a seat and is number 300 wiki for this day for another opportunity to gather freely this evening
to sing praises to learn from your word. Lord I just thank you for leading us to the seven souls
that came with the Lord this afternoon, the salvations that we had. I pray that you would
just be with them and bless them to help them find excuse me to help me find them or help them
find a good church Lord that they would use their life as a reasonable sacrifice to serve you now
that they have that free gift. I also pray just as this morning that you would be with our service
that everything's done decently and in order that you open our ears to the message and incline your
ears we continue to sing praises to you these things we pray in Jesus name amen. All right
for our next hymn this evening turn if you would to 315 excuse me 315 315 take my life and let it be
315 memory passage of the Hebrews chapter 6 verse 12 about the good work on this chapter
and if you quote this at the end to an adult non-family member you will receive a prize on
the inside is our service times listed there sunday morning at 10 30 sunday evening at 4 30
and our wednesday bible study at seven o'clock pm we do have all of our soul winning times
listed there if you have any questions about that you can get with those respective leaders
also our nursing home ministry schedule is there if you participate in that on the bottom left side
there is our year-to-date stats had a great day out soul winning today we did have seven people
saved so praise the lord for that keep up the good work on soul winning on the up upper right
side there is the prayer list for our expecting ladies make sure to please keep the reed family
in prayer during miss whitney's pregnancy and also our upcoming events this upcoming thursday
is our chili cook-off really excited for that we're gonna right after the wednesday evening
service if i could have the men help me move all these chairs and we'll just get it set up
right away after the evening service that way we can just come in on thursday and enjoy the cook-off
and just here's a pro tip if you have like a muffin container like a tin muffin container that you
bake with that's a good thing to bring to a chili cook-off because then you could try a bunch of
different chilies and put it in that so i learned that last year and that was awesome because you
know if you just have a bowl you're not really going to get to taste everything so i like to try
out see what people bring so looking forward to that and prizes are already arrived for that
contest so should be a great time. November 6th through the 10th Faithward Baptist Church Missions
Conference in Tempe Arizona and November 24th is going to be when our church becomes Anchor Baptist
Church very excited for that there should be a lot of people here and we're going to have a lunch
fellowship together and so we're excited with what the Lord's going to do here with the soon-to-be
Anchor Baptist Church so it's my honor and privilege to be here and I'm very excited to
be having the opportunity to serve all of you people here so thank you for being so faithful
and your brother Fur isn't here but again I'm just thankful for him for leading this place for a
really long time so I'm really excited for the future here. Online giving is set up for our
church so if you'd like to give online you can scan that QR code and there should be a full-on website
soon it's under development right now but for now we just have that QR code. On the back is our
prayer list make sure to keep everyone in prayer if you have a request please don't be shy please let
me know we'd love to be praying for you as a church. That's going to be it for our evening
announcements we'll go ahead and go to our third song. For our third song this evening turn if you
would to 324 draw me nearer hymn number 324 3 2 4 draw me nearer. The first I am dying so being
Matthew to Psalm 20. Good evening, Psalm 29. The Bible reads, "Given to the Lord, O ye
mighty, given to the Lord glory and strength, given to the Lord the glory due
unto his name, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, the voice of the
Lord is upon the waters, the God of glory thundereth, the Lord is upon many
waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of
majesty, the voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars, yea the Lord breaketh the
cedars of Lebanon, he maketh them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like
a young unicorn, the voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire, the voice of
the Lord shaketh the wilderness, the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh,
voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to cap and discovereth the forests and in
his temple doth everyone speak of his glory. The Lord sitteth upon the flood,
yea, the Lord sitteth king forever. The Lord will give strength unto his people,
the Lord will bless his people with peace. Let's bow our heads for a prayer.
Father God, we thank you for this day, and we thank you for the time that we had this afternoon, and we just have to be filled with all this Holy Spirit, and help us to pay attention to the preaching, and apply it to our lives, and we can pray. Amen.
So here we have a commandment in Psalm chapter number 29, verse 1, where the Bible is telling those that are mighty to give their strength unto the Lord.
And this commandment is pretty counterintuitive to the nature of man, because when man is strong, or just when humankind in general is strong, what do we like to give our strength to?
You know, our energy, our effort, our mind, our emotions, what is it that we like to give our strength to?
Well, it's to ourselves, right?
We like to give our strength to making more money or trying to make our lives more comfortable and more pleasant.
That's usually what people do.
But here, God is actually giving us a commandment that's pretty counterintuitive to most people, to all of our nature, really.
And that is if you're strong, you should give that strength unto the Lord.
Now, go to Mark chapter number 12, Mark chapter number 12.
And, you know, I think in this room that we have a lot of men of strength in this room.
And, you know, we got a lot of strong ladies in here, too, but we have to remind ourselves
that if God has blessed us with strength, then it's something that we should give unto
the Lord.
Look at Mark chapter 12, verse 28.
The Bible says, "And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together and
perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, 'Which is the first commandment
of all?'
And Jesus answered him, 'The first commandment, the first of all the commandments is, 'Hear,
O Israel, the Lord, our God, is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and notice, and with all
thy strength.'
This is the first commandment.
And of course, we know that being saved is easy.
Being saved is compared to drinking a glass of water, walking through a door, eating a
piece of bread, you know, whosoever believes on him, you know, is going to be saved.
That's basically how simple it is to be saved.
But when it comes to following God's commandments, you know, being someone that's sold out as
a disciple, you know, Jesus talks about how that's someone that has to love God with all
of their strength.
You know, that's a very high task that's being asked of us.
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number nine, Ecclesiastes chapter number nine.
So you know, if you want to actually follow that commandment of loving God with all your
strength, God is really asking for our entire lives.
And I'm going to show you some verses soon that's going to describe that.
But you know, this is not a small thing that God is asking of us when he says to give our
strength unto him.
Look at Ecclesiastes chapter number nine, verse number 10.
The Bible says whatsoever thy hand, find it to do, do it with thy might, for there is
no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest.
So we see a commandment here that whatever it is that we do in life, whether it's something
physical, carnal, doesn't matter what it is, God wants us to do it with all of our might,
with all of our strength.
And you know, I think God really likes people that really put their heart into something
that they do, that puts all of their strength and effort and energy into what they do.
That's what God likes to see in his children.
And really, when I think about this concept of giving your strength to something or doing
something with all of your might, I think about as a child growing up and playing baseball,
I had a coach that was a lot like this, that he didn't even really care if you were the
most gifted, you know, natural, talented baseball player.
He wanted to see kids on the field putting all of their strength into everything that
they're doing.
You know, he wanted to see kids basically that had heart, that were putting all of their
might into what they were doing, and you know, I related to that as a kid because my favorite
teammates weren't necessarily the ones that were just the best, because you know, having
a teammate that's really, really naturally good, but he's lazy, can be kind of annoying,
right?
