And we decide, shall say, shall love, shall love
Prince of the males, his soul will rapture when I view his blessed face
And the buster of his kindly beaming eye
Now my foe are built racing for the mercy, love, and grace
Have prepared for me a mansion in the sky
Shall love, shall die, shall stand, shall love, shall love
Prince of the males in his name
Dear ones in glory, how they beckon me to come
And our parting at the river are recalls
We fail to meet and they will sing my welcome home
But I do meet my savior first of all
Shall love, shall die, shall stand, shall love
Spotless white, he will lead me where tears will ever fall
I shall mingle with delight, but my savior first of all
Shall know, shall know, I shall stand, of the nestle
And by me, her sages raise, and face a frown
Satan, a frowning hand, storms of sorrow
Fall night!
And then that's on a Saturday, also the next day we're going to be having a guest preacher
preaching for us from Steadfast, Brother Van Naim is going to be preaching for us that
day so we're looking forward to that.
August 27th through the 31st is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast
and last event listed there is October 6th through the 11th, the Bahamas Mission Trip
there's still plenty of time if you'd like to go to that just make sure you get in contact
with Steadfast and give them your itinerary so that you can get your logistics planned
there. Online giving information for that is listed below as well as our prayer list
please do send any updates you have to the email address there I'd be happy to update
that for you and real quick before we go to our third song we had a church member of ours
go on a mission trip a few weeks ago and Brother Theodore is going to come talk about that
for a little bit. Good morning everyone this February I went on a trip to the Philippines
a two week trip a bit less than two weeks it was about ten days and I went with Brother
James and he's in the Philippines a lot and he's been there he knows he's used to it he
knows how to go about preaching in the Philippines and I'm really glad I went it was very good
so first of all I traveled by plane and arrived there met up with James and we started going
on the on the next day we started going and every day we would go and go soloing mostly
in parks but also in schools something something that immediately I noticed which is new to
me is that James whenever he he's using a cab driver and that's how he he goes around
in the Philippines he uses a cab driver but every every time that there's an opportunity
he preaches to them and a lot of the time they get saved and that's actually something
really interesting about the Philippines is that everyone's so receptive even the cab
drivers are receptive and he's got he got at least like five salvations just from cab
drivers in the Philippines and and I I was able to see him do that and he he's provoked
me to do that and recently when my car had to have some work done and I was doing Ubers
here I tried that as well. I didn't get any salvations because it's the U.S. not it was
disruptive but he's provoked me with that and so anyway in the Philippines the sole
winning is mostly in parks but there is also schools as well school preaching I did a little
bit of school preaching and on a previous mission trip that I've been and but in the
Philippines on this trip specifically I got a lot of opportunities to preach at school
and to preach to groups because in the Philippines most of the preaching is preaching to groups
and preaching the classrooms and I got used to it more got experience it is just I've
learned a lot about soul winning and talking to groups and approaching people from going
on mission trips because you just see other people being zealous other people just being
really good soul winners and it provokes you to learn more and to become a better soul
winner and you also see different like different environments like in the US we knock doors
in other countries you would just go to a public place like for example in the Philippines
we go to parks and just talk to people there if we just approach people and if you're
not used to that that's scary but but you get used to it and it's funny because like
us Americans we would if we're not experienced we would get scared at approaching someone
in a public space as opposed to just knocking doors but in the Philippines one of the brothers
there he was he was telling me are you afraid to knock doors what if they get angry and
slam the door but we're worse we might be apprehensive toward public spaces they might
be apprehensive toward doors but it's just not something to worry about it's just you're
not used to it and you can get used to it you can learn the Philippines is really receptive
it's super receptive the people there are very humble when you ask them are you going
to heaven most people say they know or they say they're not sure they're really trusting
and I would use this illustration sometimes to illustrate the difference between believing
that Jesus is real and actually putting your trust in Jesus because for example you believe
I'm real you believe I'm here you believe I'm American but do you but do you trust
me you trust me enough to give me your cell phone that's a difference and what I noticed
I started doing it that in the Philippines and they're like a lot of people when I asked
you trust me enough to give me your cell phone they'll be like here you go but in the U.S.
I carried that over to someone in the U.S. but people are like nah they're not as trusting
but I really enjoy the people in the Philippines they're really humble they're really nice
they're really receptive they love they love listening about the Bible it's really a lot
of groups in the U.S. mostly individuals in the Philippines you target mostly groups because
you have that advantage and so you're therefore able to get a lot of salvations because there's
groups that you can target now now the way we went about it is preaching in parks parks
are they aren't full of people at all times but just at certain times during the day there's
people other times there's no people at the parks so you go whenever there's time there's
people at the parks because that's the most optimal time to go and so we go to the parks
and then preach there for probably a couple hours and it's very easy to get like 10 salvations
at a park in just a couple hours.
The other type of soul hunting we did was preaching in classrooms and that's organized
by some people from the churches there they have it set up so that we can go and preach
to classrooms and it's really receptive because then you get access to students and on my
trip it was students from about 7th or 8th grade to 11th grade and they're really receptive
and we were able to get a lot of salvations through the classrooms and for example one
day me and James we were partnered on some classrooms some classrooms we had separate
well we probably had about 15 total classes that we preached maybe less but we ended up
getting 103 I think just between me and him for that day and that's just from the classrooms
and the way we do the classrooms is we had little papers that has a questionnaire that
they can at the end we hand them out and ask them to write what they believe questions
that would indicate are they saved or are they not saved and then if we have the opportunity
we also go around and talk individually to each student to see did they understand and
it's pretty accurate we find and so we it's not just like you you ask for okay who here
believes in Jesus and then everyone raises their hand even if they don't believe in Jesus
it's actually an accurate count and so we did that schools were really receptive I'm
really glad I had the opportunity to do that it gives you a lot of experience and it gives
you more boldness to preach to groups even in the US because when you do something over
and over and over you get a lot more experience you're not afraid to do it anymore and you're
better at doing it and also in the Philippines people like white people apparently I'm white
enough for them to like me Philippines is very cheap compared to in terms of like food
uh compared to other locations um it's very cheap and the food there is good an impression
I had about people speaking about the Philippines is that there wouldn't be as like it wouldn't
be very like you wouldn't have the necessary some necessary things or like the impression
I had is that it would be like missing some things that Americans are used to like luxuries
but not not really as everything most of the rest of that don't have toilet paper they
have a bidet like that that's missing but other than that there's running water there's
electricity there's internet there's a phone cellular signal I don't I don't really feel
like you're missing it out on anything in the Philippines and so it my my review of
the Philippines is it was a very good trip I'm really glad I went and I totally recommend
it I learned a lot and I got a lot of salvations over that time I was there for about 10 days
and over that 10 days I got 128 salvations and and so the Philippines is just a really
great place to get a lot of salvations and so if I definitely recommend it I hope that
you'll have this in mind and maybe in the future you'll consider going to the Philippines
checking it out and getting some soul saved. Thank you for your time. I've never been
to the Philippines but it sounds pretty similar to how things will work in the Bahamas and
I know many of you are planning on going to the Bahamas so what he was saying about just
approaching groups people out in public going and preaching in the schools you know that's
how it's going to be there as well we're not there's not a ton of door-to-door so that's
something to get prepared for but make sure you're praying for evangelist Duncan Urbanic
and for pastor Matthew Stuckey they're definitely doing a great work over there
