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and face-to-face in stern array with armor gleaming and color streaming the right and wrong engaged today the fight is on but be not weary be strong and in his mind hold fast if God before us is banner of us we'll sing the victor song all right great singing thank you so much for being here this evening the fight is on amen the Christian life is about fighting folks not just about fighting but it is about fighting the good fight of the faith and so the moment you decide well I'm gonna not fight as much or I'm not gonna be so aggressive in the Christian life well you're basically just throwing in the towel for the Christian life you know we need a fight to the bitter end amen and for us it's not even a bitter end it's a sweet end so keep on fighting let's pray father we thank you so much for your word we're thankful for the hymns Lord they remind us of good doctrine and Lord help us to continue to be a church that is willing to fight the good fight of faith to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the Saints and I pray God that you bless the service the preaching the singing and all there is we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name amen you may be seated song number 65 just over in the glory land song number 65 song number 65 all together on that first verse I've a home prepared where the Saints up I just over in the glory land and I long to be by my Savior's side just over in the glory land just over in the glory land I'll join the happy angel band just over in the glory land just over in the glory land there with the mighty hose I'll stand just over in the glory land I am on my way to mansions fair just over in the glory land there to sing God's praise and his glory share just over in the glory land I'll join the happy angel band just over in the glory land just over in the glory land there with the mighty hose I'll stand just over in the glory land but a joyful thought that my lord I'll see just over in the glory land and with kindred saved there forever be just over in the glory land just over in the glory land the happy angel band just over in the glory land just over in the glory land there with the mighty hose I'll stand just over in the glory land with the blood wash throng I will shout and sing just over in the glory to praise the Lord and keep just over in the glory just over in the glory okay great singing thank you again for being here this evening if you did not get a bulletin going to raise your hand one of the ushers can get one for you some important announcements on there and our next song will be 400 if you want to get that ready in your songbooks I'll wish I had given them more song number 400 our services are as follow Sunday morning is at 1030 Sunday evening is at 5 p.m. and that we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock you see the so many times and teams the list of expecting mothers if you can continue to pray for them important reminders to make sure that you are supervising your children in the building make sure they're not being destructive and destroying Church property keep an eye on them no children should be in the mother baby room alone without their parents and of course no men allowed in the mother baby room as well on Wednesday September 15th this coming Wednesday the PE classes resume for the little ones it's gonna be physical physical education but also they're gonna have some science projects arts and crafts they're gonna have a great time if you have any questions about that you can see brother Ulysses and then next Friday Saturday and Sunday of course we're gonna be celebrating our four year anniversary man looking forward to it we will not have service on Thursday this coming week that'll be on Friday at 7 p.m. and pastor Steven Anderson from Faith Award Baptist Church will be preaching for us looking forward to having him here it's gonna be a first time in our new building and so make sure you thank him for coming and then on that Saturday on the 18th we're gonna have the Sony marathon we'll give you the details as far as the schedule is concerned on Friday and that'll be in South Central and of course Sunday is a special service we'll have giveaways we're gonna take a church picture we're gonna have food for breakfast and all that and we're gonna have a good time and then Friday September 24th is the men's prayer meeting at brother hikes house and then Sunday October 3rd is the kickoff to our fall program it says right there October birthday breakfast that's what we'll begin with but inside of that sheet there's our inside of your bulletin excuse me there should be a First Works Baptist Church Thanksgiving banquet sheet does everyone have this who does not have this all right brother Jose needs one brother Frank needs one sister Mary needs one right here anybody else okay so join our church family as we thank God for his goodness this coming Thanksgiving season invite your family and friends to join as well the day will be Tuesday November 23rd and that's basically when we conclude the fall program the time will be at 7 p.m. and the attires from the 1800s okay so it's gonna be themed from the 1800s men cravats I'm not what's a cravat that's like a tie oh it's what you wear oh okay so let's scratch that now I'm just kidding all right cravats cool-looking cravats right now I'm just joking I'm joking he knows I'm messing with them cravats vests boots high-collar shirts etc Gats you know mozberg's things that they would use things that they would use back in those days all right I don't think they had mozberg's back then women prairie style dresses bonnets is it petticoats so you pronounce that it sounds bad petticoats all right well ladies will know what that is so the location is to be announced but it's most likely gonna be in the cabin where we had our first Thanksgiving banquet you guys remember that how are we doing another that word are you are we good to go in that cabin or what well no for sure okay so we'll let you know by at least next week if it's gonna be there if now we got some other locations we can move it to but hopefully we make it to there that's a really nice location please RSVP RSVP to first works Baptist Church or fwcla1 at gmail.com or you can do that with my wife as well and then we'll give more details to follow it's gonna be exciting it's gonna be a nice night you know just banquet style having a good time there's gonna be preaching as obviously and fellowship so make sure you don't miss out on that and from what I remember I remember the last time we did it at the cabin there's a lot of visitors and we got a lot of people saved which is really cool a lot of people got saved and it was just a great night and so looking forward to that keep that in mind quiet time resumes from 4 15 3 excuse me 3 to 4 15 in a main auditorium and mother baby room no food to drink allowed in a main auditorium except for water and coffee and make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service let's take some solely numbers from this week salvation from Monday to Thursday one for brother Maury anybody else okay how about Friday and Saturday Friday and Saturday and then this afternoon how about this afternoon Salvations for this afternoon three two for brother Jacobs team three for brother Marcos his team is brother Ulysses even in here he's gone he's gone he had three on