Jesus comes, hymn number 44, Jesus comes.
44, Heavenly Father, we thank you again for an opportunity to gather together this evening.
Pray that you would be with those salvations that were had this afternoon as well as the
seeds that were planted.
And as always, Lord, I just pray that you would open our ears and soften our hearts
to the message and that you would continue to fill pastor with your spirit, that he preach
a bold and applicable sermon for us.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
For our next hymn, number 123, the Christian's Good Night, hymn number 123, one, two, three,
Christian's Good Night, 123 there on the first.
Please raise your hand.
Once again, our Bible memory passage of the week is 2 Timothy 1 verse 4, "Greatly desiring
to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy."
On the inside, our service times are listed Sunday morning at 10.30, Sunday evening at
4.30, and our Wednesday Bible study through Romans at 7, last week of the book of Romans
this upcoming Wednesday.
Then we have our soul winning times listed there below, as well as our year to date statistics.
Then we have our upcoming events.
Some things that aren't on the bulletin that I just wanted to mention again is that this
upcoming week is the soul, not soul winning, they call it the missions conference at Southwest
Baptist Church.
And my family and I plan on going on Friday just to support that.
So if you wanted to tag along, you're more than welcome to join us for that.
Then we have March 7th.
This upcoming Saturday is a soul winning marathon in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from 12pm to 4pm.
So we're just gonna meet on location at noon, go soul winning all the way through 4pm, and
then have a dinner together afterwards.
March 8th, the next day, for the evening service, will be a men's preaching night, and there's
a sign up sheet in the back if you want to participate with that.
One thing I, for some reason, skipped this one in the announcements this morning, March
28th is the listeners pick soul winning marathon, where we reached out to the whole country
and just said, "Hey, email us if you want us to do a soul winning marathon in your
town." And basically, whatever group has the highest number of people responding, we're
going to send Brother Cameron to your town and host a soul winning marathon there. And
I'll just tell you, if anyone is listening online, who's in the lead right now is a group
in New Jersey. So as of now, that's what it seems like is going to be the area that we're
going to be organizing a soul winning marathon at. We're also planning on having Brother
Cameron rent out like a hotel conference room wherever we go and have a couple of preaching
services there for that group that exists. So please do pray for that and consider joining
if you'd like to fly over there. Then we have, let's see, April 1st, the Lord's Supper.
That's on a Wednesday evening. April 4th, that's a Saturday there. We'll have a local
soul winning marathon as we do usually before Easter. May 2nd will be a college soul winning
marathon at OSU in Stillwater. It's definitely been a couple years since we've gone to Stillwater.
And the area, at least for me, it was pretty receptive. I'm sure the college even more
so. So looking forward to that. May 20th through the 24th is the anti-Israel conference at
Steadfast Baptist Church. June 17th through the 20th, Germany, soul winning conference
in Frankfurt, Germany. If you'd like to go to that, remember that there are two Frankforts
and the airport that you want to take is the Frankfurt Main. Just keep that in mind. Then
we have on the right, our prayer list and our online giving and our online visitor card.
That should be it for announcements. We'll go ahead and go to our third song together.
Our third song this evening turned to 176. Jesus loves the little children. 176. We will
sing it twice through just because it's short. So we'll sing it twice. 176. Jesus loves the
little children. 176 there on the first. Jesus loves the little children of the world. To
the offertory as well as the Bible reading would turn to Philippians chapter number four.
Philippians chapter number four. Philippians four, the Bible reads, "Therefore, my brethren,
dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown. So stand fast in the Lord, my dearly
beloved. I beseech Yodius and beseech Synthache that they be of the same mind in the Lord.
And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in
the gospel with Clement also and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the
book of life.
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.
Let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand.
Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.
Let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus.
Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of
good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and
the God of peace shall be with you.
That I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished
again, wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.
Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith
to be content.
I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere, and in all things I
am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Now withstanding ye have well done that ye did communicate with my affliction, now ye
Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia,
no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.
For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity, not because I desire
a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.
But I have all and abound, I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which
were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.
And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever, Amen.
Salute every saint in Christ Jesus, their brethren which are with me greet you.
All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen.
Amen, Father in heaven we thank you for this day, thank you for our church, thank you for
the great works you have done for us, Amen.
Philippians chapter number four, and look at verse number four, the Bible says rejoice
in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.
One of the things I love about the Bible is that it instructs us how to feel, and this
is really important in this postmodern era that we're living in, that really just wants
you to get in touch with your own feelings and exalts your own feelings, and you're told
whatever you feel is valid, and girl you know what your feelings are valid or whatever,
and the Bible just tells us how to feel.
I love that, and look, last week we talked about there's a time where you should not
have a positive emotion towards something, and we should condemn something, then there's
this right here where the Bible says, "Rejoice in the Lord always," and again I say, "Rejoice."
Turn to Ecclesiastes 3 as you're turning there, 1 Thessalonians 5.16 says, "Rejoice ever more."
You know, we as Christians, we should be, in general, happy, joyful individuals.
Here's what it means to rejoice.
This is the 1828 Webster's Dictionary.
It's to experience joy and gladness in a high degree, to be exhilarated with lively
and pleasurable sensations, or to exult.
So the Bible's just telling us, hey, to be joyful, to be glad in a high degree.
And you know, if there's any group of people in the world that should be rejoicing and
have a good attitude and be happy, shouldn't it be those that are saved?
Shouldn't it be those who are not going to spend eternity in hell?
Shouldn't it be those that have the perfect word of God, that have the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit, that have so many blessings from God?
You know, we should be rejoicing.
Now look, that doesn't mean that every waking second of our life will only be exhilarated
and experiencing this rapture of emotions.
No, that's not the case because look at Ecclesiastes 3 verse 4.
It says, "Hey, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."
This is not saying that you can never experience pain.
You can never experience sorrow or bad things in your life.
What I believe is being taught in Philippians 4 is that just in general, you should be a
happy person.
In general, you should be a joyful individual.
The truth is that every single person in this world, their life is a mix of good and bad.
People that you meet that are joyful, happy individuals, sometimes people will make the
mistake of thinking this person just must have a lot of good in their life, or they
have more good than bad, or they have more good than me, therefore they're a happy person.
And if I just had more good in my life and less bad, then I would be a happy person.
Let me tell you, that is a lie that you're telling yourself.
Every single person's life is a mix of good and bad.
There is no perfect life.
There is, let me tell you what, that next week that you're waiting for, next week it'll
calm down, next month things will get better, next year things will, it'll never ever happen.
You will always have problems, you will always have stress, you will always have a house
to clean ladies, you will always have more bills to pay men, until you die.
So you know what, you might as well just choose to be happy.
You might as well, and let me tell you, being positive is just a choice.
That's what it is.
Go back to Philippians 4, it's just a choice.
People that are happy, they made the choice to be happy, and you know what, there are
some people that have more bad in their life than you, that are happier than you.
It's amazing how that works.
I mean, today, we went to a super, super poor apartment complex, and it was like 100% Spanish,
and all these kids are outside playing soccer, and they're just happy.
They're just joyful.
Meanwhile, a lot of American kids, a lot of brats, with their tablets, are about life.
And they go to the restaurant, they're just screaming and yelling.
We were at Costco yesterday, this kid is just being drugged behind his mother, just screaming
and yelling.
