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You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You All right, good morning everyone welcome to stronghold Baptist Church if you can grab your hymnals and open up the song number 18 Song number 18 take the name of Jesus with you It's all number 18 Oh We Oh The name of Jesus Oh Let's turn to our next song song 257 Oh So 257 look and live summer 257 Is Is My friend It's all Is Is My soul Is All right great singing this morning This time we're gonna go through our announcements if you do not have one of these Bulletins slip your hand up real high and we'll make sure that we get one out to you And if you open up to the front or the first page there You'll see our service times listed as always sunday morning at 10 30 Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. And then wednesday night at 7 is our bible study. We're gonna be isaiah chapter 58 This week we've got the soul winning opportunities listed there as well as the salvations and baptisms for month of may As well as for the year, it's an excellent, uh Month of may you have a lot of salvations a lot of baptisms Praise the lord for that Let's go ahead and count up Any any salvations from the week And uh, just let me know the day and and the the the salvations. Yes, sir as you one on wednesday And one on saturday Anyone else yes, sir one wednesday one thursday Amen Anybody yes, sir one yesterday Same Anyone else All right, very good. This is this is the fruit of the results of you see on the next page We're gonna skip around a little bit the june challenge So the june challenge is the attempt to give the gospel to at least one person every single day of the month And historically we've done this challenge on june for the past few years in the month of june and As a result, we usually see the number of salvations increase because people who are participating Will you know are making more efforts to preach the gospel? So, uh, it's a great opportunity for god to use you in many different areas Not just knocking on doors necessarily but in in other areas the whole point of this challenge Is to help us stay focused on the most important thing which is preaching the gospel to people So I want that to be at the forefront of your mind on a daily basis that you're thinking about giving the gospel to somebody It's a good opportunity even when this challenge is over To then be thinking about how can I seize opportunities in my day-to-day life? That I might otherwise just let pass me by and not even realize that it is an opportunity Right don't ever you know, we're using these challenges to to make sure that you're going to do this every day but let that cause a pattern of Well, I should give this person a gospel because you're thinking about it, right I mean every time you're out and about you're not always just super busy every moment of your day, right? So we're like, oh I can't give that person gospel. I can't give that person gospel But you're often just not thinking about it And that's the reason why you don't give people a gospel because you're not it's not at the forefront of your mind So this challenge is designed to help you To get to the forefront of your mind. So understanding the purpose of this challenge Even if you miss a day say, oh, well, I can't finish the challenge now because I miss it I don't don't have that attitude continue to try to do it anyways, because the the real big purpose is to Try to retrain your mind and to focus to be thinking and be gospel minded on a regular basis So that so that you could have that change in your life. I mean are we going to give a prize for this? Yes, we're going to give a prize but just don't give up because oh i'm not going to get the prize then That's not the point. Right? The prize is just like a bonus A little a little a little bonus gift. It's for for participating but um Anyways, that's that's the whole goal I just want to make sure people are clear on on why we do these things and especially this challenge is one I think one of the most important challenges that we do to uh to to not lose opportunities and and just see opportunities where they are and and Uh, anyways, it's it's a harder challenge. It's not that easy. Sometimes you forget, you know, and then you remember it's like, oh man What am I gonna do? Go out preach the gospel find somebody, you know, there's always people out. That's why we do this in the summer We have the most daylight in the month of june So we've got the longest day of the year in the month of june So so people are generally out and about more Even in the evenings, uh in the summertime, so it should be easy to find someone who's out Obviously, it's inappropriate to be knocking on people's door at nine o'clock at night But at nine o'clock at night, it's still light outside so It's pretty easy to find people who are still out so anyhow um I'm looking forward to see Seeing the results as we continue through the month of june with the soul winning and keep up the good work out there And then we've got the offering totals this down there at the bottom of the page for the month of may Prayer requests and updates so mrs. Kristin miller Had baby So congratulations to the miller family. I've got some stats here Unfortunately, I received this a little bit too late to be able to change the bulletins. I had the bulletins printed everything already so charles harrison Was born at 237 this morning And weighing in at six pounds four ounces and measuring 19 and a half inches And Got a picture here of of mom and dad and baby And uh, they all look like they're doing very well. So we appreciate all the prayers for them And everything's gone. Well, and with that, of course, I made an announcement earlier this week or last week and If you're interested in providing Meals for them they live in south carolina. So Um, you know, we appreciate anyone who's going to be able to drop off food to them Homemade meals or if you choose you i'm sure they would appreciate also getting some type of gift cards For for food or like an uber eats or anything like that would would be helpful Uh for the family now that they've they've had the child A brother I I devin are you planning on coming to church on wednesday or not this week not this week. Okay So if you come to church on wednesday Um, my wife will be able to bring food out to the miller family If you want to bring in food here to try to make it a little bit easier for you because they live farther away so just um Just bring it in then You could even bring it in this this afternoon Well, I guess probably not. I don't know if anyone wants to go home and make a meal bring it in Bring it in between services that's up to you. But um And if you want to bring it out to them too and be a blessing, that's great But but any way you can help, uh is is much appreciated for the family and then mrs. Weatherby is also um Nearing her estimated due date. So be in prayer for her as well as for mrs. Estrada and mrs. Smith And you know ladies here that are with child We do the same thing for every everyone here that um That's going to have have a child I don't have well, it's good to see mrs. Gonzalez back with us And healthy and well, so appreciate your prayers for her And praise the lord i'd love being able to remove people from the prayer list with uh with with prayers answered and and people doing well And then the church for the week, we're going to be praying for shield of faith baptist church in boise, idaho And that's pastor joe jones pray for his family pray for the church on the next page Of course a very special welcome to pastor jason robinson who's visiting with us from west virginia And mountain baptist church in fairmount west virginia and he's going to be preaching both services today. So Make sure you come back this evening And i'll tell you this much i'm looking at the crowd if everybody comes back to the afternoon service that's here right now I'm guessing we'll break the attendance record. Is that true brother carter or is that we need a we need a couple more We need a few more so There are some people who normally come in the afternoon anyways So if you all come back the odds are way higher of being able to get that attendance record and in the free ice cream after service So make sure you come back here sport pastor robinson And you know make look around see who's not here and start getting on your phone after service going hey We need you here We need you here. We all want to have ice cream. It's a hot day And we're not getting it unless you show up. So so Whoever it is, it's not here. Maybe they're listening right now Get on down And and we'll we'll get maybe get some ice cream this afternoon so Um, anyways, we appreciate him being here for with us and i'm really looking forward to what he has prepared for us today We've got the anniversary sunday Of course coming up. We'll be celebrating our church anniversary not just on sunday but on saturday as well saturday and sunday june 25th June 26, so june 25th. We're gonna have a picnic at the park there you can see the information there and then the church on sunday, we're gonna have food refreshments in between the The services so, uh, we're looking forward to that Really excited about that four years as a church. Uh, god's really blessed us tremendously So come help us celebrate on that saturday and saturday that the tie should should have listed time there from 10 to Five I think is when we have the pavilion rented and i'll print all the details in next week's bulletin for that But um, there's going to be all kinds of cool things there inflatables Bounce house. I don't even remember anymore. It's been so wild a while since we were supposed to do that in like March or something And then the weather made us have to postpone it. So We rented a bunch of cool things. So you just just trust me on that show up. We'll have a good time invite people Right, it doesn't have they don't have to be church members here invite