Thursday where is brother Ulysses is he in there we'll wait I gotta make sure he gets this hey you're getting them you getting these numbers okay okay anybody else from this afternoon okay keep up the great work on soul winning before we see our next song let me just make a quick announcement and I'm gonna I'm gonna go if you can mute this for the live stream actually so you guys on the live stream out there you're just gonna have to sit tight cuz this is for you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you all right let's sing another song your song number 400 I wish I had given him more song number 400 song number 400 I'll wish I had given him more altogether on that first verse by and by when I look on his face beautiful face Oh shadowed face by and by when I look on his face I wish I had given him more, more, so much more, more of my life than I ever gave before By and by when I look on his face I wish I had given him more By and by when he holds out his hands welcoming hands, nail-ribbing hands By and by when he holds out his hands I wish I had given him more More, so much more, more of my love than I ever gave before By and by when he holds out his hands I wish I had given him more In the light of that heavenly place, blind from his face, beautiful face In the light of that heavenly place, I'll wish I had given him more More, so much more, treasures unbounded for him I adore By and by when I look on his face I'll wish I had given him more Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time the ushers will come forth to collect the offerings and you may turn in your Bibles to Psalm chapter number 37 Tonight we're in Psalm 37. Psalm 37 and the Bible reads, And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him, for not thyself, because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass, cease from anger and forsake wrath, for not thyself and any wise to do evil, for evildoers shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be, yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be, but the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and the needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation, and their sword shall enter into their own heart and their bow shall be broken. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. The Lord knoweth the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs they shall consume, and to a smoke shall they consume away. The wicked borroweth and payeth not again, but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth. For such as be it blessed of him shall inherit the earth, and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now I am old. Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor a seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and blendeth, and his seed is blessed. Depart from evil, and do good, and dwell forevermore. The Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart, none of his steps shall slide. The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, and thou shalt see it. I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passeth away, and lo, he was not. Yea, I sought him, but he cannot be found. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together, the end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time of trouble, and the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, Lord, that we get to hear your word being preached. I just pray right now that you will pastor with your Holy Spirit, and give the people ears to hear, and that we come away edified by the preaching of your word, and pray that we're able to take the truths out of your word to heart, and following your ways, Lord. And just bless the service, bless the fellowship afterwards, and pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Psalm 37. Look down at your Bibles at verse number 23. The Bible says here, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. And what I want to preach on this evening is the subject of two steps forward, one step back. Two steps forward, one step back. And this is not an instructional sermon on dancing, okay? So just keep that in mind. Two steps forward, one step back. What I'm describing here is actually the reality of Christian progress, okay? We as Christians obviously desire to advance. We want to develop spiritually. We want to succeed. But sometimes we're going to hit some sort of setback, some sort of roadblock that keeps us from going forward. And these setbacks can slow us down, and they can cause us not to progress as much as we would want, but they don't have to stop us, okay? And one thing we have to understand as Christians is that nothing really can stop you other than yourself, okay? Yourself, and obviously if you're involved in sin, God's going to stop you. But if you're seeking to do that which is right, you're seeking to live a godly life, you're pursuing the Lord, you're going after God, you are taking up your cross and following Him, you're doing that which is right, you're seeking righteousness, you're going to succeed, but the reality is this, is that because we're sinners, because we're fallible people, it will always be two steps forward and then you'll take one step back, okay? Two steps forward, one step back. We need to realize that Christianity is just that. It's making progressive steps towards a desired goal, but also recognizing that we might falter because we're not perfect, okay? And here in Psalm 37 verse 23, the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delighteth in His way. So this is a good indication if you're going in the right direction. You think to yourself, well how do I know if I'm going in the right direction, if I'm heading in the right place, well are you delighting in the way, okay? You know, as you're going forward for the Lord, do you delight to read the Bible? Do you delight to be in church? Is it a joy to you? And I'm not saying 24-7 because obviously that's not realistic, but for the most part we as Christians should enjoy the Christian life. We should enjoy reading the Bible. We should enjoy prayer and singing hymns and hearing preaching and being in church. We delight in the way. Now look what it says in verse 24. I like this. In verse 24 it says though he fall. So what's the insinuation there? He's going to fall. He's going to take a step back. He says though he fall, he shall not utterly be cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. So you know what that tells me? No matter how far you fall from God's will, how much you get into sin, how much you backslide, you're not going to be utterly cast down into hell, right? Why? Because the Lord upholds you with His hand. And the reality is as Christians can only go so far until the Lord just kind of takes you home at that point. Because obviously the Bible tells us that there is a sin unto death where you can get so far from God that God basically says okay you're going to be cast forth as a branch. You're going to be useless. I'm just going to take you home early. But the reality is this. We will never lose our salvation. No matter how far you backslide. And you know this is a reality. The reality is a lot of Christians, they will backslide. They will get away from the Lord. They will stop reading their Bibles. They will stop esteeming the things of God as they used to. And they might get involved in some pretty bad stuff. But the good news is that God