It's like, you're in Costco, like you're a rich kid.
Be happy about your life, right?
No, but some people just don't make that choice.
Look at Philippians 4 verse 11, "Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned
in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."
So notice, being content for the apostle Paul, it did not come naturally to him.
It's not like, well, this person's predisposed to be happy and content.
No, he said, I learned to be content.
I made the choice, I made the decision to be positive in my life.
Notice he said in whatsoever state that he's in.
Verse 12, "I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all
things I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer
need I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
So notice Paul, he's been through the ups, he's been through the downs, he's been through
when times were lean and he's kind of just, you know, existing, not having the greatest
accommodations or the greatest food.
He's also had times when he's thriving and people are just blessing him with tons of
stuff and he's just experiencing, you know, all that good.
He says, "Hey, whatsoever state I am, I've learned how to be content."
And, you know, the title of my sermon is this, "Be a positive person, be a positive person."
I don't know about you, it just drives me crazy to be around negative individuals.
People that are just always down in the dumps, they can only see the bad in every situation,
they just choose to be sad, choose to be down, choose to whine, choose to complain.
You know, you need to be a positive person.
I'm going to give you three ways that you could learn to become a positive person.
Stay there in Philippians 4.
Number one, as much as possible, focus on positive things, right?
Because here's the thing, we all have good and bad.
We all have a mix in our life of things that we like, that we're happy about, and things
that we don't like.
But you know what makes the difference between someone who's just a complainer, always depressed,
always down, and someone who's positive is one person chooses to focus on the positive.
Look at Philippians 4 verse 4.
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, let your moderation be known unto
all men.
The Lord is at hand.
Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God.
So he's like, hey, step one, how to not be full of care, because when he's saying be
careful for nothing, how to not be anxious and full of anxiety and care, hey, let your
requests be made known unto God.
Step one, pray.
Okay, there's things you don't like in your life, let's pray about those things.
Let's ask God about those things, but he says with thanksgiving, so you're still giving
thanks to God for the positive, the things that you like.
And notice the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of
good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
We all have the positive and the negative, but here's the Apostle Paul's advice to you
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Think about all the things that are good, lovely, of good report, and just think on
those things.
It's not saying, hey, get to a point in your life where you have no bad, where you have
no troubles, where you have no issues.
No, it's like, hey, embrace those things, pray about those things, thank God for the
things that you have, and not choose to focus on the things that are good in your life.
Go if you will, keep your place there and go if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
Now here's the thing, if there's one person in the Bible that really could have focused
on a lot of bad, it would have been the Apostle Paul.
And I guarantee you his list of problems surpasses mine and yours.
O thou down in the dumps person, O thou person that is not positive about things, I guarantee
you Paul's issues are worse than yours.
In 2 Corinthians 11, just to give you some of the context here, he's going to speak as
a fool in this chapter.
saying, Hey, I'm kind of speaking like I'm an idiot.
Obviously, he's not an idiot.
Obviously, he's not a fool, but people were just questioning
his legitimacy as a leader and they were kind of wanting to,
you know, go tit for tat if you will and try to see if they
were better than him.
And so he's going to list his credentials.
If you will look at verse 17, he says that which I speak.
I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly in
this confidence of boasting.
He's like, I'm about to do something foolish.
I'm about to boast.
I'm about to brag.
That's obviously not something that we would go and
recommend that people do not telling you to go do this.
But when sometimes you got to defend your leadership and
he's like, all right, I'm going to be an idiot like you
for a minute and I'm going to you know, compare credentials
7 verse 18 seeing that many glory after the flesh.
I will glory also for ye suffer fools gladly seeing
yourselves are wise.
He said this shouldn't be an issue for you guys because
you guys put up with idiots all the time.
So if I acted like an idiot for once, you know, you
should go ahead and just receive me then since there's
no difference in what you do. Anyways, verse 20 for
you suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man
devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself,
if a man smite you on the face, he's like you'll put
up any for with anything from false prophets, bad
teachers and you know what people are just as dumb
today when places like Joel Osteen Church are still
filled with people and Kenneth Copeland Church and
all these false prophets.
You know, what's that one guy who got up and said he
is God Almighty.
He wears grandma's sweater. Who am I thinking of?
What Stephen Furtick?
Yeah, Stephen Furtick is a wicked person who's going
to split hell wide open.
He famously picked he got a King James Bible during
one of his sermons and ripped a page out and said
this is not the Word of God because you have to go
with the critical text.
I mean this guy is an idiot.
But yet a lot of people follow him yet.
He's a multimillionaire yet.
He's super rich.
Why because of idiots like this he says in verse 21
I speak as concerning reproach as though we have
been weak, how be it wherein so ever any is bold.
I speak foolishly.
I am bold.
Also, are they Hebrews?
So my are they Israelites?
So my they the seed of Abraham.
So am I like hey all these people that you're falling
for their their traits in the flesh.
You know, I've got those same things.
I've got the same things that they have to offer.
You know kind of reminds me of all these white supremacists
that hate me.
There's a lot of white people online that hate me and
you know made have made tons of videos.
There's this like Norwegian guy wears this long gay ponytail
like he's some sort of Viking and he just has video after
video of me saying I'm like a traitor to the white people
and I'm just like a terrible white person.
It's like hey, you know, are you white?
I am more it's like, you know, do you like baseball?
Yeah, I like black coffee and baseball like I'm more white
than you but you're an idiot is the difference.
I'm actually preaching the Bible.
Yeah, I'm not going to just sit here and exalt race because
race doesn't matter stupid today.
Look at verse 23. Are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool.
I am more it's like I get sunburned more than you.
I guarantee it.
All right, I am more in labor is more abundant in stripes
above measure in prisons more frequent notice in deaths off.
Here's going to here's this list here of the Jews five times
received.
I 40 stripes save one now.
Could you imagine the pain of getting a whip just cracked
against your body as hard as someone could swing just one
time you'd probably remember that for the rest of your life,
right?
He had five different occasions where he received 39 lashes
39 stripes.
I mean he has something to complain about if complaining
was okay.
He says hey thrice was I beaten with rods, you know, we've
all seen the footage of Rodney King right getting beat up
by the police officers with those buttons and you know a
person sees someone just getting savagely beaten and he
kind of just want to like look away just to see a human
being just getting destroyed like that.
You know, we're not really meant to just look at that kind
of stuff.
That would be horrible.
He says thrice.
I was beaten with rods.
How about this once was I stone there was a time in Paul's
life where people took rocks and threw it at his face at
his head at his neck at his chest at his groin at his
stomach at his shins at his knees all over his body until
they thought he was dead.
That that already beats anything we've gone through right.
I mean, that's a lot of persecution.
That's terrible thrice.
I suffered shipwreck.
I mean that sounds horrific.
I hate the ocean.
I could not imagine being in a boat and all of a sudden that
thing going down and having to survive out of the ocean.
He says thrice.
I suffered shipwreck a night and a day.
I have been in the deep you ever been out in the ocean at
night or even on the beach at night.
You know what you see just blackness darkness.
Could you imagine just being out in the deep for a whole
night you'd probably just be praying that entire night
until the sun comes up just begging God to hate to to save
you.
He says there and also in verse 26 in journeyings often I
hate travel.
I'll just be honest with you.
I hate travel and we have airplanes and we have you know
comfortable seats and airplanes that have air conditioning
and I could read my book on the airplane and I still hate
flying and traveling.