and they are getting untold thousands and thousands of people saved I know that missionaries
often have a reputation of being lazy and there's a lot of missionaries that are like that but
thankfully those two guys definitely that's not the case they're doing a great work so keep them
in prayer you know they've left a lot behind in the U.S. family members friends and they're
sacrificing for the cause of the gospel so make sure to lift them up in prayer and I think
Duncan Evangelist Urbanic might actually be in the U.S. right now does anyone know I know he's
preaching next week what is it okay okay yeah so he's preaching at set fast pretty soon so he'll
be back so I'm excited for him to get a little bit of a rest and uh yeah keep him in prayer
and that's going to be it for announcements this morning we'll go ahead and go to our third song
right for our third song if you would take your hymnals and turn to song number 64 hymn number
64 in your hymnals shall we gather at the river hymn number 64 go ahead and start there right on
the first shall we gather at the river angel feet have drawn this morning as the offering plates
are being passed around in your bibles of psalm 180 118 on 118 i'll give thanks unto the lord
for he is good because his mercy endureth forever let israel now say that his mercy endureth forever
let the house of erin now say that his mercy endureth forever let them now that fear the lord say
that his mercy endureth forever i called upon the lord in distress the lord answered me set me in a
large place the lord is on my side i will i will not fear what can man do unto me the lord taketh
my part with them that help me therefore shall i see my desire upon them that hate me it is better
to trust in the lord than to put confidence in man it is better to trust in the lord than to put
confidence in princes all nations can pass me about but in the name of the lord will i destroy
them they can pass me about yay they can pass me about but in the name of the lord will i destroy
them they can pass me about like bees they are quenched as the fire of thorns for in the name
of the Lord while I will destroy them. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall, but the Lord
help me. The Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and
salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The
right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. I shall not die but
live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath tasted me sore but hath not given me overdone
to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will go in I will go into them and I will praise
the Lord. The gates of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter I will praise thee for thou
has heard me and are become my salvation. The stone which the builders refuse is become the head stone
of the corner. This is the Lord's doing it is marvelous in our eyes. That is this is the day
which the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now I beseech thee oh Lord oh
Lord I beseech thee send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have
blessed you out of the house of the Lord. God is the Lord which hath showed us light. Find the
sacrifice with cords even unto the horns of the altar. Thou art my God I will praise thee and I
will praise thee. Thou art my God I will exalt thee. Oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for
his mercy and do it forever. Let's pray. Gracious Lord thankful to be in your house today thankful
for such beautiful weather. Pray Lord that you help us to focus on the preaching of your word Lord and just apply
to our lives. Let's look at verse number 24. The Bible says this is the day which the Lord hath made
we will rejoice and be glad in it and the title of my sermon is live in the present.
Live in the present. See one of the things we have to realize is that every single day is a gift from
God and even just something simple like brother Reid was just praying like thank you for this
great weather you know that's something to rejoice in that's something to enjoy and kind of soak in
when those good moments happen those good days and just live in the present but yet a lot of
people a lot of Christians miss out on this idea because their head is either stuck in the past
beating themselves up for things that they missed out on or regrets that they have in life or people
are just so worried about the what-ifs of life the future of what is life going to look like in 20
years 30 years 40 years but you know the bible the psalmist here is saying like hey today is the day
that the lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it and it's one of the most famous
psalms for a reason you know it's a beautiful concept but number one be thankful for what you
have today be thankful for what you have today not sitting here wishing and thinking about things
you used to have not sitting here wishing and longing for things that you're going to have in
the future but just rejoice and be thankful for the things that you have today go to second
chrithians chapter number nine now obviously there's just so many things that we can be
thankful for but it's kind of a characteristic of people living in the last days where people are
kind of just unthankful and they don't really have perspective of how great our lives really are
and many americans are just complete spoiled brats you know we need more sermons like you
poor little house slave of all these terrible terrible lives that people are living with their
amazon deliveries and their modern appliances and all the luxuries that we have of life yet
people still find a way to complain right well here let's just talk about things that we should
be thankful for how about salvation look at second corinthians chapter 9 verse 15 thanks be unto god
for his unspeakable gift i mean i think that a lot of people just take salvation for granted the
fact that you think about the true horror of hell how it's eternal how people that died and went to
hell thousands of years ago are still there right this very second they're still in just as much
pain as they were thousands of years ago and they will still be in that pain and agony
and suffering in outer darkness for all of eternity a billion years from now a trillion
years from now they'll still be suffering they'll still be burning they'll still be without love
without comfort without joy without sunshine without comforts without food without water
without anything for all of eternity and praise god we are spared from that praise god i don't
have to spend one single moment in hell and you know what whatever is happening in life i don't
care if you've lost all your limbs i don't care if you're dying of cancer when it comes to you could
still be thankful for the fact that you are safe because you know the worst suffering that we endure
in this life our life is a vapor it vanishes away and all of our sorrows our pains our struggles
everything in life you're just going to forget about that and you're going to be in heaven
you know but the people that die you know they often suffer in this life and then go to hell for
all of eternity if they're unsaved go to hebrews chapter number 12 hebrews chapter number 12 but
you know the bible says that it's an unspeakable gift you know it's it's impossible for me to
express into words what a great thing that the lord jesus christ did for us and how it's impossible
for me to fully wrap my mind around what he actually spared us from i mean i cannot conceptualize
with my human brain eternity can you can you think in infinity i can't do it but yet that's
what christ saved us from hebrews 12 verse 3 for consider him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself lest he be wearied and faint in your minds one of the things you
could rejoice in is the fact that jesus loved you and me even though we did not deserve it
and that he endured such contradiction of sinners i mean what a contradiction that god in the flesh
comes down lives a perfect life never sins yet takes all of the sins of the entire world in his
own body that's a contradiction right there and yet christ did that for you and for me and so hey
today rejoice in the fact that you're saved rejoice in the fact that jesus died for your sins
that's something to be so thankful for go to romans four and not only just rejoice that you're
saved but i just rejoice in how easy salvation is and the fact that it's a free gift and the
fact that i don't have to work for it you know repent of all my sins follow the commandments
because then no one would be saved no one would be able to attain that look at romans chapter four
verse four now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt if you are
working for something then what you earn is a reward not a gift right when you go to work you
trade your time and your labor for money that money is not a gift from your benevolent employer
right you were doing work you were getting gained for that company they give you money back but it
says but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justify at the ungodly his faith is
counted for righteousness so even if you don't do any works but you have faith you trust in the
sacrifice of the lord jesus christ then your faith is counted for righteousness god looks down at you
and it's as if you're perfectly righteous as if you never had sinned as if you've never transgressed
the law even as david also described it the blessedness of the man unto whom god imputeth
righteousness without works saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins
are covered blessed is the man to whom the lord will not impute sin so we get that righteousness
by faith and once we have faith in him the bible talks about how our iniquities are forgiven you
know that is something to be thankful for but it takes someone with a little bit of humility to
realize that they have iniquity to be forgiven of but people who believe in works they're generally
