, I've been doing this for a long time. And when I go knock on someone's door for the first time, on any given soul-winding day, my heart still raises a little bit because there are those people out there. We ran into two of them on Thursday. It's a real thing. But here's the deal. Once you get over that, once you just force yourself to do something that you are not comfortable, you say, I'm not comfortable talking to people. It's hard for me to make friends. Look, you gotta learn to push yourself because if you don't push yourself, guess what? God's gonna push you. And you're about to see God start to push this world in a direction it don't wanna go. It's gonna think it wants to go that way, but it's definitely not going to be that way. I guess a good example of this would be maybe somebody who's got some kind of an ailment, right? And I'm not the biggest fan of doctors, but there are times when you need them. Let's just be honest. There are times when you need to go to the doctor and you're like, you know what, I'm tough. I'm just gonna blow this off. I know I've got this multicolored rash on my arm here. I'm just gonna pour some vinegar on it and be good to go. It's good enough. It's gonna get better. You just keep telling yourself that and telling yourself that. And then before you know it, it's cancer and it spreads. Obviously, that's kind of an extreme example. But that's exactly how complacency starts. It's ignoring the problem and knowing in your gut that danger looms, that there is something wrong, there is something wrong. And look, you just walk outside and just go to the store. You know something's wrong with people. Something is definitely, definitely wrong with people today. And so let me reinstate this point again. Complacency makes people fear the unknown. This is why the children of Israel would not listen to Amos. You know, he's telling them, hey, just take the time and go observe these other nations and look at what happened to them. And they're like, nothing new after two. I ain't doing nothing. That was an old slogan we had when I worked for the government. Nothing new after two, no work for me after three. And they lived by that. And that's nothing that was written down in stone. But you know what? This is the honest truth. Where I worked, that was actually abided by. I would have people call, dude, I know it's after two. I'm so sorry, but I need this service. I need this help. Can you please help me? I will, and they would like bribe. I'm bringing donuts tomorrow. We'll bring bacon. Look, I've got backstrap from my hunting trip. All these things, like they will really make it, I'll make it worth the guy's effort, man. Please, you know. And it's just, looking back now, I'm like, what in the world is wrong with these people? Talk about complacency. But it makes us fear the unknown. It makes us not trust trying anything new. You start to find fault with every piece of advice that you get. Well, if I try that, they're gonna do this, you know? It's like trying to teach somebody to play chess. And you're like, okay, move this piece here. And they're like, well, if I move it there, you're gonna do this and do that. You know, it's like trying to teach someone jiu-jitsu or boxing or any kind of martial art. You know, I've had the privilege of doing that in the past. And you teach someone to move and they're like, well, if you do that, I'll just do this. It's like, no you won't. You're gonna get smoked is what's gonna happen. But they're lying to themselves and they don't wanna put forth the effort to try anything new to improve their situation. You know, I had this guy one time, I'm gonna tell this story, I wasn't planning on it, but it applies and it's funny. I had this guy, okay? Not a saved guy. But I worked with him and he got himself in this situation where his girlfriend left him, you know, and we came back from, I don't know if it was when we came back from Japan, I'm pretty sure that's what it was, found out. Typical story, right? Wife ran off with somebody else, or girlfriend ran off with somebody else. He was like, you know what, man? I'm gonna have to fight this guy, it's going down. He's like, I need you to train me. I'm like, dude, you're gonna lose your job, possibly go to jail. He's like, no, I won't, man. You know, he's got this high clearance. He's like, you know, I'm gonna get out and just have to pay a fine. He's like, I'm fighting this guy. Plus, he's in the military. He's like, he's the one that's gonna get in trouble, and he's kind of right. So I'm like, okay, what are you planning on doing this? Okay, and this was many years ago. And he's like, Monday. Okay, and it's Friday. I'm like, dude, I can't teach you to scrap in like one day, you know? And he's like, just try it. And so, I was like, all right. So I meet him at the gym in the morning, and I give him his first lesson, right? I just, his first piece of advice. And he's like, okay, but if I do this, if I block a jab like this, then they're gonna do this. I was like, look, if you say that one more time, I'm out of here, and you're just gonna, I'm just gonna let you get stomped. Okay, how's that? I was like, I know what I'm doing. And what I'm about to show you, if you believe in it, I believe it's gonna work. And I rebuked him hard about this. I'm like, you're wasting my time. And he was like, all right, you know what? I'm gonna try this, right? And he did. I spent four hours with him, and that Monday, he went out and proceeded to do that stuff, and he actually won. He wound up paying a fine, got promoted at work later on, and the rest is history. Yeah, don't