people to come and and and celebrate with us. Hang out at the park and um Be a good time there. We've got the bible memory passage So we're on week two of three hebrews three verses seven through twelve commit these verses to memory In the three weeks that we have and you'll be able to earn a prize if you could quote the passage word perfect I don't have the prizes yet for for the first six verses. I should have those by next week but um We give small prizes for this when you when you memorize a small portion And um the bigger portions, of course, we give a bigger prize for that Upcoming events we already listed that I guess the one that's that I haven't mentioned yet It's pastor steven. Anderson's going to be here. July 10th, sunday, july 10th Both services for that as well. So i'm looking forward to him being here in a month And then the birthdays and anniversaries for the month of june are listed there and that is about it for our announcements There's one other thing I just I figure as long as everyone's here We have a gentleman with us this morning who's interested in looking for some work And his name's michael and do you want to raise your hand real quick? Michael's over here So if anyone has opportunities for him to to find some some work I know he'd appreciate that and he talked to him after service And with that being said i'm going to turn the service back over brother peter and he is going to lead us in our next song All right church if you can open up your hearing also song number 396 Yeah Song number 396 so little time Song 396 The first We And then you'll stay well done Dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some I should have strongly pleaded The greatest Today we bring Today Despite the heat We cannot win misunderstood because we're off Today We'll go to bring some sinner We'll all be trashed when souls are brought to heaven And then how sad to face the slackers Harvest today is giving us lost souls to win Oh they to say so dear ones from the burning Today we'll go To bring some sinner And on the last the harvest wine with reapers few is wasting And many souls will die and never know The love of Christ the joy of sins were given Oh, let us be and love and pray Today we bring our miss our golden harvest Today is giving us lost souls to win Oh, thank you. Say some dear ones from the burning Today Church while the offering plates are being passed around if you can open up your bibles the book of isaiah chapter 33 the Book of isaiah chapter 33 and as we do customary at stronghold Baptist Church will read the entire chapter as pastor versions All right, isaiah chapter number 33 Start reading in verse number one. You can follow along silently while I read Bob reads woe to thee that spoilest and thou was not spoiled and Dealest treacherously and they dealt not treacherously with thee when thou shalt cease to spoil thou shalt be spoiled And when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. Oh Lord be gracious unto us. We have waited for thee be thou their arm every morning our salvation also in the time of trouble At the noise of the tumult the people fled at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered and Your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them The Lord is exalted for he dwelleth on high he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness and wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and Strength of salvation the fear of the Lord is his treasure behold their valiant ones Shall cry without the ambassadors of peace Shall weep bitterly the highways lie waste the wayfaring man ceaseth. He hath broken the Covenant He hath despised the cities. He regardeth. No man the earth mourneth and languishes Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down Sharon is like a wilderness and Bay Shannon Carmel shake off their fruits Now will I rise at the Lord now? Will I be exalted now? Will I lift up myself you shall conceive chaff? you shall bring forth stubble your breath as fire shall devour you and the people shall be as the burnings of lime as Thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire Here ye that are far off what I have done and ye that are near Acknowledge my might the sinners in Zion are afraid Fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly He that despiseth the gain of oppressions that shaketh his hands from holding a bribes that Stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood and shut at his eyes from seeing evil He shall dwell on high his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks Bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty. They shall behold the land that is very far off Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? Where is the receiver? Where is he that counted the towers thou shalt not see a fierce people a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive Of a stammering tongue that thou canst not understand look upon Zion the city of our solemnities Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation a tabernacle that shall not be taken down Not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed Neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams wherein shall go No galley with oars neither shall gallant ship pass there by for the Lord is our judge The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our king. He will save us thy tacklings are loose They could not well strengthen their mast They could not spread the sail Then is the prey of a great spoil divided the lame take the prey and the inhabitants shall not say I am sick The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. Let's pray your heavenly Father Lord We thank you so much for this opportunity To not only come together to be able to congregate and fellowship dear Lord and sing these praises on your name But also be able to hear your word preached God. I pray for your blessing upon Pastor Robinson this morning I pray that you would please just help him to Communicate your word unto us to teach us dear Lord help us all to be ready to learn This morning and that you would just help us to understand the things that you would have us to know and God We just thank you again for the opportunity to be here. We love you to Jesus name. We pray amen Okay, thanks Was that haven't met me I met some of you at the retreat last year And so it's it's a huge blessing to be out here. I've known pastor versions since 2008 Particularly we were in DC marching for Ron Paul. And so he had a big Ron Paul shirt on but it's been a blessing to know him for a long time and and past I knew him before he was a pastor he was a faithful member over at faithful word Baptist Church and So it's a huge blessing To and just an honor to be here and to preach to you guys and and and and at my friend's church and I was thinking about a sermon or what to preach, you know, I I really like doctrinal sermons That's kind of like my bread and butter I love just getting deep into doctrine and stuff like that But you can't really come to someone else's church and be like, alright I'm gonna teach on water baptism and and here's the ins and outs of that because that just doesn't seem to make sense You know when you're going to preach at a different church, so I was trying to think of like a good You know good sermons to preach and and hopefully this is a blessing to you but I'm gonna be preaching on stability or the the idea of what the Bible is gonna teach here is stability in thy times or in your times and The reason this kind of comes to mind is because when I think of pastor versions, I think of stability Okay, and there's certain attributes when you think of like a friend or a person that you that you know That just kind of you know shine or whatever and it's not to say that that's his only good attribute But he's the one thing that I think about pastor versions is he's stable Before he was ever a pastor he was a faithful soul winner a faithful church member a faithful friend and just someone that was just stable and when I think of like my pastor friends and obviously hopefully all my pastor friends stay with it and continue and Don't fall and don't stop But If there if there's a pastor friend that I think will never stop We'll just keep going steady and stable is pastor versions now Hope don't disappoint me. That means that you can't stop now because I don't want to eat crow on that one. No, but So but stability and this is something I think about a lot when it comes to being a pastor being a husband being a father and Trying to be stable in your life look what it says here in Isaiah chapter 33 and verse 5 Isaiah chapter 33 and verse 5 The Bible reads the Lord is exalted for he dwelleth on high he hath filled zine with judgment and righteousness and wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and Strength of salvation the fear of the Lord is his treasure So in a world of instability right now This is a time where we need stability. Okay. I mean we live in a time where people don't even realize There's only two genders. Okay, and we're dealing with where someone doesn't know what a man is someone doesn't know what a woman is and we're just in this it's in stable and I mean the economy is not stable Just the morality is not stable Everything in America right now and it yay. The world is not stable. It's it's in stable and What the Bible teaches here is that wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times Okay, so what we have to think about is not well, you know the stability of the past or stability of your future we need to think about what's gonna make it stable now and Go to first chronicles chapter 16 first chronicles chapter 16 Like going to chronicles. Yeah, there there's a verse here. I want to mention or want to bring up here And Look at verse 30 here So first chronicles chapter 16 in verse 30 It says fear before him all the earth the world also Shall be stable that it be not moved Okay. Now I I don't think I talked to pastor persons