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You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long Perfect submission Perfect Eli Visions of rapture Now burst on my side Angels descending Bring from above Echoes of mercy Whispers of love This is my story This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long This is my story This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long Perfect submission All is at rest I am my Savior I'm happy and blessed Watching and waiting Looking above Filled with His goodness What's in His love This is my story This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long This is my story This is my song Praising my Savior All the day long All is at rest All is at rest All is at rest All is at rest All is at rest All is at rest All is at rest All is at rest All is at rest All is at rest All is at rest Song number 162 To God be the glory Song number 162 Everybody sing it out real loud together on the verse To God be the glory Great things He hath done So loved He gave us His Son Who yielded His life and atonement for sin And opened the life game that all may go in Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Let the earth hear His voice Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Let the people rejoice O come to the Father through Jesus the Son And give Him the glory Great things He hath done O birth and redemption the purchase of blood To every believer the promise of God The vilest offender who truly believes That moment from Jesus a pardon receives Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Let the earth hear His voice Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Let the people rejoice O come to the Father through Jesus the Son And give Him the glory Great things He hath done Great things He hath done And great are rejoicing through Jesus the Son But purer and higher and greater will be Our wonder our transport will be Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Let the earth hear His voice Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Let the people rejoice O come to the Father through Jesus the Son And give Him the glory Great things He hath done Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you do need a bulletin, we still have some printed out and we can get you another copy if you need one. On the front we have our Bible memory passage Psalm 58 and any child that can quote the verse of the week is able to receive an ice cream treat immediately following the service. They just have to quote it to one of the ushers, myself or Brother Oz. And then also we have our service times so many times regional so many times also listed there. Church stats, please continue to turn that in. I think I have an outdated bulletin and I want to make sure I can I get a different one because I want to make sure I get the paragraph right. And then also we have several ladies who are expecting please be in prayer for all of those ladies. Also we have our prayer list. We've been praying for the Negeris for health. We've been praying for Miss Lucy's mother. We've been praying for Brother Cameron's leg. We've been praying for Wallach's daughter. We've also been praying for Miss Cooley's stepdad. Praying for the Adari family. Unfortunately they lost their son John and so we're just praying that the Lord comfort them during their loss. Also we've been praying for Brother Awe's brother and then we've been praying for the Scott family for their health as well. Also if you'd be in prayer for Brother Conley he got sick too and he's we're hoping that he can have a quick recovery as well. So several people to be in prayer for. We can go ahead and just say a quick word of prayer now as a church family. Thank you Heavenly Father so much for our church for this opportunity to be here for this service. I pray that you bless all these expecting ladies. Please be with them. Please help them during their pregnancy. Please help their baby's development. I pray that you give them a timely birth and that you would help bless them through that process. I pray that you'd also help our church family that's struggling with health. Please give them strength. Please give them comfort if possible. I pray that you just give them a miracle. Give them a speedy recovery. Church family is just temporarily sick. I pray that you would just help them to get over that very soon and that they could return back to church. Also if you'd please help our church family that has various needs with their jobs, with travel, with loved ones who they want to be saved. I pray that you would help give favor. Open doors for them and that you would bless our congregation so that we could keep giving you the honor and glory. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. On the back we have note about church reminders, upcoming events. We have the Mighty Men's Conference which is happening tomorrow. If you are planning on kind of carpooling we're going to meet here at the church and leave around 8 30 a.m. So if you want to carpool with us from this location, you can. The spot that we're going to be meeting, it's not necessarily super far. So some people may just want to drive there directly and that's totally fine. But if you do want to just carpool or ride with us you can show up and you can probably either ride in the church van or I know some other people might just be driving down and you can ride with them. So really looking forward to that. Also if you are planning on coming later or at a different portion during the event, if you're just coming for the evenings and everything like that, it's totally fine. You might just check the email because I believe the email has instructions on how to go into the property and where to go. Sometimes cell phone reception can be a little spotty at where we're at so don't get mad at me if I don't respond to your text or Brother Oz or anything like that because it's very unlikely that we're going to be responding to your texts or emails or calls in a very immediate fashion so just keep that in mind. But really looking forward to tomorrow. There's also an email that went out that had a lot of instructions regarding just things and reminders of what to bring. But imagine going to prison and those are the accommodations that you have, what you would like to bring with you. So that's kind of a good basis of like what type of things you might need to bring. So more than just a metal cot and that's about what you get. You get a metal cot or wooden cot and running water. So that's good but if you'd like a pillow or any of those things please do make sure that you're bringing that just as an FYI. The first year we went we didn't really anticipate all that so I just called it prison camp. Since then we've updated our itinerary and can plan a little bit more accordingly. But of course we're really grateful and thankful that Pastor Thompson is able to join us on our men's retreat and I asked him, I said, hey since you're coming all this way why don't you preach for us on Wednesday too? And so it's a great honor that he's here with us and he's going to be willing to preach for us tonight as well. And so make sure to thank Pastor Thompson for being here and preaching to us. And then also he's going to be preaching again for our men's conference and so really looking forward to both of those sermons. And I'm not talking about just tonight, both the sermons tonight. So the sermon also in the future. That's a joke because he preaches long, okay? But none of y'all got that. Alright, alright. You're like, does he preach longer than you? Probably not but it's okay. Also FBBF is October 12th to the 15th and we're really excited Pastor Thompson is also going to be preaching for us for that event on Sunday morning and then we have other guests that are going to be coming and preaching for us on Thursday and on Friday. We're going to have events on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So definitely if you can or you're able to take off some time that might be a good time. We'll have God willing, we'll have our spelling bee on Saturday morning and we'll also have a couple other fun activities for you. And so I'm really looking forward to that conference and that fellowship. Also, November 4th is an Abilene, Texas soul winning marathon and so if you want to pencil that in on your calendar. That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements. We're going to go ahead and sing our Psalm of the Week, Psalm 119. And just again as a reminder, unfortunately the copy y'all have does have one small lyrical change and that's just on that bottom repeating chorus where it says the wicked have laid a snare for me. It's actually not supposed to have the snare held out. It's supposed to just go snare to four and then the four is held out. So it's kind of sung like the wicked have laid a snare for me. So that's how it should be sung and written. So that's how we practice it and play it and sing it. So just as an FYI, if you actually can read music, I don't know if any of you can, but just a reminder of how that kind of flows so you don't get confused. So we're going to sing it out nice and loud. Psalm 119. All right. That was Psalm 119 in your Bible or in the laminated handout. Sing it out real loud together on the first. The righteous man I did very much way. Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh okay oh oh Oh My princess Oh My princess Right now is the offering plates are being passed around James chapter 4 we're gonna turn to James chapter 4 Oh Oh James for the Bible reads from whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that warn your members ye lust and have not ye kill and desire to have and Cannot obtain ye fight and war yet you have not because he asked not He asked and received not because he asked amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God Do you think that the scripture saith in vain the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy But he giveth more grace wherefore he saith God resisted the proud but giveth grace under the humble Submit yourselves therefore to God Resist the devil and he will flee from you draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purify your hearts ye double-minded Be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up Speak not evil one of another Brethren he that speaketh evil of his brother and judges his brother speaketh evil of the law and judges the law But if thou judge the law thou art not a doer of the law But a judge there was one lawgiver who was able to save and to destroy who art thou that judges another Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow We will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appearth for a little time and then vanish away For that he ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that But now you rejoice in your boastings all such rejoicing is evil Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and do with it not to him It is sin. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer father in heaven. We thank you for Pastor Thompson I pray Lord that You would bless him with the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit as he preaches to us and help us to apply the message To be doers of the word not hearers only Lord so that we may serve you to the best of our ability We love you and in Jesus name I pray amen It's great to be back at steadfast and see the new building it's great and I'll have to see the other things that usually are out there. So that's awesome, too But I just want to thank Pastor Shelley miss Mrs. Shelley for having me here and the whole steadfast family you guys are like family to me So I really appreciate you coming out tonight it's nice to have My other family here Dylan and Jasmine and the girls and great to see that. She's expecting another baby So that's awesome. And I think Remy's gonna show up late, but he'll be here and I got Brandon from he traveled all the way Down here just to hear me preach. He didn't know I Think he was disappointed but you'll get to hear pastor Shelley tomorrow. I'm just kidding No, but I just want to say thank you for having me here tonight and I'm I'm preaching kind of a simple sermon tonight, and I hope that's alright, but it's kind of like a maintenance sermon, but Tyler sermon is blessings and cursings And so basically, you know, obviously we can't be cursed like the unsaved We're never gonna go to hell for one second But we can be cursed in our lives when we don't do what God wants us to do Well, we don't live how God wants us to live. And so that's why it's you know, blessings and cursings obviously you know we can be blessed but we can also Get chastened on this earth for the things that we are supposed to be doing and really, you know, I basically have Just a simple solution for people to get on track in their spiritual life and and I believe that you know Obviously living this separated life is one of those things you have to learn to you know get sanctified and that's a process that takes place when we are doing the things that God wants us to do and You know, we need to be faithful to church that's one of the things that God tells us that he commands in the New Testament that we are to be in church and We're supposed to give unto the Lord not just monetarily but also, you know of our time and our talents and then We're to pray to the Lord, you know, obviously we're gonna get blessings when we pray and then we're gonna miss out on things when we don't and then Obviously, we're supposed to be so wanting, you know, these like I said, it's basic, right? So I'm gonna go through some of these things and just kind of talk about the blessings that we get For keeping these types of commandments that God has us to do in the New Testament and also from the Old Testament, but Simple things but yet the blessings and the cursings that Might come to follow if we don't do what God wants. So let's look down at You know, I had I had him read James 4, but I think I just know okay, it's there All right. Look at verse number 4 there. The Bible says the adulterers and Adulteresses know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. So point number one tonight We need to be you know, the we're supposed to have a separated life So basically the blessings and the cursings the separated life versus the worldly life So in James chapter 4 verse 4 it says, you know the he's calling You know Christians adulterers and adulteresses because we have a tendency to whore ourselves out to different things that we shouldn't Be doing and so he's basically talking about being a friend of the world So we're not supposed to be and obviously God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son we know that but when it's talking about the world's talk about the things and the lust of the world the pride of life and You know just being a worldly Christian. So look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 Because the Bible commands us to be separated onto the Lord, you know, we're a holy nation We're a royal priesthood and God expects us to fulfill those roles And yeah, we have the choice of whether we want to serve him or not But in reality, you know, we should want to serve God. Why why wouldn't we want to serve God? Especially when he saved us by his grace We don't have to go and chop up animals and burn them off and have a barbecue even though that sounds nice right now But you know, we don't have to do those things I mean that was a lot of tedious things that they had to do in the Old Testament. We're saved by grace We really have it easy in the New Testament compared to the Old Testament people in a lot of ways and But obviously God's given us more Responsibility as New Testament believers because we have the whole Word of God We know what he expects from us And so this is just one of those things that when you become a Christian and you know There's a lot of people here that I've known for a long time But there's some new people and and I realize that there's you know I talked to a gentleman before the service only been here for two months So these are things that we all need to be reminded of and we also You don't need to maybe hear for the first time but look at what it says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 The Bible says but be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. So are we supposed to hang out with unbelievers? Are they supposed to be our best friends? No, they're not for what fellowship hath righteousness With unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and the answer of those questions. They don't have we're not supposed to be With the unrighteous we're not supposed to you know The the picture of the Christian is that we are the light of the world And so why would we want to hang around with the darkness? Right, and then it says and what Concord hath Christ with Belial. I mean, what do Christ and the devil have in common? They don't have anything in common. They're not hanging out Christ doesn't hang out with the devil And so, you know, it's just giving us these companies these little, you know tidbits to help us understand that You know, he's just driving the point in here it says or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel So there it is again, you know the believer with the unbeliever and infidel is an unbeliever, isn't it? and it says of what agreement hath the temple of God with idols for you're the temple of the living God as God has said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be My people so think about this we as Christians we carry God around with us all the time He's in us and so any place we go anything we look at everything we listen to God is with us in that and the Bible says we're not supposed to grieve the Holy Spirit of God So to the best of our ability we should try to live a separated life Unto the Lord look what it says in verse 17 wherefore You know for this reason come out from among them and be separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean Thing and I will receive you so God does call us to be separated from the world. He doesn't want us Into worldly activities that you know, and look I'm not saying don't have hobbies don't have fun Yes have fun But you know not sinful hobbies not sinful fun because you know We're not supposed to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season sin is pleasurable. That's why we do it It's pleasurable to our flesh, but you know, we are different we're changed And we should live as Christians in this world a separated life It says that he will receive us and we're not to touch the unclean thing So stay you and you know, what's unclean and what's not and if you don't maybe you should just read your Bible Because the Bible is going to tell you everything that you need to know in your life for this world it's the whole we got the whole Council of God at our fingertips probably multiple copies in our house and We're to live a separate life so God's gonna be you know on our side So to speak when we live a separate life and obviously there's gonna be trials and troubles from the world and without But God's gonna be pleased with us. That's what's important So yes, I'm not and look I'm not saying if you do all this stuff You're never gonna have trouble in your life because obviously there's temptations Obviously there's trials that we go through and you know, really the worst enemy that we have You know, obviously Satan's the worst enemy that we have but our own flesh is can be our own worst enemy That's why we have to learn to master these things in our lives and I'll just read James 4 for again It says the adulterers and adulteress is know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God So when you want to be the world's friend when you want to love the world's things When you want to count out for the for the queers and the homos and you want to just you know Oh, well, I found out my cousin's a homo So now I'm just you know, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go to this church anymore or something, you know, don't who cares Does that person have some major effect on your life or something your queer cousin or whatever? It's like why would people quit on