Whereas like, you can kind of overlook a baseball player that has a little bit of a skill issue,
but he works really hard, and he's really trying.
You know, like recently, Steadfast, we had a softball team, an adult softball team, and
I'll tell you, the first season was very brutal, and Brother Jason had to whip our team into
shape because there was a lot of just really bad playing going on, okay?
But here's the thing, like, you could excuse someone where maybe they weren't that great.
I mean, if someone didn't grow up playing baseball, you can't really expect them to be very skilled
at this, but it's like, but if they're diving for every play, if they're running super hard
to first base, if they're hustling out there, you know, that's someone that I like.
That's someone.
And it's the same thing in Christianity.
Like God doesn't expect all of us to be perfect and to have everything in life squared away
and everyone is just doing everything perfectly.
What he wants to see is that we're putting our strength into serving him, that we're
putting all of our might into serving him.
You know, that's the type of teammates that I liked.
That's the type of teammates my coach like.
These are the type of workers that your boss likes and these are the types of Christians
that God likes.
And so the title of my sermon this evening is Give Your Strength Unto the Lord.
Give your strength unto the Lord.
Go to Romans chapter 12.
Number one, give your physical strength to the Lord.
Give your physical strength to the Lord.
You know, God has blessed every single person with a different degree of strength, of physical
strength.
And you know, if we have a functioning body that's moving, that's breathing, that's able
to work, you know, we should give that strength to God.
And today you got men where they want to spend every day all day in the gym so they can look
super cool.
But what are you doing with that super cool body?
If you're serving God with it, well, if you're not, then you're kind of wasting your strength.
God wants us to give our strength to the Lord.
Romans 12 verse one, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present
your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
So notice there's an aspect of serving God that involves your physical body.
And a lot of times Christianity, you know, today people like to focus on obviously the
spiritual aspects, praying and reading the Bible.
And rightly so we should focus on those things.
But we shouldn't forget that there's also an aspect of serving God that involves what
you do with your physical body.
One of those things is obviously what we avoid doing with our physical bodies, right?
Obviously we shouldn't be indulging in things like fornication, drinking alcohol, doing
drugs, lusting with our eyes.
These are sins that we commit against God using our bodies.
But there's also positive things that we could do for the Lord, serving God, giving him our
strength with our bodies.
You know, the most obvious of those being soul winning.
Soul winning is a very obvious application of we're actually going out and we're taking
the strength that God has given us in our bodies.
And we're giving that strength to the Lord by getting people saved.
And you know, having bronchitis for the last six weeks has reminded me that it does take
a certain amount of strength just to go soul winning, because yesterday we went soul winning
at those triple decker apartments in South Yukon.
And I remember towards the end of soul winning, I went up all three of those flights of stairs
and I knocked on the door and they answered right away and I was like, Oh man, usually
I get a one door break before they answer.
But you know, my lungs have just been so weak for being sick the last six weeks where I
was like, you know, breathing really hard and having a hard time having this conversation
with this guy, you know, because I'd gotten a little weak in that area.
But here's the thing, we, if us as Christians, whatever amount of strength you have, whether
it's a lot or a little, whether you're really in shape or you're really out of shape, you
know what, you should still dedicate whatever strength God has given you to serve the Lord
by going soul winning.
Because, you know, let us all be reminded that there is coming a day where our bodies
will fail us.
There's coming a day where you may want to go out soul winning and you literally cannot.
That's a sad thought to think about.
Go to Mark chapter 16, Mark chapter 16, you know, if you have strength today, if you have
youth, if you have energy, you know, don't waste that on yourself being selfish.
Use that for God.
Mark chapter 16, verse 15, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every preacher.
Of course, we all know the great commission in here that we're supposed to go out and
preach the gospel to every creature.
But today in 2024 America, we have a lot of amenities in our life that makes soul winning
a lot easier than they did it this time, because now we can go into all the world by plane,
by train, by car, right?
And we can go long distances and get there in a nice air conditioned vehicle, stretch
a little bit, walk to the apartment complex, and you only have to walk like three feet
to the next door because everyone's so close together.
But here this time, imagine this task 2000 years ago to go out into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature.
Look, people were walking long distances back in these days, and people were in a lot better
shape because you had to be.
There's no other option.
There was no such thing as just sitting around all day doing nothing.
No, if you're going to be a soul winner 2000 years ago, you're going to be doing a lot
of walking.
Look at verse 20.
It says in verse 20, "And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working
with them and confirming the word with signs following Amen."
So they went forth and they listened to Jesus and they went and preached everywhere.
And you know what that involved?
That involved a lot of strength of the physical body.
And so, you know, while we like to focus, obviously, like I said, on the spiritual and
we should, and, you know, Baptist preachers that love to eat, their favorite verse is
"Bodily exercise, profit at little."
But that verse is actually saying that it still does profit something.
Because if you just completely neglected your physical body and your physical strength,
how are you going to go into all the world and preach the gospel, right?
We need to use the strength that God has given us to preach the gospel.
Look at Ecclesiastes chapter number 12, Ecclesiastes chapter number 12.
And you know, our church is a pretty young church and our movement's a pretty young movement.
And thank God for that, we got a lot of soul winners that could put a lot of time and effort
and energy into soul winning.
But we need to remind ourselves, like I said earlier, that there's coming a day where we
won't be able to perform physically all the things that we would like to, and all the
things that you could do now in your youth.
Look at Ecclesiastes 12 verse 1.
The Bible says, "Remember now, thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days
come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them."
So notice, if you grow to be an old man or an old woman, the Bible says that those are
evil days.
Those are not fun days.
I've never heard anyone say that they like getting old, right?
It's always something that they lament about, that they're sad about, but it's just reality.
And you know, we're all going to face it someday.
Unless you die young, you know, God's going to make you experience that old age.
And the Bible says that there's coming a day where you would say, I have no pleasure in
them.
That's kind of a sad thought.
I mean, because right now in my life, I have a lot of pleasure in my life from my wife,
my kids, and just being able to exercise and reading the word of God and going soul winning
and just doing all these fun things that I enjoy.
But imagine like you're sitting at home and you want to go to church, but you can't.
You want to go soul winning, but you can't.
You want to go play with your kids, but you can't.
That is a real day that's coming that every person will experience.
And even if you are super, super healthy, you know, you will, your body will break down
someday.
You know, our bodies will fail us.
We have this flesh and someday, thank God, we're going to get a glorified body where
we don't have to experience that.
But in this life, we will have to experience that.
Look at verse two, "While the sun or the light or the moon or the stars be not darkened,
nor the clouds return after the rain."
It's talking about like your vision failing you, you're not able to see light as well.
Verse three, "In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble," you know, if
you notice very old people, oftentimes they tremble, they go to drink a water and their
hands kind of shaking, they're trembling, right?
