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to to God be the glory 162 on the first to God don't force it and open the life gate that away go in praise the Lord praise the Lord let the earth hear his voice praise the Lord praise the Lord let the people and give him the glory great things he has done perfect redemption the purchase of blood to every believer the promise of God list offender who truly believe that moment from Jesus part of me raise the Lord let the earth hear his voice praise the Lord praise the Lord let the people rejoice oh come to the father through Jesus the son and give him the glory great things he had done great things he had taught us great things he had done and prayed our rejoicing through Jesus the son and higher and greater will be our wonder our transport when Jesus we see praise the Lord let the earth hear his voice praise the Lord praise the Lord let the people rejoice oh come to the father through Jesus the son and give him the glory great things he had done amen at this time we'll open with a word of prayer if you'll bow your heads with me heavenly father we thank you for this day for another day to just be gathered together to learn from your word I pray that you would just incline your ear to us as we sing out praises that you'd fill us with your spirit on this day the Lord's Day and that you would just embolden pastor and give him all the clear words to speak and that we would be ready to receive that message these things we pray in Jesus name amen alright for our next hymn this morning turn to 323 323 more about Jesus three two three more about Jesus three twenty three there on the first more about Jesus more of his saving fullness see more of his love who died for me more about Jesus let me learn more of his holy will discern spirit of God my teacher me showing the things of Christ to me more more about Jesus more more about Jesus more of his saving fullness see more of his love who died for me more about Jesus in his word oh become union with my Lord hearing his voice in every line making each faithful staying mine more more about Jesus more more about Jesus more of his saving fullness see more of his love who died for me more about Jesus on his throne riches in glory all his own more of his Kings of Shore increase more of his coming friends of peace more more about Jesus more more about Jesus more of his saving fullness see more of his love who died for me good morning everyone welcome to anchor Baptist Church this time we'll go through some announcements brother could I get a bulletin for myself up here please you don't have one please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one on the front you'll see our Bible memory passage of the week Galatians chapter number 1 verse 15 and we still have two full months left in this chapter so plenty of time to memorize it on the inside you'll see our service times listed Sunday morning 1030 Sunday evening 430 and our Wednesday evening Bible study through the book of Proverbs at 7 o'clock our sowing times are all listed there and all those meet here at the church building with the exception of Tuesday so if you'd like to go to that make sure you talk to brother Eric and he'll get you set up on the details for that below is our nursing home ministry schedule brother John preaching today next week brother Theodore and below you'll see our year-to-date statistics for salvations please do make sure you continue to report those numbers on the right side you'll see our upcoming events this evening is our men's preaching night there's still time to sign up if you would like to do that and it's gonna be 15-minute sermons if you want to participate and right after we will have a potluck so please do bring something to share this evening if you can then next Saturday is our soul winning marathon in Oklahoma City we're meeting at Frederick Douglass Park it's right by the Willa D Johnson rec center if you're familiar with that part of town but it's a good area it's gonna be some great soul winning we're meeting at 9 o'clock for coffee and donuts and then we'll start the soul winning portion at 10 we'll meet back at the same park at noon for lunch and then we'll go out again at about 2 o'clock for some more soul winning so I understand that a lot of churches are doing the mega marathon that day so there's gonna be lots of Christians out soul winning all over this country in the world so make sure to just pray for a great harvest of souls on that day after that the next day is going to be Easter and we're gonna have a great Easter service we're gonna be catering barbecue right after the morning service and also after the evening service we will be taking the Lord's Supper as a church family here May 16th through the 18th is the King James Conference at Sure Foundation Baptist Church May 31st is another soul winning marathon in Durant Oklahoma and we're meeting up with Steadfast Baptist Church for that event there should be well over 100 soul winners for that one June 28th is the Tinker Air Show Fellowship Day just hanging out having fun as a church and June 29th the next day Brother Ben Naeem from Steadfast Baptist Church will be preaching and it was brought to my attention yesterday that this was during June and it actually was not planned that way but you know Brother Ben is more than welcome to rip on whatever he wants to but if you're listening Ben it is June so you got to keep that in mind August 27th through the 31st is the fire-breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast you don't want to miss that highly recommend it and October 6th through the 11th is the Bahamas mission trip I'm going to it I know a lot of people are here and I'm really looking forward to that below if you'd like to update your information or if you're a visitor please do scan that QR code on the back you'll see our prayer list brother Alex asked for an update this morning saying that he is not doing well he wants some prayer for his health I know some other people have been sick so do pray for those people and if you want information about giving tithing there is information there below that that's gonna be it for announcements this morning we'll go and go to our third song our third song this morning number three hundred eight three zero eight I surrender all number three hundred eight three zero eight I surrender all three hundred eight there on the first I surrender all I surrender all all to be my blessed Savior I surrender all all to Jesus I surrender only at his feet I bow worldly pleasures all forsaken take me Jesus take me now I surrender all I surrender all all to be my blessed Savior I surrender all all to Jesus I surrender may we save your holy fine let me feel the Holy Spirit truly know that I surrender all I surrender all all to be my blessed Savior I surrender all the last all to Jesus I surrender Lord I give myself to be filled with my love and power let my blessing fall on me I surrender all I surrender all all to be my blessed Savior I surrender all amen good singing this morning as the offering plates