God and quit on a great church over something like that So but look what it says also and well you I had you turn away from it But it says whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God So that's strong language, isn't it? Who wants to be God's enemy in here? Nobody, right But the Bible says if we're gonna be friends with the world then he's gonna be our enemy And so that would be kind of a curse in your life, wouldn't it? I mean who wants to have God as their enemy? He's the worst enemy you could actually possibly have because God has the power, you know, obviously he's not going to destroy our Soul in hell but he can destroy our life here on earth and make it very miserable And so, you know, this is something that we have to get under control look at 2nd Chronicles chapter 19 verse 2 2nd Chronicles chapter 19 verse 2 So the first point that I'm talking about is the separated life versus the worldly life You know you want God's blessings then separate yourself from the world if you want God's you want to be God's enemy Well, then just by all means just continue to do all the worldly things that you used to do, you know And and you know, if you're a Christian you're going to a bar you're a Christian and you know, you're looking at things you're not supposed to I mean, obviously there's just a Multitude of things that we can get wrapped up in because the old man always just wants to get out The old man wants to take control and that's why we have to kill that guy every single day That's why we have to take up our cross daily and follow after him it says in 2nd Chronicles 19 verse 2 it says and Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord therefore wrath is upon thee From before the Lord so when you help the ungodly when you love the ungodly Then God is going to be against you and he's going to put wrath upon your life You know, I think that sometimes that we as Christians We just don't realize that some of the things that we're going through Might be chasing him from God and we really got to be in tune with that because obviously, you know, not everything is Persecution sometimes, you know, we we're gonna get punished and you have to kind of realize that in your life and say well What am I doing differently than I was doing last week? Why is this happening? And it's good to question why things are going wrong in your life number two tonight is The difference between you know The blessings of someone who's faithful to church versus the curses of someone who's not now Let's look at Psalm chapter 92 verse 13 Psalm chapter 92 verse 13 The Bible calls Being in his house a blessing look at verse 13 the Bible says those that be Planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God So when we're planted in the house of the Lord tonight, there's a lot. I'm kind of preaching the choir There's a lot of people planted in the house of the Lord tonight, right? and the Bible says that when you do that you will flourish and You know, it's it's reef. It's referencing plants, you know plants Grow and you know when you plant them plants don't move So don't move as this being the place that you plant yourself on Wednesday on Sunday morning and Sunday evening And basically just whenever the doors are open here and there's something going on as much as you can be be involved in church because you Know how you how you can kill the old man really easily is be around God's people Because you know, you're not gonna just want to just sin in front of all of God's people. Are you I mean It's just like, you know, I'm just gonna light up, you know, I'm just here I mean, it's like you're not gonna do wicked thing You're not gonna think of wicked things necessarily when you're in God's house Planted in the house of the Lord and then just doing activities that the church has You know Do you think that pastor Shelley just does activities just because he doesn't have anything better to do and he's just like well Let me just play another activity no, he plans activities so that you guys can get involved get plugged in and just and obviously this church is a blessing to people But you know the more that you're in church the more that you learn the better your Christian life is going to be and Don't tune out the preaching, you know Anything can just get get you can get used to anything, you know There's some hard preaching that comes through this pulpit and we don't want to get numbed or calloused To the things of God because you can get numbed and calloused even to hard preaching People are sinful no matter what and we'll we can learn to callous our hearts We can learn to just callous over the things of God and then you can just drift away and you know If you're gonna be worldly, that's what's gonna happen. You're gonna drift away But if you're planted in the house of the Lord then that is gonna be good for you plants Don't move plants take roots, don't they when you plant them and you know some good soil they take roots We're supposed to be rooted and grounded in the faith You know, we're supposed to be here the pillar of the in the ground of the truth, which is God's house Now we're God's house. We're all gathered together as believers. We all have God in us. The Holy Spirit is in us But you know plants grow when they're water Plants grow when they get Sun, you know and of course you're gonna get the Son of God preached to you every single time you're in this place and Plants create oxygen out of co2 and that blesses those that breathe that air in so you're gonna bless each other by being planted in the house of the Lord and In plants also produce fruit, you know a lot of plants, you know Some of them don't I get that but the the trees that God's talking about the plants of God's talking about do look at verse 14 It says they shall still bring forth fruit in old age. So how long should you be in church? Is there like is it when you retire then you just say well, you know It's time for somebody else to be here and take care of this No, we're supposed to still bring forth fruit in our old age It says they shall be fat and flourishing. So, you know, there's your biblical reason to be fat, right but It's talking about the plants, you know, sometimes those plants just get really bushy, right and You know sometimes, you know, you get the the fruit that's coming on it and it makes it really heavy But that's a blessing to bring forth fruit when you're older and you're still bringing forth fruit It's talking about because you were planted in the house of the Lord so we should stay planted in the house of the Lord Don't skip Wednesday just because you're tired. Don't skip Sunday nights because you're tired go to church. You'll be glad that you did Now, let's look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 So I talked about the blessings of being in church. Obviously, there's way more than I could ever talk about I mean I could preach whole sermons Hours and hours long sermons on each of these topics and I'm gonna try not to do that tonight to you You know pastor Shelley was bringing up how I preach a long time It's you know, you in order to pull the moat out of my eye. He has to pull that beam out of his own eye I'm just kidding, but He still has the record. All right anyway Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 the Bible says let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works So this is this is a purpose of us being in God's house to provoke each other and to consider one another You know, don't be selfish. It's important for you to be in church. It's not just important for you It's important for the people around you to be in church to provoke people to love and good works And it says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Don't forsake the assembly. What is this? This is the assembling right here. Don't forsake that don't don't let it get old to you You know just don't ever don't even have a mindset where it's we're not, you know I don't should we go to church Sunday night? Should we go to church Wednesday night because really the main service the Sunday morning service the Sunday morning preaching service is the one? That's the biggest isn't it? Why is that because some people don't they forsake that assembling on Sunday night? They forsake that assembling on Wednesday night now if someone lives like three or four hours away then yeah Give them a break, right? But you know, I'm sure that most of the people live far away and travel on Sunday. They stay for the whole day they want to go soul winning, you know, hang out and fellowship with each other and then hit the next service and You know, obviously you start your week off, right every week We should start our week off right and go to the house to Lord pastor. Shelley doesn't have a choice. He has to show up He's the pastor if he's just like well, you know, I just don't really feel like preaching on Wednesday night So I'm just not gonna come he doesn't get that choice And you know what? I don't get that choice unless I have somebody preaching for me and I'm somewhere else, right? So Why don't you just say I'm gonna I'm gonna be planted in the house of the Lord I'm gonna not forsake the assembling of ourselves. It says as the manner of some is So some people do it right but exhorting one another so encouraging One another the two good works right and so much the more as you see the day approaching, you know today is Closer to Christ coming back than yesterday was right and you know tomorrow He's gonna be even closer and Sunday's gonna be even closer So the Bible is saying hey don't go to church less go to church more the more as you see the day approaching for if we What's it say there sin? Willfully What's it talking about here? Did it change subjects? No, it's talking about sinning willfully. It's a sin to not go to church Is that what it's saying? If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation Which shall devour the adversary so, you know when we sin We should realize when we sin willfully that we're looking, you know, you better be looking for that judgment because It's coming but it's not a judgment that it's going