All right, folks, we're going to go ahead and get started.
It is about that time.
If you would, grab your hymnals.
We'll get started this evening.
Our first hymn will be hymn number three, "Jesus Paid It
All."
Hymn number three, "Jesus Paid It All."
Sing there on the first.
[MUSIC - "I SAVED YOUR SAVE SINGLE"]
I save your save, save us pay.
Let's open with a word of praises.
Thank you for this day and for all your wonderful blessings,
Lord.
I just pray that you would be with those souls that
were saved this evening and also any that weren't saved, Lord,
that they would just have that seed planted
and that they would just find in them to desire and seek
after the truth.
Lord, I just pray for all of our families
this midweek service that are having health issues
or otherwise that you would just be with them
and bless them, Lord.
And I also pray that you would just
fill Brother Dylan with your spirit this evening
and prepare our hearts for the sermon, Lord.
And lastly, Lord, I just pray that you would incline your ear
to us as we sing out praises unto you, Lord.
It's all for you.
We love you very much.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, for our next hymn this evening,
turn, if you would, to hymn number 14, "Kneel at the Cross."
Hymn number 14, "Kneel at the Cross."
Christ will meet you there.
Hymn number 14, let's sing there, starting on the first.
Kneel at the cross.
Christ will meet you there.
This evening, go ahead and go through our announcements.
If you need a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand.
Brother Brandon's got those, and he can get you one.
If you need a bulletin, raise your hand.
Brother Brandon has those.
Of course, welcome to Pure Words Baptist Church.
See any visitors here, but if you need them,
if you just have a little bit of lapse in memory,
our service times are the first thing you'll come across.
We had a soul-winning time this evening
and actually had three people saved,
so amen, praise the Lord for that.
Is there anything else to report soul-winning
for earlier this week?
That's gonna be Monday through today.
Does anyone have any soul-winning
to report Monday through today?
All right, with the numbers from Sunday,
we had seven, this is Sunday's bulletin.
So with what we have from today and Sunday,
that actually brings our total to 307.
So we broke 300, the goal's 1,000.
So we have a lot of work to do,
but amen for 300 souls that'll never taste hell
because we went out and did the work.
That's a good accomplishment.
You should really be happy about that.
Of course, we have our Bible memory there as well.
Romans chapter eight, we're on verse 13.
Romans chapter eight, verse 13.
Of course, kids, I know for a fact,
because I saw Brother Nick stock the freezer,
there is no shortage of ice cream.
So if you can memorize this for next week,
I believe this is Sunday, if you can recite this
or even verse 14 on Sunday, you can help yourself
to the promised land, right, of ice cream that's there.
And for the adults, if you're 18 or over,
memorize, just be diligent to memorize those verses
as well as Romans one.
Pastor is doing for Pride Month a special
for Romans chapter number one.
So try to memorize that.
Really all you have to memorize for Romans one
is the first part because verses like 20 onward,
you probably already know, right?
Verses 20, it's like 22, right, 21.
You're like, I know that, you know,
you can really get that down.
Memorize that first part and here's the thing,
the longer the chapter, the better the prize.
Ultimately the prize is writing the word of the God
in your heart, word of God in your heart,
and having that, no one can ever take that from you.
But just memorize that for your carnal reward too
'cause we like those, right, in the flesh.
Obviously be in prayer for our expecting mothers,
Mrs. Carrie Shelley and Mrs. Sarah Gomez.
Definitely be in prayer for them.
The church is definitely growing organically
and that's always a blessing.
We have a lot of new children that are here, you know,
and look, don't stop praying just because
they make it off the list.
Once they have that baby, I'm sure they're like,
I really need your prayers now, you know.
Now is the time, you know, to keep praying.
So keep that up.
Of course, this is the midweek service.
I don't have a print off of people who,
or a list of people who have requested prayers.
But just remember, if you do need prayer,
if there's something going on in your life
that you need extra prayer for,
send that into the church, email that to Brother Nick.
I almost said email that to Steadfast Baptist OKC,
but that's a different email.
Then your stuff is gonna go to OKC,
which, hey, we'll get them on board too.
But email that to Brother Nick.
Obviously, prayer is super powerful.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much, is what the Bible says.
So we wanna keep that up.
We do have a soul winning marathon coming up in Baytown.
That is gonna be Saturday, June 26th.
Saturday, June 26th, breakfast and lunch is covered.
So we will feed you, I heard this from Pastor,
we'll feed you, you'll feed people with the gospel.
All right, so come out.
It'll be at a place, I actually have the details.
I've got this planned out.
I've got a lot of apartments,
about 30 massive apartment complexes that we can hit.
We're gonna meet at a place called Roseland Park.
It's very close to Brother Sam's house.
So they're familiar with the area.
It's got bathrooms, like nice bathrooms.
So ladies, that's how I know important my wife was like,
you have to pick a place with a bathroom.
All right, so we've got bathrooms.
We've got the pavilion.
We should be able to meet there, no problem.
If anything changes, we'll let you guys know.
And once those are more official,
we'll have that in writing in the bulletin.
We're just nailing down those last little bits
of the events.
Of course, also don't forget
that there's the Ardmore Soul Winning Marathon in Ardmore.
That's gonna be on June 13th.
So that's 12th, I'm sorry, you're right.
12th is the Saturday, 13th is Sunday.
So 12th, Saturday, June 12th, this weekend.
If you can make it to Ardmore,
I think from here, Ardmore's about five hours, six hours.
I'm not 100% sure.
We were looking at it.
My wife and I won't be able to make it, unfortunately.
But if you can, I know they would really be happy
to have your support.
The DFW guys, I know a lot of guys from OKC.
They're making their way down there.
Of course, before I get into the October event,
we have another upcoming event on June 13.
And that is Brother Ben Naim is going
to be preaching for us from DFW, be in prayer for him
and his wife.
And of course, their baby, they're
going to make that travel down here.
They'll be here on Saturday.
And I've heard they will be at the game night on Saturday.
This Saturday evening at 6 PM, we're
just having a fellowship game night.
Whoever wants to come, it's only a $50 head chart.
I'm just kidding.
So whoever wants to come, just come.
It's kind of like a bring your own food or whatever.
I'm sure once people get here, someone
will run and grab food probably for whoever wants it.
It's just a fun night to build fellowship,
to have some fun together.
And like I said, I've heard that Ben the Baptist
is going to be here.
I mean, who doesn't want to meet him?
He's already been here to preach for you guys.
But who doesn't want to have more time with him?
He's great.
He's a great guy.
You can really get him riled up.
Just bring up a random topic, and he's
sure to go off on it for a while.
So we have that in common.
Upcoming events, a little in the future,
put on your calendar, October 6 through the 10th,
is the Fire-Breathing Baptist Fellowship.
Now here's the thing.
I, along with Brother Nick, I don't
know what the lineup of preachers is going to be,
but it's definitely going to be great preachers.