about this, but I do believe that he believes the earth is round. Okay It's not a lot okay, we're all on a round earth it's we're upon the circle of the earth and it is spinning. Okay now The reason I bring that up is because people that believe in the flat earth will bring this up and say well see it's flat First of all, it doesn't say it's flat. It just says it wouldn't be moving But second of all, this is not stating that the earth isn't spinning or anything like that And I'll give you a verse on this and you could you can look it up if you want But in in psalm 16 in verse 8 it says I have set the Lord always before me because he's at my right hand I shall not be moved Okay, so that verse is not stating that you should just be a statue and never go anywhere Okay, what this is dealing with and is dealing with Basically not being moved out. Of course. Okay, we're obviously moving around we're doing things the earth is spinning You know and it spins one rotation every 24 hours That's why the Sun is on the other side of the earth, you know every so that is going on It's going around the Sun but nothing is moving it out. Of course, right? it's not being moved out of its circuit or out of its its orbit or you know, it's not just stopping or anything like that and That's what stability is now when it comes to you know our us in our Christian lives We want to not be moved. We want to be stable. Okay, but we're obviously moving around we're trying to get things done we're busy and You know with work with church with with family and we're going all over the place But the biggest thing is that you want to be stable to where you're not going to get off balance if you will Okay, and a verse on that you're in if you're I should have had to go to Psalm 16, but Psalm 13 Says this Psalm 13 in verse 3 if you want to turn there you can Psalm 13 in verse 3 the opposite of not being moved is being moved. Okay, this is you know deep-deep stuff here, but You know, if you don't want to be moved then you need to have the Lord always at your right hand But the prayer that you want to have is that you're not moved out of course that you're not unstable and in Psalm 13 verse 3 It says consider and hear me O Lord my God lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death Lest mine enemies say I have prevailed against him and those that trouble me Rejoice when I am moved Okay, so the idea is that my enemies are gonna rejoice if I do move if I am moved out of course now I'm gonna give you a I Guess a technical term here more so dealing with physics. Okay is Dynamic stability. Okay. Now when you're dealing with physics, you have things that don't move right? So I design buildings and You don't want them to move okay, you want them to stay static So you'd have like a static stability dynamic stability would be like a top right? Have you ever spun a top? okay, and you spin the top it's spinning and When it's it's spinning, it's not wobbling and it's not moving out of course. It's just spinning perfectly and it's stable Okay, so that's where you know people that believe the earth is flat They're saying well if the earth is spinning then it's not stable not true There's a thing called dynamic stability now. Let me give you a definition of this and if this goes over your head It'll be okay. Okay, but Dynamic stability can be defined as the energy balance between the supplied power and the consumed power at a given point And you're like what in the world is that talking about? Meaning that if someone let's say someone let's say Pastor Burzins came up here and just hit me in the face. Okay? Well, he's got a certain amount of power that's coming at my face Well the supplied power my my power to resist it has to meet that it has to be balanced Okay for me not to be moved. Okay, so imagine. He hits me if it's not balanced I'm going towards the piano, which is probably what would happen, but if he hit me and then my My my power that's going back towards him is balanced. I'm not gonna be moved that make sense Okay now a definition of dynamic stability is the ability of a system to return to a steady state of operation after experiencing certain disturbances Okay, so what this means is that in your life? You're gonna have stuff hitting you from all different directions Okay, but the idea is Do you get off balance? Right do you? Falter are you like the top that just starts wobbling out of control and just crashes right, but as you know like if you spin a top Sometimes you can hit it and It'll get back to normal It'll kind of wobble a little bit and then get back to normal Okay, that's dynamic stability and what we want to have is dynamic stability in our life We want to have stability in this life in our times. That doesn't mean you're not gonna get hit Okay, you're going to get hit and as a Christian yay, and all that will have Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution You will be hit if you're going to go out and preach the gospel if you're gonna preach the Word of God Listen, we are in Pride Month, you know Pride Month in June, right? And it's getting shoved down our throats all this wickedness that that they're trying to just Feed to our kids feed to us I mean you can't get on social media without it just being shoved down your throat and you know, what? What do you are you just gonna just accept it? Are you just gonna take it or are you gonna meet it with the same force now? I'm obviously not advocating for any type of violence or anything like that But we need we need it as Christians that have this dynamic stability to where that doesn't just take us off course And we fall out of church. We're like, it's getting too rough guys, you know, I mean June 1st, I get an email from some sodomite. I Didn't even preach anything yet. It's just like I Didn't say anything yet. It's like I just I know you I know what you've done if you've said before and you probably haven't changed Like well, you're right but But really I mean when you at least wait until I say something, you know but all that to say is that We need to be stable. We need to be as Dynamic just means something that's moving So we need to not stop right? You don't want to just stop what you're doing Keep doing what you're doing Just know that as you're going down that path if you're jogging walking running that people are gonna be trying to hit you off course They're gonna try to move you out of the way The question is do you have the strength and the integrity? to Meet that same force to where you stay in line. Okay. Now the opposite of being having dynamic stability It would be having dynamic instability go to Genesis chapter 49 Genesis chapter 49 Genesis chapter 49 in verse 1 All Right, so that's all the technical jargon I'm gonna give you okay, so the idea here though is that You don't want to stop you want to keep moving but you want to be stable Okay, that's the idea you want to you want to in this Christian life You need to be getting things done. You want to be productive you want to go to church? You want to go soul winning you you need to do a lot of things, but you don't want to be in stable Now Reuben is an example of instability Okay, notice what it says here in Genesis 49 and look at verse 1 just so you know what's being talked about here It says in Jacob called unto his sons and said gather yourselves together that I may tell you That which shall befall you in the last days Gather yourselves together and hear ye sons of Jacob and harken unto Israel your father So this passage is where Jacob is literally just telling each one of his sons Something that's going to befall them or what's going to befall them or basically their tribe Now this obviously can get into end times prophecy and future prophecy and all that stuff But honestly, let's just stay with the here and now what he's talking about with Reuben in verse 3 there says Reuben thou art my firstborn my might in The beginning of my strength the excellency of dignity in the excellency of power Unstable as water thou shalt not excel because thou wentest up to thy father's bed Then the phallest thou it he went up to my couch now Not to get into the the sin that he did but what's what's what's stated here? He's saying you are the beginning of my strength the excellency of power But what good is power and strength if you're in stable? I? Mean think about a fighter think about anybody that that you know any type of sport or anything that takes a lot of strength If you don't have any stability, what's it matter? You'd be the strongest guy there, but if you can't stand on your two feet. What's the point? Okay, so Reuben had a lot of strength. It was the beginning of his strength, but he was in stable He was unstable as water now. It's funny every time I read this verse. I think of Bruce Lee Okay You're like why? Because there's a famous thing that Bruce Lee said he says that to be as water Now what's water do it forms to every it's all its surroundings, right? It's not stable it goes where it goes to the path of least resistance okay, and When you think about what's dynamic stability dynamic stability is basically if you're meet with a force You hit it back with the same force and you stay in your course water is the opposite Water does the complete opposite of that it just goes where wherever the force is taking it it goes with it, okay? and And Bruce Lee's wrong, okay? I mean obviously he was into Eastern mysticism and all that stuff and obviously he's talking about fighting and obviously you want to I Understand where he's coming from but what the Bible teaches is that actually no you don't want to be like water water's unstable okay You want to have stability now interesting thing about that verse that I showed you in and first chronicles chapter 16 go to psalm 93 psalm 93 There's some stable being stable stability. That's in the Bible, but there's another term in the Bible that's used a lot that you may recognize a little more and The psalm 93 in verse 1 is Basically