I praise him pray for sinner slain his blunch and wash away stain though it seemed straight
and ne'er was swept away missions plans and wishes beaten out sinner slain wash away
cease to praise him sinner slain he took me into the false sun singing brother jake as you open
us up with a word of prayer and our second song is song number 314 more love to thee number 314
more to thee more seen welcome to your foundation of the week is first first chronicle 16 verse
number 11 what says seek the lord and his strength seek his face continually that is again first
chronicle 16 verse number 11 we're here at our sunday evening service this morning i talked about
railing and i do not know what brother jason's preaching on tonight but i'm sure it'll be great
as always and then on wednesday we're gonna be having our wednesday evening bible study which
will be first corinthians chapter 10 part number three and then for as far as the praise report i
don't think we had any salvations i was so wanting no i think so the soul yeah i don't think so but
nonetheless people got warned and we're doing what we're commanded to do anyways right it reminds me
this is kind of a topic about this but there was a couple months ago i knocked on this guy's door
who was like oh yeah i'm a pastor he's like i'm a pastor this church right there his house was right
next to the church and he was like yeah hey god bless you for going out we tried this and it just
didn't work so we stopped doing it i'm like what do you mean it doesn't work hey soul hunting still
does work if we're going out and preach the gospel we are always going to get people saved
eventually it might be a little scarce sometimes right but hey we're commanded not even necessarily
to get people saved we're commanded to preach the gospel though getting people saved is up to them
right they have to choose to believe the gospel so even if we win our whole lives and never got
anybody we did what god commanded us so uh don't let that discourage you especially because we have
20 salvations so far in this year so praise god for that as well um but as far as um different
upcoming events on march 6 we're gonna have our wsu soul winning uh marathon event i know like
i said brother noah i think uh miss mai is coming from the yakama plant so that'll be fun we're
gonna meet at that chipotle at 10 45 a.m i don't think we're gonna eat there in the morning and we
actually might change this up a little bit now because i i only did the the chipotle is a little
uh this is what i want to get for lunch afterwards but i want this to be like a placeholder because i
didn't know where to park or anything like that and by the way for the parking i'll let you guys
know this if you're coming up there you got to pay before you park okay we learned this the hard way
brother uh ryan got a ticket on his car but they showed him some grace okay so they're like we got
a one-time wave that will do for you so we got blessed for that but uh yeah pay before you park
that's the the moral of the story and i'll uh put that actual parking address out there when um
i look it up on on the maps but uh that'll be on march 6th and then on march uh 8th we have our
kids choir practice for easter that'll be starting after the morning services march 27th and march 29th
we have uh the church anniversary so my dad's going to come up and preach for us on that friday i
believe and there's more details to come about that and the same thing for uh april 18th we're
going to have the there's gonna be more details for that as well but we're for sure having the
nez pierce soul hunting marathon uh in orfino uh idaho with brother david on the 18th so i'm
looking forward to that he's super excited about it too and he's like not even just like
we're not even just doing one he's like we can hit this whole area in the years that come so i'm
like amen let's go then not even just an event hey we're gonna make it a habit to get out there
it's what we want to see in this world nowadays amen uh and then lastly we have our kids memory
verse which is psalms 107 verse number one so if you can tell this to my wife kids you'll get some
candy it is oh give thanks unto the lord for he is good for his mercy endureth forever i think
that's pretty much all that we have so we'll get into the prayer request and then after that we'll
do our third song let's pray uh dear brother god thank you so much for this wonderful day thank
you so much for the offering to be signed number 353 which is from every stormy wind song number
353 from every stormy wind 353 let's sing it together on the first from every stormy wind that
blows from as well it's our country tis fine see brother jason could you bless the offering for us
back everybody okay go ahead and take your bibles and turn to roman's chapter 16 that'll be our
text this evening and as always here at sure foundation baptist church we read the entire
chapter before the preaching roman's 16 the bible reads i commend unto you phoebe our sister which
is a servant of the church which is at centria that you receive her in the lord as become a saint
and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you for she hath been a succorer of
many and of myself also greet proskilla and aquila my helpers in christ jesus who have for my life
laid down their own necks under whom not only i give thanks but also all the churches of the gentiles
likewise greet the church that is in their house salute my well-beloved epinatus who is the first
fruits of aka unto christ greet mary who bestowed much labor on us salute adronikos and junia my
kinsmen and my fellow prisoners who are of note among the apostles who also were in christ before
me greet amplius my beloved in the lord salute urbani our helper in christ and stockies my beloved
salute apales approved in christ salute them which are of aristobulus's household salute
herodian my kinsmen greet them that be of the household of narcissists which are in the lord