very prideful because they think oh my life isn't that bad i haven't sinned that much oh i've i've
atoned for that i've turned over a new leaf i've repented of my sins and so they look at their
iniquities as not being that big of a deal whereas i look at me and i'm like i'm a sinner i'm
deserving of hell and i didn't earn any righteousness through my own works through my own doings it was
through faith in him and once i've done that he's forgiven all of my iniquities not only has he
forgiven them it says and whose sins are covered you know it's like they don't even exist he's
covered him up and blessed is the man to whom the lord will not impute sin he's not going to hold
our sins against us because he's already forgiven us of all of them go to lamentations chapter three
so you know i'm thankful for salvation and whatever it is we're going through you could wake up every
day and say this is the day that the lord hath made we will rejoice and be glad in it because i'm
saved because i'm delivered from hell i'm a child of god i'm going to heaven for all of eternity
praise god for that but even just something else we should be thankful for is not just the fact
that we're saved but just god's mercy in general on our lives because when you realize how serious
sin is when you read the bible when you actually truly realize how sinful man is it's just not even
just merciful that god delivered us from hell but the fact that he's merciful to us for our daily
sins and the daily things that we commit lamentations chapter 3 verse 21 this i call to this i recall to
my mind therefore i have hope it is of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his
compassions fail not they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness you know i like how
it talks about how god's mercies and his compassions are new every single morning hey and you know what
you should do is you should live in the present say hey this is the day that the lord has made
and you know what god has given me mercy today god has given me compassion today and those things
are renewed every single day and you you could live in the present and not sit here and beat
yourself up too much about yesterday your shortcomings yesterday your failures yesterday
your sins yesterday and realize that hey today's a new day and god has renewed that mercy for you
god has renewed that compassion and if you are honest with yourself you know that god punishes
you way less than you deserve and way less than i deserve god gave you mercy and compassion today
go to romans chapter 16 romans chapter 16 you know another thing that i'm thankful for
on a daily basis is for good friends friends that i have in this room friends i have in my life
you know i'm thankful for those things and i'm not thinking like well man i really just wish
i had my high school buddies oh man i really miss my baseball team no i'm not thinking about that
i'm thinking about today and i'm thankful for the friends that i have today you know the apostle
paul had this attitude roman 16 he gives a whole bunch of names of people he cares about and in
verse six it says greet mary who bestowed much labor on us hey you know that's a blessing when
your friends are willing to do some work to help you out when you have a need when you have a
struggle and they're willing to bestow labor upon you that's a great blessing and you should
be thankful for that salute andronicus and junia my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners who are of
note among the apostles who also were in christ before me you know that has to build a very strong
bond to be persecuted for jesus christ and actually go to prison together i mean i've been
persecuted with some brothers in christ and we've gone through some crazy stuff but never to the
point where i was thrown in jail or my brothers were thrown in jail but i would imagine that if
that happened you'd probably grow a really strong bond you're suffering they're suffering you're
thrown in jail for the cause of christ and paul is like thinking god bless these people i'm
thankful for these people my fellow prisoners greet amplius my beloved in the lord salute urbane
our helper in christ and stackies my beloved you know urbane was someone that was a helper
to the apostle paul and you know christianity is a team sport it's not a one-man show we need a lot
of helpers to get the work of christ accomplished you know i rejoice and i'm thankful for all the
helpers at this church you know the people that help me make lists of you know things to buy the
things that help are the people that help clean the people that help fold the bulletins make the
live streams you know get here early and unlock the building set things up you know this is a
lot of labor that's being put into the work of god and it takes a lot of people and i'm thankful
for all of you that help in that that is a great blessing salute appellees approved in christ
salute them which are of aristobulus's household salute hedronian my kinsmen greet them that be of
the household of narcissists which are in the lord salute triphena and trifosa who labor in the lord
salute the beloved purses which labored much in the lord salute rufus chosen in the lord and his
mother and mine so notice the apostle paul he just had a lot of friends you know what's funny is he
had he had these really good friends people that he's labored with suffered with served the lord
with they're really close friends of his but here's the thing about the apostle paul that's funny
is he also pissed off a lot of people too like he had a lot of enemies he had a lot of people
that wanted to kill him he had a lot of people that hated him despised him wanted to tear down
his leadership but in the midst of that he also had really great friends really close friends that
were loyal to him and you know that's a great blessing and you know you should have some people
in your life that are good friends you should have some people in your life that you're thinking of
right now saying yeah i'm thankful for that person yeah this person helps me this person's a blessing
to me and if you don't you need to make some friends okay i'm going to read verse for you
proverbs 18 24 a man that hath friends must show himself friendly and there is a friend that
sticketh closer than a brother you know if you have no friends you know that is a problem there
there's an issue there there's something not working right because if you show yourself
friendly you're going to have friends if you show up to this church if you sincerely love god you
want the work of christ to go forth and you love god's people you're just going to be friendly to
god's people you know it shouldn't feel like you're uh not around good company when you're
around safe people it should feel like hey we're brothers in christ we're brothers and sisters in
christ we have the same spirit you know when i meet a christian i just immediately like them
and if you have no friends there's probably something wrong with you okay i'm just here to
help you if if you have no friends in your life maybe it's just that you're not friendly to people
maybe it's that you're not the one that goes and initiates the friendship that asks questions about
other people that is generally curious about their lives you know you have to be friendly to have
friends of course and you have to not be weird okay if no one wants to be your friend you're
probably just weird okay and you need to fix that you need to become normal and how do you do that
you read the bible you go to church you live for god you know serving god will make you normal
go to deuteronomy chapter number eight deuteronomy chapter number eight you know just there's so many
great blessings in our life every single day that you can just wake up and be thankful for
you know how about working a job you know a lot of people they just hate their job they curse their
job they're so mad at the fact that they have to go to work and they'll say oh you know adam and
eve sin and we're cursed now men have to go to work no no no god actually told adam to keep the
garden before sin entered into the world that's why i preach the whole sermon called work is a
blessing because the fact that men have to go to work has nothing to do with the fact that man has
sin now it's harder you know the earth brought forth you know thorns and thistles at that time
and adam had to work harder but god always had the plan for us to work and working is a blessing
deuteronomy 8 verse 18 but thou shalt remember the lord thy god for it is he that giveth the
power to get wealth that he may establish his covenant which he swear into thy fathers as it
is this day you know it is god that gives us the power or the ability or the means to acquire
wealth and of course we need money as a tool in this world men have been charged with the
responsibility of taking care of their families supporting them financially and if you are able
to do that that is a gift from god that is a blessing that god gave you and you should be
thankful for that you should not wake up every day and just hate the fact that you have to go
to work now why don't you just thank god that you can even work because i guarantee you that
people in this world that have no hands would love to sit in your office and type on a keyboard
i guarantee you the people that have no feet would love to go door to door and sell something
to someone i guarantee you the people that have no ears would love to go do whatever job you do
you know people in this world there's tons of people that are you know mute that would love
to give a work presentation there's all these people suffering that aren't able to go to work
literally you know you have hands and feet and a mouth and ears and eyes and god's given you those
things to do work be thankful for it rejoice in the fact that you get to do some labor because
not everyone can go to james chapter number one james chapter number one you know even even ladies