"And strong men shall bow themselves," I mean, you look at these guys that they were
like war veterans, they were super strong, but now in their 80s, they're kind of walking
around like this, right?
"They're bowing themselves," it says, "and the grinders cease," talking about your teeth
falling out of your head, "because they are few, and those that look out of the windows
be darkened, and the doors shall be shut in the streets when the sound of the grinding
is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird."
You're not able to sleep as well, you're constantly being, you know, waking up in your old age,
"and all the daughters of music shall be brought low, also when they shall be afraid of that
which is high."
You know, often times you see old people are very afraid of heights, they don't want to
fly, they don't want to get on ladders or anything like that, right, because their body's
not working as well as it used to.
"And fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall
be a burden, and desire shall fail, because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners
go about the streets, wherever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken,
or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, then shall
the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave
it.
You know, this isn't really an encouraging passage of scripture, but it's just the reality
of life, that we are in vile bodies right now, that are decaying, that are breaking
down, that have issues, and you know, every single day that we have good health, you ought
to be thanking God for that, because health is probably one of the biggest things that
we take for granted in life, and when you lose an aspect of your health, you realize
that it's more important than just about everything.
I mean, people, what do they really stress about?
Money.
That's a big stress for people, right?
Having the bills paid, but it's like, I'd rather have money problems for my entire life
than have health issues any day of the week, and when you experience health issues, you
realize like, wow, that is so important to have a sound body, and look, if you're sitting
here today, and you say, you know what, thank God, I have two legs that walk, I have breath
in my lungs, I can go out and preach the gospel, you know, I can read the Bible, I could drink
water without my hands shaking, I can walk without my back being crooked, you know what,
that is something you should thank the Lord for, because there is coming a day where life
will not be as easy as it is right now, physically speaking, and so today, here we are in 2024,
you know, are you just letting that go to waste?
You know, you should be thinking, how can I use my strength to give it unto the Lord
with my body?
And, of course, you should take advantage of that in your youth and go soul-winning.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter number four, 1 Timothy chapter number four, you know, there's a lot
of benefits of being young, it's something that doesn't last very long, but the wise
thing to do is to take advantage of your youth, take advantage of being healthy, take advantage
of having physical strength, and, you know, it's kind of funny to me because I'm a young
guy, I'm 27, and I'm not ashamed of that, but a lot of people actually criticize me
for being young, and I've heard people criticize me for being a preacher that's young, and
it's like, well, you know, you're too young to be a preacher, and, you know, God willing,
next month I'm going to be ordained as a pastor, and it's like, well, you're just too young
to be a pastor, here's what's so funny to me about that, and why that's such a stupid
mentality to have, it's like, so answer me this, so I spend my entire 20s serving God,
being free to thrive, going soul winning every week of my life, reading the Bible every day,
having lots of kids, loving God, following his commandments, and preaching the Bible,
that's what I did with my 20s, where it's like, oh, you're in your 40s or 50s now, meanwhile
when you were in your 20s, you were drinking alcohol, committing fornication, wasting your
life, being a young idiot, but now that you're in your 40s and 50s, you want to say, oh,
that guy's too young, what a hypocritical thing, you know, if you ever criticize a young
person for preaching the Bible, you better hope you live the squeaky cleanest life possible
in your 20s.
But, you know, if you spent your 20s out of church, if you spent your 20s not reading
the Bible, if you spent your 20s not soul winning, you're drinking alcohol, you're doing
whatever, you know what, you have no right to criticize me.
You have no right to criticize any young person that's preaching the Bible.
That's hypocrisy.
Rather, what you should do is you should actually use your youth to serve God, and you should
encourage other people that are doing that, saying, "Hey, that's actually the right thing
to do, is to use your strength and your youth and your help to serve God, not to waste it
on alcohol and video games and stupidity."
Look at 1st Timothy 412.
This verse isn't in the Bible by coincidence.
"Let no man despise thy youth."
I wonder why the Bible has to say that, because you've got a bunch of idiots that despise
people just for the fact of them being young.
Never mind the fact that they've read the Bible dozens of times more than you.
Never mind the fact that they've been soul winning for a decade plus.
Oh, let's just despise a guy because he's young.
You know what?
You're prideful if you're the one doing that.
You're the one that's prideful.
You're the one that's foolish.
And the Bible's saying here, "Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers
in word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith and purity."
You know what?
Don't get discouraged if you're in this church or if you're in this movement and you're young
and you're spending your youth serving God and you're soul winning and people might look
down on you thinking like, "Why are you wasting your youth?
Shouldn't you be trying to build all this money and wealth?
Shouldn't you be trying to travel the world?
Shouldn't you try to live it up before you get married, before you follow all these rigid
commandments?"
You know, let no one despise your youth.
If you're a young person in here and you're trying to do what's right, and here's the
thing, following God's commandments and doing what's right in 2024 is harder now than it
used to be in a lot of ways.
You know, it used to be that supporting a family on a single income, you could work
at a shoe store and do that just fine.
In the 40s and 50s, I mean, you could buy a house for $6,000 brand new back then, and
now it's a lot harder to do.
And especially, like, if you get married young, you get married when you're 20, and you start
pumping out a bunch of kids, and you're not going to college, and you're not spending
the first 10 years of your marriage, you know, only focusing on your career, yeah, it could
be a lot harder for you, but you know what, it would be so stupid for someone who wasted
their youth, who didn't get married young, they didn't have kids when they got married,
they spent their 20s just, you know, focusing on themselves, to go look down on someone
else that's not doing it the way that they did, when that other young person is actually
following the Bible.
So, you know, don't let anyone despise your youth in here, if you're actually doing things
right and you're young, you know what, you should keep your head up high and realizing
that you are following God's commandments, and don't let someone look down on you for
that.
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 12, Ecclesiastes chapter 12, I had you go back there, sorry.
So you know, we talked about soul winning, it's a good way to physically give your strength
to the Lord.
How about studying scripture?
Look at Ecclesiastes 12 verse 12, it says, "And further by these, my son, be admonished
of making many books, there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh."
You know, if God has given you strength, you should use your strength to study the word
of God.
The Bible says that if you do that, much study is a weariness of the flesh.
It is something that's hard to do.
It does take a certain amount of physical strength just to really study, because often
times people usually have like only worked blue collar or only worked white collar.
But I've worked kind of both, and honestly I get more tired at the white collar jobs
just because of the mental work that you put in.
And don't discount mental work.
Mental work is exhausting.
It's physically exhausting.
And reading the Bible and studying scripture can be a weariness of the flesh.
But if God has given you strength, you should use that strength and give that physical strength
unto the Lord and put some real effort and energy into your Bible reading.
Go to Hebrews 10.
What about going to church?
Going to church is something that a lot of people take for granted.