to devour the adversaries that fire, but it's not going to devour us but you know God can make our lives really uncomfortable and So it says he that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses So was Moses saved? Yes, were the children were a lot of the children of Israel saved yes If if a saved person committed murder under Moses's law, would they be dead without mercy? Yes, so, I mean it's talking to Christians here, but it's also kind of jumping back and forth and saying hey This is what the unbelievers are gonna get but that indignation in that judgment It's could come from God on our lives in this world. It says or how much sore punishment verse 29 Suppose you suppose he shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden Underfoot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and Hath done despite the Spirit of Grace. Look Jesus died for the church Isn't that what the Bible says his blood was shed for the church. So why would you despise? You know the assembling of believers the church that he died for You have a responsibility as a Christian to come to church You have a responsibility as a Christian to exhort one another you have a response, you know to think of other people beside yourself Think about everybody else quit being selfish come to church as much as you can. We need it We need the spiritual recharge. We need every single sermon is preached in this pulpit. You guys need that You need it to grow you need it to plant deeper roots to flourish more in your Christian life It's for the perfecting of the Saints the Bible says and it says in verse 30 for we know him that hath said Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense saith the Lord and again the Lord shall judge his people So is it talking about God judging his people? Yes or no? It is so and it's it's in regards to forsaking the assembly Isn't that what the context was and then it says and this is I think one of the most scary verses in the whole Bible It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God And that's a scary verse for Christians because when it says in the lot and the verse before that the Lord shall judge his people You know, we ought to get we ought to get some fear of the Lord when we just just willfully sin and break his commandments That's when we should be afraid and you know, well, you're like, well, we're not supposed to be we are supposed to be afraid of God Our kids are you afraid of your dad? He should be because he's the one that probably gives the worst spankings, right? Who kids raise your hand if you think your your dad gives the worst spanking raise your hand? All right, the moms There's still some moms some moms are laced in India, huh? But you know, we should fear God Because he is our Heavenly Father and he's gonna he's gonna chastise us harshly sometimes Especially when we're willfully sinning it amazes me how I can preach these verses And yet the same people skip church over and over again without any fear and I just think They I know that they heard me I've preached a lot about this in the last year and Then those same people don't understand why their life is falling apart while their marriage is going bad why they're broke Why they're always sick and why their life seems cursed and I'm just thinking The Bible says you're gonna be judged and I'm not saying that everybody that's sick Okay, so don't take me out of context here. Obviously people still get sick and job was sick and I get that But it you know, it seems like the people that miss the most church have the most problems I mean, that's just kind of my experience as a pastor and I'm just like hey dummy get back into church start serving God again start being faithful to the things of God again Encourage other people and provoke them under good works and then maybe your life will turn around a little bit Maybe God's gonna let off and real and you know, here's what we got to do though. We got to confess those sins to God Because if we just act like there's no problem Isn't it funny how the people that skip church the most they don't realize that everybody realizes that their excuses are weak They're like, here we go again it's just like I Just look people that people know that you just it's noticeable when you're not here Your pastor notices when you're not here and obviously there's there's valid excuses to miss church I'm not saying like, you know, if you're got in a car accident, you need to go to the hospitals like Church Hospital You know, which one should I do? But every week it shouldn't be another excuse why you couldn't make it. That's all I'm saying. So number three tonight someone Who is giving versus someone who is not so The blessings of those that give and I am going to talk mainly about just money Okay, and I know that this is not a popular subject in the new IFB But it is still true that you if you don't give unto the Lord, you know And I would include the spiritual sacrifices that we're supposed to make But I'm just gonna mainly talk about money. I'm sorry I didn't clear this with Pastor Shelley, but I think that you know, it's in the Bible It needs to be preached every once in a while. So let's just look at Malachi chapter 3. This is where everybody goes. This is the main Text where people will go for tithing. You're like, well tithing isn't in the New Testament. We'll get there but And you're like, well, you just want money If I was in this for money Look, I gave up the golden ticket to be a pastor I knew the day that I became a pastor that my career was gonna be gone someday and I just I counted that cost I knew it was gonna happen. So when it happened, I wasn't really worried about it You know what? My philosophy is on that. I was looking for a job when I found that one So if I actually need to go get another job, I have skills that I could go and work someplace else and be just fine but You know, I mean I put a lot off for the ministry, but you know what that God calls us to forsake Oh anyway, so who cares? We got way more riches waiting for us in heaven that cannot be taken away We can't get those rewards are not going to disappear We're gonna we need to be stacking up treasure in heaven and not worrying so much about the things of This earth but look what it says in Malachi 3 verse 6 It says for I am the Lord I change not therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. So obviously it's a very popular verse but The fact that he doesn't change is an advantage for us because we would be consumed You know if God changed, but he says I'm gonna give you eternal life I'm never gonna destroy you in hell. So look at verse 7 It says even from the days of your fathers You're gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them Return unto me and I'll return unto you sayeth the Lord of hosts, but you said wherein shall we return? So then they're like, well you got you can ask the dumb question. Well, here's the here's the good answer Well a man robbed God Yet you have robbed me but you say wherein have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings You're cursed with a curse So what happens when you rob God what's it say there you're cursed with the curse everybody repeat with me You're cursed with a curse. That's what it says, right for you have robbed me I mean just think about the audacity to just rob God And and just fully think about that for a second Even this whole nation. Do you think that the time Malachi wrote this scripture that there was saved people? He's talking to here or is the whole nation just corrupted unsaved and reprobates. No, he's right. It says the whole nation So there are saved people that God's talking to here It's not you know, not just in the unsaved, you know Jews in Israel or whatever. He's talking to his people He's saying you robbed me the whole nations robbed me But then, you know, he gives us these blessings that we can he gives us a way to not be cursed It says in verse 10 bringing all the tithes in the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now here with sayeth the Lord of hosts if I will not open the Windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it God says to prove me. This is one of the the great commands that God gives to us He says, you know what? Why don't you prove me and see if it's true or not? Give what you're supposed to give give the tenth. That's what God requires Well, I'm not up here preaching whole check paychecks Sunday I'm not up here saying give till it hurts give till you bleed or something But what does God require 10%? That's what he requires That's what tithe actually means in case you didn't know that but it says That he will pour he said prove me That I won't open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there will there not be room enough to receive It and look, you know, I used to live before I was like a real faithful tither when I was a first a baby Christian I Would I would I was afraid to tithe because I just the math wasn't adding up. How's this gonna work? but then when you get the faith of you know, I mean just think about this we put our trust our Salvation trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and eternal security, but we can't trust him with our money The money that he allowed us to make the money he allowed us to You know to hang on to and he said just give a little portion back and I'm gonna bless you for sure It's just gonna happen and I remember like Pastors would get up and say, you know when I first started tithing, you know, I was afraid, you know It wasn't adding up and I was like How am I gonna pay for this bill and then like a check would come in the mail to cover the exact amount? I was like is this you know, some kind of Benny and stuff or something? But I remember when I the first time I did that and I was I was like I just don't know how I'm gonna there was a certain bill and I'm not saying it was the exact amount It was more than what I needed actually, but I did get a check in the mail and I was just like there's no way This is real. It's like but it is Prove God you trust him with your salvation trust him with the the promise that he