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Amen, all right, it is a blessing to be here. Happy anniversary, this Bible's huge. This is your Bible, huh Pastor Thompson? Man, it's a Philistine Bible right there. It's great to be here, happy anniversary to you all. It is a blessing to see the house of God full at nine o'clock in the morning. And I thought you guys were fundamental Baptists, but apparently not. I don't know any Baptist church that has a service like nine o'clock in the morning, but it's exciting to be here, and I'm excited to be here with you all to celebrate this great occasion with you. And so I'm gonna go ahead and not continue to talk because I know we're on a time constraint, but I hope all you guys come back, at least the great majority of you tonight, and so we can fellowship and there'll be more preaching, and I'm excited for tonight as well. Look down at your Bible at Matthew chapter 25, and verse 24 says, "'Then he which had received the one talent "'came and said, Lord, I knew thee "'that thou art in hard man, "'reaping where thou hast not sown, "'and gathering where thou hast not straw'd. "'And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent "'in the earth, lo, there thou hast that is thine.'" I taught my sermon this morning, is never succeed at doing nothing. Never succeed at doing nothing. I hope you never succeed as a church at doing nothing at all. And the reason you're even at this point right now is because of the fact that you have done something, you've preached the gospel, you've led others to righteousness, you've been faithful to church, you've been reading your Bible, you've actually been doing something, so keep it up. Never succeed at just doing nothing at all. Someone just once said, when you aim for nothing, you hit it every time. And so we as Christians, we're called unto good works. The Bible says that we are as workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works that God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. And one thing that people seem to forget is that, if you're a Christian, you're saved, you've already believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, obviously we don't have to do any works thereafter for salvation. We know that the Bible says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, not of works that any man should boast, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. And yeah, we don't have to do works to maintain our salvation, but at the end of the day, we should do some sort of work thereafter to earn a reward and because we want to please God. And according to the Bible, the Bible tells us in James chapter four, verse 15, therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth not, to him it is sin. So according to the Bible, if you're like, well, I'm just never gonna serve God, I'm not gonna come to church, I'm not gonna read the Bible, I'm just gonna go ahead and just cruise along life, and I'm saved, well, you're involved in some major sin there because the Bible says you know what you're supposed to do, you know you're supposed to be in church, you know you're supposed to be reading the Bible, you know you're supposed to be leading out of this to Christ, and if you don't do it, you're in sin. Never succeed at doing nothing because of the fact that it is sinful, according to the Bible, to do nothing. And the reason I picked this parable here in Matthew chapter 25 is because I believe it exemplifies this principle greatly. You know, you have this parable that's given regarding the kingdom of heaven. Obviously, this is a series of parables that is being given by the Lord Jesus Christ, and at the end of the day, a lot of these parables are against the Jews, okay? Many of them are against the Jews, and I remember reading Matthew 25 and kind of thinking, I know this is against the Jews, it has to be, I just don't see exactly where, but I'm gonna, by faith though, I'm gonna believe that it's about the Jews, you know? And I've always used this parable to really talk about talents, and you know, God's given you a gift, and it definitely applies, but the main interpretation of this particular parable is the fact that he likens these three men to the kingdom of heaven, and why is that? Well, if you, we just read it, but you have three men, one's given five talents, the other's given two, and the other's given one talent, right? And it's a parable that's essentially talking about their stewardship of that talent. And of course, we know that the five actually is a great steward with his talent, and he ends up producing five other talents more, the one with the two produces two talents more, and the one who received one talent is a lazy bum who does nothing, right? He succeeds at doing nothing at all with that one talent. And it's a great principle of stewardship, and the fact that whatever God gives you, you gotta be faithful with that which is little, so you can be faithful over much. But the main interpretation here is that what I believe it's referring to, it's essentially highlighting different believers throughout the ages, okay? If you think about it, the one with the five talents can be compared to us, and why is that? Well, because us Gentile believers who already have the canonized Bible, here we are 2,000 years later, we have a lot of talents per se, right? We have a lot of knowledge of the kingdom of God, okay? We have the word of God, we have transportation, we have the internet, we have so much available to us to spread the kingdom of God, a lot has been given to us, essentially, right? If you look at the person with the two talents, I would compare that person to the New Testament Christians who, for example, in the book of Acts, that although they have the Old Testament, and they were there throughout the ministry of Jesus Christ, they don't necessarily have five talents, but they do have two, right? They have more knowledge than those in the Old Testament. They have more understanding of the kingdom of heaven. I mean, they're looking at Jesus Christ in the flesh, they're part of that ministry, but a lot of them were faithful. I mean, think of the Apostle Paul, who with his two talents was able to accomplish a lot, he started a lot of churches, got a lot of people saved, a lot of the New Testament was accomplished, of the works of the New Testament was accomplished through his effort, and then you think of the one with the one talent, and who's that? It's the Jew, okay? You say, well, why is that? Well, you think about these Jews who only have the Old Testament, even though it's only the Old Testament, still one talent, though, right? And God expected them to steward that one talent and do well with that one talent and spread that one talent to at least double it to two. And obviously we know that many of the Jews did not steward that talent well, and in fact, the Bible says that he came into his own and his own received them not. They received that one talent, the Son of God, and they didn't do well with that. In fact, they murdered that one talent, so to