But you know, over the last decade plus of being in church, I've seen people that were
in church and then they had a major health problem and they can never return to church
again until they passed away.
And you know, that could be a reality for us.
Look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 23, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering for he is faithful that promised and 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 he see the day approaching."
You know, if God has given you physical strength, you should use that to go to church and to
not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, right?
The manner of some, the habit of some is to forget about the fact that going to church
is a privilege and they'll say, "You know what, this Sunday, I'll just stay home and
watch football.
This Sunday, I'll just go out and go fishing."
Or maybe for some of the diehard guys, "I'm going to skip church and go to the gym."
But really, you should use that strength that God's giving you to serve Him and to go to
church because, you know what, it's not promised you next week.
I guarantee you, you know, sometimes people struggle with going to church and they say,
you know, sometimes they just don't want to go, right?
But I guarantee you, if you got into a major car accident this week and you were sitting
in the hospital on Sunday morning, I bet you, you'd trade anything to be in church, right?
And so why don't we just not have to get to that point, not have to make God chase in us
in any way and just think about like, "Hey, God, you've given me strength.
You've given me a body that can make it to church and I'm going to be in church as long
as you do that."
So, to me, I feel like maybe I'll have health for a longer time in my life if God looks
down and he sees, "Hey, Dylan's using his strength to go soul winning.
Dylan's using his strength to read the Bible, to go to church.
Maybe I'll bless him longer with good health."
And you know, that's what I want for my life.
I think that's what everyone wants.
But, you know, maybe some people aren't being blessed with a long life and long health because
maybe they're not even using the health that God gave them to do anything for him to begin
with.
If you would, Isaiah chapter 58, Isaiah chapter 58.
When we're talking about giving your strength, giving your physical strength to serving God.
Here's another application we can make.
Isaiah 58 verse one, it says, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and
show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob, their sins.
You know, if you get a chance as men to preach a sermon, to preach the word of God, you know,
put your physical strength into that.
Don't just take it lightly and just get up here and just kind of murmur and just kind
of, you know, shrug and not really put your heart into it.
You know, put your strength into it.
The Bible talks about crying aloud, sparing not, lifting up your voice like a trumpet.
And it doesn't necessarily have to be, you know, the whole sermon every single time.
But you know, you should be willing to put your strength into your sermons, into preaching
the word of God.
And again, having bronchitis the last couple of weeks has made me realize that it does
actually take some strength to preach.
Because you've heard it, I'm sorry that you guys have had to deal with this for the last
several weeks.
I mean, you've heard that my lungs just sound terrible, okay.
But you know, thank God I'm starting to get a little bit better.
And boy, can I feel the difference.
And I thank God for health every day, especially after that.
Go to Romans 15, Romans chapter 15.
You know, I heard this one preacher who I love and respect say that every Sunday he
just goes home and he just sits on the floor and just eats a bowl of ice cream.
And I'm like, I can relate with that because, you know, there's a certain level of physical
exhaustion that goes into preaching sermons and, you know, it's not just, it's not as
easy as it looks.
I'll just say that.
Okay.
Preaching is hard.
If you men have done it, you know what I'm saying is true.
Writing sermons is hard.
Studying the Bible is hard and preaching the word of God is hard.
But you know what, if you could do it, if you get the opportunity, you should give whatever
strength you have to the Lord.
Number two, give your strength to the Lord by serving other people.
We talked about giving your physical strength to the Lord.
How else can you serve the Lord?
Well, you could do this by giving your strength to other people.
Look at Romans 15, verse one.
We then that are strong.
You say, oh, yeah, I'm real strong.
I'm a strong dude in this church tonight.
OK, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak
and not to please ourselves.
Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification,
for even Christ, please not himself.
But as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached the fell on me.
You know, you think you're strong in this room tonight.
Well, then how many burdens from other people are you bearing?
Because Jesus Christ was the strongest man to ever live.
He'd win every strongman competition.
He would destroy all of us at the mighty man's competition.
He would throw the ball to the moon or something.
I don't know. He would just destroy all of us. Right.
But here's the thing. Jesus being the strongest man that's ever lived.
You know what he did?
He bore the infirmities of other people.
And you know, that's really what being strong is, is not pleasing yourself.
Right. We talked about how man's tendency to to take their strength
and to just please themselves with it.
Jesus took his strength and he used all of his strength to serve other people.
That's a man right there.
That's a leader.
That is a strong man.
Someone that is strong, that can take the heavy loads,
that can take the weight of the world on his shoulders.
And you know what? He does it for all of us that don't deserve it.
That's amazing.
And you say, you know, I want to be a strong man.
Well, how you become a strong man is by shouldering more of other people's burdens.
This is what becoming a man is.
It goes from being a teenager, being a child where your parents do everything for you
to you get married and now there's one human being relying on you.
And you have to shoulder some responsibility and you have to shoulder
the weaker vessels, burdens on you.
You have to carry that as a man.
And that's a certain level of, you know, maturity and strength,
having to take care of another person.
Then you have a baby and you're increasing in the amount of responsibility
that you have and you're increasing the weight that's on your shoulders.
And then you have to.
And then you just keep going and going and going.
And every time you do more and more responsibilities being added,
more and more weight, and it makes you more of a man
to take care of other people's burdens and other people's infirmities.
Go to Mark, chapter number 10, Mark, chapter number 10.
And, you know, it's not just our families that you take care of,
because if you get more responsibility, you know, there might be people
at your job that you're in charge of, that you're taking care of.
There might be people at church
that you're helping with different ministries and things like that.
And you could shoulder each other's burdens by doing things like that.
Look at Mark, chapter 10, verse 45.
For even the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister
and to give his life a ransom for many.
So notice Jesus came to give his strength for us.
Verse 46, and they came to Jericho.
And as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people,
blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.
And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And many charged him that he should hold his peace.
But he cried the more a great deal.
Thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.
And they called the blind man, saying unto him, be of good comfort.
Rise, he calleth thee, and he casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?
The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
Jesus said unto him, Go thy way.
Thy faith hath made thee whole.
And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way.
So here we have a story about Jesus, the ultimate strong man.
And we have this blind guy who's sitting by the highway side begging.
Now, this would be by anyone's definition, a weak man.
I mean, he's weak. He's blind. Right.
This is not a very strong guy.
He's on the side of the road begging.
And I think the picture is that all of us in this room are that blind man,
because all of us in comparison of Jesus Christ are weak,
helpless, blind people that need help.
And notice Jesus, he saw this man have a problem and he made that problem
his own problem, right?
Because Jesus went to him and he said, what would you that I should do unto you?
He's saying, how can I help you?
How can I take a burden off of you?
Jesus saw someone with a problem and he didn't just walk.
He didn't just keep walking like the Pharisees with the Good Samaritan story.
Right. He saw this man that had a need that called out to him.
And he said, you know what, how can I help you?