will always uphold him with His hand. I mean He might uphold them gently or He might uphold them with the hand of chastening as well. You understand? And so that is good news. But the message tonight is simply this. Recognize that as you're seeking to go forward in the Christian life, you're going to take two steps forward but don't be discouraged if you take a step back. What I mean by taking a step back, you know you kind of fail. You just miss a Bible reading day. You might get involved in sin or something, briefly or whatever. And then you repent or you're not close to the Lord as you would want to be today as you were yesterday or something. That's taking a step back. And don't be discouraged. And here's the thing. Satan does a good job at discouraging Christians at those little failures. Kind of magnifying those little failures and saying, oh okay yeah see you're doing so good. You're doing so well with your Bible reading. You're doing so well with church attendance. You're doing so good with this, but now you're reverting back to this. Now you're going back to this. You should just throw in the towel completely. And he kind of throws that out there, but when you take a step back as long as you don't keep going backwards, you're in a good place. It just proves the fact that you are a fallible human being that makes mistakes and we all make mistakes. Go to Philippians chapter 3 if you would. Philippians chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 38 says, God doesn't want people to draw back. He doesn't want people to backslide and get out of church and get involved in sin. And he says specifically, I have no pleasure in that. We want to please the Father. We want to please God. We want to please the Lord. But if we draw back, we're not going to be able to please Him because He's not pleased when we start to draw back into our old ways or just old habits. Whatever it may be. And it says in verse 39, but we are not of them who draw back into perdition. Amen to that. He's like, hey, even if you draw back, you're not going to go so far back that you're just going to go to hell or something. Why? Because he says, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. One of the best verses, I love this verse in Hebrews chapter number 10. He says, we don't draw back into perdition. We will draw back into chastisement. We'll draw back into spankings from the Lord, but we'll never draw back into hell because you can never lose your salvation. This is a good verse for the Pentecostals to read today. Amen. And say, look, you will never draw back into hell to perdition if you're saved. You understand? Because we believe to the saving of the soul. The Bible says in Philippians chapter 3, Philippians chapter 3 verse 12, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. You see, you also don't want to go to the opposite extreme and say, well, because I can't be perfect, I'm just not even going to try. You know, because I can't reach perfection or perfect maturity, I'm not even going to strive for that. Well, that's a bad goal to have because we should strive for perfection knowing full well that we're not going to be able to reach it, but it's something that we should strive for. And folks, you know what's interesting is that if you strive for just a crazy goal, even if you don't reach that crazy goal, you still get pretty far. Right? You know, you strive for some extreme goal, you're just like, I'm trying to do this. You know, even if you don't reach that goal, you will get pretty far. And then when you look at yourself in comparison to where you were before, you're like, you know what, I'm doing pretty good. And that's the thing, that's how we should think of the Christian life. Obviously, this side of eternity, we're never going to be able to reach perfection, because there's none that do us good, no, not one. We're not righteous in and of ourselves, but we should strive to be holy as He is holy. We should strive to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the reality is this, if you've been in church for the last 365 days, I'm sure a lot of you could attest and look back and say, you know what, I've improved as a Christian over the last year. My life has changed over the last year, or even over the last week. Last month, the last six months, you can say, I've dramatically improved since then. I'm not where I need to be, but I'm definitely not where I was. You say, well, I can't say that. Okay, then begin to strive for and apprehend that which you're apprehended of. Begin to put a considerable amount of effort into the Christian life. It says in verse 13, Brethren, I count on myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth into those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Notice that wording, I press. It means he's pushing. It's not a stroll in the park. It's not a walk on the beach. He's pressing, he's pushing forward. That means he's getting resistance. And the Christian life is filled with resistance, folks. If you're going to make some Christian growth, if you're going to grow, if you're going to hit some goals in your Christian life, be ready for the resistance that's going to meet you. Resistance of what? The flesh, the devil, the world, your friends, your family, your, you know, whatever. There's always going to be some sort of resistance that tries to push you back, and you have to do what? Keep pressing towards the mark. He says, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. Now, let me just say this, is that that little piece, that little phrase right there is extremely important. Because sometimes it's not necessarily that which is pressing against you that holds you back. You know what often holds you back? Is the things which are behind. A lot of people don't want to go forward because of their past mistakes, their past failures, you know, they have a bad past, or, you know, they have people reminding them of their past, or whatever it may be. And what does God say? Forget those things which are behind. Like, yeah, but I used to be an alcoholic, I used to smoke pot, I used to do this, I used to commit for an occasion. Yeah, the term should be used to be, or I used to, right? That's what it should be. And what you should do is forget those things which are behind. Today's a new day. Treat it as thus. Reach forth into those things which are before. And the reality is this, if you've confessed your sins, you repented of your sins, you know, God doesn't remember those sins anymore. He's cast them into the deepest part of the ocean. He's separated your transgressions as far as east is from west, and if he's willing to forget, we should be willing to try to forget that too, okay? And not allow that to hold us back from going forward for God. A lot of people don't reach their potential as a Christian because of these things right here, because of what holds them back from their past, or their laziness to not just press forward and do that which is difficult to reach that goal. Because a Christian life is hard, folks. I don't know what to tell you. It's sometimes hard. You know, it's hard to resist temptation. It's hard sometimes to read your Bible. It's hard sometimes to pray. It's hard sometimes to go sowing. It's hard sometimes to come to church. Sometimes things are just hard, okay? And you know, if it was easy, every Christian would be doing it and be succeeding in