time and start there watching this opportunity I have to sing praises unto
you also for sending your son and this is us from our sins Lord thank you also
for this great day that we have to the end of this service and also be with
pastor as he preaches from your word in Jesus name I pray amen for our next time
if you would turn in your hymnals to him number 310 footprints of Jesus him
number 310 we'll go ahead and start there right on the first we is your
hand first timothy second timothy wants to timothy my dearly beloved son grace
mercy and peace from God the father and Christ Jesus our Lord this chapter
should definitely be a lot easier than Genesis chapter number one have you
already done it brother Dan see Dan's already done it so it's it's doable he's
already got it done it's awesome and we got the prizes in and for those of you
that did Genesis 1 we got the quarter zips you know what's gonna save America
it's hard preaching and quarter zips all right and around Christmas time it was
funny pastor Mejia and some guys at first works were posting pictures in
quarter zips and I said hey my culture is not your costume all right and it's
just a joke but yeah so we got the quarter zips for the guys and then for
the ladies that came in as well I think all the ladies have received theirs
miss Shawn have you gotten yours well someone bring miss Shawn sir and that
should be all of those distributed so good job to everyone that did the Bible
memory chapter for Genesis chapter number one on the inside we have our
service times listed there Sunday morning at 1030 Sunday evening at 430
and our Wednesday Bible study through Romans at 7 o'clock below that we have
all of our soul winning times listed there and we have our year-to-date soul
winning statistics and praise the Lord we're ahead for January and February of
last year already so great job soul winning 90 salvations so far for the
year upcoming events March 7th we're gonna have a soul winning marathon in
Tulsa Oklahoma we'll be meeting in Tulsa on soul winning location at noon and
we'll go soul winning from noon to 4 and then have a nice fellowship meal
together afterwards for whoever comes the next day will be a men's preaching
night for the evening service and I'll get some food delivered to the church
for that evening so no need to worry about potluck for this upcoming one
April 1st I believe I want to make sure that that date is correct but that
should be Wednesday yeah April 1st we're gonna be doing the Lord's Supper and of
course that's gonna be limited for people to partake in that are saved
gotta be saved and then you can partake in that then May 20th through the 24th
this is a conference being put on by steadfast Baptist Church the anti
Israel conference wanted to put that in there in case you guys wanted to make
the drive for that I also need to add I think it's in March there's a musician's
conference at faithful word Baptist Church I'll get the dates for that but
if you're at all interested in going to that conference should be it's kind of
more like a workshop type conference where you're just learning new skills
learning about music practicing getting better and so that's going to be a
really cool conference then June 17th through the 20th this is really like a
missions trip slash conference it's the Europe European soul winning conference
is what it's called but it's in Germany it's going to be in Frankfurt from June
17th through the 20th I know that myself and pastor Shelley will both be
preaching for this and if you can't make it at least do pray for this because
there's supposed to be a lot of soul winners coming from all over that area
of the world and it'd be great if they came to this conference and just got on
fire for soul winning and could bring you know good soul winning practices
back to their country so I think there might be people coming from like Norway
Sweden Poland France Switzerland Germany it'd be great just to have as many
people come as possible and just get Europe on fire with the gospel on the
right we have our online visitor card and our online giving platform if you're
interested in that as well as our prayer list and if you have any requests
please do email the church and we'll update that for you at this time let's
go and go to our third song together all right for our third song if you would
take your hymnals and turn to hymn number 324 draw me nearer
hymn number 324 go ahead and start there right on the first
"I am Thine own I have heard it told to sin the acid Lord to the cross where"
if you would turn in your bibles to Luke chapter number 10 for Bible reading
"after these things the Lord appointed others 70 also set them to and to before
his face into every city and place whether he himself would come therefore
said he unto them the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his
harvest go your ways behold I send you forth as lambs among wolves carry neither
purse nor script nor shoes and salute no man by the way and into whatsoever house
he enter first say peace be to this house and if the son of peace be there
your peace shall rest upon it if not it shall turn to you again and in the same
house remain eating and drinking such things as they give for the laborer is
worthy of his hire go not from house to house and into whatsoever city you enter
and they receive you eat such things as are set before you and heal the sick
that are therein say unto them the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you
but into whatsoever city enter and they receive you not go your ways out into
the streets of the same and say even the very dust of your city which cleaveth
on us we do wipe off against you notwithstanding be sure of this that the
kingdom of God has come nigh unto you but I say unto you that it should be
more tolerable in the day of Sodom than for that city woe unto thee Corazan woe
unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works have been done in Tyre and
Sodom which have been done in you they had a great while ago repented
sitting in sackcloth and ashes but it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and
Sidon at the judgment than for you and thou Capernaum which art exalted to
heaven shall be thrust down to hell he that heareth you heareth me he that
despiseth you despiseth me he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me
and the seventy returned again with joy saying Lord even the devils are subject
unto us through thy name and he said unto them I behold beheld Satan as
lightning fall from heaven behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and
scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and not and nothing shall by any
means hurt you notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject
unto you but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven in that hour
Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said I thank thee oh father Lord of heaven and
earth that thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes even so father for it seemed good in thy sight all
things are delivered to me of my father and no man knoweth who the Son is but
the Father and who the Father is but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal
him and he turned him unto his disciples and said privately blessed are the eyes
which have which see the things that you see for I tell you that many prophets
and kings have desired to see those things which he see, and have not seen them, and
to hear those things which he hear, and have not heard them.
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempting him, saying, "Master, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life?"
And he said to him, "What is written in the law?
How readest thou?"
And he answering said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself."
And he said unto him, "Thou hast answered right; this do, and thou shalt live."
But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Jesus answering said, "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among
thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him
half dead.
And by chance there came down a certain priest that way.
And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side."
Likewise the Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the
other side.
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came there, came where he was, and when he
saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in
oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of
him.
And on the morrow, when he had departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host,
and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will
repay thee.
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor to him that fell among the thieves?
And he said he that showed mercy on him.
Then Jesus said unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village, and a certain
woman named Martha received him into her house.
And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
But Martha was combered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, does it not
care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
Bid her therefore that she help me.
Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about
many things, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall
not be taken away from her.
Let's pray.
Gracious Lord, thankful for the beautiful weather.
Thankful to be gathered in your house.
Pray, Lord, that you just fill pastor Oz with your spirit, help us have soft and tender
hearts to the message applied to our lives.
Praise Jesus name.
Amen.
Luke chapter number 10, let's start reading in verse number 38.
The Bible says, now it came to pass as they went, that he entered into a certain village
and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word.
But Martha was covered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord, does thou
not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
Bid her therefore that she help me.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about
many things, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall
not be taken away from her.
Now just to give you some context of this story, Mary and Martha are the sisters of
Lazarus.
Of course, Lazarus is the man that died and Jesus rose again from the dead in Bethany.
And these people were actually personal friends of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So this is his friends here, Mary, Martha, Lazarus.
And he's over at their house and you have Mary here.
She is doing what?
She is giving attention to the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
He's in their house and she's making the right decision.
She's sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and just listening to Him speak.
And of course, Jesus commends her for doing this, saying, "Hey, she has chosen the better
part and what she's doing is not going to be taken away from her."
Then you have Martha, and what is Martha doing?
Well, Martha is not doing something bad necessarily, Martha is working really, really hard.
She's you know, cumbered about with much care, she's serving, she's cleaning, and she's doing
something that's not necessarily bad in and of itself, yet Jesus commends what Mary is
doing.
And He's kind of saying that Martha here is not making the right choice.
And what are one of the lessons we can learn from this?
Of course, in our life, we have a lot of different priorities.
We have a lot of different competing priorities in our life.
And, you know, the spiritual and carnal priorities that we have both have their proper place,
but we should always prioritize the spiritual in our life.
You know, we should not ever neglect our spiritual life at the expense of all of our carnal duties
that we have to do.
Go ahead and turn to Colossians 3.
While you're turning there, Ecclesiastes 1 verse 8 says, "All things are full of labor.
Man cannot utter it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing."
You know, if you want to, you will always find in life that you have more tasks to do
than you can actually accomplish, right?
You know, ladies, there will always be more dishes.
There will always be more meals to make.
There will always be another time to clean that house.
It's not like you just cook a meal and then just people are satisfied.
You clean the house and it's just clean for forever.
You know, men, there will just always be more bills to pay.
And it's not like when you paid your mortgage last month, you're just good.
No, there's always more work to do.
And just like all things are just filled with labor, right?
We could just never stop working in this world.
But obviously, while we're working, we want to make sure that we prioritize the spiritual
in our life.
And you don't want to just focus so much on all your carnal responsibilities that you
neglect Jesus when he's in your house and you're not listening to him.
You could be a good person, and you could be a really hardworking person, a really diligent
person, but still miss out in life the most important things that God has for you.