What would you that I should do unto you?
And Jesus healed this man and brought him his sight. Right.
And in a way, that's what Jesus did for all of us,
because all of us was that man on the side of the road that's blind,
that's helpless, who needed a savior.
And we needed someone to care about us.
We needed someone to take our infirmities on themself.
And right. That's what Jesus Christ did when he died on the cross.
He took all of our sins and bear all of our sins in his own body on the tree
so that we could be saved, so that we could believe on him
and that we could see spiritually.
You know, thank God that Jesus took us weaklings
and took our infirmities upon him.
That makes Jesus strong, right?
Jesus isn't just like this taskmaster, Lord and taskmaster.
No, he actually came to take burdens off of us.
And that is an incredible amount of strength for a person
not only to have their own issues and problems and burdens,
but to actually take on the burdens of other people.
That is a great example.
Go to John 13, John 13.
And, you know, a very practical way that we can apply this is,
you know, us as men, when you're married,
the Bible says that the wife is the weaker vessel,
that we're supposed to be giving honor unto the weaker vessel.
You know, that looks like things as simple as, you know, carrying the heavy bags.
You know, men, you should never let your wives carry all the heavy stuff by yourself.
You should take on the infirmities and the burdens of the weaker vessel.
You should be the one taking problems from her, right?
You should be the one reaching on the high shelf and getting things for her.
All right. And if you're shorter than your wife,
you need to buy a ladder and just keep doing it anyways.
OK, you got to make sure that you're getting the things off the high shelf.
You're you're the one that opens up the jar for her.
OK, you're the one that does the hard things in life.
You know, go out and do the hard work, go out and do the hard things
that your family members don't want to do.
You know, be strong by serving your wife, be strong by taking on her burdens.
And you know what? That's what Jesus did for us.
John 13. Now, before the feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart
out of this world unto the father, having loved his own,
which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart
of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.
Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands
and that he was come from God and went to God, he riseth from supper
and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself.
After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet
and to wipe them with the towel, wherewith he was girded.
Then cometh he to Simon Peter and Peter sayeth unto him, Lord,
does thou wash my feet?
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now,
but thou shalt know hereafter.
Verse eight, Peter sayeth unto him, thou shalt never wash my feet.
Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
Simon Peter sayeth unto him, Lord, not my feet only,
but also my hands and my head.
So notice in this story here, we have the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is very close to the point of his life where he is going to die on the cross.
He's going to go through the brutal, torturous death on the cross.
And if I was to think about myself and if I was to think like,
I'm about to be tortured, I'm about to die on the cross.
I'm just going to be honest to you.
I would probably be thinking about myself.
And if that makes me unspiritual, I'm sorry, I have the flesh.
And if I knew I was about to be tortured,
I would probably be thinking about myself.
But Jesus being the strongest man that there is.
You know who he was concerned about?
He was concerned about his followers.
He was concerned about the people that he had responsibility with
and authority over.
He was interested in their well-being.
And here's the thing, it's like it's not like his disciples were starving
and like, oh, I need to give them food.
Their feet was just dirty.
But he loved them so much and he was willing to take so much burdens.
And infirmities off of people that as he's about to die,
as he's about to be tortured, he's thinking about cleaning his disciples feet.
I mean, would that be you and me if we were in that situation?
Probably not.
I probably wouldn't be caring about my cellmates feet
and how they looked or my family or anything like that.
I'd probably be worried about what I'm about to go through.
But Jesus gets down being God himself, being sinless.
And he gets down and he washes his disciples feet.
And Peter is kind of shocked by this.
He's like, what are you doing?
You know, you're Jesus, you're God.
Why are you doing this?
And he kind of rebukes him.
And Jesus is like, you don't let me do this.
You have no part with me.
And he's like, wash everything, just whatever you want to wash.
I'm here. You know, Peter is always saying some really funny things.
But I love Peter.
Look at verse nine, Simon Peter or verse number verse number 10.
Jesus sayeth to him, he that is washed, needeth not to say sorry,
needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every wit.
And you are all clean, but not all.
Speaking of Judas, for he knew who should betray him.
Therefore, said he, you're not all clean.
So after he had washed their feet and had taken his garments and was set down again,
he said unto them, Know ye what I've done to you?
You call me master and lord and you say, well, for so I am.
If I then your lord and master have washed your feet,
ye ought also to wash one another's feet.
For I've given you an example that you should do as I've done to you.
You know, why is it that Jesus did this?
Well, of course, because he loved his disciples, because he cared about them.
But also he wanted to show, you know, if I as God can humble myself
and can think about others in my darkest hour that I'm about to face,
how much more should you that are sinners
that don't deserve anything except hell, be willing to serve each other,
be willing to love each other.
And, you know, that is something that we need to put into our mind
in the day and time that we're living in, when we're living in generation selfie, we're living in
a time when men only think about themselves and how they could please themselves, we need to humble
ourselves and realize that we are sinners deserving of hell and that if our savior can wash his own
disciples feet, then we should be willing to take on burdens, to take on infirmities, and to serve
each other in this church. To serve your wife, to serve your husband, to serve your children,
to love each other. But today, you know, many people think that, well, you know, all I care
about is myself, all I care about is making sure my bills are paid, that my house is in order,
that my family has good health, not realizing that Jesus Christ wants us to think about each other.
And, you know, one of the most simple ways that you could do this is to pray for our prayer list.
You know, that is something that is not on there for a decoration. That is giving you an opportunity
to love your brothers and sisters in Christ. That is giving you an opportunity to stop thinking
about yourself, stop thinking about your problems and your issues, and to truly take on the burdens
of other people. You know, I think that things would just be absolutely revolutionized in this
church and in every church if every single person actually prayed for the prayer list.
Because obviously I don't know what you do. It's between you and Lord. I don't know what you do in
your house or whatever. But if I just had to guess, I would guess that most people are not praying
on that prayer list. And I don't know what would help you to do that. I don't know if you need to
put it in your car. You know, just tape it up in your car. I don't know if you need to get like a
waterproof whiteboard in your shower or something. I don't know what needs to happen. But you know,
something needs to happen in our churches today that is going to cause you to love other people.
That's going to cause you to think about other people and not just wake up in the morning and
think about what am I going to eat? Where am I going to work? What am I going to do? What is my
family going to watch on TV tonight? And actually wake up and think about your brothers in Christ.
That's what God wants for us. Go to Acts chapter six. I want to read to you a few verses. Matthew 541
says, "And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him quaint." You know, Jesus taught the
extra mile principle. Someone asked you to do something, you know, go above and beyond for them.
You know, we didn't deserve salvation and Jesus went the extra mile for us. He went above and
beyond for us. Acts chapter number six, verse one, it says, "In those days when the number of the
disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their
widows were neglected in the daily ministration." So, you know, in first Timothy chapter five,
the Bible gives parameters on when a church would be able to provide for a widow's needs.