it, but not everyone is doing it, you understand? And so we need to make sure that we understand that the Christian life is hard, and we need to keep pressing forward. Go to 2 Peter chapter 1. We're going to spend the remainder of the sermon here in 2 Peter chapter 1. Now you say, what's a good practical goal to have as a Christian, you know? Well, I think that sometimes the main goal for people sometimes is just, I just don't want to fall, you know? I don't want to fall into sin, or I don't want to fall into temptation. I don't want to fall away from the Christian life, especially when you're at that peak of your Christian life where you're just, everything's going good, you're learning a lot, you're growing, you know, you're learning how to go sowing, you're just like, I don't want to get out of this. I want to stay in this for the long haul. And that's what God wants as well. He wants you to do the same. In fact, look at 2 Peter chapter 2 in verse number 8. It says, For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, look what it says, ye shall never fall. Now, this is not a mistranslation. This is correctly translated. He says, if you do these things, ye shall never fall. It doesn't say ye shall never sin. It doesn't say ye shall never make mistakes. It just says ye shall never fall. And what I believe it's specifically referring to is you fall out of the race. You think of a race that's like a marathon. You're in a marathon, the goal is just to stay in the marathon. And even if you're tired, you don't just sit out. You don't just quit. If you have to, skip. If you have to, walk fast. If you have to, just walk. But stay in the race. The goal is to finish. Amen? And the goal is not to just get out of the Christian race and just say, well I'm just going to take a break and you know what, I wasn't really ready for this marathon and I didn't prepare correctly. Okay, but all that's done with just walk then. Maybe you're not ready to sprint. Maybe you're not ready to jog as fast as others are jogging. Maybe you're not ready. Maybe you don't have that much endurance. Okay, then just walk it if you have to. But stay in the race, folks. He says, Ye shall never fall, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherefore I would not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth. The sermon is simply this, two steps forward, one step back. As you're going through the Christian life, as you're working and developing yourself spiritually, keep taking two steps forward, but don't be discouraged if you take a step back. Don't be discouraged if you mess up. Just recognize the goal is not to fall out of the race. Stay in the race. You're like, well I'm battered. I'm bruised. I feel like I'm losing this battle. I feel like I'm just hanging by a thread. Okay, then just hang by a thread. That means you're still in. My legs are wobbling. I feel like I'm about to get knocked out. Then wobble. Just stay in it. You see, Satan can't really knock you out of the fight. That's the reality. Satan can't really knock you out of the fight. The only one who will knock you out of the fight is yourself. You know, I think of this like when I used to watch like UFC and kickboxing and stuff like that, I used to watch that a lot. It would make me really upset when the guy's just fighting his heart out, right? And obviously the guy's losing, like he's getting his butt whooped, okay? The guy's getting his butt whooped and he's like losing and then his coach just throws in the towel for him. Now, he probably wanted him to do that, but in my mind I'm like, no. Just let him get knocked out or something. Just let him just like fight through it. And you know, I've seen some fights where the fighter's mad. He's like, why'd you do that? And then the coach is like, because you're about to die. You're just getting embarrassed or something. But in my mind I'm thinking, just fight to the bitter end. Even if you just can't swing anymore, even if you get knocked out, so be it. But here's the thing in the Christian life, you don't get knocked out. Satan can never knock you out. And I'm not saying it's because he's not powerful, it's because that's not necessarily his responsibility to do. His responsibility is to get you so weary, so tired, so beat up, that you throw in the towel. That you get out of the fight. That you say, I've had enough. You know, where you're bleeding, you're swollen, your legs are wobbling, you're not even throwing good punches anymore. And it's Satan's job to get you to that point to say, alright, now say I quit. Alright, now get out of the fight. But here's the thing, if you just stick in there for a little bit, the bell's going to ring. Right? The bell rings, and you've got another round to go. You have a couple seconds to rest, a couple minutes to rest, you're back into the fight. How many have seen a fight out there where they gave the guy a couple minutes to rest and he comes back and he actually makes a good comeback. Have you ever seen something like that? And it's just like, oh man, that was like a crazy turnaround there. You know? I've seen one where it's just like, this guy's just getting beat up like crazy, I'm like, oh man, any minute now this guy's about to get knocked out. And then he just throws a haymaker and knocks the guy out or something, you know? And that's kind of how life is, it just can turn any way at any moment. But you'll never know what the result is of your decisions until you recognize that you just don't get out of the fight, just stay in it. And I'm telling you, a lot of Christians, they get out of the Christian fight, they get out of the Christian race, and they spend the rest of their life thinking, I wonder what would have happened if I would have just stayed in. I wonder what would have taken place if I just stuck it out, if I just kept fighting. Don't be that person, okay? You're in 2 Peter chapter 1, let's go to verse 3, excuse me. So what is he talking about when he says, if these things abound in you? What things is he referring to? Look at verse number 3, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. So here's the great thing, the great thing is that God has given to us exceeding great and precious promises. What is he talking about? Talk about the Bible. Talk about the promises of God's word, he's given them unto us so that what? So we can be partakers of his divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world. Now look at verse 5, and beside this, and besides the Bible, he says, giving all diligence. Now does it say giving all talents? Giving all your gifts? Giving all your abilities? No, it says giving all diligence. What is diligence? Consistency. So what's that one key to be successful in the Christian life, pastor? There's many keys, but one of the most important keys is consistency. If you want to be successful in the Christian life, or just in general, in anything, but we're talking about the Christian life here, consistency is key. It's important. What do you mean by, why does it say giving all diligence? Because if we could just do these things over and over and over and over and over and over again, these habits, these actions will embed themselves into our being, and they just become who we are. You know, you ever met people who are just like, they don't question whether they come to church, it's just like, that's just what they do. Did you know there's people out there