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you you you you you you you Well good morning everyone welcome to Mountain Baptist Church take your psalm books and turn to song number 23 Song number 23 in your psalm books we'll sing there is power in the blood and if you would stand If you would stand we'll sing song number 23 Would you be free from your burden of sin there's power in the blood power in the blood Would you are evil a victory when there's wonderful power in the blood? There is power power wonder working power in the blood of the lamb There is power power Wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb Would you be free from your passion and pride there's power in the blood power in the blood Come for a cleansing to Calvary's time. There's wonderful power in the blood There is power power Wonder working power in the blood of the lamb There is power power Wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb Would you be whiter much whiter than snow there's power in the blood power in the blood Sin stains are lost in its life-giving flow. There's wonderful power in the blood There is power power Wonder working power in the blood There is power power Wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb Would you do service for Jesus your king there's power in the blood power in the blood Would you live daily as praises to sing there's wonderful power in the blood? There is power power Wonder working power in the blood of the lamb There is power power Wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb All right, let's pray Heavenly Father Lord again We just want to thank you God for another Sunday Lord the last Sunday of The year and the Lord the last day of the year. I pray Lord that I just want to thank you God for everything You've done Lord through our church and through the members and the souls that were saved Lord Just we love you and are appreciative of everything You've given us all the blessings and all the mercy you bestow upon us each day again We love you bless the service today in Jesus name. Amen. All right, if you would take your mountain Baptist Song books mountain Baptist Psalms hymns and spiritual song books and turn to page number five Page Number five in your mountain Baptist song boss. We'll sing Psalm 81 page number five Sing aloud unto God our strength make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob Take a Psalm and bring hither the temporal the pleasant harp with the psalm to re- Blow up the trumpet in the new moon In the time appointed on our solemn feast day For this was a statute for Israel and a law of the God of Jacob This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony when he went down Through the land of Egypt where I heard a language that I understood not I removed his shoulder from the burden His hands were delivered from the pots Thou callest in trouble and I delivered thee I answered thee in the secret place of thunder I proved thee at the waters of Meribah See, Laher, O my people And I will testify unto thee O Israel, if thou would hearken unto me There shall no strange God be in thee Neither shall thou worship any strange God I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it But my people would not hearken to my voice And Israel would none of me So I gave them up unto their own hearts lost And they walked in councils O that my people hearken unto me And Israel had walked in my ways I should soon have subdued their enemies And turned my hand against their adversaries The haters of the Lord should have submitted Should have submitted themselves unto him But their time should have endured forever He should have fed them also With the finest of the wheat and with honey Out of the rock should I have satisfied thee Out of the rock should I have satisfied thee Amen, well welcome to Mount Baptist Church on this last day of 2023 and just some announcements here. First of all I would just say just pray for those that aren't feeling well. I know that a lot of families are dealing with sicknesses and stuff like that too. There's something going through my family where one kid's getting a fever and then the next kid and it's just that domino effect. But I know others have been dealing with similar things and so just being prayer there when it comes to sicknesses, health, all that stuff for our members here. And as far as the announcements go we have our normal services today. So we'll have our afternoon service at 4 p.m. Before that we'll have our soul winning time at 1 p.m. So if you want to go out soul winning meet up here a little before one o'clock we'll get teamed up and go out soul winning. And then the regional times on there just beyond the church group there as far as those times but Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday tentatively with the men that are leading those up. And then after the afternoon service we're going to have the Lord's Supper and so we're going to have that after the afternoon service today. And so your place is there if you want to be a part of that. And so and you know if you're a visitor we don't have like what I guess they call closed communion where it's only we don't have a register of our members anyway so when it comes to that. But basically obviously you know we always forewarn that you need to be saved and baptized and all that as far as to take the Lord's Supper. So but that being said if you're a visitor we're not going to reject you when it comes to taking the Lord's Supper there. Unless I just don't think you're saved you know and then what are you doing here? So but anyway so that being said we have that coming up here today and then Bible memory we do have a new chapter that we're going to be doing for the month of January and that's Genesis chapter one. Genesis chapter one I think this would be a good I mean we're starting off the new year it's kind of like the genesis of the year if you will you know the beginning. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and so I think this would be a good chapter to memorize anyway because it's the creation story so you can memorize the days in which everything was created and so Genesis chapter one will be our memory chapter for the month and then our memory verse for the week is first Timothy 4 13 till I come give attendance to reading the exhortation to doctrine and so shorter verse so should be one that everybody can memorize there and then this month we're going to do again the reading of the new testament challenge for the month of January so we're printing these off at the moment so you can pick up a copy of this. Basically it's just a checklist as far as what chapters you need to read each day in order to get through the whole new testament in a month so and I know a lot of people did it last year and then we'll have a prize for you if you finish it. Obviously it's the honor system because I'm not going to be at your house watching you read it and so you obviously have to be honest about that but you know so we'll believe you if you say you did it unless you're a child that can't read and then that point I'm not going to believe you so but um but anyway so that's we're going to be doing that this this month so you can get a start on that and so I think that's a good way to start off the year is to knock out reading through the new testament once already so um but that that'll be a good one there um and then and again we'll have those printed off we'll have them back there for you to pick up so you can take a checklist with you there and there's different ways to do it too so I think there's another there's another way to do it where it's not just like going straight through but more so where you have uh where you're in the gospels but then you're kind of reading some of the epistles and it'll kind of break it up that way so um if you have another way that you want to do it it doesn't really matter to me you don't have to do it to this I mean you could read it in any order that you want um but as long as you read it all um then we're good so um and then we'll think about what the prizes will be uh you know when we get to that point so um so right now you don't know what the prize is but you know what that is the case in a lot of cases when it comes to serving the lord you don't know what the prize is going to be so just do it anyway no but honestly I think that it'll be a good thing I'm sure everybody that did it last year doesn't regret it and even if you didn't make it all the way through the new testament but you maybe read halfway through or three quarters of the way through or whatever you got through I'm sure you don't regret that you know starting off the year with that kind of reading schedule so um and then uh birthdays brother luke is definitely this week so I mean all the bests are born in january I mean look at this brother luke I got abby got me brother wade I mean yeah so and I was born on the blizzard of 85 you know so it's just like you know that that old term come hell or high water I mean this was snow but oh yeah samuel's not on the list here well you know once you have five you just forget thanks mom hold on here I'll write him here it's brother anthony's fault really so he's still with us it's not up to me to remember these things so he's actually on the 30th so um so many know this but we went into the hospital on my birthday uh last year so um so now no one's no one's gonna care about my birthday at all because samuel it's gonna be overshadowed so it is what it is you know this is what you do for your children um so we will sing happy birthday to uh to brother luke um and then uh we'll get abby next time she's in so um and then uh no one no one had an anniversary no one wants to get married in january i don't know why here in