Okay, he was going on foot in the sweltering heat
and in the elements of the Middle East.
We learned about that in Romans 16,
the big track he was taking.
It's amazing.
He's like, hey, journeying's often in perils of waters,
in perils of robbers.
Can you imagine people just physically robbing from you,
taking your things, in perils by my known countrymen,
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city,
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea,
in perils among false brethren?
I mean, this is a lot of negative in his life.
In weariness and painfulness,
on top of all this stress and issues,
his body's just constantly in pain,
and he had a thorn in the flesh
that three times he asked God to remove it from him,
and the answer was, hey, you know,
your weakness is my strength.
My strength is perfected in your weakness.
In watching's often, so he's losing sleep,
he's staying up to stay alive
'cause people are trying to kill him.
In hunger and thirst,
most Americans don't even know what that is.
In fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
Notice, he's hungry, he's thirsty.
Other times he's purposely fasting
just 'cause he needs God's help so much,
and he just needs the Spirit of God to come upon him
and help him to get through all of his problems
in cold and nakedness.
And he says, besides those things that are without,
that which cometh upon me daily,
the care of all the churches,
on top of the death, the near-death experiences,
all the persecution, all the bodily torments,
all the lack of sleep, all the issues.
On top of that, I've got to take care
of all the administrative work of all these churches.
I've got to hold people's hands.
I've got to pay the bills.
I've got to plan all this stuff.
I've got to do all this stuff.
Look, if there's anyone that could have focused
on the negative, wouldn't it have been the Apostle Paul?
Wouldn't it have been this guy?
But you know what?
He was a positive person.
He was a person that said none of these things move me.
Neither count on my life dear unto myself.
He's pressing towards the mark of the high calling
in Christ Jesus.
Go back to Philippians four.
Why was he not a complainer?
Because he actually practiced what he preached.
He prayed, you know, without carefulness he prayed.
He asked God to help him.
He was thankful.
And then he took all that bad that existed in his life
and he chose to focus on the positive.
The bad was still there.
The stonings were still there.
The persecution was still there.
But instead he just thought about positive things.
He focused on positive things.
Let's read that again.
Be careful for nothing.
Verse 6.
"But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests be
made known unto God.
And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus."
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things
are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these
things.
Right?
So he just made that decision to think on positive things.
You know, this is how you're going to get through dark periods of your life.
You're going to experience dark periods.
All of us will all of a year and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution and not only persecution, tragedy, hardships, personal illnesses, family issues,
miscarriage, disease, the death of parents and relatives like these things will happen
in our life.
And when those things happen, guess what?
They're going to be negative things.
Negative things will exist in your life.
It's not saying, hey, you'll never experience bad things.
You're always going to be joyful.
But how you're going to get out of that rut is you're just going to say like, okay, this
bad is here.
This bad exists.
I don't like it.
But here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to pray.
I'm going to give my request to God.
I'm going to be thankful for what he's given me.
And I'm going to choose to focus on the positive, to think about positive things.
If you can't do that, then you'll just be a person that just struggles with depression
your whole life.
And you know, it's not like people that have depression are just, they just have more bad
in their life and that's why that they're more depressed.
No, it's oftentimes because they refuse to focus on the good.
You know, instead of being coddled by some psychologists, some people that struggle with
depression need to be told that their thinking is the problem, that their character is the
problem.
And the reason you're depressed is because you're selfish and you only want to think
about your problems instead of thinking about things that are positive.
That's the truth today.
Go if you would to John 17.
So he says think about things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report,
virtuous, praise worthy.
These are things we should be thinking of.
What are some good things for us to focus on?
Okay, let's start with things that are true.
What does the Bible say?
John 17 verse 17, "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth."
Hey, when you're down, when you're struggling, here's what you need to be thinking about,
the truth, the word of God.
And if you are struggling with mental health, with depression, with anxiety, and you are
not reading the Bible, you have no hope of getting out of that.
You must read the Bible.
You must focus on things that are positive.
I'll read for you 2 Timothy 3, 16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable
for doctrine," listen, "for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
Focusing on the positive does not always mean that it's a nice message.
I submit to you that every word in this Bible is positive in the sense that it is true.
And you know what?
Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth.
We're supposed to think about things that are true, but sometimes the truth can be a
little ugly.
And depending on where someone is at in their life, and they're struggling with whatever
area, you know, they need to focus on the truth.
And sometimes the truth is going to tell them, hey, you're doing wrong.
Hey, you're in a dark spot in your life because you've been a fornicator, because you've been
an adulterer, because you're a drunkard, because you're doing drugs.
And sometimes people need that reproof, that correction, that instruction in righteousness.
So you know, while I'm telling you to focus on the positive, you know, sometimes that
that could be pretty rough too.
Sometimes the positive truth of God's word can be correcting us.
But you know what?
We need that truth in our lives.
What about something that's honest?
Go if you would to Proverbs 30, Proverbs, chapter number 30.
He said things that are true, things that are honest, Proverbs 30.
Look at verse number eight.
I like this prayer here.
Remove far from me, vanity and lies.
Give me neither poverty nor riches.
Feed me with food convenient for me, right?
If we want to be positive people, we need to remove far from us lies.
You don't want to just spend your days just consuming lies, listening to lies, hanging
out with liars, watching lying documentaries.
This is not focusing on the good.
This is not being a positive person.
Notice the author of this chapter said, please just remove far from me, vanity and lies.
And you know what?
You're going to be a more positive person rather than focusing on lies to just focus
on the truth.
This is why my philosophy this year is to ignore the haters because you know what I
do I will not be a positive person if I'm just focusing on the lies if I focus on the
lies if I focus on the liars if I just consume that stuff it will affect me it will piss
me off I will not be a positive person okay and so what I just choose to do is I just
choose to focus on that which is honest I just want to be around honest people I want
to be around honest friends I want to hear honest sermons I don't want to just spend
my day let me just spend my days consuming all the worst sermons all the worst ideas
all the biggest liars in this world it's like I want to hear true sermons I want to hear
true things I want to be around true people go to Psalm 26 Psalm 26 you know sometimes
people are just chronic liars just pathological liars they're just whole life is just about
lying and nothing else you know those type of people you just need to get away from those
type of people look at verse 20 verse 1 of Psalm 26 judge me oh lord for I've walked
in mine integrity I have trusted also in the lord therefore I shall not slide examine me
oh lord improve me try my reigns and my heart for thy loving kindness is before mine eyes
and I have walked in thy truth verse 4 is key I have not sat with vain persons didn't
Proverbs 30 say remove far from me vanity and lies he's saying hey I'm not gonna sit
with vain persons I'm not gonna sit with people doing nothing with their life talking about
nothing thinking nothing just obsessed with nothing I didn't sit with those people and
he says this neither will I go in with dissemblers frauds fakes fake individuals liars he says
I have hated the congregation of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked you know
to help you be a more positive person is you cut out the dissemblers you cut out the vain
individuals you cut out people that are only adding negative things to your life you know
what you'll be a more positive person when you first get saved you likely have a lot
of unsafe friends you likely have a lot of unsafe family members and you know when I
think about myself before I got saved what is it that bonded me to my friends it was
baseball it was hunting it was shooting it was these type of things politics right but
it's like but when you get saved and you actually want to serve God you know spending every
waking second of your day obsessed with baseball doesn't sound fun and spending every waking
second worried about your next hunting trip your next shooting trip you know what that
doesn't sound fun and sometimes there needs to be that separation of saying hey I actually
have a mission for my life I actually am doing a great work sorry I can't come down and worry
about these things you cut off the vain persons and you know especially the dissemblers those
people will add nothing to your life people just are being fake go to second Samuel 23
you focus on honest things you'll be a more positive person what is another thing Philippians
four said is to focus on things that are just things that are just what does that mean right
Righteous second samuel 23 verse 3 the bible says the god of israel said the rock of israel spake to me
He that ruleeth over men must be
Just ruling in the fear of god some people do not choose to live their life focusing on the positive
Focusing on a positive leader that they like promoting a positive leader that they like you know
They do they focus on a leader that they hate they focus on someone that they despise
They focus on someone that they think is not just and it's like hey
Why don't you stop spending your whole life obsessing over someone that you don't think is just and why don't you find a leader?