And that's what's kind of interesting to me about this story, is it's not like Martha
is a bad person, Martha's good, she's working hard, she's doing something that is commendable,
right?
Serving, working hard.
But you know, you and I could be hardworking people, well-meaning people, and still miss
out on the most important things if we don't prioritize our life spiritually.
You get Colossians 3 verse 1, notice it says, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God."
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Right?
So we're supposed to seek spiritual things, we're supposed to put our affection, our love,
our emotional care on spiritual things.
Why?
Verse 3, "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Why would we set our affection on things above, why would we seek those things that are above?
Because Christ is our life, right?
We are dead with Christ in God, Christ is our life, and we know ultimately that this
world is going to pass away.
The things in this world are temporary.
Your house, it will be burned up someday, right?
Our job, we're not going to be thinking about our carnal, you know, secular job when we're
in heaven at the judgment seat of Christ.
No, these things will pass away, but hey, Christ is our life.
That's what we're here to focus on in this world is serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice it says in verse 18, "And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn of the dead, that in all things he might have," notice the preeminence, right?
So you hear this cliche, put God first, right?
But you know, that's true.
We should.
Christ should have the preeminence in all things.
What does preeminence mean?
It means respected above or before others,
superior, surpassing, right?
So hey, Martha is going around
and she's serving her household.
She's cleaning the house.
She's serving people.
And look, that's great.
But Christ should have the preeminence.
You know what that means?
That means that the Lord Jesus Christ
is more important than your wife,
than your husband, than your children,
than your friends, than your parents,
than your job, than anything in this world.
Jesus Christ needs to have the preeminence.
And your relationship with Jesus
needs to be more important to you
than any human relationship that you have in this world.
And people kind of make the mistake sometimes
of over-prioritizing wife, or son,
or daughter, or mother, or father.
But you know, you have your priorities messed up.
It's Christ first.
It's other people second.
And I believe that you'll be the best husband,
father, wife, child,
when you actually put Christ first anyways.
Go to James chapter number four.
James chapter number four.
So Mary, she was literally putting God first in her life.
Right, Jesus is there, Jesus is speaking,
and she's literally putting the Lord Jesus Christ first.
She's making the spiritual decision.
James chapter four, look at verse 14.
"Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow,
"for what is your life?
"It is even a vapor that appearth for a little time,
"and then vanisheth away."
Right, so the Bible describes our life as being short.
It's like a vapor.
And there's like this phenomenon that exists
that the older you get, the faster it seems
that time goes on.
And it's kind of explained in this way,
whereas like, you know, if you're five years old
and you have summer break, well like,
that's a pretty big percentage of your life, right?
But as you get older and older,
a few months is a smaller percentage of your life.
And so it kind of just feels like time is accelerating.
And I definitely have felt that to be true.
I'm sure it has been the same for you.
And you just realize like, wow, life is a vapor.
I feel like my eldest daughter was born yesterday
is what it feels like, right?
And she's about to be seven years old.
It's just crazy how time goes by.
You know, we need to remind ourselves
that our life is just a vapor.
And you know, don't take for granted
that you're gonna live till you're 80, 90, 100 years old.
You know, it could be over tomorrow.
And you don't want your life to have been spent.
Man, he just really cared about his job.
He really cared about all these temporal carnal things,
but he didn't really prioritize Christ that much.
You know, he didn't really come
and listen to the words of Jesus Christ.
He was just on his own program.
No, we need to be living our lives
with this idea that, hey, the time is short.
We gotta serve God with everything we can right now,
because we don't know when it's gonna be over.
And so the title of my sermon is this,
make the spiritual decision.
Make the spiritual decision.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number three,
just like Jesus revealed to Mary and Martha,
hey, who was making the spiritual decision?
They didn't have to wonder or guess.
I mean, Jesus revealed it to them and to all of us to read,
saying, hey, Mary has chosen that better part,
which shall not be taken away from her.
He made it clear who made the right decision,
who made the spiritual decision.
And in the same way, you know,
it's gonna be revealed to us someday
who made the spiritual decision in this world.
It's called the judgment seat of Christ.
Look at 1 Corinthians three, verse nine.
For we are laborers together with God,
your God's husbandry, your God's building,
according to the grace of God, which is given unto me
as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation
and another buildeth thereon.
But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is Jesus Christ.
Now, if any man build upon this foundation,
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble,
every man's work shall be made manifest,
for the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire,
and the fire shall try every man's work
of what sort it is.
Now, of course, when it comes to our judgment,
our eternal judgment, we are saved by grace.
We are saved by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And whether you do any works for God
after you get saved or not, you are saved,
you are going to go to heaven.
But at the judgment seat of Christ,
the Bible says that we're gonna be revealed,
it's gonna be made manifest,
it's gonna be known how or whether we labored, right?
'Cause he says that we are laborers together with God.
Not everyone is actually working for God though.
That's what we're supposed to be doing.
We're supposed to be laborers for God.
And you know what, that day is gonna reveal
if we built gold, silver, precious stones,
or wood, hay, and stubble, right?
That fire is gonna reveal that.
The fire just burns up the wood, hay, and stubble.
It doesn't remain, right?
And so that's just things that are temporal,
things that have no eternal value.
And I believe that all of us are gonna have
some wood, hay, and stubble in our lives, right?
It's just, it's impossible to avoid,
but we wanna make sure that in our daily lives,
we're making that spiritual decision every day
so that we have as much, you know, silver, gold,
and precious stones as possible.
Verse 14, "If any man's work abide,
which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss,
but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire."
So in our eternal state, you know,
it's not gonna be this communist utopia
where we all have the same amount of rewards,
where, you know, we all have the same exact status in heaven.
You know, God is not a communist.
He's gonna reward us according to his works.
And you know what, you're gonna receive a reward
when you have built the right things on our foundation.
Go to Hebrews chapter number one.
So what are just some daily practical ways
that we need to, hey, make the spiritual decision?
Number one, make the spiritual decision
and read your Bible every day, every day.
Because, you know, a lot of people would read this story
and think, man, wouldn't it be so cool
to have Jesus at my house?
Oh yeah, I mean, if Jesus was at my house, for sure.
I would listen to him, I would give him attention,
I would want to hear the things that he was saying to me.
But you know, we do have Jesus at our house.
We do, look at Hebrews chapter one, verse one.
God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners,
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds.
How does God speak to us today?
It's through the Son of God.
It's through the Lord Jesus Christ,
who the Bible calls the Word of God.
Jesus is the Word, right?
Jesus, when he comes in revelation,
he has a name written on his thigh, the Word of God.
Jesus is the Word made flesh.
So God does not come to your house anymore, right?
I mean, Mary and Martha, they had a very special experience
where Jesus physically came to their house.
I mean, that would be pretty cool.
But you know what?
It's just as cool, honestly, to have God's word.
And the Bible says that this is even a more sure word
of prophecy, whereunto you do well, that you take heed.
You wanna spend time with Jesus?
Here's how you do it.
You listen to him speak to you
by opening your Bible and reading it.
And you know what?
Anyone who says that they know Jesus
or they have a relationship with Jesus,
but they don't know the Bible and they don't read the Bible,
let me help you with something,
they don't have a relationship with Jesus.
It's funny, you go soul winning and people tell you,
oh, yeah, I have a relationship with Jesus,
but these people aren't reading the Bible.
How do you know they're not reading the Bible?
Well, 'cause they think works takes them to heaven.
Well, 'cause they're not in church.
Well, 'cause they're not following the Lord Jesus Christ.
These people don't love Jesus, they don't know Jesus.
How do you know Jesus is through his word?
How do you love Jesus by following what's in his word?
This is how you have a relationship with Jesus.
This is how you make the spiritual decision,
is you wake up every day and you read your Bible.
And you don't just say,
well, hold on, I got a job to do.
I've got a career.
I've got kids to feed in the morning.
I've got homeschool.
I've got a house to clean.
I've got all these things.
And it's like, Martha, Martha,
you're covered about with much serving and care.
Hey, but Mary has chosen that better part,
which shall not be taken away from her.
I don't know about you husbands,
but you know, if my house is a little dirty
from time to time or some other carnal things
get thrown to the wayside,
but my wife is reading the Bible at least,
I would rather her read the Bible.
Obviously I want both done.
I want her to read a Bible and clean the house, right?
I want those things.
And you should be striving for those things.
But here's the thing, like,
if a day has to skip one of those things,
I don't want my wife skipping the Bible,
because having a relationship with Jesus
is more important than anything.
Okay, now there's many reasons to read the Bible.
Go to 2 Timothy 1.
2 Timothy 1, this is the chapter we're memorizing.
Great verse here, 2 Timothy chapter number one.
There's a lot of reasons to read the Bible.
We talked about, it's how you have a relationship with Jesus.