west virginia you wouldn't want to get married in january um but uh pregnancies we have alyssa anastasia and tabby on the list there um and so being prayer there for them uh as we are coming into january with due dates and then also into february there so um i think that's about all i have for announcements that i can think of today so who's reading this morning brother david so brother david's going to be reading what do i have you reading luke's 13 luke 17 luke 17 um i know what i'm preaching on you know sometimes i forget what chapter i tell you to read um luke 17 uh but he's going to read that after we do happy birthdays and after we do singing and all that so all right take your songbooks and turn to song 29 song number 29 in your songbooks and we'll sing at the cross but before we do that my favorite time of the service we get to do birthdays brother luke how old are you brother 38 okay all right looking sharp bro you want to stand up come on nobody has excuse look at this new suit man oh man hold on one second there we go i need uh i'm gonna get the exact same suit okay if you all don't know i pretty much idolized luke okay you got elbow patches on that thing no that's too bad okay okay i just want to see what we're dealing with here all right well we'll sing happy birthday to you and uh it's tuesday tuesday right all right man want to sing happy birthday ready happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday god bless you happy birthday to you well happy birthday brother and we forgot the racine's anniversary yeah i mean i didn't i knew hey look at these guys these guys are sharp man i'll tell you what brother matt everybody look at brother matt dude he's looking sharp telling you what man um they were out of they were out they were pretending to be sick last week so they wouldn't have to wouldn't have to do the anniversary um how many years y'all been married six well happy happy happy anniversary to y'all and uh you got married on the 26th right so like the day after christmas you're just like man yeah yeah yeah yeah really that's that's that's thinking right there you're like i'm not gonna forget this let's do it after christmas all right well we'll get you both to stand up and we'll sing happy anniversary to you both all right here we go ready happy anniversary to you happy anniversary to you happy anniversary god bless you happy anniversary to you wait whoa whoa whoa whoa you gotta get a kiss you've been a part of this church for a long time okay all right well happy anniversary to you both and we'll sing uh page number 29 oh and did my savior bleed and did my sovereign die would he devote that sacred hand for such a worm as i at the cross at the cross where i first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away it was there by faith i received my sight and now i am happy all the day was it for crimes that i have done he groaned upon the tree amazing pity grace unknown and love beyond degree at the cross at the cross where i first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away it was there by faith i received my sight and now i am happy all the day well might the sun and darkness hide and shut his glories in when christ the mighty maker died for man the creature sin at the cross at the cross where i first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away it was there by faith i received my sight and now i am happy all the day by drops of grief canary pay the debt of love i own lord i give myself away tis all that i can do at the cross at the cross where i first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away it was there by faith i received my sight and now i am happy all the day all right if you would take your bibles and turn to luke chapter number 17 luke chapter number 17 we'll have brother david come read that for us luke 17 if you found your place amen and baba reads then said he unto the disciples it is impossible that finches will come but well unto him to whom they come who abetted him that a millstone were hanging about his neck and he cast into the sea and that he said offend one of these little ones take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if you repent forgive him and if you trespass against thee seven times in the day and seven times in a day turning into thee saying i repent thou shalt forgive him and the impossible said unto the lord increase our faith and the lord said if he had faith as a grain of mustard seed you might say unto the sycamore tree be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted in the sea and instead obey you the roots of you having a servant plowing and feeding cattle will say unto him by and by when he's come from the field go and sit down to meet and will not rather say to him make ready with eye makes up and gird thyself and save me till i have eaten and drunken and afterward thou shalt eat and drink doth he thank that servant because he did the things that recommended him i true not so likewise he when he shall have done all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants for we have done that which is our duty to do and it came to pass as he went to jerusalem that he passed through the midst of samaria and galley and as he entered into a certain village they met him ten men that were lepers which stood afar off and they lifted up their voices and said jesus master have mercy on us and when he saw them he said unto them go and show yourselves unto the priests and they came to pass that as they went they were cleansed and one of them when he saw that he was healed turned back and with a loud voice glorified god and fell down and fell down on his face at his feet giving him thanks and he was a samaritan and jesus answering said were not there ten were there not ten cleansed but where are the nine there are not found that they are not found that return to give glory to god save the stranger and he said unto him arise go thy way thy faith hath made thee whole and when he was demanded of the pharisees when the kingdom of gods had come he answered them and said the kingdom of god cometh not with observation neither shall they say lo here or lo there for behold the kingdom of god is within you and he said unto his disciples the days will come and shall desire to see one of the son one of the days of the son of man and he shall not see it and they shall say to you see here i see there go not after them nor follow them whereas the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven signeth even unto the other part under heaven so shall also the son of man be in this day but first must be the first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation and as it was in the days of nori so shall it be also in the days of the son of man they did eat they drank their married wives they were given in merits until the day that nori entered into the ark when the flood came and destroyed them all by cries also as it was in the days of wap they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded with the same day that lot went out of sodom it rang fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all even thus i'll be in the day when the son of man is revealed in that day he shall be upon the housetop he which shall be upon the housetop and his stuff in the house let him not come down to take it away and he that is in the field let him likewise not return back remember lots wife who so seek to save his life so lose it and he shall lose his life so preserve it i tell you in that night there shall be two men in one bed and the one taken and the other shall be left two women shall be grinding together the one shall be taken and the other left two men shall be in the field the one shall be taken and the other left and they answered and said to him railroad and he said to them wheresoever the body is there will the eagles be gathered together let's pray dear lord i thank you for this opportunity to come back to your house pray that you feel past with your spirit help us all to be edified in jesus name amen amen so you're there in luke chapter 17 and i want to preach a sermon especially going into the new year dealing with being a profitable servant being a profitable servant and there's a passage a little portion of the passage here in luke 17 dealing with this subject and there's a phrase there that it just always sticks out to me because this this term is only used once in your bible which is the term tro where jesus says i tro not and so this this i don't know about you but there's certain phrases that will just stick out in your mind because it's only used like one time but it just means like i think not you know it's basically just means like to think but it's just a different word to say the same thing but in verse seven here it says which of you having a servant plowing a field or plowing or feeding cattle will say unto him by and by when he has come from the field go and sit down to meet and will not rather say unto him make ready wherewith i may sup and gird thyself and serve me till i have eaten and drunken and afterward thou shalt eat and drink so first of all what's he saying here he's basically talking about the fact that if you have a servant that's out there working for you you don't come and feed them first the master gets fed first right the idea there is that uh the servant gets fed afterwards so that's first of all what's being stated there is that things are in its own order and obviously um dealing with just in general if you're just looking at this on a physical level of what you're dealing with out in the world but in verse nine here notice what it's talking about here as far as when that servant goes out and works in the field and then goes out and basically makes food and then obviously after his master