do that, okay? If somebody did that to me today, I would obviously take a totally different approach. Yes, I was saved, but I was going to the liberal church then. I didn't, you know, just figured I'd help a guy out, right? Anyways, complacency makes people fear the unknown, mistrust the untried, and hate the new, okay? I had to help him get over that, is what I'm trying to say, okay? And that's what I'm trying to make sure that we do. We get over that, because we're all affected by this. So let's move on here before I tell another dumb story. Look at verse number four. Amos chapter six, look at verse number four. So I hinted at this verse earlier here, but look what it says. So he says that lie upon beds of ivory. So there's that figurative speech again. There's that language. Now, obviously, people did have beds of ivory. You know, I'm sure if the OG of Beit She'an had a, you know, an iron bedstead, an iron bed frame, that these guys had beds of ivory, but that's a symbol. That's just another piece of proof that what we're talking about is complacency here. He says that lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall, verse five, that chant to the sound of the vial and invent to themselves instruments of music like David. So there's nothing inherently wrong about having nice things, okay? That's not the point of this passage here. God's not telling Amos to say, hey, you need to kneel on a bed of rice and whip yourself and just live in the woods, just sleep on the ground, okay? Nice things are ruining you. No, what he's telling them is those nice things have you. They control you. That bed of ivory is telling you what to do on a day-to-day basis. You cannot tame that beast. You cannot tame that giant. You cannot contend with that thing. So you can see by these two verses here what it was like during the time that Amos was preaching, right? He's got a zeal, he's got this burning fire. I mean, like I told you, go read chapter one, go read chapter two, he's going after everybody. And he does, he's like got no fear, right? He reminds me a lot of this church. People just willing to just, whatever, man, I'm just gonna go out there and I'm just gonna preach the gospel. I'm gonna tell people the truth at work. I don't care what happens. It is what it is. That's how Amos was, right? But he's faced with the same problem that we are. We go out there and we tell people, hey, these things are coming. They're like, yeah, I bet you're right. They start to yawn. They're like, man, yeah, that's great. I gotta go. I gotta play Grand Theft Auto. Right? We saw that a couple Saturdays ago. You know, I gotta go play my video games, you know? So you can see the luxury and leisure is at an all-time increase during this timeframe. And what is about to happen to this nation chronologically? What's gonna happen? Jeroboam's gonna go out, right? The next two kings, I think, are gonna basically push the nation into the hands of the Assyrian army, the Assyrian king, and they're going to go into captivity, never to come back. And then Israel is reduced down to the nation of Judah, like we talked about last week. That's what's happening. But you can see it all started with this attitude here, this apathetic attitude, this complacent attitude that we're reading about right here. And again, you know, David did this right. David, you know, David had resources eventually. He had wealth eventually. He had to work for it. But it says here that they chant to the sound of the violin and invent to themselves instruments and music like David. So again, they're like, hey, we're being like David. We're doing the right things, you know? This is what David did. Why is it wrong that we're doing it? And God's like, you're missing the whole point. It's not wrong to do that. The difference is David was a man after God's own heart. You guys are a man after your own bellies, after your own lusts, after your own flesh, is what he's trying to tell them. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. But keep your place there, but go to Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. And so point number two this morning is this. Complacent people draw false strength from looking back. Complacent people draw false strength from looking back. And so Amos is like, hey, you know, you guys are, you know, doing the music thing. You're laying down on your beds and you're talking about how it's always been this way. Someone sent me a nasty message the other day and it literally said this. You guys, you idiots, he said, have been preaching this Jesus is gonna return stuff for thousands of years now. And guess what? Where is he? My jaw just about hit the floor because that's a Bible verse. Right? And you all know what I'm talking about. And that's literally what he said. He literally thinks he's taking a huge jab at me. And he said a few other choice words, which obviously I'm not gonna repeat here for the obvious reasons. But that is literally what the Bible told us it would be like in the last days. So all I'm trying to tell you is, hey, though the world's going to hell in a handbasket, we don't have to go to destruction in a handbasket because we can't go to hell. But I want you to understand that complacent people draw false strength by looking back. That's what they were doing. They're like, we've got strength because it's always been like this. Right? I mean, think about these sign-waving patriots. They're waving these, you know, let's go Brandon. It's funny, I get it. You know, flags. You know, it's like, what are you doing? Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And when you go talk to those people, you go knock on their doors and they've got the let's go Brandon flag, what do they do? I'm a Buddhist, boom. I'm a Buddhist, boom. Get out of here. Oh, I'm already saved, get lost. Which like we heard on Thursday. Yeah, David and Kevin knocked on this lady's door. She yells out into the door, I'm already saved, get out of here. And then she proceeds to come outside. Mrs. Captain Super Mega Patriot. Yeah. And guess what? She starts looking at me. You know, it's real late here. It's like eight o'clock, it was 7.30. 7.36 to be exact. Don't knock on any more doors. We're like, we're already done here. This place sucks and we're going right down the street. She's like, yeah, go find somebody else. She's like, if you come back to my door, I'm calling the cops. I said, call them then. I don't care. Why would I go back to your door? Do you think you're gonna convince someone like that to get saved? But I'm already saved, right? You see what I'm talking about here? Those types of people, what they're doing, is they're looking back and they're thinking, you know what, we've always been free. Yeah, we've got these idiots in office now, but it's gonna go back, right? It's gonna go back, it's gonna be fine. No, it's not. We're headed for some serious, serious trouble as a country. But that's not gonna bother us. Ecclesiastes chapter number seven, look at verse number 10. It says this. Say not thou, what is the cause? Look at verse 10. Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou does not inquire wisely concerning this. Let me read that one more time. Say not thou, this is the command, say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? That's what the children of Israel are saying. That is what we say as a nation today, right? Don't we often look back in time, and be like, man, it was better back in the 50s, and it was. And you say, okay, well, if it was better back then, you know, if people did have more respect and had more manners, and evil wasn't so prevalent, then what's wrong with having this attitude here? What is the cause of the former days were better than these? For thou does not inquire wisely concerning this. It's because, number one, if you were to go back and really dig around back then, you would find the same evil agenda and the same problems, and it's just a smoke tree, it's just a facade. You'd find the same evil people, the same God haters, and that is exactly what you would find. And here's the second reason why. Because when you adopt this attitude of, oh, the old days were better, you know what that indicates? It indicates that you're already complacent. You're not willing to go out and try something new. You're not willing to recognize your complacent state. This is the problem of just, oh, I wish we could go back to the old days. Now, there's nothing wrong with saying that as a figure of speech. I get that, we all say that, right? But when that becomes who you are, and all you can do is, man, I just wish it could go back like the old days. The question that Solomon is posing here is what are you doing to try to change anything? The only way to change anything in this day and age is to go get people saved and to pray for them and light a fire under their backside so that they'll come to church and do something for God. That's the only way. That is the only thing that's gonna change anything around here. Go to Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter number five. And a lot of these flag waivers and stuff, you know, just, man, I love that $1.97 gas in a mean tweet, right? And that's hilarious. And it's true, you know? I can't fathom how somebody could stand up today and say that Joe Biden is doing anything good for America. Even a half a thing. Even a quarter of a thing. I mean, it blows me away. It's like you have to be on drugs or demon-possessed. Literally, it's one or the other, man. I mean, one or the other, okay? But here's the deal. The only way, like I said, to get changed is to get somebody saved. Because when you get somebody saved, you know what? They're not gonna become a God-hating commie, right? They might just be apathetic the rest of their lives, but if they got saved, they've got the Holy Spirit, you know, he's gonna guide them into at least some truth, unless they quench them. But still, they're not gonna be like, oh, I'm gonna go to the next BLM rally. Okay, and that's probably not gonna happen. You know, I'm gonna go yoke up with Antifa. I'm gonna support Biden and all these other idiots, Obama, whatever, Gavin Newsom, Bill Gates. You get to save that, okay? And it starts with doing the works of God. Saying, you know what, we're messed up. We're in a problem here. We need to do something about it. That's the attitude, that is what we're supposed to say. We're not supposed to sit back, go in the corner and just be like, man, I just wish the old days would come back and just have that attitude. That's what Solomon's telling us. But when you get a complacent, just this complacent root in your life, and it just grows into who you are, that's the attitude you're gonna have. You're gonna draw your strength. Well, back in the day, back in the day, back in the day, you meet people like this all the time. Back in the day, I was the football star in my high school. Back in the day, I was a professional basketball player. I was a professional baseball player. Just to prove to you that no one cares, let's say you get some guy that comes in here, right? 