who don't ask should we go to church today? Did you know that? That's just what they do. So any morning they get up and it's like, we're going to church. The kids don't ask, are we going to church today? It's just already in them. They've already set an atmosphere and environment, they've embedded this conviction, they've added diligence to say this is just what we do. And this, folks, is so important. If you can add diligence to whatever you do in the Christian life, then you will become that which you're having a hard time practicing. If you can add diligence to your Bible reading, you know what happens? You just read it every day, you don't have to question, man, should I read my Bible today? It's just something you do. It's a priority to you. Something comes up, it's like, well, I've got to read my Bible, so I can't do that right now. It's just what you do. If you add consistency to your prayer life, what are you going to do? You're just going to pray without ceasing. If you add consistency to church attendance, you're just always going to be in church. If you add consistency to your soul, you're always going to be preaching the gospel. If you add consistency to anything in the Christian life, it'll embed itself in your very being and you will become that which you have tried to do on your own. The goal is to add, therefore, diligence. And aren't you thankful for that? Because that doesn't require you being gifted. You don't have to be gifted, you don't have to be talented, you don't have to have all these great abilities, you don't have to be able to sing, you don't have to be able to be a good looking person, you don't have to be tall or short, you don't have to be a certain weight. You just what? Add diligence. If you want to be great, just add diligence. He says, besides this giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue. So let's talk about someone who just gets saved. Or they've been in the Christian life for a while, but they haven't really learned anything about the Christian life. The Bible says here that once they get saved, or once they come to this knowledge of these great and precious promises, what is the first thing they're supposed to add? The word of God? Not necessarily. We think it would be, right? We think, well yeah, get a Bible in their hand. But that's actually not what it says first. It says add virtue. Now what is virtue? Well, virtue can be defined as moral excellence, righteousness. This actually is the best thing for a new Christian to do because of the fact that it just puts them in a good position to go in the right direction. What does that mean? They start cleaning up their lives. Start cleaning up their lives, living a godly life. If they drank on Friday evenings, that's out the window. Or if they drink, period, it's out the window. They smoke pot every now and then, well that's out the window. If they fornicate, well that's out the window. And you know what? People who have gotten saved over the years of people that I've known, the people who really stick it out are those who just begin to clean up their lives before they actually even get in the Bible, believe it or not. I know that sounds like, well I thought we should have them read the Bible. I believe we should have them read the Bible. But the one thing that they need first to put them on that right path so they can add knowledge is they need to add virtue. Add virtue, moral excellence, behavior, conduct, these things are important. Now the church down the street, Calvary Chapel, they're not going to tell you to add virtue. They tell you, come as you are, leave as you were. Come as you are, leave as you were. If you dress like a little effeminate guy, just keep on keeping on. If you look like a hoe, it's okay. You can keep looking like that. Is this uncomfortable or what? I mean this is the mentality of today. Where it's just like, just come as you are, God's pleased with you. No, God wants you to add virtue to your life. He does want you to change. He does want you to change the way you look, to change the way you act, to change your attitude, and to add righteousness to your life. And here's the interesting thing, because he says add virtue, right? New Christians don't even know what virtue is. Like the word? When I first got to say that, I don't know, virtue, what is that? The only time I heard that word was like, patience is a virtue. That's the only time I've ever heard that. Virtue is like, I don't know what that is. But here's the thing, they do know what it is. There's something about becoming a Christian when you get saved, that they automatically know things need to be subtracted from my life, and I need to add some things to my life. Something needs to change by the way I look, by the way I act, by the way I talk. Naturally, they have a tendency to know that there's something that needs to change in them. Now, being in a church like this helps that. Because if you're in a church that's loose, if you're in a church where it's just like the pastor's up, I got torn up jeans, skinny jeans, you know what I mean? I mean, how do liberal pastors dress? Pink shirt? That's gay. A what? A man bun! Oh, good night. Yeah, you got a man bun, I got a man bun, or whatever, you know? I mean, that's not very inspirational. You think any guy's going to come to church and see me with a man bun, and be like, that's some mad cod right there. You know what I mean? That's manly right there. Obviously not. That's why when people go to the churches like that, they just remain the same. Because everything rises and falls on leadership. Well, show me in the Bible where you're supposed to wear a shirt and tie. Obviously it's not in the Bible, so don't ask. In the culture in which we live, this is obviously appropriate, and it shows that where we're going is obviously important. You know, I'm sure if someone's asked you when you're wearing a shirt and tie, if you've gone to a coffee shop or something, like, where did you guys come from? You guys are in a business meeting? Are you guys, where are you guys, you know? Because obviously they know that whoever you are or wherever you're going, it's important! You think they asked some liberal pastor with sandals and skinny jeans and a man bun? Well, you look like you're going to an important business meeting. No. They don't even give them a second thought! You understand what I'm saying? And so, you know, when Christians get saved, this is often the first thing that's impressionable upon them is virtue. It's like, you know, I think I need a change. I'll give you an example. When I first came to church, Albert, stop looking at me. You know, I looked a little different. And I went to a Baptist church, I went to an independent fundamental Baptist church, dressed like the way we're basically dressed tonight. And no one told me anything! No one said, hey, you gotta part your hair, hey, you gotta, you know, wear a shirt and tie. No one ever, no one emphasized that, no one told me that, but because I saw the example of others in the church, I thought to myself, well, this is an appropriate way to dress for church. I should put my dickies away. My dickie shirt and, you know, get rid of my lineup and my mohawk and all that. Yeah, I said it, mohawk. You know, I gotta cut that off and, you know, because it's just appropriate to dress like this during church. And I began to do that, and you know what's interesting