salute trifena and trifosa who labor in the lord salute the beloved persis which labored much in
the lord salute rufus chosen in the lord and his mother and mine salute as syncretas phlegon hermus
trobus hermes and the brethren which are with them salute philologus and junia nerius and his
sister and olympus and all the saints which are with them salute one another with an holy kiss
the churches of christ salute you now i beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and
offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them for they are that that are
such serve not our lord jesus christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches
deceive the hearts of the simple for your obedience has come abroad unto all men
i am glad therefore on your behalf but yet i would have you wise unto that which is good and simple
concerning evil and the god of peace shall bruise satan under your feet shortly the grace of our
lord jesus christ be with you amen to mothius my work fellow and lucius and jason and sociopater
my kinsmen salute you i tertius who wrote this epistle salute you and the lord gaius mine host
and of the whole church salute with you erastus the chamberlain of the city salute with you and
cortis a brother the grace of our lord jesus christ be with you all amen now to him that is
of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of jesus christ according to
the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began but now is made
manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting
god made known to all nations for the obedience of faith to god only wise be glory through
christ through jesus christ forever amen uh brother kyle could you pray for the preaching
amen all right we're here in roman's chapter number 16 and if we look down at verse number
three where the bible reads greet bacilla and aquila my helpers in jesus christ who have for
my life laid down their own necks under whom excuse me under whom not only i give thanks but
also all the churches of the gentiles likewise greet the church that is in their house salute
my well-beloved aphephases who is the first fruits of kaia onto christ and uh the the original
title of this evening's sermon was of course it was going to be brother paul in light of the bible
but since that title doesn't actually have anything to do with what i'm going to be preaching
tonight the the real title of the sermon that i decided to to preach is going to be a greet
ye one another or greet the brethren and i don't know if you noticed that in this chapter here
a multitude of times i counted 13 times i think my count is off maybe it's 14 times
it uses either the word greet or salute and basically it's telling the church you know that
that's there in rome hey you need to greet one another or salute one another and so you know
this is a large portion of the chapter of roman 16 is just dedicated saying hey greet this person
and greet this person greet this person greet this person and so you know i don't think that
there's anything in the bible that's incidental coincidental or accidental right so all of this
is here in the bible for one reason or another and so i think the the bible is you know one of the
things that we can get from this chapter is that we should greet one another and so you know this
evening i'm going to be you know i'm going to be basically just preaching on kind of that subject
and being friendly and this is something that you know this this sermon is going to be for everybody
right and you know that as pastor shelley says like if you think the sermon is about you it is
okay when you think the sermon is about you that's because it is and this is again this is something
that is for everyone including myself you know greeting one another is something that everybody
can improve on and everybody can get better on and basically just have good interpersonal skills
with our brothers and sisters in Christ is something that everybody can always improve on
okay and so but but we can see here a multitude of times as you know greet mary who bestowed much
labor unto us you know salute and andriacus and jenia my kinsmen my fellow prisoner who
are of note among the apostles who also were in christ before me greet and females my beloved
lord and you know it just kind of goes on and on and on we're not going to go through the whole
list especially since i can't pronounce most of these names anyway you know brother ryan did a
great job of reading the whole chapter for us but just over and over again it's hey you
know greet this person and greet that person and salute this person and salute that person
and then at the end of the of the section here it says in verse number 16 it says salute one
another with an holy kiss the churches of christ salute you and then if you go ahead and turn to
first corinthians chapter 16 i'm gonna i'm gonna read for you first peter five verse number 14
where it says greet one another with a kiss of charity peace be with you all that are in the
christ excuse me they're in christ jesus amen and you know of course here it says he greet you one
another with a kiss of charity and you know the holy kiss and the kiss of charity of course we
know that this is a this is a cultural thing right you know in that time and in that area of the
world uh people would greet one another with you know with a kiss or whatever and and you know i
don't know all the details or anything about how that worked but i'm pretty sure it was on the cheek
you know and uh and then this actually still goes on around the world you know apparently it even
happens in mexico and uh and you know earlier or at the end of the year last year i took a trip to
mexico to see my wife's family and it was the first time i've actually been out of the country
because vancouver doesn't count vancouver island doesn't count um but you know that's the first