Also notice what it says in verse 13,
"Hold fast the form of sound words,
"which thou hast heard of me in faith and love,
"which is in Christ Jesus."
Hey, we need to be reminded of what is sound.
We need a reality check in our lives.
And you know what?
Sound words is not man's opinions, not man's commentary.
Sound words are the word of God.
And it's so annoying today how many Christians
just base their opinions, base their doctrines,
base their ideas off of just their gut feelings,
based off of their conscience, right?
I heard some idiot at Verity, Nate Deakins,
talking about how, hey, you know,
my conscience tells me that if a new believer
comes to church, you know, I should never warn them
about the reprobate doctrine if they have a loved one
who's a reprobate, 'cause my conscience tells me that.
It's like, wait a second,
where does the Bible say that though?
We need to be reminded of sound words today
that the Bible actually teaches that reprobates
are dangerous, wicked, evil predators,
and if you actually loved people
who have a sodomite brother, mother, whatever,
you'd warn those people.
Oh, my conscience tells me,
really, 'cause the Apostle Paul's conscience
told him not to cease warning people night and day
for three years with tears.
So I think the Apostle Paul is right and you're wrong,
you liberal, watered-down loser.
Oh, you know, people want to deny reality
that these losers are just becoming new evangelicals, okay?
These people have become new evangelicals.
What is the new evangelical movement?
Well, you know, the Spirit hasn't told me that yet.
The Spirit hasn't revealed that to me yet.
It's like, yes, he did.
It's called Romans chapter one.
He did reveal that to you and we need to read the Bible
so that we could be reminded of sound words, folks.
Go, if you would, to Romans chapter one
'cause, you know, I just don't want people
to take my word for things that I say.
Tell me if your conscience would reveal to you
that if people like this exist,
that you should warn people about it.
I mean, we have the world today
that is telling you that sodomites are good,
that they're loving, they just love differently.
They're just born that way.
They're just sweet.
They're just kind of funny.
They're just kind of quirky.
Like, that's the world's message.
And then, according to Nate Deakins,
our message should just be silence to Christians.
Really, look what the Bible says.
In verse 27, "And likewise also the men,
"leaving the natural use of the woman,
"burn in their lust one toward another."
Men with men, working that which is unseemly,
and receiving in themselves
that recompense of their error, which was meat.
So obviously we're talking about sodomites here.
And even as they did not like to retain God
in their knowledge, God gave them over to,
notice, a reprobate minds.
We're talking about reprobates,
to do those things which are not convenient.
Now notice what the Bible describes reprobates
as being like.
Look, being filled with all unrighteousness.
Anything evil and wicked you could possibly think of,
the Bible says that sodomites and reprobates
are not just filled with those things,
they're being filled with those things.
Meaning that the longer it takes for you to warn someone
to get away from their sodomite uncle,
the more and more wicked that person becomes.
And every single day that a sodomite lives on this earth,
they are more wicked than they were the day before.
Sounds like I'd want to warn someone about that, right?
Notice it says being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers.
I mean, this sounds like someone to warn people about.
Hey, isn't it interesting that there was another
mass shooting last week of a school in Canada,
and just what a shock the person who murdered
all these children were some filthy faggots,
some disgusting, you know, tranny.
What a shock.
You know, maybe if our world warned people about trannies
and said, hey, the Bible actually says
that they're being filled with murder,
that they are being filled with murder,
then maybe our society can wake up
and do something about it
and actually re-implement God's laws,
which is the death penalty for these faggots.
You know, that's what my conscience tells me to do,
because I'm actually following what the Bible says.
Notice what it says.
It says, back biters, there you go, haters of God.
Despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,
disobedient to parents, without understanding,
covenant breakers, without natural affection, right?
This is why they're always molesting children.
This is why they're attacking the most pure
and innocent beings on this earth,
little, beautiful children.
Why, 'cause they're without natural affection.
They're reprobates, they're evil,
implacable, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God,
that they which commit such things are worthy of death,
not only do the same, but have pleasure in them
that do them.
You know, it's such a wicked, disgusting attitude
when churches hold back from preaching the truth.
Because, you know, the church is supposed to be
the pillar and ground of the truth.
This is supposed to be the one place
that you could go to in this world
to actually hear the truth given to you straight.
And it's like, what a disservice
churches are doing today for people,
where people come into the house of God,
but we're gonna withhold God's word from them
because they're a new Christian?
What a joke.
That is ridiculous, folks.
Look, if someone comes in this church,
I'm never gonna tone down the message
or change the sermon because they need hard preaching.
We need hard preaching in this world.
And you know, it doesn't help people to just coddle them
and make them pretend like their gay uncle is okay.
You know, that's gonna lead to people getting harmed,
people getting sexually abused,
people getting killed, literally.
And you know what?
This world needs a wake-up call.
We need to hold fast the form of sound words.
Not this stupid preaching from the ex-new IFB
where basically they just have an opinion,
they have a gut feeling about something,
and then they go and search for human reasoning
to back that up.
But you know what they don't have?
They don't have the Bible.
And that's why their preaching absolutely sucks.
And you know, we need to hold fast to sound words.
You wanna make the spiritual decision, read your Bible.
That's how you're gonna know what's right and wrong.
Go, if you would, to Proverbs chapter number two.
You know, another reason to read your Bible
is that it gives you wisdom, right?
When someone's just speaking so foolishly
and they're just giving their man's opinions,
it just shows this person's not reading the Bible.
Or they're not actually letting the words
sink in and instruct them.
Maybe they're just skimming the page,
just going through the motions.
Look, we read the Bible so we can learn those sound words
so that we can gain wisdom.
Look at Proverbs chapter two, verse six.
It says, "For the Lord giveth wisdom out of his mouth,
cometh knowledge and understanding."
Hey, there's a lot of carnal tasks
we need to do in this world.
Yeah, mom, you gotta clean the house.
You gotta do the dishes.
You gotta cook the meals.
You gotta raise the kids.
But you know what you need more than that?
You need wisdom.
You need wisdom to guide your house.
You need wisdom to raise your children.
Hey, man, you gotta go pay the bills.
You gotta go work super hard.
But you know what you need to do more
is you need to gain wisdom.
Because wisdom is profitable to direct.
And out of God's mouth comes knowledge
and understanding.
The Lord gives wisdom.
I mean, if Jesus came to your house physically
and sat down on the couch and said,
hey, I wanna teach you something.
I wanna give a sermon to you or something like that.
Boy, you'd listen, wouldn't you?
You'd want that wisdom.
But it's like, but you have that.
But you have every word of God on your shelf,
in your lap, in every room of your house, basically.
It's like, you know what?
You need to actually open it and seek that wisdom
and ask the Lord to give you wisdom.
Go to Romans 15, while you're turning there,
Ecclesiastes 10, 10 says, if the iron be blunt
and he do not wet the edge, then must he put forth,
then he, then must he put to more strength.
But wisdom is profitable to direct.
You know, the Bible kind of uses this illustration
where if you're using an ax,
if you're using some sort of cutting tool,
you know, you're just trying to cut something down,
but that iron is blunt, it's not sharp.
You know, you're gonna have to put a lot of effort
and energy into it.
You're gonna have to put more time into it, more swings.
Whereas like, if you just stop for a minute
and actually sharpened your tool,
actually got the right tools, sharpened the tools
that you had, well then all of a sudden
now your job's gonna be a lot easier.
And it's like, look, life is hard.
Raising children is hard, providing is hard.
Just living life is difficult.
But you know what we need to do?
Is not always just spin our wheels harder,
always work harder.
No, we need to work smarter sometimes.
And stop and say, okay, I need wisdom.
I need understanding.
I need knowledge from God, and so I need to read my Bible.
Look at Romans 15, also in verse four it says,
for whatsoever things were written aforetime
were written for our learning,
that we through patience, notice, and comfort
of the scriptures might have hope.
Hey, another reason to read your Bible
is to give you comfort.
And boy, oh boy, people make the biggest mistakes
when they're going through a hard time,
when they have issues in their life,
and you know, to get that comfort,
they go to alcohol, they go to drugs,
they go to the psychologist, they go to being lazy,
they go to adultery, they go to all these outlets
to help them with their stress.
But it's like the Bible says that we,
through the scriptures, get what?
Comfort.
And you know, maybe Martha was
cumbered about with much care,
maybe she's really stressed out,
maybe there's all this stuff
that she's got going on.
But you know,
maybe if she stopped for a minute
and sat at the feet of Jesus
and listened to him,
maybe she'd be comforted.
Maybe she'd be strengthened
to keep going.
I'll read for you
Matthew 11 verse 28.
Jesus said,
"Come unto me,
all ye that labor
and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you
and learn of me,
for I am meek
and lowly in heart,
and ye shall find rest
unto your souls,
for my yoke is easy
and my burden is light."
