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Hey, man, I was just listening to this chapter. This is such a great chapter in the Bible. There's so much awesome stuff in this chapter. We're actually going to look at, of course, this is a famous chapter where we're looking at Elijah facing down the 450 prophets of Baal, but we're actually going to look at the conversation and the characters at the beginning of the chapter in 1 Kings 18 this morning. We're going to look at 1 Kings 18. We're going to look at verse number one. We're going to look at the story of Elijah and this man named Obadiah. Elijah is visiting with this man. He runs into this man, Obadiah. Now, Obadiah, there's lots of Obadiahs in the Bible. There's a few different Obadiahs. The Obadiah, the minor prophet, Obadiah is not this Obadiah. That was a prophet of the nation of Judah at a different time than this Obadiah. This Obadiah was a governor, a leader, a ruler underneath King Ahab in the northern kingdom of Israel. Remember, we have the northern kingdom of Israel at this point, and we have the lower kingdom of Judah. The nation of Israel has split with Rehoboam and Jeroboam, and we have this king of the northern kingdom of Israel named Ahab who is ruling at this time. If you remember, I've taught on this before, but the northern kingdom never had a good king. They were all wicked kings. It was all this treachery. It was all these different dynasties, all these different families that ruled the northern kingdom of Israel, and none of the kings were good. They were all bad from Jeroboam all the way to the end of the northern kingdom of Israel. Keep that in mind when we look at who Ahab is and what God thinks about Ahab in this chapter. Elijah runs into this man. There's a famine going on in the land, and Obadiah is going and doing some bidding for Ahab in this story, but there's been a famine that's been going on for years, so it's a dire situation. Obadiah and Ahab have gone in different directions. They're looking for grass. They're looking for food, for livestock. Let's look down at verse number one. Let's just get an introduction before we even begin the sermon this morning. The Bible says, and it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, go show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth. Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab, and there was a sore famine in Samaria. This is in the northern kingdom. Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly, for it was so when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord. Jezebel is Ahab's wife, who is quite possibly the most wicked woman in the entire Bible, but I guess that's a story for another time, but she cut off, and it kind of gives you an idea of who she is right here. She cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them 50 by 50 in a cave and fed them with bread and water. So when it says she cut off the prophets of the Lord, it means she went and she killed all the Lord's prophets, and this man Obadiah, the Bible, the narrator of the Bible here, is telling you that Obadiah hid a hundred of them, and he saved a hundred of them by hiding them in two different caves. Look at verse number five. And Ahab said to Obadiah, go into the land unto all fountains of water and unto all brooks, peradventure. We might find grass to save horses and mules alive that we may lose not all the beasts, saying, hey, maybe we'll find something here, is what Ahab is talking about. So this kind of gives you an idea, like the kind of, you know, we hear about droughts today, right? I mean, oh, we're in a drought in California last year or whatever, you know, but they're literally worried about losing all the animals in this country. They're worried about all the animals dying and they're looking for feed. Typically, in droughts, whether it be a small drought or a big drought where I come from, a drought or how much rain there is literally drives the price of hay. It drives the price of that feed for the animals. That's what you're seeing happen here. But this is a drought. They're worried about all the animals dying. I'm reminded of, in my lifetime, I can remember the droughts in the Midwest, particularly in North Dakota where I was from, in the 1980s. In the 1980s, at the beginning of the 1980s, it was kind of this time of drought in the beginning of the 1980s, and then like the three years, or I think maybe it was three or four years, at the end of the 80s. But it was a very stressful time. It was a very stressful time. People were losing their farms. People were either losing their farms or they were worried about losing their farms. I mean, even, you know, if you talk to somebody that grew up at that time, that was a child at that time, they can even remember the stress of their parents at that time. Just going through very difficult times, it changed families. It changed ownership of properties. You know, it's hard for Americans, as we read, the reason I'm mentioning this is because it's hard for Americans to imagine actual hardship like this. Where, like, you're literally worried about losing all your animals. You're