eats then he eats verse nine it says doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him i tro not now meaning this is that he's saying i think not you know basically uh no right he doesn't need to thank you don't thank your employee for doing that which is his duty right it's kind of like that's just yeah you're getting paid for that right like when we're talking about it you know basically you get a wage for what you've done that's commanded of you and that is not you're not thanking them for doing what you're paying them to do right now obviously sometimes uh when when someone does do a service and you're paying them you thank them it's just cordial all that stuff not not saying like you go to the restaurant and then you just say nuts to you you did your job you know like i'm not going to thank you for anything or whatever um especially here in west virginia i think that uh you know at least in our kind of like culture uh there's a lot of uh maybe where people thank people where if you come from another area you'd be like why is everybody just thanking you you know why why is you know just kind of like that polite type of culture but in the end we're talking about like just in in general here um you know when i go to work you know or if you go to work does your boss just thank you for coming in be like thank you for now nowadays maybe it's different right nowadays because no one wants to work that everybody's just like thank you for coming to work you know thank you for actually doing something right like it's gotten so bad nowadays that yeah now you're kind of just thanking people for actually working um but uh it actually shouldn't be that way should be more of just expected like yeah you're coming you're getting paid um and it's not getting a bunch of gratitude for doing that which is your duty but notice what it says in verse 10 so likewise ye so he's basically using that as an example right this guy that's working out in the field coming in all that stuff he's using that as an example because it says so likewise ye when ye should have done all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do now unprofitable doesn't mean like bad right if you were to just do your duty you're not like in sin like that servant's not in sin because he went out worked in the field came in made food sat down ate later on right he's not saying he's sinful it's just the idea that he's not profitable now what does profitable mean okay so well just on a very easy way to kind of understand this is that let's say a company makes a certain amount of money right they they they produce a product or a service or something like that and they bring in revenue they bring in money money for what they've done profit is not the revenue it's not what you bring in because you have to subtract out all your expenses that could be overhead as far as salary so your employees and and what it costs you to actually perform that service materials taxes you know like all these different things that go into that uh expenses right or overhead as we'd call it so what you do to find out if you are profitable is you take your revenue and you subtract your overhead and if you have anything left over that's that's your profit margin okay now the break even is that basically you are producing you're bringing in exactly the amount that you know that you have that's the cost in order for it to be performed okay it has paying salaries you know what i mean and it's not saying like if you don't make any profit that that the company's going under it's just the fact that you're kind of a stalemate if you will right you're paying the bills you're paying you know you're you're getting a salary so your workers are able to you know provide for their homes and everything else but you're kind of just at this point of not you're not being profitable you're at this you know basically baseline uh break even point if you will and so it's not necessarily bad to be there but what's better to be profitable right to be making above and beyond so that you can invest that money into the company and the company can grow and you can do more and you know salaries can be increased you know all that stuff can happen if you're profitable right so just on a surface level he's you know when you look at this servant it's not like you're looking at the certain like this guy's wicked you know like this servant that's going out into the field working coming back he's not saying he's wicked he's just saying that he's just doing what he should do he's doing what he's commanded so when it comes to that let me show you a story here a parable in matthew 25 just to show you another place where what does it mean to be profitable is basically to gain above and beyond that which is you know basically invested if that makes sense so like i said it's basically going above and beyond so when you're talking about being a profitable servant you know what that means you're going above beyond that which is your duty okay and so i think the first step to being profitable is knowing what it means to be profitable right okay what does that even mean what you know how and then you get into like how do i be profitable how do i go about that but first of all knowing this is that if you're just if you're keeping the the straight up commandments like you're not killing people you're not stealing you're not lying you're not profitable you're just doing that which is your duty right that's not that's baseline it's not like you know you didn't kill somebody be like man you're really just killing it out well that i guess that would make sense wrong word you're not killing it right so matthew 25 over 14 uh when i think about being a profitable servant i think of this passage right here now in this case when it talks about the unprofitable servant it is talking about someone that's wicked and all of that but the idea here is that what we'll see is that it still gives that same idea of what's unprofitable and what's profitable okay and versa because i think sometimes when people think unprofitable they think of like a loss right it's like if you're if you have a loss that's that's more than being unprofitable you know because baseline is unprofitable above baseline or above your breakeven is profitable below that you have a loss right and that's yeah you're unprofitable but it's even worse than that okay so um matthew 25 verse 14 says the kingdom of heaven is is as a man traveling into a far country who calls his own servants and delivereth unto them his goods and unto one he gave five talents to another two into another one to every man according to his several ability and straightway took his journey then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents so what do we see here he's basically gaining more than what he had to begin with okay he's increasing it he's actually doubling it and same thing it says likewise he that had received two he also what gained other two so what what's profit but a gain in basically what you have as a company right and what you have in in you know in a business but in this case it's the in the master's goods right he has a certain amount of goods you're gaining it right you're you're increasing it above and beyond what it already was okay obviously if you lost the five towns right it doesn't show you that here it doesn't like give you that case if you lost the five talents i mean then then there's a loss there uh obviously not profitable but uh but that's kind of the idea you have gains and losses and then you have basically you're just not profitable um and so uh keep reading there says but he that had received one went and digged it digged in the earth and hid his lord's money after a long time the lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them and so he that had received five talents gave and brought other five talents saying lord thou deliverest unto me five talents behold i have gained beside them five talents more his servant said unto him well done thou good and faithful servant thou has been faithful over a few things i will make the ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy lord he also that had received two talents came and said lord thou deliverest unto me two talents behold i gained two other talents beside them his lord said unto him well done good and faithful servant thou has been faithful over a few things i will make the ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy lord then he which had received the one talent came and said lord i knew thee that thou art a hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed and i was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth lo there uh thou hast that is thine so let me ask you a question he didn't lose the talent he just didn't gain anything on it did he and then it goes on to say his lord answered and said to him thou wicked and slothful servant thou knewest that i reap where i sowed not and gather where i have not strawed thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers and then at my coming i should have received mine own with usury take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him that hath 10 talents for unto everyone that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath and cast ye what the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth now to kind of teach obviously this servant didn't have right to him that hath not shall be taken away that which he hath meaning this is that he didn't actually believe on christ you're dealing with a dichotomy of someone that's you have false servants and you have good servants and obviously there are cases where you have for example a good tree that brings forth good fruit and a corrupt tree that brings forth corrupt fruit and