And here the situation is happening where their church is just growing so much and they're getting
so busy that there's things that are falling by the wayside, you know, and leadership can't do
everything by themselves. There's a lot of work that goes on into the ministry. And here there's
this problem where widows were being neglected. Now that's a big deal. You know, we want to care
for widows and the fatherless. We want to care for those people. And when widows are being neglected,
that's a problem, right? Look at verse number two. Then the 12 called the multitude of the disciples
unto them and said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
So notice the disciples are saying like, yeah, this is a problem, but it wouldn't really make
any sense for us to stop reading the Bible, to stop writing sermons, to stop preaching the gospel,
to stop doing funerals and weddings and all these things to, you know, hand a paycheck to a widow.
This is something that could be done by someone else. Verse three, it says, wherefore, because of
that, brethren, lucky out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom,
Whom we may appoint over this business and later on in the story we get the story of stephen
Who I believe kind of fits the office of a deacon where he is going to
Basically be working for the church to help the church with daily administrative tasks
And you know having worked in a church. I know this, you know first hand that there is a lot of work that goes into
The ministry it's literally just like running a business. It's a lot of work
It's a lot of time and it's a lot of effort but what i'm saying is that there's more to a church
Than just what you see right now, you know, there's more to a church than just a sermon being preached
There's a lot of work that needs and one of the ways that you can
You know take burdens off of other people and take infirmities off from other people is simply just by helping
In the work of the ministry and here, you know, we have lots of ministries. We have ushers
We have a safety team. We have a music ministry and you know that kind of stuff takes work
It takes planning it takes sitting down and writing out every single song that we're going to sing for the whole quarter
You know it takes out it takes musicians taking their time and practicing
You know when people have a baby we like to do meal trains
That takes time for ladies to cook those meals or you know to buy those gift cards or whatever and drive it over to them
All i'm saying is that there is plenty plenty of opportunities to serve other people
You will never run out of work when it comes to wanting to serve other people
But you know if you want to be someone that is strong that gives their strength unto the lord
You could do that by serving other people and the great thing about this is that a lot of this a lot of these activities
Don't really require a complete amount of physical strength, right?
Because anyone can pray you could be in a hospital bed and you could pray for other people, right?
Anyone can help with some computer, you know administrative tasks, right?
So there's definitely work for everyone that wants to take other people's burdens
I just wrote down a few things here that I didn't that I i'm thinking about, you know music
I talked about that event planning takes a lot of time
It takes you know, making a sign up sheet bothering people and letting them know like hey
Are you going to sign up because I need to order food and if you don't tell me that you're signing up
We're not going to have enough food and then people don't sign up. It's the last minute
Then you got to order more food. You got to call them, right?
So like there's a lot of stuff that goes on with event planning calling different places making sure things are going to work out
Right paying the bills that takes diligence
You know, we got like a live stream team that helps set up the live stream the audio and video
You know that takes a lot of work that takes someone that's not going to just think only about themselves
Just like well, I just want to walk into church and just sit down and just you know, wait for the sermon
No
There's people in here that actually want to serve other people that want to take burdens off and I appreciate that making soul-winning maps
You know, this is a big city that we're in and it takes some planning
It takes some strategy to decide where we're going to go to preach the gospel meal trains baby showers
You know weddings funerals
Uh in the past we've done i've led some soul win, uh, sorry not soul winning some song leading classes
I've led some preaching classes and things like that
It just takes a lot of effort energy and work and you know
We need people in this church to be willing to assist and serve other people go to proverbs chapter number 18
Number three and lastly this evening give your strength to the lord by giving financially give your strength to the lord by giving financially
This could be kind of a taboo topic in churches, but i'm not ashamed of anything that the bible says
You know, I think that it's inappropriate and weird when pastors every single sermon
All they want to do is talk about tithing and talk about money. That's weird. That's inappropriate
But you know the bible does talk about these things. Let's look at proverbs 18 verse 11
Notice it says the rich man's wealth is his strong city and as an high wall in his own conceit
So notice part of strength in one context is physical strength part of strength in another context is serving other people taking on burdens
But here the bible says that a rich man's wealth is his strength, you know, you could be strong
Financially and everyone definitely has varying levels of strength when it comes to financial strength
But you know my philosophy is that if God has blessed you with any type of strength Psalm 29 says give your strength
Unto the Lord and so if God has blessed you in that way and you're some sort you have some sort of financial strength
You should use that strength to God look at Proverbs 11
Proverbs 11 verse number 16 a gracious woman retaineth honor and strong men retain
Riches so notice the Bible is describing again that a certain aspect of strength is having financial
Abilities whatever resources and you know a lot of people they'll be like yeah, you know, you know give your physical strength to God
Yeah, yeah serve other people and it's like give your financial strength
They're like, oh no, but wait a second
Which is more severe love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy strength and Romans 12 1
Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. It's like how can you say amen at that?
But then it's also like hey, you should give financially to church and then she's like, whoa, that's crazy
It's like wait a second. Jesus said be faithful unto death
Like we're supposed to be willing to die for Christ, but it's like oh but giving money to church is crazy
I mean you're in a cult if your church, you know passes the plate
It's like which one is is actually more severe that Christ is asking of us giving money is way easier than dying for him
Right go to Proverbs chapter number three Proverbs three
Proverbs three verse five 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 the eye paths be not wise in thine own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil
It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones honor the Lord with thy
Substance that's talking about your assets and with the first fruits of all thine
Increase and notice what happens when you honor God with your money verse 10
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and my presses shall burst out with new wine
You know, there is blessings associated with giving financially to the Lord
You know, I'm not gonna stand up here like the fake televangelist
It says, you know, you give a thousand dollars God's gonna repay you ten thousand dollars
You give a million God's gonna give you a billion. You're gonna usurp Trump in a few months here. No, that's not how it works
But here's what I do know. I do believe that if you faithfully tithe to church
I do believe that if you give unto the Lord that God will take care of your needs and I do believe that God
Will put a spiritual blessing on your life and could that be also a financial blessing? Absolutely. It could be yeah
I mean our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills
Absolutely, he could bless you financially
But one thing I do know is that God will bless you God will take care of you whether that's spiritually or physically
But you know what?