is that when I began to clean out the outside first, a lot of things in the heart in the inside began to change also. It's true. You know, some people, they know as soon as they come to our church, all right, you know, certain things gotta go. I don't want to embarrass Vitor, but I'm gonna do it right now, okay. I remember Vitor first contacted me. He contacted me through Instagram. You know, and, you know, he said he had gone to the old building, and then I saw his profile. You know, and he had like the, you know, thing going on there, you know. He looked a lot different. And he's telling me now, I'm just like, who is this guy? Is this guy trying to come and fight us or something? Are you for us or for our enemies? You know, kind of thing. And so, you know, we chatted for a little bit, and then I was just, I gave him the address, and he came, and I literally remember thinking to myself, like, well, eventually I'm gonna have to talk to this guy about his hair. Because he had long hair. You know, he had long hair. You know. Very, very Brazilian jiu-jitsu, you know, just like, you know, just long luxurious hair, you know. But you know what, he came to church, and the hair was gone. And I'm like, well, that saves me a conversation. And we never even discussed it. Like, I never told him, hey, if you're gonna come, you're gonna have to shave that thing off, all right, bro. Like, we don't do that here, you know. I just, I didn't say anything, but he already knew. You're gonna come to the house of God, you should look appropriate. And I think later on he told me, like, I already knew about my hair, so I took that off or whatever, and, you know. The guy looks sharp now, amen. But here's the thing is that you know, being in church helps you to kind of, it kind of gives you a template of what virtue is. You understand? Not just in a matter of dress, but even in conduct and speech and behavior and character and work ethic, right. And respect, all these areas are what a new Christian's supposed to have. Add virtue, okay. So I'm all for giving the Bible, but the Bible says to give virtue first. Add virtue first. Start cleaning up your life, you know. And look, Vito's not the only one, there's plenty of people here that I can think of in my mind who came here differently. They came differently. I'm not gonna, they came differently. And you know what? They've changed. You know, some of them took some peer pressure, okay. Good peer pressure. But they added virtue, okay. And obviously look, I'm not saying, oh yeah, wear a shirt and tie, but it's okay for you to smoke pot on weekends or something like that. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that often when people begin to change the way they look, change the way they dress, there's something also going on in the heart, okay. When a girl comes in, you understand, when a girl comes in dressed promiscuous or, you know, scandal-y clad, there's a heart issue. But I've seen women come like that and then they begin to put on the long skirts, they begin to dress modestly and appropriate, because obviously they see something, they're adding virtue to their lives, okay. And they recognize that God views the actual beauty, which is the inward man, more than that which is on the outside. Obviously he's concerned with that which is on the outside, but, you know, the outside is simply a reflection of what's on the inside, okay. And so he says, besides this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and now you look at what it says, and to virtue knowledge. So now we begin to explain through the Bible why it is that you should do these things. Why alcohol is wicked, why fornication is sinful, why being effeminate is a sin, okay. We begin to add virtue, or excuse me, add knowledge to virtue. And here's the problem is that a lot of churches in times past, they would add a lot of virtue but never teach the why. And that's a problem. Because a person is only going to accept, do this, without the actual knowledge of it for so long. Especially if they're teenagers. Okay. If they're teenagers, you know, they're going to do what you tell them to do for only a certain amount of time. But teenagers they've gotten to a point when they're a teenager that, you know, they think for themselves, they kind of, you know, see if you're being hypocritical about certain things, you know, if you're sincere or not. You need to tell them the why, okay. And explain to them why it is that we do the things that we do, or why the Bible says that we do these things, okay. So add to your faith virtue to virtue knowledge to knowledge temperance. Now it's time to add some self-control to your life. I would consider this to be structure to your life. You know, what do you mean by structure? That means you kind of live by a schedule. You don't live like a crackhead. That's what my father-in-law used to say. He said, living like a crackhead when you're like, when you're going to sleep at different times, you're waking up at different times, you don't really know, you kind of like let life happen to you. He would say you're living like a crackhead. But he's right. But you know the Christian life is a life of order. It's a life of temperance. It's a life of self-control. It's a life of structure. Because when you're structured, you actually plan that which is most important ahead of time. You're able to place priorities, excuse me, you're able to put priorities first. Bible reading first at this time. Wake up at this time. Read my Bible. Do this. You know, everything has a schedule. You don't just let life happen to you. To knowledge, temperance. To temperance, patience. Now this is very much necessary and what's a synonym for patience? A biblical synonym for patience. What do you think? Long suffering, yeah. What else? Endurance. So now that this person has virtue, they're living righteously, they've gained knowledge, now it's time to build endurance. Because now this Christian has been around for three months, six months, nine months and you know what? The excitement starts to kind of die down a little bit. The honeymoon stage is over. What is the honeymoon stage? When you first get saved, it's like, man, this is great. The pastor's funny. He threw someone out today. It was great. You know, he went off and he talked about this. And then, you know, you start hearing a sermon like this where it's not as exciting. What do you need? Endurance. You start reading your Bible and you get to Leviticus or Numbers. What do you need? Endurance. Right? You have to go sowing and you don't really feel like it. What do you need? Endurance. Patience. Endurance. The ability to endure even when you, to do the things you're supposed to do even when you don't feel like doing them. That's necessary. You don't want to be this like, this type of Christian that just kind of fizzles out overnight. You understand? Got virtue, got knowledge and then you just get bored with the Christian life, you just move on. You fall away, you backslide. No. You want to have some substance to your Christian life. And in order to have true substance, you've got to learn endurance. In other words, appreciate the mundane as much as you appreciate that which is exciting. So you know what? I know what this says. I know what he's saying already. I've heard this before. But I like this because it's the Bible and I'm going to learn from this. Maturity is what it is. So add