Dear Lord, thank you for this day and bringing us here today to hear your word, you've preached.
Lord, just please fill Brother Dillon with your Holy Spirit and we pray that you take something from the sermon, Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Alright, well it's great to be here again.
Thank you guys so much for having me. Thank you, Pastor, for this opportunity to preach.
It's always great to be here. I enjoy your guys' hospitality.
This is like my Jerusalem, you know.
Sure Foundation Baptist Church is my Antioch and this is my Jerusalem, so.
You know, I was taking Remy and Kylie on kind of a tour through Boise
and the other night, I took him up to Table Rock.
And I remember when I used to go there, when I used to live here,
it was really depressing because on one hand, you have this beautiful place
and you have the cross overlooking this town.
You know, this town has like a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
And at that time, there's really no soul winning church whatsoever here.
And so I'd look at that and kind of break my heart to think that,
OK, it's me and the Acre family. That's that's it.
That's all that's here right now.
You know, at least at the church we were going to at that time.
You know, so it was a relief to be like, OK,
we got the Soling Marathon this year and they have a church to go to.
And once we get them saved. So that is awesome.
So I thank you guys for that.
So let's look down there at Acts, Chapter 20,
first 24, the Bible reads, But none of these things move me,
neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course
with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus
to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
And the title of my sermon is What does it take to move you?
What does it take to move you?
Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this day.
And thank you for this church, Lord.
I pray that you fill me up with the Holy Ghost as I preach.
Help me to edify your people.
I pray that this sermon would be applicable to their lives tonight.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
All right. So just to give you a little bit of a context of what's going on
in this chapter, let's start reading in verse 17, verse 17.
And I get dry mouth here, too, pastor, it's the thin air and high altitude.
Verse 17. And from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church.
So this is at the point of Paul's ministry.
He has he's lived about two thirds of his life so far.
He's got like one last stent to go in Rome.
But at this point, he's almost done with his ministry and he's calling the elders
at Ephesus, the pastors of Ephesus.
And he says unto them, verse 18, and when they were come to him, he said unto them,
you know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been
with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many
tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying and weight of the Jews.
He's telling them, you know, from the very beginning that it's been a hard
ministry. I've been through a lot. I've had a lot of things that I've had to go
through, a lot of temptations, tears, bad things, verse 20, and how I kept back
nothing that was profitable unto you, but I've showed you and have taught you
publicly from house and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and
also to the Greeks repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, even though it's been hard, I haven't kept anything back from you. I've
got my hands clean. You know, I'm proud of this ministry. You know, he knows that
he's done well. Verse 22. And now behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem,
not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost
witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. He goes,
hey, what I'm about to experience, I don't even know what I'm gonna go through
other than that it's gonna be hard, other than that I'm gonna have afflictions and
bonds. And what's his attitude about that? Is he saying, man, I'm really depressed
about this. You know, I'm thinking about quitting because all I know is just
afflictions await me. No, what does he say? Verse 24, "But none of these things
move me. Neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my
course with joy and the ministry which I've received of the Lord Jesus to
testify the gospel of the grace of God." Paul had a great attitude. Paul went
through so much yet he didn't want to quit or he at least he didn't quit. I'm
sure he did want to quit at times. He says none of these things moved me. And I
thought about preaching this sermon about, you know, not being moved and
talking about Christ since it was, you know, Easter. But then you'd have the
excuse makers and say, oh well that was God in the flesh. So I'll decide to go
with the man here, you know, that wasn't God at all. He's just man and all the
things he went through. You know, and today we live in a day and age of
making excuses for everything, right? When you guys had that crazy woman on
Facebook blow up all your guys's Facebook pages, you want to know what her
excuse was, why she was so mad you guys knocked on her door because she had
debilitating menstrual pain. Oh wow, that's her excuse. You know, there used
to be just some things you keep to yourself. There's just some things that
you don't make public. Sorry we weren't keeping updated on your daily menstrual
status updates. You know, what's wrong with people? That's her great excuse,
right? And this is all over the world. People have excuses in the workplace of
why they don't get done the things that they're told to get done, right? They
don't just own up and say, you know what, I'm sorry I need to get better. It's
like, oh well I have this obstacle and I have this obstacle, this obstacle. People
make excuses when they sin, right? Oh you don't understand pastor, I just had to
divorce my spouse because I just can't live with this person. Here's my
excuses of why my husband's so bad, why my wife is so bad. Just pouring out their
excuses to you, right? When people aren't responsible they do the same thing, right?
That's the world, that makes sense. But now this type of mentality is creeping
into Christian circles and even into the new IFB. People that just want to make
excuses for why they're so weak and why they want to quit and why they don't do
the things God tells us to do. You know, people don't just say, hey I'm not going
soul-winning because I'm backslidden, right? Don't you just wish you could just
read people's mind and just see the truth in what people say, right? But it's
hey I can't go soul-winning because my left earlobe hurts and because my cat's
new here, right? You've heard that one. My cat's new here, I've got milk in the
fridge, right? One excuse is just as good as another, right? But Paul, he didn't say
any of those things, right? People tell you, oh I just can't obey the Bible in
this instance because of these specific circumstances in my life. Here's all my
excuses, right? Hey, I just can't read the Bible that much. I can't really retain.
You know, man, I really wish I knew as much Bible as you, brother. I just can't
retain the Bible. No, your problem is you've read the Bible once. That's your
problem. Maybe you need to read it many, many, many times and then you could stop
using that "my retention" excuse, right? Oh, I just, I can't memorize Scripture. I
just, my brain just can't do it. No, you just can't work at it. That's what it is.
You just want to make excuses for everything. That's what it is. So, you
know, the truth is most excuses that you and I make are completely fake and
completely lame and everybody knows it but you, you know. When you give your
excuses, just know that everybody knows that it's lame and fake except you.