You know, I could probably submit to you that Manley
Perry is not going to make this one.
All right, I'm sorry if you're holding out for that.
We just want people that are saved to be preaching,
probably.
So that's upcoming.
Put that on your calendar, mark that.
And of course, any prayer request,
there's the email there, purewordsbaptist@gmail.com.
There is a space for notes on the back.
We are blessed to have Brother Dylan Oz here preaching for us.
So just be in prayer for him.
He's come a long way down here to preach for us.
He's got a long trip after this, and so just be in prayer.
And with that, we're going to go ahead and move on to our next hymn
for this evening, which is hymn number 41, our next hymn
this evening, hymn number 41, "Sweet By and By."
There's a land that is fairer than day.
Number 41, "Sweet By and By."
41, "Sweet By and By."
Let's sing there on the first.
There's a land that is fairer than day.
And by faith we can see o'er the fall shore.
Good singing this evening.
The offering plate is coming around.
If you would turn to Matthew chapter number six,
Matthew chapter number six.
We'll read that whole chapter as is our custom.
Brother Brandon, if you'll read for us.
- Matthew chapter six.
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men
to be seen of them.
Otherwise ye have no reward of your father
which is in heaven.
Therefore, when thou doest thine alms,
do not sound a trumpet before thee,
as thy hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets,
that they may have glory of men.
Verily I say unto you that they have their reward.
But when thou doest alms,
let not thy left hand know what thy right hand is dueeth,
that thine alms may be in secret,
and thy father which seeth in secret himself
shall reward thee openly.
And when thou prayest,
thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are,
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues
and in the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you they have their reward,
but when thou prayest enter into the closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to the father which is in secret,
and the father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly.
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions
as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard
for their much speaking.
Be not ye therefore like unto them,
for your father knoweth what these things ye have need of,
before ye ask him.
After this manner therefore pray ye.
Our father which art in heaven, allow be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is thy kingdom, and the power,
and the glory forever and ever, amen.
For if ye forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly father will also forgive you.
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your father forgive your trespasses.
Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites
of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces,
and they may appear unto men to fast.
Verily I say unto you, they have the reward.
But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head
and wash thy face, as thou appear not unto men fast,
but unto the Father which is in secret.
And thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly.
Lay not up for thyselfs treasures upon earth,
where the moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where these break through in steel.
But lay up yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and wherefore these do not break through nor steal.
For when ye are treasured, for where your treasure is,
there will your heart also be, be also.
The light of the body is the eye.
If therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil,
thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness,
how great is that darkness.
No man can serve two masters,
for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore I say unto you,
take no thought for your life,
what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink,
nor yet for your body what ye shall put on.
It is not the life more than meat in the body than raiment.
Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not,
neither do they reap, nor gather in barns,
yet your heavenly father feedeth them.
Are ye not much more than they?
Which of you, by taking thought,
can add one cubit unto stature?
And why, take ye thought for raiment,
consider the lilies of the valley,
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 arrayed 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 of ye little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying,
what shall we eat, or what shall we drink,
or wherewith shall we be clothed?
For after all these things do the Gentiles seek,
for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need
of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow,
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Say a word of prayer.
- Heavenly Father, we thank you for everyone here.
Lord, we thank you for this many blessings
that you do for our Lord.
We just pray that you just fill brother Dillon
with your spirit, and help us with patience
and in Jesus' name, amen.
- Amen, all right.
First, I wanna thank Pastor Shelley as always
for giving me the opportunity to preach,
and it's good to see everyone here.
Good to be back down here in Houston with all of you guys.
And tonight, we are in Matthew chapter six.
Now, Matthew chapter six is in the middle
of the Lord Jesus Christ's sermon on the mount.
His sermon on the mount goes from chapter five
to chapter seven, and it's arguably one
of the best sermons ever preached.
It's definitely better than any sermon
any other man has ever preached,
and there's just so much great truth in this chapter.
And really, when you look at the sermon on the mount,
it's really where the rubber meets the road
in our Christianity.
It's really just real Christianity
when you read the sermon on the mount,
and there's so much great doctrine.
And if I had to pick one verse that would sum up
the sermon on the mount, I would say it's Matthew 5:48.
If you just look back to one verse before Matthew 6,
it says, "Be therefore perfect, even as your father,
"which is in heaven, is perfect."
That really is the theme of Matthew,
of the sermon on the mount,
because he gives us so many admonitions
on how to be great Christians,
so many great teachings and doctrines
that the Lord Jesus Christ gives to us.
And so the title of my sermon is,
what does a good Christian look like?
What does a good Christian look like?
Because that's really what you can get
from Matthew chapter 6.
He gives us so many great topics.
And there's so much material in this sermon
to where I can't cover it all.
So I would really encourage everyone
to read Matthew 5, 6, and 7 and get the full thing,
but we're just gonna cover a few things
in Matthew chapter number six.
So number one, Matthew chapter six, verse one,
a good Christian strives to please God, not man.
A good Christian strives to please God, not man.
Look at Matthew 6, 1.
The Bible says, "Take heed that you do not your alms
before men to be seen of them,
otherwise you have no reward of your father,
which is in heaven."
Now, what is alms?
According to dictionary.com,
alms is money, food, or other donations
given to the poor or needy,
or anything given as charity.
And so Jesus Christ right off the bat in chapter six says,
"Take heed, be careful that you do not your alms
before men to be seen of them."
Don't try to go give money to the poor
to help out your brother in Christ,
to do it in front of everyone else
so that they can see you do it,
so that you can just have glory in front of men,
but rather a good Christian is someone
that strives to please God, not men.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 13.
1 Corinthians chapter number 13
covers the topic of charity.
Now, if we look at verse number one,
it says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men
"and of angels and have not charity,
"I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol.
"And though I have the gift of prophecy
"and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
"and though I have all faith
"so that I could remove mountains and have not charity,
"I am nothing.
"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
"and though I give my body to be burned
"and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."
You know, this could be one of the scariest verses
in the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 13.
It's talking about all these things that you can do,
but if you do them for the wrong reasons,
if you do not have charity in your heart,
if you're doing them to be seen of men, you're nothing.
To the point where you can literally give all your goods
and you could actually give your body to be burned.
But when you do it without charity, it's nothing.
And so that's why Jesus Christ admonishes us
to make sure that when we do our alms,
when we do nice things for our brothers in Christ,
to make sure that we're not doing it to be seen of men,
because it's completely vain and pointless
when you do it like that.
Now look at verse number four of 1 Corinthians 13.
Charity suffereth long and is kind.
Charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil.
So notice this, one of the aspects of charity
is that you're not seeking to lift yourself up
when you have a charitable heart.
So today in our modern vernacular,
a lot of times people say, oh, I gave money to charity.
I'm giving to charity.
But the Bible actually says
that you could give all your goods.