That you do think is just and promote him
But you know what's funny is all these ex new ifb losers that just spend every waking second of their life
Attacking pastor shelley pastor anderson me other great pastors you never you never see them saying here's this great other movement
Here's the real new ifb and they're doing the real soul winning and they're doing the real preaching and man
Listen to this guy preach. He's awesome. No, they don't do that
Why because they refuse to focus on that which is just they despise that which is just in fact
Because let me be honest the new ifb is just this is the awesome movement
This is where the works of god are being done
And you know what even if you disagree with me and you say you know what I think the new ifb sucks
I think all the pastors suck. That's great, man
Go find a great man of god go find a great church go find a great movement and you know what just focus on that
Focus on the good. It's not good for your mental health to be obsessed over people
You've never even met and every waking second of your life is obsessed like you need help
You might need to go to a psychiatrist. You might need the dang ssri's you might be too far gone, man
Like it's crazy go to psalm 19. What's another thing?
We're told to focus on that which is pure right that which is holy that which is
Undefiled, you know, it's not good to sit here and spend your days
Perusing through the millions and millions of pages of the epsiine files, you know
It's better to be simple concerning evil and wise under that which is good
It's better to focus on things that are pure than spending your whole life
Focusing on things that are impure. How is that not gonna affect you?
You know, it's like these these police officers that have to view child imagery to convict these
Horrible people and a lot of them they get into that and they bounce as fast as they can because it's such a horrific job
They want nothing to do with that
It's like yeah bounce from that because I would not want to spend my days just ingesting something so impure
Psalm 19 verse 8 the statutes of the Lord are right
Rejoicing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired. Are they than gold?
Yay than much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb
You know, we ought to be people wanting to ingest if you will things that are pure, right? What is that?
That's of course the Word of God, but even just in this world
It's just the fallen nature of man where man loves to obsess with that
Which is impure and they love to obsess obsess over the scandal and when they hear about a sin when they hear about someone's done
Something they're just obsessed about what did that person do?
I want all the juicy details. Tell me all the bad things that they did
It's like why don't you focus on what good your brother is doing, you know
Why don't you come to church and find a soul winning partner that wants to go soul winning. It's like hey, this guy's cool
He's doing good. Hey, look this person is doing good with their life. Hey, they're coming to church
Hey, they're raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Hey, they're faithful in the house of God
Why don't we focus on people that are pure and not just obsessed with sinners?
I'll read for you Proverbs 30 verse 5 says every word of God is pure
He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him go to song of Solomon
Chapter 5 song of Solomon chapter number 5
What's another thing Philippians 4 said to focus on things that are lovely things that are lovely song of Solomon 5?
16 says this his mouth is most sweet. Yay. He is all together
Lovely, this is my beloved and this is my friend. Oh daughters of
Jerusalem, you know for a lot of people that are just always down and depressed and black-pilled and hate everything
You know, you need to find a spouse is what you need to do
He that findeth a wife findeth a good thing and obtain a favor of the Lord and notice the relationship between husband and wife
What is it described as?
Lovely, you know a lot of people just need to spend way less time on social media
Obsessed with other people's stuff watching other people's TV shows and you need to sit here and enjoy the wife of your youth
You need to say hey, you know what? Let's have a lovely time. Let's hang out. Let's be husband and wife
Let's be a married couple, you know, that's a great thing
And of course, this is also I believe a picture between the relationship that we could have with the Lord that we could have a lovely
Relationship with God that it could be one of the greatest joys of our life
Spending time with the Lord and we could say that it is lovely go to Proverbs 15
What's something else the Bible told us to focus on focus on the positive?
Hey that which is of good report that which is of good
Reports Proverbs 15 look at verse 30 the light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart in a good report
Make it the bones fat right so hearing good news
Receiving glad tidings receiving good news is going to rejoice your heart and the Bible says to focus on
The good report this is not what our media does
This is not what's gonna happen if you open the news reels on social media
Or you turn on the TV and you watch the news, especially today
You are not gonna be getting that which is a good report
You're gonna be getting constant bad news and look some people are just really interested in it
I think I'm more of a person that's just very interested in that kind of stuff
And it's kind of like a hobby other people like really shakes them and really affects them to hear the bad news
And it's like if that's you stop listening to it
Like the world will go on without you seeing the missile that went into Jerusalem today
Like you the world will go on without you without seeing you know local woman eaten by alligator on honeymoon
Or it's like some of you ladies. Let me just help you some of you ladies that struggle
You know with being positive
It's like you know you don't have to follow on Instagram like ten different accounts of like here's this child dying of cancer
Follow for our monthly update of how our childhoods cancer treatment is going
It's like oh our child finally died of cancer, and you're just like sobbing
It's like you didn't even know this kid like you didn't know this family
Like why are you following this child slowly dying of cancer? It's like that's like empathy overload, man
It's like God gave you you know a heart to break so that when your brothers and sisters in Christ go through that tragedy
You could weep with those that weep and your family members and your friends and your neighbors your co-workers your schoolmates
Like yeah that stuff comes up in your life
It's like if I don't have someone in my life that has a child that has cancer do I really need to fill that?
Childhood cancer size hole in my heart like do I need to go find someone whose kid is dying of cancer and just watch their every
Move like folks. That's crazy
No, you need to focus on that which is a good report and it's like dude
I don't want to hear about every single child tragedy that's going on only
God has a heart big enough to just empathize with every soul in this world. That's why you're supposed to bring it to Jesus
That's why you're supposed to go to the throne of grace boldly, but you know what you and I we don't have the empathy capability
To sit here and feel for every single tragedy that happens in this world like we're not built for that as human beings
It's like hey when it when a fellow church member loses a child
We're all gonna be weeping together when stuff like that happens or when someone has a child. We're all gonna be rejoicing together
What does the Bible say weep with those that we rejoice with those that rejoice?
But I definitely wouldn't be the type of person just seeking out the most horrific news. You could possibly find I don't think it's healthy
Okay, what's another thing the Bible tells us to focus on that which is virtuous, right?
And the Bible says who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies
What is the virtuous woman spending her time thinking about? She's spending her time thinking about being virtuous
Fulfilling the law of God doing that which is right, right where it's like what are the Satan led women doing in first Timothy 5?