time i've been to mexico and we were throwing a birthday party for james and you know there was
a lady i'd never seen in my life i never met her in my life she comes up to me she shakes my hand
and like pulls me in and launches her cheek at me i'm like i don't even know what to do i just like
you know i just gave her a kiss on the cheek and uh you know but that's in some places in the world
that's just that's how it works you know and i had no clue that they did that in mexico at all
but apparently they they do um so anyway i guess that's a cultural thing you know and if some guy
is you know trying to pull that trick on me i'm not having it all right you know it's just no
it's just you know in america we have something else we have a better substitute for for that
okay it's called the handshake no we don't punch people in the face ryan you can do that after they
attempt to kiss you okay but we don't do that you know in america and holy kiss and again replace
that with the good old-fashioned handshake uh because we're you know this is 2026 america and
i like i prefer handshakes you know we're sticking with handshakes we're not going with the holy kiss
you know the only person in my opinion you should be greeting with a holy kiss is your wife or your
husband so but but anyway i mean what we understand the point of this whole thing is that the bible is
commanding that we should greet one another right i mean when you show up you know at church you know
you see somebody you see you stick out your hand you say hey good morning how you doing right this
is just you know this is uh what do you call it it's a courtesy it's like it's kind of a common
courtesy that you know we're showing the one another that we appreciate each other that we
we're acknowledging the presence and it's just it's a common courtesy right and of course you know
again what you know why am i preaching on it well you know for one reason it's it's in the bible
and if it's in the bible i'm you know we should preach on whatever is in the bible amen but also
you know this is just something that is going to help our church out because you know one thing
one time uh several years ago me and my wife we visited this church you know and when we first
came in nobody really greeted us the way i i thought that we should have been greeted it was
it was a little bit awkward and uh you know eventually you know the the pastor showed up
and and he recognized us and everything and we're like hey how you doing we had a conversation with
him and then and then other people showed up later and they were they were very nice and they they
greeted us but it was you know like when we first showed up where's the greeting where's the you
know and it was just kind of it was just kind of a little bit awkward and it didn't it didn't feel it
didn't make us feel super welcome you know again you know later people were nice to us and later
people were kind to us but you know for you know first impressions do make a big difference with
people right and so you know you could imagine like if somebody comes to visit our church
you know it's it's it's uh very important that we go to greet them and we make sure that they
feel welcome you know of course you know you don't want to overdo it where you know the whole church
is like ah smothering them it's like a big old dog pile and they're like oh i need some air you
know but you know people should be greeting them and making them feel welcome and be like hey you
know there's coffee here and i do believe that we do a fairly good job of this but we can always
improve but the other thing is that you know uh you know though the way that we're treating
uh a guest it's like a first time visitor they're showing up for the first time you know we should
treat our longtime members just as good right i mean just because somebody's new that you know
are they gonna should they have just way better treatment than uh everybody else that's that's uh
been coming here for a long time i don't think so you know i think we should have the kind of
the same attitude towards everybody else where you know when people show up we should be greeting
them we should be saying hey how you doing and and one thing that i you know this is this is
just kind of a personal thing that i i like to do and again you know uh i'm preaching to everybody
i'm preaching to myself included so you're like well one time you didn't do that you know that's
that's because i'm sinful and i i screw up right but one thing that i that i try to do is you know
whenever whenever a brother you know when they show up for the first time or seen for the first
time of the day i prefer to stand up and shake their hand right why is that well that's just
that's just kind of a show of respect right you know if you like let's say your grandpa walked
into a room right your grandpa showed up at the house or something and they you know walked into
the room would you not stand up and greet them yes yeah i mean and uh i would say that's you know
a pretty important thing to do why because well you know he's your you know even your dad right
or you know because like i think of the grandpa because like you know he's maybe somebody you
don't see as often as your dad right and at least in my case that's how it's always been
and when you see him it's kind of a you know to me it's kind of a big deal right so you know if
my grandpa walks in the groom I'm definitely going to be standing up and shaking his hand and you
know and giving him a hug although you know you don't have to give your brother and sisters in
Christ you know it's it's you know especially for the men you know the hug is a little bit much you
know it's you know we got the handshake going I you know the handshake is good right you know with
family members it is a little bit different right obviously we understand these things
but you know I bring up the the grandpa example because it's like okay you know I feel like