too your work you have a serious job to do you have a lot of labor to do keeping the house taking
care of children cooking meals hey there's a lot of people without arms that would love to cook a
meal right and instead of just dreading it and complaining about it and hating it why don't you
just say hey this is the day that the lord hath made i'm going to rejoice and be glad in it hey
god's given me some work to do today praise the lord james chapter one verse 17 every good gift
and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no
variableness neither shadow of turning here's the truth is that every single good thing that you have
in your life is from God is a gift from God the Bible talks about how you know God sends rain on
the just and on the unjust God is even constantly blessing the unsaved God is even constantly
blessing the wicked but here here should be the colossal difference is that we should at least
recognize that it's from God and thank him for it and say hey thank God that I have a job thank God
that I'm able to have a vehicle thank God that I'm able to have a house knowing that all these
things are from the Lord the unsaved and the wicked they constantly take all the blessings from God
without even realizing it every time they draw breath into their lungs it's a gift from God the
fact that they could see their children the fact that they could hear their laughs the fact that
they could embrace their spouse the fact that they could make money and go to work all that is from
God and so let us as Christians rejoice in it and thank the Lord for it and recognize that it comes
from him don't complain about your work don't complain about anything go to numbers chapter
11 you know don't be like these don't be like these spoiled communist little brat federal
employees where the leadership of the federal government says hey send us an email that tells
us five things you did in the last week there's like ah this is crazy fascism what world do you
live in like what planet do you live on where you don't realize that your authority at work your
boss your leadership can demand of you and cause you to justify your existence hello employees are
not here to boss their bosses around and to boss other people around they are there to do the will
of their employers and even it's the same thing in government yes the government should be serving
people but in government jobs they're still an authority structure you still have a boss you
still have a boss above him you still have a boss above him and it's like you know who the boss of
everything is it's the president he's the chief executive officer of the executive branch right so
if the president says hey all federal employees tell me what you're doing in your job don't be
this spoiled brat that wants to refuse to do so no just be thankful you have a job oh yes sir my
boss wants me to tell him everything that i've done no problem it's like people that actually
live in the real world and that do real work would have no problem with this whatsoever
you know i literally have at my job and i've done this since like 2021 i have at my job now
and in previous jobs a spreadsheet of daily of every single thing i do at work daily every
single thing it's all tracked it's all documented you can go audit it at any time my boss knows it
exists he trusts me he doesn't look at it but i've told him hey if you ever want to here it is
you ever wondering what i'm doing you want to check out what's going on because i'm kind of a
one-man department where i work right now here it is read the file have fun i have no problem with
that why because i'm actually working want to know why these people have a big problem with it is
because they're lazy they're stealing from the american taxpayers they're doing nothing they're
a bunch of lazy communists is what they are they're not thankful for the fact that they even have a
job they're not thankful for the fact that they have employers they want to you know talk crap
about them numbers 11 verse 1 notice what it says and when the people complained it displeased the
lord and the lord heard it and his anger was kindled in the fire of the lord burnt among them
and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp so notice god hates it he gets angry he
gets displeased when people complain especially when people complain about the things that god
gave to them i mean do you like that as a parent when you give your child something you know ladies
you worked really hard in the kitchen you made this good nutritious meal and everyone with brain
cells knows that this is a great meal but children they just want like chicken nuggets and drenching
it and all sorts of weird concoctions they think that's good food but then mom's great meal they
have no idea that it's good and then they want to complain and murmur doesn't it you're just like
what's wrong with you like you need to grow up you need to get some wisdom you're being foolish
right now and that's how it is many times for us where god gives us something god gives us a job
we're like oh this job oh this job is so terrible oh man my employer said i actually have to
physically go to work to do work i didn't know you had to do work at work work this is crazy
we need to have a revolution look hey if you work from home praise the lord you know what that is
a gift from god and if god gives you that gift thank him for it and if that gift doesn't exist
who cares go to work with a good attitude hey you know i've worked from home a lot and i really
enjoyed it but guess what if my boss ever said no you're coming into the office today it's yes sir
no problem i'm not going to sit here and and you know boycott the city because of that you know i
saw these federal employees again the president said hey you all have to come into work we're
ending remote work and they're like all right i know how we're gonna hurt president trump is
we're going to boycott all of the businesses around our offices all the coffee shops all the
grocery stores all the fast food restaurants all the city it's like you idiots like what did they
do what are you punishing the president by hurting small businesses in america like that's these
people's idea but again they're just entitled spoiled brats you know be thankful be thankful
for the fact that you live in america that you work in america that you weren't born in north
korea that you weren't born in india that you weren't born in china working in some sweatshop
you know whatever job you have i guarantee you your working conditions are better than people
in those countries and you're like oh i don't like my job okay well work towards something new
learn something new have goals have a vision have a plan but while you're today while you're in today
the day that the lord has made be thankful for the work that you have be thankful for the money
that you have be thankful for the things that he provides for you go to philippians chapter number
four and it's like what were the children of israel here what were they complaining about
they were complaining about the mana that god gave them and they wanted the garlic and the melons and
the leeks from the land of egypt yet they had the best food made by god and you know oftentimes we
just we get stuck in monotony we do the same things over and over and it can cause us to lose
perspective of how great our life is you know if you want to you know give yourself some perspective
on how great your life is why don't you go to a missions trip why don't you go to mexico why don't
you even go to the bahamas which everyone thinks like wow the bahamas is paradise on earth yeah when
you're staying with the rich millionaire white americans on paradise island but when you actually
go into the island in the inner part of it every door in business is locked and guarded with an
armed guard you can't just walk into a grocery store you can't just walk into a fast food
restaurant someone has to buzz you in there's military out and about in the country it's like
that gives me perspective like wow oklahoma is nice wow we live in peace and prosperity you know
just go to houston why don't you just go to houston or seattle or san francisco and see how
terrible these places are and how dirty and gross and rotten those places are and full of crime and
debauchery and filth and you're going to be like wow uconn oklahoma baby so nice you know oklahoma
city it's a beautiful area it's safe it's receptive to the gospel of jesus christ the economy is good
here the cost of living is good here you know if you've only ever lived here you might lack that
perspective but when you change things up sometimes you realize how good you have it how about your
house you know this is something people are constantly discontented with it's the house
that they have look at philippians chapter 4 verse 11 not that i speak in respect of want for i've
learned in whatsoever state i am therewith to be content i know both how to be a base 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 so the apostle paul he's kind of experienced all of this you know he's
experienced having a feast and tons of great food and all this luxury and being in nice places with
nice people he's also experienced hardship persecution being hungry being in a low estate
he's experienced both of these things but what's interesting is that he said in whatsoever state i
am i'm content i'm satisfied i'm happy i'm thankful and look your life will be so much better
if you're just content with the things that you have if you're not always dreaming if you're not
always longing if you're not always wanting because it just doesn't make sense think about it like
you get a house it's not like you could just buy a house every year right you're usually you buy a
house you're staying in that sucker for like at least five years usually 10 years because if you
just buy a house every year you're flushing money down the drain with closing costs and all this