then you just have you know good trees that don't break forth any fruit right that aren't even mentioned in the picture right and then you have trees that aren't even good or corrupt right meaning this is that uh sometimes when you're dealing with these parables you're dealing with two extremes right you're dealing with like a saved person and a and a and a someone that's actually a child of the devil right and so in this case that's what you're dealing with there but it is showing you that if you just keep that what you have it's unprofitable right if you don't gain upon it then it's unprofitable just as much as if you do that which is your duty and your and that's all you do then it's unprofitable and obviously when it comes to user in another passage in luke it talks about the 10 pounds that he gives and uh basically says he puts it into the bank so when it's talking about the exchanges we're talking about the fact that you would gain interest on it now good luck with that today you know put your money into a savings account see how much you get on it you have a million dollars maybe have a dollar at the end of the year in that savings account um but you can think about investing and all that stuff to where you can gain on interest or whatever right um and basically that's what i'm saying is like i would have been better off like putting in the bank at least i would have something some interest put onto it uh just by letting it sit in the bank right and so the idea here is that being profitable is gaining above and beyond so this year if you want to be profitable and i'm not saying that you're not profitable i'm not saying like hey i'm talking to a bunch of church church members that aren't profitable but if you as an individual want to be profitable if our church wants to be profitable then we have to be going above and beyond the commandment okay meaning above and beyond just uh doing that which is our duty right we come to church we don't we're basically keeping the commandments as far as we're not killing people we're not you know we're basically just doing our duty and uh especially when you start the new year i think this is a good thing to be thinking about as far as okay how do i step it up right how do i increase where i'm at notice that even in that story matthew 25 he gives different amounts of talents right now talents in there is obviously dealing with amount of money but you can obviously just in our modern vernacular think about like talents and the fact that he gives us gifts according to our you know his several you know severally according to his as he will and people are going to have different amounts that they're working with and notice how uh it doesn't matter how much you have you can still double it right and god will reward you accordingly in the in the case of the pounds each one has a pound and some people will increase it more and have 10 pounds some will increase it by you know five you know and you know that may vary on how you're rewarded i'll put you over he'll put you over 10 cities if you increase it to 10 he'll put you over five cities if you increase it to five and so the idea here is that being profitable is adding increase and going above and beyond the breakeven point right and so uh let me give you uh an example of this and we just read this actually on wednesday but go to first samuel chapter 18 first samuel chapter 18 of a case where david goes above beyond what was asked okay now obviously in this case saul is trying to basically get david killed but either way i believe that this principle applies as far as what david does here first samuel chapter 18 and verse 25 here it says in saul said thus shall you say to david the king desires not in any dowry but in hundred four skins of the philistines to avenge to to be avenged of the king's enemies but saul thought to make david fall by the hand of the philistines and when his servants told david these words it pleased david well to be the king's son-in-law and the days were not expired wherefore david arose and went and he he and his men and slew of the philistines two hundred men and david brought their four skins and they gave them in full tail to the king that he might be the king's son-in-law and saul gave him michael his daughter to white so notice how he doubles it right it's like you want a hundred i'll give you 200 now that's profitability right there right that's going above and beyond that which is asked right it's kind of like if you have a worker and you tell them to go do something they're like hey while i was doing this i went ahead and did this too that's profitable right that's going above and beyond that which is which you're asked and someone that's profitable is going to excel right because that's the type of worker anybody wants everybody wants the worker and someone that's working for them that doesn't do the bare minimum now if they do the bare minimum that's better than what a lot of people do right at least you're doing your job but in the end we as christians shouldn't be thinking about doing the bare minimum to break even we should be thinking about hey let's go above and beyond and this is a principle that i think will be a good tool for a lot of cases where it doesn't give you a quantity in this case a quantity is given right he's like give me a hundred four skins so you know he knows exactly how many he needs to get and you know he does he doubles it because i'll i'll match that right i'll give you another hundred on top of that and so now just so you know that what was counted as the payment for saul's daughter go to second samuel chapter three in verse 14 so the bible the narrator here is going to define what the actual payment was for saul's daughter it says in verse 14 so second samuel 3 and verse 14 and david sent messengers to ish boshith saul's son saying deliver me my wife michael which i espouse to me for 100 foreskins of the philistines he purchased you know that was his dowry was 100 foreskins though he gave 200 you know what that 200 was a bonus a tip right above and beyond it's not like you know well that was actually the payment was 200 it's not like he says i paid 200 for skins no the two the other hundred was was extra that was just like hey you know i wanted to do more for you that is being profitable that is going above and beyond that what you're asked and that is something that we have to think about as christians if we want to be a profitable christian and if our church wants to be a profitable church and uh go to uh go to james chapter two the the famous james chapter two where people are saying that you can lose your salvation or basically that you're not really saved unless you do the works but ultimately this passage is talking about being a profitable christian you know it starts off saying have not the faith of our lord jesus christ the lord of glory with respect to persons so it's basically don't add respect to persons to your faith right meaning that uh don't just don't respect the rich over the poor or vice versa you know basically look at everybody equally and not be a respecter of persons but also when it comes to uh when it comes to your faith add works to it because what works you're going to do is is you're going to be profitable if you do that and so uh but no notice here in james chapter 2 and verse 12 it says so speaking and so do is a that shall be judged by the law of liberty right he shall have judgment without mercy that has showed no mercy and mercy rejoices against judgment now what's just to give you context here to not try to go through the whole chapter here is that it's saying what is the fulfilling of the law if you fulfill the royal law is what to love thy neighbor as thyself now that's kind of a i wouldn't say vague but it's just kind of like what do you mean by what how do i love them like what do i do to love them right whereas then it goes on to say that shall not kill that shall not commit adultery right well obviously you don't love your neighbor if you murder them you don't love your neighbor if you're committing adultery with their wife right that's obviously not showing them love but there's the offense right you kind of think about that's kind of the negative commandment if you will like don't do this what about what you should do right to him that know what to do good and do it or not to him it is sin and the idea is that you go on the offense as far as like okay that's the negative that would put me in the negative that would put me into you know uh you know trespassing and sinning there whereas okay what can i do above and beyond that though to love my neighbor you know how do i be profitable above and beyond now when it comes to this it's saying here that so speak and so do as they shall be judged by the law of liberty what is stating here is not necessarily that if you don't give your your brother and sister food that uh that is necessarily sin it's just saying that if you don't show mercy when someone needs it then when you need it you're not getting mercy does that make sense meaning like let's say someone falls and you don't show them mercy well when you fall you're not getting any mercy does that make sense it's kind of the idea that when you're profitable with it when you go above and beyond when you go outside of just the strict commandment of what you're supposed to do then therefore when something when you mess up that above and beyond is going to help you that being profitable to your to your brother and sister is going to help you so that when your when judgment comes to you it's like well you know but he was merciful unto his neighbor he helped out he did above and beyond therefore there's going to be mercy given to you right and so when you're dealing with