are being passed turn if you would to Genesis chapter number three Genesis chapter number three Genesis chapter three now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said unto the woman yea hath God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden and the woman said unto the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the tree of but the of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall you touch it lest ye die and the serpent said unto the woman he shall not surely die for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be open and ye shall be as gods knowing both good knowing good and evil and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and it eat and gave also under her husband with her and he did eat and the eyes of them both were open and they knew that they were naked and they sued fig leaves together and made themselves aprons and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden and the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him where art thou and he said I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself and he said who told thee that thou was naked hast thou eaten of the tree where have I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat and the man said the woman who thou gave us to be with me she gave me of the of the tree and I did eat and the Lord God said unto the woman what is this that thou has done and the woman said the serpent beguiled me and I did eat and the Lord God said unto the serpent because now it's done this thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel unto the woman he said I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception in sorrow thou shall bring forth children and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee and unto Adam he said because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying thou shalt not eat of it cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the herb of the field in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out of it was thou taken for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return and Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living and unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord make coats of skins and clothe them and the Lord God said behold the man is become as one of us to know good and evil and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken so he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherry events and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life let's break gracious Lord thankful for the church thankful for those that are gathered here today and I thank you Lord for our pastor and for those that she helped us build. I'm so excited to hear from you. I hope to send a picture of your word and I hope to see you next week. Amen. All right well we are in Genesis chapter 3 which is a continuation of the story of the Garden of Eden and of course we know that the Lord gave Adam and Eve many options in the garden he said to them that of all of the trees of the garden they were allowed to freely eat but there was one specific tree that he said no to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and of course we know that the devil tempted and deceived Eve she took of that fruit ate it and gave it unto her husband and we're gonna pick up in the story in verse number nine of Genesis 3 where the Bible says in the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him where art thou and he said I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself and he that's God said who told thee that thou was naked hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat now of course God already knows the answer to this question but I believe God's asking this question to Adam for our benefit because Adams response is going to reveal something about his heart here so that's what it says in verse number 12 notice and the man said the woman whom thou gave us to be with me she gave me of the tree and I did eat so God asks him a direct question have you eaten of the fruit of this tree and again God already knew but I think God wanted to reveal something to us about mankind is that when he's asked this question Adam he just immediately says well the woman that you gave to me he immediately just shifts the blame he makes an excuse he doesn't take ownership of his sin he wants to just put it off onto someone else okay and then we'll notice this pattern continue because look at verse 13 and the Lord God said unto the woman what is this that thou hast done and the woman said the serpent beguiled me and I did eat so both Adam and Eve when they're confronted by God of their sin they both immediately just shift the blame and make an excuse for their sin but as we continue reading in this story I want you to notice that though they make an excuse it doesn't change what they did making an excuse didn't change the consequences of sin it didn't change the way that God viewed the situation let's keep reading verse 14 and the Lord God said unto the serpent because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life so there is some responsibility to be had on the devil and God punishes him for that verse 15 and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel unto the woman he said I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and my conception in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee and unto Adam he said because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying thou shalt not eat of it cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life thorns and also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee and thou shalt eat the herb of the field so notice how God responds to them giving excuses God didn't sit there and weigh their excuses and consider and say oh that's true you know I did give you this woman yeah you did have a legitimate excuse here no he just punished Adam he just cursed the ground for his sake and some people teach that work didn't exist before the fall of man but the Bible says very clearly that God gave Adam to tend to the garden before there was sin so it's not that the curse here was that man has to work it's that work became much harder it's that the ground was cursed and it was gonna bring forth thistles and thorns and same thing with Eve her curse is that childbirth is gonna hurt really bad right there's gonna be serious pain involved in bringing forth children but notice how them making excuses it didn't actually help them whatsoever it didn't cause them to not be responsible anymore it didn't cause them to evade the consequences of their actions they still had to pay for it so their excuses helped them exactly 0% and you know making excuses in my life and in your life will help us exactly 0% and so the title my sermon this morning is this stop making excuses stop making excuses I want to tell you why because here's a little secret about life about your excuses is that no one cares and I say that in the nicest way possible nobody cares about your excuses God does not care about your excuses