crazy stuff right so people usually live in a house for quite a while what sense does it make
if you buy a house and you're going to be there for 10 years but those whole 10 years you're just
miserable you're just oh can't wait for the next one can't wait for the next one you spend all those
10 years being discontented unhappy unthankful you think that's going to change when you get to the
next house when you get more money and you get to the next house and you buy the next house and then
immediately you're just thinking oh man i just can't wait till the equity goes up we can just
trade in for a better one trade in for a bigger one and your whole life you're just not happy
your whole life you're just not content let me tell you that's misery but whereas what's so much
better is even if you just have a starter home even if you just have an apartment even if you
have a trailer whatever you have if you are just content with that hey the next time you actually
get something you're just going to be extra happy and then you're going to enjoy that for 10 years
and you're going to soak it up and you're going to love it and you're going to wake up in your
house today is the day that the Lord has made look God gave me a house to live in thank you Jesus
I appreciate the blessing and you just enjoy it today and the next day and the next day and then
someday if he blesses you with another one how much the more you enjoy it but you know what the
eyes of man are never satisfied you know he he that loves silver is not satisfied with silver if you
just have to have bigger better greater you're not going to be happy let me just tell you something
you will never be happy and this goes for your house your car the you know lifestyle you live
the the level of luxury you want look you'll never be happy go to psalm 122 psalm 122 you know Lord
Jesus Christ he didn't even have a place to lay his head I mean we are blessed beyond measure and
beyond what we deserve if the savior himself didn't have a permanent place to live look if we do praise
God thank you Lord you know how about this be happy with the church you have today be happy with
the church that you have today psalm 122 verse 1 notice what it says I was glad when they said unto
me let us go into the house of the Lord you know today when you woke up yes I know the daylight
savings time sucks it's terrible right we you know we feel a little tired but even in the midst of
being a little groggy and fatigued you know were you happy to be coming to the house of the Lord
today or you're dragging your feet saying I don't really want to go but I'm gonna do it anyways I
mean today's the day that the Lord has made let's be glad when they say to me let's go to the house
of the Lord let's go to church let's be happy you know or do you just want to sit here and just
criticize everything you don't like about the church you want to just criticize everything that
we don't have yet and look thank God I don't feel like this happens at all at our church I don't
think that anyone's complaining about things or discontented but it's just we need to keep it that
way we need to keep that attitude because it's like oh well you know how come we don't do all
the great events and conferences that other churches do because we're a small church that's
why and why don't you just be happy with our church why don't you just enjoy these moments
and someday lord willing if we grow we can do big church stuff and then but here's the thing
the people that complain about oh we're a small church we don't get to do all the great things
then there's going to be problems with big church that you're going to not like as well
and instead of just being happy in the state that you're in and just saying like hey today
in march 2025 here's what our church can do here's what we look like here's the plan here's
the services hey i'm happy with how it is you want to complain complain complain well someday if the
church is big you're gonna not be happy then too there's some people where it's like you know
goldilocks baptist where it can't be too small it can't be too big it has to be just right no
today is just right next week it's just right 20 years from now lord willing hey it's just right
just be thankful for how it is now because you know there's some there's some blessings with
having a smaller church and i've been in both a large church and a small church and there's some
blessings when it comes to having a smaller church that it's more intimate you get to talk
to everyone you know when you're going to a big church trust me there's times where you can go
weeks attending the same church as someone and not talking to them at all and it's not like you were
avoiding them or they were avoiding you it's just like hey there's 250 people here if you
spend a minute talking to each one you're not going to really be able to do that right and so
here though we get to know each other more we get to be on a more intimate level that's great
you know we get to have potlucks you know every five weeks we've got the men's preaching night
and the potlucks look that becomes a nightmare in a bigger church that becomes an absolute
nightmare and it's like you don't want you know cleaning ladies you don't want us to have potlucks
every five weeks if it's a big church let me just tell you that right now okay but look there's
just some things that we can do now as a smaller church that we won't be able to do in the future
let me tell you this right now happy birthday is not going to stick around forever i'm just telling
you this right now okay happy birthday is not sticking around for forever and it's not to hurt
your feelings and it's not that i don't care about your birthday or want to wish you a happy birthday
it's that i don't want to come to church and sing happy birthday every single service i don't and it
will probably go away pretty soon to be honest with you because it's just because then the church
grows and it's just every single service is happy birthday and it's just like no it's not very
professional it's just kind of weird no we want to be a church want to run things decently and in
order and i've been a part of kind of medium-sized churches where that policy was still in effect
and it was like yeah every single week every single week is happy birthday or you know some
people they add happy anniversary too so it's like we're singing happy anniversary we're singing
happy birthday and we might as well put it in the songbook it's like turning your songbooks
to song number one and we're just going to sing it every single time look hey just enjoy happy
birthday today anyone got a birthday today does anyone have a birthday okay no one has a birthday
so don't enjoy it today it's not going to happen but you know next time enjoy that day because it's
not going to stick around for forever and someday you're gonna be in the picture oh i wish my pastor
cared about me i wish that he would sing happy birthday to me i miss it so much when brother
eric would announce my name and sing happy birthday look just be happy then be happy now today is the
day that the lord has made i'm sure i've offended all of you already with the happy birthday thing
but hey just be happy with church hey is the king james bible being preached or what then be happy
are we going soul winning be happy you know do we have good people here do we have activities
we're doing the best we can hey rejoice be happy with the church of god's given us go to philippians
chapter three you know i just we need to wake up every day and just rejoice in that day and the
things that we have and the life circumstances that we have and the places we find ourselves
thank god for that day look thank god i live in the united states of america yeah it's got problems
yeah it's got sins but i'll tell you what i would not want to live anywhere else
and you know some people act like oh you know if you love america it's because you've never
traveled and every time i travel the world i enjoy my time i have fun there's things that i enjoy
but i am always ready to come back crawling on my hands and knees to the united states of america
the first time i went to mexico i i was in houston the next time and i was like this is the cleanest
city i've ever seen in my life like like if you go from oklahoma city to houston you're gonna be
like ah this is crazy but if you go from mexico to houston you're gonna be like this is heaven
this is wonderful okay and it's like i thank god that i live in the united states i thank god i can
carry a gun every day of my life legally no issues whatsoever right i thank god that we have the first
amendment i thank god we have freedom of religion i thank god that we live in a wealthy and prosperous
society i thank god that we live in a place with tons of fire breathing independent fundamental
baptist pastors you know i thank god for the life that we have here and you know i don't think it's
cool to hate the country you live in i don't think it's cool to sit here and be so ungrateful to god
for the things that he's given us i'm not sitting here clapping and i don't think anyone is clapping
for like the person who hates the place that they live the most that's just weird to me yeah let's
preach against the things the sins absolutely oh you better believe i'll preach against you know
sodomy and drunkenness and fornication and adultery and people forsaking church and all the issues that
we have here you better believe that but today's the day that the lord's made i find myself here in
the united states of america hey thank you lord i could be in china could be in india i could be
you know in all these terrible places of the world no thank you thank god that i'm here number two
this morning when it comes to living in the present don't worry about things outside of your control
don't sit here just spinning your wheels giving so much your mental energy and anxiety and just
mental power into thinking and worrying about things outside of your control you know one of