this it says in verse 15 what it says if a brother i'm sorry what does the prophet my brother though a man say you have faith and have not works can faith save him what from judgment without mercy now you don't have judgment unless you've committed a trespass a trespass right the idea there is that if you're not doing these works that it's going to lay out here then basically when you come to judgment for messing up you're not going to have mercy when that happens right you're going to have judgment without mercy okay and so then it goes on to say if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto him them depart in peace be warmed and filled notwithstanding giving up not those things which are needful the body what does it profit it's basically saying like if you go say hey i have faith that you'll be warmed and filled that does nothing for them okay that's not profiting them for you to say that now you know what will profit them is if you give them food and you give them raiment that's going to be profit profitable them even so faith if it had not works is dead being alone now what's being contrasted here is profitable and dead right that means that profitable is you know it talks about having a live faith is a profitable faith and then obviously the dead faith is unprofitable okay just as much as that it you know a living dog is better than a dead lion why because the dog is alive and can actually do something the lion doesn't matter if the lion's stronger and better than you know if the lion's better than the dog doesn't matter if it's dead okay because it's not profitable and david talks about this many times about when he's dead he can't praise god right he can't praise him with his own lips and if you're dead what are you going to do for the lord okay so when it comes to this going down the line here yay a man may say thou has faith and i have work show me thy faith without thy works and i'll show you my faith by my works thou believes that there is one god thou doest well the devils also believe and tremble and all this is really saying here about the devils is the fact that they fear god and as christians we should fear god and we should as believers fear god that if hey we don't want to have judgment without mercy because it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god and the lord has said it also said the lord shall judge his people and the lord loveth him he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receive it and we should fear that we should serve god with reverence and godly fear for our god as a consuming fire that's what it's stating here and it's saying if the devils the devils even tremble before god they're and they're greater power and might than us we're made a little lower than the angels they're fearing before god why don't we and if we fear our parents and fear our our physical fathers why should we not reverence the father of spirits right as the bible says in hebrews i mean that's what it's stating here it's not saying like hey the devils the devils believe and it's not just by faith that you're saved you know that's what they just rip this completely out of context as far as what's being said it's not talking about eternal salvation it's talking about being saved from judgment without mercy in this life and here's how you do that you're profitable you go above and beyond for your brother and sister because when you fall because you will wherefore let him that think if he stand take heed lest he fall know this is that hey we're all going to falter but how is god going to treat that when you do that's the question and this is one good point as far as why you want to be a profitable christian but also going on to that it gives abraham as an example it says but wilt thou know o vain man that faith without works is dead was not abraham our father justified by works when he had offered isaac his son upon the altar see as thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect let me ask you a question when was when was righteousness reckoned unto abraham but before circumcision according to roman chapter 4 and the circumcision happened in genesis 17 and we weren't until you know and then it's obviously uh genesis 21 i believe i always get it mixed up 21 22 when he offers up isaac upon the altar so he had already righteousness has already been reckoned to abraham by faith because then it goes to say and the scripture which was fulfilled uh scripture was filled which saith abraham believed god and is imbued unto righteous that happened in way before he offered up isaac but then it says and he was called the friend of god and here's why this this whole passage is talking about not just being saved not just having faith but doing the works because if you do the works you can be profitable you can be the friend of god and not every believer is considered a friend of god not every servant of god is considered a friend of god there's only two people in the bible that specifically state that god spoke to them as a friend and that's moses and abraham because it talks about how god spake to moses face to face as a friend and it says abraham my friend right uh in in the old testament dealing with abraham so it's not saying that he's the only they're the only ones right even john john the baptist technically said you know i'm the friend of the bridegroom right so i mean you can say john the baptist was and he was the greatest prophet to ever be born of a woman besides the lord jesus himself so that being said is that you you definitely can see that there are people that are considered friends john 15 in verse 12 here john 15 just to show you here that when we're talking about being a friend of god we're talking about doing the works and so you're saved by faith and righteousness is imputed unto you you're a child of god you're a servant of the lord but you want to be god's friend you need to do the works and this does get into walking in the spirit putting on the new man all of that but that's another sermon for another day uh john chapter 15 verse 12 says this is my commandment that you love one another as i have loved you which what is james chapter 2 even talking about what's this kind of what to start off with to fulfill the royal law which is what to love thy neighbor as thyself you know when it talks about you know if your brother or sister had been naked and destitute daily food you know first john talks about this it says whereby we perceive the love of god because he laid down his life force and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren and if you see your if you see your brethren which are in the world have need and you shut up your bowels of compassion from him how dwelt the love of god in you right the idea there is that you're not really loving your brother like you should if you're you see them have need and then you're able to give it to him and you don't okay now it says greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends you are my friends if you do whatsoever command you that's what we're dealing with there is that being the friend of god is not is not talking about uh how you get saved now i'll say this the reason it states that abraham believed god and is imputed for righteousness is because the prerequisite okay what is the prerequisite meaning before you can be the friend of god you have to be saved that makes sense like in order to be at that level where abraham was at moses that you have to first of all be a believer so the prerequisite to to being the friend of god is you believed on christ and you have righteousness imputed unto you then if you keep if you do the works if you add to your faith works then that's where you can become the friend of god and you know there's obviously we need to keep his commandments it says if we want to be his friends henceforth i call you not servants for the servant knoweth not that not what his lord doeth but i have called you friends for all things that i have heard of my father i have made known unto you this gets into knowing the lord okay again another sermon for another day dealing with you know blessed are pure in heart for they shall see god it's talking about perceiving god knowing god and knowing god is a process he that is born of god in love he that knows god is born of god or loveth god and i'm gonna butcher that so let me let me just turn to that real quick it's in it's in first john four first john four but the idea of knowing god and the idea that how do you know god hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments okay this is something that's above and beyond just being saved this is above and beyond just believing on christ for salvation not saying that the person that doesn't do any of this is not any less saved okay but what we're talking about is being profitable not just being a servant but being a profitable servant um it says in the first john let me find it uh verse seven first on four verse seven beloved let us love one another for love is of god and everyone that loveth is born of god and knoweth god okay notice that those two things are coupled together and it says he that loveth not knoweth not god for god is love notice that he that loveth not it doesn't say they're not born of god does it it just says they they don't know god so knowing god is something that we're constantly trying to do more in and in this passage is dealing with the fact that friends of god those that are friends of god you know what they know god they know his will they know what he wants they know him and obviously the bible talks about that i may apprehend him which also as i'm also apprehended of christ jesus and i count on myself to have apprehended you know paul is saying like i am striving to know christ right