You're only deceiving yourself. So, you say, "No, you don't understand. My excuses
really are legit." Okay, let's go with that. Let's say your excuses are a hundred
percent legit. Well, you know what? If there's ever been a man on this earth
that had legitimate excuses to quit and to be moved and to not be steadfast, it
was Paul the Apostle, right? Yet he said it towards the end of his life, but none
of these things moved me. Why is that? Is it because he was Christ? Is it because
he was God? No, it was because he took heed to the things we're gonna talk
about. So let's see, we're in Acts 20. Go ahead and go to 1st Corinthians 15, 1st
Corinthians 15, 1st Corinthians 15, look there, verse 57, 1st Corinthians 15, 57,
"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in
the Lord." You know that verse there, verse 58, is one of the hardest preaching
verses in the whole Bible if you actually get what it's saying. Let's go
through what it's saying here. It's saying, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye
steadfast." Steadfast means, you know, I believe what I believe, I'm not changing
from it. Unmovable. I'm not gonna be moved from the works for God that I'm
doing. I'm not gonna be moved from the stances that I take out of the Word of
God. Unmovable. Well, when should we be steadfast and unmovable? Look what it
says there. Always abounding in the work of the Lord. Well, what if this horrible
thing happens in my life? What if I lost my family? You know, what if I lost my
job? What if I go through all the things that Paul went through? Always abounding
in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord, there is no way of getting out of this fight once you get saved. The
only way you get out of your service for God is by dying and going to heaven.
There's no excuse you're going to be able to present to God where He says, "Okay,
you know what? It's fine. You actually can quit. You don't have to serve Me
anymore. It's fine." No, we have to be unmovable and steadfast always, no matter
what your circumstances are. And that actually, that's a super hard saying
right there, because I could think in my head of a lot of really tough situations
that people could go through. And I'm not minimizing those situations at all, I'm
just showing you what God expects of us. And the verse before that says, "But
thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
You know, the truth is yesterday we had a big big victory, didn't we? We had 2,258
soul winners in this world that went out preaching the gospel and won 2,441
people to Christ in one day. Is that not a victory? That's a great victory. But you
know what, it's real easy to go soul winning on the soul winning mega
marathon, isn't it? It's real easy to get a crowd in this building if Pastor
Anderson wanted to come preach tonight, right? It's real easy for people to show
up to church on Easter for crying out loud, right? It's real easy to do all
these things. But you know what's not easy? For you to show up soul winning
next week, and the week after that, and the week after that, and the week after
that, and being steadfast and unmovable until the day that you die. And showing
up for church every single day, every single time the doors are open, and being
steadfast until the day that you die, no matter what your excuses and
circumstances are. You know, yesterday's victory is over. And unless you as a
Christian in this church learns to be steadfast and unmovable, will fail. That
we have to be steadfast as Christians. So for the first half of this sermon
tonight, I want to just show you some of the sufferings that Paul went through.
And I want you not just to read the words on the page, but try to picture
yourself going through what he's going through. Not just skimming over, "Oh yeah,
Paul got stoned." You know, put yourself in Paul's shoes and really pay attention
to what the things he went through. I want to just show you some of the things
that he went through. And at the end of his life he said, "But none of these
things moved me." And then the second half I want to show you some biblical
principles on to how to remain unmovable. So number one, please go to
2nd Corinthians chapter 11 and keep your finger there. You're gonna want to keep
your place there throughout the sermon. To give you a little context of what's
going on in 2nd Corinthians 11, basically Paul is dealing with all these
pride-filled rebels at the Church of Corinth that are just questioning his
authority, questioning him as an apostle, saying, "Oh, Paul's so mighty with his
words, but when he comes here his stature is weak and he's not actually
gonna enforce the things that he's talking about." And so Paul says, "Okay,
you're acting like a fool. I'm gonna speak like a fool now, and I'm just gonna
tell you all the things that I've been through and see who the real apostle is."
So then he's gonna go through all these things with us. And you gotta
remember, even though Paul is bragging about himself here, he's under the
inspiration of the Holy Ghost. So all these things that he's saying about
himself, he's not ballooning them up to make him sound better than it
actually is. These are real things. Everything he says here is true. So
let's look at verse 23. Verse 23, in chapter 11, "Are they ministers
of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more, in labors more abundant, in stripes above
measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths off." So the first question I have
for you tonight is would labor move you? He said, "But none of these things moved
me." He's listing the type of things he went through. And one of the things he says,
in labors, more abundant. You know, one of the things that move people so easily
in this world and even in this movement is just simple work, right? They want to
show up to church and they want to talk about, "Oh, I need to be getting fed and
it's all about me. It's all about what I can get out of church." But it's like, "Okay,
hey, it's soul-winning time. Oh, no, I can't do it. You're being moved just by
the thought of a little bit of labor." That's pretty weak. And this is the, and
we're starting off with this one for a reason because this is the least of what
the Apostle Paul went through, yet we're moved by such little things as labor,
right? And he says, "I labored more than them all." So Paul was no slugger. I'll
read for you Proverbs 20 verse 4. The Bible says, "The sluggard will not plow
by reason of the cold. Therefore shall he beg and harvest and have nothing." So
this slugger, this lazy person, isn't gonna go plow. Why? Because it's cold
outside, because he wants to make an excuse, right? And when people don't want
to go sowing, what do they do? They give you a bunch of excuses. Oh, my, my,
right earlobe hurts. My dog died, right? I've got menstrual pain. I can't listen
to the gospel, right? Here's all my excuses of why I can't work. It says that
they're gonna beg and harvest and have nothing, right? And you know what? You
listen to people give their excuses, and they're looking for you to just have
pity on them, right? They just want to be excused by your eyes, by the pastor's
eyes. But guess what? You're never gonna be excused by God's eyes, because He
said, "Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as
much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." So God doesn't accept
your excuses. Even if you try to get man to accept your excuses, it doesn't mean
anything. I'll read for you 1 Corinthians 15 10. Paul says, "But by the grace of God
I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I
labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was
in me." You know, if you didn't know, Christianity is in a bad state today. This
country is in a really bad state today, and we don't need a bunch of
excuse-makers, a bunch of people who are saved, who have the Holy Spirit inside of
them, who have the ability to go and get other people saved, making excuses. We
need you guys out there actually doing the work and winning people to Christ.