it would be very important for me to stand up to greet my grandpa so you know I feel also I should
treat all my other brothers and sisters in Christ with that same level of respect right and so you
know standing up you know whenever whenever a brother walks in I always try to stand up
and extend the hand of fellowship you know and so you know that's just something I personally do
you know I'm not saying if you don't stand up you know there's something wrong with you you're
disrespectful you know I'm not saying that I'm just saying that that's something that I personally do
that I feel you know is something that kind of shows like hey you know I you know I appreciate
you being here I appreciate your presence and I'm acknowledging you and so you know that's just
I'm just kind of throwing that out there as something that that I do personally and um you
know so I always greet you know I'm not necessarily shaking the hands of every single lady that comes
into the church I feel like that's the other lady's job to to greet them right and so all
the brethren you know I'm standing up and shaking their hands and making sure like hey I'm you know
I'm greeting them right and so you know again you know you don't uh we don't have to go like
overboard with these things but it's something that we should be thinking about I think it's
something that we should be conscious about right being being uh making other people feel welcome
acknowledging the presence and being like hey you know it's good to see you you know I'm glad to see
you brother and uh you know I'm glad to see you sister you know it's just it makes people feel
warm it makes people feel welcome when they show up to church right and so and of course we have
multiple commands hey greet you know greet ye one another right and we have you know a half of a
chapter of just person after person after person you know him commanding hey greet this person
you know it's like okay well maybe those people like weren't being greeted and they like
wrote a complaint to paul right and then he's like all right so you know amphiphilus and urbane and
epileus and and uh herodian i can't pronounce any of these names rufus uh you know all these guys
like wrote a letter to paul like hey you know they're not being friendly or whatever i don't
know that that probably wasn't what happened at all but you know i could imagine right and so you
know again you know these things are in the bible for a reason and so and this is something you
think well this is like really this is really simple this is really uh this is really basic
yeah it is but you know what you know basic things need to be preached from the bible as well
you know but go ahead and turn to proverbs chapter number 18 and uh i'm just gonna take it by faith
that this was for me good i got the confirmation after i took first sip so it was truly a step of
faith all right so proverbs chapter number 18 so you know obviously you know greeting one another
greeting people that's that's an interpersonal skill that we all should work on that we should
all should sharpen that we should all get better at but also you know just being friendly in general
is something that i believe everybody uh can work on then it says in proverbs chapter number 18 verse
number 24 it says a man that hath friends must show himself friendly and there is a friend that
sticketh closer than a brother and so the bible here is telling us that hey look if you if you
want to have friendship if you want to have friends then you yourself you know must show himself
friendly meaning meaning you have to be the one that's friendly to other people if you want to
if you expect to be able to be friends with with other people you need to be friendly to them right
you shouldn't expect everybody else in the world to come and be friendly to you before you're
friendly to them right and so because you know if everybody had the attitude of well I'll be
friends with somebody you know who's friendly with me who wants to be friends with me because if
they're not friends if they're I can't talk if they're not friendly first then I'm not going
to show them that you know that that that kindness or niceness or friendliness towards them you know
they gotta they gotta you know show it to me first right if everybody had that attitude then
you know it wouldn't really work out very well because then nobody would be friends with anybody
right and so everybody should have the attitude of well I'm gonna be I'm gonna be the friendly one
I'm gonna show friendliness first to other people and then you know if everybody has that attitude
then everybody's just being friendly with everybody everybody's just you know being
good friends you know and you know it just works out better that way amen because you know then
like but the way it works though in reality not everybody has this attitude and so you know there's
there's going to be somebody that always that's kind of reaches out first and is friendly first
which is the way that it works but you know we can apply this principle to each you know everybody
should be thinking about themselves in the sermon all right you know you know you shouldn't be
be thinking about, well, this person or well, that person, you
know, this person did this or that person that or this person
wasn't friendly, and they, you know, they should be friendly to
me. Everybody should just be applying it to themselves. I
mean, like, hey, have I been friendly to other people? Have
I been friendly to this individual? Have I been friendly
to that individual, and applying it to themselves? Amen. Being,
you know, working on, you know, how friendly are you? Are you
know, are you greeting people the way that you would want to be
greeted? You know, are you, you know, treating others as the way
that you would want to be treated? Amen. And in Proverbs,
Proverbs 27, verse number 17, it says, "Iron sharpeneth iron, so
a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friends."