and i want to apprehend christ meaning to know him right as much as he knows me right the idea is that i want to know him as much as he knows me but paul's saying i haven't attained to that though i haven't you know like that's not something that in this life will be like hey i know god as much as he knows me we'll never attain to that that's something we should strive to but there's the difference between the servant of the lord and a profitable servant of the lord okay a servant of the lord and a friend of god okay that that's something that we need to be thinking about here when it comes to being a profitable servant now let me give you an example of how you can be profitable first corinthian chapter 9 dealing with soul winning for example i believe this is a great way if you're a soul winner that you're profitable because you're gaining souls now the bible says as you have therefore received the gift even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of god stewards are dealing with servants of the household right so if you've received it minister the same unto others right multiply yourself and that's what you get into the soul because the fruit of the righteousness is the tree of life and he that win his souls is wise and the fruit of a christian is another christian so have you multiplied yourself right have you gained the more you think about like okay he gives you a pound did you gain another pound right and it gets into being fruitful and and the the bible actually uses the term gaining right again you think of like profitability and not to go back to like business model but i mean when you think of profits you think of a business model you have gains and losses right gains are your profit losses obviously are the opposite of that so uh in verse 16 here it says for though i preached the gospel i have nothing to glory up for necessity is laid upon me yea woe is unto me if i preach not the gospel notice how preaching the gospel is considered a you know a duty right but notice what it says here for if i do this thing willingly i have a reward but if against my will a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me so notice that you can do it out of duty or you can do it willingly right but in the end notice the gain that's that's brought here and uh i lost my place what is my reward so now he's talking about doing it willingly right if i do it willingly i have a reward if i do it against my will well the gospel is being dispensed right it's kind of like it's being dispensed it's you know it's kind of like the idea of whether in pretense or in truth christ is preached and i there and will rejoice yea and will rejoice right is the idea that as long as the gospels being preached people are getting saved you know praise the lord right but there's obviously better ways of doing it one not doing it out of like begrudgingly doing it willingly not doing it because you want to hurt somebody else that's like that you don't like doing it because you love somebody and you want you know basically to emulate what they're doing okay now in verse um verse 18 it says what is my reward fairly that when i preach the gospel i may make the gospel price without charge that i abuse not my power in the gospel so notice how he's doing this without charge meaning this is that kind of a but let's paul in a lot of cases didn't take a wage though he had the power to do it okay and those that preach the gospel shall live of the gospel right and there's the idea of uh you know going above and beyond basically what you have to do and uh it where did i i lost my place again so without charge that abuse not my power in the gospel for though i be free from all men yet have i made myself servant unto all that i might gain the more so notice if we're gaining more by preaching the gospel it says and unto the jews i i became as a jew that i might gain the jews to them that are under the law as under the law that i might gain them that are under the law to them that are without law as without law being not without law to god but under the law to christ that i might gain them that are without law to the weak became as weak that i might gain the week i made all things to all men that i might by all means save some so when we're talking about soul winning guess what that's profits you're you're gaining profits right because you're multiplying yourself he's giving you grace and that that eternal gift and basically you're multiplying that by going out and preaching the gospel uh go to uh go to matthew chapter 13 matthew chapter 13 now in this case and the thing that we're getting into the the last the last thing i'm going to be really hitting on here is the idea what do you do about like quantities right you think about okay there's a commandment but i want to go above beyond the commandment right well uh sometimes those quantities think about well the davis case there was like 100 horsekins well okay just go above it there you're you're proper right um when it comes to soul winning there's not really a there's not strict numbers on this it does give you an idea of like what god would consider to be fruitful okay and that is and don't get me wrong like it bringing forth any fruit would be fruitful right but the idea is if you want to have some kind of marker as far as what which you should be shooting for is uh first corinthian i'm sorry matthew chapter 13 verse 23 dealing with the parable of the sower it says in verse 27 23 but he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some and hundred fold some 60 some 30 so if you think about this let's say you were to look at this as like a tree in due season right every year a tree brings forth a certain amount of fruit okay you could look at this as your lifetime okay i'll say this if you bring forth 30 in your lifetime you've done more than most christians so you know start with that you know if you bring forth 30 salvations within your lifetime most christians don't bring forth any you know what i mean so but think about this as far as a yearly basis there's 52 weeks in a year and let's say you were striving let's say you strive to win a personal week okay and i don't you know that's not always doable but let's say you did that's 52 salvations a year that's just a steady like each week i'm gonna try to win one person okay i believe that's doable and let's say you don't let's say you don't let's say you win every other week well that's 26 you're almost at 30 that's every other week let's say you go out every week but then like it's kind of like an every other week thing but you know as well as i do that sometimes you'll have multiple during a week you know i mean you'll win more than one during a week and so it kind of makes up for weeks that you didn't have any and stuff like that right and and to be honest i used to i used to try to keep count of like how many people i've won during the year i just don't anymore um and you could judge that if you want as far as like you should keep a tally on like how many people you want to the lord in the end i just i'm just doing what i can you know and i'm just going as much as i can and trying to do as much as i can and all that but at the in the end i don't think there's anything wrong with that i don't think there's anything wrong with like having a goal and saying hey i want to hit 60 in a year i want to hit a hundred in a year right and now with that being said i think that some 30 some uh some 60 some hundred think about this too that people are in different in different air different points in their life okay think about this a single person when i was single i could go soul winning as much as i want pretty much and i could just i mean i there was i won i won 10 people in one day one time we did like a soul winning marathon 10 people one day and then there was like other times where i would just be winning people throughout the week and we were like he we were keeping their names on on the wall and it was kind of like a way to kind of keep us all motivated it goes out soul winning and everything getting married five kids later i don't have the time to go out that much okay so what what i want to state with this is that if you see somebody that's winning let's say a ton of people to the lord maybe they're in a different situation maybe they have a little more time maybe that you know what i mean like when you're dealing with single compared to married with children there is a difference there how about husbands versus wives there is a difference there okay we can't expect our wives that are having to to watch our children at all times to them have the same amount as we do now on top of that i believe personally me and my wife are one flesh actually i don't believe that i know it because the bible says it but i do believe that we are the bible talks about how we're heirs together in the inheritance okay so i believe what's mine is hers and what hers is mine therefore you know obviously i'm not saying like i want my wife to go soul winning i want my wife to win people but it's going to be less than i go it's just to be honest it's going to be just and you know all the kids are out and we're we're in this you know like there's no more kids in the home and when it's empty nest at that point okay you know we can equal that out because we have more time and you know her duties are less than what they were with all the kids so i want to i want to state that it's not like 30 is like some number where you're just like wow you know you're my you're saying am i profitable no 30 could be very much like just as profitable as 100 because remember that god gave five talents to one person and two talents to another they both doubled it are you going to look at the one that had two talents would