speak. He said, well, how do you know for sure that that one talent represents the Jews, though? Well, I'll tell you why. And here's the smoking gun that it's the Jews that's referring to this one talent, is that the one talent is taken from him and given to the one who has five, right? And the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, the Bible says, and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. So it's just like he's gonna take the one from the Jew, give it to the one who has five, and now he has 11, right? Because he had 10 to begin with because of his stewardship, and then he gained one other talent more. And so we see here that this essentially refers to the Jews, but it's a great principle for us to learn from their mistake that we should never succeed at just doing nothing. And you know, the Jew could have said, well, I only had the Old Testament to work with, and we had very minimal things to work with, and the ministry was really hard, and you know, all these nations were against us, and we're such a small country, and we didn't know what to do. But at the end of the day, God only wants you to do what you can with what you have. And if they would have just been faithful with that one talent and spread the gospel with that one talent, God could have used them in a great way to double their efforts and increase their talents. But it's a great principle to learn that we should never be successful at doing nothing. Let me give you a couple reasons this morning why people succeed at doing nothing. You know, why is it that Christians today, 2,000 years later, with so many things available to them, so many resources, so much technology, so many bibles, right, that you could purchase, so many availability of just, you know, resources at churches and preachers, why is it that still Christians do nothing? Because you think to yourself, wow, we have the internet now. We can reach so many more people, but yet so many more Christians stay home. We have so many, we have vehicles and airplanes and means of transportation, then why do so many people not go to church, right? We have so much at our fingertips when it comes to preaching the gospel and getting people safe, then why are the laborers still few? Why is it that people are still succeeding at doing nothing? Reason number one is because of this. Number one, laziness. People succeed at doing nothing because they're slothful and they're lazy and they're sluggards. And in fact, in the very parable that we just read, the Lord said in verse 26, his Lord answered and said unto him, thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sow not and gather where I have not strawed, he tells them. So what does he call them? He says that first of all, he's wicked, and now secondly, that he is lazy and slothful. So it's not that he didn't have enough resources. It's not that he didn't have enough at his disposal. At the end of the day, the core reason was he's just the lazy bum, okay? And you know, a lot of people today refuse to serve God, refuse to come to church, refuse to go and win souls to Christ. And one of the main reasons is because they're slothful. You know, we are the generation that has the most convenience but the greatest aversion to discomfort, okay? We don't want to do anything hard. You know, think about this. You know, we have something called Uber Eats now. Where it's just like, forget going to McDonald's, make McDonald's come to me. Even if they bring the food cold and half eaten and the order's wrong, you know, they're still gonna use it. They're still gonna Uber Eat that thing to bring it to their door even if the driver took a tithe off of that meal and the order's wrong, they're still willing to do that. Well you know, you think about preaching for example. Preaching is like spiritual food. And you know, preaching is something that the pastor essentially spoon feeds sometimes to the congregation. He stands up and he gives you the word of God and he's filling you up with the word of God and all you gotta do is sit there and eat it, right? Like you gotta put in the effort to go home and read the Bible and feed yourself but you literally have three meals where the pastor, Pastor Thompson or the evangelist, whoever comes to preach here, literally spoon feeds you, they Uber Eat the meal to you and all you gotta do is open your mouth and just eat it. It's not hard at all. And yet you have a lot of Christians who are still not willing to do that, right? They're like, I don't wanna go to church. I mean, it's just so hard to go. It's really easy, you just sit there and someone just yells at you for an entire hour. And if you don't like what they're yelling to you about just tune them out, you know? But at least you're a warm body in the congregation but there's not much you have to do. It's like, oh man, it's so hard to go to church. How is this all, you sit the entire time. The person who has the hardest job is the preacher who gets up, has to stand up and yell at you, look at your face! That's hard sometimes. You say, is it really that hard? Yeah, because sometimes, and I'm sure Pastor Thompson can attest to this and other pastors that when they're preaching, there's that one congregant who's just giving you that look, you know? They're just like. And you gotta look at that person! It's not hard to come here and make faces at your pastor. As long as you open your mouth wide and eat what is given to you, that's not hard at all. But yet, we have a generation that as easy as it is, and even then, you know, you have the internet where if you don't want to even be in the presence of the pastor or anybody else, you can listen from online sometimes, right? People can listen to preaching online and they often make that excuse like, well, you know, we do church online, we'd rather just listen online. But obviously, we know nothing replaces actually being in person, hearing the preaching for yourself, fellowshipping with the brethren, and not being such an introvert about, you know, fellowshipping and actually like talking to people, okay? Not having this, you know, virtual reality type Christianity or something. You know, the metaverse where you're gonna have church. I mean, Rick Warren is doing that now, now he's having church online, which I wouldn't be against per se if he was actually preaching the word of God, but I mean, what is he saying there that's, you know, that's actually profitable? And I think someone even put a video of someone going into the metaverse of his church service, and there's like trannies there, there's like people dressed up in weird costumes there, it's just like crazy. So it's better to just come here. How about this? You know, how about when it comes to Bible reading, people sometimes are just lazy to read their Bibles? And we have a lot of technology available to us to make it easier for us, right? For example, you know, we have YouTube, and you know, even though Alexander Scobee's been dead for so long, he's still been reading the Bible to us for many years. I listen to him virtually every week