You know, when you go
to the Lord Jesus Christ,
when you read the Bible,
when you seek His wisdom,
seek His words,
you know, He could help us
carry that burden.
He can help, you know,
make that burden lighter for us
and comfort us.
We need that.
Go, if you would,
to Romans chapter 10.
Romans chapter number 10.
I'm just showing you
what the Bible says
that the Bible does for us.
The Bible speaks of itself
what it does for us.
Here's another thing it does.
It builds our faith.
Look at Romans 10 verse 17.
"So then faith cometh by hearing
"and hearing by the word of God."
Right, so if you're ever lacking faith,
if you're ever struggling with your faith,
it's like, what's the answer to that?
Is it to run to a podcast by some commentator
telling you about the Bible?
No, it's to run to the words of God.
Because faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God.
Go to Psalm 119, Psalm 119.
You know, I often find that when people
are struggling with their faith,
if they're doubting their salvation,
they're doubting just God in general,
you know, it's usually at a time in their life
where they've tapered back on Bible reading.
You know, it's usually not people
that are just reading the Bible every day,
an hour a day, that are just having all these doubts.
Right, I'm not saying it can never happen,
but usually the lack of faith,
it stems from a lack of Bible reading.
Look at Psalm 119 verse nine.
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way
"by taking heed thereto according to thy word."
Here's another thing the Bible does for us,
is that it can clean us up,
can guard us from sin.
You know, how is a young man gonna clean his way?
How is he gonna guard his way?
You know, it's not necessarily through a 12-step program.
And some people, they could find some success
with the 12-step program,
but oftentimes people are just spinning their wheels
and then they relapse again.
But it's like, how is it that we could really cleanse our way
by taking heed thereto according to thy word?
Verse 10, "With my whole heart have I sought thee.
"Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments."
Verse 11, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart
"that I might not sin against thee."
See, hiding God's words in your heart
can be an effective tool to combat sin in our lives, right?
When we are tempted and scripture just floods our mind
'cause we have that in our heart,
that can help us get through the pull of the flesh at times.
When Jesus was in the wilderness
and Satan was tempting him,
Jesus' response in that spiritual warfare was what?
To quote scripture.
And of course, he's got the whole Bible memorized
'cause he is the word of God.
But we need to take Bible memorization seriously
because when you have God's word hidden in your heart,
it can help keep you from sinning.
And go, if you would, to verse 105.
Verse 105.
Verse 105, look what it says in Psalm 119.
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
"and a light unto my path."
What else does the Bible do for us?
Gives us direction.
It shows us the way to go.
And again, you know, if Jesus physically showed up
and said, "Hey, let me show you what to do.
"Let me show you the right decisions.
"Let me lead you through life."
People would be like, "Oh yeah, that sounds great.
"I would totally do that."
But it's like, but that's what God's word does for us now.
It is a light to our path.
It is a lamp unto our feet.
Go to Jeremiah 15, Jeremiah chapter number 15.
You know, it's not like by you making the spiritual decision
and reading your Bible every day,
that it's just this drudge.
It's just gonna cause so many problems in your life.
Like the Bible just tell you all these great things
that the Bible does for you.
And people miss out on this
because they simply just choose not to read their Bible.
Here's a great one.
Jeremiah 15, look at verse 16.
Thy words were found, and I did eat them,
and thy word was unto me.
Notice, the joy and rejoicing of mine heart,
for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.
One of the greatest things about reading the Bible
is that it brings you joy.
And you know, this world can be a dark place.
There's a lot of issues, there's a lot of problems,
and you know, we are fallen creatures.
We live in a sinful world, and this world can pressure us
to become black-pilled, to become discouraged, right?
To just have all these woe is me problems.
But I'm telling you, when you're feeling that way,
when you have discouragement, you know,
how are you gonna get joy?
It's not through the medication at the doctor.
You know, it's through the words of God.
The Bible says it's gonna bring joy,
and you know, we need that to keep going.
Go to Psalm one, Psalm chapter number one, Psalm one.
And ultimately, with all of these things,
what does it kind of culminate in?
It just culminates in a blessed life and success.
And that's what the Bible says in Psalm one.
Verse one, it says blessed is the man
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Notice, but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
So this person loves God's word.
He delights in it.
He meditates in it day and night.
It's not like a daily devotion, a verse of the day.
He's really thinking about God's word.
He's really ingesting God's word.
He's loving God's word.
And because of that, notice, he's
not going to walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
When the ungodly come and give their advice,
someone who's been meditating in God's law day and night
are going to say, hey, that's bad advice.
That's a bad conscience there.
That's bad worldly philosophy that you're giving me there.
And they're not going to walk in that counsel.
Instead, you're going to walk in God's counsel,
which leads to success.
Notice, also, you're not going to stand in the way of sinners.
Hey, when you've kept God's word in your heart,
it says, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against thee."
And so how are you going to avoid standing
in the way of sinners?
It's by taking in a lot of Bible so that when you find yourself
in a situation, you're like, hey, all of you people
are doing wrong.
I'm not going to go with you.
I'm not going to follow a multitude to do evil.
Where does that come from?
Just because you're some special person?
No, it's because you've been reading a lot of Bible.
You know what's right.
You're following God's word.
And also, you're not going to sit
in the seat of the scornful, right?
Just wicked people.
They just love to scorn that which is right.
They love to scoff at that truth.
They love to be froward.
They've always got a froward take.
They've always got a bad take.
That's not biblical.
You know, how are you going to find yourself separated
from those people by staying really close to the Bible?
Then it says, and he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither.
And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
So then God uses this carnal truth
to illustrate a spiritual truth,
that vegetation, trees, bushes,
that's planted by the river.
What are they?
They're thriving.
They're really rooted.
You look at Google Earth, Google Maps or whatever,
and you can go to places in the Middle East,
you follow the Jordan River,
and it's like the Jordan River
has like this little sliver of green
in the middle of a desert, right?
Why?
Because those plants are right by the water,
and they're taking in that water,
and that's causing them to not wither,
to not be destroyed like the other trees in the desert.
It's causing them to bring forth fruit in his season,
and says his leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
I mean, that should be enough reasons to read your Bible.
It's giving you comfort, it's giving you joy,
it's gonna lead you down the right path,
it's gonna keep you from sin,
it's just gonna make you prosper and successful in life,
but so many people today
are not making the spiritual decision,
and when they wake up in the morning,
they're not reading the Bible, they're opening Facebook,
they're opening Instagram, they're turning on the TV,
they're reading the news,
they're just gonna start going about their day,
just living their normal life.
No, you need to make the spiritual decision
and read your Bible every single day.
Go to Matthew 18.
Number two, what's another application
of making the spiritual decision?
Number two, make the spiritual decision and go to church.
Go to church.
It's so funny to me, out soul winning,
'cause we talked to thousands of people,
and over the course of our soul winning career,
who knows how many thousands, tens of thousands of people
we've talked to, and just, if I could count
the number of times that people tell me,
oh, I don't go to church, but I'm spiritual.
It's like, these don't compute.
You're not a spiritual person if you're forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together.
You're not a spiritual person when you're not going
to the institution that Jesus died for.
It's ridiculous, look, if you don't go to church,
you are not right with God.
It's ridiculous the mentality people have today.
Look at Matthew 18 verse 20, for where two or three
are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.
Hey, how do you make the spiritual decision
and spend time with Jesus, if you will?
It's by going to church, because here we are,
two or three gathered together in the name of Jesus Christ
in the institution that he bought, that he bled for.
You know what, Christ is in the midst of us this morning.
That's the truth.
Jesus Christ is with us today.
You know, he's not with you in your house doing nothing.
You know, just gathering around your coffee clash,
watching TD Jakes, watching Kenneth Copeland,
watching all the televangelists.
You know, that's fake Christianity right there.
We need to get back to real churches.
Go to Acts chapter number 20.
Acts chapter number 20.
You know, in our country,
a lot of people have just kind of set light by church.
And it's annoying
because there are so many bad churches out there.
But don't make the mistake
that because there's bad churches out there,
that just all churches are bad.
You know, that is a terrible, terrible mistake to make.
And look, you just need to go in the best church
that you could possibly find.
And if you truly just have no good options in your area,
well then you should move and go to a good church.
You know, when I was living in Boise, Idaho,
I kind of held my nose at a church that I was going to.
I tried to be a blessing.
I went soul winning.
I was three to thrive.
I was tithing.
But you know, it was vexing to me
to be at a hyper dispensational Zionist pre-trib church.
It's always talking about the Jews.
It's bringing in the mayor and the governor
and all this stuff.
And we're applauding female politicians
as they walk up to the stage.
Like it was annoying.
And I was just doing my best to go.
But I finally just got to this point where I was just like,
I want to actually be in a great church.
And so I was like, hey, I'm gonna move.
And I moved and went to a great church.
And it's like, hey, you know,
if you're gonna be in your area,
go to a church, be a blessing to it.