You know, thank God for the 36 people yesterday that went soul-winning and won
five people to the Lord. Those five people, if we didn't go out there and do
it, would be burning in hell for forever if we didn't get them saved. That's what
we need. We need people to stop making excuses and to just do the work like the
Apostle Paul. Let's go to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21. Matthew 21. Look
there, verse 28. And we'll see that God requires us to labor. Verse 28, "But what
think ye? A certain man had two sons." Jesus is giving a parable here and these
two sons could be a type of two types of Christians. "And he came to the first and
said, 'Son, go work today in my vineyard.' And if you're saved today, the Lord Jesus
Christ is saying to you, 'Son, daughter, go work today in my vineyard.' And he
answered and said, 'I will not.' But afterwards he repented and went." And you
know sometimes I hear people like this where they're like, "Man, I told myself not
to go soul-warning today because I have this huge list of things to do and they
show up to my soul-warning time." And they're like, "I got in the car on the way
to the place where I needed to run my errands. I was just like, 'You know what?
No, I'm gonna go soul-warning.'" So what did that person do? They said, "I will not."
But they repented and went. That's someone who has a mind to work, someone
who wants to do the labor for God. But the other person, verse 30, "And he came
to the second and said likewise. And he said, 'I go, sir,' and went not. Whether of
the twain did the will of his father, they say unto him, 'The first.' Jesus saith
unto him, 'Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and harlots go into the
kingdom of God before you.'" You know, we know a lot of people like that second
son that say, "Man, I'm gonna go to church every time the doors are open, and I'm
gonna win this many people the Lord. I'm gonna show up for this soul-warning
thing, and I'm gonna memorize this amount of Scripture. I'm gonna read this amount
of Bible this year, but they repent and don't do it." And what do they
substitute that with? "Here's my excuses. Here's all the reasons why I can't do
it. Here's all the reasons why I'm moved, why I'm not steadfast, why I'm weak."
You know, and God doesn't accept any of that. So, would labor move you? Go back to
2nd Corinthians 11. Would labor move you? Let's reread verse number 23. "Are they
the ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more, in labor's more abundant,
in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft." Would labor move you?
Would prison move you? One of the things that Paul went through where at the end of his life he said,
"None of these things move me" was prison. And notice how it says there in the text, it says,
"Prison more frequent." So at this point in Paul's ministry, the Bible had only recorded one time of
him actually being thrown in prison, yet he says there, "Prison more frequent." It means Paul
probably went to prison more times than we maybe even knew about, right? And he's saying, "Prisons
more frequent, yet none of those things moved him." Go to Luke chapter 21. You guys know it's possible
someday, and for some generation of Christians, it's going to happen where you could be imprisoned
for doing the work of God. Will you be moved by that? Will you be steadfast? Look at Luke 21,
verse 12. Jesus speaking, He said, "But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and
persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and
rulers for my name's sake." You know, the Apostle Paul was literally beaten, captured, and imprisoned.
And at the end of his life, he said, "None of those things move me." But yet what are the
little itty bitty things in our lives that move us, that we complain about, that we drag our feet
about? The Apostle Paul could go to prison. And when he went there, he didn't have a bad attitude.
We're going to read the story here, go to Acts chapter 16. But what types of things? Ask yourself,
if I was the Apostle Paul, put yourself in this story, would this move me if I was put in prison?
You know, if I were put in prison, that would mean a lot of bad things. That would mean that I'd be
separated from my wife and my child that I'm providing for. You know, would that move me?
Would I quit doing the work of God if prison was a real threat that I had to face? These are things
we need to ask ourselves. Acts chapter 16. Let me get there myself. Acts chapter number 16 and look
there at verse number 19. "And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they
caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace, unto the rulers." Basically, there
was like this fortune teller demon possessed woman that Paul cast a demon out of and her masters are
mad at him obviously because that's how he was making his living. And so it says there that they
captured him, verse 20, "and brought them to the magistrates saying, 'These men, being Jews, do
exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither
to observe, being Romans.' And the multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates rent
off their clothes and commanded to beat them." So imagine you're out soul winning and these people
just capture you, bring you before some government scumbags and start making all these lying
accusations against you, right? We're there in verse 22. "And the multitude rose up together
against them and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them. And when they
had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them
safely, who having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet
fast in the stocks." And so at this point he's just been beaten, he's been captured, he's been
lied about, and so he quits, right? He says, "Oh God, this is my excuse. Can I please quit now?
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord for as much as your labor is not in vain in the Lord." That's what God says. And look what he
does. He doesn't have that weak excuse-making attitude. Verse 25, "And at midnight, Paul and
Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. And the result of them having
this good attitude was this miracle here. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that
the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were open, and everyone's
bands were loose. And the keeper of the prison, awakening out of his sleep, and seeing the prison
doors open, he drew out a sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had
been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, 'Do thyself no harm, for we are all here.'
Then he called for a light and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
and brought them out, and said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' And they said, 'Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house.' I wonder what would happen if Paul and
Silas would have gotten the soy-sucking mentality that America has today, where you just want to
quit at any obstacle. You know what would have happened? This great soul-warning verse that we
use every single week of our lives wouldn't be in the Bible. That's what would have happened.