They're going about house to house being at tail bears being busy bodies
It's like that's the wrong thing to focus on to spend your days focusing on
Gossip being a busybody sharing other people's business. No, why don't you focus on being virtuous? How about praise go to Psalm 148 Psalm?
148 that's the last thing that was we were told to think about if there be any virtue if there be any praise
Think on these things and boy that's a rhetorical question if there be any praise
I mean, well if there's anything to praise God about then praise him
It's like there's always gonna be something to praise him about and every person has that need look at Psalm 148 verse 11
Kings of the earth and all people princes and all judges of the earth both young men and maidens
Old men and children let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent
His glory is above the earth and heaven
I love this passage because it's like whether you're king
Whether you're a man woman boy and girl the whole world praise the Lord for his name alone is excellent
It doesn't matter who you are
What your station in life is you always have a lot to praise the Lord for so the huh?
Is there anything to praise God for is there anything in my life right now that I could be praising God for rather than
Complaining about it's like how is someone positive go because they have no bad
They have less bad than me. I you know, they have more good in their life than me
No, they just say instead of focusing on this bad. Why don't I focus on things? I could praise God about let me tell you
That is how you become a positive person go to Philippians 3 Philippians chapter 3
So you focus on the good you'd purposely choose to focus on the good look at Philippians 3 verse 13 brethren
I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do notice forgetting
Those things which are behind in reaching forth under those things which are before
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, you know for some people
Focusing on the positive what that might mean for you is forgetting the past
Letting go of the past and this could be different for every person because for example when I think about my childhood
I have a lot of positive memories. Honestly. I had such a great childhood
I am so thankful to my parents and grandparents when I just think of my childhood
I just think happy sweet fond memories, but you know what that might not be the case for you
You might think back on your childhood and it might bring you pain. It might bring you fear
It might bring you anxiety. It might be something negative in your life
It's like okay
If that's you forget those things which are behind and reach forth unto those things that are before
Press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus
Maybe you had a really traumatic past. Maybe you had a really sinful past. Hey, stop thinking about that stuff
Stop thinking about whatever sinful activities you used to do forget about it and just reach forward unto that which is before
Go to Ecclesiastes 2. So I said number one focus on the good number two
Spend your life on things that have eternal value
This is how you you could become a positive person is when you know that the work that you're doing and that the way that
You are spending this vapor of a life that God has given you is on something that matters
It could allow you to be positive even in the midst of trials or hard situations
Look at what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 2 8
He said I gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces
I got me men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments and that of all
Sorts so Solomon he's kind of doing an experiment with himself and he's just giving himself anything that he desires
He chases after money. That's some definitely something people will chase after today
They'll spend their whole life chasing after silver and gold. He got himself all the silver all the gold
He got himself the servants singing for him the delights of the sons of men verse 9
So I was great and increased more that all that were before me in Jerusalem
Also, my wisdom remained with me now you would think oh, he's achieved happiness. He's great
In fact, he's the greatest that's ever been in Jerusalem. He's richer. He's more powerful than anyone. It's like he's made it
That's what a lot of people think in this world that making it is in life is becoming famous
Gaining power gaining station gaining wealth and that then happiness will follow him
He says whatsoever my nice desired I kept not from them
I withheld not my heart from any joy for my heart rejoiced in all my labor
And this was my portion of all my labor
There was nothing he saw that he didn't buy that he didn't give himself. He just had a thought
Oh, that might be nice. He just does it he just gives it himself to it verse 11 then I looked on all the works
That my hands had wrought and on the labor that I labored to do and behold all was vanity
Notice this and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the sun
I mean he made it as far as you could go
In his career if you will in his company in his climb up the ladder. He made it to the top
He was great greater than anyone who ever came before him anything he wanted
He didn't hold back from himself. Whatever as I saw he took and he says it was all
Vanity and vexation of spirit meaning it just it left him unfulfilled. He was not happy
He was not fulfilled. In fact later he goes on to say I hated life. I hated life
That does not sound like a positive person
So think about this if you want to be a positive person where your life is not filled with just vanity
Vexation of spirit you're looking at your life. You're saying like I hate this. I hate my life
Here's how you do it. You spend your time doing something of eternal value
Because he's looking at all the works of his hands and he's like, hey, what's gonna happen after I'm gone?
A fool's gonna take this and destroy it all and how dies the wise man like the fool dies. Therefore. There's no difference
He's like all his vanity all his vexation everything that's done under the Sun just sucks
You pay taxes and you die the end like he's black-billed here, right?
But how do you actually have a positive outlook on your life is when your life is producing value
What is a valuable life?
It's one whose works go on after you die into eternity
And that's the nice thing about serving the Lord is that what you do actually goes on into eternity
Go to Psalm 146. You know, here's the thing you could build a business you could gain wealth
You could gain tons of possessions you could build you nice houses nice
Businesses just anything you want you can achieve in this life and you could still end up hating your life
miserable
vexed and then you died it's over or
Hey, you could get someone saved and no matter what happens that person's going to heaven
You can go out soul winning on Saturday
You could get a bunch of people saved and you know what you're gonna be rewarded for that labor someday and that person's gonna be
With you in heaven for all of eternity and there's nothing that could change that
You know everything spiritual that we do that will last for forever
Here's something that is just a waste of your life that people just get so wrapped up in on and they end up saying it's
Vanity and vexation of spirit is when people put all their hope and all their trust and they're just ultimate hope in some
politician or some political party
There's a lot of people like this where it's just like they wake up to be a Republican
They wake up to be MAGA and to be following Trump and to be exalting the political party
But you know what those people always end up discouraged and black-pilled and hating their life because it's like oh we pass a law
And it gets revoked. Oh, we got this leader and he gets assassinated. Oh, we got this guy
Oh, he sucks and lies about everything. He said he was gonna do. Oh, no new wars. We're bombing Iran
It's like what the hell what happened?
It's going on look at Psalm 146 verse 1 praise ye the Lord praise the Lord
Oh my soul while I live will I praise the Lord?
I will sing praises unto my God well
I have any being put not your trust in princes nor in the Son of Man in whom there is no help
There's no help in the Republican Party. Why would you sit here and just waste your whole life?