be like you should have made five that's the thing that you got to think about when it comes to being profitable there is a difference just as much as that a lot of times god deals in percentages think about the woman that brought two mites to the treasury and what did he say he said that she put in more than everybody else because why because the percentage was the fact that it was everything she had compared to the abundance even though it was more money for the other other people put more money in it was less of a percentage of their actual amount so a lot of times you got to think about the circumstances when you're dealing with this when you're dealing with being profitable i do think these are good markers though i don't think that's unreasonable to think about as far as especially us men that go out so winning you know us husbands that go out so winning and single guys and and single single ones out there that are going out so winning i think the 30 60 100 is a doable number those are doable numbers and i believe you're considered profitable with those numbers okay because in the end i mean if you gain one you've been profitable i believe but the question is is we don't want to bear fruit we want to bear much fruit right and we don't want to bear much fruit we want our fruit to remain right there's there's levels to being profitable there's if you're being profitable then you're being really profitable right so uh you got to start off though with the idea that you're gaining though you're gaining above and beyond and so uh but go to uh first timothy chapter four first timothy chapter four and the last thing we really hit on here is that what if quantities aren't given and at first you may look at it and be like i wish there was a quantity i wish there was amount that was given there but you know what i believe the fact that quantities aren't given in a lot of cases is a great opportunity to be profitable i mean think about this if if there's no quantity given then you know what it's a lot easier to to go above and beyond it's like well for example i'm going to talk about reading we're going to be doing this this reading schedule you know in the month of january i think this is a good topic to bring up as far as reading the bible okay look at what it says in first timothy chapter four and verse 13 it says till i come give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery meditate upon these things give thyself wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all so notice that it's considered profiting if you give attendance to reading to expectations to doctrine you're profiting right you're you're going to be profiting from that now i want you to think about this i'm going to be talking about reading but i want you to think about this is that the bible doesn't necessarily talk about memorization let's say bible memorization we do bible memorization now what the bible mentioned many times is meditating and hiding it in your heart so you could you know obviously i've used those passages to talk about that but listen you can hide stuff in your heart and i guess you would probably have to memorize it to really do that effectively but to meditate upon the word doesn't mean you're necessarily memorizing it right you're thinking about it you're chewing on it but you're not necessarily memorizing it now here's the thing memorizing it's going to help you meditate upon it does that make sense like it's a lot easier to meditate upon something if you have it memorized and then you know that you're meditating on it rightly so there's huge advantages but you say well why doesn't the bible say memorize well how about the bible doesn't say that why don't you do it though because guess what that's above and beyond isn't it it says to meditate upon it says read it how about memorize it like that's that's you know that's a lot you know you're asking a lot i'm not asking you to do it the whole point of being profitable is that you're doing it without being told you're doing it because you want to do more because you know god tells you do something you're like i'll do double i'm gonna do more than that i'm gonna go above that i'm gonna do more than the bare minimum don't take away the bare minimum though right obviously you kind of have to start with the bare minimum which is reading meditating upon the word but let me give you some verses on this now when it comes to how much should you read the bible does give us a little bit of information here as far as that's concerned it doesn't say like the chapter number or the amount of time necessarily but it does tell you to do it daily so here's something you do know is that you're supposed to be reading the word of god on a daily basis now look what it says in matthew 4 in verse 4 matthew 4 verse 4 it says but he answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of god so if and the reason i say this show you this word first is because in matthew 611 in the model prayer if you will it says give us this day or what daily bread in luke parallel to that as far as dealing with the the lord's prayer if you will is that give us day by day our daily bread so if we're eating bread on a daily basis you know if it's saying give us our daily bread on daily basis and it says we're not to live by bread alone but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of god then guess what as much as you're getting your daily bread you should be getting your daily dose of the word of god so we know that on a daily basis we should be reading it you know what what parts of you know when during the day well go to psalm 1 psalm 1 psalm 1 i'm going to read to you joshua 1 8 joshua 1 8 says this book of law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night and now that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success and what are we talking about being profitable being prosperous and successful right is being profitable and the idea here is that day and night notice what it says in psalm 1 blessed is the man that walked not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of scornful but his delight is in the law of god and in his law doth he meditate day and night and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall what prosper so this is obviously something that the new testament is saying that you're going to be profitable when it comes to reading meditating upon these things right and then the old testament is saying the same thing and what are we dealing with on a daily basis night and day i mean day and night reading now when it comes to how much it doesn't really it doesn't tell us how much right because okay i i've read let's say you read like for you know five minutes in a day and five minutes a night well technically you've read night and day didn't you the question is how much now this can vary depending on the person and depending on the situation like i said i mean when you're dealing with this i think that um you have to look at those situations as far as like how much time do you have to read and you can look at it as a percentage basis let's say you're you're a single person you have like four hours of free time and then you know you're married and have children and you have like five minutes no i'm just kidding you know but let's say it's a lower percentage let's say just for sake of argument you have like an hour okay four hours single one hour and listen if you're saying when you're like listen i had no time i work myself into the ground i'm not saying that doesn't i'm not saying i'm not here to like rag on single people because i know people that are single that don't have any time because they work a lot okay so don't get me wrong here i'm just using this as an example don't crucify me now when you're dealing with that you can think about the fact that percentage is there right that the person that has the hour of free time maybe it's going to be more of like 25 of what that other person can do when it comes to the amount of reading that they can do and uh and i also think depending on what your position is for example if you're a pastor guess what that number should be more it should be more than the typical person the typical believer that you should be going above and beyond on that okay as much as you can now um now you could you can obviously when you're dealing with let's say you don't have a quantity you could look to bible characters okay this isn't a command but you know the bible says pray without ceasing but obviously that's basically like you're continually praying about something right you're not you're basically not giving up on your prayers but i do think that should be a daily basis but look at daniel chapter 6 daniel is a good character in the bible and you know what if you took his lead on this i i think it'd be fine but i'm not i think that daniel was probably going above and beyond maybe what he had to do but notice what it says here about daniel praying now obviously in this case where this verse i'm going to show you here this is where his enemies make a the king sign a decree that basically says he can't do this but notice what it says here in verse 10 so daniel 6 and verse 10 now when daniel knew that the writing was signed so he already knew that hey this was not lawful technically for him to do he went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber toward jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his god as he did it four times so he's not doing this to make a you know like trying to be obnoxious about it this is just what he did before he's like i'm not changing what i'm doing what i've been doing for all this time i'm just going to continue doing it three times a day he prayed so when you think about prayer you can look at