But if you're just gonna sit here and complain about it,
well then just go to a great church, move.
You know, life is too short.
Your life is a vapor.
Make the spiritual decision.
Move to go to church.
Look at Acts 20 verse 28.
Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock
over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers
to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood.
You know, this institution was purchased
with the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ
and we ought to give it the respect that it is due.
We ought to respect church.
How about this?
By simply showing up when the doors are open.
You know, it's disrespectful to the Lord Jesus Christ
when he suffers and dies on the cross,
he spills his blood to buy the church
and then lazy Christians can't even show up.
Why?
'Cause they're not making the spiritual decision.
You don't understand my job.
Screw your job, idiot.
Jesus died on the cross for you.
Get another job.
I mean, what a joke.
Oh my job, my job.
Is your job God?
Are you serving your job?
You know, do you love your job more than Jesus?
Look, I hope men work really hard.
I hope you pursue a great career.
I hope you make as much money for your family
as you can to provide for them.
But the moment that you have prioritized your job
over the house of God,
you are not making the spiritual decision.
You need to repent.
You need to get your butt in church.
You need to stop worshiping sports on Sunday morning.
Oh, I got to watch the Super Bowl.
You're an idiot.
You're a fool.
Get in the house of God
because it's the institution that Jesus died for.
You know, it's not about me.
It's not like, well, you know, I'll go to church.
Pastor Ross starts preaching better sermons.
I don't care who's your pastor.
I don't care who the preacher is.
Show up because Jesus died for the church.
And look, if a guest preacher is preaching here,
show up and pay attention and say amen
where they're preaching the truth.
Follow along in your Bible.
Pay attention.
Show up on time.
Dress respectfully for the house of God
because it's the institution that Jesus Christ died for.
Respect God's house.
Go to Psalm 122.
Psalm 122.
You know, watching online is not church.
And it's cool that we live in 2026.
And if you have the stomach flu, if you have a fever,
hey, it's cool that you could stay at home
and still hear the preaching of God's word.
But look, that is not church, right?
Church means congregation.
The congregation of believers.
We need to be in church together.
I need church.
You need church.
Look at the attitude that we're supposed to have
in Psalm 122 verse one.
The Bible says, I was glad when they said unto me,
let us go into the house of the Lord, right?
You need to check your heart.
And when you come to church,
hey, you should be glad that it's Sunday morning.
You should be glad that it's Sunday evening.
You should be glad that it's Wednesday evening.
And I get it because we do live in a world
where we're just covered about
with much serving and much care.
And we've got lots to do and there's so much work to do.
And sometimes we get that feeling of just like,
man, I'm so busy.
I can't believe it's already Wednesday.
You know, we gotta go to church.
But you know, if you feel yourself feeling that way,
you get, wait a second.
I need to be glad.
I need to be glad when they said unto me,
let us go into the house of the Lord.
I need to be excited.
You know, I never want to...
Look, I'll be honest.
You know, I work a lot.
There's a lot of weeks where I'm working 12 hour days
every single day where I'm getting home late.
I'm seeing my wife like an hour a day at times
when things are just really busy.
And sometimes I'm just like,
man, I've got a lot going on right now.
But look, I just have to shake myself out
of that stupid carnal feeling
because I never want to show up before you.
I never want to get behind this pulpit,
just like, oh, oh, I'm here, you know, whatever.
I'll just kind of phone it in, right?
Hey, we all have the flesh,
you just need to shake yourself.
You need to stir up the gift of God that is in you, right?
And actually get excited about the things of God.
You know, we can be tired.
Hey, we go out soul hunting sometimes,
you're out soul hunting and you're tired,
but it's like, hey, you know, when you knock on that door
and that person says, yes, I want you to show me,
stir up the gift of God and say, all right,
there's this person's eternity at stake right now.
This is a real human being who has a real soul
that will go to heaven or hell.
And you know, I need to love this person
and preach the best gospel that I can, right?
You need to stir up the gift of God.
You need to be glad when it's time to serve the Lord.
Go to Psalm 84, Psalm chapter 84.
And look, anyone who tells you
that they're just always on cloud nine,
they're always 10 out of 10 excited
to do every spiritual task that exists,
that person is just lying to you, okay?
And I don't like that kind of preaching
because what it does is when people preach that,
you know, people in the pew hear that
and they're just like, wow, you know,
I might as well just not even try then
because I'm not like that.
I'm not a superstar like that.
No, look, there's times you're not gonna read your Bible,
but you just, you stir up the gift of God.
You say, hey, this is important.
Jesus Christ is at my house right now.
He's sitting, you know, on my coffee table
and he wants to teach me something.
And you know, I should make the spiritual decision
and listen.
And it's like, you know, man, I've had a long week
and church, do I really wanna make the drive?
Do I really wanna make the kids be quiet?
Do I really wanna sit and listen to screaming for an hour?
But it's like, but Jesus died for the institution here.
So make the spiritual decision and go to church.
Look at Psalm 84 verse 10.
For day and night courts is better than 1,000.
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Hey, one day in church is better than 1,000 days
not in church.
Most of the days of our week, we're not in church, right?
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
You know, we don't have church those days.
But you know what?
Wednesday is better than 1,000 of those other days.
Sunday is better than 2,000 of those other days.
We're getting two church services, right?
You know, that's how you should look at your life.
You should look at your life is that, hey, church is life.
The Bible is life.
The Lord Jesus Christ is life.
Serving God is life.
This is not just like our side gig as Christians.
It's like, well, really where my heart is is in my career.
Really, it's in my favorite sports team.
Really, it's on my vacations.
Really, it's on my family.
Really, it's on my friends.
No, no, it's like Christ who is our life, the Bible says.
And you know what?
Church is what it's all about.
And I just don't understand how people live their lives,
not going to church, not reading the Bible.
It's like what a worthless, vain, meaningless life.
And you know what?
The younger you figure this out in your life,
that Christ is everything,
the more time you have to work for him.
And look, you could still earn great rewards
if you get saved later in life.
But you know what?
I would rather your children get saved young,
serve God young, and continue serving God
for their whole life.
Isn't that better?
Go to Hebrews chapter 10.
Hebrews chapter number 10.
You know, there's people this morning that woke up
who are saved, who attend a church,
who sometimes go to church,
and they made the decision to not go to church.
They failed to make the spiritual decision.
Look at Hebrews 10 verse 24.
Notice what it says, "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 ye see the day approaching."
Hey, a spiritual person is not gonna be selfish
and only think about their needs and their wants,
oh, I'm tired, oh, I wanna sleep in.
You know what a spiritual person would do?
Not only would they give honor to Christ,
who died for the church, but they would also give honor
to our brethren, for whom Christ died as well,
consider one another and provoke them
to love and to good works.
Because you know what, people are more encouraged
the more people that come to church.
That's just the reality, right?
I mean, last week we had, what, 41 in church
on Sunday morning, I wasn't even there,
I was at Spring Crest.
But when I saw the text come through
that 41 people are at church, I was encouraged.
I was excited, I was smiling.
I was like, hey, praise God.
Like, I'm not even there and God's house is just full.
That encouraged me.
But you know what, what's discouraging to God's servants,
to pastors and to other people
is when you just don't even care enough
to show up to church.
And it's like, you know, I'm not just saying this
'cause I'm a pastor, I'd say this for any pastor,
but it's like, here we are as pastors,
often time working two jobs,
getting off work at our secular job,
I go to the library, I work on a sermon,
I work on administrative stuff,
I get home to my family late,
it's like we eat dinner real quick,
we put the kids down,
and I'm like trying to sacrifice,
I'm sacrificing time with my family
that you guys don't often have to do, okay?
And then it's like people can't even show up
to the house of God?
How disrespectful is that?
It's unbelievable today.
How little respect people have for the house of God,
for God's servants, for the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's like you need to fix yourself, man.
You need to fix, and look,
I do what I do for the Lord Jesus Christ,
but here's the thing, it definitely encourages me
when people show up, and I'll preach to you.
If you just come, it's just you and your family,
I will preach to you.
I've done it before at Pure Words,
where I preach to like a single guy,
and then after I started coming in,
there was like one family that came in.
And I was like, hey, if you feel like
I'm preaching against you tonight, it's 'cause I am.
You're the only people here.
You feel like I'm looking at you,
it's really honing in on you, it's 'cause I am, right?
And it's like, hey, if you don't want to be honed in
on the whole sermon, it's like encourage people
to come to church, then there's more people to look at.
Seriously though, respect God's house.
How about make the spiritual choice when you're at church?
See, they're showing up to church,
then there's being spiritual while you're here.
Look at 1 Timothy chapter four,
1 Timothy chapter number four.
'Cause you could show up and sleep,
and I'll yell at you if you do,
you can show up and sleep,
you can show up and text on your phone,
you could show up and just, you know,
not be paying attention whatsoever.