Just being obsessed with politics and look I'm not saying oh, we shouldn't have a government
We shouldn't have people elected whatever that's fine. If those positions exist. I hope they're all filled with Christians
But at the end of the day, I'm not gonna be worried about it. I'm not gonna be obsessed with it
I'm not gonna stop pastoring and stop knocking on doors for Jesus to knock on doors for freakin JD Vance in 2028
Stupid Catholic. I'll never vote for that loser. That's probably who's gonna be propped to the Republicans in 2028. Here's JD Vance
I'm not voting for an idol worshiper who's married to another idol worshiper some Hindu. It's ridiculous
You know what? I'm just mad
I'm just mad at people thinking this and I'm not even I don't even put my trust in the Republican Party and I'm mad
I couldn't imagine how mad I would be if I actually cared if I actually cared about the Republican Party
Then I'd be real mad. But you know what? I am mad because here's the thing. I used to care. Let me tell you
I used to care. I was a weird teenager, man
I was the 13 year old reading the wealth of nations and the creature from Jekyll Island and I'd go in my room at night
And I'd watch C-span I'd watch all the debates and I worked for the Idaho Republican Party
And you know what the governor of Idaho I used to see him every morning and I thought you know
I'm gonna give everything I can to this because here's the thing. I care about the country
I care about the good of the country
But here's what I learned is that the best thing that we could do for our country is to serve God is
To get people saved is to preach the word of God because you know what whatever policy you enact whatever president you get into office
It's just gonna be destroyed by the next guy. It's just gonna be taken away from you
So don't put your trust in princes nor in the Son of Man in whom there is no help go to Matthew 6
Matthew 6 see I would not be a positive person if I cared only about politics
I'd be angry and they are angry people who are real political. They're always angry. They're always mad
They're always upset about something because there's a lot to be upset about in politics
You know, it makes me mad that there are Americans dead today because of some stupid garbage in Iran that doesn't affect us whatsoever
There's nothing to do with us
I mean, I guarantee you there are Oklahomans right now deployed over in that nonsense because Tinker has all the refueling jets and the
AWACS vehicle and everything it's like I'm gonna be real mad if Oklahomans die for nothing, you know
My family members. I'm gonna be real mad if my family members ever died over this nothingness
Let me tell you Matthew 6 Jesus said in verse 19 lay not lay not up for yourselves
Treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through in steel
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through in our steel
For where your treasure is there will your heart be also Jesus is saying hey
don't sit here and put all your love affection your time into things that moth and rust can corrupt and
Thieves can break through and steal why because when moths corrupt those things or when thieves steal those things
You're just gonna be left ejected sad
Depressed black-pilled but it's like hey when I'm working for spiritual things. No thief can take that away
No moth can eat through that no rust can corrupt through that, you know
It's depressing when you get your stuff stolen who's ever had something stolen from them just about everyone, right?
I remember one time as a kid
We came home from a trip and our entire house was empty except for the gun safes the super heavy gun safes
My parents walked into our home. I mean as an adult I can only imagine the pain that they were going to but as a child
I'm just kind of surprised but I'm just like now looking at it through my eyes
I could not imagine you come home the doors open everything in our home was just ransacked and completely stolen
It's like that sucks but you know what if you only live for things you only live for your possessions
For your house for the things that thieves could break through and steal
Well, guess what Jesus told you those things could happen and you know what?
it's not his fault if you just hate your life and you're sad and you're dejected if those things happen because you know if I
Lose all of my possessions today, but I still have a King James Bible. I still have the Holy Spirit of God
I still have a voice to preach God's word. I'm gonna be happy. I'm gonna choose to be happy
I'm gonna choose to focus on the positive
I'm gonna choose to spend my life on something eternal not temporal go to Philippians 3 again Philippians chapter number 3
Philippians 3 let's read this again verse 13 brethren
I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do
forgetting those things are with which are behind and reaching forth under those things which are before I
Press toward the mark of the for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus notice
There's two aspects to this. There is the forgetting those things that are behind but then there's this great word there and
Reaching forth under those things which are before so it's like how are you positive person?
Well, it's like hey forget about the sinful past forget about the past forget forget about the pain
But here's thing now reach forward under something that matters, right?
Because if you forget about the past, but you just sit in your your life doing nothing living a vain life living a meaningless life
Well, it's like nothing changed. It's like hey leave the life you had before you got saved now be a fisher of men now
Hey forsake all and follow Jesus be a disciple
That's gonna bring a positive outlook in your life number three
If you would go to Romans chapter number eight number three and this one's really important
Try to see the silver lining in the negative situations in your life
Okay, because again being a positive person is not I lack negative things in my life
It's that hey
I choose to focus on the good and when it comes to the things that are negative
Usually there is some silver lining there that you could choose to be thankful for that you could choose to focus on
Rather than sitting here and just woe is me
Temptation sorrow and woe over your bad that's in your life
No
Focus on the silver lining in your life
Look at Romans 828 the Bible says and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God
To them who are the called according to his purpose now don't misunderstand this verse. This is not saying hey
Everything that happens in your life is good. Not what it's saying. There are things that happen in our life
That is bad. That is horrible. That is worthy of shedding a tear over but here's the thing when you love God
When you're the call that's according to his purpose all things can work together for good, right?
So there can be good that can come from any bad situation when you're saved when you love God
There's good that can come from any bad situation. There's good that can be found in any bad situation
This is not saying though that everything that happens to you is good
Right. So what are some examples go to Luke chapter number six this let me just give you some examples of things that happen
Just to so many Christians. This is gonna apply to all of you guys probably all a lot of these points if not all
How about people separating you from their company that happens like every Christian?
that's one of the things that Jesus warned us about and
When that happens you can either decide to sit here and woe is me cry all this person separated from me
Or you could choose to see a silver lining of like hey, but look at all these other people that still like me
That I still like or hey, maybe this was a bad relationship that I needed gone anyways
I mean that happens to Christians all the time. It's like you're drunk
Druggy old friends don't want to hang out with you anymore now that you're saved and wanting to serve God
Like God might have been just doing you a favor getting rid of those people
Luke 6 22 blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company
And shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake
Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven for in like manner
Did their fathers unto the prophets? I mean Jesus is telling us hey focus on the silver lining
It's like we just look at it from the abstract
Is it good in and of itself when people hate you when people lie about you when people approach you no
That's not good in and of itself, but what does Jesus say?
He says to rejoice to leap for joy to be exceeding glad why he says for in like manner
Did their fathers unto the prophets? What does that mean? Here's the silver lining. You could look at it
Wow, this person hates me. Wow. This person's separating from me. They're approaching. My name is evil. They hate me
Hey, wow
what an honor that I get to stand in the likes of men like Elijah and John the Baptist and
Jeremiah and you know all the prophets the Lord Jesus Christ
See that's one way you could look at it
You can say wow what an honor and blessing that I'm able to suffer reproach like the other great men of God did in time
Past what an honor and blessing that someone hates me and you know, it's not even me
It's just because they associate me with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's pretty cool
Hey, go ahead associate me with Jesus anytime you want and if you hate him and you hate me because I'm preaching what he preached
I'm leaving for joy. I'm rejoicing. I'm happy
I'm gonna see the silver lining go to 2nd Timothy 1 2nd Timothy 1 the great chapter that we're memorizing right now 2nd
Timothy 1 2nd Timothy 1 look at verse 15 Paul saying this to Timothy this thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be
Turned away from me of whom are phygellas and homogenies. Is that fun?
Is that something positive in the Apostle Paul's life? Is that something? He's really just joyful and excited about no
This is a negative people forsaking you right and you know
I think about my friend pastor Anderson where it's like there's so many people that he's done good for that
He's invested in and then they just turn away right watch pastor Shelley's the man of God
Documentary and it's just that montage was like I'm breaking fellowship. I'm breaking fellowship. I'm breaking fellowship
I'm breaking fellowship
And you know, I know because pastor Anderson said it that he was going through a hard time
And of course who wouldn't who wouldn't be going through a hard time when all your friends are forsaking you
But you know, look what the Apostle Paul said here in verse 16 the Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus
For he oft refreshed me. It was not ashamed of my chamber. What was the Apostle Paul doing?