says he's gonna bless you For giving I mean, isn't that what it says? Okay, this isn't me. Just trying to get your money. All right So and then look what it says it not only that not only is he gonna bless us those that have robbed him before but then it says and I and I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and He shall not destroy the fruits of your ground Now either shall your vine cast your fruit before the time in the field saith the Lord of hosts It's obviously we're not farmers in this world. But you know, what does that mean to us? You're not going to run out of work. You're not going to run out of substance You're gonna be taken care of you know, God's gonna destroy the devourer for your sake And it says and all nations shall call you blessed for he shall be a delights um, you shall be a delight some land saith the Lord of hosts, so Like there that's that's a pretty big list of blessings just for giving back something that God already allowed you to have right Now let's turn to Haggai chapter 1. I mean I could probably just move on from there But let me just tell you something if you just make the decision tonight Maybe you are here and you you don't really fully Give to the Lord like you should maybe you give some and that's great But you're still robbing him if you're not giving them the whole 10% So you're right you're being right but you're being wrong at the same time It's kind of probably canceling things out Because what do you think the opposite of that is if you continue to rob God, what's he gonna do? He's gonna send the devourer. He's going to not bless you He's not going to make sure you have enough to make the ends meet. He's not gonna call you blessed He's not gonna call you a delights on land. He's gonna curse your life Remember what it said in verse 9 your curse with the curse. So in order for them to break that curse What do you have to do? You have to get right with God you have to give what you're supposed to give right Haggai chapter 1 verse 5 now the context of this is is basically the children of Israel are kind of just putting off building the temple and They're building their own houses and making sure that they got the remodel that they needed and and all this other stuff But God says this in verse 5 now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts consider your ways Think about think about what you're doing basically you have so much and bring in little You eat, but you have not enough you drink, but you're not filled with drink He clothes you But is none warm and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes Thus saith the Lord of hosts consider your ways So When you're not doing that which is right when it comes to monetary things like that Then it's like you're earning a check But the money is just dropping out of your pockets. You know you pop a tire on the way You know to not go to church You know you pop you You lose your job I mean God will find ways to punish us But like the brand new washer and dryer that by the way the new washer and dryer suck but I still have old-school wash machines and I just get them repaired if I need to but maybe God Part of God's blessing he's gonna allow your car to just run on You know you drive it till the wheels fall off. It's like you got three hundred fifty thousand miles on it or whatever It's still going you know that's a blessing It's like the children of Israel their feet did their shoes of the souls of their feet didn't wear out The whole 40 years God blessed them and allowed them that their shoes to supernaturally not lose its tread But God can supernaturally make sure that that old wash machine you have still works Or that old beater car still getting you back and forth to work. There's a lot of ways that God can bless you You know that the house that you have is still not they're not raising the rent But you know if you don't trust God with your finances then all those curses can be the opposite everything you buy Sucks the warranty was worthless. You know the cars are all breaking down at the same time I Mean and you laugh about this stuff, but it happens It really does and then you know obviously we're not supposed to have evil surmises or just think well They must not be telling it or something now don't have that attitude Let them deal with that with God in the preaching right look at Luke chapter 12 Luke chapter number 12 The Bible says in Luke 12 19, and I will say to my soul. This is the guy that wanted to build bigger and Plan his retirement and his hedge funds and his 401k and that was more important than anything else Building bigger barns. He says and I said and I will say to my soul soul Thou as much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry But God said unto him thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee then Who shall those things be which thou has provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not what's it say they're rich toward God So we know God's rich toward us. We need to be rich toward God and not just Hoard everything like Scrooge McDuck or something or you know like a literal Jew right, but anyway You know right now. We're experiencing a lot of big inflation and This you know every time something like this happens where there's like a big recession or things like that the churches are affected by this And obviously people can lose their job, and and that's a big portion of it but the Bible doesn't say Don't tithe as much when the economy is bad does it is that when you pull back and say well five percent No, you should still continue to do the normal ten percent no matter What's going on in the world and let me tell you something we can be recession-proof as Christians. We really can But when you when you say it's more important to just get you know I would say this It's more important even more important to give in the lean times because that really shows how much you really trust in God So I'm not trying to punch you in the money here tonight. You know but You know if why would God bless you in the times of lean when you're robbing him So when if you're lean, and then you're robbing him it's gonna be even more lean for you You know I knew a guy that was a contractor and during like the big house Fannie Mae Fannie Mae Freddie Mac or whatever it was a Lot of people were losing everything you know what he did He just kept his prices the same as a contractor And he trusted God with his finances, and he never lacked work that whole time because what usually gets hit construction You know the blue-collar jobs People don't want to get their bathrooms retiled people don't want to spend extra money for a roof You know everybody just kind of tightens up but you know God can make you recession-proof no matter what you're doing if you're faithful and That's just a little bit of advice And I've just seen these things play out in my life, so God can still bless you in the times of lean But don't rob God just because you're cut short and you're waxing short just be faithful, and he'll make sure that you Can get through it so There's some maybe there's some you know instead of cutting God short. Why don't you just cut your Starbucks bill short? Instead of cutting God short why don't you just take your video you know stop paying for all those video subscriptions You know we can be recession-proof, but don't start saying well. I'm cutting God short and because I still want to maintain my Abundant life in Starbucks and Dutch brothers, and you know whatever just whatever it is your hobbies So going out to eat for every single meal you know when the recessions happen that's the time to maybe just hunker down and You know make some meals at home so Don't cut back on the fuel that allows God's church to function at a high capacity Because you guys have a high capacity function in church here. You guys are doing all kinds of things You know I think that the great thing about one of the great things about the new IP There's a lot of great things about it But one of the great things about it is that we're just we do all these events And then we just put them on with what God gives us and somehow we always just have enough And that's and that's a blessing isn't it it's a blessing to be a part of this church I mean your cure for wanting to leave a church like this. Just go to an old IFB Church for like one service I'm not I'm not telling you to skip church I'm just telling you to learn to appreciate what you have here because we can start seeing the moles You know you know we can start You know just seeing the weeds And stop focusing on how great this church is and how great things are being done through it And you start just thinking it's just like any old church. Just go to an old IP church I'm not saying all old IP churches are bad. I'm just saying they're different They recently had a someone from our church that was attending an old IP church, and they came back fired up All took was like a few altar calls And You know not tithing sermon a lot of times You know these old IP churches will do like a tithing sermon every single service like you're just having to hear it one time I don't know when the last time Pastor Shelley preached about it is but sure it's been a while but anyway, so But now let me just get to 1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse 3 1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse 3 You're like what about the New Testament well, and I just kind of want to say this also not only does You know tithing help the church to do all these functions, but also helps support your pastor and Do you want your pastor to have to work like some side job just because? You didn't want to be rich with God So we don't and I'm not trying to say pay Pastor Shelley more anything. That's none of my business I'm just saying that when Paul was asked about this question, and he didn't even take a paycheck at this point But here's what Paul says look at 1st Corinthians 9 3 it says my answer to them that do examine me is this So people are always messing with preachers about the money that they make just that's just a fact How we not power to eat