And if you don't have charity, it's nothing.
So it matters how you give.
It matters how you give your alms.
It matters how you do things for your brothers in Christ.
If you don't have charity in your heart,
then it's completely pointless.
But what does a good Christian do?
A good Christian strives to please God rather than men.
Motives matter.
Motives matter to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Go back to Matthew chapter number six.
Matthew chapter number six.
So he tells us not to do things to be seen of men, verse two.
Therefore, when thou doest thine alms,
do not sound a trumpet before thee
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets,
that they may have glory of men.
So during the time of our Lord Jesus Christ,
there was these hypocrites that would literally,
when they go to the corners to give someone money,
you know, they see the homeless person or whatever,
and they go, do, do, do, do, just so everyone can see them.
Hey, look at me, I'm about to give money to the poor.
That literally happened.
And Jesus is saying, hey,
don't be like these hypocrites that sound a trumpet.
So what would that be in our modern times?
Because I'm sure there's only one person in here
that has a trumpet, okay?
And he's using it to glorify God.
He's not saying, "Oh, look at me."
Most of us don't even have a trumpet.
But you know what a lot of us can do?
We can draw attention to ourselves in other ways, can't we?
When we're doing our alms,
when we're doing things for our brothers in Christ,
when you're doing things that are good,
when you're drawing attention to yourself,
it completely ruins it.
It makes it completely vain.
Look at the last part of that verse.
He says, "Verily I say unto you, they have their reward."
See, the sad part is that a lot of people,
even Christians, can do all these great things.
Give money to the poor, help your brothers in Christ.
But when you do it for to be seen of men,
Jesus says you have your reward.
And so if you want your glory to be of men
rather than of God,
if you want to look great in the sight of men,
you can get that.
You can absolutely have that.
The only problem is you can't take that with you
when you die.
That's completely vain.
That's completely pointless.
And that's why Jesus is giving us these admonitions
in Matthew chapter six.
Let's look at Matthew six, verse three.
"But when thou doest thine alms,
let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth,
that thine alms may be in secret,
and thy father, which seeth in secret himself,
shall reward thee openly."
So what is he saying?
He's telling you when he says not to let your right hand
know what your left hand's doing,
it's saying be very discreet.
Be very careful not to let everyone know
every good work that you're doing,
because otherwise you're gonna be seen of men
and you're gonna lose your reward in heaven.
It's very important that we have the right motives.
And then he says, "Thy father, which seeth in secret."
You know, I think the reason why God is gonna reward those
that do things to please God rather than men
is because it takes faith
to believe that God sees you in secret.
See, a lot of times the reason why people have to do things
to be seen of men is because they lack faith,
because they forget, oh yeah, God actually does see me.
God actually does know my heart.
God actually does see every single work that I do.
He sees all the good that I do.
He sees all the evil that I do.
And a lot of time, Christians may get this attitude
where they wanna just be lifted up.
They wanna be seen of men.
Why? Because they're lacking faith
that thy father would seeth in secret.
He does see you.
And guess what?
If you do that to be seen of God in secret,
the Bible says he'll reward you openly.
And isn't that what men want?
Isn't that what our human nature wants, right?
And the prideful go about that in a way
to directly seek that goal.
But it's actually a paradox
when you do things the right way.
It says do it in secret
and I'll actually reward you openly that way.
So the prideful aren't gonna get what they want anyways.
God is going to bless those that do things in secret.
And you gotta think, you know,
there's so many different ways that we can serve God.
There's so many different ways that the children,
the ladies, the men can serve God.
And it doesn't matter how menial of a task you think
that what you're doing is.
God sees what you're doing in secret.
And if you're doing it for the right heart,
He will reward you openly.
You know, ladies, when your husband gets home,
you know that you don't have to tell him
every single thing you did that day at home.
You know, you don't have to tell him,
okay, I changed diapers today.
I cleaned the house today.
I fed the kids today.
I kept them alive.
I homeschooled them.
I taught them the Bible.
You know, I cooked you dinner.
Do you know that God just sees all of that work anyways?
And you know that if you're just doing that
for the Lord that he's gonna reward you for that?
Hey, men, when you go to work,
do you know you don't have to tell your boss
every single thing you did for the company that day?
Do you know that you could just be a blessing
without telling anyone?
You know that you could just put your nose
to the grindstone and get to work
and do things your boss doesn't even ask you about
and do things your boss will never even know about?
And you could just do that because you're serving God?
You know, do you know that actually
you could preach the gospel without posting on Facebook?
Now, I'm not saying anyone in here does this,
but I remember this guy, Doug Trowbridge,
who used to go to St. Fast Baptist Church.
A lot of you probably were friends with him on Facebook.
And I was too.
And I noticed something weird about him.
He was constantly posting pictures of himself,
taking selfies with people out, soul-winning.
And what is he doing?
He's doing his works to be seen of men.
That's what he's doing.
Number one, because it turns out he was a false prophet.
So of course he's not going to have any rewards in heaven.
All he can get is the glory of men on this earth, right?
But you know, we don't have to be that way as Christians.
In fact, Jesus told us not to be that way.
And I'm not saying you can never talk about the work you do.
And I'm also not saying that you can't have a public ministry.
Because there's many things in Christianity that's public.
You know, preaching a sermon is a public thing to do.
Going out and preaching the gospel, people are going to see you do those works.
But whether it's public or private, what matters in the sight of God is your heart
and your motives.
You can have a completely public ministry and do works that are seen of men every single
day.
And if your heart is right, you'll be rewarded for that in heaven.
But if you have a public ministry and every single thing that you're doing is just to
get honor and praise from men, then you lost your reward.
You have your reward.
It's the praise of men.
And that's pretty lame if you ask me.
That's pretty cheap.
I'd rather have the praise of God.
I'll read for you 1st Timothy chapter 5, verse 24 says, "Some men's sins are open beforehand,
going before to judgment, and some men they follow after."
You know, some people you could look at them and just be like, wow, this is a really sinful
person.
You know, if you're on the wrong side of town and you see a prostitute, it's like, okay,
some women's sins are open beforehand.
We understand this is a very sinful person, but you know, some people can hide it.
Some people can act like they're very holy and they're very separated and they could
even be in the ministry and they could even be doing all these works for God.
But you know, sometimes they're hiding things.
And at the judgment seat of Christ, it's going to reveal who we really are.
We can hide from men, but we cannot hide from God.
And then verse 25 says, "Likewise also, the good works of some are manifest beforehand
and they that are otherwise cannot be hid."
You can't hide your good works from God either.
He knows your evil.
He knows the good works that you do.
And so since we know that God sees everything that we do, if we're going to spend all of
our time serving God, if we're going to put time and energy and money and all of our
efforts into serving God, wouldn't you want to get a reward for it?