life this is a tough world this is a tough life and this life will chew you up and spit you out with your excuses and this train is not stopping for you and for your excuses so we need to just adopt a mentality right now that says you know what we're not gonna make excuses because they don't help us whatsoever go to Exodus chapter 3 now I want to make a couple statements about excuses this morning number one excuses are a cover to disobey God excuses are a cover to disobey God you know there are legit excuses in this life and we'll talk about those later in the sermon but let me tell you what most excuses are lies most excuses are just you giving some sort of you know smoke shade to you you not wanting to obey God and I'll show you an example of that with Moses now look Moses was a great man I'm not showing you this to say Moses was terrible but you know what Moses was human and he was a sinner and though he was the meekest man at this time he did make a mistake here I believe Exodus chapter 3 verse 10 come now therefore God speaking and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt so here we got God giving him a very clear task here and when God tells us to do something you know we should do we should just do it we shouldn't sit here and and wonder are we gonna obey what's the reasons I should what's the reasons I shouldn't if God tells us to do something the answer should be yes Lord right away notice verse 11 and Moses said unto God who am I that thou that I should go unto Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt now on the surface this kind of seems like a very humble attitude and don't get me wrong this man is a very humble person in general but I would submit to you that anytime you're resisting something that God is telling you to do that's not humility that's pride okay so if God is telling Moses to do something if God tells anyone to do something the answer should be yes sir it shouldn't be considering like well am I worthy am I good enough you know what God's already decided because he told you to do it and so it's actually pride to sit here and resist God's Word resist his charge for your life notice Exodus chapter 4 or wait one more one more thing here no Exodus 4 I'm sorry guys Exodus chapter 4 my apologies on that verse 1 it says and Moses answered and said but behold they will not believe me nor hearken unto my voice for they will say the Lord hath not appeared unto these so notice he has some fear in his heart he has some worry some trepidation about what if I go to speak and they don't believe me right and this would kind of go to show how you need to trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding because God told him to do it it doesn't matter what the outcome is going to be what matters is what you were told to do by God look at verse number 2 and the Lord said unto him what is that in thine hand and he said a rod and he said cast it on the ground and he cast it on the ground and it became a serpent and Moses fled from before it so I kind of view this as God saying without saying to Moses hey I've got your back here I'm gonna back you up look I'm allowing you to do these miracles you know don't worry about if they're gonna believe you or not because what you should be worried about is the fact that I'm with you here here you just had this miracle performed and Moses at this point should have realized like okay I didn't do that this is obviously God on my side he told me to do something I just need to step out in faith and do it and not make excuses for it look at how much God wants to back him up verse 4 and the Lord said unto Moses put forth thine hand and take it by the tail and he put forth his hand and caught it and it became a rod in his hand that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob hath appeared unto thee and the Lord said furthermore unto him put now thine hand into thy bosom and he put his hand into his bosom and when he took it out behold his hand was leprous as snow and he said put thine hand into thy bosom again and he put his hand into his bosom again and plucked it out of his bosom and behold it was turned again as his other flesh so notice God's just doing all these miracles and at this point he should just get it like hey God's on my side I'm throwing down my rod it's becoming a serpent I mean could you imagine then picking up a serpent turns back into a rod he puts his hand in becomes leprous puts it back it's healed I mean what more evidence do you need like how much more information and confidence do you need to just listen to God at this point and just say okay clearly I'm on the right path clearly this is what God wants me to do but notice what happens in verse number 10 and Moses said unto the Lord here comes the excuse oh my lord I am not eloquent neither heretofore nor since thou has spoken unto thy servant but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue you know when God gives us something to do he's there to give us the tools he's there to back us up and you know today we have plenty of tools to help us in our fulfillment of the Great Commission or just following the commandments of God or just serving God right he's given us a great fellowship of believers here he's given us the institution of the local New Testament Church he's given us the Holy Ghost who is the comforter to help us he's given us access to him through prayer the perfect Word of God in our laps this morning I mean he's given us so many things yet today some people still want to make dumb excuses as to why they can't serve God dumb excuses as to why they can't follow God's commandments but I'm here to tell you this excuse that he gave right here was not true and you want to know how I know that because Moses ended up successfully doing what God told him to do it's almost like when God tells you to do something he's gonna make sure you have everything you need to accomplish his will he's not gonna give you commandments that you can't follow that you can't follow through with no no if he tells you to preach then he's gonna help you preach if he tells you to go soul winning he's gonna help you go soul winning and you know this right here from Moses was simply an excuse and what this excuse was it was a smokescreen of him not wanting to obey God because he wanted to do his own thing he didn't want the responsibility maybe who knows what all of the inner turmoil of the reasons were that he didn't want to do it but I can tell you one thing is that this excuse was not true and that is the truth about a lot of excuses people give today is that yes excuses that are legitimate do exist and you could find them anywhere you want to but most of the time your excuses are not legitimate most of the time your fears your what-ifs your personal inadequacies that you think about yourself are not even true to begin with and what it is is it's an excuse it's mental laziness look at verse 11 and the Lord said unto him who hath made man's mouth or who make it the dumb or deaf or the seeing or the blind have not I the Lord and you know that's