of my life. Just put him on and just listen to him and get Bible reading in as I'm going to work, as I'm coming back, just getting more Bible content in. But some people are just too lazy to even do that. Why? Because it's a generation that's simply lazy. They wanna be hearers of the word and not doers, right? And the Bible is completely against that. The more conveniences that we have and liberties, the less people have a tendency to do. You know, we have a lot of transportation. We have boats and I mean, I came here on an airplane. You know, three hour plane transportation coming here to Seattle, I've never been here before. But what a blessing it is to be able to just go somewhere in a matter of hours and you're just there. And yet people are like, well, man, the church is like an hour away though and it's just too far. Or it's just like two hours away, you know? And it's just, you know, I have people in my church who drive like three hours to get to our church. And I'm sure we have people, there's people here from Canada and I know that's like two hours but for me, Canada is just like in the outskirts of this world. They're fleeing from, you know, Canada. But you know, sometimes there are people who are just like, well, you know, it's just, and correct me if I'm wrong and it could be different here. But sometimes it's like people don't even come to church even when they live right around the corner. I mean, I literally have people who drive hours to come to our church but there's people who literally live like 30 minutes from us and they can't drag their carcass to church 30 minutes. I mean, literally, they're so close. They're just like, yeah, I just, you know, I just got so many things to do and it's just so far. I'm like, how far do you live? Oh, I'm like 40 minutes, 40 minutes? And they're like, yeah, with traffic. I'm like, what? So sometimes like the people who don't come to our church the most are those who actually live the closest. And those who actually put in the effort, those who actually are their faithful Sunday morning, Sunday night, Thursday night, they're their soul winning are those who literally live like hours away. We had a couple who used to drive from Utah every Sunday. I'm like, Utah? And you know, it's Mormon country over there but they're like, yeah, we just love coming to church so we'll just drive out here and we'll just spend the weekend out here. And I'm like, man, can you talk to some of these 30 minute drives? Like, good night in the morning. And I remember this one guy came to our church and he's just like, yeah, I really wanna start coming but I'm like 45 minutes away. I'm like, okay, let me introduce you to some people in our church real quick. And I just introduced him to all the people that drove like three hours, four hours. And I said, now, are you gonna come back now, you know? You know, the Bible tells us to not be slothful in business. And thank God that we have all this technology and all the capabilities but sometimes a generation can be so dependent upon technology and conveniences that it makes them even more lazy. And it's important for us as Christians to recognize, you know, one of the reasons people succeed at doing nothing, it's not because necessarily they don't have the technology available for them, they don't have Wi-Fi, they don't have a car, they don't have transportation, it's not because, I'll tell you why, it's just they're lazy. Why don't you read your Bible? Oh man, I just, I don't have a really good Bible. Go get one at the Dollar Tree or something. You know, I'm sure your church can give you a Bible. Well, you know, I'm not really good at reading. Okay, then listen to it online. You got YouTube, someone will read it to you. Yeah, but I'm just not a, I'm not really good at retaining when it's being read to me. Then slow it down. I mean, the technology's available to either speed it up real fast or you can slow it down. Like, if my preaching is too fast for you, you can literally slow it down. Because people have told me, like, I listen to you online but you just speak too fast, though. I'm like, slow it down, you know? Just make it go slower. We have everything available for us to succeed spiritually. You're like, oh man, I really want to go soloing but it's just the schedule you guys have here is just after the service you go preach and it's just like so much. Then make your own soloing time. I don't think your pastor will be against that, you know? Go soloing another day. Well, yeah, but I got, like, things to do. Yeah, you're just lazy is what it is at the end of the day, okay? You know, the Bible tells us not to be slothful in business but to be fervent in spirit serving the Lord. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 10, if you would. Ecclesiastes chapter number 10. Never be successful at doing nothing. And the reason this church has succeeded in preaching the gospel and having members is because you've never succeeded at that. And my encouragement to you for your anniversary is you keep never succeeding at doing nothing. Keep doing something for the Lord. Keep improving as a church. Keep winning people to Christ. Keep teaching others how to preach the gospel. Keep being faithful. Keep inconveniencing yourself for the Lord and never succeed at doing nothing. What's another reason why people succeed at doing nothing? Well, I'll tell you why. Number one is because of laziness but number two, because of the risks involved. There's just too many risks involved, right? And you see this with the lazy Jew in Matthew 25 where he says, you know, I know that thou are a hard man reaping where thou hast not sown. You know, and then he's just like, I was afraid. And so you would think, okay, fear would mean that you're gonna be accountable to this Lord, therefore you should do something about it. Knowing full well that he's gonna reckon with you, you should do something. But you know, that fear caused him to hide his talent in the earth and then he was rebuked and greatly ashamed at the latter end. Why? Oh, there's just too much risk involved. And you know what? Yeah, the Christian life is a risk. Especially if you're liking the new IFB. It's risky business. But you know what? The risk to reward ratio is great because of the fact that our rewards, the blessings that you get far outweigh the risk. And you know what? If you get bruised on the way to serving God, if you get into tribulation, you get persecuted, you receive pain and trial and sorrow, so be it. Never succeed at doing nothing because anything worth doing requires risk. Ask your pastor who started, I don't know what church he's on now. You know, church 10 or something like that. Yeah, I didn't even know this church existed until he called me recently and they're like, oh, you just got out of the church. Okay. Why? Because obviously he's about taking risks. Well, you know, I'm afraid that if I do that then they're going to call my job and being associated with this church and I just don't want what's going to happen in my marriage. This is what's going to happen in your marriage, it's going to get better. Look at Ecclesiastes 10 verse eight. I've always read this passage through a spiritual application of it, but here's the practical interpretation in Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verse eight says, he that dig at the pit shall fall into it. Whoso breaketh in hedge, a serpent shall bite him. Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith and he that cleaveth wood shall be in danger thereby. Now I've always read this as like, you know, you break through a hedge, a serpent will bite you as in like you try to break through the barriers that got its place there for you, you know, Satan might bite you, right? You got to be careful with that and not, you know, dabble with temptation, so to speak. But literally the practical application is this, if your job is digging holes, eventually you're going to fall into one. So what? You know, if your job is to break hedges and cut down grass, yeah, eventually there's going to be a snake there and you might get bit. That's the risk involved. Oh, if you're removing stones, eventually a stone's going to fall on your foot and break a toe or something. You got nine other ones. You cleave wood, you're going to be in danger thereby. What does it say? Everything has risks involved. It's just like, oh, I don't know if I can really go out there and preach the gospel. What if I get cussed out? You will get cussed out. Not if, not what if. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. And you know, you're going to get people, not just cussed out, you're going to have some weirdos. You're going to have people, you know, yell at you and say weird things to you and even sometimes try to fight you and I have all kinds of stories. Those are the risks involved. But you know what, they make for great stories. I remember one time a couple weeks ago, we're out preaching the gospel and I knock on the door and I was with my family and this guy answers the door and I gave him the question, I gave him the invite and I said, are you 100% sure that if you die today, you go to heaven? And he's like, I'm a Satanist, you know? And I go, okay, so are you 100% sure that if you die today, you go to heaven? He's like, no, I'm a Satanist. I said, oh, you go to the Church of Satan? Is that what you're saying? He said, well, yeah. And I was going to kind of drill him on that, like which particular one because there's like an offshoot, you know what I mean? Like the Forum Church of Satan. Didn't just say, but I don't think he knew that stuff, you know what I mean? So I said, okay, so where do you think you're gonna go? He goes, well, I'm gonna go with my master, you know? I'm like, oh, you're going to hell. He said, yeah. And I said, and you've made peace with that. And he kind of got quiet and he's like, well, I mean, I guess, yeah. I'm like, okay, well, just read the invite right there and if you have any questions, you know, we're right there, you know, and I walked away and that was it. And you're like, oh man, you know, I would feel so awkward to talk to someone like that. Well, here's the thing is that I've had many people tell me stuff like that. Sometimes they troll. Sometimes they just want to be disrespectful or they think they're being funny or something like that. But at the end of the day, it makes for a great story and at the end of the day, you gain more experience and you know what, if someone cusses you out, then so be it. You know, I had another Satanist answer the door one time and he said, F this and F Jesus and you know, hail Satan. And I said, all right, well, I'll just leave the invite right there on the door. If you have any questions, give us a contact. Cause honestly, I don't even think they believe that stuff. I think they just want to make fun of Christians and mock or whatever. But you say, well, I don't, I just feel uncomfortable dealing with people like that. Well, that's, those are the risks involved because you know what, you might actually end up winning that person of Christ. And it makes for a great story, especially if they get saved, they come to church and they do great works for God thereafter. You say, well, I still, you know, the risks involved. Well, you know, walking out this door has a lot of risks and don't tell me, you know, oh man, there's just so many risks. When you get in the vehicle and you drive in the street you're always running a risk. You know how many women are driving out there today? It's risky business out there. You don't know the people who are driving out there. Yeah, you put yourself out there every single time, driving, you run the risk of getting in an accident. You know, how many of you have ever flown in a plane before? Almost everyone, right? I mean, we're running the risk because we don't know who the pilot is. We literally get in the airplane and never meeting the pilot. And that pilot could be a woman. It's possible. It's a risk we are all willing to take sometimes though. Everything has a risk. And I like what Jonathan said in First Samuel chapter 14. You don't have to turn there, but let me read to you verse six says, and Jonathan said to the young men that bear his armor, come, let us go over into the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us for there is no strength to the Lord to save by many or by few. That's a great attitude to have that every Christian should adopt this mindset that you know what? Yeah, something crazy could happen when we go out there and preach the gospel. Something crazy couldn't happen if we get faithful to church. But you know what? God can save by many or by few. He can do something great. And yeah, you know what? A great and effectual doors open unto us that yes, there are many adversaries, but at the end of the day, the window of opportunity is there and the blessing far outweighs the risk. The blessing of winning people to Christ, the blessing of getting your family involved, the blessing of raising your children in church, the blessing of having your family listen to Godly preaching and being part of a Christian community to edify you in the Lord and exhort you in the ways of righteousness far outweigh the risks. And you'll learn as the years go by, it's fun. It's fun to take risks and yeah, it may be painful sometimes and hard, but at the end of the day, it's well worth the risk. Let me give you an illustration about this, two illustrations. You know, I always hear about this risk to reward ratios with deadlifts. You know what a deadlift is? Anybody know what that is? All right. And they're like, yeah, you know, I don't know. That's a risky thing to do. You know, you might mess up your back or something, but you know what? Yeah, but you also might mess up your back being old with brittle bones and weak muscles though. So I'll take the deadlifts any day, you know? And you know, I just deadlifted this last week and I hit a PR and my back hurt. It was hurting for a couple of days. You say, why? Well, that's the risk you take and it's sore and it hurts. And it's just, you know, but you know what? A week passes