those things is the past the past is now outside of your control there's nothing you could do to
change the past look at philippians 3 verse 12 the apostle paul said not as though i had already
attained either were already perfect so what is he saying i'm not perfect i haven't arrived
i'm not the epitome of spiritual growth i can learn i can grow but i follow after if that i may
apprehend that for which also i am apprehended of christ jesus christ jesus saved the apostle paul
and gave him a mission to preach the gospel and he says i want to apprehend that i want to reach
that for which christ has reached me and called me to do verse 13 brethren i count not myself
to have apprehended but this one thing i do forgetting those things which are behind
and 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 see in order for the apostle paul to press towards the
mark to focus on his ministry and the goal that he has for his life he has to do something he has
to forget those things which are behind because living in the past stunts your growth sitting here
worrying about the past and all the regrets you have and all the missed opportunities that you
didn't take you know what that's causing you to do is it's causing you to keep your eye off of
the opportunity that's ahead of you it's causing you to get your mind off of all the opportunities
that you have today today is the day that the lord has made don't sit here beating yourself up for
wasted years of the past wasted time of your youth no just realize i'm here today why don't i focus
on today you know the best athletes in the world it's said that they have a short memory and this
is something that my coaches always taught me growing up as a pitcher hey you make a bad pitch
you walk someone you forget it because if you're pitching and you're constantly just beating
yourself up oh man that was such a bad pitch what did i do why did i give up that home run man they
really smoked that ball you're now not thinking about the hitter that you're facing and it's like
the best players in sports are people that they make a mistake and they forget about it they don't
care about it they don't beat themselves up up about it they're just now focused on what's in
front of them and look that's the same thing with anything in life it's the same thing with serving
god look if you messed up even if you did something very very sinful in your past look if you've asked
for forgiveness god has forgiven you god has moved on god has it covered god's taken away all your
iniquities so why are you going to beat yourself up about it like if god forgives you who do you
think you are to not forgive yourself honestly it's pride is what it is it's thinking too highly of
yourself and too much of yourself like if god's forgiven you forgive yourself go to first simothy
chapter one and really the apostle paul is the ultimate example of this and he even says as much
in first timothy 1 notice verse 12 he said and i thank christ jesus our lord who hath enabled me
for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry who was before a blasphemer and a
persecutor and injurious but i obtained mercy because i did it ignorantly in unbelief you know
he lists hey god's put me into the ministry he's counted me faithful and here's who i was before
i was a blasphemer i was injurious meaning causing injury to the kingdom of god causing harm to the
kingdom of god and a persecutor going after harassing god's people sending them to jail
consenting unto their death i mean steven was stoned and the bible says that the apostle paul
who was at that time saw watched it and was consenting unto his death you know if there's
anything that's going to cause you to kind of beat yourself up a little bit maybe it was the
fact that you were consenting of the death of a great man of god and here's the thing i think god
gives us this example of the apostle paul because what's in our past like did we really go around
hailing christians into jail were we consenting under the death of christians probably not okay
and don't raise your hand if you were but what you know the truth is though is that we all do
have a list of something right we all have a list of yeah i was fill in the blank of whatever sins
you've committed in your life but is that the end for the apostle paul keep reading in verse number
14 and the grace of our lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in christ jesus
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all expectation that christ jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom i am chief how be it for this cause i obtained mercy that in me first
jesus christ might show forth all long-suffering notice this for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting what's he saying he's saying look i'm chief of sinners
look at all the terrible things i did in my past yet here i am today god's counted me faithful
he's put in he's put me into the ministry he's forgiven me of these things why for an example to
those who hereafter can look at the story of the apostle paul and say wow if god used him if god
forgave him if god even made him do some of the greatest works ever done he could forgive me too
he could use me too and it makes no sense to sit here today in the day that the lord has made and
make excuses for why you're not serving god make excuses for why you're not doing something with
your life oh because yesterday i was a bad person or 10 years ago i did something bad or 30 40 years
ago i did something terrible it's like hey you don't compete with the apostle paul so why don't
you just accept the grace that god's given you accept his mercy and press towards the mark not
live in the past not beat yourself up over the past and let me tell you something people that
love to beat you up over your past are wicked people they're carnal they don't have the mind
of god or the heart of god because the lord jesus christ he was merciful to the apostle paul even
though he did all these wicked things in the in the future he did great works for god let's skip
some of this for sake of time go to if you would uh ecclesiastes chapter number seven
ecclesiastes chapter number seven you know also when it comes to people just you know worrying
about things they can't control worrying about the things that they did in the past sometimes
people are just stuck in romanticizing the past you know just stuck in well i wish i lived in
the 1800s or i wish i lived in the 1950s or something like that this is a common mentality
look at ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 10 say not thou what is the cause that the former days
were better than these for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this you know just kind of how
like jesus talks about can you really add a cubit to your stature by thinking about it can you really
cause any of your hair to grow back on your head by giving it thought it's like sitting here and
wishing and longing that you were in the 80s or the 50s or the 1800s or whatever like what is
that going to accomplish it's not wise it makes no sense why don't you just be thankful here you
are in 2025 oh man the history was so great back then well why don't we just make some history
right now why don't we do some great works for god right now oh man the churches they used to
preach so hard they used to be so fired up about soul winning they used to be conservative they
used to dress nice and you know have all these great things okay just do what's right now just be
thankful we live in 2025 and here's the truth you know i never was there but i'm guessing that
the past wasn't as great as people make it out to be you know things usually aren't as as great
or as bad as people make it seem you know if you live back then there would be things you didn't
like about it there would be things that you would miss about the time that we're living in right now
why don't you just embrace the time we're living in be thankful you know don't be like these old
ifb boomer baptist that they just refuse to post their sermons on the internet because when back
in my day you know we didn't have the internet so we're gonna pretend we don't have the internet
now it's like just live in the present man and just adapt and whatever whatever technology looks
like in 60 years let's just use it for the cause of christ okay you know chat gbt believe it or
not is not the devil it's not a demon it's a language learning model that was programmed
by a software developer and let's just use whatever technology we can to share the gospel
and to spread the word of god and we're not going to sit here and live in the past go to first kings
chapter 19 first kings chapter 19 but not only do some people you know they're stuck thinking
man the past was so awesome the past was so great it was so much better than right now
i think oftentimes people think the people themselves were just so much different people
themselves are so much different but the truth is that there's no new thing under the sun
and man's heart has been the same since the garden human nature has been the same since
the garden but even men of god sometimes had this mentality verse one says in ahab told jezebel all
that elijah had done and with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword then jezebel
sent a messenger unto elijah saying so let the gods do to me and more also if i make not thy life
as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time so jezebel is threatening to kill elijah
you can see how that would cause some stress cause some anxiety verse three says and when he saw that
he rose and went for his life and came to beersheba which belongeth to judah and left his
servant there but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a
juniper tree and he gets all sorry for himself he says and he requested for himself that he might
die now this i don't really get because it's like you are doing all these great works for god and