worried about nothing to eat. You know, all those things. Go back to chapter 16. Let's look at why this is happening. It's important that we recognize this in the Bible because, you know, we may have to imagine hardship more earlier than you think we might. Look at 1 Kings chapter 16 and look at verse 33. Why was this happening? Why was this hardship going on, you know, in the kingdom of Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel? Look at 1 Kings chapter 16. Look at verse number 33. It says, an Ahab made a grove. Now, a grove is like an area for false idols where you go and you worship false gods. That's what these groves are. So when you see kings tearing down groves and building groves, like, building a grove is bad. It's like you're building false idols. Tearing down groves is good. It says Ahab made a grove and Ahab did more. Now, what did I tell you about the kings of Israel? There wasn't any good kings of Israel. They were all evil and all bad. And there had been several before Ahab. There had been two different dynasties already at this point. It said Ahab made a grove and Ahab did more. To provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger all, than all the kings of Israel that were before him. So the Bible is saying here, this is why they're going through this drought. This is why they're going through this famine is because Ahab, amongst this group of wicked people, wicked kings that had already existed, he was the worst. That's what the Bible is saying here. Okay, so that is why, that is why, look, we ought to take note of that. We ought to take note of that because, you know, in my opinion, if we, you know, if we take anything from the Bible as far as trends, especially the Old Testament, we should take this. We should take this. And we're going to find out sooner rather than later in this country, if we keep walking away from the word of God, what hard times actually are. That's a free lesson before we even start the sermon this morning. Let's go back to the story. Look at verse number six, verse number six. So they're in a very difficult time of real famine. Really, animals are starving. People are starving. So they divided the land between them to pass through it. They're looking for brooks. They're looking for springs of water. They're looking for anywhere that has water coming up from the ground, any river that's not dried up so they can get, they can bring the animals to this place. Okay. So he divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went one way by himself and Obadiah went another way by himself, looking for grass. And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him and he knew him. And he fell on his face and said, art thou that my Lord, art thou that my Lord Elijah? And he answered him and said, I am. Go tell thy Lord, behold, Elijah is here. And he said, what have I sinned that thou wouldst deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me? As the Lord God livid, there is no nation or kingdom whither my Lord hath not sent to seek thee. And when they said he is not there, he took an oath of the kingdom and nation that they find thee not. So what Obadiah is saying here is that Ahab has been hunting for you. Ahab knows why this famine is happening and he's been hunting for the actual man of God. He's been looking for Elijah and Obadiah is saying, if I go back to King Ahab and tell him that, oh yeah, I saw him and I don't actually bring you to him, he's going to kill me right where I stand. Look at verse 11. And now thou sayeth, go tell thy Lord, behold, Elijah is here. It shall come to pass as soon as I am gone from thee, that the spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not. And so when I come and tell Ahab he cannot find me, he shall slay me, but I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth. So a couple of things here. He basically says that Ahab is trying to come after you to do you harm. He's not your friend. So the spirit of the Lord is going to take you away. As soon as I leave, you're going to be gone and then I'm going to be dead. That's what Obadiah is saying. Now Obadiah begins to make a plea to Elijah because Elijah told him, go tell Ahab that I'm right here. Obadiah, there's a few things he doesn't know about what Elijah is up to and we'll talk about that in a few minutes. But now Obadiah begins to make a plea unto Elijah. This is his first attempt. He says, I'm a God-fearing man and I have been since I was a young child. So he's pleading to Elijah to not send him away and not, you know, not basically get him killed. He's pleading for his life. But here's the funny thing about Obadiah. He's trying to sell himself to Elijah in this way, but who's he working for now is the question. And that's what we're going to look at a little bit this morning. Look at verse number 13. He makes a second plea. He says, was it not told my Lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord? How I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water. And now thou sayest, go tell thy Lord, behold Elijah is here and he shall slay me. Again, he's like, he's going to kill me. He's