This is a this is a pretty famous verse. But, you know,
when you come to church, one of the big, you know, major
components of going to church is simply having fellowship, you
know, with with your brothers and sisters in Christ. And you
know, that's one of my favorite parts about coming to church is
just fellowshipping with the other people that are here, you
know, before the service after the service, you know, we're
chatting it up about all kinds of different things. And you
know, and excuse me, what are we doing when that happens? Well,
we're sharpening one another, you know, throughout the week,
you know, there's all kinds of different things that happen
during the week, right. And, you know, when you come to
church, when you come to church, and you're fellowshipping with
a brethren, it's actually very refreshing, right? When you when
you get done talking with a brethren, at least I do, I
always feel like refreshed. Like I really enjoyed hanging out
with a brethren talking with a brethren. And you know, we talk
about we talk about all kinds of different things, you know, and
we're getting sharp, you know, we're sharpening, you know, our
intellect, we're sharpening our knowledge about how evil the Jews
are all the time. But I mean, we're sharpening our, you know,
our Bible knowledge, you know, oftentimes, we're talking about
different passages of Scripture, and what does this mean? What
does that mean? You know, after after the service earlier, you
know, we're kind of talking about, you know, what, what is
that passage mean? I believe it's in First Timothy about,
you know, evil beasts, slow bellies, you know, the
Cretians being all way liars, like, what is going on with that
passage of Scripture, which, you know, to me, it's a, you know,
that's always kind of been a kind of a weird, confusing
passage of Scripture that I don't think I've always
understood properly. But, you know, we were, you know, sitting
around talking about it. And what I do that sharpens, you
know, my knowledge of that, hey, that passage of Scripture,
you know, I feel like maybe I know a little bit more than I
did before about it, you know, so maybe it's not as obscure or as confusing per se.
And so, you know, but we're sharpening each other, you know, in many multitudes of ways.
I mean, obviously there's Bible knowledge, but there's also, you know, there's a lot
of knowledge, you know, collectively in this room about other subjects as well.
You know, like, you know, I was planning on asking Brother Ryan, you know, a refresher
on hanging cabinets because, you know, I was trying to help my brother hang a cabinet last
night.
I'm thinking, like, I don't know if this is the way we're supposed to do it.
I need to ask Brother Ryan, you know, so maybe he's going to sharpen me up here a little
bit later.
But again, you know, there's many different areas in which we can sharpen each other.
But also, you know, you're not just getting, like, smarter or whatever, we're also lifting
each other up, right?
Because there's lots of issues and problems that we have and that we go through throughout
the week, and, you know, and it's great to be able to come to church, like, if you're
having some kind of an issue, you can just be like, you know, you can just kind of, you
know, for one, you can just kind of vent, right?
You can be like, hey, you know, I'm having this issue.
And let me tell you, you know, venting is something that's kind of important, right?
Being able to tell somebody about an issue that you're having, you know, a lot of times
us guys, you know, we'll have, like, certain frustrations at work, and, you know, it feels
good to just be able to tell somebody about it.
Oh, just to be able to, hey, you know, this issue comes up sometimes, and when this happens,
it's like, ah, you know.
You know, like when it's really hot or really cold, you know, what do we talk about a lot
of times when we come to church?
Us guys have been talking about it, like, oh yeah, you know, it's so hot.
It was so hot today, it was 110 degrees, I almost got a heat stroke, and then somebody
else is like, yeah, well, I was on a roof and it was 130, and I got two heat strokes,
you know.
It's like, it feels good, though, to be able to just kind of vent about those things, right?
And you know, it just, for some reason, psychologically, it just, it like relieves a little bit of
pressure, right?
You could be like, you know, hey, you know, this thing happened, and I was like, ah, you
know.
And so that, what is that?
Well, that's sharpening one another once again.
And so there's all kinds of different benefits that we get from fellowshipping with one another,
and you know, there's all kinds of, there's probably psychological benefits, there's probably
like, you know, physical benefits, you know, because God made man to be in fellowship with
other human beings, right?
And so, you know, being friendly and, you know, fellowshipping one with another and
sharpening each other is something that is very, very important, I believe.
And so, you know, having being a friendly person, being somebody that's like approachable,
you know, and trying to be somebody that's that's easy to talk to, right, because in
life, you know, we've all experienced this, there's there's some people that are easy
to talk to, but then there's other people that are harder to talk to.
And you know, we as individuals, we should all individually try to make ourselves as
easy to talk to as possible, right?