and drink have we not power to lead about a sister a wife as well as the other other apostles and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas or I only in Barnabas have not we power to forbear working he's like we should be able to take a Paycheck and forbear working a secular job all a lot of the other apostles did that's what he's saying Who goeth to warfare any time in his own charges who planted the vineyard and it's not the fruit There of or who feedeth the flock and eateth not the milk of the flock He's saying hey if the pastor is leading and working and working hard He should be able to or the full-time work or whatever you want to call it Be able to eat the fruit of the things that he's doing you know the shepherd should be able to eat of the flock And so on and so forth but look at verse 8 say I these things as a man or saith not the law the same also, so What's he referring to the law of tithing, right? Because look what it says for his written in the law of Moses thou shalt not muzzle the mouth That of the ox that treadeth out the corn doth God take care for oxen He didn't write that for the for the beast he wrote that for the the working ox That's working hard and plowing the fields of God's Harvest right it says or saith he altogether for our sakes for our sakes no doubt This is written that he that ploweth should plow in hope and that he that thresheth and hope should be a partaker of his hope If we have sown unto you the spiritual things, excuse me, spiritual things Is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? What's he saying? He's like, is it like a big deal that we're we need to pay to get a paycheck or we should get a paycheck It's not a big deal. It's actually something that the law teaches And so when Malachi is talking about that he says that my house would be filled that meat would be in my house And that's that's what the the Levites lived off of the tithes and offerings So it's just how God's system is and it works beautifully if we're participating as we should Do you not know that they which minister about the holy things live of the things of the temple and They which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel So New Testament tithing is covered This is specifically what it's talking about that these things help the ministers to be able to minister in a better capacity Turn to Proverbs chapter 3 verse 9 Proverbs chapter 3 verse 9. I realize I'm taking a long time on this point, but I think it's important Especially at the times that we're living in right now and uncertainty all over the place. Where do we run? Let's let's all be afraid. No, let's not be afraid. Let's just trust God He's gonna get us through it and and yeah, it might get lean I mean in Washington State we have the most expensive gas prices in the whole nation even over, California And it is it's it's hurting people, you know $5 a gallon. What are you guys paying here? All right, what I think I'm called to Texas and I'm sure I'm kidding 350 Wow That's good. You guys are blessed see Anyway, it says honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase So shall thy Barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. So it's just it's just saying give God the first fruits Give God what he asked for and you're gonna be blessed. Look at Luke chapter 6 verse 38 Luke chapter 6 verse 38 Luke chapter 6 verse 38 says give and it shall be given unto you good measure Press down and shaken together and running over shall men give Into your bosom for with the same measure that you meet with all it shall be measured to you again So it's like, you know the sowing and reaping principle applies with giving of Your monetary things and I'm not going to have you go to the verses about alms, but giving people to the poor That's a separate thing than tithing but it's still something that you know We should we should help the poor but not you know derelict bombs that won't work, right? Now so I'm gonna have you turn to 2nd Corinthians 9 6 and it's just gonna kind of repeat this principle I'm just gonna read while you're turning there But it says but this I say he that so sparingly shall reap also sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully Every man according as he purposeth in his heart So let him give not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth a cheerful giver now before you start saying We'll see there's it doesn't says you just have to be a cheerful giver. This is talking about a collection That was for the poor saints in Jerusalem. This was a love what's called a love offering In our circles or whatever But it says and God shall be able to make all grace Abound toward you that ye always having all sufficiency and all things may abound to every good work So Paul would take this collection He'd go to Jerusalem and help the poor saints that were there and he would do like a collection with these other churches But look what it says in verse 9 You think that money doesn't matter but it does it says as it is written he hath dispersed abroad He hath given to the poor his righteousness remaineth forever so I mean It's it is a good work to help people that are poor and obviously I think that we should help the working poor You know, some people are just gonna be poor and that's just the way it is But you know, it's as Christians We should help each other out when we can and obviously this also lacks in the times when it's lean but again God's You give and God's if however you give that's how it's gonna be given back to you if you so Sparingly, you're gonna reap sparingly, but if you are a cheerful giver and God's gonna bless you. So Anyway, let's move on to the next point here point number four Those who pray versus those that pray not those who pray versus those who pray not look at James chapter 4 We'll go back to James chapter 4 James chapter number 4 the Bible says in verse 2 You lust and you have not you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain You fight and war yet you have not because you ask not So what's stopping us from getting blessings and prayer just not asking doesn't that what it says? You know instead of just fighting and warring and coveting and lusting after things You have a father in heaven Which you only have to just ask I mean multiple times We're gonna see some some different scriptures here that just tell us just ask That's all you have to do is ask But look what it says in verse 3. Let's make sure we're asking for the right things You ask and you receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust I mean if you're praying for a Lamborghini You're just an idiot God's not gonna give you a Lamborghini. All right, he knows what you're gonna do You're gonna crash into a telephone pole and die someplace Trying to be the fast and the furious or whatever So, you know, it's important, you know when we pray that we ask for things in God's will and you know, he's not He's obviously, you know, sometimes he's just gonna say no, maybe we don't need that extra money. Maybe we don't need that better job maybe we should be Staying at the job that we're already at maybe not making as much but being happy I know some of the worst things I've ever done was change jobs thinking that just more money is better and just work for tyrants and It's miserable. So Just because an opportunity knocks doesn't mean you need to walk through that door, but look at James chapter 1 We have James chapter 1 So God will give you Things willingly and and not sparingly he'll give you what you ask. So you have not because he asked not We're in James 1 5 it says if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God Well, how do you ask you pray right? That giveth to all men liberally in a braideth knot He's not going to hold it back from you because of your social status or anything like that It says that he'll get he give it to all men liberally and a breath not and it shall be given him And you know, maybe you need to get some wisdom, but you know how you get that wisdom Asked for ask God to give you wisdom and it says he'll give it to you, right? but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that waver it is like a wave of The sea driven with the wind and tossed for let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord Double-minded man is unstable in all his ways turn to James chapter 5 verse 13 James chapter 5 verse 13 Trying to keep you awake turning all these verses so I don't know if it's having the opposite effect or what but Anyway, James chapter 5. I know it's a Wednesday night James chapter 5 the Bible says in verse 13 Is any among you afflicted let him pray is any Mary let him sing Psalms is any sick among you Let him call for the elders of the church and let him pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and The prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if you have committed sins They shall be forgiven him Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed the effect the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much so Basically God's saying you're being held back from blessings Because you're not asking for them and obviously God's gonna bless us to a certain measure for certain things, but If you're asking for things God's gonna give them to you isn't that what it says just keep saying ask in each passage I'm going to write, but you know God knows what you need. He knows that you need clothes You know he knows you need food. He knows you need raiment But you know there's certain things that you need to ask for well, what are those things wisdom? You know and maybe you need a job ask for a job But you know don't ask for a job, and then it's it's on every every time you have to go to church You take that job instead of taking a different job. That's a mistake That's a mistake that Christians make I've seen it happen lots of times, and you know what's gonna get you out of church faster than anything Accepting a job that takes you out of every single service at church It's gonna make you backslidden. It's gonna happen like oh, no not me. I'll just watch online. That's not that's not enough That's not