the same verse, but it's going to use a different word instead of stability or being stable Notice what it says here in psalm 93 in verse 1 says the Lord reigneth He is clothed with majesty the Lord is clothed with strength wherewith he hath girded himself the world also established that it cannot be moved Notice how the word stable and stab list are used interchangeably there, okay? You can kind of see the word in there, right? Establish you can see the word stable in there, okay? Psalm 96 go to psalm 96 in verse 10 psalm 96 in verse 10 Psalm 96 in verse 10 it says say among the heathen, but that the Lord reigneth the world also shall be established That it shall not be moved. He shall judge the people righteously so that term stab list obviously the same as established And and you'll see both those in the Bible as far as being established or being established So we're talking about stability. We're talking about being established Talk about being established in the faith in your life in your marriage and your work Being established being stable hey go to Colossians chapter 2 Colossians chapter 2 Listen in a world of instability There has to be people that are going to stand up and be stable Okay, and as the world gets super instable or unstable The Church and those Christians that are that are living for God need to be that stability that that the world can grasp on to They're going out of control But there should be someone to say okay that person stable okay one we get someone the gospel they get saved That's number one for stability is to get saved believe in the Lord Jesus Christ You had the foundation which is the Lord Jesus Christ their stability right there, but it doesn't stop at salvation after salvation There's a lot of things to get you stable, and that's what I want to hit on here. Is that obviously? You know you want to get saved, but what what about after that? In Colossians chapter 2 and verse 6 it says as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord So walk ye in him Now the thing this is a very common theme the Bible will use this term you've received Christ so walk in him You're the light of the Lord so walk as children of life yet. You live in the spirit Let us also walk in the spirit. There's a difference between being saved and walking in Christ, okay? But what does it say when it comes to walking in the Lord right it says in verse 7? Rooted and built up in him and Established in the faith as you have been taught abounding therein with Thanksgiving so walking in the Lord and Walk you know walking in the spirit. What is this talking about putting on the new man? You know inwardly you are a new creature in Christ Outwardly in the flesh, it's the old man You have to put off the old man on a daily basis and put on the new man and walk in him You don't have to do that for salvation you have to do that to go to heaven but if you want to be established in the faith, that's what you need to do and This is a way to be Stable is to walk in the Lord, and you say well. How do you do that? Well? It's really simple It's simple to know hard to do because You're my friends if you do whatsoever. I command you If you love me keep my commandments, and that's how you're gonna walk in him Okay, and you put on Christ, then you're not gonna fulfill the lust of the flesh Okay, if you're fulfilling the lust of the flesh, and you're in your in your in sin Then that is not walking in the spirits not walking a new man You're not gonna be established in the faith go to 2nd Peter chapter 1 2nd Peter chapter 1 If you remember in Isaiah 33 There was a statement made that What what's going to be the stability of thy times? wisdom and knowledge wisdom and knowledge you know the Bible talks about in Proverbs it says get wisdom with all I getting get understanding and You know wisdom is the principal thing Therefore get wisdom you want wisdom knowledge and understanding and those are going to Establish you they're gonna cause you to be stable. I mean think about it if you had Proverbs memorized and you were you were implementing all the things that Proverbs teaches I'm just using that as example Do you realize how stable of a person you would be I mean think about all those principles? I mean, I'm always looking at problem to be like man. I need to try to implement that more I mean a soft answer turneth away rat. I mean different things. You know like let your words be few and just different things that in your life will just cause you to be stable and be established and Wisdom and knowledge we need to get that but notice what it says here in 2nd Peter chapter 1 or verse 5 It talks about how we have what we have obtained the light precious faith You know and it talks about he's talking to people that are already saved They've already believed but in verse 5 here says and beside this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue So you've already believed on Christ you're already saved you have eternal life But you want to add to your faith virtue and the virtue what? Knowledge and the knowledge temperance and temperance patience the patience godliness the godliness brotherly kindness and the brotherly kindness Charity for it these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be Barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Notice how these things work together that if you're doing all these things that the knowledge increases I Don't believe it's a coincidence that it says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life And he that win his souls is wise Those who do the work Tend to know more about what the Bible actually teaches Because there's a lot of saved people in the world that don't know anything about what the Bible teaches now One they don't read the Bible a lot of cases, but even those that read the Bible Have read through the Bible cover to cover if they're not doing the work They're not doing what they should be doing they you know God doesn't open up all the truths of the Bible to them the Bible talks about And in Hebrews that strong meat belong to them that are full-aged even those who by reason of use Have their senses exercised and discern both good and evil Using it okay, like I said if you have Proverbs memorized, but what good is Proverbs memorized if you don't use it? You can know everything, but if you're not using it. What's the point? And there's a lot of churches out there that know how to give the gospel they have the right gospel They have the right Bible. They know how to do it, but they're not doing it and You Know we we we consider ourselves new IFP and when I look at that. I think of It's it's it's a renewing of what the old IP used to do And there are still all IP churches that go out soul winning But listen it is few and far between And I sometimes forget how bad Or how barren it is Out in the wastelands of Baptist churches nowadays But I I know people I have friends that are still trying to find churches that are doing what they should be doing and listen There's a lot of work that needs to be done and people know how to do it But it's interesting that those churches that don't go soul winning, but have the right gospel have the right Bible It seems like their doctrine is always lacking isn't it? The doctrine is just kind of falling off the wayside the teachings falling off the wayside And it's always interesting to me that the churches that are just doing all the exploits of soul winning Their doctrine seems to be pretty sound. I Don't think it's a coincidence actually I think the Bible teaches this that you do the work the knowledge will increase the knowledge increases your stability will be sound and Keep reading there It says in verse 9 it says But he that lack of these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he is purged from his old sins It's like they forgot that they that they can put on the new man they've forgotten that Inwardly, they're a new creature They've forgotten that they can actually walk in the spirit because they haven't done it in so long They haven't actually added to their faith virtue and the virtue knowledge and down the line But keep reading there in verse 10 It says wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure But if you do these things you shall never fall now this is talking about falling from your own steadfastness It says in the last chapter of 2nd Peter, and so we're not talking about falling from salvation we're talking about falling from your own steadfastness and Falling from the things of God that you should be doing in verse 11. It says for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you Abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ No said it says abundantly. It doesn't say that if you do all these things you'll have an entrance into the kingdom No, it says you'll have an abundant entrance. You know that Jesus says that you may have life and that you may have it more Abundantly and there's a difference between someone that gets saved and enters into the kingdom of God like the thief on the cross Right the thief on the cross He believed on Christ he went to heaven But then there's like Paul And there's the difference between those two because Paul is having an abundant entrance into that kingdom Not just an entrance But keep reading there verse 12 it says wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things Though you know them and be established in the present truth Listen you add all these things to your faith you walk in the spirit You're not going to be unfruitful or barren and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You're not going to be unstable or unstable You're gonna be established in the faith Now there's just a few points. I want to make when it comes to this of what you want to be stable This isn't all-inclusive. Okay, like well pastor Robinson said these ones. I guess I don't have to worry about the rest You know I'm just giving some ones that I think about and number one is doctrine to be stable