going to kill me. He's going to kill me. And so then he says, he brings up what the Holy Spirit, the narrator of the Bible already told us in this story in a few verses before how he saved these hundred prophets several years ago. So he is basically telling Elijah, you know, I've been a God fearing man since I was just a little kid. And he says, don't haven't you heard about this thing that I did back then? And he's doing it in the context of begging for his life to Elijah. Look at verse number 15. And Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him today. Elijah tells him I won't leave. Elijah tells him I will not go anywhere. Look at first Kings chapter 18, verse number 16. Now Obadiah leaves. He says, Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him and Ahab went to meet Elijah. So Ahab didn't kill Obadiah. Elijah agreed that he would stay. And Ahab goes to meet Elijah. And this brings in the story of the showdown with the prophets of Baal. All right, we'll get to that story in just a few minutes, just a little bit. We're not really going to focus on that story this morning. But the title of the sermon this morning is Obadiah's plea. Obadiah's plea. You say Obadiah is pleading with Elijah here to basically save his own life. He is pleading with Elijah, telling him all these things that he's done since his youth. Years ago he did this great thing. He's pleading with Elijah to save his own life. Turn to first Kings chapter 18 in verse number 22, just a few verses down. It's interesting though because Obadiah is trying to convince Elijah that he is a God-fearing man. But it's interesting when Elijah stands up to do the showdown against the prophets of Baal. Look what he says in verse number 22. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I, only remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. Now look, I don't know this for sure, but I'm wondering where Obadiah was at this point. Because Elijah seems to think that he is all alone. He seems to think in this verse and chapters later and many verses later that he is the only one left. Where is Obadiah there? Obadiah was not a nobody. He was a governor in the land. Where is he supporting Elijah? Where is he supporting the man of God? He was quick when it was trying to defend himself and save his own life. He was quick to go up and show or tell Elijah how great he was, how great he used to be. Yet where is he now when the man of God feels alone? So that's what we're going to look at. We're going to look at lessons from Obadiah's plea this morning. The first one is this. Turn to Proverbs chapter 27. Proverbs chapter 27 and look at verse number 2. The first lesson that we need to take from Obadiah's plea is this. Let another praise thee. The Bible clearly says that you should not praise yourself. You say well why? I mean good things are good things. I mean if I go and I do good things for the Lord, why should I not tell people about that? The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 27 and verse number 2 it says let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth. The Bible just says don't do it. Don't praise yourself. It says a stranger and not thine own lips. Translation don't boast. Don't praise yourself. I mean it's just a very clear command in the Bible in the book of Proverbs to not go and praise yourself which is ironic that you know claiming that you have to do good works to be saved is literally called boasting in the Bible. But the Bible says even beyond that just don't praise yourself. I mean that's a pretty general, pretty big umbrella that the Bible puts over you. Don't praise yourself. But you're like hey, I do good stuff. This is a tough one for people. This is a tough one for people because look, you do something good, you want people to know that you did something good. Like look what I've done. But the Bible says don't do it. You have to control yourself in those cases. Because the thing is the Bible is saying who's going to praise you here? Another man, other people, even a stranger the Bible says will praise you. It says let other people do it. So what the Bible is saying is that people will know what you did. Even the narrator of the Bible, even the Holy Spirit mentions the good thing that Obadiah did. Even the Holy Spirit mentions that Obadiah had fear for the Lord. Obadiah did not need to go and tell Elijah that. Elijah knew that. The Holy Spirit knew that. Turn to Psalm chapter 75. And this is the point I'm trying to get you to understand this morning on this first point is that you don't have to praise yourself because the person that is important is God, God sees. God sees what you did, what you have done. Look at Psalm chapter 75 and look at verse number 6. It's not like you're going to go do a bunch of work for the Lord and God's going to miss it. God's going to be like, oh, I was looking over here. For adventure I was sleeping. I love that part in the Bible when he's talking about Baal. Because there is no Baal. Baal's fake. And Elijah, he's like, he's a trash talker. I mean, he's trash talking to false God, right? And he's like, oh, they're all cutting