We should we should want we should want our brothers and sisters of Christ to walk away
with a conversation with us, having enjoyed the conversation like I'm looking forward
to talking to so and so again, you know, because they are they're friendly and they're they're
easy to talk to. Amen. And that's a you know, that's another part of sharpening one another
is being somebody trying to be somebody that's easy to talk to. Right. And you know, this
is again, this is something that we can all work on. You know, sometimes, you know, I
struggle with wanting to like dominate the conversation and oh, I always got to get my
point. I always got to get my point. You know, but it's something that it's like, okay, maybe
I can let other people get their points in, let other people talk about, you know, talk
about what they wanted to talk about, right? It's about, you know, being somebody that
other people want and look forward to talking to, right? Which is just an interpersonal
skill that everybody can benefit from. Go ahead and turn to Hebrews chapter number 10.
Hebrews chapter number 10. Hebrews chapter number 10. Look at verse number 24. These,
of course, are very famous verses in Hebrews chapter number 10, but the Bible reads it
says, "Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another
and so much the more as ye see the day approaching." And of course, you know, in our Baptist circles,
we focus a lot of times on verse number 25 where it says, "not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together," which of course is a great verse about, you know, church attendance.
But I kind of wanted to focus on verse number 24 there where it says, "let us consider one
another to provoke unto love and to good works." Right? And so that's a large part of the reason
why, you know, you would even come to church is so that you can provoke one another to
love and to good works. Right? And so again, that's kind of that interpersonal relationships
that we're having, you know, one with another, is that when you show up to church, we should
be considering others, right? We should be considering, "Hey, how is this person doing?
How is that person doing?" Instead of showing up to church with kind of a self-centered
focus or self-centered attitude, we should show up to be like, "Hey, how can we benefit
somebody else? How can I be a blessing to somebody else? How can I provoke somebody
else to love and to good works?" Instead of just being like, "Hey, you know, my name
is Jimmy. I'll take what you give me," and being like, "Hey, you know, I'm just
going to get whatever they're serving at church, and they better be nice to me,
and they better be serving all my needs." We should have an attitude of, "Hey, how
can I consider somebody else? How can I consider another person to be a blessing
to them?" Right? And this is, you know, this is just a large part of the Christian
life. It's just, "How can I be a blessing to somebody else?" Right? This is, I mean,
this is even why we go soul hunting, because we're considering, like, how can I
bless somebody else? Right? By showing them how to go to heaven. That's a, that's
the best blessing that you could ever give somebody is to just show them how
to go to heaven. But beyond that, you know, how can I be a blessing to, you know,
somebody else in the church? You know, or, you know, just other people in life in
general. But of course, you know, Hebrews 1024 is applying directly to blessing
other people in church. How can I consider, how can I think about the needs
of somebody else in church? How can I be a blessing to them instead of just
thinking about, you know, our own needs and our own wants and desires? And again,
you know, this is something that I think probably everybody struggles with. You
know, I certainly struggle with it. You know, it's, you know, thinking about
others is not something that comes naturally. It's not something that we
naturally want to do. We naturally always want to just be kind of
thinking about ourselves and how can I benefit myself out of this
situation? How can I benefit myself in this conversation? How can I joy myself
the most at work or at church I should say. And you know it's really easy to
fall into and it's very difficult to you know to catch yourself and to be
like hey I need to start thinking about other people. But the more you do it the
easier it gets though, right? And so you know we need to be able to put ourselves
out there you know come out like a brother Raymond was saying you got to
come out of your your come out of your shell what yeah but you put one word on
there introvert shell yes the introvert hermit shell you got to come out of
there right sometimes and and and you know be able to engage with other people
and you know be able to see if you can be a blessing to them right because
that's um you know that's that's one of the biggest parts you know of church is
being a blessing to other people and provoking other people to love and to
good works go ahead and turn to first Peter chapter number four first Peter
chapter number four so we want we want to greet one another and of course
that's basically the first step you know in being friendly is just greeting
one another that's step one you know step two is okay well how you know how
do I continue the conversation or how do I be a blessing to this person you know
does this person want to talk to me you know cuz cuz some you know sometimes
people don't want to be talked to amen I mean sometimes if you're going through
you know something in life sometimes people that you know they just don't
want to be talked to right and so you know sometimes you got to be able to
read body language or read you know people's faces or whatever and realize
that you know maybe maybe they don't want to talk to anybody right because
that sometimes that happens and so or maybe somebody's just had a bad day or
they're just in a bad mood or something and they just they don't want to talk
to somebody and maybe the blessing for them will be like okay well I'm gonna
believe them alone because obviously they wish to not talk to anybody at this
time you know but it's just okay how can it be a blessing you know to this
person right but here in first Peter chapter number four look at verse number