But you know what?
That's also disrespectful to God's house.
Look what it says in 1 Timothy four, verse 13,
till I come, give attendance to reading,
to exhortation, to doctrine.
Hey, here's something you could do.
How about pay attention?
How about follow along in your Bible?
It's like, can you read?
Yes, then you're old enough to follow along in your Bible.
You need to have your Bible in your lap.
And look, I know we're in 2026,
you got it on a phone or tablet, that's okay.
I personally would recommend the physical Bible,
but hey, you need to follow along.
You need to give attendance
to reading to exhortation of doctrine.
Why?
Because I'm not here to just speak into the air.
I'm trying to edify you, I'm trying to help you.
You know, the word of God is trying to help you,
is trying to do all those things we talked about.
Go to Hebrews 12, Hebrews chapter number 12.
Hebrews chapter number 12.
You know, this is something
that the modern style of churches have really lost,
is just like the reverence and respect
that we need to have for God's house.
Where a lot of churches today have just become a clown show,
you know, it's the smoke and purple lights,
and it's the just joke of a church service
that exists in this world.
But I love what it says in Hebrews 12, verse 28,
"Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved,
let us have grace whereby we may serve God,
notice, acceptably with reverence and godly fear."
See, there is a way that is acceptable to God,
and there are ways that are not acceptable to God, right?
Romans 12, we're supposed to be transformed
and renew our mind so that we can prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
That means there's some things
that are just not acceptable to God.
What is acceptable to God?
The Bible says reverence.
Reverence is acceptable to God.
What is that?
An extremely high amount of respect.
So there's a certain way we should treat God's house.
There's a certain way that we should behave ourselves
in God's house, and a lot of that you would think
is just common sense.
Sometimes it's not, so we have rules
that sometimes we remind ourselves of, right?
But hey, you know, you should just apply this to yourself
and just think like, hey, am I being reverent
about God's house?
Am I being highly respectful at God's house?
You know, do I have godly fear,
or do you just act like this is your house or something?
Right?
Hey, what's being reverent to God's house?
Picking up your trash, not just throwing trash
on the ground.
You know, seeing something that needs to be done
and just jumping in and helping, you know?
Be reverent, be respectful to God's house.
Go, if you will, to Hebrews four,
Hebrews chapter number four.
Number three, make the spiritual decision and pray.
This is another way you can make the spiritual decision
in your life is by prioritizing prayer in your life.
Look what it says in verse 15,
"For we have not in high priest,
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin."
Boy, talk about how the Bible can bring you comfort.
Is reading verses like that
and remembering that Jesus Christ,
He was touched with all the feelings of our infirmities.
And when you are struggling,
when you have been forsaken,
when you have all these problems in your life,
you could solace yourself realizing like,
hey, Jesus cares about this.
He knows what this is like.
He wants to help me get through this.
How?
Verse 16, "Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need."
That's making the spiritual decision.
Is not trying to just face all your problems on your own
and just try to be all tough
to get through all your problems.
You know, making the spiritual decision
is acknowledging that you need Jesus's help.
And you know what?
I don't care how spiritual you are,
how long you've been serving God.
We need the Lord Jesus Christ's help every single day.
I don't care if you're a rock star dad, rock star mom.
You know, you need the grace of Jesus Christ
to help you succeed in your life.
And so what we should do,
come boldly unto the throne of grace.
Do not neglect your prayer life.
I think often it's something very easy to neglect, right?
'Cause it's like, we got a physical book here
that we could read.
We got a physical building we could show up at
for soul winning and for church services.
But it's like, prayer is one of the most spiritual activities
that we do as Christians, right?
Because there's nothing to see, there's no bright light,
there's no voice coming down from heaven.
It's just you in your closet, in secret with the Lord.
But you know what, you need to make the spiritual decision
and prioritize prayer.
Go if you would to Luke 18, Luke chapter 18,
the Lord Jesus Christ gives us a parable
teaching us about prayer.
Luke chapter number 18, it says in Luke 18 verse one,
and he spake a parable unto them to this end
that men ought always to pray and not to faint.
So in verse one, he just gives us the purpose
of why he's gonna give us this parable.
What is the end goal?
For those of you who like to preach,
you need to have a one great goal of your sermon.
The one great truth, I like to think of it as one great goal.
What am I trying to get people to do?
Stop doing, think, stop thinking.
Believe, stop believing, feel, stop feeling.
That one great goal of your sermon,
here's Jesus's one great goal,
is that we would pray always and not to faint.
All right, that's Jesus's goal for us.
Verse two, it says, "Saying there was in a city a judge,
"which feared not God, neither regarded man.
"And there was a widow in that city,
"and she came unto him saying,
"'Avenge me of mine adversary.'
"And he would not for a while.
"But afterward he said within himself,
"'Though I fear not God, nor regard man,
"yet because this widow troubleth me,
"I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming,
"she weary me."
Right, it's kind of a funny story,
how he uses this example, how, hey,
just earthly example here, in this world,
you could have this judge,
who the judge is like a band of high honor, right?
Someone that's very respected in the community.
And then you have like this lowly widow, right?
Much lower status in society.
And this lowly widow is coming to him,
begging him that he would, you know,
revenge her of her adversary.
And at first he's just like, no, I'm not gonna do it.
But then he just doesn't wanna get annoyed by her,
by the fact that she's just continually coming to him,
continually asking over and over and over.
And so he kind of just gives in simply
because he doesn't wanna be annoyed anymore.
That's the earthly example.
Then it says in verse six, and the Lord said here
what the unjust judge saith,
and shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cry day and night unto him,
though he bear long with them.
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh,
shall he find faith on the earth.
So he's saying, hey, God's kind of likening
the unjust judge to God,
which some people would be confused by that.
But again, it's just a parable.
And here's what he's trying to highlight.
He's saying, this judge is unjust,
and he's only making the right decision in this regard
because he doesn't want to be annoyed.
So how much more would God avenge us
when he is just and he does care about us
and he has been touched with all the feelings
of our infirmities and he wants to bless you?
You're his elect, you're his chosen, he loves you.
How much more is he gonna want to avenge you
of your adversaries when you come to him?
That's what he's saying.
Hey, if the unjust judge, the corrupt,
the low-character judge, okay, he'll just avenge
'cause he gets annoyed.
Well, how much more will God avenge when he is just,
he does love us, he does want what's right?
And so like, man, that sounds pretty cool
that we have this resource as Christians
to go to a just judge, a judge that loves us,
a judge that wants what's best for us, you know?
But what do we have to do?
We have to pray always and not faint.
Don't give up, don't just walk away from your prayer life.
You know, people get backslidden
and certain areas of their life slip away, right?
Maybe people are staying in church,
but there's not going soul winning.
Or they're staying in church,
but they've stopped reading their Bible, right?
And some people, they go to church,
but maybe they just don't pray.
You know, we need to make sure that we are always praying
that we don't faint in our prayer life.
You know, pray without ceasing.
Go to Philippians four, Philippians chapter number four.
And again, people will say, but I'm just too busy.
I've just got too much going on.
And it's like, man, you need to go back to Ecclesiastes
where it's like, you need to sharpen the edge, right?
If the iron's blunt, you gotta sharpen that ax
so that you can be more effective.
You know, when your life is just overwhelming
and chaos and stress and pain and issues and problems,
it's like, don't dial back your prayer during that time.
If anything, you need to ramp it up big time.
Now, Philippians four, verse six.
Remember, when we read this, what Jesus said to Martha
is that she was filled with care, right?
She's careful about many things, meaning she's stressed.
She's got a whole bunch of worries and anxieties.
But look at Philippians four, six.
It says, be careful for nothing, but in everything.
By prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God, right?
So we have all this stuff to do.
We have all these problems and these worries.
And you know, that's a lot of stress,
especially when you're trying to do it
all under your own power, under the power of the flesh.
But you know what, we're supposed to, with Thanksgiving,
make those requests be made known unto God.
Why?
Look at verse seven.
"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
"shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
"But my God shall supply all your need
"according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus."
You know, you want to have peace in your life.
I constantly tell people this,
and I constantly preach this,
that peace is so invaluable, it's priceless in your life.
And you know how you endeavor to get peace in your life?
It's like, here's what'll bring you peace.
Even if you have problems, issues, heartache,
persecutions, tribulation,
if you could sit here and say, you know what?
I love God, I am serving him, I am reading the Bible,
I am praying, I am going to church, I am a sole winner,
I love the Lord Jesus Christ, and you know what?
I've prayed to him, I've told him about these issues,
I've asked him to help me, and you know what?
At that point, you just say, it's in God's hands.
And you just keep going, you keep doing what's right,
and you say, okay, any problems, any crosses
that I'm to bear, that just must be God's will
for me to bear, and I can just have peace with that,
'cause I trust God, because we trust him,
because we know that he knows what's best for us.