by and it's fine. And you know what? As when I get into my seventies and eighties, I want to be able to pick up my grandkids and have a strong back. And you know what? The risk is worth the reward that comes with working out, with exercising and being healthy and doing those things. Because at the end of the day, you know, there's a risk also of being unhealthy. There's a risk also of breaking your bones. There's a risk of just not being strong when you're older. And in fact, they often say like the greatest concern for the elderly, so to speak, is just no muscle. You know, no muscle can often kill you early. And so yeah, there's a risk to reward. But at the end of the day, the reward is far greater than the risk. Here's a risk that I keep hearing about on internet land. And that is, you know, it's from the manosphere, okay? And it's these guys are like, well, it's just, I don't want to get married because it's just risky business, you know? Turn with me if you went to Proverbs chapter 22. I don't want to get married because it's just, it's a risk and you just never know who you might meet and it might destroy your life. And women out there are all whores. And it's just like, oh man, you know, we just never know what might happen. And obviously, you know, there's a small percentage of truth in that, right? Because there's a risk to anything. But this idea that because there's a risk, I shall do nothing. Because there's a risk of just marrying the wrong person, therefore, I'm just never going to try. You're going to be all gay and stuff and not marry. And you're going to hang around with your boys or whatever. That's gay. That's homo. To say like, oh man, I'm just never going to marry. So what are you going to hang out with the boys the rest of your life? That's not ideal. That's suspect. That's sus. And then there, what they often say is like, oh man, it's just that there's no good women out there. You know? And so then they all flee to the Philippines, you know? They all go to the Philippines to get themselves a wife, right? Call the, they call them the passport bros, okay? There's no good women in America, of course there is. There's a ton of men in this church and in my church and other churches who've met godly women and they, we love them and it's great and we have successful marriages. It's awesome. Like, oh yeah, but that's you. That's like an isolated incident. Yeah, so many isolated incidents in all these churches. People have been doing it for thousands of years but they're all isolated incidents, right? Now you say, well, isn't there a risk though, Pastor Mia? Of course there's a risk but you know what? This is how you can avoid, you know, getting a really bad woman, according to the Bible. And here's the thing is that a lot of these guys are focusing on, you know, looks or they want some Instagram whore who behaves herself like a godly woman or something like that and it's just not gonna happen. But what they're supposed to do, what the Bible tells us to do is to actually please God, love the Lord, serve God, serve God, make God happy with us, make sure that we're in right standings with the Lord and he'll bring us the right woman. Amen. But if you're living wickedly and you don't have a biblical mindset, you're living selfishly, you're not reading the Bible, you're not in this church, you're not, you know, winning souls to Christ, then yeah, you are gonna find a bad woman. So how do you know? Look at Proverbs 22 verse 14. The mouth of strange women is a deep pit. He that is abhorred of the Lord shall father in. So God says, if I don't like you, I'm gonna send you something really bad. So these manosphere dudes are like, oh man, there's all kinds of bad women out there, then get right with God. If all you run into is bad women, it's cause you're bad. Cause you're not pleasing God. And you know what, if you got yourself a wicked girlfriend and she doesn't love God and she's not in church, it might be an indication that you're a hoard of the Lord, according to the Bible. Go to Proverbs chapter 19. Proverbs chapter 19. I'm gonna read to you from Ecclesiastes 7 26. It says, I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands is bands. Whoso pleaseth, God shall escape from her. But the sinner shall be taken by her. So you don't have to be a part of the manosphere and have this idea, oh man, all women are bad. No, it's just that the bad women will be attracted to you because you're bad. That's what it is. All bad women will come to you and they're gonna fleece you of your resources and they're gonna make your life a living hell because of the fact that you're living like hell. You're not pleasing God. But if you get your priorities straight, you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, these things shall be added unto you. You know, you get yourself in a good church, oh, but there's no girls at that church, you know, and I'm not gonna find anybody because there's no women there. It's because you're not like triangle. You know, if you're actually in church and you're praying, you're serving God, God will bring you someone. It happens all the time. You know, then what's an indicator that maybe, you know, if God's not bringing someone, maybe because you're not ready. Maybe because you're not really doing anything. Maybe because you're hanging around your buddies too much. Maybe because God sees that you just like to hang around the bros a little too much. It's like, well, this guy's not grown up yet, so why even bring him anybody, you know? And I've had some guys in my church who kind of had that little philosophy and then the other guys in my church that didn't and the ones who didn't, guess what? They're married now. They're the ones that are just like, oh, there's just no one here. Then how does so-and-so get married? Well, that's different, that's an isolated incident. It's just like, how many isolated incidents can we get here? Proverbs 19, verse 14 says, house and riches are the inheritance of fathers and a prudent wife is from the Lord. That's what the Bible says. The Bible tells us that, you know, you have a prudent wife, that's God's gift to you, amen? Proverbs 18, 22, you don't have to turn there and say, whoso findeth the wife, findeth the good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord. You know, these guys, they're like, I love the Lord. You know, these guys need to stop being so successful at doing nothing, is what it is, okay? Oh, there's so much risk involved. Then start serving God, you know? Start serving God, winning people to Christ. You know, how about this, mature a little bit. How about putting away the video games, amen? Put away the video games and all the, you know, childish toys and actually mature and think about, you know, getting married and having children and having a family. Get serious about the things of God, and God will bring you that prudent wife, amen? Well, what do you know, I'm married. I'm, what? Anything worth doing requires a risk. I mean, you think of the Apostle Peter who said, we have left all and followed thee, and