and have stability in Doctrine go to go to Psalm 119 Psalm 119 and verse 38 Psalm 119 verse 38 Especially as a pastor that's leading a congregation. You better have stability in your doctrine. Okay? You need to know what you believe and why you believe it and there's too many there's too many churches that are led by People that don't know doctrine and or they they have doctrine that's been shown to them They learned at a Bible college, but they don't know why they believe it. They don't they couldn't show you why they believe it they don't actually have any stability and why they believe there are certain doctrines and In in verse 38 here and Psalm 119 verse 38 says establish thy word unto thy servant Who is that is devoted to thy fear? So we want God's Word to be established with us we want to be stable in his word, okay Psalm 119 in verse 97 Psalm 119 and verse 97 If you're stable in his word and you have you're established in his word this is what's going to end up happening Says in verse 97. Oh, how love I thy law it is my meditation all the day Thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than mine enemies for they are ever with me I have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy precepts And You know this the this is something that I see a lot in churches I see a lot of people in the pews that read their Bible go out soul winning that know more than the pastor And listen, I guarantee there's someone people in here that know a subject more than me Okay But what I'm saying is like a holistic thing where the there's people in the church that just have doctrine Way more down than the pastor does than the teacher why because you're meditating upon it because you're reading it and This ought not to be so and listen at stronghold Baptist Church This isn't the case. Okay. I know for a fact that your pastor knows the Bible. Well, okay, and He knows it. Well enough that listen I learned from him. Okay, like as another pastor. Okay, that's not shocking Okay, actually I would learn from him. I don't want that to be shocking. It's not shocking Okay, but what I'm stating here is that I've learned things from him and things that are Actually embarrassing that I didn't know right there's like passages where he'd bring up and it's just like this well-known thing I'm like, oh man, how did I miss that? right and But what I'm stating here is that listen if you want to know more than your teachers You have your work cut out for you at stronghold Baptist Church Okay Which is a good thing, okay because listen There are listen my church at my church. I have a lot of church members that know their Bible really well Which is a good thing for me because it keeps me on my toes. It's hard. I can't really get lazy Because they know it so well and listen when I come here and preach to you guys It's not it's not a small task because I'm preaching to people that know their Bible That are reading the Bible and I look at that and I'm saying man if I say something out of step they're gonna know it if I went to some other church I Could say stuff and they they would be like, yeah, that's fine. They wouldn't even think twice about it Just be like, oh, he's the pastor He knows what he's talking about and they would go on from that but when you have people in the pews that are reading their Bible meditating on the Word of God going out soul-winning and they Are doing the work to where God is giving them wisdom and knowledge and they're they're understanding doctrines Then that's a bigger task for a preacher. But you know what bring it on I I love that because you know what when I hear that stuff. I'm like, yeah, I better get them I better yeah, I better just keep going. I Need to read more than I was reading before I need to I need to keep memorizing keep keep getting into doctrine and and all that and And it's a good relationship, you know, it talks about how you should communicate with him that teaches in the word and You know, we were talking about, you know, just subjects on like what type of sermons or do we preach and topics? you know, what do we preach on and all that and You know a lot of times people just bring up questions Like my church members would bring up a question about a doctrine. I'm like, I'm gonna preach on that. I Love that and sometimes, you know that doesn't happen and it's just what I'm reading or or whatever but That's a very healthy relationship because you know what that those type of sermons I love preaching because I know at least somebody wants to hear it, right? like I mean you asked me so Now a famous verse on Studying the Bible or getting stable in doctrine is 2nd Timothy 2 but go to Ephesians chapter 4 with me Ephesians chapter 4 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 It says study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth You want to be stable in doctrine you need to study it Not just hear a sermon Now it's good to hear sermons good to hear preaching Listen You need to study it Okay Let's say your pastor puts a lot of time in on a certain doctrine and he teaches it to you and on the surface you Understand you agree with it You're like dad that makes sense Nothing seems to contradict in my mind as far as what I know about the Bible. No, you need to look up those verses You need to look up all the verses. Let's say let's say I don't know why I'm picking on the water baptism. Okay? but You have to ask yourself, okay, what if I ran into someone that says you need to get water baptized to be saved Where do you go? Do you know that verse do you know the arguments do you know what someone's gonna bring at you when it comes to that that? topic You know, you have to have you and you know, what's gonna help you with that studying it looking at it yourself And listen going out soul winning if anybody ever gives you a question you can't answer That's usually the question you're never gonna get you're never going to not know again How about you? but anytime I've ever been given a question like I don't really have a good answer for that and you're just kind of like trying to avoid it and get It back to the gospel and all that stuff You're like, I don't have a great answer for that you go home and you're like I'm going to have a good answer for that Right. That's the one you never forget so you know obviously experience and all that will help you with this but When think about deep doctrines and think about things that your pastor teaches you and You need to go off and say you know what? I know this was a good sermon. This had good doctrine here Let me look up these verses. Let me look up these passages read the whole context read what's going on there look at the arguments and I always love looking at okay. What's the opposing argument here? What's the opposing verses and having an answer for all those verses? And You know, so when it comes to water baptism you say well What's a good verse for saying that someone doesn't need to be baptized to be saved? Well first Corinthians 1 17 says, you know that that Christ sent me not to baptize but the preach the gospel Boom, I still haven't had a Church of Christ person to answer me on that verse But that's it. Just one verse but here you can hear me say that But will you remember it after the service? Will you remember when you're out soul-winning Okay, maybe you will okay, but what I'm saying with this is that you need to study You need to read Listening to sermons is not a substitute for studying and reading you need to be reading through your Bible on a yearly basis and you should be at least getting through the Bible once a year and Then you need to be studying doctrines studying Passages and and some you may say well, I know that one pretty well then do the one you don't know Find the ones you don't know really well Find the book that you don't know really well. You're like, you know, what book do I know? Well pick Ezekiel Okay, that was usually there's a passage in there You're not going to know very well and just pick something that you're gonna be like, I want to know that I want to study that and get hungry for studying because that's gonna cause you to be stable in your doctrine You know when when people come out with when I first started When we first started Mountain Baptist Church this whole oneness thing came about okay, and I was I knew about oneness, but it wasn't something that Was really kind of on the radar, you know, it's just like the Trinity wasn't just this big thing We had to keep defending besides if you're talking to Mormons or Jehovah Witnesses, right? But then this one this stuff came out and You know what? We all tightened up on that Doctrine and we made sure that we were very clear on what we're stating, but we also dug real deep in on that Okay, I know, you know, we're just talking with pastor burzins pastor Anderson and just others We're just like we're figuring out all these these these silly arguments that they're making and just making sure like hey We got that down pat and we're stable in that doctrine And not to say that we weren't stable before in that doctrine, but we were increasing that stability if you will now If you just have to form verse 14 knows what it says here Ephesians chapter 4 verse 14 it says that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine By the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive and when that one this stuff came out You know what? I saw a bunch of babes in Christ being carried away with every wind of doctrine Like I saw it on YouTube. It sounded cool But yet it just contradicts everything the Bible teaches and Those that were well seasoned in in doctrine and stable in doctrine were just like No This is why church is so important Listen when it comes to this there's always going to be these these false doctrines that are kind of just floating out there You need a pastor that's stable in doctrine to just say, you know what that's dumb and this is why And just state it. Okay. Listen when when that one of stuff