He's not that unjust judge.
Hey, he's just, he knows what's best for us.
And it says, but my God shall supply all your need
according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
You know, you're not gonna have that peace, though,
if you're just constantly trying to live your life
in the flesh, you're not putting the kingdom of God first,
you're not going to church, you're not praying,
you're not reading the Bible,
and then your life is falling apart as well.
Well, you're not gonna sit here and be thinking like,
hey, maybe I'm job right now,
maybe God's putting me through a trial.
You're gonna be thinking like, wow, God's judging me
'cause he probably is.
And so if you want that peace in your life,
put the Lord first, make the spiritual decision,
read your Bible, go to church, pray to him,
then that peace that passes all understanding
can keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Go if you would to Philippians two,
I'll read for you James 5, 16.
The Bible says, "Confess your faults one to another
"and pray one for another that you may be healed.
"The effectual fervent prayer
"of a righteous man availeth much."
You know, don't just even pray for yourself,
pray for each other, pray for the people in this room,
pray for your children, pray for your wife.
Why?
Because the effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much.
You know, we have that prayer list on our bulletin,
and it's not just a place to fill up space on our bulletin.
You know, prayer actually works.
Prayer actually accomplishes things.
And you know, there's been people
we've had on the prayer list for cancer
that have been healed of cancer, right?
You know, my brother works a very dangerous job,
you know, going out into combat,
literally, physical combat,
and we're just praying for him for months
that he'd come home safely.
He comes home safely, right?
Praise God for that.
And who knows what could happen in this world
when people aren't praying for you, right?
I mean, God could send out his angels
to move those bullets or bombs or whatever, right?
I believe that God can do that.
I believe that God answers prayer.
We need to make the spiritual decision
and pray for each other.
Go if you would to Philippians 2, number four,
make the spiritual decision and preach the gospel.
Look, it takes faith because whether, you know,
we don't see this, but every single day,
every single hour in Oklahoma City,
people are dying and going to hell.
Every single hour, there are people in the city
that breathe their last and go to the eternal pits of hell.
And you know what?
You need to make the spiritual decision
and actually dedicate your life
to helping pull those people out of the fire
and preaching them the gospel.
And you know what, my favorite time, you know,
pick whatever soul-winning time you want.
My favorite time to go soul-winning is Saturday morning.
Why?
Because a lot of people have nothing going on.
A lot of people are just at home
and you can go out and reach them with the gospel.
You know, a lot of you have nothing going on too,
so why don't you make the spiritual decision
and go preach the gospel and go soul winning.
Look at Philippians 2 verse 14.
Do all things without murmurings and disputings
that you may be blameless and harmless,
the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst
of a crooked and perverse nation
among whom you shine as lights in the world.
I love this phrase, holding forth the word of life
that I may rejoice in the day of Christ,
that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
Notice what this is saying here.
It's really important to have the King James Bible
because the King James says
that we are holding forth the word of life.
What does that kind of illustrate?
Like we're reaching our hands forth
and we're putting it out to the world.
We're holding forth the word of life to this world.
Whereas in the modern versions,
it talks about holding fast to the word of God,
which other parts of the Bible talks about
how we should hold fast to the word of God.
But you know, there's an important spiritual truth here
that we're not just to hold fast to the Bible ourselves
and just lock ourselves in a tower and read the Bible
and become super smart when it comes to the Bible,
but we're to hold forth the word of life
and preach the gospel to this world.
And notice, why would we do that?
It says that I may rejoice in the day of Christ,
because what's gonna make you rejoice
at the judgment seat of Christ,
what's gonna be the difference
between gold, silver, precious stone,
and wood, hay, and stubble is whether or not
you held forth the word of life to this world.
Whether or not you went out and preached the gospel
to every creature, whether or not God says to you one day,
"Well done, my good and faithful servant,"
or whether he says like, "Hey, why'd you bury my talent
in the earth, that wicked and slothful servant?"
Oh, you're saved, so is my fire,
but it's all wood, hay, and stubble.
How are you gonna actually have joy at the day of Christ?
It's when you hold forth the word of life,
and notice that I have not run in vain,
neither labored in vain.
This world is vain.
Vanity of vanity, sayeth the preacher, all is vanity.
Solomon said, "Hey, I beheld all the works
that the sons of men do unto the Son,
and I beheld that it was all vanity and vexation of spirit."
But how do you actually end your life saying,
"Hey, I actually lived a life that mattered.
My life actually had value.
I actually accomplished something in this life."
It's when you live your life holding forth
the word of life to others.
That's a life well lived.
That's a life that has value.
You know what helps me wake up in the morning
is knowing that I'm a preacher of the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
I didn't say I'm a pastor.
I am a pastor, but you know what gets me going
is holding forth the word of life to the lost.
And you get to do the exact same thing.
Man, woman, boy, and girl.
Here's another thing.
Notice what it says in verse 17.
"Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice
"and service of your faith,
"I joy and rejoice with you all."
What is he saying?
He says, "Hey, even if I die,
"even if I am offered upon the sacrifice
"and service of your faith,
"if I die a young man, but you know what?
"I spent the years that God gave me
"holding forth the word of life."
He says, "And I joy and rejoice with you all."
You know, dying young is sad in a way,
but you know, imagine if you died young,
but you spent all the years that you had
preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I would rather that than live to an old man
that does nothing for God.
Live to 80, 90 years, and I was just selfish,
and I just slept in Sunday morning, watched football,
didn't go soul winning on Saturday,
didn't read the Bible, didn't pray.
I just really loved my career.
I just really loved my vacations.
And boy, I lived till 90.
You know, that's vain.
But you know what?
If I'm offered upon the sacrifice of faith,
of the service of God,
and you know, I'm holding forth the words of life,
then I'll joy at that.
I'll joy at that.
Go to Matthew 28.
You gotta make the spiritual decision
and become a soul winner.
And don't be afraid.
Don't think I'm an introvert.
Look, I'm an introvert too, okay?
Don't think, oh, I don't speak well.
Hey, we'll train you.
We'll teach you.
You could be a silent partner.
You don't even have to be the one talking.
You just show up with someone who knows what they're doing
and you just watch them.
And then if you wanna go from there,
hey, we got an outline.
You can just follow the outline.
You can learn.
There's tons of people that could teach you.
Look, you can become a soul winner.
If some of the children in this room
have become soul winners, you can become a soul winner.
Look at Matthew 28 verse 19.
"Go ye therefore and teach all nations,
"baptizing them in the name of the Father
"and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
"teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
"I have commanded you."
Notice, "And lo, I am with you always,
"even unto the end of the world, amen."
Hey, this is another way that you spend time
with Jesus, right?
Hey, if Jesus is at your house and he's teaching you,
make the spiritual decision and listen to him.
Read your Bible.
Hey, go to church where two or three are gathered together.
You know, he's there in the midst.
Hey, go pray.
Jesus Christ is our intercessor.
You're spending time with Jesus by praying.
You know how else you could do that?
By preaching the gospel.
'Cause he says, "Hey, I am with you always,
"even unto the end of the world."
You know, 2 Corinthians talks about
how we are workers together with God.
You know, Christ is like our co-laborer out there,
and we are ambassadors of Christ.
We're standing in his stead, you know,
beseeching the world to be reconciled unto God.
You know, this is a great work
that you could do with the Lord Jesus Christ,
but you know what you're gonna have to do?
You're gonna have to make the spiritual decision.
Because when you get someone saved,
there's no light bulb that comes on.
There's nothing that has miraculously changed about them.
But you know what?
As real as I'm standing here,
you have pulled that person out of the fire.
And whenever they breathe their last,
whether that's today, tomorrow, 60, 80 years from now,
they will be going to heaven because of Christ's sacrifice
and you holding forth the words of life
and getting someone saved.
Go to 2 Corinthians 4.
Proverbs 11, 30 says the fruit of the righteous
is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise.
It is a wise spiritual decision to be a soul winner.
2 Corinthians 4, verse one.
Therefore, seeing we have this ministry,
as we have received mercy, we faint not.
So right, we have the ministry of reconciliation.
We have received mercy.
You know, we have received the great blessing
of Jesus dying on the cross for us.
You know, we know how much suffering he went through.
We know he went to hell for us.
We know he rose again.
And you know, we have gotten this mercy,
but we don't wanna just, oh, well, we got the mercy,
but you know, forget everyone else.
Let them all go to hell.
No, he says, but have renounced the hidden things
of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,
nor handling the word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience
in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
Right, so if you, you know, cover your light,
if you don't go hold forth the word of life,
well then it's gonna be hidden to those that are lost.
And people are going to go to hell
as a result of you not being a soul winner.
And to me, like, those stakes are just too high
for me to be able to live with with a clear conscience.