Jesus didn't say, you know, well, I don't know what to tell you, man. You know, this is just the price you pay, and you know, Christian life is just, it sucks. Sorry. No, he said, there is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake in the gospels, but he shall receive a hundred fold now and this time, houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the world to come, eternal life. What is he saying? He's saying that, yeah, there's a risk involved, but there's also a reward greater than the risk. Never succeed at doing nothing. Turn with me, if you would, to 2 Kings, chapter seven, 2 Kings, chapter seven. Let me breeze through this third point here on why people succeed at doing nothing. Number three is that they are indifferent. Sometimes people become apathetic towards activity, and therefore, they don't do anything. It's not because they don't love God, per se. It's not because they're lazy. They're just like, meh. They don't really feel like doing anything. They're just indifferent. They're not really motivated. They don't have necessarily a fervent spirit, so to speak. And it reminds me of a story in Luke, chapter 10, where a man was beaten and left half dead, right? And three men pass by the way, and they look upon him, and they all have different responses. You have one who's a Levite, the other who's a priest, and they just kind of look at him, and they just walk on by. I mean, you think about it, he's like, these are spiritual leaders. A Levite, right? And then you have the priest, and both of them just do nothing about it. It's very sad. And it's a matter of just, you know, they're being apathetic. They don't care. But it took the Samaritan to actually come, not only take care of him, but bring him to an inn, pay for him to be taken care of. He put him on his own ass. He brought him to the inn. He went the second mile, and he left even money there to be taken care of so that he could be taken care of and recover, and it was a blessing. Why? Because he wasn't indifferent towards a man who was in need, right? And this kind of reminds me of soul winning, because if you think about it, people who are not indifferent towards souls are willing to go the extra mile to get someone saved, and even after salvation, are willing to do something to bring them to church. They put them on their ass, and bring them to the inn, and they're willing to pay the price to help that person to recover from the scars that the world has left, right? So one of the reasons that people succeed at doing nothing is because they're just indifferent. You know, the cure to being indifferent is this, preaching! That's why you need to be in church, to hear some fiery preaching, to light a fire under your blessed assurance, to get you going for God, and actually say, you know what? I'm done messing around. I want to get on fire for God. I want to serve. I want to play one of these instruments one day. I want to song lead. I want to go and preach the gospel. Pastor Thompson, what can I do to be a blessing to this church? Get on fire. Stop being indifferent in your church. You know, fix your face when he's preaching, amen? You know, smile even more broadly when he says something you don't like. Nod your head even more when you don't like what he's saying. You know, don't cry. And definitely don't do one of these. Let me just, he won't tell you this, or whoever's preaching here won't tell you this, but never do this as a member of your church. Every pastor hates that. We just want to be like. We hate that. And then they'll do this. Uh-huh. Amen. I'm sorry, did we wake you? Is that indifferent? Yeah, it's indifferent. You're just being dumb. You say, well, what do I do? I'm tired, you know? You got to do the classic mouth closed yawn. You guys know what I'm talking about. You clench your jaw and you do this. You know? And in case he looks at you, just give him that certain. That's what you got to do. Don't be indifferent, interred. His T-Rex is just. Chewbacca in the back or something. Why are people successful at doing nothing? Because they're indifferent, but they're also, number four, selfish. They're selfish. And I'm not going to read through the entire story here, but of course this is the story of the four lepers that end up coming upon spoil. And this is during a time of great famine. And you know, they're lepers, and so leprosy is a picture of sin. They're essentially cast out of the city. They are estranged from those inhabitants of the city. So they're looked down upon, right? They're not really esteemed highly. But they come upon this spoil, and look what it says in verse number three. It says, and there were four leprous men at the entering end of the gate, and instead went to another. Why sit we here till we die? If we say we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city and we shall die there. If we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, let us fall unto the host of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we shall live. If they kill us, we shall but die. So basically it's saying, you know what? Yeah, there's a risk involved, let's just go fall into the camp of the Syrians. We're gonna die anyway, so we might as well try something, okay? So they get there, and of course the Syrians have all fled because God sent a noise that caused them to become afraid, and they just left all their stuff. Look at verse eight, and when these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent and did eat and drink and carry then silver and gold and raiment, and when it hit it, and came again and entered into another tent, carried the tent also and went and hit it. So they're like, whoa, look at all this food and clothes and gold, so there's all these tents filled with spoil, and they're eating till their hearts filled, but then they're hiding it. Right? And keep in mind, there's a great famine in the land during this time. Verse nine says, then they said one to another, we do not well. That's powerful, right? Yeah. We do not well. This day is a day of good tidings. And we hold our peace. If we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us, now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household. And I love that phrase, you know what, we're not doing well, we do not well. And this is a great picture again of the gospel, someone who's become selfish or apathetic towards the things of God, we find the treasure, and a lot of people are hiding it under a bushel. They're hiding it under the earth like the guy with the one talent. Why? Because they're selfish, they just want to keep it to themselves. Just want to keep the Bible knowledge to themselves. Just wanted to keep this, well I don't want this church to just really grow that much, I just like the us four, no more type of mentality. You do not well. Well, you know, I just don't want to get too fanatical about soul, you do not well. You know, the Bible says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels. And it's important for us to go out and preach the gospel and get people safe, and not have a