There's a lot of blessings in life that we take for granted like we talked about like with health
You know, maybe God's blessing you in the sense that he's just giving you good health
Maybe he's blessing you in the fact that you're having a great marriage that you're having godly children
Maybe he's blessing you in the fact that your stuff is lasting longer, right? You know, that's a good thing
That's something that I want in my life. Go to Proverbs 11 Proverbs chapter 11
Proverbs 11 verse 24 there is that scattereth and yet increase it and there is that withholdeth
More than his meat but it tendeth to poverty the liberal soul
Shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also
Himself so notice there's some people that kind of just scatter their money
They're just kind of just really generous with it and they just scatter it all over the place yet
They're increasing somehow and that doesn't make logical sense
But what it is is God's blessing then there's people that are really stingy
They withhold more than his meat and even though they're really frugal even though they keep everything nice and tight
Everything still tends to poverty right then it says that the liberal soul that's not talking about Kamala. That's a that's a communist whore
Okay liberal here meaning that you just want to give out a lot
Okay, not the communists the liberal soul shall be made fat and that's not like physically fat
That's just like you're taken care of you have all your needs you got everything you could possibly need
You know your fat the liberal soul shall be made fat by the way liberals are not liberal
Liberals are thieves liberals don't want to give their money
They want to steal your money and then they want to act like virtue signers like aren't we so nice that we want to steal?
Your money and give it to homeless people that's not being liberal being liberal is actually of your own money being willing to give it to
Other people just out of your own heart and of the goodness of your own heart not them stealing it from you
So I find it funny that they're called liberals, but they're not even liberal according to the Bible go to Luke chapter number six
Maybe where the Bible says that you know the vile person will no more be called liberal
Maybe in that sense it's talking about them Luke chapter number six look at verse 38 give and it shall be given unto you good
Measure crest down and shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom
So notice the Bible is giving us this description that if you give you know
You're gonna reap what you sow and what you reap is going to be a good product
It's not like when you go to a coffee place and they you get a large and they just put the whole thing of ice
Right and then like they pour for like two seconds, and it's full somehow because it's just ice all right
It's not even coffee. Well the Bible's talking about here like you're gonna get good measure press down
Like you're getting a lot of product into what God is giving back to you
It says for with the same measure that you meet with all it shall be measured to you again
Go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 9 1st Corinthians chapter number 9 almost done this evening 1st Corinthians chapter number 9
What are we talking about giving your financial strength unto the Lord a lot of people question?
You know should pastors be paid should preachers be paid
Is it okay to have church staff and I don't really think this is a problem like with people that actually go to church
Usually they have no issues with this usually these people that don't go to church whatsoever
That are like so shocked and horrified that preachers get paid
Which is just so silly because it's like imagine telling these people like go work your full-time job for no money
It's like no one would do that
But for some reason people think that preachers are supposed to just work their butts off
And like a ton and just not get any money for that's that's weird
Okay, look at 1st Corinthians chapter 9. That's not just my opinion
Look what the Bible says Paul said am NOT I an Apostle am I not free?
Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord are not ye my work in the Lord if I be not an apostle unto others yet
Doubtless I am to you for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord mine answer to them that do examine me is this
so people are
Examining Paul they're questioning him and if you actually know the context of this chapter
They're like mad that a preacher could make money because look at what it says in verse number four
He says have we not power to eat and to drink he's saying like well, excuse me
Am I just supposed to not eat food?
Am I supposed to just not drink anything look at verse number five
have we not power to lead about a sister a wife as well as other apostles and as the brethren of the Lord and
Cephas, you know, he's saying don't we have a right to get married and to take care of our families to make sure that there's food
In their mouth and a roof over their head or I only in Barnabas have we have not we power to forbear
Working so here Paul and Barnabas
They actually have decided not to take money from the church not to take a pay check and they're out working a secular job
And there's nothing wrong with that. That's totally fine. And if a preacher wants to do that, that's great
But he's saying don't I have power don't I have the right to forbear that if I wanted to the answer is obviously yes
Why because obviously Paul needs to eat Paul needs food Paul needs water Paul
If he had a family would need to take care of his family, right?
Someone that's in that position look at number seven who go with a warfare at any time at his own charges
Who planted of who planted a vineyard and Edith not of the fruit thereof or who feedeth a flock and Edith not of?
the milk of the flock he's saying like wouldn't it be crazy if
You know, you're 18 years old and you walked into the recruiting office and you know
You join the Marine Corps and the nation's about to go to war and you're like, alright, I want to sign up and they're like
Where's your uniform? Where's your gun? You're like, what are you talking about? I'm joining the military
You got to give me a uniform. You got to give me a gun. Wait, you own an AC 130 transport
So you could fly over to Afghanistan, right? It's like no
I was kind of hoping that the US government would fly me over to Afghanistan
Oh, no, no, no, you got it. You got to provide that on your own. You got to go to war at your own charge
Okay, buy your own uniform buy your bullets buy your gun buy your plane ticket over there once you're over there
Buy your food buy your clothes buy everything that makes no sense. Who would join the military if that was the rules?
I mean only I guess if your country's being invaded you have no other choice, right?
But no one goes to warfare at their own charge who spends their life
Raising livestock, you know, you got chickens and they lay eggs. You're not allowed to have any your own chickens
You're not allowed to have any of your own eggs. It's like, okay
Well, I just I won't have chickens then because I'm kind of just wasting my time
Oh, you know you got cow you want to have milk. No way man. You can't have milk from your own cow
It's like what's the point? Why would you do that?
Then he's just saying this is a really silly mentality to act like a preacher
Can't make a paycheck to survive and look, of course
We know that the love of money is the root of all evil and you look at these mega church pastors that I preached against this morning
Yeah, they live an over-the-top luxurious lifestyle that is unseemly for a man of God. I agree with that
But what is wrong with a man of God just paying his bills just living just feeding his family
Just having a roof over his head
You know if you have a problem with that you have a weird heart
You've got a serious issue to think that the ministry which in my mind is the most important thing
I mean isn't the house of God the most important thing the institution that Jesus Christ bled and died for and purchased with his own blood
That's what you get upset about of someone getting paid to do it's like what is wrong with you
You have a wicked heart look at verse 8 say I these things as a man
He's saying is this my opinion or say if not the law the same also for it is written in the law of Moses
Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn doth God take care for oxen
So, you know Bible in the law commanded that you're not supposed to put a muzzle
You're not supposed to put a device on the mouth of a working beast that would prevent them from eating as they're working
Why because it kind of makes sense that if you're driving your car
You need to put gas in that thing kind of makes sense that if you have an ox working
That it needs to eat in order to produce well the same way doesn't it make sense to have a preacher?
That's dedicating his life to serving God to preaching the Word of God to getting people saved to working in the ministry
Doesn't it make sense to not muzzle the mouth of that ox and look he says does God take care for oxen
He's saying did God really say this because he cares so much about a stupid cow
Look at verse 10 or say if he had altogether for our sakes
He's saying or was this law actually for me as a preacher notice what he says for our sakes
No doubt this is written that he that plow within hope or he that plow with should plow and hope
He that thresheth and hope should be partaker of his hope if we have sown unto you spiritual things. Is it a great thing?