And I wonder what kind of things you can do for God in your life if you just weather the storm,
stay strong and don't give up and just be unmovable. When you have these trials and
tribulations and you, you know what, you have labor and you have imprisonments,
right? All these things that may come, don't let it move you because God's able to do great things
when you actually stay strong and stay unmovable. Go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
So would labor move you? Would prison move you? Verse 23, "Are they the ministers of Christ? I
speak as a fool. I am more and labor is more abundant in stripes above measure." So another
question I have for you is would receiving a beating move you? Let's keep reading there.
"In prisons more frequent in deaths oft of the Jews five times received I 40 stripes saved one.
Thrice I was beaten with rods." So remember I said don't just skip over this. Imagine yourself.
Imagine yourself actually receiving a beating, right? And this isn't just in a boxing ring where
you have rules and pads. That's bad enough. I mean that's got to hurt bad enough but imagine
just being on the ground. You know picture like the Rodney King video. You guys have seen that,
right? And just imagine just getting beaten to a pulp with rods with all the cruel instruments of
torture that these people you know had. Imagine just getting tortured and getting beat and getting
up and saying but none of these things move me. Paul's a lot stronger than we are. A lot stronger
than our culture is. He endured all these beatings. Look there in verse 23 he says
in stripes above measure and what I think that's talking about if you want to flip over
to Deuteronomy chapter 25. Deuteronomy chapter 25. I'll tell you real quick what I think this
is talking about. Deuteronomy chapter 25 look there in verse two says and it shall be if the
wicked man be worthy to be beaten that the judge shall cause him to lie down and to be beaten
before his face according to his fault by a certain number. 40 stripes he may give him and
not exceed lest if he should exceed and beat him above these with many stripes then thy brother
should seem vile unto thee. And what he's saying here when Paul said I receive stripes above measure
I think what he's saying is there was times when I was beaten where I was beating more than just 40
lashings. So who knows what that could have been that could have been 50 that could have been 80
that could have been 100 could have been 200 right? I mean he was turning the world upside down for
the gospel of Christ I'm sure he got some serious beatings. So imagine how horrible it would be to
get striped and lashed 40 times right? Okay now imagine getting beaten above measure just making
you vile in their sight just making you just look like a ragged piece of torn flesh you know like
they did to Christ. He said there in verse 24 of 2nd Corinthians 11 I told you keep your place there
flip back over there verse 24 of the Jews five times received I 40 stripes saved one so he's
saying okay five of those times that I got beaten the Jews actually did it right they just beat me
40 times save one so who knows how many times he was beaten above measure but I know five times
they at least did it right sounds like he got beat a lot in his life right anyone ever gotten
beaten up out so wanting no I didn't think so right but what things are we moved for what things
do we quit for right is it because you got beaten above measure I don't think so verse 25 thrice I
was beaten with rods so just yeah like I was talking about with the police imagine that giant
police apps you know those things where the they flick it out and it's a giant rod just three times
you're just getting slammed slammed slammed with rods and then you get up and you say none of it
moved me wow Paul's a strong guy isn't he right so when we read the the stories of the apostle Paul
and people give those you know sorry pathetic excuses you know it should make you pity yourself
it should make you feel embarrassed to give people your lame excuses if you're just going to be back
slitting why don't you just say it you know you're gonna get kicked out of church for being back
slitting right every person gets back slitting you need to admit it to yourself right don't just
give your excuses out go to acts chapter 16 again so he's talking about all these times that he's
been beaten yet only one of them was actually recorded at this point in his ministry when he
had said none of these things move me act 1622 and the multitude rose up together against them
and the magistrates rent off their clothes so imagine you're soul winning you get brought before
these wicked leaders and strip you naked right and commanded to beat them and when they had laid many
stripes upon them they cast him into prison so you get taken before the ada county sheriff's office
and the sheriff rips your clothes off beats the snot out of you and throws you in prison that's
pretty demoralizing isn't it that'd make me want to quit right that'd make us all want to quit but
none of those things moved paul you know you think to yourself surely lord these labors these
beatings these imprisonments surely i have an excuse now surely i can stop right now right no
therefore my beloved brethren first corinthians 1558 i read it for you therefore my beloved
brethren be steadfast unmovable except when things go bad always abounding in the work of the lord
for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the lord go back to second corinthians 11
and i'm just going through these one by one because sometimes we read these things in the bible
and we don't actually stop to think about what it would actually be like to go through something
like this right it's an incredible amount of suffering the imposter paul went through
let's look there verse 25 so would labor move you would prison move you would receiving a beating
move you how about being stoned would being stoned move you look at verse 25 thrice i was
beaten with rods once i was stoned thrice i suffered shipwreck a night and a day i've been
in the deep go to acts chapter 14 and we'll find the story of when the apostle paul was actually
stoned what's being stoned stone is when you you're standing and there's people around you
they're picking up rocks and throwing it at your head and throwing it at your body as hard as they
can to kill you that's what being stoned is okay once the apostle paul was literally stoned but
didn't move him acts 14 verse 19 and there came thither certain jews oh boy what a shock right
that's what jesus said jesus said you know they're going to bring you before the synagogues it's the
same actors that is that it was during the first church it's going to be the same way in the
tribulation they're going to bring us before the synagogues and there came there there's certain
jews certain sam gibstein's from antioch and iconium who persuaded the people and having
stoned paul drew him out of the city supposing he had been dead this guy had been stoned so bad
that these jews that hated him looked on him and said oh all right he's dead let's leave him we did
the job he's done verse 20 albeit as the disciples stood round about him he rose up and came into the
city and the next day he departed with barnabas to derby did you did you catch that right there
the next day he rose up and departed the next day after getting stoned you know verse 21 and when
they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many they returned again so what what did
he do the next day he departed and he went soul winning the day after he just got stoned you know
people are like man you know my leg hurts i can't go soul winning more than five minutes today
i've got shoulder pain i've got arthritis you know i've got the sniffles you know my earlobe
hurts whatever it is right you got all your excuses okay well try getting stoned left for
dead you're beaten so bad i mean the apostle paul probably had skull fractures probably had broken
bones you know he was just a mangled disgusting probably looking human being and he gets up the next
day and goes and preaches the gospel that's how that's how much zeal the apostle paul had that's
why god was able to use him more than anyone ever to win people to christ because he had that level
of commitment he wasn't making stupid excuses like you and i make all the time right he was
unmovable he was steadfast and then look at the end of the verse uh verse there 21 they returned
again to lystra and to iconium and to anaheim so he went back to the place he got stoned i don't
know about you but if i was soul winning you know down on the boise bench and i got stoned i wouldn't
be going back there right but you know what he has such zeal for souls he got stoned he's just like
all right let's go right back to where i got stoned right that's amazing that's amazing verse 22
confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to quit when things get hard
you know to have excuses no it says to continue in the faith and that we must through much
tribulation enter into the kingdom of god you know praise god there was a man you know that
actually went through all these things so that he can exhort us and say continue right because
if we were able to talk to the apostle paul right now and we just laid out all of our excuses all
of our problems to him he would be able to truly exhort us and say continue why because he'd say
because i went through this i had the labor i had the imprisonments i had the beatings i got stoned
continue. You know, we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
Go back to 2 Corinthians 11. Would labor move you? Would prison move you? Would getting beat up move
you? Would stoning move you? Look at verse 26 of 2 Corinthians 11. Would perils move you? Verse 26,
"In journeying often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen,
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea,
in perils among false brethren, in weariness, in painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger
and in thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." We're going to go through these.