selfish mentality. One of the reasons that people succeed at not doing anything is because of selfishness. Well, you know, I want to bring my friends, but you know, I'm kind of like the guy who like knows everything about the Bible with my friends and my family, and so I kind of don't want to like say anything. You're being selfish. Bring your friends so they can learn more Bible than you. Why not? You do not well. Well, you know, I just like to kind of have a type of mentality where, you know, I just don't like the church to grow too much. I'm kind of an introvert, and you know, inviting people to church and stuff like that. I just don't want it to grow too much, because then, you know, you don't really get to know everyone. You're being selfish. You do not well, okay? And so people succeed at doing nothing because of selfishness. Let me go to 2 Samuel chapter 18, 2 Samuel chapter 18. I must hasten here. I've got a couple minutes. I'm keeping an eye on the clock here. What's another reason why people succeed at not doing anything? And that is because they're not prepared. Some people want to do something. They want to get something done, but when the opportunity comes, they were never prepared, okay? Oh, they want to get their family saved. They want to get strangers saved, but when the opportunity actually presents itself, because they never actually practiced or tried or went, they were not prepared and it didn't get done. Now, I think a great illustration of this is found in 2 Samuel 18. At this point, Absalom, who's the son of David, has been slain, okay? And Absalom obviously is a bad guy, but he actually in a sense pictures in this particular story the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? Because of the fact that he's hung on a tree, right? And we see that when he's hung on a tree, that they thrust him through with daggers, just like the Lord was thrust through, right? And then he's thrown into a pit, just like Jesus Christ went into hell for three days and three nights. There's a lot of parallels there. And so when he dies, you know, there's these two men that want to essentially bring the tidings of his death, okay? Cushai and Ahimaaz. Look what it says in verse 19. It says, Then Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, then said Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, let me now run and bear the king tidings, how that the Lord has avenged him on his enemies. And Joab said unto him, thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day, but this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead. Then said Joab to Cushai, go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushai bowed himself unto Joab and ran. Then said Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, yet again to Joab, but howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushai. And Joab said, wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing thou hast no tidings, ready? So he's basically telling Ahimaaz, you know, I know you want to do this right now, I know you want to go tell the king that the son is dead, but you're not even ready for this, okay? And obviously we see another picture here between Ahimaaz and Cushai as Peter and John both running to the tomb, right? And one outruns the other, just like Cushai, or Ahimaaz, excuse me, outruns Cushai. He goes, it says in verse 23, but howsoever said he, let me run, and he said unto him, run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain and overran Cushai. Verse 24, and David sat between the two gates, and the watchman went up to the roof, over the gate, unto the wall, lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, the man running alone. And the watchman cried and told the king, and the king said, if you be alone, there's tidings in his mouth, and he came apace and drew near. And the watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called unto the porter and said, behold, another man is running, and the king said, he also bringeth tidings. And the watchman said, me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, and the king said, he is a good man, and cometh with good tidings. And Ahimaaz, last verse here, called and said unto the king, all is well, and he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, blessed be the Lord God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king. I said it was the last verse, but it's not. Verse 29, the king said, is the young man Absalom safe? Ahimaaz answered, when Joab sent the king's servant and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was. So it's like, why did you even come then? You ran and you even outran Cushai, but you have no tidings. So then of course David says, all right, just stand over here, okay? He moves him to the seat, he's turned aside. But the principle that we can learn here is the fact that sometimes people are really successful at doing nothing because the reality is Ahimaaz did nothing other than run a lap, burn some calories. That's all he did. He goes to the king, has no tidings to bear, and of course Cushai does have the tidings, but Ahimaaz doesn't. Why? Because he wasn't prepared. And so sometimes people succeed at doing absolutely nothing because they're not prepared to preach the gospel. You know, a lot of these churches out there that just want to do the track drops and not preach the gospel, a lot of those people are just unprepared to actually open their mouths boldly and make known the mysteries of the gospel. And it's just like, oh man, I really want to see my family saved. Do you really want to see them saved? Do you really want to see them saved to prepare yourself then? Well I just, you know, I had this opportunity. You better get ready then. You know, I'm thankful that at the drop of a hat at any given moment's notice, I can talk to any of my family members and give them the gospel right then and then. With or without a Bible. You know, it's just like, can you preach the gospel? Even if I don't have my Bible with the tabs and all the notes and every cross reference, I can just, off the head, off the top of my head, because it's in my heart, just preach the gospel. Why? Because I want to be prepared at any given moment to preach the gospel. I was thankful, you know, I got some family out here. They're going to be here tonight that I got to see yesterday and I got them saved. We went out to eat, to dinner last night. You could add those two to the salvation. Forgot to say that, you know? But, you know, we went out to dinner and then we went out for boba afterwards and I just, you know, popped the question to them and was able to get them both saved. You know, we were there and I just like, you know what, I'm here because I'm going to preach at this church, but I'm here because I want to talk to you about something. It's really important. And, you know, I was able to pop the question and they listened and they got saved. They called upon the name of the Lord and I'm thankful for that. Be prepared at any given time. People succeed at doing nothing because they're not prepared. Go