to temperance patience and to patience godliness. Exercise thyself rather unto godliness. The Bible says, 1 Timothy chapter number 4 tells us, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. It says, meditate on these things for in doing so thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. At this point you're starting to delve deep into the Christian life, learning godliness and righteousness from a deep perspective. Verse 7 into godliness, look what it says, brotherly kindness. Now notice this is part of your Christian growth. And what does it mean to be brotherly or to have brotherly kindness? It means you go out of your way to be nice and kind to the brethren. You go make friends in church. So instead of everyone always going to you and always coming to greet you and always coming to shake your hand, now you should get up and shake someone's hand. When you come to the church, shake some hands and go and meet people. I'm shy though. I can't help you in that because I don't know what that's like. I just know this is that brotherly kindness is a command. It's commanded of you, it's commanded of me to be kind one to another. And if you're shy, if you feel like well that's just not in my personality, but we as Christians don't really have the luxury to do this. Or to not do this, excuse me. To just be shy and just I'd rather not get involved in conversations, I'd rather not get to know anybody. I'm just here for the preaching. I'm not trying to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. I'm just here to just do this. Well this actually includes brotherly kindness. It includes you making friends in church. It includes getting to know Adan. Getting to know Maury. Why are you guys laughing? He's a cool guy. I shouldn't have used, Ray! It takes you getting to know Ray. You want to get to know Ray. He'll make you feel very comfortable in our church. I don't know what that meant. Brotherly kindness. You know what that means? It means here's a good way to explain it. You have to learn how to fall in love with your church. That's what it is. Is learning how to fall in love with your church. Not just with the preaching, not just with the truth that's being foretold. It's with being in love with the people who are in the church. Brotherly kindness. And obviously for some people that's very difficult because maybe they've had bad experiences in the past with people in churches or with relationships or whatever it may be, but you just kind of have to put that aside. And do your best to go out of your way, to go talk to people and make them feel welcome as they have made you feel welcome as well. So it's the godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity. So notice that these are actually, the first couple of ones have to do with just you internally. Now this is kind of like working itself outwardly. Brotherly kindness, charity. What is charity? Well charity is just love, but it's love that kind of does something for someone else. And in our church we have plenty of opportunities to show love one for another. He said, where do I start? Well you grab the bulletin and you look at the list of expecting mothers. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. You have seven opportunities. There's seven opportunities on here to be a blessing to someone in our church. We are not lacking opportunity for you to show charity to someone else. He said, well they haven't had their baby yet. I'll send them a meal later. You could be a blessing to them now. Ladies who are expecting, sometimes they need some help. And what's wrong with just being available, just saying hey, I just want to let you know if you need anything, if you need encouragement. Hey, if someone is sick in our church, be there for them. Give them a call or let them know that you can bring some food to them, be a friend to them, be charitable towards them. Have love towards your brothers and sisters in Christ. The Bible says, as we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, but especially in the household of faith. According to the Bible, we need to favor God's people more than anybody else. He says do good to everyone, but especially those of the household of faith. You should favor those of the household of faith so much the more. So have charity. Have charity towards the ladies who are expecting. When they have a baby, hey go out of your way to bring them a meal. I try to emphasize that all the time because I think that's important. When they have a baby, show up with a meal or send them a gift card. Hey, if you hear about someone having financial woe, financial trouble, take them out for a meal. Slip them a $5 bill if you're broke too. Just be like, I'm in debt too. Just be there for people is what I'm saying. Have charity. So the Christian life is not just what you change internally, it's what you're actually doing outwardly as well. God counts that a part of the Christian life. How well you treat your brothers and sisters in Christ. And look, if you have a hard time being social in our church, this is a great place to practice. I was going to say socialism. This is a great place to practice being social. This is not a great place to practice This is a great place to practice. Why? Because it's your brothers and sisters in Christ. You can go talk to people. They're not going to judge you. They're not going to be like that was a stupid joke or who are you or whatever. They'll do that to one another. Ray will do that with Cody and vice versa or something like that because they know each other. But new people, we don't do that to new people. And so show charity. Be kind. And look what it says in verse 8. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hey, if you want to keep learning the Bible, if you want God to reveal his unsearchable riches in the word of God, you have to do these things. Because God is only concerned with giving more truth to those who are actually exercising that truth, the truth that they already have. So if you keep doing these things, God will make sure that you're not barren, you're not unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 9. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Go with me if you would to Philippians chapter 2. Hold your place there. So he says if you don't have these things, you're blind. Now we think of someone who's blind in the Bible, someone who's just not saved. But you know Christians can get blind too? Some Christians can get blind. Why? Because they're not exercising their spiritual virtues that they're supposed to be and it's causing them to have dim vision. Look what it says in Philippians 2. By the way, it says he's blind and cannot see afar off. Look at Philippians 2, 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. So someone who's not looking on the things of others is someone who is blind and cannot see afar off. These are the people that only focus on their problems. They focus on themselves. Woe is me, I have problems, I have issues. But hold on a second, if you're practicing brotherly kindness, if you're practicing charity, you'll be able to see afar off and recognize there's people out there who have worse problems than you. If you stop trying to take care of yourself and you start taking care of others who are far off, most of the time those problems dissipate or they'll minimize more than they looked before. So he says look not every man on his