eight it says and above all things have fervent charity among yourselves for a
charity shall cover the multitude of sins use hospitality one to another
without grudging even as every man hath received the gift even so minister the
same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God and notice
there verse number nine it says use hospitality one toward another and you
know whenever I think of the word hospitality I think of basically like
serving people when you invite them to your house right that's being hospitable
you know having people over to your house you know serving them food and
drinks and you know entertaining them basically that's kind of what I think of
when I think of hospitality and you know this is something that I think is
applicable because like you know obviously we invite people over to
different people's houses from time to time you know and it says here it says
without grudging because you know a lot of times people can have this attitude
of like well you know well they didn't invite me here or they didn't might be
there or we haven't gone to their house in a long time like how come how come we
don't have a how do we why don't have a party at so-and-so's house why don't we
have a game not at so-and-so's house right and but the Bible saying here it
says without grudging and so you know if you're gonna have over you know you
should have them over regardless of you know you know whatever they've if they've
had you over in a long time or if they've ever had you over right and so
you know because sometimes people can have this kind of a grudging attitude
about you know well when I went over to their house they didn't do this and this
and this and this you know people could get this attitude of begrudgment with
being hospital you know and again this this kind of applies not just to having
people over to your house which I think is a good application but just you know
being hospitable at church or out at soul winning or wherever you know you
know being hospitable it's like okay you know I should I should treat people
with the same attitude as if you know like when we're at church when somebody
comes in the door it's like okay well I'm gonna treat them like an honored
guest right or you know people show up to soul winning why don't I treat them
as an honored guest treat them as if I invited them into my home and you know
obviously there's differences right because if you invite somebody in your
home you're probably gonna offer them food and drink you know when you show
up at church or you show up at soul winning or whatever you're not you know
it's like hey you want to you know although that could happen you could be
like hey you want a water you know we always appreciate it especially when it's
really hot out you know when we're swimming when somebody offers us water
right you know they're being hospitable and you know we generally
oftentimes we'll take them up on the offer but again you know we should have
an attitude of treating people with hospitality wherever they are right they
show up at church treat them as an honored guest they show up at soul
winning treat them as an honored guest they show up at your house even better
time to treat them as an honored guest right and so you know we should have an
attitude of hospit of hospitality towards everybody in the church right
I mean like hey how how can I serve you today how can I help you out is there
anything I can do for you and this is you know if everybody has this attitude
you know church becomes a wonderful place that people really want to come to
and you know again I always love coming to church you know I don't think this
is like a huge blaring problem in our church but again it's just something
that we can all always work on we can all always get get better at being
hospitable and treating people well treating them like an like an honored
guest right let's see here go ahead and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter number four
Ecclesiastes chapter number four and I do apologize this sermon's evening it's
gonna be a little bit shorter apparently so but we're here in Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes chapter number four verse number nine you know apparently it has
to be a shorter sermon because for some reason I just can't pronounce my lips
are like malfunctioning this evening I you know I don't know what it is every
once in a while this happens where it's like there's something wrong with my jaw
I don't know it is what it is but anyways we're here in Ecclesiastes
chapter number four verse number nine maybe I just need to drink more water I
don't know Ecclesiastes chapter number four look at verse number nine it says
two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor for
if they fall the one will lift up his fellow but woe to him that it is alone
when he falleth for he hath not another to help him up again if two lie
together then they have heat but how can one be warm alone and if one prevail
against him two shall withstand him and a three-fold cord is not easily broken
and the Bible here is just emphasizing the importance of having fellowship
with other people you know again you can apply you can I can't even think of the
word right now see this is why the sermon has to be short everybody sorry
the one interpretation of this verse or one way to apply this verse is obviously
in marriage you know how can you know if you're lying with your wife you know
you're not gonna be cold right because she's really warm you just snuggle up
to her you won't be cold anymore it's really important on these cold winter
nights you know this record warm winter that we've had here and especially if
she opens a window in the middle of the night what's going on you just got to
snuggle up and you'll be warm so it's you know it's you know that's important
there right so you have your your marriage or your your your husband or
wife but you know you can apply it in multiple ways though I mean if you think
about it Jesus specifically said hey I'm gonna send you out two by two right he
didn't send it people out by themselves I mean who would want to go soul-winding
by themselves I mean I don't you know personally that would not be very fun to
just start knocking doors just by yourself right so look there's a reason