75 years old, used to be a pro something, okay? And then you get the current pro baseball player to come in here. Who do you think people are gonna gravitate towards? The current person. Why, because people are vanity. The language of the world is vanity and vexation of spirit, that's why. No one cares what you were. They only care what you are now. But these people like that, right? There's nothing wrong with achieving things, okay? But when that defines who you are, and you draw your strength, well, back in the day, back in the day, back in the day, nope, Solomon says you're not wise. You're not wise to act like that. Ephesians chapter five, look at verse number 16. This is how we're supposed to be. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. He doesn't say redeeming the time because your current days are evil. All the days have been evil. You know, I was doing some studies on music back in the 50s, and I found this guy, his name's Frankie Lyman, okay? Nothing wrong with his songs, whatever. You know, it was like a precursor to Michael Jackson. You know, but I saw this video where he's singing this song, and there's literally a devil on TV in black and white behind him. And people were just like. It's always been there. And the reason why we're in the position we're in today is because there weren't enough preachers to get up and say, hey, there's something wrong. People need to wake up. There's already evil. People just decided, you know what, it's good enough. It became their watchword, and the next day, the next year, the next decade, it became the standard. And the next thing you know, now we've got people saying that we're mean and hateful and should be shot because, you know, we don't agree that men can become women and women can become men. Shut up, you stupid queers. Go to Romans chapter 13. I'm sick of these faggots. I'm serious, man. These people constantly, constantly want to email threats. Like, it's just ridiculous. We need to, you know, and part of the reason why I'm mad is because there's not enough people to stand up to these idiots. Romans chapter 13, we're gonna look at this verse twice today, look at verse number 11. Romans chapter 13, look at verse number 11. It says, in that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. So we need to realize something here. We need to get a vision here and realize that the completion of your salvation, when you're gonna get that new body, when you're gonna have that final rest, that is coming here. But here's the deal, we don't wanna get to the judgment seat and be like, man, I could've done so much more. We need to understand and know that it is time to wake up. It is time to get out of that giant bed. You see, that's the whole point of God saying, hey, I want the last giant that Israel defeated, I want that last giant, you know what I want? Written and preserved about him before they went into the Promised Land. I want it to be his bed. Because not all of our giants, not all of our problems, not all of our enemies, not all of our battles are gonna come from without. A lot of times there are these giant, subtle things that we don't see that creep in and literally are just very difficult to get rid of. Very difficult. Go back to Amos chapter six and we're gonna move on here. So point number two, they draw false strength from looking back. Complacency, complacent people. I'm talking about people that are totally consumed with complacency. They draw false strength from looking back. Okay, we need to be aware of that. Amos chapter six again. Let's look at verse number six. So he's continuing on with their leisure and their luxuries. And he says this in verse number six. Says, that drink wine and bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments. But they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Verse seven. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive and the banquet of them that stretch themselves shall be removed. Verse eight. The Lord God hath sworn by himself, sayeth the Lord God, of hosts. I abhor, that means I strongly hate. I abhor the excellency of Jacob and hate his palaces. Now don't miss this. Therefore, will I deliver up the city with all that is there in? So now Amos is letting them know, hey, God hates these things that you have. Why? Trust them over him. They have control of you and he hates them. It was his intention to bless them, to give them a land that flows with milk and honey and all the resources. But they began to trust in those things. They began to take the blessings of God for granted. And the result is complacency. And point number three is this. Just like water, complacent people follow the easiest course, which is downhill. When complacency takes hold of who you are, the only option that you have is to go downhill. And that's why the bottom line is this. The phrase good enough, when that becomes your watchword, when that becomes today's watchword, today's standard. Right, it becomes tomorrow's standard. And then another notch down, and it just keeps on going. The only way for you to travel once you're a complacent individual is down. Man, why did my marriage relationship lose its spark? You know, the relationship I had with my kids at work, my Christian faith, you know? Like, what's going on? It's because you began to settle for good enough. That's why. You began to settle for good of life. When it becomes a way of life, that's what I'm talking about. That's when it's a problem. So we're gonna wrap this thing up here. Last verse I'm gonna have you turn to is going to be Psalm chapter 90. Psalm chapter 90. I'm just gonna give you a few action steps here. Before we close, so again, easy points to remember. Like water, complacency, complacent