a bible character and be like well this is what they did i'm going to follow daniel's pattern right and those are good ways i think to look at that go to second king chapter 13 second king chapter 13 in the end i think this passage right here i always think about this passage when i think about uh not knowing the quantity you're commanded to do something but you're not given a quantity you're not told like how much or how long right i think about this passage and really what i get out of this passage is do as much as you can right there's gonna be times where you really feel like memorizing do as much as you can when you feel like memorizing there's gonna be times where you're like i feel like reading more read more do it don't just stop because you've done your like a mouth that you set to do because other days you're going to be like i i just i'm struggling to get through a chapter you know i mean it's just like getting bogged down so there's going to be times where it's going to be more than less and all of that i think in the end just do as much as is in your heart to desire to do and uh and just try to go above and beyond anytime you can okay in second kings chapter 13 and verse 14 here so it says now alicia was fallen sick of his illness where of he died and joash the king of israel came down unto him and wept over his face and said oh my father my father the chariot of israel and the horseman thereof and alicia said unto him take a bow and arrows and he took unto him bow and arrows and he said to the king of israel put thine hand upon the bow and put his hand and he put his hand upon it and alicia put his hands upon the king's hands and he said open the window eastward and he opened it then alicia said shoot and he shot and he said the arrow of the lord's deliverance in the arrow of deliverance from syria for thou shall smite the syrians in effect till they be till till thou have consumed them and he said take the arrows and he took them and he said unto the king of israel smite upon the ground and he smote thrice and stayed now so basically he he stomped on the ground three times and then he stopped so stayed means like he didn't he didn't do it anymore and the man of god was wroth with him and said thou shouldest have smitten five or six times then hast thou smitten syria till thou hast consumed it whereas now thou shalt smite syria but thrice so here's a story where you're kind of like you didn't tell him like what he was even smiting the ground for right now the whole context here is about beating this this beating the syrians right but he didn't really tell him like hey how many times you smite the ground is going to dictate how many times you beat down the syrians right but the idea here is that once when when you can equate this if god says to smite the ground you just keep smiting that ground until it hurts right does that make sense like it's kind of like hey go soul winning how long you know like how how many times it told me to be a witness and to you know to be fruitful but do i just do that for one year do i do i stop after that how long do i do it how how much do i do it right and really in the end do as much as you can as long as you can right the idea there is that okay i don't have a number you know what i'm just going to do as much as i possibly can now i want to give a caveat to this and the last point i'm going to make here is go to athesians chapter five is that there needs to be balance in your time okay this is very important okay is that when i say do as much as you can when it comes to soul winning when it comes to reading that means doing as much as you can without neglecting everything else you have to do okay you don't go soul winning as much as you can't can't and neglect your family that makes sense like you don't just like hey i'm just gonna do all the soul winning and then i just like never see my family and then my family goes you know down the wayside that makes sense this happens a lot this has happened a lot with ministry right you think about like pastors where their families have just failed because they just put way too much time into the ministry and then they leave off the family okay there needs to be balance and the idea is that what you have to understand is there's a limited amount of time and you have to know like where your limits are at as far as how much you can possibly do when i say do as much as you possibly can it's kind of like soul winning it's like well you know if i do i'm just gonna do it 24 7 it's like well you have to sleep right like there has to be a time given for you to rest or you're just gonna fall over right you have to eat like you have to do this you know i mean it's it there has to be a balance just in simple necessities but then also just in other things that you need to accomplish work right you gotta work and pay the bills so therefore that time is dedicated to working and paying the bills and so then you have to basically manage your time wisely what does the bible say here in ephesians chapter 5 verse 15 see then that you work that you walk circumspectly not as full fools but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil and here's what it really comes down to is the days are evil meaning this is that time flies days gone before you know it and you have to basically try to utilize when you think about redeeming the time you're basically trying to utilize as much time as you can and not waste time you know opposite of redeeming time is wasting time losing time right so not wasting time and utilizing as much time as you can that's why i believe personally there's not just there's not just numbers given because it can vary depending on the situation there's not even percentages giving when it comes to that like a percentage of your day should be given to reading right well that percentage may be different depending on your situation and depending on the position that you have right i mean would you say that the pastor's percentage of reading should be higher than the typical christian i think so and so uh i think this is something you know when it comes to your family soul-winning work church like all that stuff there needs to be a balance but to be profitable what you need to do within that balance is do as much as you can within that right i'm going to go soul-winning as much as i can i'm going to you know obviously uh provide for my family as much as i can i'm going to you know uh whatever the case may be when it comes to serving the lord i'm going to do that as much as i can with the time that i have and when it comes to memorization i believe bible memorization is above and beyond you say well am i in sin for not memorizing the bible i don't i don't particularly think so the question you have to ask yourself is you know do you want to just be a servant or do you want to be a friend do you want to be a a servant that just does his duty because that's considered unprofitable to god or do you want to go above and beyond and i think that's a thing that we should all be thinking about going into the new year we have a clean slate and one way when you think about reading for example i'll say this reading through the new testament in one month is above and beyond i don't recommend doing that every month personally reading through the new testament 12 times a year i don't i believe that's a good thing to do it's it's a good push it gets you the overview but you know what i think that that's a little a little not uh sustainable right to do that every month out of the year because then when are you reading the old testament okay when are you doing all your other stuff and there's times where you just need to meditate and think about the word and chew on it this month you're not going to be probably chewing on it as much or thinking about as much because you'll be reading so much that you're going to miss things that you could have chewed on okay but it is what it is i think that there's a balance there where hey there's a time where i'm just i'm just plowing through reading and i'm just like getting through a bunch at once getting the big picture and there's other times where you slow down think about it meditate upon it all of that and all that is needed so when it comes to being a profitable servant i hope that's very clear i think that our church we want to strive to be a profitable church and how do we do that by the members being profitable by all of us being profitable for all profitable christians then that ergo makes our church a profitable church and so that's that's what our goal should be for 2024 crazy right 2024 getting old so anyway uh let's end with the word of prayer the only father we thank you for today thank you for your word and pray chief help us lord to be profitable servants unto you and lord you deserve it you deserve all the glory you deserve us to go above and beyond and lord just help us to uh be able to go above and beyond and lord help us first of all to do that which is our duty uh and then uh to focus on going above that lord we love you in prayer also in jesus christ name amen but they will come and sing one more song and then we'll be dismissed all right take your song books and turn to song number 90 song number 90 in your song books we'll sing jesus lover of my soul and if you would stand we'll sing song number 90 jesus lover of my soul led me to thy bosom fly while the nearer waters roll while the tempest still is high hide me oh my savior hide till the storm of life is past safe into the haven guide oh receive my soul and last other refuge have i none hangs my helpless soul on thee leave me not alone still support and comfort me all my trust and the estate all my help from thee i bring cover my defenseless while the shadow of thy wing