to Ecclesiastes 11, Ecclesiastes 11. Reason number six why people succeed at doing nothing, excuses, excuses. Well, it's because I have to fill in the blank. I can't because I have to fill in the blank. Well, I would, but I have to fill in the blank. Yeah, I wasn't planning to come to church because of fill in the blank. And let me just say this, a lot of reasons that people propose why they don't go to church are pretty good reasons. I'm going to be honest with you, as a pastor, I think about it, I'm like, yeah, that's a good reason. But the reason to come to church is actually better though. So yeah, you do have a great reason. Now, the only reason I think it's a legitimate reason not to come to church is if you're projectile vomiting or you're running like a really high fever. You know what I mean? Sometimes people are just like, I made a pastor and they're just like 105. And I'm just like, go home. I don't want you here. Because then it's like leprosy, it starts spreading. And then we end up having a service with like five people because everyone's sick or something like that. But here's the thing is that most people come up with reasons why they can't come to church. And you know what? They might be good reasons, but we just have to realize that the reason to come to church is far greater. Oh, I mean, what can be better? Well, how about this? The fact that you'll get preaching, you'll be blessed of God, God's hand will be on you. You might even, if you're having problems in your marriage your wife might get some preaching that she needs, amen? Or your husband might get some preaching that he needs to get right with God. Or your children might hear some preaching that they need to hear to get right with God. And here's the thing, folks. You know, I got seven minutes. I can make it happen. You know what I've learned as a pastor is people always pray for an answer, right? They're like, I've just been praying for an answer, been praying for an answer. You know, I'm going through this problem right now, I'm praying for an answer. And then they don't come to church. I'm like, do you know one of the greatest ways that God answers prayer is through preaching? So it's like the one Sunday you decide not to come, that's probably the sermon that God has laid on the pastor's heart for the answer that you need to your prayers and you don't get it. So it's like you've missed the time of your visitation because you chose not to do nothing. Don't be successful at doing nothing. And then lastly, why people succeed at doing nothing, the paralysis of the analysis. What is that? They think about it too much. They have so many options. And you know, it's like my wife sometimes tells me. She's like, I get the paralysis of the analysis, like we have so much to do, but she just spends too much time just analyzing which one should she do first. And it's like the laundry, you know, or everything else. And it's just like sometimes you can get that paralysis and then what ends up happening is you do nothing. And so here is the word of advice for you with this point, just choose and do something. Look what it says in Ecclesiastes 11 verse four. He that observeth the wind shall not sow. What does that mean? Hmm, it's kind of cold today. Might be hot later. Might drop a little bit. Might rain too. But it might not rain. They're just observing the wind. It's like, shut up and go do something. He that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. I don't know if I'm gonna go salt-wanting today. Looks like it might rain. Looks like it might snow. Looks like it might be too hot. As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child, even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not whether it shall prosper either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. The Bible says, what does it say? Just do something. Like, oh, you know, I'm gonna wait for a perfect time to actually go salt-wanting. Now's the perfect time. Today's the day of salvation. Just go. Like, I have so many options, though. I don't know if I should go on Sunday or Saturday. Well, here's the day, today. Yeah, but today, you know, I don't know. Like, I got my kids. Just take them all. I don't know how they're gonna behave. You'll find out. I don't know what we're gonna do about lunch. Figure it out later. Sometimes the best thing to do is just do something instead of just having the paralysis of the analysis and just, oh, man, I wanna read my Bible. I just don't know where to start. Just start anywhere. Like, what if I started something really hard? Well, if you're planning to read the whole Bible, eventually you're gonna have to get to that hard part. So it doesn't really matter now, does it? I, well, you know, I just, I wanna start exercising. I just don't know where to start. Just go to the gym and live really heavy and there you go. Something is better than nothing. Yeah, but what if I get sore? You will get sore. What if I can't get out of bed? You won't. Everyone has to go through that. We all have to experience that. But you know, I don't wanna start exercising until I get the right diet, until I get the right exercise, right cardio, no cardio, you know, the right whatever. Then I'll start, I get the right gym membership. I got my schedule figured out. You're never gonna do, you're never gonna get your summer bod. Cause of the paralysis of the analysis. Sometimes you just got, you say, well, how did you start? My evangelist literally just said, let's just go to the gym. And I said, all right, let's just do it. And I went, I looked stupid doing it. I didn't know what I was doing. Looked goofy. But you know what, you have to start somewhere. Yeah, you're gonna go on and preach the gospel and you know what, you might be a silent partner and yeah, one day you'll be a talker and you might make a fool of yourself sometimes but it's okay, you gotta start somewhere. Don't have the paralysis of the analysis. Never succeed at doing nothing because there's too many options. I don't know which one to choose. Choose something. I'm done. Told y'all I was gonna finish. What's the sermon this morning? You've gotten to this point because you've done something. The church has gotten to this point because he did something. The church has gotten to this point because you came here. Church has gotten to this point because you preached the gospel. You've gotten to this point spiritually because you've read your Bible. Never succeed at doing nothing. Keep doing what you're doing to succeed in the Christian life, amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for the practicality of the passages, Lord. Help us not to be like that wicked and slothful servant who hides the talent under the earth. Help us to be like the four leprous men who when that took place, they understood we do not well. And they ended up bringing all the spoil to the city and saving the city in a practical means. Pray you help us, Lord, to take these principles into consideration. Bless us as we go on our way. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.