came out It's kind of like the the gospel where it says we gave them place by subjection. No, not for now Right. It's not a matter. We're not going to talk about this They're like, let's discuss this maybe maybe there's something no, there's nothing to it. It's garbage That God is three persons one God, okay not up for debate It's like if someone comes in here and they're gonna debate. Hey, let's talk about whether salvation is by grace or not It's not a debate now obviously if someone's unsaved we're gonna be gentle with them and Show them the gospel and all that a false prophet comes in here and they're trying to preach a false gospel to people They're going to See that door real quick. Okay Now obviously I'm with the pastor so I'll leave that up the pastor versions But you know, obviously I know what he would do if someone's just in here trying to just preach false The false gospel to people and trying to send people to hell with a false gospel We're not going to give subjection. No, not for an hour when it comes to these doctrines, but a Babe in Christ they give subjection to it They give hours to it And it sounds good on the surface listen there's a way we seem it's right into a man But the end there are the ways of death. There's a lot of things out there that seem right and doctrines and teachings that seem right They just seem to fit and it just it's just a puzzle piece that fits but yet it's completely contrary to the Bible And listen, if it doesn't match with the Bible doesn't fit with the Bible then it's wrong Now when it comes to this we don't want to be children tossed to and fro and what are we talking about babes in Christ? Hey, there's nothing wrong with being a babe in Christ You get saved. That's great desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow there by but this is why it's good to be in church because there's people in church that have that are a full age and that that can handle the strong meat and that will make sure that the babes don't get caught away with every wind of doctrine and You know the Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter 13 in verse 11. It says when I was a child I spake as a child. I Understood as a child. I thought a child as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things think about the instability of a child and the stability of an adult okay, and The children are completely Dependent on the parents, right The stability is just not there at all. I mean obviously as parents our job is to make them stable people Okay, so when they grow up and become adults they're stable but We as adults that when we get saved were children in Christ we're we're I mean, obviously we're still children of God now, but we're babes in Christ and We're unstable at that moment. We're not we're stable in salvation But we're not stable in the ways all the things of the Bible doctrine and things of life You're just unstable and you need to get stable, okay, and When it comes to this obviously doctrine Think about the first principles of the doctrine of Christ Like I said, you know what I was talking about those that are full age It says for when for the time you ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again Which be the first principles of the oracles of God? And are and have such had a need such need of milk and out of strong meat And then it goes on in chapter 6 to state that Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ. Let us go on You know It basically says not laying again and let us go on to perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and the faith toward God of the doctrine of baptisms and goes down this line a doctrine of baptisms of laying on hands of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment There are certain principle doctrines That you should have down as a foundation, okay number one salvation, right Repentance from dead works and faith toward God you're not trusting in your works to get you to heaven You turn from that and now you're trusting in God Okay, that's true repentance, by the way, not turning from your sins not stop sinning But you're trusting in your works You're trusting in something else to get you to heaven you turn from that and you trust in God to get you to heaven That's foundational but you know, what also is foundational that you know that there's a document of baptisms Baptisms Okay, and I the reason I emphasize that because there's water baptism there's baptism the Holy Ghost There you know, there's the baptism that God baptized the whole earth with water. It's called the flood That it and then there's you know laying on of hands eternal judgment the resurrection of the dead and you say man I don't really know what the Bible teaches on laying on of hands. Then maybe you should stop excatology studies and get into that You know what? The Bible says that's the first principles Yet what happens a lot of times when someone gets saved? They're like, I want to know what happens in the end I want to know what revelation means and listen, I'm all for it And you should want to know that you should want to get that established. But listen if you don't have salvation down pat To where you have the arguments, you know that repentance of sins is garbage. It's works You know, you know and you know what baptism is, you know, what water baptism represents, you know the baptism of the Spirit You know the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you know all these different doctrines Then come talk to me about eschatology and that means end times right you were talking about end times prophecy Then come talk to me about Zionism And listen, those are attributes of a new IP Church, right? You know, we're against Zionism We're not dispensational and we believe that the tribute that the rapture happens after the tribulation Those are all great things to know. Okay, and then great things to have down but that's not the first principles Okay Get the principles down. Listen the foundation if the foundations be destroyed. What can the righteous do and We need to have a good foundation if you want to be stable as a Christian don't start off with all the things that are I Don't want to say they're obviously important, but they're not The principal things right? They're more ancillary doctrines, right? and They're like, why is the tribe of Dan missing in Revelation chapter chapter 7? Like well, can you tell me what water baptism? No, I can't tell you that but I want to know why Dan is missing in Revelation chapter 7 it's like you're obviously not focusing on the principles now stability or being stable Another point is obviously doctrine but in your marriage and in your family Okay, go to Ephesians chapter 5 Ephesians chapter 5. I don't know what time it is or when I started. Okay That's dangerous I Haven't gone an hour and a half yet. Just so you know, like I've never preached an hour and a half I don't really want to start a new church, but Ephesians chapter 5 here now When it comes to stability as a Christian Doctrine is good and you want to have stability in doctrine. Okay, but you need to have stability in your family Okay, this is a very important point and especially as a pastor. I think about this a lot because In the ministry this has happened a lot of times where pastors will put off their family for the ministry and Their their marriage suffers they end up having a divorce or their kids and I'm not getting saved Some cases their kids become reprobates Seen this many times with very famous preachers that were good preachers that were right on salvation that were for soul winning Don't leave this part off and listen as a pastor if I ever feel like my ministry is Putting too much strain on my family. You know, what I do is I pull back on the ministry a little bit I don't stop. Okay. Remember dynamic stability. I'm still moving But I slow down Slow down something in the ministry because if my family fails my ministry fails Okay, and some people say well, you know the ministry is more important than your family no No Listen I could be a church member and be fine Hey, I'm not planning on stopping okay, just so you know I'm just I'm planning on being a pastor and so I'm like 80 and can't do it anymore or whatever age that comes to but If my family is if I think my kids are not gonna get saved because I'm in the ministry I'm going to get my kids safe Okay, if I feel like my kids aren't going to turn out right because I'm in the ministry Then I'm going to get out of the ministry as far as being a pastor I'm gonna get into a church go soul-winning not stop being a Christian because here's a novel idea Did you know that you could be a great Christian for God and not be a pastor? Okay Like I said, I'm not planning on not being a pastor But what I'm saying is that you have to have priorities here and Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22 here There needs to be stability in a marriage and one thing about stability in the marriage Is that that we know our proper roles in a marriage and in the world today? They're like no there needs to be 50-50 on the power struggle and in the marriage know what the Bible teaches Is that the husband is the head of the wife? Notice what it says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22 Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord But the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the Savior of the body Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be subject to their own husbands and everything now That's strong language But I believe it listen Ladies wives you need to submit unto your husband as if you're submitting unto Christ And there's always that well, what if he tells me to go get him a beer, you know What if he tells me to go sin? Well, obviously That's not what Christ would command you would it so obviously if you're if your husband's telling you to go commit Cold blood blooded murder you don't do that. Okay, but I'm tired of that being this hypothetical