What is peril? Peril is just extreme danger, right? He says there, "in journeying often,
in perils of waters." So he talks about how he was shipwrecked twice and there was one whole day
and one whole night where he was in the deep. He was in the ocean. Could you imagine just being
like on a piece of wood and just chilling out in the ocean for a whole day and a whole night? You
know, I don't like the ocean that much. I like to see it but I sure as heck don't want to be in it
and I definitely don't want to be in it for a whole day and a whole night after I just got shipwrecked
twice, right? Paul went through that in perils of robbers, okay? So he's going on his missionary
journeys. He's getting everything stolen from him. So imagine you're just constantly getting stripped
of all your things when you go out soul-winding. You know, it might demoralize you a little bit.
It might be like, man, I'm tired of going soul-winding because every single time I get
everything stolen from me. Imperils by my own countrymen, right? People are betraying him.
People are turning him into the authorities so that he can get taken before the magistrate,
so that he can get his clothes ripped off, so that he can receive his beatings. He's fighting
through all this. Imperils by the heathen, right? Imperils by the God-hating reprobates that just
want to kill him, want to stop his work that he's doing for God. He's fighting through the danger
from these heathen. Imperils in the city. Imperils in the wilderness. You know, he's probably dealing
with wild animals and harsh weather and all these things that he's going through. You know, Paul was
a real man, wasn't he? Imperils in the sea. We already talked about that. Imperils among false
brethren. You know, false brethren could be a very dangerous thing, could be a very perilous thing.
You know, I remember when we kicked out, you know, that unsaved devil in our church, Sebastian
Sandoval, you know, there was a good like four months before he got kicked out where I was
convinced in my heart, this guy's a false prophet. And it's a perilous thing in your heart when,
you know, maybe the pastor doesn't have enough evidence yet to kick him out biblically of a
church. So we just kind of have to wait. And it's perilous because, okay, he's talking to that
person. Is he beguiling him right now? Is he taking him away? And is he teaching him false
doctrine? And is he beguiling unstable souls? Is he hurting this church? Is he causing discord
among brethren? Right? What a perilous thing. And I know what that feels like. And Paul knows
what that feels like. He`s saying, man, I was in perils by these false brethren that
are here betraying me. I`m out here trying to get people saved. I`m out here trying to
win the world of Christ. And I have all these people just ruining it. All these people going
soul winning and doing these stupid things like Sebastian. I`m trying to preach some
of the Gospel. And he walks up to people at the door, bows to them and says, my feet are
shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. I`m here to preach the Gospel to you.
When you guys were unsaved, would anyone have listened to someone that walked up to your
door and said something that`s stupid? No way. You`d say, you`re a freak. Get the hell
out of here. That`s what I would say, you weirdo, right? And then he starts talking
to people and he sticks his foot in their door, right, to make them feel uncomfortable.
And you know, obviously when you`re soul winning, the silent partner is supposed to say, stay
silent, right? So, if I`m preaching the Gospel, I`m trying, I`m a person that`s actually saved.
I have the Holy Spirit inside of me. I can get someone saved and I have this devil, Sebastian,
interrupting me, preaching the Gospel, saying stupid stuff to try to turn this person off,
right? Or when they`re talking, they`re just spewing out foolishness and doing a horrible
job out, soul-winning, right? Or when the talker ends the conversation because a man
that is in heretic after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he that is
such is subverted and sinned and is condemned of himself, right? When I know someone is
a heretic and I`m going to end the conversation, this is going nowhere. I`m not winning this
person to Christ and I say, have a good day, God bless you. And then what does Sebastian
do? He says, no, no, no. Wait, wait, wait. Let`s just keep talking to this person. Let`s
just keep wasting our soul winning time on this Mormon that`s a reprobate. You know what?
These false prophets creep into our movement and they don`t just not go soul winning, you
know? Otherwise, they wouldn`t be one of us. They wouldn`t be able to hide. They go soul
winning and they do a purposely horrible job. So, let me tell you something right now. If
you guys have someone that never listens to instruction from Pastor Jones when he`s saying,
this is how we go soul winning, we do this in this order. We do this in this order. We
ask them this question. We don`t ask them this question. If someone just keeps going
month after month after month after month and they refuse to change, take it to the
bank that person is a false prophet. Take it to the bank that that`s a huge red flag
that someone is out there just trying to ruin your guys` ministry and ruin your soul winning
efforts. Paul went through that. Paul evangelizes whole world, fighting people that were just
ruining what he was doing. Man, that makes me mad. It makes me so mad when we're out trying to get
people saved from hell and people try to stop us from doing that. I hate that so much. Paul went
through it. Where are we at here? In weariness and painfulness. You know, the Apostle Paul
probably looked pretty rough. Probably had a really rough body. His legs probably hurt. His
hips probably hurt. His feet probably hurt. His ankles probably hurt. His shoulders probably hurt.