then jezebel threatens to kill you so you run away to ask that you die it's like wait i thought
you're running away from death i thought you're running away from getting killed you run away to
this juniper tree and then you just ask that you die but notice what he says and said it is enough
now oh lord take my life take away my life notice this for i am not better than my fathers you know
what i think that he's saying i think what he's saying is like man if i was just built different
like the previous generations maybe i'd be able to like withstand this persecution you know it's
like man if i was just built different like the world war ii generation then my life would look
different i would have a better career i would have a well-behaved family i would go to church
i would dress professionally i would have all these attributes about me if i was built different
like the previous generations oh you know if i was he's thinking like man if i was like
moses oh yeah no problem i'd be able to withstand this situation but let me tell you the truth is
that no one is built different human nature is the same and if someone is strong in their faith
and courageous and bold and is willing to stand up for what they believe and endure persecution
it's not because they're built different it's because they have faith in the word of god they
follow what the bible says they're disciplined to do what the bible says even when they don't
feel like doing it they're consistent in prayer they're consistent in the things of god that's
why they're built different there's nothing different about them so instead of just sitting
here like man i just wish i was like the old generations i wish i was built different like
the world war ii why don't you just build yourself different why don't you just open
the bible and start building piece by piece and just make yourself built different because
there's no special 1940s dust that was picked you know spread on america that made 17 year old men
brave to go fight the nazis and bombers and freezing temperatures in world war ii you know
there was nothing that made them built different they were just strong right and you can be too
there's no difference between you and them there's no difference between people of the 1800s 1700s
oh man you know you read literature that was written in the 1800s i love reading literature
from the 1800s but let me tell you there's nothing different about their hand that you know drew with
the pen it's nothing different about their mind they just read more than you probably they just
actually learned what words mean more than you do probably they actually probably studied a lot more
in school than you it's not that they had a great literary dust you know spread upon them they just
worked harder than us apparently and it's like we could bring back great literature we could bring
back strong men we could bring back godly christianity at any time we want here in 2025
there's nothing different about the past just don't live in the past focus on today churches
can do great works today here's another thing people love to worry about that they can't control
that's obviously the future right go to matthew chapter six matthew chapter number six i kind of
alluded to this passage earlier matthew chapter six verse 25 jesus said therefore i say unto you
take no thought for your life what ye shall eat that's future right or what ye shall drink
nor yet for your body what ye shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body then raiment
he's like saying don't worry about what you're eating what you're drinking what you're going to
put on and for us in our modern culture this would be like don't worry about your income don't
worry about what your quality of life is going to look like tomorrow or something like that
because the life is more than meat and more than raiment verse 26 behold the fowls of the air for
they so not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feedeth them are
you not much better than day than day so he gives us this carnal example where he's like look at
the birds they're not going in and punching in at seven or at seven a.m and clocking out of five
they're not you know storing all this stuff they're not sowing and reaping god takes care of them and
obviously god cares about you more than birds that's what he's saying then in verse uh number
27 says which of you by taking thought can add one cubit under a stature taking thought stressing
thinking about it wishing longing like can you make yourself taller by just like oh i'm just
going to think no it's not going to happen right can you make yourself richer can you make yourself
have a better status in life by just thinking about it no you can't you can't change any of
those things so don't sit here and just worry about the future so much stay there i want to
read for you psalm 37 verse 25 says i have been young and now am old yet have i not seen the
righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread and you know if you just think about your own life
your own finances your own just estate in life that you've dealt with i'm sure that everyone in
here has experienced times that were kind of frightening financially where just like the
medical bills come in at the worst time imaginable the car breaks down at the worst time imaginable
you know the house needs all these repairs whatever emergency pops up and at the time
you're looking at it saying like i i don't know how this is going to get fixed i don't have the
money i don't see how this is going to get fixed but hold on a second here you are right now and
you didn't starve isn't that interesting here you are today in church and you never you know went
without the meals you had the house the roof over your head you had the clothes on your back here
you are today so what good did all of that worrying and stress do you nothing whatsoever
so you just expended all this mental energy all this frustration all this stress that you added
to your life about what the future is going to going to look like but yet here you are today
and it all worked out why because he's never seen the righteous forsaken nor is seed begging bread
and if you are a godly christian seeking first the kingdom of god you are not going to die of
starvation saving like maybe the tribulation or something like that and if that happens well what
are you going to do you're going to die is what you're going to do sorry you know that's what
would happen all right look at verse number 28 and why take ye thought for raiment consider the
lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet i say unto you that
even solomon in all his glory was not a raid like one of these wherefore if god so clothe the grass
of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe you
oh ye of little faith like does god care about us more than birds and flowers and grass of course
he does so why are we going to sit here and worry like god's not going to take care of us therefore
take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed
for after all these things do the gentiles seek for your heavenly father knoweth that you have
in need of all these things verse 33 is the key point to remember but seek ye first the kingdom
of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you hey live in today be
thankful for today be thankful for what god has provided for you today the job you have today
and don't sit here freaking out and worrying oh man what is my life going to look like in 20
years from now financially 30 years from now financially look just seek first the kingdom
of god and his righteousness go to church read the bible pray go soul winning go to work like
god said to work hard get some skills get some smarts do those things and you know what's going
to happen you're never going to starve god's never going to forsake you god is going to take care of
you go to if you would uh philippians chapter number four philippians chapter number four
you know i think that we are just a people in the united states that just add so much unnecessary
uh stress to our lives because it seems like we are just obsessed with the future we're obsessed
about what is our life going to look like in 30 years from now what is my retirement home on the
beach of florida going to look like how am i going to reach that it's like bro you could die tonight
you could die tonight and here you are freaking out about what life is going to look like 30 years
from now why don't you just rejoice in today and think about today and not stress yourself out
flippings four verse four 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 that's not saying like uh
having caution or trepidation it's saying like don't be stressed out don't be full of care and
anxiety 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 here's what you do you identify hey there's
this problem hey it's stressing me out you pray you let god know that it's stressing you out you
ask him to help you you do all the things that you're supposed to do that you know is right
that what god wants you to do and then you just say okay lord it's in your hands this is on you
now this is your responsibility now i'm not going to let you take care of that and that causes the
peace that passes all understanding to come over you and to help you through those hard times
because you're not helping yourself and your problems by sitting here just stressing and
worrying and freaking out you're just like shaving years off your life is all you're doing you know
what i mean you need to sit there and trust the lord pray do what you need to do verse eight says
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 if there be any praise think on these things see god wants our
mindset to primarily be focused focused on the positive right today is the day that the lord
has made we will rejoice and be glad in it not freaking out about tomorrow not worrying about