a good thing to remind us is that God has made all of us different but yet he made you the way you are knowing what he wants you to do so it's not like you could use something about yourself as an excuse to not serve God because God's the one that created you God's the one that made you the way you are you know oh I'm too I'm too shy I'm just naturally an introvert I can't go soul winning okay God made you that way God knew you were gonna make be that way and God still tells you to go out and preach the gospel and so someone using that as an excuse it's a lie it's not true you can't sit here and say like oh well I'm exempt from preaching the gospel because I'm shy no that's that's a garbage excuse and you know what it's not gonna stop people from going to hell that excuse and it's not gonna stop God from being angry at you because I want you to notice that God gets mad verse 12 now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say and he said oh my lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send so now Moses is way into stubbornness territory here first it's kind of like hey God I don't know if I'm the right guy I'm not sure you know I'm cut out for this then God's like hey here's the miracles you're gonna do I've got your back then he's like well you know I'm slow of speech I'm stammering over here I'm not that great of a speaker and he's just like who made man's mouth I'm the one who made you the way that you are and I'm telling you to go then Moses is just like well just send someone else look folks this is just stubbornness at this point this is just an excuse at this point for him to not do what God wants him to do and look there's gonna be times in life where we don't want to do what God wants us to do you know that is a human reaction but what separates the men from the boys spiritually are those who though they don't feel like doing it they do it anyways but you know what weak people do is they make excuses and they allow those excuses to stop them from serving God they stay in a position of excuse making their whole life and they don't move forward you know at least Moses he ended up doing the right thing some people their whole life is just excuses excuses excuses and they just want people to feel bad for them they want people to you know excuse them for lack of a better term from doing what's right but it doesn't change how God feels because look at verse number 14 and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said is not Aaron the Levi thy brother I know that he can speak well and also behold he cometh forth to meet thee and when he seeth he he will be glad in his heart and thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what you shall do and he shall be thy spokesman unto the people and he shall be even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth and thou shalt be to him instead of God notice how the Bible says that God's anger was kindled you know he tried to work with Moses here he tried to show him I've got your back here's the miracles I made your mouth I'm with you and you know what God takes offense at us not trusting in him like when God says I'm with you I've got your back what more confidence do you need like like is there some sort of earthly weapon that's gonna make you feel more secure than knowing that God is on your side like if God is on your side that should settle the case you should be ready to roll at that point you should be ready to obey but you know what this is what people do they sin they don't take ownership of their lives they simply just make excuses for it and they think oh by me making an excuse it's gonna change how God feels nope the anger of the Lord is still kindled by you making an excuse about why you're failing in whatever aspect of life it doesn't actually change the fact that you're failing you know what excuses do it makes you feel better about yourself but it doesn't change anything this is why it's so harmful this everybody gets a trophy society that we live in this little soft society where nobody wants to be made to feel bad about anything that they do that is actually harming people and you know I'm gonna say some things this morning they're probably going to piss some people off but I'm telling you that I'm saying this from a position of wanting to help you because sure I could just sit here and coddle everyone's excuses but it won't change the fact that you're failing it won't change the fact that you're not moving forward it won't change the fact that God is angry with you all it serves to do is make you feel better about yourself and what is that that's a bunch of vanity it doesn't matter let's talk about some things people make excuses for go to Psalm 100 Psalm 100 Psalm 100 verse 4 enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless his name for the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations you know we ought to enter into the house of God and we should do so with joy with thanksgiving with gladness we should not only come to church but we should come here with a good heart an excited spirit excited to be here excited to hear the Word of God yet so many people today make excuses for not going to church let me tell you something if you live in Oklahoma City and you're not going to church shame on you good night folks this isn't the sentinel islands here this isn't some deep dark part of some jungle in the world this is America this is the Bible Belt this is ok see the buckle of the Bible Belt if you can't find a good church to go to here you have a serious problem but it's like oh I can't go to any church because I don't agree with a hundred percent of the words that flow out of the preacher's mouth that's a stupid excuse because guess what I could look back at things that I've said in the what eight seven years I've been preaching I could find things that I disagree with two and here I am in church imagine that you know what you're not going to agree with every single thing that the preacher says but guess what the onus is on you to be searching the scriptures daily to see whether those things are so but you know what you don't get to just say well I'm out of church now oh I just quit going to church now or people won't won't even go to an old IFB Church because they're pre-trib that's a stupid excuse because you know what God says to enter into his courts with Thanksgiving and you know what why don't you mr. perfect why don't you mr. super spiritual wonderful Christian okay why don't you go get ordained as a pastor someday and why don't you start the perfect church and why don't you be the perfect pastor and why don't you just preach every sermon just the perfect sermon if you're so great you know what shut up and stop making excuses and get your butt in church or how about this I'm tired welcome to being an adult you idiot we're all tired this morning raise your hand if you're tired I'm always tired okay but I'm still always pumped up too because I just said screw that excuse and I'm just gonna be excited I'm just gonna be happy I'm just gonna have energy despite what my stupid watch tells me you got four hours of sleep again who cares you know what life is about being tired and just sucking it up anyways I'm tired so you're not gonna serve God you know what that's gonna be great when you're standing before the judgment seat of Christ and it's like but Lord I didn't go to church because I was tired you think Jesus is gonna say oh well that were excused my good and faithful servant well done no he's not gonna say you're excused and this is why I'm trying to help you right now get rid of your stupid excuses because a bunch of them are lies anyways and a bunch of them are just covers for you not wanting to obey God here's a fact God wants you to be in church this morning get in church stop waking up every Sunday stop thinking every Saturday shall I go to church and what's my life schedule looking like am I tired have I gotten you know 16 hours of sleep last night why don't you just be steadfast and say I'm gonna go to church now look when legitimate excuses come up in your life and you're sick stay home no problem with that okay but these are like quick one week two week things but your default pattern in life should be that you go to church every time the doors are open that should be your default you should have some sort of anchor in your life that says I'm gonna be anchored in the house of God I'm gonna be steadfast I'm gonna be consistent you know people will do this well I'm not going to church because the church is too small right now that's a retarded excuse where does the Bible like where is this Goldilocks Baptist Church not too small not too big I thought you just need to go to church and you know what there's other people they won't go to church if it's too big they'll go to church if they're friends with the pastor they won't go to the church if they're not friends with the pastor look there's all of these excuses you could think of here's the fact it doesn't change the fact that God's mad at you if you stop going to church it doesn't change the fact you could have all the excuses that if you're not going to church you're missing out in your life you're suffering spiritually you're not pleasing to God and you can make excuses and people can feel bad for you and you could feel bad for yourself but it doesn't change the situation that you're in spiritually and that's why I'm not going to sit here and coddle people you shouldn't sit here and coddle yourself and you know what even if you have a real excuse in your life you shouldn't live in this default zone of giving yourself excuses you should try to shoo away as many real excuses as you can because let me tell you something people that succeed in anything in life ministry business family whatever it is people who actually succeed could give you a thousand legitimate excuses as to why they should have failed like you could find legitimate excuses in your life but you know what people who actually are just steadfast and successful do is they don't let those things stop them and so what I'm telling you is you're gonna have excuses a lot of those excuses sure could be real but a lot of them are fake go to Matthew chapter 19 Matthew chapter number 19 Matthew 19 look at verse 3 the Pharisees also came unto him tempting him and saying unto him is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every notice this word cause you know that is it's them saying hey can any old excuse allow me to get divorced for my spouse and you know what people love to do today people love to divorce their spouse people love to break their vows that they made before man and before God where they said till death do us part they said for better for worse they said for richer for poorer they said in sickness and in health but then well you know what they get they get an excuse and they divorce their spouse and it's well she spent too much money he didn't buy me flowers enough he was messy she wasn't the person I thought she was we're not compatible anymore you know what all those excuses can make you feel better about yourself but you know what you are you're an oath breaker is what you are you know what you are you're selfish you're only thinking about yourself you're not taking into account the damage you're doing to your family to your children the fact that you're offending God by breaking his commandments the fact that you're violating the Bible no it's just about you that's what divorce is it's all about you even though notice Jesus's response verse 4 and he answered and said unto them have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh what therefore God hath joined together notice let not man put asunder Jesus does not excuse your divorce there is no excuse for divorce the Bible says that if you get divorced and you get remarried that you're committing adultery and you know what there's no excuse for it and and of course everyone who gets divorced no one's gonna sit here and say like I was a crappy wife I didn't obey my husband I didn't take care of him no man is gonna say like I was a terrible leader I didn't spiritually lead my family I didn't pay the bills I didn't love my wife you know what they're gonna do they're gonna make an excuse and let me tell you the truth is that every single marriage you could find an excuse because no marriage is perfect don't believe these people that tell you their marriage is perfect it's a lie every couple has problems every husband has problems every wife has problems and if you wanted to you could sit here and just focus on all the negatives of your spouse and you can go convince some bleeding heart moron why it's okay for you to divorce them and a lot of pastors will listen to your excuses and coddle you and say yeah that's a great decision you should get divorced you know ladies you could go talk to your friends and you could paint your husband in the worst light imaginable and a lot of ladies will just say you go girl you get a new man you trade up you're good to go but let me tell you something that's not how God feels and that's not how we feel at this church I will never ever ever encourage someone to get divorced for any reason literally any reason any reason because it is always a sin to get divorced period end of story now obviously there could be situations where your life is in danger where you're like someone's trying to hurt you okay physical separation to keep your life intact I understand that could be a situation for some people but I'm not here preaching the exception I'm preaching the rule and you know what there's no excuse for divorce period even if you're in that type of a situation you still don't have to get divorced because what's your other option to get remarried well that's adultery that's wicked that is a sin in the sight of God notice verse number 10 it says his disciples saying to him if the case of the man be so it is not good to marry and you know that there's a lot of people today that kind of have that attitude where they're kind of giving up on marriage they're afraid of what could happen to them but you know what these these are excuses the Bible says that marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled right so it's a good institution it's an institution that God created don't make an excuse to get rid of it go to 1st Timothy chapter number 4 1st Timothy chapter number 4 how about not reading the Bible look at 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 13 the Bible says till I come give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine I'll read for you Revelation 1 3 blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand God obviously expects us to read his word folks God did not sit here and inspire his word and preserve it through thousands of years for it to sit on your shelf collecting dust he wants you to read it he says till I come give attendance to reading meaning it should be something that's prominent in your mind something that you're actively doing on purpose reading the Bible every single day is something you should be doing but people like to make excuses for why they don't and what do I always hear people say I don't have time I am calling bullcrap on that everyone has time to read the Bible you say I really don't have time okay let's talk privately and let's look at your schedule and I guarantee that I will help you find time to read the Bible you're not reading the Bible because you don't want to read the Bible folks that's the truth there's no excuse there's no pass and again the stupidity of this okay you you think that you have some excuse as to why you can't read the Bible but that doesn't change the fact that you're not reading the Bible and that you're missing out on the spiritual blessings of reading the Word of God that you're going to be missing out on wisdom and God's commandments and I'm here to tell you that what you don't know can hurt you and so what's better to sit here and coddle you and say yeah you just didn't you don't have the time to read the Bible just somehow in our first world United States of America living easier lives than most of human history has ever lived you somehow are the poor little house slave that doesn't have time to read the Bible or you man are just so busy that you don't know how to read the Bible you don't have enough time to know that's an excuse that's a lie you know what it is it's a cover to disobey God and I'm just telling I'm just opening up your heart right now if you don't read the Bible you are disobeying the Lord and you know what your excuses are bullcrap so don't sit here and tell other people I just struggle to read the Bible because I have kids there's people that have kids that read the Bible oh I struggle to read the Bible because I work a job okay there's people that work two or three jobs that read the Bible every single day it's just amazing what can happen if you actually just get rid of excuses and take ownership of your life and actually take charge and take power and say I'm gonna read the Bible no matter what I'm gonna not let these excuses stop me I'm going to read the Word of God go to job chapter number 23 job chapter number 23 here's something in your schedule right away that I'll just help you with if you can't if you can't read the Bible whatsoever notice job chapter number 23 verse 12 it says in job 23 12 neither have I gone back from the commandment of thy lips I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food if you are honest to God so busy that you cannot read the Bible then you need to stop eating breakfast you should literally just stop eating breakfast because God's words are more important than your necessary food okay and me personally I don't even eat breakfast I don't even like breakfast very rarely do I eat breakfast not it's not like I'm doing that on purpose or I really have to try I just don't even want to I don't wake up hungry whatsoever some people do no problem most people probably eat breakfast most people are probably hungry in the morning but if you can't read the Bible you should just stop eating breakfast then because it's better to stop eating breakfast it's better to be hungry than to sit here and not read the Bible so there you go no excuses it's it's just done stop eating breakfast if it's causing you to literally not read the Word of God but let's be honest no one in here is like that you have plenty of other time that you can read the Bible you could still eat breakfast and read the Word of God you're just an excuse maker you are just lazy you are just covering for your disobedience to God and you need to knock it off look at Psalm 119. Psalm 119 you say I can't read the Bible because I'm tired because I don't get enough sleep okay look at this verse Psalm 119 147 Psalm 119 147 I prevented the dawning of the morning you know that means he was up before the crack of dawn he was up before the Sun was up and cried I hoped in thy word mine eyes prevent the night watches that I meditate in thy word notice the psalmist here is losing sleep to read the Word of God so what's more important getting three three meals a day or reading the Bible reading the Bible what's more important getting sleep or reading the Bible reading the Word of God so you know what sleep shouldn't keep you from reading the Bible food shouldn't keep you from reading the Bible these things are excuses look at verse number 62 verse number 62 it says at midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments so notice psalmist is waking up before dawn he's staying up till midnight he's doing just whatever he has to do to get the Word of God into his heart and you know what sometimes we're gonna go through seasons of life where we're gonna be much busier than other seasons of life but you are never excused from just not reading the Bible there's never a time in your life that it's just okay for you to just stop reading God's Word look you need to prioritize reading the Bible it needs to be one of the number one priorities of your life it needs to be more important than making money it needs to be more important than family it needs me to be more important than food or sleep like the Bible is a priority folks you need to make sure you do it go to Exodus chapter 32 Exodus chapter number 32 number two this morning excuses train you to shirk responsibility this is another dangerous thing about excuses number one excuses are often just lies they're often just covers to cause you to disobey God but also by making excuses it causes you to constantly shirk responsibility and you know what that damage that damages your growth as a person it damages your growth spiritually we need to be people that take responsibility for every area of our life why because that's actually empowering but you know what it's very easy and this is what it's just natural for human beings it just feels good to tell yourself I failed because of this it just feels good because we let that go and we say that's not on us or feels good when someone else tells you it's okay you failed because you had this reason and then you feel absolved you feel excused you feel like free of that judgment but you know what what's actually better is to take more responsibility on yourself take more control of your life take more control of your actions look at Exodus chapter 32 verse 1 and when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount the people gathered themselves unto Aaron and said unto him up make us gods which shall go before us for as for this Moses the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt we want not what has become of him so Moses he's up in Mount Sinai Aaron's in charge and the people make this request of him make us gods what is that talking about idols I mean what should the obvious response be here from Aaron as the leader he should take ownership of his authority take responsibility of himself and tell the people no we're not doing that that's wicked that's idolatry that's an abomination to God he should have just taken that responsibility and done the right thing but notice what happens verse 2 and Aaron said unto them break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives of your sons and of your daughters and bring them unto me I mean this is insane such weak leadership I mean it's like did Aaron have a gun to his head here no there's like make idolatry he's like okay give me your daughter's earrings and everything like let's it let's do this together let's start making idols together it's like what is going on this is in just a crazy story here verse 3 and all the people break off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them unto Aaron and he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf and they said these be thy gods of Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt so notice he asks for the earrings he asks for the gold he receives it at their hand he fashions it with a tool like Aaron is very involved in this situation Aaron gave the okay he said yes immediately and he helped the people carry out this wicked act look at verse number 19 verse number 19 it says and it came to pass as soon as he came nigh unto the camp that he Moses saw the calf in the dancing and Moses his anger waxed hot and he cast the tables out of his hands and break them beneath the mouth so Moses just got the Ten Commandments from God and he goes back to his little church plant that hasn't had a leader for five seconds and he's so pissed off because immediately they're in an insane sin just crazy situation he just cast those tablets down breaks them verse 20 and he took the calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire and ground it to powder and straw did upon the water and made the children of Israel drink of it he took responsibility he took ownership he said okay here's the situation I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna fix that problem Moses didn't sit here making excuses Moses didn't say here oh well here's why we're there in the situation that we're in it's not my fault he just said okay we're in a bad situation let's fix it let's get this going right away but Aaron is not the same way verse 21 and Moses said unto Aaron what did this people unto thee that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them and Aaron said let not the anger of my Lord wax hot too late for that thou knowest the people that they are set on mischief for they said unto me make us gods which shall go before us for as for this Moses the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt we want not what has become of him Aaron completely failed here just a crazy story in the Bible and he took zero responsibility when the truth of the matter what we see in Scripture is that he played a massive part in this sin where he just immediately assented to them he took their stuff he graven he grove the idol up himself he took part of this sin but then when Moses confronts him he's you know the people you know how bad they are you know that their hearts are set on mischief they said you know up make us gods and part of it is true that they did say that but you know whose responsibility was to say no it was Aaron's responsibility and here is the problem with not taking responsibility yes it's uncomfortable to do it's uncomfortable to take responsibility for your own sin because you have to have the humility to acknowledge that you sinned and that you're not perfect you screwed up but here's the problem with not taking responsibility is that nothing in your life can ever change nothing in your life can ever change until you take responsibility because it just feels great to just say like well the reason my marriage sucks is because of my wife well the reason why my whatever insert whatever's going on in your life the reason why this sucks is because of someone else it feels so good to the flesh because you now have no responsibility there's no action steps that you could take there's nothing you could do to fix the problem because it's someone else's fault and let me tell you something when something is your responsibility you actually have agency you actually have power you actually have authority to change your situation and this is why allowing people to make excuses is so damaging for them is because you're telling them oh you failed and there's nothing you could do to ever change that you'll always be a failure you'll always be in this terrible situation you'll always have this problem but it's okay because it's not your fault isn't that great that your life sucks and that it's never gonna get better but at least it's not your fault that doesn't help anyone folks this is not a loving mentality to just coddle people and just let them make all these excuses the person who actually loves you says stop making excuses and take responsibility for your life and do something to fix it take control of your life and do something to fix it what are some areas today that people do not want to take responsibility how about perpetually single guys and perpetual single girls who are just for large portions of their life single not by choice like they want to be married and they're just single for their whole life these are people that make excuses these are people that refuse to take responsibility because you know what's so easy to do you know what just makes the flesh feel good is hey you know I'm 40 years old and I'm single but it's okay cuz feminism I mean don't you know how bad American women are don't you know how every American woman is just such a Jezebel and they're all so terrible and they're none of them are saved they're all reprobate and you know I need to go to the Philippines to get a woman and I'm not against you going to the Philippines to get a woman but you know what sitting here and just blaming all women for the reason that you're single must make you feel good cuz you don't have to do anything to fix it I mean isn't it just great that you don't have to worry about you ever hitting the gym or you ever getting a good job or you getting spiritual or you knowing how to defend a woman and defend a family it's just nice that you don't ever have to do anything because it's someone else's fault it's feminism's fault and look feminists are terrible marry zero of them