because that just doesn't usually happen It's usually like all my husband's doing it this way. I don't like it Or you know, he there's always it's it's always like this big hypothetical over here Like he wants me to murder somebody should I do it? It's like that's not usually what I'm getting when it comes to that. Okay, and Listen, obviously wives you should marry someone that's not like some cold-blooded murderer like some like cartel guy That's gonna like try to do all this stuff. Okay Verse 25 though It says husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Listen husbands We are the head of the wife and we are the head of the home But we are to love our wives and love our children to the point where we are willing to give our lives for them okay, there is a role difference there as far as being the protector and a provider and We are the leader That means ladies if your husband tells you to do something and you're like, well, I don't know if that's the best way It's on him Okay And you can take solace in the fact that you're just following God's command that you're following your husband and you're doing what you should Be doing but in that you're gonna have stability if you have this idea That no we have to have 50-50 and we're gonna get together and vote on it or something like that We're gonna you know, basically be clashing. It's gonna be a two-headed monster and you're gonna be in stable Okay and This isn't to say that my wife doesn't make decisions. I mean when she goes to the grocery store I don't really care what she gets. I mean I do because there's certain things I want but But usually this is me. I don't she she doesn't usually ask me like can I buy this or can I buy that? Usually I'm looking at my credit card like did you buy that? I just want to make sure that someone didn't steal her credit card, you know And I'm usually just trying to make sure that we were not getting stolen from or something like that Because it's gonna be something that I have no idea what it is what the name of it is or whatever But that being said my wife obviously has a lot of freedom, but in the end I call the shots. I Call the shots of where we go to church now, obviously I pastor a church. So we're gonna go to that one But you know those that that aren't a pastor You know what the husband should be the one deciding where you go to church where your kids are schooled whether they're homeschooled whatever that needs to be decided by your husband and Ladies, you need to follow your husband's lead and even if you think that well, that's not the best way Listen, you're gonna have more stability in that go to 1st Corinthians chapter 7 1st Corinthians chapter 7 When it comes to our marriages Remember that we married our our spouse not because we wanted a roommate there's like oh I want to I mean I Mean second first of all, if we're the provider then we're not really splitting rent anyway, so We're just taking on another mouth to feed if you will, but that's not why I won't marry my wife Okay, let's remember why we marry our spouses. Okay, and It's for love and it's for reasons here that I'm gonna be stating here that if you want stability in your in your marriage That do benevolence need to be happening in your marriage Now this is not a comfortable subject to be talking about but listen this is very important, okay people say well, you know divorce has happened because of financial reasons I Don't see that in the Bible. Okay. Now obviously finance finances can affect your marriage and can cause things to go downhill You know what the Bible teaches when it comes to marriage What what you need to be doing and not doing is that you need to be giving do benevolence and not defrauding one another Okay, you want to have a stable marriage this better be happening in your marriage or is going to fall apart Okay, notice what it says in verse first Corinthians chapter 7 verse 3 it says let the husband render unto the wife do benevolence and Likewise also the wife unto the husband the wife hath not power of her own body But the husband and likewise here's your 50-50 if you want 50-50 in your marriage and likewise Also, the husband hath not power of his own body But the wife the fraud you not one the other Accept it be with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to the fasting of prayer and come together again That Satan tempts you not with your incontinency So when it comes to this this needs to happen you want to have a stable marriage Where you and your wife are stable and you're not just ready to fall apart This needs to happen, you know Proverbs talks about the fact of you know, not Embracing the bosom of a strange woman, but how do you do that by rejoicing in the wife of your youth? If this is happening in your marriage, how will it happen outside the marriage, right? The reason the big reason for a for adultery and for divorce is because of Unfaithfulness because of cheating. Okay. Why does that happen? Because they're not getting this at home and listen being in the ministry having four kids and You know having you know, having a family working a job Pastoring a church. That's a lot of time that an energy right there both for me and my wife. Okay But this is something that You know, especially if you're in a position of authority We have a lot of responsibility that you better be taking care of this and listen Like I said, if I think that there's too much going on to where this is lacking then I'm going to cut something off outside of that, okay Go to Song of Solomon chapter 8, Song of Solomon chapter 8 Remember this is that You know first Corinthians chapter 7 is kind of saying like hey listen, it's your duty, okay But in the end when you get married and you meet somebody you're not thinking about like I'm just doing my job As a husband, I'm doing my job as wife. Listen, you should love your spouse This should not be a struggle all the time. Okay Now with kids, you know Life struggle you're in survival mode. Okay, so if you have little ones you're in survival mode. Just know that and You're not alone in this battle of struggling with everything, okay, but Let's remember this. Okay, because when the kids leave it's gonna be you and your spouse So you don't want to all your kids leave and be like I don't even know who my spouse is Who did I marry? Who is this person next to me? In Song of Solomon chapter 8 verse 6 It says set me as a seal upon thine heart as a seal upon thine arm for love is strong as death Jealousy is cruel as the grave the coals thereof are coals of fire which hath the most vehement flame Many waters cannot quench love Neither can the floods drown it if a man would give all the substance of his house for love It would be it would utterly be contempt This Should be Something that you're always trying to kindle or rekindle with your spouse. Okay This was actually the verses that we used on our wedding. We had it on our invitations at my wedding and You know what? This isn't always gonna be automatic Okay, especially when your kids it's a bad day, you know that you're trying to potty train that's not going well They're sick. They're throwing up all over everything your wife, you know as you know With the hair bun and like, you know, obviously she hasn't showered in like weeks. No, I'm just kidding And you know You're just you're just in the state of disarray and you know what? This needs to be rekindled and this is something that needs and listen You need to be cognizant of this you need to be mindful of this and say hey I need to make sure that flame is still there Okay, go on a date Have a good time, you know, like you need to have some time with your spouse And listen a lot of people Take this backwards. Listen, you know my priorities God my wife my children You say no, no, no, no, it should be your children then your wife No, my wife my children and I tell my children this I tell my children. I love God most of all Then mama, you know my wife then you and they'll say and Don't I'll say let me ask you a question. Do you think I love you? Like well, yeah, you love us a lot, you know or whatever the weather they say, right? like so There's no problem there The more I love God the more I'm gonna love my wife the more I love my wife the more I'm gonna love my children You try to put that out of order. It's gonna be unstable It's not gonna be in Ephesians and Colossians put this in the right order, doesn't it? Yeah Do it in that order and you'll have stability in your marriage You need to have stability with your children as well The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 4 it says and ye fathers promote not your children to wrath and Colossians It says provoke not your children to anger Listen When you're in this busy life of trying to be a Christian and doing what you need to be doing Don't forget about your children There needs to be time spent with your children as just dad and mom right and One big thing that I think about when it comes to I want my kids to have a stable home where it's not just You know, the the younger years are just gone To where they don't remember even spending time with dad, you know And I say this as a pastor obviously because there's a lot of time that needs to go other places But we don't want to forget about this because the Bible says this in Psalm 90 and verse 9 You can go there if you want there Psalm 90 and verse 9 That you blink and your children are gonna be out of your home My children are young right now. I have well Clara's gonna be 7 so it's 7 5 3 and then a one-year-old Okay, they're young right now, but it I blink and Claire is 7 Okay, it seemed like just yesterday. I just we had our first and I was holding my first baby girl, right? And now she's 7 years old. I just should I just taught her, you know she just learned to ride a bike without training wheels and she's riding all over the place now and I'm like, I just remember when I showed her how she could pedal she could even just reach the pedals those