people follow the easiest path, right? The path of least resistance, which is downhill. And again, you know, let me just say this again, because I don't want this to come across as being rude. We all have complacent moments. It's, you know, we've got the old man, we've got the flesh. You're not getting rid of that. But you have to be honest enough with yourself to sit back and say, man, is the reason why I'm struggling in my relationship, at work, at church, whatever it is, because I settled for good enough. If you've read the Bible 25 times, you need to make it to 45 times. You need to set a realistic goal, is what I'm trying to say. You need to bump that up, okay? You say, well, yeah, what about all these other things? I'm afraid to try that. I'm afraid to do anything new. Uh-oh, sounds like complacency's already set in, okay? I'm not saying you need to quit your job and come to every single soul-winding time. No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it might be an indication that you need to push yourself a little bit, get a little uncomfortable, so that you can recognize what a blessing it is. Maybe you just actually need to go a couple more times out so you can see the joy on someone's face when they finally realize they don't have to work for the salvation. But when you get to answer these questions that people have out in the community, you know, why are there evil people in the world? Why are there pedophiles? We've got all those answers, right? And when you give those to people, man, it is a glorious thing. It is a wonderful thing to see that weight lifted off them. Not only do you have the answer to salvation, but you got the answers to a lot of these problems that people have, and you help them. And yeah, they might not come to church the next week, but they might come next year. You don't know what that could do in the future. And so I'm just gonna give you a few action steps here before we close. So obviously, the first one I'm gonna bring up is awareness. And I say this all the time because it's true. What was Amos doing the whole time he's preaching? He's bringing this to their attention. He's bringing awareness. He's like, look, you guys have these resources. You've got these beds of ivory. You've got all this stuff. But the problem is you can't see that you're deceiving your own self, that you're not rich, you're not full of sustenance. You're actually poor, you're miserable, you're blind, and you're about to be destroyed. Okay, so the first step is to become aware and to take an honest look at yourself and say, am I struggling at doing all these other things? You know, what is it about the relationship that I'm worried about? What is it about my job? You know, have I settled for good enough? So number one, the first step is awareness. And number two is you need to reclaim that vision of the future. You see, when you first get on fire for God, right, you had a vision of going out and getting people saved. Or you had a vision, man, I just wanna finish the Bible front to back like one time. And then when you did, you're like, I wonder what it would be like at two times. You see, what happens is you get to this point. You get to this point where it's like, ah, that's good enough, but I'll still read it because I gotta keep up with it. Once you've adopted that attitude, guess what? Tomorrow, you're gonna adopt a lower standard and a lower standard. And it's like that in your marriages. This is why marriages are just so difficult to keep up because we, and look, I've fallen prey to this myself. It ain't just the tire, okay? You fall prey to this, ah, it's good enough. Everything's fine, but it's not. You need to constantly making bounds for it, constantly. What does the Bible say about wives and to husbands? Live with them according to knowledge. You can spend a lifetime trying to learn them and you ain't gonna do it. So you better not stop, okay? Because if you stop, you will have trouble, okay? Again, Romans 13, 11 said this. You stay where you're at, but Romans 13, 11. And that knowing the time, that now is high time to wake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. You have to realize that the time, you know, one thing you can't do in heaven, I heard this a long time ago and it's so true, let's preach the gospel. You know, the Catholics will tell you, well, you can preach people out of, you know, Purgatory, there's some churches that teach that. You know, you never know what Jesus might take us back down to hell and we'll be able to give those people another chance. That's not even in the Apocrypha. That's how stupid that is. But that's taught today. So number two, reclaim a vision of the future. You need to think of the end goal. Write them down if you have to. Write them down and look at them every day. Write it on an index card and keep it in your wallet. You need to figure out a way to understand the future. And as a Christian, we ought to never become apathetic towards what Jesus did on the cross. You know, we're about to approach the Christmas season, right? And everybody, oh, then they wanna talk about, you know, the resurrection and talk about that. Oh, I'm so grateful for that. What about in January? What about in February? What about in March, April, May, June? You know, what about the rest of the year? Is it just in December? Oh, I'm grateful because I know I'm gonna get me some Christmas presents, man. No, that's the wrong way to be, right? So you're there in Psalm chapter 90. Look at verse number 12. It says this. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. And so step number three is you need to pray to God. Give me zeal, Lord, please give me zeal. Please teach me to realize, number one, I don't know what tomorrow holds. I don't know how many days I have left. This is why age is not a factor when it comes to serving God. Because this young buck over here, he thinks he's got all this time, but he might only have two weeks. He might only have two hours. He doesn't know, she doesn't know. So that's why it says here, so teach us to number our days. How do you number your days? You don't. That number is like be up any moment. That's the concept you need to have inside of your head. I don't know how many days I have. They're short. That's the real answer, they're short. Teach us to number our days, that they're short, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Because here's the idea here. When you gain knowledge and you say, you know what, I'm gonna apply that knowledge. Naturally, what's gonna happen are mistakes. You're gonna fall, you're gonna trip. But when you keep doing that, what are you building in the process of that? Wisdom, okay? Teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. So when you realize I better get my butt going because I don't know what tomorrow holds, then you know what? You're gonna start to develop wisdom. And you're not going to get sucked in to that complacent attitude. And number four, I've already mentioned it, is this. Don't be satisfied where you're at, okay? Don't be satisfied. Now obviously the Bible tells us that we ought to be content with the things that we have, okay? And that's in regards to material possessions, okay? And let me say this again because someone's gonna email them, someone's gonna call them and say, you're saying we can't have nice things. I'm not saying that. Be content with what you have. If you want to get that boat or jet ski, get it. But don't let it get you. Don't let it get you. But when it comes to your marriages, when it comes to your relationships, when it comes to your Christian walk, don't be satisfied. Don't ever be like, that's good enough. Because it's not. And when that becomes the idea, when that becomes the foundation in your mind, guess what's gonna happen? You're done. You are walking yourself slowly out that door to possibly never return again. I've seen it hundreds of times. Look, if the devils, if sins, if backsliding killed its thousands, I'm gonna tell you this right now, complacency hath killed its 10,000s. Think about that for a minute. Every major failure, destruction, nation going into captivity in the Bible, when you trace it back, get started with a complacent attitude. And we don't want that to happen to this church or the churches that are like ours, right? We wanna pray for them. We wanna make sure that we are constantly sticking to the vision that we have. Because the Bible says, where there's no vision, the people perish. So when you lose your vision of what you could obtain in your relationships, at work, in the Christian faith, you will lose it all. Because the only way down is down. The only way a complacent-ridden person can go is down. So I'm gonna leave you with that thought there. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for this teaching in the Bible. I just pray, Lord, that we would not become a complacent church. Please guard us from that Laodicevert attitude that is in the Bible, Lord, and help us to never go down that road. And I just pray you'd renew our vision every single day and just be with us as we go out into the community and preach the gospel, Lord. Thank you for all that you do for us. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen. All right, let's grab those hymn books one more time, please, and turn to song number 212. Oh, Happy Day. Oh, Happy Day, song number 212. Oh, Happy Day, on the first. Oh, Happy Day, that makes my choice. I'll be my Savior and my God. May this glowing heart rejoice and tell its raptures all abroad. Happy Day, Happy Day, when Jesus washed my sins away. He taught me how to watch and pray and live rejoicing every day. Happy Day, Happy Day, when Jesus washed my sins away. Happy Father seals my vows to Him who bearers all my love. Cheerful and filled His house, while to this sacred shrine I'm moved. Happy Day, Happy Day, when Jesus washed my sins away. He taught me how to watch and pray and live rejoicing every day. Happy Day, Happy Day, when Jesus washed my sins away. He's done the grave, transaction's done. I am my Lord and He is mine. To the end I followed on, chart to confess His voice divine. Happy Day, Happy Day, when Jesus washed my sins away. He taught me how to watch and pray and live rejoicing every day. Happy Day, Happy Day, when Jesus washed my sins away. Now rest my long, divided heart. Fix all this blissful sin to rest. Forever from my Lord depart with Him of every good possessed. Happy Day, Happy Day, when Jesus washed my sins away. He taught me how to watch and pray and live rejoicing every day. Happy Day, Happy Day, when Jesus washed my sins away. Man, Brother Scott, close with word prayer, please. Dear heavenly Father, thank you for your word, Lord, and for the preaching. Lord, help us not to be complacent. Oh, and Lord, I pray that there's people in this church that hasn't gone so many, Lord, that they will get the courage and the boldness to come out, and they can all start off with a silent partner and help to harvest and go into the field and grow out solely, Lord. And you can put the rest of the week in a fellowship afterwards, Lord, and thank you for everything you do for us. We love you, and you just make my prayer. Amen. Amen.