Well, if we know that God sees us in secret, if we know that he's going to reward us openly,
we know that they that are otherwise cannot be hid, that should motivate us to do things
out of a right heart and not to be seen of men, but rather to please God.
You know, so what are some ways that people do this today?
We've already talked about some of them, but how about giving money to church?
Hey, that's a good thing to do.
The Bible teaches that we should pay our tithe, that we should pay 10% of our increase
to the Lord.
I believe in that, but you don't have to go telling everyone about it.
You really don't.
And especially if you're going to give above and beyond your 10% and give a free will offering
to the Lord, that's something that if you do, hey, I want you to get a reward for that
because that's a great sacrifice to give of your extra money to the Lord.
But if you tell everyone about it, then you have your reward.
Everyone thinks you're awesome.
Everyone thinks that you're so gracious and so generous, and that is your reward that
we think that about you.
But what I'd rather is for you and I to not be thought that way of men, but to be thought
that way of God and get rewards in heaven.
Helping a brother in Christ, simple things like giving someone a ride.
You don't have to tell every single person the things you do for your brothers in Christ.
Helping the poor, preaching the gospel, how about preaching a sermon?
You don't have to post literally every single sermon that you preach to all of your social
media accounts.
What example of a pastor do we see where the pastor is just reposting all of their preaching?
No, they don't draw attention like that.
Obviously, the church posts the sermons.
And I'm not saying it's wrong every once in a while to post one of your sermons.
You're like, "Hey, I got the opportunity to preach at this new church, you know, praise
God for this opportunity," or, "Hey, this sermon was very interesting for me to study,"
or something like that.
But look, if you're just posting all of your sermons and just constantly trying to gain
attention to yourself, it gives the appearance that you're prideful.
It gives the appearance that you're puffed up.
And hey, maybe someone's doing that and they have the pure right heart.
And if you have that heart, that's fine.
But it could be a trap for people who preach to just gain all this attention to themselves
and to start getting puffed up and to get all the glory of men rather than the glory
from God.
How about prayer?
Let's go back to Matthew chapter number six.
Jesus covers this topic, verse five, "And when thou prayest, thou shall not be as the
hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the
streets."
Why?
That they may be seen of men.
Why?
Because they care about pleasing men, more than they do about pleasing God.
Merrily, I say unto you, they have their reward.
Boy, does this fit a lot of religions today.
How about Judaism?
Where they're at the wailing wall, just banging their head against the wall so everyone can
see how much they pray to God.
What a joke.
Is that really going into your closet and shutting the door and praying to thy father,
which is in secret?
No, it's making a fool out of yourself because you want to gain all this attention so everyone
can see how spiritual you are, right?
Or the Catholic priest that wants to repeat a bunch of Latin just over and over and over
so that everyone can think he's such a holy man.
You know what Jesus says?
They're a hypocrite, is what they are.
When I see a Catholic priest, you know what I call him?
Hey hypocrite, because that's what Jesus called him, a bunch of hypocrites.
How about Manly Perry praying in the comment section?
It's like, that's not how you pray to God.
We're all seeing that.
And there's nothing wrong with public prayer, but you know what, the vast majority of your
prayer life should be in secret to God.
In fact, that's what Jesus is about to say.
Look at verse number six, but thou, when thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou
shut thy door, pray to thy father, which is in secret and thy father would see it in secret
shall reward the openly.
Once again, you want to know why a lot of people want to just pray openly to gain all
this attention because they lack faith, because they forget, oh yeah, my father actually does
see me in secret.
Oh yeah, praying actually is talking to God and he actually hears me because a person
that actually believes that they can just talk to the creator of the universe, it's
not going to matter whether that's in front of people or by yourself.
But people who are just carnal and just fleshly and don't actually believe that God sees you
in secret, you have to do it in front of men so that everyone can see how spiritual you
are so that you can get your glory from men rather than of God until verse number seven.
But when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they
shall be heard for their much speaking.
Be ye therefore not, sorry, be not ye therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what
things ye have need of before ye ask him.
After this manner therefore pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever, amen.
So Jesus he tells them, he's giving them instructions on how to pray and he's saying when you pray
do not use vain repetitions like the heathen do.
And then basically he says after this manner pray ye.
So he's giving them a sample prayer.
He's telling them this is the way that you should pray.
He's not saying this is what you should pray because he just said don't vainly repeat
prayers like the heathen do.
But people that like to be seen of men, like the Catholic church, you know what they do?
They repeat this exact prayer right after Jesus just said don't vainly repeat things.
And they're just like that looks like a good prayer to repeat over and over and over.
It's like you just want to be seen of men.
That's it because you don't care about pleasing God.
If you cared about pleasing God, you would have listened to what Jesus just said to not
repeat prayers vainly.
How's another way?
What's another way that people try to please God over pleasing men?
How about fasting?
Jesus covers this topic as well.
Look at verse number 16.
"Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance,
for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast.
Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward.
But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy face, that thou appear not
unto men to fast.
But unto thy father, once again, which is in secret, and thy father, which seeth in
secret, shall reward thee openly.
Sounds like Jesus is trying to reiterate something to us over and over and over.
But a person who does not want to please God and just wants to please men, they're not
worried about the Father that sees in secret, they're worried about the men that see them.
And so Jesus is saying when you're fasting, what you should not do, you should not appear
unto men to fast.
Don't have a sad countenance.
Don't go walking around like you're so emaciated and you're so tired and you don't have any
energy because you're fasting.
He says don't disfigure your faces to make it look like you're fasting.
And it's so funny.
The Catholic Church has a holiday called Ash Wednesday.
And basically they're fasting.
And you know what they do?
They disfigure their face.
They get a thing of ash and put a cross on their forehead.
And you know what the point of this cross is?
To let everyone know, "Hey guys, I'm fasting!"
Because they're hypocrites.
Because they want to be seen of men.
It's just like, they just look at what Jesus teach and then just do the exact opposite.
That's what people do that want to please men.
It's unbelievable.
It's almost comical if it wasn't a religion that damns so many people to hell.
You know?
It's disgusting.
But Jesus is teaching us over and over, "Thy Father would see it in secret, shall reward
thee openly."
We have to do things to be pleasing to God, not pleasing to men.
What's another way that people try to please men over God?
How about preaching?
Aren't there a lot of people that preach to be seen of men, rather than to please God?
Or what they preach to please men, rather than pleasing God?
You go ahead and turn to John chapter 3, and I'll read for you Philippians 1, 15.
The Bible says, "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of
good will."
The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to
my bonds.
You know the Bible says that some people, some preachers literally preach Christ just
because they envy other people, and just because they want to strife, just because they're
full of pride and they want to contend.
And you'll see these guys who, since they're envious and since they're prideful, you see
them have to lash out at other men of God.
Why?
Because they're not preaching Christ to glorify Christ.
They're preaching Christ to glorify themselves.
And so it's like, uh-oh, I'm not getting the glory I wanted.