type of things Don't leave this off. Okay, you want to have you want to be a stable Christian do not leave off Your marriage and don't leave off time with your kids Okay, and I'm talking about time with your kids that don't deal with the church Okay, don't deal with church events. Okay, I'm talking about going to the zoo going to the park Playing with them doing something with them to where it's just you and them and You're cut off from all the other responsibilities whether it's work whether it's church, whatever it is That is just with them. Okay, and Psalm 90 in verse 9 here says for all our days are passed away in thy wrath we spend our years as a tale that is told the days of our years are three score years and ten and if by Reason of strength they be four score years yet is their strength Labor and sorrow or it is soon cut off and we fly away We only have a short amount of time but how much shorter amount of time do we have with our kids and I don't want it to be said that My years are a tale that is told or their years of the tales as whole but I'm not in that tale I'm not in that story You know, that's that's kind of like my biggest fear is that my kids will grow up and be like I just don't remember really spending much time with dad. He was too busy and Listen, these years are the most impressionable years of our children to where that is a time that they really need us there and Listen, I know we're getting into we're gonna be getting the Father's Day But this is why fathers are so important because fathers put stability in the home Amen When you see children that are that are running off roughshod that are not that are not doing what they should be doing Look at whether there was a father in the home and most of the time that's when you're dealing with problems and We need fathers in the home for stability and fathers There's fathers that are in the home, but they're not really there So just because you're in the house doesn't mean you're there Because you need to be there you need to be there for your children you need to be there to read them books you need to be there to spend time with them to answer questions and You know, I love it but When I go to work My kids are always kind of trying they're always a calling or trying to FaceTime or whatever anytime They get hurt They want to call me And what it is is that well, they basically I'm their comfort Like they need to tell me that and sometimes it's really silly, you know They're like I have a I have a scrape right here and they're trying to show me and I'm just like yeah That's there's nothing there, you know But they fell, you know, and they're trying to show me this and you know what that time That idea of having that comfort that stability that rock listen My kids think that I could take a bear or a lion by the beard and slay it They're constantly like what if a tiger got into our house, I'm like first of all, we're in West, Virginia Okay, not in Savannah, you know, we're not in India, okay But they're like, what would you do? I'm like I'd shoot it many times probably And every every everything in the book, you know, what if this happened, you know What are these wolves came in and you know, whatever and you know what? There is this idea of safety protection stability that's in the home but the father needs to be there you can't just Have the presence without having the idea of that relationship that's there Okay, and obviously ladies there's stability obviously there with mothers too. Okay, but it's not Mother's Day Past we're going in the Father's Day. So Now last thing that I want to mention and I'm just gonna be real quick with this is being stable in your work In your workflow. Okay, go to Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12 and this kind of ties in with marriage and your children because We obviously want to get things done. We want to be productive. We want to get as much done as possible But know this is that We need to be stable in this and There are just and this is hard too because I'll look at other pastors and they're just doing like all kinds of stuff Right, and I'm like man, I wish I could do that. I wish I was there like doing that type of stuff, right? I thought about you know, like what all these documentaries are being made and I'm like, it's so cool Right all these cool documentaries and I'm just I just don't have the time to do that Right, and it's just not in my cards to do that I just have to let it go because you have a lot of ideas and you're like I wish you could do this. I wish you could do that, but you just don't have the manpower You don't have the time to do it and you just have to basically Just do what you can do And obviously we shouldn't be comparing ourselves among ourselves, right? Because if I did that I would go crazy Okay, and there's some people have been doing it for a long time and a lot longer than I have so they you know When they're doing things that are just so way far up here. I should just be like Well, they've been doing it longer and it's just kind of been they've been established longer and all that stuff builds on itself Okay, but in Hebrew chapter 12 verse 1 here Notice what says is wherefore seeing we also are couples about was so great a cloud of witnesses Let us lay aside every weight in the sin, which doth so easily beset us and let us run with Patience the race that is set before us We're in a race, but we're not in a sprint We're running with patience. Okay, I Don't like running, but I do it. Okay, it works It's one of those things that it hurts. I don't like it, but it's It's one of the best cardios that you can do. So you just got to struggle through it But when you're running, let's say you're running a long distance. Let's say you're doing a 5k or something like that and that's not long but Other people are doing these mega ultra marathons, it's like 5k I'm doing like a hundred K or whatever but When you think about like running a race, sometimes you have to kind of Tailor it back to get your breathing, right? You're like you're going too fast And you're just like I can't breathe I gotta get my breathing down So you kind of tone it back a little bit get your breathing stable, right? because that's the biggest thing is you got to make sure you're breathing stably and you're not just like Going out of control and then you pass out So in your Christian life when it comes to workflow There may be a time where your pastor's just like get and he's just hitting it hard And then you'll see him kind of pull back a little bit You know you need to let that happen Because there's a lot of times he may be pulling back and be like I can't do that this week Can't do that this month because there's just all this other stuffs hitting them at once from another angle And he's got to take care of that right you never know what could be happening there could be your whole family's sick You know like they're all sick and and and and miss leslie needs like a hand at home And he just can't do that same amount of work at that time. You have to understand that that's stability That's keeping the stability Because if he says no i'm going full bore nuts to the sick kids at home nuts to my wife That's ready to lose her mind nuts to all the stuff that's going on I'm just going to keep going over here in the ministry. You know what's going to happen. There's going to be problems at home And as much as you would look at miss leslie and say she's a strong mother a strong white listen Wherefore let him to think if he stand take heed lest he fall We all need to know that we can all fall I'm going to get to that in my sermon this afternoon about falling We're all going to fall But the idea here is that having stability is where you're trying to not fall Right things are hitting you from one end You know pastor versions is hitting me in the face trying to hit me in the piano. I'm trying to not fall And the sermon tonight's going to be about what if you do fall, what do you do? right So first step try not to fall Don't get down When you do and when I say that when you do Because when I say being stable doesn't mean that we're always going to be stable The whole point is that we're trying to be stable That's our modus operandi. That's what we're trying to do We're trying to stay stable and people are hitting us from all ends, but we're just staying Like frontless between our eyes. We're going straight ahead and people are trying to shove us out of the way We're getting back in there. Okay, what happens when you fall off? And that's for this afternoon, but I hope this sermon helps. Like I said dynamic stability, you know having stability in my times Is having knowledge and wisdom In a lot of different areas in your marriage with your children with your work Just different things to where you need to stay stable in doctrine That we need to have stability and so much the more As you see the days approaching in a world that's in state that's unstable listen this world is unstable as water right now And right now they need a rock to hold on to and that rock is christ But we're the ones throwing out the lifelines So let's end with a word of prayer the other father we thank you for today and thank you for Your word. Thank you for this church and just pray that you help us all to be stable Help us to have stability especially in these times and lord help us to be the rocks that the lively stones That will help them get to the living Stone the rock which is christ and lord just prayed she'd help us to be that in this world that we're in And we're just pray for these families to pray for this church I pray that you be with us as we go out soul winning later on today And bring us back to the appointed time in jesus christ name. Amen Okay All right church if you can open up your hymnals the song number 125 Song 125 the solid rock Song 125 Let's sing this out on the first Oh Oh Is Sing out on the last Stand Amen church great singing. Thank you so much for coming you guys So You