why Jesus said hey you guys are gonna go out two by two why because you know if
one prevail against him two shall withstand him and a three-four cold is
a cord is not easily broken so every once in a while you know we end up with
a three-headed monster where you got three people you know I don't know if
that's a you know necessarily the best thing for soul-winding because then you
have three jacked dudes at the door you know like hey want to come to church we
got you surrounded you know maybe it can be a little bit intimidating but you
know you know I think two is like the perfect amount for soul-winding because
you know you're you're fellowshiping the whole time you know and it gives you it
just gives you courage you know it gives you that boldness to be able to knock on
somebody's door you know and be like hey you know we're inviting people to church
you know and every once in a while you know something will happen or something's
going on and you know your partner's like way over here but you're still like
we're inviting people to church you know so it just it just kind of gives you
that that courage and that encouragement to boldly preach the gospel to people
right and so you know having you know the Christian life is not a one-man
sport right you know I used to wrestle back in the day and you know wrestling
is is kind of famous for being a hey it's a one-man sport like it's you out
there it's you versus the other guy and if you lost it's because of you you know
if you won it's because of you right and you know it's kind of a it's it's kind
of a what do you call it's an intimidating thing you know because like
you'll be out there especially if you get into the finals of a tournament or
whatever oh you're out there in front of all these people and it's just you
against another guy and you know it can be you know an intense thing right but
but the Christian life though it's not necessarily a single-player sport
Christianity is a team sport right I mean we come to church together right we
go out so when together we sing praises to the Lord together right we do all
these things together in fellowship with other people why because you know
fellowship is a major part of the Christian life and you know it's
extraordinarily hard actually I would submit nigh impossible to serve God
properly by yourself right and so you know having interpersonal relationship
with other believers in Christ is something that is very important and is
something that we should cultivate because you know you know you don't want
to find yourself in a situation where it's like hey I'm kind of alone here you
know you don't want to find yourself in a situation like that you want to be
able to say hey I've got so-and-so you know brother so-and-so is here brother
so-and-so is there you know I know that I know that they've got my back and
again you know back in Proverbs 18 24 says a man that hath friends must show
himself friendly and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother and
so you know we should we should work on developing friendships to where we're
like hey I know that if something goes wrong you know so-and-so is gonna be
there to help me out and because you know I've got I've got two brothers you
know I'm pretty close to them especially you know pretty close to my older
brother but you know there could be a situation where it's like hey you know
my brother he's not necessarily gonna do you know I need friends so-and-so you
know I need I need you know somebody you know I need somebody from church to come
and help me out with this issue because you know maybe they know more Bible or
maybe they're just maybe they'll just understand the situation more or you
know whatever the situation right and so again you know Christianity is not a
single-player sport it's a team sport and you know we should work on building
our teamwork right building our team relationships and you know to build up
those friendships to be able to enable us to you know serve God even more you
know if you're if you look forward right to a soul winning marathon because you
know you're gonna see so-and-so there so-and-so there that you know that could
even motivate you to even go to a certain merit you know soul winning marathon where
you know if if you don't really care for anybody you know that's going it's like
that's less motivating right and you know again this isn't something that's
like a major problem in our church but just something that we should work on we
should you know work on being friendly one toward another you know starting out
with greeting one another showing one another that you know that respect like
hey you know I'm acknowledging you with the with the you know with the holy handshake right you
know for the ladies the holy hug or whatever but you know it starts with
that and then it just goes from there you know for the rest of the time being
somebody that is easy to talk to being somebody that is friendly with other
people that's working on you know how can I help other people out and
developing and cultivating those friendships with other people you know
by by looking for ways to serve their needs and just and be friendly to them
and so you know again Christianity it's a team sport and you know we'll be
having team-building exercises right here after service when the preaching
concludes and the singing concludes so we'll be looking forward to that let's
go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father I thank you for
this day Lord I thank you for everything you've done for us Lord we thank you for
this church that we can have Christian relationships with other people that
that that are like-minded and want to serve you Lord and we pray that you'd
please help us all to build those relationships to be able to greet people
and be friendly with people and sharpen each other Lord, in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Zero throw out the lifeline song number 370 throw out the lifeline song 370
let's sing together on the first throw out the lifeline across the dark way
there is a brother whom someone should save somebody's brother oh who then will
dare to throw up his peril to share someone thinking so hasten to dance
someone in this season of rescue be always there Ryan would you close the water
prayer