what it's that's not what the Bible says So or you know some people ask for a wife, and you know you single guys need to start asking a little harder Ask for a wife, and then put yourself out there You know talk to girls And You know you'll find a girlfriend and hopefully a wife, right? You ask for children here you want more children ask What's the Bible say ask ask for these things? Look what it says in Luke 11 verse 9 Sorry, I didn't have you turn there Luke 11 9 You all might get out here before 10 o'clock tonight Just Joking You're like is he serious Don't tell me to preach it Luke 11 9 Luke 11, but don't tell me preach it so it's his fault Luke 11 9. It says and I say unto you ask And it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be open unto you What's it? What's the key word there again ask? For everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be open If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father Will he give him a stone or if he asked a fish will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg Will he offer him a scorpion if you then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children? How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask you're like Why am I not filled with the Holy Spirit ask? Ask What do you need ask God? Do you ask you did you ask your dad for stuff when you were younger? And he might have told you know a lot, but you know, we're mean sometimes But God might tell you no to but you still should ask ask Psalm chapter 55 Psalm chapter 55 When should we pray and this is I think a struggle with a lot of Christians, especially busy Christians But we got to get better at prayer, I think that that holds us back from a lot of different things in our lives and You're like instead of complaining about what you don't have. Why don't you just ask? That's what the Bible says right Psalm 55 verse 16 the Bible says as for me. I will call upon God And the Lord shall save me Evening and morning and at noon while I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice I was David a man after God's own heart They prayed in the evening and prayed in the morning. He prayed at noon three times a day and I'm not gonna have you go to the verses in Daniel, but You know when they made a rule a law that he could not Even pray I mean we've never gotten to that point in America It's gotten pretty wicked, but maybe there is gonna be a time But maybe if you've never were praying before it won't be a big deal to you when they try to take it away later When your smartphones telling on you or whatever Throw that thing it will have to throw those things in the garbage or whatever But it says he hath delivered my soul and peace from the battle verse 18 That was against me for there were many with me God shall hear and afflict them even he that abideth of old see law because They have no changes Therefore they fear not God so God will deliver our enemies Again, you know the enemies that rise up against us You know Moses used to say when he would move the tabernacle rise Lord and let the the enemies of the of the Lord be scattered God will Defend us against our enemies and sometimes it seems like our enemies are beating us But they're never gonna beat us. They're never gonna win. They are not gonna win These enemies that have come against your church are not going to win. God will give you the victory just watch But you know what pray also You know sometimes we sometimes we just say well, I'll pray for you or you know, I'm praying about this, but are you really? Because that is something that we should get right as Christians Daniel prayed three times a day You don't just remember this acronym. I'll just say this really quickly the acronym of acts Who's heard of this acronym for prayer anybody? Okay, just one person so good. Well write this down put it in your Bible acts acknowledge God you know when you go to God in prayer acknowledge him as you know your Lord and and just make sure that you're just acknowledging God when you pray so like Your only father in Jesus name. Amen. I mean that's not how we should pray right I Mean you got to put some stuff in between there You know you see these heathen they'll even pray a longer prayer than that He's heathen that like at Thanksgiving when you go to your family's house or whatever And there's like, you know, good bread good meat. Good God. Let's eat or whatever. Have you ever heard somebody say that before? totally disrespectful We don't want to be like that So it says, you know, so acts a is acknowledge God see confess your sins and faults to God So when we're confessing our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Thank God for the blessings you get in life. You know, a lot of times we give victories or prayer requests get answered Do you thank God for those things because you know what we should You know think when when your enemies are vanquished, thank God When you win a victory, thank God when your children are healed from some kind of sickness Thank God when you're healed from a sickness, thank God when you're feeling better. Thank God We ought to be thankful to God for the things he gives us. That's the teeth and then s is supplication That's when you ask things for others or yourself so Daniel Was caught making supplication before his God. I hope you caught me making supplication But what ended up happening they throw him in the lion's den an angel shuts the mouths of the lions Then all those people that went against them what happened to them into the lion's den you go boys and they were starving. I Mean they're breaking bones there. I mean lions are some pretty ferocious things They threw all of them in there like, you know And so God has a way to just turn things around that even though things seem bleak even though things seem tough He's still gonna come through for us in the clutch every time he's always gonna hit the home run Grand slam with all the bases loaded. He's gonna hit the game winner He's gonna he's gonna hit the final shot in hockey. What's some other dumb games that you guys like? He's gonna he's huh He's gonna get the smash in the ping-pong or whatever He's gonna he's gonna spike it hard and someone's face on the final point of volleyball I'm just you know, I'm using sports because it's just down how I think but You know God is always gonna come through the clutch even in the most impossible situations So we were just remember we we serve a big God Sometimes we lack faith that we need to have a little more faith sometimes so acts is a knowledge confess thanks and Supplication so if you kind of add that into your prayer life It might be helpful to you to just kind of remember that acronym. It's like what am I supposed to pray about again? Oh, yeah Let me confess my sins. That's important acknowledge God You know acknowledge his greatness I mean if you read the songs David's just always saying how mighty and wonderful and great and merciful and long-suffering And all these things we need to brag on our God a little bit more And the time to do it is not when someone's listening to you do it it's the time when you're just by yourself Just you and God in your prayer closet. I know it's not your coat lifting over your head. But anyway, so you know and once God answers your prayer don't just spit in God's face and And then just say you know what I got everything I want now. I'm out of here. I'm gonna quit church I'm gonna quit sowing and I'm gonna quit You know all these things that I used to do Be careful of that you asked for you asked for something for God and then you're like, well I'm hoping that he's just gonna help me Just have this job that I can take care of my whole family Then you just take your whole family out of church and go to Disneyland and said or whatever That ought not be how we respond to God's blessings because remember He's God he can turn it around on you real quick and everything that you've got Can be just turned around and be made a curse So, you know once you get the wife once you get the children once you get the house once you get the new hemi dodge Ram mega diesel Cummings engine whatever make a rammer charger or whatever Then and you get that job to support the whole family don't give up on God and turn your back on him See, it's the times when we're blessed the most sometimes where we're the least spiritual So just keep that in mind because that seemed to be the Achilles heel so to speak of the children of Israel They'd have it good. Everything was great great leader Won the victory and then it's like the next generation done and You know some of the times the main reasons why people will leave a church And pastor men has kind of made this list up It's not you know unique to me, but I thought I thought that I think that the things that he says in it are true One of the reasons why people will leave a church is a new job you know for whatever reason it's a new job a new baby a death in the family When you move church locations, have you lost anybody on the church? More people just keep coming you guys love it. So but I mean sometimes that is a that is a case where you know that that's their time to just jump ship or whatever and then buy a new home acquire more stuff because Remember the borrower servant to the lender. So when you get more money people tend to want to spend that money They go into debt. I mean we had a guy leave our church that You know, he he was doing great and then he bought a brand new truck It's like oh I got to work overtime so I could pay for this truck and then slowly but surely gone Back in the world over a truck And it wasn't even a mega Ram diesel charger Cummings engine or whatever. It was it was a lesser model so Obviously, I don't know much about trucks, but I have one I Drive it. That's not all I know how to do. Anyway, and then the lat Let's let's go on to another point here. So Someone that's so winning versus them that don't Turn to Psalm chapter 126 verse 5. So the blessing of so winning is that we do get rewards for that It's an eternal reward and You know, I'm not sure how pastor Shelley feels about this But I don't believe that