He was finding the good in a bad situation. He was seeing the silver lining in a bad situation
Yeah, there's all these people that forsook me, but you know who didn't own a sepharis
Hey, God bless the household of Onesiphorus may the Lord, you know, give mercy unto the household of Onesiphorus on that day
Hey, you know that he served me. You know that he wasn't ashamed of my chain
Hey, that's the attitude that we have don't focus on all the people that don't like you focus on Onesiphorus
Focus on your Onesiphorus go to first Peter for first Peter chapter 4
So hey people separated you from their company good good. Praise God be excited. Hey, you got persecuted
Good good first Peter 4 verse 12 behold beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial
Which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you
But rejoice why inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's
Sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy
See there's people that live a life right now that is on the surface level so happy so joyful
They don't have all these problems. They've got money. They've got prosperity. They've got cloud
They've got power, but you know what when the Lord Jesus Christ comes are they gonna be happy not necessarily if they're unsafe
They're definitely not gonna be happy even a lot of saved people
I believe are gonna be ashamed at the coming of Christ because they're gonna say wow I wasted my life
I was selfish it was all woodhane stubble, but you know what if you suffer
Persecution for the Lord Jesus Christ notice you're gonna be glad with
Exceeding joy in that day if you be reproached for the name of Christ
Happy are ye for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you on their part
He is evil spoken of but on your part. He is glorified
Hey, you got persecuted good be steadfast and you'll be glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ with that persecution
Oh, you got persecuted good you get to be counted worthy to be a partaker of Christ's suffering
I mean, there's nothing I can't think of anything that's more honorable than that is thinking about the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ
That he died for us on the cross and you know if we get to be partakers of his suffering that is a high honor
And so oh you got persecuted good. Take it. Well good be steadfast good
Don't quit don't falter don't waiver because you know, if you quit when you're persecuted, there's no reward in that, right?
Be steadfast. How about this? You got rebuked good go to Leviticus 19 Leviticus chapter number time 19
Oh someone rebuked you good. Why don't you look at the pot?
You know people get rebuked people hear a sermon
I think it's about me and they cry they go home to their wife and cry to their wife about how mean the pastor is
And everything, you know what and said, why don't you look at the silver lining? That means somebody loves you
I mean at least now, you know, there's at least one person in this world probably not more than that
But at least there's one person that loves you someone who rebukes you Leviticus 19 verse 17
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him
So what's the hateful brother the person that doesn't rebuke you the person that doesn't correct you
Who's the loving person the one that rebukes you who's the loving pastor not the one that always has the sweet sayings the kind words
I mean, this is a sermon on positivity and it's still harder than most pastor sermons on any subject
Okay, the loving pastor is the one who is willing to rebuke you and you know
You are a fool if you get rebuked and you just decide what was me. I'm sad. I'm gonna cry
I'm gonna, you know retract myself from church. I'm gonna go away, you know
Why don't you look at the silver lining like hey, wow, someone loves me. There is one person man
There's at least one person out there that actually loves it. You got rebuked good good second Timothy for Oh
Sermon was preached against your sin. Good. I'm glad awesome. I didn't even plan it that way. But hey, I'm glad it landed
I'm glad it was for you. Oh you that was for me. I didn't know that but yeah
Yeah, it was look at second Timothy chapter 4 verse 2 preach the word be instant in season out of season
reprove
rebuke
Exhort with all long-suffering in doctrine. Hey a sermon was preached against your sin good
You know what that means? You were just given an opportunity to grow. Hey good. Look at the silver lining
Oh someone rebuked you good. Someone loves me, right? Oh, hey, you got a sermon that was against you good
You have an opportunity to grow. That's how you should look at things. Oh, you know God chastised me, right?
Hey, doesn't the Bible say despise not the chastening of the Lord go to Revelation 3 the Bible tells us
Hey despise not the chastening of the Lord. Why does he tell us that because some people despise the chastening of the Lord
Why does the Bible say despise not prophesying because some people despise hard preaching, right?
What are we supposed to do if we're chastised of God? We should say hey
At least I'm not a bastard because if you're without chastisement where if all our partakers then are you bastards and not sons?
So again, you can just choose to be positive. Oh, I'm an idiot. I messed up. I sinned
Hey God chastise me at least I'm not a bastard. I'll go to God's kids
Revelation 3 19 as many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent
Oh God corrected you good means God loves you aren't you glad that God loves you?
But you know what a fool you'd be is to take that correction and then despise the chastening of God
Refuse to heed his correction heed his commands. You know what then you're just gonna have more wrath on your life more correction more negative
Whereas hey you get that negative correction. You should just say alright this sucks
It hurts being corrected does not feel good being chastised does not feel good being rebuked does not feel good in the flesh
Being preached against does not feel good in the moment, but it's like wait a second though if you yield afterwards
There's that peaceable fruit of righteousness unto those that are exercised thereby. Hey, God corrected you God chastised you good
God loves you. You're not a bastard go to Proverbs 13. Hey kids your parents spanked you good
We need a lot more of that in this world. We need more spankings for kids today
What a lot of kids do they whine they complain? Oh my parents spanked me. Oh my parents would beat me
My parents are horrible. What does the Bible say Proverbs 13 verse 24?
He that sparreth his rod hated his son, but he that loveth him
Chasing at him but times notice the loving parent is the one that is not withholding the rod
They're giving the rod they're given the spankings and they're doing it early and quite honestly
They're doing it often because notice it says it doesn't say he that doesn't spank at all hates his son
It's he that spares the rod meaning that the rod was warranted
The rod should have been given or maybe the offense called for a certain level of infliction of pain
But you spare you hold back the Bible says he that sparreth his rod hated his son
So it's like oh, I grew up with parents that spanked me good sounds like you actually had parents that loved you
You know what?
I would be more worried if I grew up in a childhood where I was never spanked
I would see here question like does my parents love me they may have some sort of
Emotional feeling towards you but you know what love is the fulfilling of the law the Bible says and he that sparreth his rod
Hated the son but he that chastened him but he that loveth him chastened at him the times
Revelation 2. Oh my parents spanked you good. How about this? Oh, I was martyred for Christ
I was literally killed for Christ good good
Look at Revelation chapter 2 verse 10 fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer
Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried
You shall have tribulation ten days be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life
You know, there's some negative obviously that comes from being a martyr, right?
I mean if I were to die today for the Lord Jesus Christ, there's some negative involved in that
I'd be worried about my wife. I'd be worried about my kids and it's like I want to be there for them
But here's the thing though. That is a negative situation
There's a lot of silver lining in that situation called the martyrs crown and great rewards in heaven and not only that
That's the selfish reason reason why I could get excited about that
But how about how other people could be inspired to do great works because of martyrs?