His head probably hurt. He had all the pain in the world in weariness and painfulness and he
went through it, right? You know, I've been in a cast the last month and three days ago I've been
starting to be able to walk without it, but when I was in a cast I didn't stop going soul winning
because I realized that the Apostle Paul had been beaten and stoned and stripped naked and beaten
and he went soul winning, right? So am I, you know, that weak where I have a rolled ankle and
can't go soul winning? But how many times do you hear people give excuses they can't go soul winning
because of physical pain, right? That's weak. Stop giving excuses for that stuff. Keep going soul
winning in watchings. Often he says one of the perils I had to deal with is just watching,
you know, he's constantly trying to get killed. He's probably staying up every night of his life.
Are they coming for me? Are they coming for me? Probably doesn't get any sleep. How about another
excuse you always hear? Oh, I can't go soul winning. I'm too tired, right? I'm sure the
apostle Paul was pretty tired too, right? In hunger and thirst, you know, we went to a nice
diner today, a 1950s diner and ate some burgers and french fries. Paul didn't get to do that.
He went and won the world to Christ. Hungry and thirsty, he said. In fastings often, you know,
fasting and praying and pouring out his heart to God to try to get God's favor in his life,
to try to get God to strengthen him because of all these things he was dealing with. Not giving
excuses of why to quit. He just decided, you know what, I'm just going to fast often because God
will help me through all this, right? In cold and in nakedness. How about cold being an excuse
people give, right? When I went to church at church of iBaptist Church and I asked the pastor
to start a soul winning program, he said it's too cold in the winter, it's too hot in the summer,
right? So they go and they hang doors every once in a while and they have a street preaching ministry
that they do every once in a while. You know, are you going to, are you going to be too cold
in Boise, Idaho in December to go out and get people out of hell? Are you guys, is that going
to be your excuse? Because if you want it to be your excuse, it'll be there. I've lived here before
where it's negative 12 degrees. I had a job where I worked outside here for 12 hours a day
in negative 12 degrees. I know what it's like to be cold. You guys know what it's like to be cold.
Is that going to stop you from soul winning? Is that going to stop you from preaching the gospel?
Didn't stop Paul. Paul lived in constant danger of his life at all times. He didn't have rest.
He didn't get a cool down. He was just constantly in perils. He said, imagine every single time
you went soul winning, you had to deal with all of these things. I'll tell you what,
there wouldn't be as many people in this church as there are right now, right? Because human nature
just tells me that. But I hope that we learn to be steadfast, you know? We don't have that
excuse. I'll read it for you again. I want this ingrained in your guys' mind. Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. You know, Paul suffered a ton.
You know, we give our fake excuses, but Paul had legitimate excuses. How was he able,
how was he able at the end of his life to say, but none of these things moved me?
And I didn't even read for you guys all the things, by the way, that he listed. I don't have time.
There's too much. There's too many things that he suffered through for me to just sit here and
tell you about all of them. But he says none of those things moved him. How was he able to do it?
Go back to Acts chapter 20 or text verse, Acts chapter 20, Acts chapter 20. How can we be
unmovable like Paul? But none of these things move me. Catch this. Neither count I my life dear unto
myself. Number one, we must not highly esteem our earthly lives. You want to know why Paul was able
to say none of these things move me? Cause he basically said, I don't care about my own life.
Right? Because he realizes that this life is a vapor, our earthly bodies. You know what? We
are here for a very short time. The only thing that's going to matter is what we do here on this
earth for Christ. So he says, I didn't count my dear little precious life dear unto me. He realized
that there's something bigger that he had to accomplish other than his own life. But people
are just obsessed today with their own life. How much happiness can I get in this life? How much
money can I get in this life? How much can I just acquire and just spend all my days in mirth and joy
and luxury and ease, right? That's what our flesh wants. But Paul said, "Neither count I my life
dear unto myself." Go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12. One reason people quit is because they're too
focused on their own problems in their own life, too focused on themselves. 2nd Corinthians 12,
verse 7, the Bible reads, "And lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of
the revelations there was given me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest
I should be exalted above measure." He's saying because of all the revelations that God gave me,
the Apostle Paul wrote over half the New Testament, because of all this God had to give me a lot of
thorns in the flesh. And people like to talk about, you know, what is his big thorn in the flesh? Well,
okay, he had tons of thorns in the flesh. Did you not just remember all the things that we just read
through, right? The guy got stoned. I'm sure he had more than one thorn in the flesh, right? So
God gave him that why, lest he should be exalted above measure. Because, you know, and then people,
they get these thorns in the flesh from God because God purges us, right? God wants us to
bring forth more fruit. If you're saved today, God wants you to do work. He said, go and work
in my vineyard. So you know what? We're going to have some thorns in the flesh, right? I'm 21 years
old and sometimes I feel like I'm a lot older than that because I've already had a bunch of surgeries
and destroyed ligaments and stuff from sports. But I'm not, I mean, I'm not complaining because
like I said, what we just read about, not even close. I can't even come close to being able to
let complaints come out of my mouth about my physical pain after reading this in the Bible.
Right? So God gives us these things to keep us humble. And what do we do? We just say, oh,
this thorn in the flesh that God gave me, that God gave me, that's the reason why I can't serve God.
No, wrong. God gave you that so that you can serve God because if you didn't have that,
you'd be puffed up and you think, oh man, I'm healthy. I'm wealthy. I'm strong. I'm going out
preaching the gospel. I've got no problems. I'm spry. I've got a spring in my step. I've got all
mental clarity. I'm never tired. I'm never hungry. I'm never cold. I'm never thirsty, right? No,
you'd be proud. That's what you'd be. And you'd be a worthless vessel for Christ. And God would
never use you to do anything even close to what the apostle Paul did. So he had all those thorns
in the flesh so that he can be used great by God. And he said, "Neither count I my life dear unto
myself." Go to 2 Corinthians 12 verse 8, "For as this thing I besought the Lord thrice,
that it might depart from me, saying, 'God, please take us away from me.'" I just can't,
I'm sure he did have doubts. I'm sure he's thinking, "God, I just can't go out to all these
countries, and I can't just keep winning this world to Christ with all this pain that I have,
and with all these problems that I have." And this is what the Lord said to him in verse 9,
and he said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee." So we think to ourselves, "God,
I can't do it because of this." He says, "No, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the
power of Christ may rest upon me." You know what we ought to think when we get a physical pain in
our body, a trial, a tribulation, is praise God that I have the opportunity to be stronger now,
because when I'm weak, I'm strong, the Bible says. God says that the power of Christ rests upon us
when we're weak. You know, Paul didn't win this whole world to Christ because he was always full
and happy and no sickness and no pain. Paul wasn't going and preaching these amazing sermons
and going with the perils through the heathen and the perils of the false prophets and all
these things he went through because he had an easy life. He did it because he had a hard life.
And you know what, when we're going to win this world to Christ is when we're sick,
when we have persecution, when we're broke, when we're having problems with our relationships,
when we have to lean on God the most is when you're the strongest, when you're going to be
able to do the most work for God. Verse 10, "Therefore I complain about my..." No, he says,
"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong." He says, "I take pleasure
when I'm in pain, when I'm reproached, when people hate me, in necessities." Right? When you have
that huge bill that comes and you have no idea how you're going to pay it, when you have, you know,
maybe you need a new job, it's just not cutting it right now for you, and you have necessity,
Paul says, "I take pleasure in that because that is when Christ is strong." That's when we're weak,
is when Christ is strong. The only way that your tribulations, your bodily pains, your reproaches,
your problems, your tribulations in your life, the only way that that will not make you strong,
that that will make you weak, is when you quit, is when you quit, when you are moved, when you're
not steadfast, when you are movable, when you give up, then you go through all of that, you're still
going to go through it, but now it just means nothing. Now you just are going to lose out on
all the rewards you could have gotten if you would have just stuck with it, if you would have just
said, "I don't care if I have this pain, I'm just going to let Christ's power rest upon me, and I'm
just going to be strong because I'm weak, because I'm trusting in Christ." Go to 1 Corinthians 6,
1 Corinthians chapter 6, 1 Corinthians 6 verse 19, "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought
with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." I'll read
for you Romans 12, 1, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
You know, another reason why Christians make a ton of excuses is they just say, "Well, you know
what? I can't go soul hunting because I can't just give up my Saturday, right? Well, guess what? It's
not your Saturday, right? Oh, I just can't give up my time." Guess what? It's not your time,
because you're bought with a price, the Bible says, and you're not your own. "Oh, this is just
my only day off work. This is the only time I could spend with my wife." Why don't you spend
it with your wife out soul winning then? Why don't you spend it with your wife out serving God,
instead of making a bunch of excuses of why you can't serve God because of you, you, you, my,
my, my, me, me, me, right? It says we're not your own. People, you know, use excuses like,
for example, for example, women sometimes will say, "I just can't give up my career to obey the
Bible." Right? The Bible says that God wants women to stay home and to take care of the children and
take care of the house. And they say, "Well, I can't because of my career." Right? Well, guess what?
You are not your own and you are bought with a price. So you need to obey what God tells you
to do, not what you want to do. Right? When God says, "Go out soul winning," and you say, "I can't
because it's my only day off," you need to stop thinking so much about yourself and think about
the fact that you were bought with a price. Think about the fact that, you know, like today it's
Easter. We're thinking about how Jesus died for all of us and went through all of His torture and
suffering and three days and three nights in hell and rose again for the dead for us.
I'll read for you Titus 2 11. "For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men,
teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might,
just let us live a lap of luxury, no, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify
unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. You know, God, it's God's will for all of
us to be like the Apostle Paul, but not all of us are going to yield ourselves like the Apostle Paul
does. Not all of us are just going to be unmovable and steadfast like the Apostle Paul does, but the
measure of how far you go for Christ and how much you do for Christ is just dependent on you. Not
on your circumstances, not on your trials, not on where you were born, not if you had a mom or a dad,
not if you were born with one leg or two legs. It's born, it's measured by how much you yield to
Christ and how much you trust in Him and not count your life dear unto yourself, like Paul said.
Number two, go back to Acts 20. Get your place in Acts 20 and in 2 Corinthians 4, Acts 20.
Number one, we must not highly esteem our earthly lives. Number two, how was Paul able to be so
steadfast to where at the end of his life he said, "None of these things move me." Acts 20, 24,
"But none of these things move me, neither count on my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the
gospel of the grace of God." Number one, we must not highly esteem our own earthly lives. Number
two, we must focus on the ministry that Christ gave us. What did he say? He said, "I was unmovable
because I didn't count my life dear unto myself and because of the ministry that Christ gave me
to testify of the gospel of the grace of God." You're there in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We have
that exact same ministry, 2 Corinthians 4. One, the Bible says, "Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry as we have received mercy, we faint not." Why don't we faint because we have this ministry?