all the what-ifs of life not worrying about your stature or your money or the things that you don't
have or the things that you used to have that you wish you still have no just think about things
that are pure good lovely of good report think about today be thankful for today pray and leave
it in the lord's hands go to ecclesiastes chapter 9 another thing people kind of freak out about
when it comes to stressing about things that are outside of their control is just random life
events just random life events you know people freak out about the what if what if this happens
what if that happens look at ecclesiastes 9 11 i returned and saw under the sun that the race is
not to the swift nor the battle to the strong neither yet bred to the wise nor yet riches to
men of understanding nor yet favor to men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all
sometimes in life stuff just happens and what just annoys me so much and what adds stress to my life
is when i'm when i'm with someone that's just well what if this happens well what if that happens
well what if this other thing happens it's like bro it hasn't happened yet so chill and if it does
time and chance happens to them all stuff just happens in life you know one of the funniest
things i saw was when president trump was meeting with uh president zolinski in the white house and
some reporter asked this dumb question and the way that president trump responded was so funny the
question was what if president putin breaks the ceasefire agreement and trump goes what if anything
what if a bomb drops on your head right now and he's like exactly dude what if a bomb drops on
your head it's like hey what if china attacks us and blows up an emp over the united states
and all the supply lines are down and we have no food in the grocery stores and there's chaos on
the street and looters in the street will die that's what will happen i mean what if a bomb
drops on your head right now then a bomb's just gonna drop on your head and you're gonna die
but you know what makes no sense is just spending your life freaking out about the what if what if
okay what if then what if you walk across the street today and get shot in the chest by a random
violent thug that happens what if that happens okay i'm just gonna i'm just gonna wear a bullet
proof vest and i'm gonna roll myself in bubble tape in a safe room in my basement and like
plumb some fresh water lines in there and just like have someone shove me some food under a door
just so that nothing could ever happen what if what if you're driving down the road and your tire
blows up then your tire is gonna blow up what if my car breaks down what if i lose my job what if
i get cancer what if i lose a child what if what if what if okay then what if then it's just gonna
happen what if a bomb drops on your head right now i mean i'm just gonna start saying that all
the time now hey what's going on what's going what's gonna happen this to me what if a bomb
drops on our head right now i mean it's a good point it really is a good point it's like what
if putin breaks it well then what if a bomb drops on our head what if he breaks it so what
we're not going to sit here and think about the what ifs of life because you can't change it live
in the present what can you control today what can you put your energy into that's productive
today and that leads me to my third point focus on the work that you could do today focus on what
you can do today go to james chapter number four we live in a fast paced country we live in a very
future oriented country in a lot of ways that's a good thing you know it leads to people working
hard but man boy did i notice the difference when i went to germany of just the speed the energy
level the quickness of life it's just so different there everything's quiet everything's slow and like
i said there is some good to the energy and fast pace you know way of life that we have in the
united states but where it gets kind of toxic is again the things i'm saying how am i going to get
that beach house in 40 years how am i going to get that private jet how am i going to make sure
that i have you know three million dollars in savings by the time i retire how do i make sure
that each of my kids have a million dollars by the time they go to college and that i have a nest egg
and i have all these things it's like that is ridiculous because guess what again you could die
tonight you could die tomorrow you could die next week and it doesn't make sense to put all
this effort and energy stressing into what life is going to look like in 40 years when you can
just put that energy into today and you can enjoy today and what you're sowing into today you know
what's going to happen if god gives you tomorrow you're going to reap in that day and if god gives
you 20 years from now so so so so so reap at that time but don't take it for granted hey you only
know that you have today james 4 verse 13 go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into
such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain so notice these guys they have
a business plan they're like today or tomorrow we're going into this city we're going to buy and
sell we're going to get gain we're going to make all this money and the beginning that verse says
go to now go to now why well look what it says verse 14 whereas you know not what shall be on
tomorrow you know you don't know if bombs gonna drop on your head tomorrow it could happen for
what is your life it is even a vapor that appeared for a little time and then vanisheth away for that
you ought to say if the lord will we shall live and do this or that but now you rejoice in your
boasting all such rejoicing is evil therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not
to him it is sin don't sit here and think about in 30 years how your life is going to look so
perfect don't think about how in 20 years how great your business is going to look and just
stress how am i going to make sure it gets that way you know you should do you should go to now
oh what's my marriage going to look like in 50 years why don't you just be married and be a good
husband today why don't you just be a good wife today why don't you invest love into your spouse
today because guess what you don't even know tomorrow is coming you don't know if a year from
now is coming you know why don't you enjoy church today because you don't know if you're coming here
next week why don't you enjoy your country today you don't know if it's going to exist in five
years from now why don't you just enjoy and work and affect things that you could actually
do right now today last place i'll have you go to last place i'll have you go to is excuse me
psalm 118 we'll finish there psalm 118 you know today is the day that the lord has made we
should not sit here and worry about the past things we can't change and desire that we were
in a different time period and desire we were built different or desire to be 30 years from now
what's life going to look like there or freak out about all the random life events that could
possibly happen along the way it's like hey what are you doing for god today you know sometimes
i hear young guys and it's a godly desire but they're like yeah i want to be a pastor and praise
the lord that's that's a good desire to have i can honestly say that when i got saved from that
very first year i had that desire but here's the thing you shouldn't just be like man it's in five
years i gotta be a pastor i gotta be a fat pastor in five years or i gotta get there in 10 years
it's like why don't you just read your bible today why don't you start memorizing scripture
today why don't you go soul winning today why don't you be a good church member today and then
do that tomorrow and then do that next week and then do that next month and then do that next year
and hey lord willing someday if the lord will will do this or that hey if the lord will you
can be a pastor someday but you know what you can't affect that right now you can't decide right now
i'm going to be a pastor in 10 years but you know what you can do you can go soul winning at two
o'clock that you could do lord willing of course it's not that we're not there yet what if a bomb
drops on our head i don't know but lord willing at two o'clock we're gonna meet here and go soul
winning you know you could do you go soul winning you know you could do you can go home tonight and
read your bible you could follow god's commandments you could go to church you know i'm not sitting
here thinking about like man how is anchor baptist church gonna look in 30 years i i'm gonna make
sure that i got this all planned out i've already got the property you know eyed out and i know
where it's gonna be i'm not thinking that way you know what i'm thinking what can anchor baptist
church do today who can we go preach the gospel to today what sermon can i preach today who can i
love today that's what i'm thinking about i'm not thinking about tomorrow not thinking about next
year i'm thinking about today why let's read this verse again verse 24 of psalm 118 this is the day
which the lord hath made we will rejoice and be glad in it let's pray lord thank you for this
wonderful day that we have thank you for the blessings that we have today for the friends that
we have today thank you for salvation for the word of god for anchor baptist church for the
opportunities we have in america to preach the gospel freely i pray that every day that you give
us we would recognize it as a gift from you that we would thank you for it and that we would use
it to its fullest potential and always be thinking what can i do for the lord today in jesus name we
pray amen right with that we'll go ahead and sing one last song to conclude the service if you would
take your hymnals at this time and turn to hymn number 75 on jordan stormy banks hymn number 75
in your hymnals go ahead and start there right on the first on jordan stormy banks i stand and cast a wishful