I mean look at Stephen when Stephen was stone, you know, who was there watching the Apostle Paul before he was the Apostle Paul
He was just Saul. He was consenting unto Stephen's death. He watched Steve Stephen get stoned
You know, Stephen didn't try to escape his persecution. He didn't whine. He didn't cry. He didn't complain
He looked up into heaven. He saw God the Father and Jesus at his right hand and he said Lord into thy hands
Commend my spirit receive, you know receive my spirit Lord. He just was a man and you know
I guarantee that had a big influence on the Apostle Paul
I wonder if the Apostle Paul would have ever became the Apostle Paul if he didn't see the great martyr Stephen
And so look well
I'm not necessarily like trying to punch a ticket tomorrow or anything like that. I also want to be sensitive to God's will
And it's like hey if that's God's will for anyone's life. I hope that we would be faithful unto death
I hope that we would say hey not my Lord not my will Lord, but thine be done
Hey, you're a martyr for Christ good good. You know if anyone I know ever turns into a martyr for Christ
I'll be sad. I will miss them. I'll be sad for their families
But I'll be thinking about where they are right now, and I've got good man like good job good
Oh, I have so much work to do in my life good
Lamentations 327 says it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. I have so much work
I have so many jobs. I have so many hours of labor or even for ladies could be the same thing
It's like hey you got a lot of stuff to do good. It's good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth
Hey, I'm glad that I was afflicted
It's good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes go to Proverbs 30. Oh pastor
You understand I struggle financially good good. We'll say what what are you talking about? Yeah, I struggle financially good
Proverbs 30 verse 8 notice this remove far from me vanity and lies
Give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food
Convenient for me. Hey, you know what you don't need to be rich
Anyways labor not to be rich and the Bible talks about how hey, I don't want to be I'm paraphrasing
It's like I don't want to be too rich so that I just forget God and I don't want to be too poor to where
I steal and take the name of my lord in vain
It's like hey all I could do I'm just living paycheck to paycheck and all I could do is pay the bills and put food in
Our stomachs and clothes on our backs and a roof over our head. It's like good having food and Raymond
Let us be there with content
And you know what maybe God maybe his will for certain individuals in life is that you would struggle financially your whole life
Maybe because he knows if you were rich you would be the one that forgets God
You would be the one that would stop caring about the things of God and so maybe he'll just never allow you to you know
Strive to greatness in that area. That's okay
It could be different for others other people God can give wealth and they'll still be faithful to the things of God
They'll still praise him. They'll still say Lord. I know I still need you for everything
Hey and praise God for those people too, but you know what you're struggling financially
Why don't you at least see the silver lining in that would you like to trade places with Elon Musk and be an unsaved person?
Would you like to trade places with Warren Buffett and be an unsaved person on their way to hell?
You know, I wouldn't trade being a child of God being a servant of God with any rich person who's not safe
I would never do that. Oh, you have health issues good go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12. I have health issues
It's a big struggle in my life. It's not fun. Good. Good 2nd Corinthians 12 7
And what do I mean by all these good statements?
Not that all these negative things in and of themselves are good
But it's that why don't you focus on the silver lining the good in those situations the good that can come from those situations
Second Corinthians 12 7 and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations
There was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest
I should be exalted above measure. I've gone through this before
I believe that the Apostle Paul's thorn in the flesh was issues with his eyesight because in Galatians
I believe it is he says you see how large a letter I've written unto you with my own hand and Galatians is not
a long book I think it's time it's literally large words because he has trouble seeing he usually has
a scribe writing his epistles like he has Tertius write the book of Romans right also he talks about
to one of his churches he's like hey you know you would have given me your own eyes if it were
possible you guys love me so much you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me
so I just personally believe that his thorn in the flesh was bad eyes painful eyes bad eyesight I
mean when you've been stoned when you've had rocks thrown at your face I could see how you might
have some eye issues and look that would be horrible I thank God for my eyesight I mean I
was literally thinking about that when I was playing guitar earlier like man it'd be so
terrible if I had no eyes and I couldn't like read the music here I couldn't look at the
the chords to be playing you know I'd have to like learn how to play only by ear
props to deaf people that learn how to play instruments like that's amazing but it's like
this sucks this is a negative thing so much so that he's begging for god to take it from him
he says in verse 8 for this thing I besought the lord thrice that it might depart from me
and he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness
most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of christ may rest
upon me therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions
in distresses for christ's sake for when I am weak then am I strong what is the apostle paul saying
he's not saying I just love my eye problems I love not being able to see right I love the pain
you know I just love infirmities I love being sick I love being reproached I love having need
I love you know having financial problems I love persecution no it's just that he's saying like
look the only reason God is using me is because he's keeping me humble with his thorn in the flesh
and if I didn't have this thorn in the flesh I would be exalted above measure because of the
revelations that were given unto me so he says hold on a sec if in order to serve God in order
to be profitable unto him in order to do great things for God if that means that I have to suffer
persecutions reproaches necessities infirmities a thorn in the flesh he says I rejoice in those
things I greatly rejoice for when I am weak then am I strong so I tell you you have health problems
you have physical issues you have necessities you have reproaches you have necessities good
because you're here tonight serving God you're here on a Sunday night you're not a Sunday morning
glory you know if you're serving God through all those necessities hey good good look at the good
oh you're thrown in jail good get someone saved oh you're thrown in jail for Christ's sake you know
go get someone saved you read that in the Bible people get thrown in jail good soul winning
opportunity good you know free reading the Bible opportunity good free you know psalm singing and
hymn singing opportunity like the apostles did right oh you know you had a personal loss or
personal tragedy good because you have an opportunity to be an example to other people
not saying that that tragedy ended up itself is good but oh something horrible happens to you
good you can be an example to other christians of being steadfast you know it's not good what
happened to jope but you know what the silver lining is is that we have the book of jope
to say like wow in all this jope kept his integrity in all this he didn't charge god
foolishly he was steadfast he said yet hey though he slay me yet will i trust him i mean what a
great example right so it's like oh tragedy befalls you good that's an opportunity to be a
bright and shining light to other people you're poor good the bible says but woe unto you that
are rich for ye have received your consolation hey if you're poor you'll be rich someday in heaven
it's better than being rich now and going to hell right oh you're sad good woe unto you that are
full for ye shall hunger woe unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep i'd rather weep
today and laugh in eternity and laugh now and burn in hell you're sad good good go to proverbs
three this is just how i look at life if things are bad if you've got problems if you've got
issues what other choice is there but to just be positive like what other choice is there you're
You're just going to sit here and wallow and just be
self-pityful and just whine and cry.
Why don't you just be a positive person?
Why don't you just decide to be a positive person?
Why don't you stop being so selfish and so self-absorbed
that you think your problems are so much worse than other people
and your lack of good is so much smaller than all the good
everyone else is given?
No, no, no, you're just a brat.
No, you're just selfish.
No, you're just carnal.
Why don't you just look at life and just say, hey, good.
Hey, the Lord's will be done.
Hey, I'll focus on the positive.
Hey, I'm going to live my life on things of eternal value
so I don't get blackpilled into wasting this life that I have.
And hey, when something bad comes my way,
I'm not saying that this bad thing in and of itself is good,
but you know what, I'm going to find the good in that situation,
whatever that is.
And you know what?
There's nothing you could throw at me
that there won't be some good in it because I love God
and I am the called according to his purpose.
And if you love God and you're called according to his purpose,
there's nothing that this world can
thrown at you where there won't be some good. Proverbs 3, 5. Let me show you one of my favorite
verses in the Bible. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own
understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths." When you're
going through a hardship, you know what? You just need to turn off your own understanding.
You need to ask yourself, "Am I trusting the Lord? Do I love God? Am I following His word?
Am I keeping His commandments? Am I searching the scriptures? Am I striving to do what's
right?" Then stop trying to logic your way through all your problems, your situations,
your issues, your health issues, your financial issues. It's just like, "Hey, trust in the
Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine understanding." Be a positive person.
Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for these instructions. I
prayed that you'd help us all not to be people that just sit here and focus on the negative
and all the problems. Help us to focus on the positive. Help us to be thankful. Help
us to focus on all the things that we can praise you for. Help us to live a meaningful
life and help us, Lord, just to just focus on the good. We love you. In Jesus' name,
we pray. Amen.