you and if I'm if he teaches something different then I'm wrong He's right, but I don't believe you can lose an eternal reward So when it talks about you losing rewards on the the judgment seat of Christ I believe that it's talking about things that you lost the opportunity to or you were doing something that wasn't Didn't have an eternal value Look at Psalm 126 verse 5 it says they that so in tears shall reap in joy He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing Bringing his sheaves with him So what is the what is the blessing of soul name that someone else is going to heaven because you decided to go out and? knock some doors Someone's eternal destiny has changed because you decided to do what God says and he said go And priests the gospel of every creature John chapter 4 verse 36. I'm going to go ahead under to 1st Corinthians 3. I'm gonna read John 4 36 It says in John 4 36 he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto eternal life that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice Together so the people that we get saved someday We're gonna rejoice together in heaven also And we're gonna get receive wages and that fruit that we're gathering is eternal It's something that lasts forever so and you might have lost track of the names Maybe you wrote down the names of people you got saved and maybe you've stopped doing that But you know what they're never gonna forget you When they when you're in heaven and you're a soul winner you're gonna have people coming up to you And saying thank you for getting me saved, and that's a blessing isn't it because it's not only a blessing that they get eternal life That's a blessing. That's a huge blessing But it's also a blessing because we get rewarded for those things and you know God told us to go soul winning And what he didn't stutter we work in his vineyard or co-laborers with God. We're ambassadors for Christ He sent us out to all nations to preach the gospel starting here at your Jerusalem and and then you know to Judah Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth right look at 1st Corinthians 3 9 It says for we late for we are laborers together with God your God's husbandry your God's building According to the grace of God which which is given unto me as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth there upon so says for other foundation can no man lay Than that that then that is laid which is Jesus Christ so everything that we do has to be upon the foundation of Jesus Christ He's the sure foundation He's the rock the stone which the builders disallowed it says now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones Wood haste stubble every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because It shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is if any man's work abide Which he hath built there upon he shall receive a reward if any man's work shall be burned He shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet. So as by fire, so that's kind of what I was talking about That you know there are things they're gonna make it through that fire And those are the eternal rewards that we're gonna get for being the sole winner and what a sad day It's gonna be when we have that great reunion in heaven with all the saints of God at the same time And there's gonna be some people there that don't have any sheaves that they collected They don't have anybody because they never went soul winning and look I'm sure most of the people in this room go soul winning or have gone soul winning or whatever If you've kind of slacked off in that area Get refired back up You know it's hot here I get that now bring a little fan with you or something so you blow that hot air on your face, right? Develop some sort of suit that has air conditioning or something But you know this is probably the toughest time to go sewing I'm sure here You know and then or when the tornadoes are coming or whatever else you guys deal with They can like do everything on the same day here from what I understand right rain snow sleet hail thunder and lightning And then sunshine right that's miss anything Sleet hail tornadoes yeah hurricanes no That's Houston But anyway so last thing I have here and I'll be done as quick as I possibly can here Bible readers versus non Bible readers Bible readers versus non Bible readers turn to Psalm chapter 1 Psalm chapter 1 for sake of time is gonna read it really quickly It says blesses the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night So our delight should be in the law of the Lord We should be meditating it day and night should be reading it every single day It says and he shall be and he's gonna use this analogy This this this symbol again as a plant or a tree and he shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season his leaf shall not wither and whatsoever He doeth shall Prosper so God is promising a blessing to the people that read and love God's Word. So Don't do the New Testament challenge and then just forget about your Bible reading for the rest of the year Because when you read a lot of Bible, it really can drain you So if you're having a problem where you're just not able to kind of keep up with your plan or whatever Just dial it back a little bit, but still keep reading the Bible. You need that daily dose of the Bible so it says We'll turn to Matthew chapter 4. So last verse I'll have to turn to But how how are you cursed well, how could you be cursed in the Bible reading thing? Well, how about just not knowing what God's Word says? Because ignorance is no excuse to God It's like have you ever like done something against the law and you didn't realize that was against the law who's done that? You don't have to tell me. Okay Well officer I didn't see the sign that was said 55 or whatever But you know what? They always say when you when you say something like that ignorance of the law is no excuse So God expects us to know The whole Bible or to read the whole Bible and we should read it for the day all the days of our life But you know because Jesus would would mock people when they'd ask him a dumb question. He'd be like have you not read? Have you not read like these are you're a master of Israel and you know, not these things I mean We we we don't want to be the ones who's like I've never heard that verse before I didn't know I was supposed to be tithing. Well, you know now suckers and I'm just kidding Now, you know But anyway, Matthew 4 4 says but he answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. What is our responsibility not to just you know Go live off bread and your food isn't enough. You need every word of God and so the the curse that can come is You know not knowing what you're split what God requires of you, you know, not knowing the crew You know, there's a lot of stuff in this book. It's a big book and it takes a long time to read but there's a lot of stuff in here that God wants us to know and The more we read through the Bible the more things we're gonna pick up the more God's gonna teach us You know, you want to learn all the the deep truths of God. Well, why don't you learn the simple truths of God first? Why don't you drink the drink them up first little baby and then you'll grow up and you know Get your toddler teeth and you can kind of dig into a little more meaty stuff We shouldn't just try to figure out all these crazy You know thing and just try to just looking constantly for this new stuff Obviously God's gonna teach you things that you never knew before every time you read the Bible just ask him remember ask You know show me wondrous things out of thy law so God wants to bless his people but Listen, if you're not balanced in your life, and these are just really basic things tonight. They really are they're the basic building blocks of our Christian faith and If we can get those things right then we can move on to perfection Right, and and I'm not talking about walking on water I'm talking about just being a balanced well-rounded Christian and when God calls people perfect in the Bible He's not saying they walked on water. He's just saying that person, you know, it's because when we sin We have options when we don't you know, when we pray we're supposed to pray read God's Word go soul-willing Go to church and then that's gonna help us become a more complete Christian right, so In backwards order we need to read our Bible We need to go soul-willing. We need to have a prayer life. We need to give unto the Lord We need to go to church whenever the doors are open and we need to live a separated holy life And these are the things that will get you know, obviously there's a lot more but these are the basic things that you need to really just take off and be a balanced Christian and You know, God will bless you when you abide by his word, let's pray Lord Thank you so much for the scriptures and Lord just even the simple things Lord. Sometimes we need to hear him over again Maybe we're all doing well at most of these but I'm sure there's people in this room and that aren't necessarily Aren't necessarily doing all these things so Lord I just pray that you'd help us to make the right decisions on in our lives and and Not to spit in your face when you give us what we want what we asked for pray Lord you bless Steadfast Baptist Church and this great church I pray that Lord it'd be a powerhouse of soul-willing and hard preaching for many many years to come Jesus name. We pray. Amen All right in closing let's go to song number 364 Song number 364 Standing on the promises Is the price Coloring the highest I will shout Especially I will shout and sing, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot fail. When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, by the living Word of God, I shall prevail. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, bound to Him eternally by love's strong core, overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot fall. Listening every moment to the Spirit's call. Resting in my Savior as my all and all. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Great singing, everybody. You are all dismissed.