I wouldn't be able to sleep at night
just knowing that there's all these people
that I could reach with the gospel
if I would just not be a lazy jerk
and just open my mouth and preach to them.
And they either have the greatest joy of all of eternity,
eternal bliss, sins forgiven, eternal paradise with God,
or eternal destruction of soul and body,
burning, agony, misery, no rest day or night,
the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever.
It's like, these are the options for people.
And then people are just like, "Oh, I'm tired.
I'm just going to watch the football game.
I'm shy.
I'm an introvert.
I'm not going to become a soul."
It's like, you need to get that wickedness out of your heart.
Because you have received this ministry,
just like I have received this ministry.
And you need to become a soul winner because when you're not,
people go to hell that could be saved.
"In whom the God of this world
have blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
The devil's greatest goal after you're saved,
because you can't lose your salvation,
the devil's greatest goal is to at least keep you
from being a soul winner.
He can't change your eternal destiny,
but you know what, he could try to bring things
in your way to discourage you, sin to get you off the path.
You know, that's what the devil would love to do
is for you to not be a soul winner.
"For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord,
and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
hath shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ."
Go, if you would, to Psalm 146.
Last point this morning.
Make the spiritual decision and sing praises unto God.
Sing praises unto God.
You know, make the spiritual choice.
Don't sit here and just be like,
"Oh, you know, I don't like my voice, I'm shy."
What would the spiritual person do?
I mean, if Jesus, again, if Jesus was physically here,
you probably would sing praises to him, wouldn't you?
If Jesus was leading the songs,
you probably would lift up your voice.
You probably would follow along and really sing out to him.
But guess what?
He is here.
He is hearkening his ear to us.
He is receiving our praise.
Look at Psalm 146, verse one.
"Praise ye the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
"While I live, will I praise the Lord.
"I will sing praises unto my God
"while I have any being."
Right, I mean, this person is just dedicated.
Just like, if there is any ounce of life in my soul left,
I will sing praises to God.
You know, I've been mentioning this guy a lot
because he just made really big impression on me.
This man, Pastor Cobb, it was cool, again, being there
and seeing this 89-year-old man and his wife
during the songs, they're just belting it out to the Lord.
And yeah, you know, their voices are a little creaky,
you know, and I'm sure they don't have the power
that they used to 'cause they're 89, really old, right?
But it's like, hey, while they have any being,
they're just singing praises out to the Lord.
And I guarantee you, God is so pleased with that.
I guarantee you, God is so pleased with the young children
that sing out to him, with the adults, with the teenagers.
Hey, with the very old gray head, he's worthy of our praise.
Look at Psalm 147, verse one, "Praise ye the Lord,
for it is good to sing praises unto our God,
for it is pleasant and praise is comely."
So again, you know, check your heart.
Is it like a drudgery?
Is it something you don't look forward to, to sing praises?
The Bible says that it's pleasant
to sing praises to our God.
You know, if you don't find singing praises to God pleasant,
you know, there's a problem with you.
You gotta change your heart.
'Cause it says praise is comely.
What does that mean?
Praise is fitting.
Praise is becoming of our Lord.
It's saying that God is worthy of our praise.
And it's like, you know,
of all the things that people sing about in this world,
all the silly songs, all the worldly music,
all the whistle notes that girls are just belting out
to try to hit, right?
And it's like, you can't even praise God though.
You can't even praise the Lord Jesus Christ
who is worthy of it.
Psalm 96, Psalm chapter 96, Psalm 96,
look at verse number four when you get there.
Says for the Lord is great and greatly to be praised.
He is to be feared above all gods
for all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Hey, the Bible says that the Lord is great
and greatly to be praised.
You know, you should sing out with all your heart
and soul unto the Lord.
If you play an instrument, you try to play that thing
with your heart out to the Lord, you know,
song leading, lead it out with your heart
because God is greatly to be praised.
And you know, there's a lot of great, you know,
musical performances in this world.
You think about the professional choirs that exist,
the professional orchestras,
even think about the military,
like the Marine Corps will have some Marine Corps band
and they'll just do such a good job
and they'll sing out loud, they'll play their instruments
loud and it's like, who are they doing that for?
You know, America themselves,
but it's like, we're praising the Lord.
How much more should we sing out
and praise him with all of our hearts?
Go to Psalm 100, Psalm 100.
You know, again, if you're gonna come to church,
why don't you just be spiritual while you're here?
Like, if you're gonna make the drive,
if you're gonna show up, if you're gonna get dressed,
it's like, why not just pay attention to the preaching?
Why not just read the verses?
Why not just sing out to the Lord?
Why not just make the spiritual decision?
Psalm 100 verse one, make a joyful noise unto the Lord.
All ye lands, serve the Lord with gladness
and come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the Lord, he is God.
It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves.
We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving
and into his courts with praise.
Be thankful unto him and bless his name.
For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting,
and his truth endureth to all generations.
You know, when you actually come into the house of God
with thanksgiving and you sing out praises unto his name,
you know what's gonna happen is you're gonna be filled
with the Holy Spirit of God.
And when you're filled with the Holy Spirit of God,
you know, that's gonna change your mentality.
It's gonna change your outlook on life.
You're gonna enter into his gates with thanksgiving.
Says you're gonna be thankful unto him.
You're gonna bless his name.
You know, when you're having a rough time,
oftentimes, let's be honest, when we're having a rough time,
it's 'cause we're so focused on ourselves and our problems.
And our problems are real.
And we're supposed to go to God for those problems.
But you know, oftentimes we just need to take the focus
off of ourselves and just be thankful to God.
And just sit here and praise him for all the good.
And praise him that you have breath in your lungs.
And that you have a functioning body.
And that you have a great church to go to.
And that you have friends.
And that you have food on the table.
And that you have a job.
And that you have children.
And that you have a wife.
And that you have all these good things in your life.
You know, singing will remind you of that.
Of how good God has been.
Go back to Luke chapter number 10.
Luke chapter number 10.
You know, we need to make the spiritual decision
in our life.
And it needs to be daily, daily things that we do
making the spiritual decision.
It's not like, hey, with salvation,
we make that spiritual decision once.
You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you're saved for forever.
That is one spiritual decision
that you only have to make one time.
But you know what?
In our daily walk though,
we need to constantly be making the spiritual decision
every single day.
Look at Luke chapter number 10, verse 42.
Notice this, but one thing is needful
and Mary hath chosen that good part.
Notice which shall not be taken away from her.
That's the cool thing about making the spiritual decision
is that, hey, there's a lot of carnal things
that we could chase in this life
and you could fail at those things
or you could even be successful in those things.
And you know, maybe you do successfully build a business.
Maybe you do successfully build a great career.
Maybe you do get all this money.
Maybe you do get to go on your favorite vacation.
Maybe you just succeed in all these carnal endeavors
that you've put your hand to.
But here's the thing about that is number one, it's vain.
And number two, it could be taken away from you
at any moment.
Isn't that crazy, right?
You could just like build this big career
and then you could just get in some car accident
and never be able to work again.
You know, you could just make all this money
and thieves can just break through and steal.
Or the economy could just crash.
Or hyperinflation could just take it all away.
Think about that.
You know, that's the fragile world that we live in,
which is why we should not just give our heart
and energy and efforts solely into the things of this world.
But you know what?
Mary, Jesus said, that good part that she chose
will never be taken away from her.
And you know what?
The hours you spend reading your Bible,
memorizing scripture, praying to the Lord,
showing up to church, paying attention,
going soul-winning, making the spiritual choice,
singing out praises to God,
none of that can ever be taken away from you.
Even if you do get backslidden in the future,
hey, all those works of the past,
you'll still be rewarded for those.
And look, don't get backslidden.
Keep serving God all the way to the very end.
But I'm telling you, make the spiritual decision
because that is actually the only thing in this life
that is not vain.
That is the only sure thing in this world is God,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the house of God.
Hey, the gates of hell will not prevail
against Jesus's church.
It's the only sure thing there is.
It's the only sound investment you can make.
Make the spiritual decision.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you so much for your word to instruct us.
I pray that we would just read it very carefully,
that we'd give attendance to reading,
that we would allow your word to change our hearts,
change our lives, change the trajectory that we're going.
Help us to every day make spiritual decisions
in what we're doing with our time, our effort,
our energy, our resources, Lord.
I pray that you'd help all of us to be faithful
until the day you take us home.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
With that, we'll go ahead and sing one last song
to conclude the service.
If you would take your hymnals
and turn to hymn number 254, "Whosoever Will."
Make the spiritual decision here to sing nice and loud
to our Lord, hymn number 254.
We'll go ahead and start there right on the first.
♪ Whosoever hear this shout, shout the sound ♪
♪ Spread the blessed tidings all the world around ♪
♪ Tell the joyful news wherever man is found ♪
♪ Whosoever with me, this afternoon you are ♪