own things. Don't focus on yourself, me, myself, and I. Look every man on the things of others. Go back to 2 Peter chapter 1. I think of Eli, for example. You don't have to turn to 1 Samuel 3, 1 says, and the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days and there was no open vision. So God was not revealing anything to Eli. No open vision. And it came to pass at that time when Eli was laid down in his place and his eyes began to wax dim that he could not see. So if I were to say this from a physical perspective, I would say he had diabetes. I'm serious, right? Because he was extremely overweight. So overweight that the way he dives by falling backwards and breaking his neck because his weight just fell upon him. The guy was a major glutton, extremely heavy. His sons were reprobates and they were gluttons and it says that his eyes began to wax dim that he could not see which is a sign of diabetes. But you know what? This is also a sign of a bad Christian because of the fact that the Bible says verse 3, and ere the lamp of God went out into the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was and Samuel was laid down to sleep. He could even pay attention to what God was doing in Israel because why? His eyes had waxed dim. And that can happen to any one of us where you lose spiritual discernment because you're not adding these virtues to your life. We want to be people who have discernment. We want to be like the sons of Issachar who have understanding of the times. But that only comes as we exercise these virtues here. You understand? Don't be some gluttonous, diabetes filled Eli who is so consumed with himself and feeding himself and doing that which pertains to his flesh that now he can't even see afar off. He's blind. And he suffered greatly because of it. His sons became reprobates. He died like a really embarrassing death. That was an embarrassing death folks. How many of you have ever fallen backwards from a chair and died? Has anybody? Probably not. This guy fell back and snapped his neck because he was so heavy. That's an embarrassing way to die. He says 2 Peter 1 verse 9 says, But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling an election, sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. What does he mean by calling an election? It's not referring to your salvation. Calling an election is the fact that he hath called us unto virtue. The calling to live a life that's holy, to be partakers of the divine nature, that's the calling an election. So if we give diligence to these virtues, we'll never fall from that. He says, For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly in the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Go to Revelation chapter 2 and this will be our last verse. What's the sermon today? Hey, if you take two steps forward and you take one step back, that's fine. Hey, if you take two steps forward and you take two steps back, okay. Just keep stepping forward though. Don't become blind, don't become spiritually gluttonous, don't become unfruitful, don't become barren in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because you're neglecting these particular things. Well, I thought to learn the Bible you have to memorize the entire book of Revelation. I thought I had to memorize the Bible to really know the Bible. No, actually God tells us that we need to hide it in our hearts. Yeah, that is true. But he also says we need to be doers of the word. And that's typically when he reveals a lot of his deep truths is when you actually begin to apply the Bible. That's why Calvinists don't know squat about the Bible. They quote all kinds of Bible but they don't know anything about the Bible because they don't do any of it. And they're not saved. Look at Revelation 2 14, and unto the angels of the church and the lay of the sea and is right, these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou art cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Look what it says here. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou are wretched and miserable and poor and, look what it says, and blind and naked. I counsel thee by me, gold, triad, and the fire, that thou mayest be rich and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of dying nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see. And I'm not going to preach through what this is specifically referring to other than the fact that when he says to purchase the white raiment is referring to the fact to live righteously. Put the Christian life into practice so that you can see the error of your ways, so you can see correctly. What's the sermon today? The sermon is simply this, keep taking steps forward, don't be discouraged if you take a step back, and keep adding to your faith virtue, add to your faith knowledge and temperance and brotherly kindness and patience and charity. Keep doing these things in order to be an effective Christian, to make the steps necessary to succeed and to reach those goals. Amen? Father, we thank you so much for your word. Help us, Lord, to continue to add virtue to our lives, Lord, righteousness to our lives, and not to undermine just these simple practical tips that the Bible gives us. Lord, I don't want to be barren nor unfruitful, Lord, and I don't want to be blind. I want to be able to perform at my best as a Christian, to operate at 100% capacity, and Lord, in order for me to do so, I need to make sure that I'm continuously adding to my faith virtue and that I'm diligent about these things. And I pray, God, that you help us all, Lord, to do so. We love you and we thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Song number 175. Song number 175. It's just like His great love. Song number 175. All together, nice and strong on that first verse. A friend I have called Jesus, whose love is strong and true, and never fails, now where tis tried, no matter what I do, I've sinned against his love of his, but when I now to pray, confessing all my guilt to him, the sin clouds roll away. It's just like Jesus, to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, to keep me day by day. It's just like Jesus, all along the way. It's just like His great love. Sometimes the clouds of trouble be dimmed the sky above. I cannot see my Savior's face. I doubt His wondrous love. I need from Heaven's mercy see, beholding my despair. In many bursts the clouds between, and it shows me He is there. It's just like Jesus, to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, to keep me day by day. It's just like Jesus, all along the way. It's just like His great love. When sorrows, clouds, or take me, and break upon my head. When life seems worse than useless, and I were better dead. I take my grief to Jesus then, nor do I go in vain. For heavenly hope He gives that cheers. Like sunshine after rain, it's just like Jesus, to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, to keep me day by day. It's just like Jesus, all along the way. It's just like His great love. Oh, I could sing forever of Jesus, love divine. Of all His care and tenderness, for this for life of mine. His love is in and over all, and when heaven waves open, when Jesus whispers, be still, and rolls the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus, to keep me day by day. It's just like Jesus, all along the way. It's just like His great love. Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed.