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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. It's great to see everybody here this morning. If we can go ahead and find our seats, we will go ahead and get started. Once you've found a seat, go ahead and find a hymnal, and we'll start in song number 274. Song number 274, come unto me, and I will give you rest. Song number 274. Hear the blessed Savior calling me of rest. O ye heavy laden, come to me and rest. Come no longer tarry, high your love will bear. Bring me every burden, bring me every care. Come unto me. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Hear me and be blessed. I am eager and lowly. Come, then trust my might. Come, my yoke is easy, and my burden's light. Are you disappointed? Wander here and there, dragging chains of doubt and loaded down with care. Do unholy feeling, struggle in your breast. Bring your face to Jesus. He will give you rest. Come unto me. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Hear me and be blessed. I am eager and lowly. Come, then trust my might. Come, my yoke is easy, and my burden's light. Stumbling on the mountains, dark with sin and shame. Tumbling toward the deep, those who see me wait. By the powers of sin, be rooted and oppressed. Hear the tender shepherd come to me at rest. Come unto me. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Hear me and be blessed. I am eager and lowly. Come, then trust my might. Come, my yoke is easy, and my burden's light. Have you, by temptation, often conquered him? Has a sense of weakness brought the stress within? Christ will sanctify you if you'll claim his best. In the Holy Spirit, he will give you rest. Come unto me. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Hear me and be blessed. I am eager and lowly. Come, then trust my might. Come, my yoke is easy, and my burden's light. Great singing everybody. Now let's open up the service with a word of prayer. Lord, we love you and we just thank you again for Steadfast Baptist Church. Such an awesome church to gather and praise your name and sing unto you, Lord. We love you and we just ask you to bless this church in your son's name. Amen. All right, for our next song, we're going to actually go to our handouts. If you haven't received a handout in your bulletin, raise your hand and we'll get one to you. Redeemed. Raise your hand. If you don't have a handout, we will make sure everyone gets to you. Redeemed. Redeemed, and I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed through his infinite mercy, his child, and forever I am. Redeemed. Redeemed. Redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed how I loved him, his child, and forever I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus' still language, my rapture can tell. I know that the light of his presence with me does continually dwell. Redeemed. Redeemed. Redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed how I love to proclaim it, his child, and forever I am. I think of my blessed redeemer. I think of him all the day long. I sing for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed. Redeemed. Redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed how I loved him, his child, and forever I am. Alright, great singing. Alright, good morning everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. Thank you for coming today. If you raise your hand, Usher can bring you a bulletin. If you don't have one, on the front we have our Bible memory verse of the week, Proverbs 31 verse 19. If you are 18 or younger and you can quote this to myself, Pastor Shelley, or an Usher, after the Wednesday service, you will receive an ice cream. If you open up your bulletins, on the left side there we have our service times listed, 1030 on Sunday morning. 430 p.m. is our Spanish service that we have every Sunday and Sunday evenings at 530 p.m. Also, our church has been going through the Book of Revelation on Wednesdays at 7 o'clock p.m. Please make note there of the church soul winning times. All of the church-wide soul winning times meet right here at the building. And then regional soul winning times meet at various locations throughout the DFW area. I know Brother West has been doing Arlington. That's been a really fruitful time. So if you're looking for a really receptive time to go soul winning, I'd love to have you guys come out and meet us at 10 a.m. on Saturdays. Please remember to turn in your soul winning maps to the bin when they're completed. And then make note there of our salvations. Please continue to report your salvations to your captain. If you don't have a soul winning captain, let me know after the service and I can help you with that. Make note there for our expecting ladies, please continue praying for them. Also our prayer list that's updated weekly. Let's make sure we're praying for all those as well. And if you have a prayer request, you're always welcome to send that in at the email address listed there. And just note that every week it's updated. So if you just tell us a prayer request, it'll be in there for one week and then it'll be gone. So continue to let us know if you want that to be prayed for on a continual basis. On the back we have our upcoming events. On February 3rd, all ladies are invited to attend a baby shower in honor of Catherine Cracker and her baby girl on Saturday, February 3rd from 1230 to 2 30 p.m. at the church. Nurselings only preferred. Please RSVP to Lauren Milstead and bring a side dish or dessert to share. One thing I forgot to update in the bulletin is it says that the next preaching class is the 10th, but I just got scheduled to preach at OKC that weekend. So the next preaching class is actually going to be on the 17th and I'll have that updated in the future bulletins. But note that the next preaching class is February 17th. And then, of course, the best news of the bulletin. Congratulations to the Gore family on the birth of Travis James Gore born one twenty three twenty four seven forty three p.m. nine pounds six ounces twenty two inches long. Congratulations. Congratulations grandparents. There you go. All right. That's it for our announcements. Let's go ahead and go to Psalm 126 on one twenty six. All right. That was Psalm chapter one hundred and twenty six in your King James Bible or laminated handout. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion. We were like them that dream. It was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Then said they among the even the Lord had done great things for them. The Lord had done great things for us. Whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity. Oh Lord. As the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Then said they among the even the Lord had done great things for them. The Lord had done great things for us. Whereof we are glad. We that go forth in weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again. Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing. Bringing his sheaves with him. Then said they among the even the Lord had done great things for them. The Lord had done great things for us. Whereof we are glad. All right. Great singing everybody. Now as the offering plates are being passed around go ahead and turn your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 10. That's Proverbs chapter number 10. . Proverbs 10 the Bible reads the Proverbs of Solomon a wise son make it the glad father but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother treasures of wickedness profit nothing but righteousness deliver it from death the Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish but he cast at the way the substance of the wicked he become with poor that dealeth with a slack hand but the hand of the diligent maketh rich he that gathers in summer is a wise son but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causes shame blessings are upon the head of the just but violence covered the mouth of the wicked the memory of the just is blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot the wise in heart will receive commandments but a prating fool shall fall he that walketh up rightly walketh surely but he that perverted his ways shall be known he that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow but a prating fool shall fall the mouth of a righteous man is a well of life but violence covered the mouth of the wicked hatred stirs up strife but love covereth all sins in the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding wise men lay of knowledge but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction the rich man's wealth is his strong city the destruction of the poor is their poverty the labor of the righteous tendeth to life the fruit of the wicked to sin he is in the way of life that keepeth instruction but he that refuseth reproof arith he that hideth hatred with lying lips and he that uttereth a slander is a fool in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin but he that refraineth his lips is wise the tongue of the just is as choice silver the heart of the wicked is little worth the lips of the righteous feed many but fools die for want of wisdom the blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it it is as sport to a fool to do mischief but a man of understanding hath wisdom the fear of the wicked it shall come upon him but the desire of the righteous shall be granted as the whirlwind passeth so is the wicked no more but the righteous is an everlasting foundation as vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes so was the slugger to them that sent him the fear of the Lord prolongeth days but the years of the wicked shall be shortened the hope of the righteous shall be gladness but the expectation of the wicked shall perish the way of the Lord is strength to the upright but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity the righteous shall never be removed but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth the mouth of the just bring it forth wisdom but the froward tongue shall be cut out the lips of the righteous know what is acceptable but the mouth of the wicked speaketh forwardness let's bow our heads for a word of prayer Father in heaven I just pray Lord that you would bless our entire day here at church and especially the soul winning time coming up later and I pray that you would fill brother Oz with your spirit and just give him clarity of mind as he preaches to us and enable him to preach the message you've laid on his heart with boldness Lord and help us to pay attention and open ears in the room so that we can receive the preaching of your word and apply it to our lives and I pray this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Thank you Pastor Shelley for allowing me to preach today and thank you all for being here this morning. Very excited to preach for you guys this morning and evening and we're here in Proverbs chapter number 10 and let's start reading in verse number 26 where the Bible reads as vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes so is the sluggard to them that send him so observe how in this verse the authority figure is very irritated by sending someone that's a sluggard it's like having vinegar on your teeth right and maybe some of you crunchy mamas know about this with apple cider vinegar you know you put that apple cider vinegar on your teeth too long it's going to cause issues right you don't have vinegar on your teeth having smoke in your eyes if you've ever been camping and the smoke just keeps following you wherever you go just it's annoying it's obnoxious right and so you know God doesn't want to use lazy people God gets annoyed with lazy people because that's what a sluggard is I want to give you the definition of the word sluggard and the word slothful because in the Bible these two words are consistently used to describe a lazy person so here's the definition of a sluggard a person who is habitually inactive or lazy look we all have the flesh and I'm sure from time to time we all struggle with the sin of laziness but not all of us are habitually lazy not all of us are sluggards that's someone that is habitually lazy a sloth is someone who has a habitual disinclination to exertion laziness indolence okay and so what can we learn what lesson can we learn right off the bat from Proverbs 10 26 is that God wants to use hard working people he doesn't want to send sluggards why because it'd be like vinegar to his teeth it'd be like smoke to his eyes God is not interested in using people that are lazy he wants to use people that are hard working go to Hebrews chapter number 6 Hebrews chapter number 6 while you're turning there I'll read for you 1 Timothy 3 1 says this is a true saying if a man enter the office of a bishop he desireth a good work so notice when God wants to use someone in the capacity of a pastor that person has to desire the work why because serving God is hard work God wants to use hard working people to serve him and not just pastors because notice in Hebrews 10 or Hebrews 6 verse 10 it says for God is not unrighteous to forget your notice work and labor of love which you have to go toward his name and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister and we desire that every one of you not just the pastors every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end so he's saying look God's not going to forget your work and labor of love and I desire that all of you keep doing that until the end verse 12 why that ye be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises look if we're going to get blessings from God in this life if we're going to be used mightily of God we cannot be slothful we cannot be lazy and so the title of my sermon this morning is don't be a lazy jerk don't be a lazy jerk we are living in a time where laziness is just at epidemic proportions in our country it is disgusting just seeing the fruits of laziness in our nation and this morning I want to give you five attributes of a lazy jerk we don't want to be lazy jerks here so let me tell you what they're like number one go to 2 Thessalonians 3 a lazy jerk refuses to work a lazy jerk refuses to work that is the first attribute of someone who is lazy 2 Thessalonians chapter number three look at verse 6 now we command you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us for yourselves know how ye ought to follow us for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you neither did we eat any man's bread for not but wrought with labor and travail night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you not because we have not power but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us for even when we were with you this we commanded you that if any would not work neither should he eat for we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly working not at all but our busy bodies now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread notice here Paul is saying hey I'm hearing reports that some of you are walking disorderly what does it mean to walk disorderly well the Bible defines itself in verse 11 it says for we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly notice working not at all busy bodies but our busy bodies so what is this this is a lazy jerk this is someone that's refusing to work what are we talking about we're talking about the vast majority of the homeless population in America people that are just lazy jerks people that not necessarily have a disability that causes them to not be able to work we understand that we have compassion for those people but people who can work that just decide that it's their lifestyle it's their lifestyle choice to be homeless and to not work those people the Bible says are disorderly and we're supposed to withdraw ourselves from those people those people are absolute lazy jerks this is your illegal alien living on the welfare programs of the United States that's wicked as hell you don't come to some country and just decide to be a lazy bum and do nothing productive for the society get the hell out of our country that's disgusting we don't need people like that here let me tell you the migrationpolicy.org has some statistics on illegal migrants of working age they say that of working age illegal aliens it says 4% of them are unemployed but then it says 30% of them are not in the labor force so they're just playing word games but really what they're saying is 34% of illegal immigrants of working age are not working at all how disgusting why would we want to welcome people into our country that do nothing the Bible says hey withdraw yourself from that person doesn't say give that person money that refuses to work what a joke why would you need to withdraw yourself from these people well keep your place here and go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 you say you're racist no I'm against people that don't work I don't care what color you are you come here from a European country and you don't work get the hell out of our nation we don't like you here I don't care what color you are it has nothing to do with that Ecclesiastes 10 18 look what it says why would we want to withdraw ourselves from them think about this Ecclesiastes 10 18 by much slothfulness the building decayeth and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through notice what slothfulness does it causes things to decay laziness will destroy a nation laziness will destroy a church it'll destroy a home it'll destroy a business it'll destroy everything that lazy people are involved with and our nation will be destroyed if it's full of a bunch of people that don't work and we cannot allow that to happen we have to withdraw ourselves from these people go back to 2 Thessalonians 3 notice verse 7 it says for yourselves know how you ought to follow us so they're the good example for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you neither did we eat any man's bread for naught but wrought with labor and travail night and day think about the apostle Paul if you study the New Testament the apostle Paul was not paid for his spiritual work he had the right to be paid for it and it's totally biblical for pastors and full-time Christian workers to be paid for their work that's the ideal situation that's that's good but he didn't even use that power he was working a full-time job and being like the hardest working Christian missionary that's ever lived why to be an example to say like hey this is how you should be be like the apostle Paul stay there let me read for you 1 Corinthians 15 10 it 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 so you know God has given us all grace God has saved us all by grace we're not saved by any works or any merit of our own but praise God for people like the apostle Paul where when God bestows grace on him it's not a total and complete waste because let me tell you something people that just get saved and do nothing for God you're just like the lazy bum that doesn't want to work a real job you're just like the illegal immigrant that wants to just come into our nation and just live off the teet of the government and not produce anything of value what's the difference between you and them anyways nothing go to first or go back to 2 Thessalonians 3 look at verse 10 this is what it says for even when we were with you this we commanded you notice this is the word of God that if any would not work neither should he eat what is Paul saying he's saying if you refuse to work if you refuse to have a job if you refuse to be productive you should just starve to death that's what the Bible teaches and you know what shame on any stupid bleeding heart Christian that would give money to a homeless person that's an able bodied man the other day I was at Chipotle and I was leaving Chipotle and on the side of the road there was 2 young able bodied men that looked like they were my age asking for money and you know what I did I drove up to them I rolled down my window and I said get a job and guess what if everyone was like me they wouldn't be on the side of the road they wouldn't be on the side of the road because even if just 50% of the people yelled at them they probably would eventually have some sort of shame convicting their heart right but you know what they did to me they just flipped me off right oh give me your money I'm just entitled to it screw you man you lazy devil starve to death that's what the Bible teaches disgusting let me tell you something look go to Proverbs chapter 13 Proverbs chapter 13 we need people to work today Proverbs 13 look at verse 4 the soul of the sluggard desireth notice this person that's lazy he wants things he desires things just like we all do right but notice and hath nothing but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat notice the lazy person he desires things but he has nothing it doesn't say that he has little right because there's a lot of hard working people in America that have little but you want to know why someone has nothing because they're a sluggard because if you work hard in 2024 in the United States of America you will have something even if it's little even if it's just a humble apartment even if it's just a humble vehicle that was made in the 80s or something or in the 90s I drive a vehicle made in the 90s look you still have little but if you have nothing it's because you're a sluggard it's because you refuse to work and God is not pleased with those people let me tell you something even if you work a menial job even if you don't have a lot of skills even if you aren't necessarily pleased with your line of work God is happier with you if you just work hard at that job than like these lazy bums that don't work at all God at least is pleased with you for working hard go to Proverbs 24 so number one a lazy jerk refuses to work hey work hard don't be a lazy jerk number two a lazy jerk is habitually messy a lazy jerk is habitually messy look at Proverbs 24 verse 30 it says I went by the field of the slothful who we talking about lazy people and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding and lo it was all notice grown over with thorns and nettles had covered the face thereof and the stone wall thereof was broken down so notice we go to the possessions of the lazy which here is described as a field that's this lazy person's possessions and how is it described thorns have overgrown it there's nettles all over the ground the stone walls broken up you know what this sounds like this sounds like soul winning in South Dallas this sounds like soul winning in Duncanville this sounds like soul winning in Cedar Hill why because they're lazy a lot of these people not all of them but a lot of people that live in extreme poverty it is because they're lazy and here's the thing let's say that you are poor and you live in one of these neighborhoods no problem why can't you take care of your stuff though does being poor prevent you from cleaning up your house being poor prevents you from not having a disaster stye I mean I was out soul winning yesterday in these apartments and there was this one door that we knocked and it looked like someone had like sprayed ketchup all over the door and just like sticky stuff all over the wall and stuff like that it's like why does that exist because they're lazy that's why because their child makes a mess and they're too lazy to clean it up and I'm telling you it is a common theme lazy people are just habitually extremely messy extremely disheveled and it doesn't just apply to their home it applies to other areas of their life okay look at homeless people they don't have a home right but aren't they continually just super messy I mean wherever their little domicile is aren't they just just covered in filth and their poor little dog is covered in filth and there's trash everywhere and there's hell on the floor and there's trash everywhere and there's heroin needles and there's alcohol bottles everywhere why because they're lazy that's why because they're just habitually messy think about how lazy people dress have you ever been to Walmart at midnight it's a sad place that's a really sad place you have all these you know lazy people walking around with their sagging you know sweat pants and their swagging sweatshirt and all this just weird clothing they just dishevel they don't look put together and it's funny because like you look at old footage of America it's like you watch like a baseball game in the 1940s and everyone's like dressed like me at a baseball game right it's like you go to the store and you're dressed like this you go everywhere you're dressed like you know nice and now it's just like all these welfare heads just zombies just shoveling through life aimlessly they can't even get dressed they're so lazy they're just messy how about people who litter people who litter are lazy jerks do not litter do not let your kids litter one day I was out there mowing the lawn of this church and I saw this jacked up car drive by and just throw a whole bag of McDonald's out of the car on the ground in the street welcome to South Dallas you wonder why their neighborhoods are messed up because they're lazy that's why it's because the police are racist shut up you idiot it's because they're lazy that's why it's because they throw their trash on their streets lazy jerks litter here's one that just pisses me off okay put your shopping cart away you degenerate lazy bum okay I almost named this sermon put your shopping cart away okay let me tell you you could tell a lot from a person that doesn't put their shopping cart away they have no consideration for anyone else someone else is going to pick up their mess they're too lazy to walk two feet to the stall they're going to let some car hit it they're going to let someone walk over it what a lazy thing to do put your shopping cart away I saw this funny YouTube channel it's called carton arcs has anyone seen this this guy his whole channel is he shames people for not putting away their shopping cart he has he has like these big magnets that says like I'm lazy bones and he throws it on people's cars and he just says like oh put your shopping cart back boom he throws it on their car whatever I'm not recommending you do that okay you're going to get shot but man you should be ashamed if you don't put your shopping cart back why because the Bible describes people that are lazy as being messy and what do we see go to the grocery store in a bad neighborhood and you're just going to see shopping carts everywhere just a mess just ridiculous hey go to downtown Portland what do you see shopping carts everywhere not even in a shopping area just everywhere there's a shopping cart there's something about shopping carts and lazy jerks put your shopping cart away go to Deuteronomy chapter 23 Deuteronomy chapter 23 God desires cleanliness it's something God actually cares about I'll prove it to you Deuteronomy chapter number 23 Deuteronomy 23 look at verse 9 it says when the host goeth forth against thine enemies then keep thee from every wicked thing if there be among you any man that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night notice then he shall go abroad out of the camp get the uncleanness out of the camp we don't want the uncleanness in our camp he shall not come within the camp but it shall be when evening cometh on he shall wash himself with water hey homeless people wash yourself with water and when the sun is down he shall come into the camp again thou shalt have a place also without the camp whither thou shalt go forth abroad and thou shalt have a paddle more like a shovel upon thy weapon and it shall be when thou wilt ease thyself it's a euphemism for using the restroom when thou wilt ease thyself abroad thou shalt dig therewith and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee therefore shall thy camp be holy that he see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee notice God wants you to cover the crap because he doesn't want to walk through your camp and it be disgusting and unholy look God doesn't want to walk the streets of Portland today God doesn't want to walk the streets of Seattle today God doesn't want to walk the streets of San Francisco today and is it any coincidence that these places are full of lazy jerks that these places are full of wicked people that don't follow the Bible and it just so happens to be that their cities are disgusting that there's just filth everywhere that there's just needles and human dung and trash and piss all over the city you know maybe the reason God's hand has been taken off the life of these homeless bums is because they're so filthy because the Bible says here that the Lord walks through the midst of the camp and that he doesn't want to see any of this filth or he'll turn away from you so that shows that there's an element of physical cleanliness that God cares about obviously God cares about the inside being clean but you know what he also cares about just physical cleanliness too right God doesn't want to see that disgusting crap go to Hebrews chapter number 10 Hebrews chapter number 10 but look why are these people so messy there's something wrong with their heart there's something wrong with someone that is always messy and what is it it's the fact that they're just inconsiderate and lazy that's what it is and what would motivate someone to stop being so messy all the time it's called being considerate look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 I'm taking this verse out of context but for the purpose of this sermon I think it'll make sense to you look at verse 24 and let us consider ourselves to be a part of this look at verse 24 and let us consider one another maybe you should underline that in your bible and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works and obviously the context of this is provoking people to go to church but you know what why don't we just consider other people in every area of our life I'm saying hey if I'm a lazy jerk and don't put my shopping cart back you know what that means that means someone else has to do it right if I just throw my McDonald's bag outside of my car in the middle of the road you know the worker at steadfast is probably just gonna pick it up you know hey if I just leave my row a complete disaster someone else is gonna have to pick it up for me what's the problem laziness what's the problem not caring about other people not being considerate look you need to think about other people think twice about what other people are doing go to Proverbs chapter number 6 Proverbs chapter number 6 number 1 a lazy jerk refuses to work number 2 a lazy jerk is habitually messy number 3 a lazy jerk sleeps too much a lazy jerk sleeps too much look at Proverbs 6 verse 9 it says how long wilt thou sleep O sluggard so the implication here is saying like man you sleep a lot how long wilt thou sleep O sluggard when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep so shall thy poverty come as one that travelth and thy want as an armed man you know here in the Proverbs they're just saying like man when are you gonna stop sleeping when are you gonna wake up and just think about homeless people what are they always doing sleeping they're either begging for food or they're sleeping begging for money taking drugs or sleeping drinking alcohol or sleeping that's all they do they're sleeping it is 11.08 a.m. right now I guarantee you there are hundreds and hundreds of homeless people in Dallas asleep right now why because they were up till 3 a.m. doing drugs because they don't have a job and so they stay up all night doing drugs they stay up all night drinking alcohol being lazy making our city dirty doing nothing for society and you know what they're asleep right now someone needs to go over these people and say hey how long wilt thou sleep O sluggard wake up get up disgusting wake up you lazy bum Proverbs 10 look at Proverbs 10 verse 5 he that gathereth in summer is a wise son but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame now look I think we should strive to get good sleep I'm not against sleep try to get good sleep it's important it helps us function it helps our bodies sleep is good for you but sometimes there's seasons in life where you'll get less sleep than others because notice he's talking about but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame look if you just want to sleep in during harvest your family is going to lose a lot of food and a lot of money right because think about it you spent all year long working on this field watering it planting it taking care of the crops and then now it's time for harvest you got to go you got to get that stuff out of the ground otherwise it's going to spoil and all of that work was for nothing all of the money that you put into that is for nothing I mean when I lived in Idaho I lived in a pretty rural area like Southwest Ada County and it's like those guys that run farms in that area like it almost seems like they're working like 24 hours a day in harvest why because if you sleep during harvest you're just going to lose out on all of that all that work for the year right and so look there's going to be seasons in life where you're going to sleep less than others and you just have to realize that you have to be okay with that that's just how it is you're going to have gathering seasons in your life sometimes your family life is going to cause you hey you need to sleep less sometimes your job is going to be really busy you need to sleep less sometimes you have a big project that you want to take care of and it's going to cause you to sleep less you know sometimes you want to prioritize your life you know like say hey I want to start going to the gym maybe that means you have to wake up earlier right and so sometimes in life you're going to have seasons where you don't sleep as much that's okay hey don't be lazy and sleep too much you're going to miss out on harvest Proverbs 19 flip over a few pages Proverbs 19 look at verse number 15 it says slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep and an idle soul shall suffer hunger look people that sleep too much it's actually counterintuitive because they just send themselves into an endless cycle of exhaustion it's like people they sleep too much and so they're tired and so they sleep more and then they're more tired and then they sleep more and then they're more tired it seems counterintuitive but if you want to feel energized you cannot sleep too much because what does the Bible say slothfulness just being lazy just not exerting yourself it casts into a deep sleep and look our bodies were designed by God to go through struggle like if you just put yourself in a pod you put yourself in like one of these suicide pods in Canada which is a silly country that should just be taken over okay sorry look you just put yourself in one of these pods okay and do nothing you're just going to deteriorate your body's not going to be healthy you're going to be feeling really bad you're going to be really tired like our bodies are designed to work to move to get up to get to work and if you're just slothful you're just going to be more and more tired more and more tired this is why sometimes people will say this they'll say like I'm too tired to exercise but actually the reason why you're so tired is because you're not exercising like if you exercise it actually gives you energy it doesn't deplete your energy it's a super good thing for you to do stay there I'll read for you 1 Timothy 4 8 it says for bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come you know I think sometimes people misinterpret this verse or get too much of an imbalanced view on this verse well they'll read this verse and just say like hey exercise is not important you know it's not a big deal don't worry about exercise but the Bible actually saying that bodily exercise is profitable that's what it's saying it's saying bodily exercise is profitable but in comparison to godliness it's it's profitable little why because bodily exercise only profits you in this life godliness profits you in this life and the next right so obviously godliness is way more important than exercise but realize that exercise is profitable to you in this life on this earth for your whole life you will have a better time in old age if you exercise your whole life you will have less health problems if you exercise your whole life and you will in my opinion be able to be a better servant of God if you exercise your whole life I actually think that it would help your godliness by being fit and in shape why because why because have you ever gone up the triple deck apartments when you're soul winning right the soul winning apartments that have like three levels on them right hey if you're out of shape that's going to be hard for you to do how are you going to preach the gospel you're just like if you were to die today are you 100% I think I'm going to heaven boom it's like come on like we need some level of fitness here and that actually can transfer over to godliness but hey lazy people are they in shape usually not right they take the extreme view of this verse like oh bodily exercise it's not profitable for anything don't exercise what a waste of time just read the bible for 24 hours a day that's the only thing god wants you to do no no that's not correct go to Proverbs chapter 20 Proverbs chapter 20 Proverbs chapter 20 look at verse 13 it says love not sleep lest thou come to poverty notice the command for us is to not love sleep open thine eyes and thou shalt be satisfied with bread you know we should look at sleep as a means to an end but not the end itself right so sleep is something I need so that I could be a high functioning person to be a good husband to be a good father to work hard for the lord Jesus Christ that's what sleep is for sleep is a tool but sleep isn't just like the holy grail like oh I just can't wait to go to sleep all I care about is sleep no like we shouldn't just idolize sleep and love sleep the bible says love not sleep Proverbs 24 flip over Proverbs 24 verse 33 yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep so shall thy poverty come as one that travelth and thy want as an armed man notice people who are very poor often times it's related to how much they sleep and people who are very poor often sleep way more than people who are wealthy and people who are successful I'm going to give you a couple of examples of CEOs and what time they wake up every day and look I'm not saying these guys are godly men I'm just saying these guys have succeeded in their craft these people are successful in the world so here's one the Apple CEO Tim Cook he wakes up at 4am every day he's successful Elon Musk he goes to bed at 1am every day and wakes up at 7am every day AOL CEO Tim Armstrong wakes up at 5am every day the Square CEO former CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey wakes up at 5am every day and goes for a 6 mile jog Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wakes up at 4.30am and is in his office by 6am and look these guys they're laboring for the meat which perishes obviously they're trying to live for this world and to serve themselves and for money but these guys are successful and I can tell you one thing that all these guys have in common is that they don't sleep too much and I'm not saying that as a Christian or in your life in your job I don't know your situation I don't know your sleep schedule I'm not saying everyone has to wake up at 4am to be a good Christian I'm not saying everyone has to wake up at 4am to be successful but what I am saying is that you cannot oversleep all the time and be successful if you're someone that just loves sleep you sleep too much that is a recipe for poverty that is a recipe for not accomplishing much for god in your life now you don't have to turn here I'm just going to read a couple verses so just listen to these verses Genesis 19.27 says and Abraham got up early in the morning Genesis 28.18 says and Jacob rose up early in the morning Mark 1.35 says and in the morning rising up a great while before day he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed speaking of Jesus John 8.1 says Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives and early in the morning he came again into the temple and all the people came unto him and he sat down and taught them so look it's a very similar theme here that all these hard working men the successful people carnally and the successful people spiritually they all wake up early they all work hard they all don't oversleep now I think there might be one really successful man that maybe didn't wake up that early and this is what I think I think Acts 27 says and upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight maybe Paul was more of a night owl than an early bird but regardless of what time Paul woke up let's say he woke up at 8 let's say he woke up at 9 or whatever I guarantee you he wasn't sleeping too much and I guarantee you he was working hard and he wasn't loving sleep he was probably working in the night some people have that schedule that's ok we know that he was still a hard worker go to Proverbs 12 number 1 a lazy jerk refuses to work number 2 a lazy jerk is habitually messy number 3 a lazy jerk sleeps too much and number 4 a lazy jerk is a poor steward a poor steward Proverbs 12 verse 27 says the slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting but the substance of a diligent man is precious notice someone that's lazy a slothful man he goes hunting which I've grown up hunting it takes a lot of work it takes a lot of preparation you have to usually drive somewhere pretty far you have to usually buy a bunch of specialized gear in advance and you have to walk deep into the woods and you have to know where the animals are it takes a lot of planning it takes a lot of work but once he kills his animal it says that he doesn't roast that which he took in hunting and think about how crazy that is like when I grew up hunting like the whole goal was the meat like that's what you want that's the whole reason you even go hunting it's not just so you can just kill an animal right it's like you want that good elk meat you want that good moose that good antelope deer whatever it's great you know but then the lazy person he goes through all that and he doesn't even roast that which he took in hunting what does he do this is like the person that starts projects but doesn't finish them I mean he thought I'm going hunting I'm gonna work hard I'm gonna walk into the woods I'm gonna kill this animal but then he's like ah it's a little too hard I'm out I'm quitting wow that's pretty crazy right that's what lazy people are like they're not good stewards they're not good stewards of the blessings that God gives them God gives them an animal God gives them meat they don't even butcher it they don't even cook it they just get lazy and give up go to Luke chapter 16 Luke chapter 16 I love this verse in Luke 16 verse 10 Luke 16 10 says he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much think about the parable of the shopping cart okay if you are so unjust in the least thing like if you can't put your shopping cart away I guarantee you you won't work hard when no one else is watching you because putting away your shopping cart is something that no one's gonna praise you for it when you do it and most of the time unless the carton arc is around no one's gonna rebuke you for it if you don't okay it's just one of those things that it's a matter of the heart it's a matter of integrity and if you are just unfaithful in the least thing I guarantee you you're unfaithful in other things I wish that we could just like look through people's hearts and know if they put away their cart or not because I guarantee you every hiring manager on earth would not hire someone that doesn't put their cart away because it shows that they're unfaithful it shows that they don't care about the least things I would love to see I wish that there was a way to scientifically study correlations between like violent crime rates and bastard children and people that don't put away their carts because I guarantee you it's related why because he that is unjust and that which is least is unjust also and much but someone that puts their shopping cart away when no one's looking when no one cares is probably the person that sees a mess at church and just cleans it up when no one praises them they're probably the person that helps out their co-worker and goes above and beyond on the job when it's not even their job task it's not even their duty they're just trying to work extra hard they're probably the person that really gives it their all for their boss that tries to make the company profitable that doesn't steal from their boss the type of person that takes care of the littlest things and poor or lazy people saying the same thing sometimes sometimes lazy jerks are poor stewards of the things that they are given they're poor stewards of the most menial tiny tasks and so God doesn't bless them with more because when you're faithful with that which is least God often blesses you with more right and so man you kids that have your whole lives in front of you and there's just such unlimited potential in you and God can just bless you so much you have such an advantage I hope that right now at your very very young age you develop a hard working character that you put your dang shopping cart away you throw your trash away you take care of other people when you see something on the ground you pick it up why just be a good steward at your age right now and God will bless you you'll probably grow up to have a great job you'll probably grow up to have a great career you'll probably be put in trust with something important man I wish people would just take care of the things that they have that they would be a good steward Proverbs 18 Proverbs 18 Proverbs 18 look at verse 9 it says he also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster again what are we talking about being a poor steward of the things that you're given people that are lazy their brother they're just the same as people that just waste everything right and this is why who buys lottery tickets poor people who buys lottery tickets who buys lottery tickets lazy people why because they're wasting the small amount that God has blessed them with they're wasting it who does the most drugs poor lazy people who drinks the most alcohol poor lazy people who spends the most on lottery tickets poor lazy people why because they're not good stewards of the things that they've been given and a lot of times the reason they're in those positions is because of their character issues that we're talking about this morning it's not like God is up in heaven all the time just like forcing people to be poor no a lot of times it's just the result of our own choices our own choices Proverbs 15 I said number one a lazy jerk refuses to work number two a lazy jerk is habitually messy number three a lazy jerk sleeps too much number four a lazy jerk is a poor steward and number five a lazy jerk gives up easily a lazy jerk gives up easily look at Proverbs 15 verse 19 it says the way of a slothful man is as an hedge of thorns but the way of the righteous is made plain this makes me think about how lazy people they just give up at the slightest inconvenience the slightest problem that they face the slightest obstacle they're just ready to quit if it's not just like the easiest path possible then they're going to mess up they're going to make mistakes and this is why customer service by the way has gone downhill it's because our society is just getting more lazy and they're not trying to do a good job they're not trying to listen to your special order they're not trying to pay attention why just because they're lazy and they just want to give up immediately if it's not the most easy thing possible also the hedge of thorns it makes me think about how lazy people when they're working all they see is problems look don't be the person that only just presents problems to people if you're going to point out a problem to people you should probably have already brainstormed two or three or four or five solutions before you just say hey here's this problem it's like man pastor Jimenez cracked me up the other day I was listening to one of his sermons and he was talking about this and he was like saying you know some people come up to me and they just bring up the slightest little problem they'll be like pastor Jimenez the printer's out of ink and he's like you know sometimes I just want to tell these people well let's just all dive in just quit the church quit the ministry let's just stop serving God it's like or you could go get another thing of ink and put it in the printer it's like hey we're out of coffee let's die let's quit right now the sermon's over we're out of coffee or you could make more coffee or you could think of a solution but lazy people they love to just come up to you here's a problem think of a solution come on stop being so lazy Proverbs chapter 20 look at Proverbs 20 verse 4 I'm just going to start saying that let's just all die that's so funny Proverbs 20 verse 4 says a sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold therefore shall he beg and harvest and have nothing look a lot of people will let weather stop them from working hard whether it's too hot or whether it's too cold and this is just my observation having lived in northern states is you see way less homeless people in these northern states you want to know why because they'll die in the cold they can't survive being that lazy they'll literally freeze to death but it's like the beaches of San Diego it's like Galveston Texas and New Orleans Louisiana all these southern areas got a bunch of lazy bums doing nothing why because well they don't really have to worry about the cold you could just survive doing nothing the slugger doesn't plow by reason of the cold and you know think about this as Christians hey don't let the cold weather stop you from going soul winning praise God yesterday at brother Jason's soul winning time we had a packed soul winning time we had tons of people showing up ready to go soul winning in the cold hey that's the right attitude let us have that attitude don't go on a six month hiatus of soul winning in the winter right don't do the same thing in the summer keep soul winning whether it's hot whether it's cold hey just be tough don't be lazy don't let things stop you so easily turn to 1 Chronicles 11 I'm going to read for you turn to 1 Chronicles 11 while I read Proverbs 22 verse 13 it says this the slothful man saith there is a lion without I shall be slain in the streets so notice the slothful man he goes to accomplish some task he's on his way to work he's going to do something but there's an obstacle a lion what does he do he gives up he says man there's a lion out there I'm done I'm quitting right but what if I told you that there's a man in the Bible that saw the lion and didn't care he just kept working okay look at 1 Chronicles chapter 11 verse 22 I love this guy Benaiah Benaiah I think I think he's from Idaho because it talks about the snow okay says Benaiah the son of Jehoiada the son of a valiant man of Kabziel who had done many acts he slew two lion like men of Moab and he went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day so he's like it's snowing he's in a pit there's a lion there I mean you got to be like slipping everywhere in the snow he sees the lion in the pit he's like I'm just going to go and kill it right whereas the other guy he just sees a lion somewhere in the streets and he wants to quit right this guy he sees a pit there's a lion in there he's like I'm just going to go down into that pit and kill the lion right that's what hard workers do there's problems there's obstacles there's excuses but you face those things anyways and what people don't realize is lazy people and hardworking people often have the same excuses but one person just quits at their excuses and the other person just keeps working past their excuses anyways one person who's lazy won't go soul winning because they have a lot of kids another person has a lot of kids and still goes soul winning one person who's lazy and has a lot of kids shows up late to church every single service and some people have a lot of kids that are always early every single service they have the same exact excuse one's lazy one's hard working one has character one doesn't that's the difference Ben Aya it's cold he's just as cold as the lazy man he's just as in the snow as the lazy man he's just as in danger of the lion as the lazy man but what does he do he just kills it anyways right hey just pull out the 44 magnum and take care of this thing and get back to work don't let your excuses stop you go to Romans chapter 12 will be the last place that I have you turn Romans chapter number 12 so just to recap here number one a lazy jerk refuses to work number two a lazy jerk is habitually messy number three a lazy jerk sleeps too much number four a lazy jerk is a poor steward number five a lazy jerk gives up easily now look at Romans chapter number 12 just in conclusion here Romans chapter 12 verse 1 it says I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service you know I started off this sermon by giving you the lesson that God wants to use hard working people I hope you can see that now how against laziness the Bible is but notice in Romans 12 one God wants us to literally present our whole bodies as a sacrifice to him meaning all of our life energy that we have our bodies all of it God wants to give us all of his strength all of our might everything that we have into serving God by presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice you cannot do that and be lazy you cannot follow this verse and be a lazy person if you're a lazy person you're not presenting your body a living sacrifice you're holding back you're not working hard Romans chapter 12 look at verse 10 it said be kindly affection one to one to another in brotherly love in honor preferring one another not slothful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord hey let us not be lazy jerks in this world let us be good examples as Christians as ambassadors of Christ that we're going to serve the Lord with all of our might with all of our strength that we're going to be good testimonies that we're going to be hard workers not to not to get money not to be some famous CEO but to serve the Lord Jesus Christ let us work hard let's pray Lord thank you so much for this day and thank you for the hard workers that we do have here at steadfast Baptist Church but I pray that all of us would examine ourselves we all can get better we all can work harder and I just pray that we would lay these things to heart and that you bless the rest of this day in Jesus name we pray amen all right in closing let's go to song number 100 song number 100 day by day song number 100 everybody sing it out together on the first day by day and with each passing moment strength I find to meet my trials here trusting in my Father's wife bestowing I've no pause for worrying or for fear he who's heart is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what he means best lovingly is part of pain and pleasure we cling toil with peace and rest every day the Lord himself is near me with a special mercy for each hour all my cares he frame could bear and cheer me he who's name is counselor and the protection of his child and treasure is a charge that on himself he made as thy days thy strength shall be in measure is the pledge to me name help me name in every tribulation so to trust thy promises oh Lord that I lose not face reconciliation offer me within my holy word help me Lord when toil and trouble meet ere to take as from a Father's hand one by one the days the moment's fleeting till I reach the promised land Great singing everybody, you are all dismissed.