Oh, I'm not getting the recognition from man that I wanted.
I guess now I have to be envious and strive and attack my brothers in Christ.
Why?
Because you're doing it to be seen of men.
And when someone is just attacking good men of God for no reason, it's just a proof that
they're prideful.
It's just proof that they're preaching Christ not sincerely when someone does stuff like
that.
But you know, John the Baptist wasn't this way, this way.
John chapter three verse 26 says, "And they came unto John and said unto him, 'Rabbi,
he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptize
it, and all men come to him.'"
These people are trying to play on John the Baptist's pride and saying, "Hey, do you
see, you know that guy Jesus you were with?"
Yeah, all men are coming to him now.
What do you think about that, John?
How do you feel about that?
Where are your disciples at?
They're all with Jesus now.
You can see how this is trying to just pick on John's pride, right?
Verse 27, "John answered and said, 'A man can receive nothing except to be given him
from heaven.
Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before
him.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth
and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
This my joy therefore is fulfilled.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
Who do these guys think they were talking to?
This is the same guy who said, Hey, I'm not even worthy to take this guy's shoe latchet.
He's like, I'm not worthy of anything around this guy.
And he's saying, look, my joy is fulfilled by this news.
You're bringing me that people are following Jesus Christ.
Why?
He must increase and I must decrease.
And every single preacher needs to have the attitude that the Lord Jesus Christ must increase
and they must decrease.
You know, why is it such a revolutionary concept that preaching should be about glorifying
God and not yourself?
Why is it such a revolutionary concept that preaching should be about glorifying the Bible,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and not the preacher?
The last person I ever want to listen to preach is someone that is glorifying themselves.
Someone that is prideful, because that's not glorifying God.
No one comes to church to hear the preacher just glorify themselves.
People come to church because they want to hear God's words, and it's so weird when
preachers won't even preach the Bible.
What is that?
That's an evidence that you just want to be seen of men and that you're just prideful
because nothing I can say can be as interesting or as powerful as Matthew chapter six and
the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, and nothing any preacher can say can be as interesting
and powerful as the Bible, and so preachers need to not just be puffed up and do what
they do to be seen of men, but rather to be seen of God, to glorify God, but you know,
oftentimes when it comes to pleasing God or pleasing men as preachers, it's oftentimes
just as much about what the preacher doesn't say as much as he does say.
A lot of times you could look at a preacher and be like, "Oh yeah, all he's doing is
talking about himself.
Clearly, he just wants it for the glory of men," but you know you could also tell a lot
about a preacher by what he does not preach about, by what he does not say.
Go to Galatians chapter 1 and I'll show you an example of a man who was not afraid to
preach anything, the apostle Paul.
He wasn't doing what he was doing to be seen of men.
He wasn't afraid to preach something that was unpopular.
He wasn't afraid to preach something that was a little bit negative.
Galatians chapter 1, look at verse 1, he says, "I marvel that you are so soon removed from
him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another,
but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, then that which
we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."
The Apostle Paul is not taking a middle-of-the-road approach on this.
He's not worrying about who this is going to offend.
He's saying, "Listen, if anyone preaches a different gospel than we preached unto you,
whether it was ourself, whether it was someone, an angel from heaven, let him be accursed.
Let him go to hell," is what the Apostle Paul made his stance on.
Does it sound like he's trying to please God or trying to please men?
That doesn't win you very many points, okay?
When you're saying, "Hey, I'm just going to accursed this person," that's not exactly
doing things to be getting all his attention from men.
No, that's pleasing God.
Look at verse 9.
"As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than
that ye have received, let him be accursed."
Now verse 10 is the key, "For do I now persuade men, or God, or do I seek to please men?
For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
And so sometimes you could tell that a preacher is not the servant of Christ and that he does
seek to please men by what he won't say.
And if a pastor will never stand up, if a preacher will never stand up and make a clear
line on salvation and say, "Hey, if someone preaches a false gospel, let them be accursed.
Hey, let the Mormons be accursed.
Let the Jehovah's Witnesses be accursed.
We're not going to try to make friends with them."
Okay?
Because that would be trying to be a man pleaser, not pleasing God.
And how funny is it that some pastors, when you call and ask them what they believe about
salvation, they get all offended.
They don't want to talk about it.
They don't want to answer that question.
Why?
Because they want to please men.
If you would have asked the Apostle Paul and you preached another gospel to him, he would
have just told you to go to hell.
He's not trying to win you over.
He's not trying to please men.
He's not going to get offended when you ask him about salvation.
You know what that is?
That's a pastor that wants to please men.
That does not fear God, who's not the servant of Christ.
And people often accuse preachers of being prideful for calling people out by name.
But really it's the preachers that won't call anyone out that are prideful.
Because they're seeking to please men.
Because calling people out by name is not easy and it doesn't win you very many points.
It wins you a bunch of enemies is what it does.
But that's what pleasing God is.
Hey, how about a group of people today that preachers, they want to please men so much
that they won't call out.
How about the sodomites?
Hello, it's June, pride month.
And you know most Baptist churches won't call these filthy beasts what they are, sodomite
reprobate pedophiles.
Why because they want to please men, that's why.
Because they're worried about everyone in their church leaving.
They're worried about offending people.
They're not worried about what the Bible actually says.
What does the Bible say?
Go to Proverbs chapter 8, I'll read for you, Leviticus 2013.
Hey, anti-pride month.
Leviticus 2013, "If a man also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have
committed an abomination.
They shall surely be put to death.
Their blood shall be upon them."
Hey, if you're a preacher and you actually want to please God and not men, you know what,
you would read that verse and actually believe it.
And please tell me how if this verse doesn't apply today, you know, the Bible says all
scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness.
Please tell me how we are supposed to be edified by this verse today if it's not supposed
to be in effect.
Just at least give me an answer.
But you won't even give an answer because these preachers won't even touch this topic
with a 10-foot pole.
Why?
Because they want to please men.
That's why.
Proverbs 16, 5 says, "Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.
Though hand joined in hand, he shall not be unpunished."
Hey, where's all the preachers calling these freaks what they are?
An abomination to God.
They're not doing it because they fear man.
That's why.
Proverbs chapter 8, look at verse 13, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and
arrogance, and the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate."
Hey, show me the preacher that fears the Lord and I'll show you the preacher that hates
pride and that hates Pride Month.
How can you hate pride and not hate Pride Month?
Our nation has a whole month of the year where we spit in the face of God and we celebrate
the most disgusting, horrible, wicked people on this planet and we call them happy about
it too.
We call them gay.
We spit in God's face and Christians are silent about it.
Christians are scared to talk about it because they fear man.
You know what?
At this church we believe that every single homosexual should die and go to hell.
We believe every single homosexual, pervert, pedophile should be stoned by the government
and burn in hell for all eternity.
And you know what?
That's not my opinion.
That's what the Bible says.
Go to 2 Peter chapter 2, 2 Peter chapter number 2, near the end of the New Testament, 2 Peter
chapter 2.
Look at verse 6, "And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned
them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly,
and delivered just the lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.
For that righteous man dwelling among them, and seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust
unto the day of judgment to be punished."
Notice how in verse 6 the Bible says that when God condemned them with an overthrow,
he was making them an ensample to those that afterward should live ungodly.
So in Pride Month, in the month of June, what's the example in the Bible that we look to,
to say, "Huh, I wonder what God would think about Pride Month.
I wonder what God would think about all the sodomites."
I mean, even in Houston, Texas, deep in South Texas, here in the Bible Belt, I saw a billboard
on the way to church today that was saying, "Protect trans youth."
Here in the Bible Belt, why are people reading the Bible?
What God said as the example is Sodom and Gomorrah.
When God burned the sodomites alive with fire from heaven.
That's what God thinks should happen to these people.
Protect trans youth.
Kill all the trans youth.
Stone all the trans youth with stones, is what the Bible says.
Go to Jude chapter number one, the only chapter in the book of Jude, right before the book
of Revelation, Jude one verse seven, the Bible says even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities
about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange
flesh, notice this, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
So these Sodomites made God so angry that not only did he burn them alive on this earth,
but he's going to make sure that they suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, eternal fire.
What is that?
That's hell.
And God says the example for these Sodomites is that every single one of them are going
to burn in hell in eternal fire, suffering the vengeance that they deserve.
You say, why is God so harsh about this?
Why does God so harsh about the topic of the Sodomites go to Romans chapter one?
The Bible explains this to us in Romans chapter one, but even just the verses we've already
looked at.
How is it that Christian preachers are not talking about this?
How is it that Christian preachers are going to pretend like the Bible doesn't say what
it does?
How is it that Christian preachers are going to pretend like we should love these people
and that we should even let them into our churches?
Oh yeah, because they fear man, because they want to please men rather than God.
Here's why these people should be put to death.
Here's why we need to continue to preach against these people and why we need to stand
on this doctrine.
Romans 1 25, it says, "Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served
the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever, amen.
For this cause, God gave them up unto vile affections."
So when we call them disgusting, that's not our opinion.
The Bible says it's a vile affection.
"For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature.
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burning their lust one
toward another, men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves
that recompense of their error, which was me.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to
a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient."
Being filled.
Now I wish every single person would understand these two words.
Being filled.
The Bible does not say that sodomites are filled with all unrighteousness.
The Bible says that they're being filled with all unrighteousness.
Now here's the problem with these sodomites that are being filled is that they're not
automatically at the peak level of wickedness.
Every single reprobate gets more and more evil the longer that they're on this earth
because they're being filled with all unrighteousness.
They're being filled with fornication.
You see, a lot of us in here probably went to public school.
If you think about back in public school, the girl who was the really, really bad whore,
maybe she slept with like 10 guys.
That's horrible.
That's extremely disgusting and wicked.
But you know what?
They do all these surveys of sodomites where they just openly tell them how many partners
that they've been with, and it's thousands of partners.
Thousands of partners.
You know what that is?
That's being filled with fornication.
Because your average unsafe person who's not a reprobate is not going to be with thousands
and thousands of partners.
Even though 10 is disgusting, and horrible, and wicked, and you're going to get diseases,
and God is going to judge you for that, that's a lot different than what the sodomites are.
Because every single day, they're being filled with fornication.
Every day that they're alive, longer on this earth, they will become more of a fornicator
than they were the day before.
That's why you have reprobates that get to Jeffrey Dahmer level, and get to the level
of these psychopath reprobates.
If you watch the documentary Psychopath Reprobates, it talks about a lot of examples of these
serial killers.
Ted Bundy.
You know what I mean?
Day one of reprobation, you're not Ted Bundy.
Just like every Christian has a point in time where they trusted on the Lord Jesus Christ
and they became a child of God, every reprobate has a point in time where they became twice
dead.
And day one of being twice dead, you're not Ted Bundy.
No, but you know when you become Ted Bundy?
When you're being filled each day.
When you're being filled until, imagine being filled as this cup until you're just flowing
over every day with wickedness, evil, fornication, being filled with wickedness, being filled
with covetousness, being filled with maliciousness, being filled with envy, being filled with
murder, being filled with debate, being filled with deceit, being filled with malignity,
being filled with whispers.
Does this sound like people that we want in our society?
People that not only commit all of these sins and not only have the capacity to commit these
sins at way higher levels than normal, saved or unsaved people, but people who are getting
worse in all of these categories every single day of their existence.
Verse 30, back biters, being filled, being filled with being a hater of God, being filled
with despite, being filled with pride, being filled with boasting of themselves, being
filled with inventing evil things.
You want people alive on this planet that literally invent evil?
Evil that we don't even know about?
People that you can't even fathom and these people every day are just continuously inventing
more evil things?
Is that the type of people we want even alive?
That's why we don't stand just that, "Oh, well, you know, we don't want them in church.
Oh, we just don't want them around our kids.
Oh, you know, I just don't think they could be safe."
No, we stand that they should be put to death, that they should be killed.
Why?
Because they're being filled.
They're being filled with all of these things.
Disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection.
You want to talk about the most sick human beings alive is pedophiles.
Pedophiles and what are they?
They're without natural affection.
And every single day a pedophile lives, he gets more and more sick, more and more evil.
I know someone who's a detective and they were telling me how they ended up catching
this person who was trying to commit all these horrible acts with young children.
He was a school teacher.
And this person arrested him, put him on the stand.
This person had his trial.
And this pedophile who's 24 years old.
He literally got on the stand and he said, "I will never stop.
I will never stop.
Every time I get on the phone, every time I get on the computer, I have to go and do
this sick stuff.
I will never stop.
No one can ever help me."
And then this stupid psychologist got up and said, "I can help him, but he can't be in
prison."
So this faggot, this pedophile got like seven years in prison.
And is scheduled to get out in like 2028.
By the way, I'm praying for his death.
He's on my imprecatory prayer list because this guy's going to be like in his 20s still
when he gets out.
And he literally just says, "I will never stop."
Why?
Because he's without natural affection.
And he's being filled with it every single day.
Implacable.
Un-merciful.
And you just got to think, how can the Bible be any more clear on this subject?
It can't be.
Ignorance is not the reason people are not preaching about this topic.
Why did I just go through all of that?
Well, number one, because it's anti-pride month and we need to talk about it.
But number two, because it fits this theme that Jesus is teaching in Matthew chapter
six of doing things to be pleasing to God or doing things to please men.
And why is it that it was just a coincidence that 50 years ago, every single Christian
agreed on this and now we're the only ones?
The Bible hasn't changed.
People haven't just changed their mind about this.
They're scared is what they are.
They fear men.
That is the bottom line.
Matthew chapter number 10, if you can flip over to Matthew chapter number 10 and look
at verse number 32, Matthew 10, 32, it says, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before
men, him will I confess also before my father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my father which is
in heaven."
And so you need to just pick a side.
Are you going to deny the Bible?
Are you going to deny what God says about these people and be shameful in the sight
of God?
Or are you just going to say, "Yep, that's what the Bible says," and be shameful in the
sight of men?
Make your choice.
Because the people who want to stand with these sodomites, God is going to be ashamed
of them, and they're a disgrace to God.
Recently Steadfast, we tried to get a company to make a product for us, and one of the things
on this product, it just had the verse reference, Leviticus 20 13, it didn't even have the words,
just the verse reference, and we were going to pay these people a lot of money to make
this product for us, and they rejected us because of that, because they're ashamed of
God's word.
You know what?
But God's going to deny them.
God is going to deny them.
And all of these Christian preachers that are too afraid to preach what needs to be
said, God is going to be ashamed of them someday.
We'll back to Matthew chapter 6.
We'll make these last two points short.
I went a little long on that one, but we'll make this one short.
Look at Matthew chapter 6 verse 19.
Number two, a good Christian strives to lay up treasure in heaven, not on earth.
So the first point, a good Christian strives to please God rather than men.
Number two, a good Christian strives to lay up treasure in heaven, not on the earth.
In Matthew 6, 19, the Bible says, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where
moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal."
So this is a direct command from the Lord Jesus Christ not to lay up treasures for ourselves
on this earth.
But you know what?
Most Christians in 2021, United States of America, completely disregard this one.
That's all they care about.
Most Americans care about nothing more than their money and their toys and mammon.
In fact, when I went to Mexico, you know, after I preached people the gospel, I was
just curious.
And I was asking them, hey, what do you guys think about Americans?
Like when you think America, what do you think of?
And you know, they all told me, lazy, love money, you know, it's just like, you got it
right.
That's, that's pretty much exactly what America's like, you know, but let, let not that be said
of Pure Words Baptist Church.
Don't let that be said of Steadfast Baptist Church.
No, we need to be Christians that are laying up our treasure in heaven and not on the
earth.
In the testimony we have that all the Mexicans are like, you guys are lazy and you love money.
And it's like, a lot of Americans, you know, have that lazy stigma about the Mexicans,
but it's actually the reverse when you actually see the truth on that.
I'll read to you Romans 8.5, it says, "For they that are after the flesh do mind the
things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be.
So then they that are in the flesh can not please God."
And that should be some sobering words to anyone who wants to live their life focused
on gathering up treasure on this earth.
Because they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.
And what does the Bible say?
They that are in the flesh cannot please God.
I don't know about you, I want to please God.
And so if I want to please God, I can't be living a life that's just gathering
wealth that's just wanting to gather all these toys, gather all this
mammon in my life and lay up all this treasure in heaven.
It's impossible.
It's impossible to please God that way.
It's impossible to please God when you're in the flesh.
Yet I don't think I don't think most Christians in America realize today that they are this
percent pleasing to God because they're so covetous because all they care about is laying
up treasure for themselves on this earth.
Let's go to Ecclesiastes chapter number two, Ecclesiastes chapter number two, and King
Solomon tried this, and he was very successful at it.
He's probably the richest man that has ever lived in the history of the world.
He's very successful at laying up treasure on earth, but let's see how that turned out
for him.
Verse number 10 of Ecclesiastes two, "And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not
from them."
Boy, that sounds like the American dream right there.
Isn't that what most Americans would just tell you?
Just like, I just want to be able to do anything I want to get.
That is what Americans want today.
That's what Solomon did.
"I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this
was the portion of all my labor.
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and all the labor that I had
labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no
profit under the sun."
For sake of time, let's skip to verse 17.
"Therefore, I hated life."
Now, does anyone here want to hate their life today?
Okay, well, of course not.
But that's what happens when you give your eyes just anything, or you give yourself anything
that your eyes desire.
You may think that you'd be happy if you just got everything that you wanted, but you would
actually hate your life if you got everything that you wanted.
You know, a lot of times it's nice to just work hard, and maybe you have something that
you're working towards, a goal, a reward, or something like that, and it's satisfying
when you reach that goal, right?
It's satisfying when you can treat yourself every once in a while.
It's satisfying when you can splurge every once in a while.
But if you're just living a life that's just continuously splurging just anything you want,
you give yourself, eventually you're going to run out of things that you want.
And you know what? All you're gonna be able to do is just look at all your stuff, all the treasure that you've laid up on Earth, and you're just gonna hate your life. That's why so many of these millionaires and billionaires are drunks and drug addicts and end up committing suicide. You think that they'd be the happiest people on planet Earth.
You know, we saw a shirt today when we were out soul winning, it was this little Mexican kid, and it said, "Happy is the new rich." I'm like, that's awesome. That's awesome. Because I'd rather be happy than rich. I'd rather be happy than rich. And I'd rather lay up treasure in heaven that I could actually take with me.
Go back to Matthew chapter number six, and also keep a place in first Corinthians number three, Matthew six and first Corinthians three.
Matthew six twenty, the Bible says, "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Jesus is telling us, "Hey, lay up your treasure in heaven, because that stuff you could actually take with you."
And so Jesus wants the best for us. He's come to give us life, and that we may have it more abundantly.
God wants the best for us, and he knows that if we lay up treasure on earth, we're not going to be happy anyways, even when we attain that goal.
He'd rather us lay up treasures in heaven by doing things of eternal value, because that actually lasts.
We could actually take that with us. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Where's your treasure tonight? Where is your heart tonight?
You know, if we were to do a financial analysis on your life, would we see that what you really love is alcohol?
Would we see that what you really love is cigarettes?
Would you see that what you really love is all these vain things, or would we see what you love is the Lord, serving God?
You know, I know a lot of people that get one vacation a year, and they spend thousands of dollars to do one thing, to go to the Red Hot Preaching Conference.
That's awesome. And I'm not saying that you can't go on a vacation just to do something fun as well.
But, hey, that's great that a lot of people aren't laying up their treasures on earth, rather they're laying up treasures in heaven.
And I think one way that we can help ourselves, that all of us can help ourselves, to lay up treasure in heaven rather than on earth,
is to think about a very important day that's coming up for all of us in the future.
And that's in 1 Corinthians chapter number 3, look at verse 9.
"For we are laborers together with God, ye are God's husbandry, ye are 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, then 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 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.
If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward,
and if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire.
I think one of the ways we can help ourselves not to want to lay up treasures on earth,
but rather in heaven, is to be thinking about the judgment seat of Christ.
This is a day that should be on all of our minds all the time.
Thinking about how someday you will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Your husband's not going to be there with you. Your wife's not going to be there with you.
Your pastor's not going to be there with you. You are going to be there alone,
and God is going to judge your works and try your works by fire, and anything that burns up, you will suffer loss.
And anything that remains is the gold, the silver, and the precious stones, the things that you want to remain,
the good works, the souls that you won to Christ, all the times that you prayed for someone.
That's the kind of stuff that you want to remain.
But you know what? A lot of people are going to stand before Christ and be ashamed and suffer loss on that day.
And just literally all their works are going to be burned up, but they're still going to be saved.
But we don't want that to be the people in this room.
Some people are going to stand before Christ and their computers, their guns, their money, all the things that they loved in this earth
and gave all their time, money, and energy into, all that stuff is just going to be burned away.
And you know what? Eternity is a long, long time compared to this earth.
The Bible says that our life is like a vapor. It just vanishes away.
And all of us are going to wish that we had done more for Christ when we stand before him.
And so one thing that could help us not to be covetous, not to lay up treasure on earth
on earth, is constantly be thinking about that day.
Constantly be thinking about how you are going to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what are you building? What are you spending your time doing?
Are you building the gold, the silver, and the precious stones?
Or is it all wood, hay, and stubble?
You know, a good Christian is one that lays up treasure on earth and not in heaven.
Lastly, number three.
A good Christian concerns himself with serving God today, not with worrying about tomorrow.
Go to Matthew chapter six, and we'll finish out this chapter in verse number 25.
Jesus said, "Therefore, I say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat
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 than raiment?
Hey, isn't there more to life than worrying about the things you're going to eat,
things you're going to wear?
I mean, that's like, there's a lot more important things to that.
But especially with a good Christian, there's a lot more important things to that.
But especially with our country coming out of this coronavirus crisis that our year has had,
you know, a lot of Christians have been caught up with these things.
Worrying and thinking about food, clothing, raiment, all of these things.
But God says, don't take any thought for those things.
Jesus says, take no thoughts for those things.
And in fact, he gives us a carnal example that shows us really how silly it is to worry about this kind of stuff.
Look at verse number 26.
He says, "Behold the fowls of the air."
What are the fowls?
Kids, what are the fowls?
Does any kid in here know what a fowl is?
Okay, pay attention.
Here's what a fowl is.
It's a bird, okay?
A bird.
So Jesus is telling you, "Behold the fowls, the birds of the air, for they sow not."
The birds aren't going out and starting up the tractor and sowing the seed, are they?
Neither do they reap during harvest season.
You know, they're not getting in the combine.
They're not getting, you know, to the fields and working hard like this.
Nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feedeth them.
Are you not much better than they?
Jesus is saying like, look how, look how silly you are for worrying about this kind of stuff.
Even these little birds, they don't go out and do all these things, yet God takes care of them.
Are you a lot better than a bird?
You're his son. You're his daughter. He loves you.
Of course, he's going to take care of your needs.
Verse 27, "Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?
And why take he thought for Raymond?" He's going to give us another carnal example here.
Consider the lilies of the field. How they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin.
You know, the lilies aren't getting up bright and early and strapping on their boots and toiling all day and working a 12-hour shift.
They're not spinning yarn. They're not doing any of these things. They're flowers. They do nothing, okay?
But look at verse 29, "And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed 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, O ye of little faith?"
He's saying God takes so much care for these birds. God takes so much care for these flowers, for the grass, which are nothing.
They're just going to be burned. But you, an eternal soul, his son, someone he loves, his daughter, someone he loves,
he's going to take care of you. He's going to give you the food, the drink, the clothing, all the things that you need.
If he gives that stuff to the birds, why wouldn't he give it to you?
So a lot of Christians, hey, if you want to be a good Christian, stop worrying about tomorrow.
Stop worrying and being stressed out about all the cares of this life tomorrow,
but rather just worry about serving God right now. Worry about serving God today.
Look at verse number 31, "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 need of all these things."
And what does this come down to again? Faith.
Do you actually believe that God knows that you need all these things?
Hey, do you actually believe that our Father, which seeth in secret, will reward us openly?
All of these things that Jesus is talking about, it really comes down to faith.
And that's what a lot of people lack today.
Verse number 33.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
Sufficient unto the day.
Seek God first, seek the kingdom of God first, serve God first, and he's going to take care of all your needs.
All the things that you're stressing about.
Even other things that we can plan in the future about.
This Bible verse is not telling us not to plan anything.
We have to balance the scripture.
It's not like Jesus is just saying literally only think about today and don't plan a career, don't plan finding a wife, don't plan having kids.
That's not what he's saying.
We have to balance the scripture.
I'll read for you Proverbs 426.
It says, "Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established."
So the Bible does tell us to ponder the path of our feet.
What direction am I going in life?
What is my plan?
What are my goals?
But once you know your plan and your goal, which number one should be to serve God, serve God today and stop worrying about tomorrow.
Just worry about where you are today.
Make sure instead of worrying about your financial stress, your job stress, your marital stress, have you read the Bible today?
Have you prayed to God today?
Have you gone soul winning this week?
Are you at church every time the doors are open?
Because that's what seeking the kingdom of God first actually looks like.
Doing all those things first.
And Jesus said, hey, if you do those things, that he's going to take care of you, that he's going to provide all these things for you.
The last verse I'll read for you is Proverbs 3, 5. The Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding."
"In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths."
So instead of, you know, looking at your financial situation saying, oh, I'm stressed out, you know, I can't tithe, I'm not going to have enough money.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
Oh, but you don't understand, I don't have enough money.
"And lean not unto thine own understanding."
That's your understanding talking.
Trust in the Lord, he will direct thy paths.
God has never forsaken one of his children.
God has never let one of his children down.
If you follow the principles in the Bible,
it's never going to fail you.
You're never going to go wrong doing what the Bible says.
And so a good Christian should just serve God today
and not worry about tomorrow.
Even the good things that you can plan in this life,
don't get stressed out about those things.
Rather, get busy serving God.
So in conclusion, number one,
a good Christian strives to please God, not man.
Number two, a good Christian strives to lay up treasure in heaven, not on earth.
And number three, a good Christian concerns himself with serving God today,
not worrying about tomorrow.
And I would really encourage every single person in here
to read the whole Sermon on the Mount,
because that's just one chapter.
And you can just preach forever on the Sermon on the Mount.
There's so much great doctrine and truth in these chapters.
I really would encourage every single person to read those chapters.
And with that, let's have a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you so much for this day.
And thank you for your Word.
Thank you that we have the preserved Word of God
that we can read exactly what your Son preached to us, Lord.
And I just pray that every single person in here would treasure the Word of God
and that they would work hard on becoming a better Christian
not so they could be seen of men,
but rather so that they could please you and serve you.
And in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
For our last hymn this evening in your white handouts,
we're actually going to sing Psalm 149 in your white handouts.
Psalms 149.
Psalm 149 in your white handout.
Let's sing.
Praise ye the Lord, sing unto the Lord,
♪ A new song to let the ♪