themselves and jumping up and down like, oh, you know, trying to get Baal to show up. And he's like, maybe your God is sleeping. Our God doesn't sleep. The one true God doesn't sleep. He doesn't miss anything. Look at Psalm chapter 55. Look at verse number 6. He's like, I did all these great things. I went to work and I did this great project and I had these great ideas. And I mean, I just have to like tell people that these were my ideas. No, you don't. You don't have to tell. As a matter of fact, you shouldn't tell anyone. Why? Look at Psalm chapter 75 and verse number 6. I mean, first of all, we could just take Proverbs chapter 27. This is what we should do. If this was a sermon on not praising yourself, we would just read Proverbs chapter 27 verse number 2, where it says, let another man praise thee and then we would pray. That's it. That's what it should take. It should take us reading the Bible, listening to what God clearly says, doing it and moving on with our life. But God even gives us, you know, but what about the stuff that I did? Look at Psalm chapter 75 and verse 6. It says, for promotion come from neither the east nor from the west nor from the south. You know what the Bible is saying here? It's like men don't promote you. Men on this earth don't promote you. Your boss at work doesn't promote you. People that see your work don't promote you. But God is the judge. He put it down one and he set up another. This is why the the truly great men in the Bible, like Daniel, like Joseph, what Daniel did some amazing things. But the very first thing that he did to the king, as soon as the king was like, that's amazing. That's unbelievable. He's like, praise to God. That's the only way I did it. God. That's how Daniel got promoted. Daniel, Daniel got, he rose from a nothing child to the second in command of two empires. An empire, I mean, just think about this for a second. An empire, the Persian Empire, literally comes in and destroys the Babylonian Empire. And they're like, yeah, we're keeping this guy though. And not only are we keeping this guy, we're putting him in charge of what? Of everything. I mean, that's impressive. How did he do it? Glory to God. That's how he did it. He didn't praise himself. He just gave all glory to God. Don't worry about men. Don't worry about men. Like, at all. That's what the Bible is saying. That's what we can take away. That's the first thing. Let another man praise thee. If somebody else praises you, say thank you. Say, I appreciate that. Let another man do it. Don't do it yourself. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter seven. Here's a second lesson from Obadiah's plea. So the first one is just, I mean, don't praise yourself. It's just a command in the Bible. Just don't do it. Let other men do it and God sees what you do. God sees what you do. He's got your rewards for what you deserve in heaven. He's the judge. He's a righteous judge. He's not going to miss anything. He's not going to make a mistake. There's not going to be a time when you're in heaven and God's like, oh, I forgot about that, that you did. That's not going to happen. All right. He sees everything. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter seven. Here's the second lesson from Obadiah's plea right here. The second lesson is this. Obadiah, he goes to Elijah. He's literally working for the most wicked king in the northern kingdom's history at that point. And he goes to Elijah and he's telling Elijah, but these things that I did. Trying to just, first of all, he's trying to promote himself to Elijah, which he should not be doing, but he's talking about these things that he did in the past. So the second point is this. What are you currently doing? What are you currently doing? And then just a few hours later or a day later or whenever that time is when Elijah is literally standing up there and feels alone, where's Obadiah at that point? He's nowhere to be found. Past accomplishments are great. Past accomplishments are awesome. Nobody is downplaying what Obadiah did with those prophets. He saved a hundred people. He saved a hundred men of God. That's a big deal. Nobody is downplaying that. But somebody who is constantly referencing past things, this is a sign that they have no current things. It's a definite sign that they have no current things. Are you in Ecclesiastes chapter 7? Look at verse number 8. Let me explain to you the entire book of Ecclesiastes this morning. Look at this verse right here in Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Look at verse number 8. The Bible says, better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. And the patient spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Think about this statement. The Bible is putting very little emphasis on what you have done. And it's saying that the most important thing is what you are currently doing. You say, why? Why is that? I mean, why is it that I've done these great things in the past and God is saying, yeah, that's not really that important. What's important is what you're doing now. But you're like, those things were great. I mean, let's say, for example, that I got saved and I started soul winning and I went soul winning for two years. And I was just a diehard soul winner. I was going soul winning every chance I could get. I was going to every missions trip that I could go on. I was just like, I was just this crazy soul winner. And I'm just like, I'm going to get as many people saved as I possibly can. And I won dozens, maybe even hundreds of people to the war. People that would have gone to hell are now going to go to heaven because I decided to go soul winning for two years. I mean, that does that mean nothing? No, it doesn't mean nothing. Those rewards are there. See, the Bible clearly teaches that we will be rewarded in heaven for the profitable things that we do for the kingdom of heaven. That's a sermon for another time, but that's just very clear doctrine in the Bible. I personally, that doesn't motivate me. I'm still pretty excited that I'm saved and not going to hell. I'm still pretty excited that I got saved and that I'm not going to go to hell and that I'm still pretty much motivated by that and like, hey, I better go and tell people how to not go to hell. But those rewards are there. If I just went soul winning for two years and then I stop, those rewards are there. They're not going anywhere. They're laid up for me. The reason Ecclesiastes chapter seven and verse number eight is saying that the end is better than the beginning is very simple. This isn't a two year war. An analogy would be this. Let's say you have a general. Let's say you have a general who's fighting a war. This general is fighting a war and let's say that this war, maybe he doesn't know this, but let's just say the reality of the situation is the war is going to go on for another 20 years. This war is going to, this general is going to be in charge of this war and he has to fight this war for 20 more years. Now what if there was some soldier that had fought for him, you know, last year that had retired or whatever and was just back in his hometown, you know, going around just boasting about how he fought in this war for two years and then he retired. I mean, I'm sure at some point, I'm sure if you ask that general, that general would say, yeah, I did appreciate, you know, Joe or whatever that he fought for me for those two years, but the general's main concern is the battle in front of him. The general's main concern is that he's got to wage this war for an additional two decades. This is why Ecclesiastes chapter 7 in verse number 8 is saying that the end is the most important thing, because that general who's fighting, look, this Christian battle, this spiritual war that we're in, this is like the infinity war right here. It's like the everlasting war. It's the war. It doesn't end in a year. It doesn't end in two years. All that matters is the people that are saved right now in this war. Hey, it's great that some people got saved last week, but what matters today to the general of this battle is tomorrow. Go to Luke chapter 9. This is the point of Ecclesiastes. The point of Ecclesiastes is what matters is now. What matters is what's happening now. What's happening tomorrow? Look at Luke chapter 9 in verse number 62. This is why Jesus says things like this. This is why Jesus says things like this. He says, look at verse 62, Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. What is he saying? What is he saying? He's not saying you become unsaved. He's saying this, this is the general speaking right here. This is the general speaking. He's saying this is an everlasting war and I need soldiers who are looking forward, not soldiers who are constantly like, you know, wandering off, just looking back there, taking a break and talking about all the great things that they did or whatever. Just stop doing great things. Jesus is saying this is an everlasting fight. As long as the earth remains, this fight is on. That's why Jesus is saying forward is what matters. Looking forward, hand to the plow, continuing is what matters. Turn to James chapter 2. It just reminded me of the statement in James chapter 2. James chapter 2 is talking about your works. What do your works have to do with this Christian life? You know, should we have works? Yes, we should have works. The works that we have mean that we're in, we're engaged in this fight, that we're continuing this fight. They don't save us. They make us profitable to other people. They mean that we're in the war, that we're soldiers that are still in the army, that we're still going out and we're fighting the battle, this everlasting battle for people's souls. Look at James chapter 2. Look at verse number 18. He says, yea, a man say thou hast faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without works and I'll show thee my faith by my works. You know what he's saying? You go back to your hometown and you brag and you boast about how you fought in the war for two years. You know what? I'm going to keep fighting. That's what this verse is saying. This verse is saying, hey, I'm going to show you my faith by staying in the army. I'm not going to show you, I'm not going to go back and sit back and retire from the army and tell everybody how awesome I was 10 years ago and tell everybody how the great things I did 20 years ago. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 2. This is the lesson folks of Ecclesiastes right here. This is the lesson. This is why Solomon, he starts out Ecclesiastes in just the first couple of chapters and he says in verse number 12, notice he's going through and Solomon is kind of doing this, but he's doing it to prove a point in Ecclesiastes chapter 2. He's talking about all the things that he did and all the things that he gained and all that. You know what? You know what he's saying? Look at verse number 12. He's saying, look at verse number, I'm sorry, verse number nine. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 2 in verse number nine. Look what he says. He says, so I am great. Is that what he said? No, he said I was great. He said I was great. And then he goes into this great list of all these things that he did and all this. But Solomon gets this point because that's why he wrote Ecclesiastes. He wrote Ecclesiastes so we don't say I was great. So we understand that he writes several chapters later that the end is better. It doesn't matter how great you were. The point is, hey, what are you doing now? What are you doing now? This right here, somebody that is constantly looking back, looking back, turn to Proverbs 28. Turn to Proverbs chapter 28. Somebody that is constantly looking back. Here's another interesting point. Another interesting point about Obadiah. This is a telltale sign of a backslidden Christian right here. Somebody that is constantly looking back at things that they did because they have no current things that they're doing. Here's another interesting point about Obadiah. Look at Proverbs chapter 28 and look at verse number one. The Bible says the wicked flee when no man pursueth. You know what? Obadiah wasn't in any danger at all, ever. But this is somebody that is backslidden and is far away from God. They're just afraid of things. There's no danger and they're afraid anyway. Look at verse number one of 1 Kings chapter 18. It says it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, go show thyself unto Ahab. Here Obadiah is worried that he's going to run away. He was looking for Ahab. It was the opposite of his concern. Yet he's backslidden, he's worried, he's finding lions in the street where there are none. He's fearing where there is nothing to fear. That's a telltale sign of a backslidden Christian because why? Because if they had works now they wouldn't be talking about the past. That's the main thing. They wouldn't need to talk about anything because you would just see what they're doing. You would just see what is happening in their lives. This is also why people say, it's been said by Pastor Jimenez, I'm sure I've said it at some point, but there's no cruise control in the Christian life. It's not like, hey, I'm good now. I'm going to set the cruise. No, you're either going forward or you're sliding backwards because if you're going out and you're doing those works now, if you're doing what God wants you to do now, you're going to be growing in your Christian life. That's literally the definition of forward motion in the Christian life. Otherwise, you're just going to slide backwards in the Christian life. There's no, hey, I'm going to hit cruise and go on in my life. Growth is what's going to happen if you're doing the works now. I mean, people will say though, a lot of people will say, and I've seen this actually happen several times, a lot of people will say, okay, Pastor, this is a forever war. I get it. But, you know, here's the thing, like, I just don't want to fight anymore. I don't want to be in the army anymore. You know, I've got some exploits. So, I mean, a lot of people, I think, think this way when they get out of the Christian life. They think, you know what, I did some stuff. I got some piles in heaven and I understand the Bible says the end is better than the beginning. I agree with everything you're saying. But most Christians, most Christians aren't going to get anybody saved. I mean, that's true. So I went and I went soul winning for two years and I got dozens of people saved. I'm good. I'm not trying to rule heaven. You know, I'm not trying to, like, get to heaven and have God be, like, you're the number one Christian. You're the number one servant. You're in charge of the most cities. I'm just not trying to be that person. I think a lot of people think this way. They look at, you know, they look at, you know, going out soul winning and they look at the vast majority of people that get saved. That's the answer. The answer is people get saved and then, you know, they don't just, like, change their life and get in church and just accept Christian standards and just start reading the Bible and just start doing what God wants them to do. It's not that they didn't get saved. It's just that the vast majority of Christians aren't going to do much. Some aren't going to do anything for the Lord in their life. So that guy that did, you know, that guy or that gal that was in it for two years and got several people saved, you're like, hey, I'm in the 90th percentile. I'm good. That's good enough for me. I mean, because the vast majority of Christians have no works. I mean, not no works, but I mean, a vast majority of Christians don't, are on that dead faith spectrum. Let's put it that way. They're not on that perfect faith spectrum. So you say, you know, I'm good. Why would I, I got a few saved. I got into church for a bit. I'm in the top X percentile. I'm not trying to win any awards here. You know, I'm just going to chill now. Say, pastor, why can't I just do that? Well, I got some questions for people like that. And the questions are this. Turn to Luke chapter 12. I have several questions for somebody that is thinking like that because I've seen several people make mistakes and I'm pretty sure that was their mindset. Like, you know what? I was pretty good. And guess what? Two year guy, those rewards are there. No matter what you do, you're not going to be unsaved. No matter what you, you know, backslide into, you're not, God's not going to take away your salvation. But I just got some questions for somebody that's getting this mindset. And the first one is this. Look at Luke chapter 12. Let me turn there myself. Look at Luke chapter 12 in verse number 47. The first question that I would ask that person is this. Does your life end tomorrow? You say, well, what do you mean? Well, look at Luke chapter 12 in verse number 47. This particular question really drove a lot of personal decisions in my life. This particular question right here. Look at verse number 12 in verse number 47. These are red words. If you have a red light or Bible, Jesus is speaking here. The Bible says, and that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. Here's the problem about getting into a good church and doing what the Lord wants you to do for two years and then getting out of it. And I actually told my wife this when we were, I can remember the conversation, we were getting ready to move to California. You say, that was such a great thing that you did by moving to California. I'd like to tell you that it was like just a decision that was just like we're moving to California and there was no doubts and we just moved. There was a lot of doubts in the coming weeks. And what ultimately drove me was some of these questions that I'm going to list for you. The first one is this. I told my wife, there was a walk that we took on the farm and it was this half-mile dirt road frontage road into the farm and my wife and I would go on a walk every night and I told my wife as I was just having a lot of doubts, I would always come back to this. I would always come back to this and the answer is Luke chapter 12 and verse number 47. I would always come back to this. I told my wife, I said, you just can't unknow this though. Once you know this, you can't unknow it. It's that when I looked at all the things, the career, the material things, the options in this world and just dropping all that and walking away, it was scary. And there was parts of you that was like, what are you doing? But ultimately it was this question, my life didn't end the next day. My life didn't end that day and you can't unknow what you know. You can't forget if you've been out so many, especially for two years, you can't unknow the fact that that's what God has ordained you to do in your life. You can't just, that's not going to just leave you. So you're going to have to live with that. I mean, aside from the fact that God's basically calling out severe chastisement for you here, you're going to have to live with that personally, that you know the truth. Let me ask you another question. Let me ask you another question for somebody that's just like, you know what, I did some good stuff and I'm just going to chill out. Does your marriage end tomorrow? I actually think a lot of people actually probably do do this in marriage. If you look up marriages that end in divorce and you just look up how long those marriages last on average, it's about eight years. So you look at somebody that that went through a marriage and ended up in divorce, it was an average of eight years that it lasted. I mean, it's not like, that's not nothing. I mean, eight years is not just like, whatever. I mean, there was some effort put in there. But the problem is, when it comes to your marriage, the ending is definitely better than the beginning. Because if you want to stay married for the rest of your life, I mean, unfortunately, the Bible was so true. You know, whether or not people believe it is just true. The ending if you want to have a marriage that lasts for your entire physical life on this earth, what matters is the end. What matters is the effort that you put today. You're like, but I was a great husband. Two years ago, man, remember those two years that I really was like, I was just hitting the Bible. I was leading my family spiritually. It was like, remember that? You look back on that. What's that going to do for your marriage today? Obadiah? Your marriage doesn't end tomorrow, hopefully. The end of it is what matters. Not the beginning. Hey, you did some