What ministry? The ministry of testifying the gospel of the grace of God, right? The ministry
of going out into this community and teaching people what it takes to get to heaven and getting
people saved. Because we have that ministry, we faint not. It's too important. We can't quit
when we have such a huge important job to do. When we're literally the ambassadors of the Lord
Jesus Christ walking on this earth, we look just like everyone else, don't we? We live the same
lives everyone else does. You know, our kids grow up and they learn and we go to work and we eat
food just like everyone else does at the same restaurants. But when we're walking around,
we're ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth. And you have the Holy Spirit inside
of you and you have the Word of God at your fingertips and you're able to actually win
someone to an eternal heaven, escaping them from an eternal hell, right? That much of an important
job, we faint not because it's too important. Second Corinthians four, look at verse two,
"But we 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." Look,
if the 36 soul winners yesterday didn't go out and do their job like Christ told them to like I said
those five people wouldn't be saved right when I lived here for years and years and years and prayed
and begged God for a church to come to my hometown to preach people the gospel there was very few
people out there doing the work our gospel was hid to this community and you know what it's hid to
those that are lost it's hid to those that are unsaved it's hid to the Mormons it's hid to the
Jehovah's Witnesses it's hid to the community church it's hid to life church and pursuit and
the majority of Treasure Valley Baptist Church right it's hid to all these people that don't
know how to get to heaven that are trusting in their works or trusting in a false gospel
you know and it's hid to them and you're the only person that can show them the truth you're the
only person that can tell them the right way to get to heaven so when you quit when you get out
of church when you let your petty little excuses keep you from doing what Christ told you to do
your gospels hid to those that are lost and people are going to go to hell because of you
right and guess what people are going to go to hell because of me and you know what Christ is
going to have to wipe our tears away in heaven because all of us fail to do what we're supposed
to do and to go to the measure that Christ wants us to go and Christ is going to have to wipe our
tears away from the people that didn't get saved that we could have gotten saved but let's minimize
that let's be like the apostle Paul and let not let none of these things move you and get those
people saved don't quit because Christ has given us a ministry I'll read for you Jude 1 verse 22
and if some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire
hating even the garment spotted by the flesh and you know what if you're in either of those
categories that's great if you save people by compassion great if you save people by pulling
them out of the fire with fear great but there's another category there's some that do nothing
there's some christians that let their stupid itty-bitty excuses get in the way of pulling
anyone out of the fire because they quit and they give up and they look at their problems
in their life and they look at their physical ailments and the thorns in the flesh that christ
gave them and instead of realizing great this is a way that i could get a higher gains for christ
this is a way i could do more for christ this is a way i could be stronger because god has allowed
me to become weaker you just say no this is why i have to quit this is why i have to be movable
this is why i have to be steadfast you have if you go through the perils of the false brethren
in this church you say you know what you know it broke my heart that so-and-so has to leave
and so-and-so is a false prophet i quit you know what then the people who you could have gotten
saved are going to spend eternity in hell because of that decision so don't make that foolish
decision right i'm not minimizing the trials and hardships that we go through in our life
and our flesh wants to quit just as just as much as anyone else does and i'm sure the apostle paul
wanted to quit but don't let those things get you to take your eyes off of the high calling of
jesus christ and get your eyes off of the spiritual and the heavenly things around us that we're
fighting the spiritual fight that we're fighting every day because of this carnal worldly problems
that we have in our own life don't let it stop you guys go to second timothy chapter three and
we'll we'll wrap up here pretty quick i love paul's exhortation to timothy here second timothy
chapter three verse 10 he says but that was fully known my doctrine manner of life purpose faith
long suffering charity patience persecutions afflictions which came unto me at anion and
iconium at lystra what persecutions i endured he's saying you know all these things that i went
through i've told you all of them but out of them all the lord delivered me right god didn't let paul
down he didn't leave him out in the cold hungry right paul right now is in heaven with uh innumerable
i can't imagine the rewards in heaven that paul is going to receive right he's he's going to be
comforted god did not let him down and even in this world he said out of all out of them all the
lord delivered me yay and all that will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution he's
saying i went through all these things god delivered me but hey if you're going to live godly you're
going to go through the same things that i went through but evil men and seducers shall wax worse
and worse deceiving and being deceived but continue thou in the things which thou has learned and has
been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them he's saying all these things that i went
through you're going to go through all the same things but continue don't give up don't let your
eyes off of the prize of the high calling of jesus christ don't let your eyes off of the lost
and dying souls that are walking around ada county walking around treasure valley that are
going to spend eternity somewhere don't take your eyes off them continue thou in the faith
continue thou in the learning that you're getting from your pastor and from the word of god don't
quit today stay in church stay soul winning do not quit go to acts chapter 20 acts chapter
20 let's finish here we talked about all the things paul went through and at the end of his
life at almost to the end of his life he still had a bit to go he still had to go to rome and
he went through a lot more we're only talking about the first two-thirds of his ministry this
evening he went through a lot more than we've even talked about but he said in acts verse 20 24
but none of these things move me neither count i my life dear unto myself so that i might finish
my course with joy and the ministry which i've received the lord jesus to testify the gospel of
the grace of god you know what praise god for this church praise god that you guys went soul winning
at the mega-souling marathon praise god that you're in church right now but i want all of us to
finish right and a lot of us are young in here but someday i want us to finish our course
and our ministry and be able to stand at the end of our lives like paul said nothing moved me i
stayed strong all the way by my own strength no by christ's strength right well finished with this
first grand theans 15 58 therefore my beloved brethren be ye steadfast unmovable always
abounding in the work of the lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the
lord let's pray lord thank you so much for this day and thank you for the apostle paul that you
used a human man you know he wasn't god he wasn't sinless he had all the same problems that we do
we relate to him a lot god and he went through so much and so much more than we probably will ever
go through lord and i know sometimes our our lives are hard and uh we feel like they're a lot harder
than they are sometimes god i pray that you help us not to make excuses but you would just strengthen
us in our weakness that this church would continue and do great things for you in jesus name we pray