If we shall reap your carnal things he's saying who's getting the better end of the deal here
You know, the Apostle Paul is imparting spiritual things to people the Apostle Paul's preaching great sermons
He's out tearing it up with the gospel of Jesus Christ winning thousands to the Lord planting churches training preachers
He's saying like if I'm providing all this is it a big deal that I just pay my bills and you know
What it's a carnal person that would think the reverse on that
It's a carnal person that would think like well preacher shouldn't get paid
What right does he have to take a paycheck from the purse from the church?
You know, that is a carnal mindset thinking only about money rather than thinking about the work
That's being done by the church because obviously if you have someone that's full-time
Dedicated to the church that church is going to be able to make a bigger impact for the Lord
That church is going to be able to do more mission strips more events
You know just everything about the church would run better if someone actually could dedicate their time for that
And so what does that take that takes finances?
Why because you know Jesus Christ said I must be about my father's business and guess what church is a business
This church has bills this church has events that cost money, and you know what we're never gonna charge people to partake in those events
That's always gonna be paid for by the church
But you know what why the church is able to do things like that is because God's people out of their own free will
Give to the local church, and that's a good thing first number
Yeah, verse number 12 if others be partakers of this power over you are not we rather
Nevertheless, we have not used this power but suffer all things lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ
So Paul he decided to work a secular job and like I mentioned there's nothing in the world wrong with that
There's many pastors that do that for many many years. That's great verse 13
Do you not know that they which minister about holy things?
Live of the whole of the things of the temple and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar
Even so have the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel
So notice it is actually God that has chosen that has ordained that those that preach the gospel should live of the gospel
I had someone one time after a service argue with me for like an hour and a half on why
Tithing is unbiblical which is weird because my sermon had nothing to do with tithing. So I don't know why this even happened
I definitely learned some lessons from this conversation
But I'm just thinking like if God has ordained God has ordained
He chose that ministers of the gospel should live of the gospel
Please explain to me how that's supposed to happen without people tithing. Yeah, it doesn't please explain to me
How lights are paid for with no money by faith Lord
Just play it's pray that my landlord won't kick me out. Even though we're not paying him any money
It's not how Jews work my friend. They want the money. Okay, they love money go to 1st
Timothy chapter number 6 1st Timothy chapter 6 and also get your place in psalm chapter 29 1st Timothy 6 psalm
29 we're talking about it
Hey
If God has blessed you with that type of strength give your strength unto the Lord
Of course God has blessed all of us in varying ways in that 1st Timothy 6 17 charge them that are rich in this world
So, you know if you are someone that's rich this verse is for you here that they be not high-minded
Nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy
So notice if you are rich you have to be reminded not to be high-minded
Not to be prideful just in the sense that if a man is super strong physically
And you know he could deadlift 500 pounds and he could bench 315 or whatever
There could be a tendency for that guy to be really prideful right to think like man. I'm all that I'm so strong
I'm so awesome. Well in the same way if someone is very strong financially, they're often tempted to think like I'm so great
I'm so wonderful. I'm so smart
I'm so skilled and that's why I was able to amass all of this wealth
But notice God is admonishing us if God has blessed you in that way be not high-minded
But rather fear right because God can take away our strength like that the guy that could deadlift 500 pounds
The next time you deadlift God could snap your spine into okay. Oh, you got lots of money
Well that could be taken away from you so fast. It's not even funny
It could all be gone in a moment and so we shouldn't trust in uncertain riches
We should trust in the Lord verse 18 they that that they do good that they be rich in good works
Ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up for store for themselves a good foundation
Against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life
and you know in the time to come when we die in the time to come when we're at the judgment seat of Christ and
We're judged for our works your money has absolutely nothing to do with anything your money holds zero value when you're dead
Actually, it holds no value now because the Jews ruined it in 1913 with the Federal Reserve. That's another sermon
Okay, but here's thing, you know, don't trust in those things because they can be taken away from you at any moment
And when that day comes, you know, that's not gonna help you with anything
You're not gonna get any rewards in heaven for being rich
But you know you actually could get rewards in heaven for is using your money and giving your strength
Unto the Lord using your money to help the church do great
Thanks for God to do missions trips to do events to have a pastor
To have all these things that we like to do as a church, you know
God will reward you for that in heaven, but you're not gonna be rewarded just for simply having money go back to Psalm 29 Psalm
Chapter 29. So what's the sermon about give your strength to the Lord you have strength. It doesn't matter what kind of strength that is
Physically, you know just taking other people's burdens serving others financially whatever strength you have give to the Lord
But I think a lot of times us in life
We can feel like we don't have much strength left to give we could feel like our strength is
Failing us and that we're you know, just becoming bogged down and tired and weak. But what I want you to notice is in Psalm
291 notice what it says give unto the Lord. Oh ye mighty give unto the Lord glory and
Strength, but skip down to verse 11
Notice what happens when you give the Lord your strength the Lord will give strength unto his people
The Lord will bless his people with peace
So notice it's not a one-way transaction here where God's saying give me your strength. Give me your strength
Give me your strength those that actually do give their strength to the Lord
The Bible says that God will strengthen them that God will give them strength
Let's end on this verse go to Isaiah chapter number 40 Isaiah chapter number 40
You know if God sees you using your body to serve him
He's probably gonna keep giving you strength in that body if God sees you
Using your life and using your strength to love your brothers and sisters in Christ
He's probably gonna strengthen you and give you strength and power and energy to continue to do that
If God sees you, you know, you have strength financially and you're using that strength for the kingdom of God
He'll probably keep giving you strength in that area. But when you decide not to give your strength to the Lord
That's when you'll actually become weak last verse here Isaiah 40 verse 31, but they that wait upon the Lord
That's referring to serving him like a waiter serves but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength
They shall mount up with wings as eagles
They shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint and notice that is counterintuitive to our flesh
Right that the Bible is telling us work really hard and then God will renew your strength
And he's saying you're gonna run and not be weary. That's crazy to think about because when I run I get really tired
I get really weary but obviously we're talking spiritually here
This is when you walk you won't faint and you know what this is talking about
This is talking about God's hand moving upon your life and God's supernaturally blessing you with strength when he sees
Working for him. So oftentimes, you know, if you feel tired you feel bogged down you feel burnt out
Our human tendency can be like well, I need to stop. I need to stop serving God
I need to stop doing these things because I'm getting tired
Whereas the truth is we need to continue to serve the Lord
We need to continue to give our strength unto the Lord and when we give our strength to the Lord, he'll strengthen us in return
Let's pray Lord. Thank you for this day and thank you for the strength that you have given our church
I pray that we would steward it wisely that we would give our strength to you in any way we possibly can
and I just pray that you would give us the energy and power and
sustenance and resources and strength to continue to serve you and to love those in our community
We love you in Jesus name we pray. Amen at this time
We'll turn to our last hymn for the evening if you will grab your hymnals turn to number
355 what a friend we have in Jesus him number
355
355 what a friend we have in Jesus sing there on the first