great stuff. You were a great husband two years ago. That's wonderful. I'm sure your wife appreciates that. But what she really cares about, what he really cares about is the wife you are, is the husband you are, the spiritual leader you are. That's what matters. That's what Ecclesiastes is talking about. Solomon is saying, it doesn't matter how great you were. What matters is how great you are. What you're doing now. How you're following now. Here's a good one. This is another one that really drove me personally. Do your duties as a parent end today or tomorrow? I'm going to be this great parent. I'm going to lead my kids. I'm going to teach my kids. I'm going to homeschool my kids. I'm going to teach my kids the Bible, like from that two to four age. I'm going to kill it from that two to four age, and then I'm out. I'm going to chill. What are you thinking, people that are thinking this stuff? That's not going to work. Why? Because when it comes to raising children, what matters is the end of a thing, not the beginning. Hey, you were a great parent when they were two to four. You can't call it a day. It's not going to work. If people just think things through, I think. God gave us a brain. If people just logically think things through according to what they already know and can't unknow, the Christian's life would be so much simpler and so much easier. How about this one? Turn to 2 Corinthians 6. How about the unsaved? Are they gone tomorrow? Turn to 2 Corinthians 6, and we'll land the plane here. Go to 2 Corinthians 6 and look at verse number 1. The ending is all that matters, folks, because we are the ones that are here now. Your wife is here now. Your children are here now. The unsaved of the world. Yeah, we got people saved last week, but the unsaved of the world are here with us now. Look at 2 Corinthians 6 and verse number 1. The Bible says, we then as workers together with him, see that we're working with him now, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain, for he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted. What is the time accepted? I wonder if the New Testament matches the Old Testament. And in the day of salvation, I have suckered thee. What is the day of salvation? What is the time accepted? What is the day of salvation? Look what it says. It says, now is the accepted time. And behold, now is the day of salvation. What about somebody that gets saved yesterday when they went out soul winning? Now is the day of salvation for everybody else. Now is the accepted time. See, Obadiah had to reference the past because he was currently working for the number one enemy of God now at that time. That's why he was referencing, look what I did back then, as he's this wicked servant of this wicked evil person now. The accepted time is now Obadiah. Literally a few hours later, the man of God standing up there by himself and the governor of the land is nowhere to be found. That day is what mattered. He's like, no, no, I fear God. No, no, I was great. Now is what matters. Now. Elijah was standing alone and all he had to reference was the past. So look, with everything in your Christian life, this is what you need to understand this morning. With everything in your Christian life, I'm sure, but I'm looking out at some soul winners. I know the people you've gotten saved. I know the difference you've made for the kingdom of heaven. I know it. I've been there. I stood next to you. But with everything in your Christian life, today is the day. So the question is, how are you doing in your Christian life today? That's what you have to ask yourself all the time. How am I doing today? God didn't miss anything. You know, the funny thing is I go out soul winning with brother Trevor and brother Jeff and brother Garrett and brother Max and all the different soul winners in this church. I've been out soul winning. Guess what? I haven't seen every single person you've gotten saved in your life. I haven't been there personally to see that. But guess what? God has. Those things are all taken care of. The Christian life, the accepted time for us as we do what? What does verse number one say? As we work together with him. The only time it matters is right now. I mean, and that's exciting to me. That's motivating for me. I'm glad that, you know, we did some stuff last week and the week before that. But that motivates me as a Christian. When I wake up in the morning and say, you know what, what's today gonna be like for the kingdom of heaven? What's today gonna be like in my Christian life? I bet you a lot of people would get a lot less people would get backslidden if that's how they thought. They just reset themselves like, hey, God saw that. Forward. Hand on the plow. Today. Today is all that matters. That's what Ecclesiastes is all about. That's what Solomon's trying to get across to us. Say, hey, don't be like me. Don't be like me and try to be all great. And then all of a sudden you're a train wreck at the end. And I got to sit here and tell you how great I was. Be great today. Do what you're supposed to do. Be working with Christ today. And ask yourself that every single day.