don't marry a feminist don't marry a Jezebel but you know what sitting here and saying all American women are bad is stupid don't say that crap in this church because there's a lot of great American women here that love God that want to serve God that want to please him that are raising godly families and you know what you're the leader man you want to be a good leader someday why don't you lead yourself why don't you be someone worth following instead of just sitting here and worried about feminism yeah we all know feminism sucks but you know what feminism didn't stop me from getting married feminism didn't doesn't stop this church from preaching the truth I mean couldn't I do this as a pastor oh you know we're not gonna preach hard against feminism because you see it'll make everyone mad isn't that true isn't that a true statement of course it is couldn't I just make that excuse of why I can't preach certain things in the Bible because it's gonna make people mad because our Google reviews are just gonna keep going down the toilet every time I preach the truth or should I just take responsibility and say you know what there's things that I can do that I have control of and I'm gonna take control of those things and not make excuses and you know what if something sucks in your life you should just take responsibility for it and work on fixing it rather than just making yourself feel better because you're blaming other people you know what that is it's mental weakness you are a weak man if you blame the reason why you can't get married in America on feminism because you know what there's still good girls out there and you can lead some young lady and help her to grow how about this the Jews I mean there's people that just blame everything on the Jews and of course Judaism is a satanic religion and of course Jews are running a lot of things in this world but it's like the reason I can't do anything in life it's just the Jews the Jews the Jews you're giving them a little too much power my friend because last time I checked I could do all things through Christ with strengthen of me it's like man I would love to you know have a church where we preach the whole Council of God but the Jews will get us no they won't we'll still preach throw us in jail we'll still preach shut us down we'll still preach give us some lawsuits kick us off YouTube I don't care we'll still preach I'm not gonna see her just blame well the Jews exist therefore we need to stop serving God shut up it's weakness how about this perpetual obesity perpetual obesity people it may here's the thing it makes you feel good to sit here and say well Bill Gates and GMOs you know and if we just didn't have GMOs if we just didn't have Bill Gates if we just didn't have big pharma if we just didn't live in the 21st century if my parents had just raised me better if I had just gone through a different style of life then I wouldn't be in the situation that must make you feel good but it's never gonna cause you to change it's never gonna cause you to be healthy again right you know what actually makes sense is to take responsibility and say here I am let's work on it and look there's plenty of legitimate excuses there are but again we should be people that though we acknowledge those things exist we should try to ignore those things ourselves as much as possible we can sit here to be like okay I have legitimate excuse but starting today I'm doing everything that I can pray for God to help you and not sit here just blame other people long-standing character issues you have a some sort of long-standing character issue and people just make excuses like oh I'm just a jerk it's just the way I am oh I'm just I'm just prideful I mean it's okay it's just how I am no that's an excuse change take responsibility realize that you don't get to just sit here and say well I'm just God just kind of made me a jerk naturally just kind of made me prideful you just kind of oh how about this you just I just kind of I can't help it I can't help but flirting with women I mean I'm a man over here right I mean we all have we're all the flesh right I mean women are beautiful we just can't stop staring at them take responsibility don't sit here just use this excuse well I'm a man how can I not stare at a woman it's like asking the Sun to not come up in the morning no take control of your life and you using excuses boy sure makes you feel good about yourself no big deal I'm just a man right makes you feel great about yourself but you know what God's angry and you're the one that's still sinning and you're the one that's still not doing right and making yourself feel better doesn't change anything and allowing other people to feel better about their sins doesn't change anything this is modern church movement in a nutshell it's pastors and leadership just getting up and telling people why it's okay that they don't keep God's commandments why it's okay that we're all just terrible and we all don't want to get better and we all don't want to preach the Bible it's all just about come as you are leave as you came grace grace grace grace grace no take responsibility and that's actually going to cause people to improve their lives because nothing can change in your life until you take responsibility you know what I think is one of the biggest excuses of our generation ADHD I think ADHD is one of the biggest excuses ever created CDC.gov says that 6% of adults have ADHD but it's funny because I feel like 80% of adults say that they have ADHD oh yeah because this is an excuse my friends even if you say everything about 88 let's just pretend for a minute that everything that is taught about ADHD is true let's just for a thought experiment grant them that okay the CDC says that only 6% of adults actually have that so why is it that everyone claims to have ADHD if it's one if it's six out of a hundred people because a lot of people are making excuses and a lot of people their parents and their school teachers have given this excuse to them growing up and they have just held on to it as a reason to feel good about themselves for why they fail in life okay here's what's interesting about ADHD I went to the CDC website and there's a portion there's an article on ADHD and they say what is it what is ADHD this is the CDC's definition of ADHD ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood neurodevelopment means having to do with the way the brain grows and develops ADHD is usually first diagnosed in childhood and often lasts into adulthood children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention controlling impulsive behaviors may act without thinking about what the result will be or be overly active so to me they didn't even answer the question it's like what is ADHD well it's one of the most common diagnoses okay I get you're saying it's one of the most common diagnoses but what is it they can't tell you what is because you can't go to a doctor to be tested for it you can't go to a doctor and get a blood test and say oh crap you've got the ADHD pathogen you have to go to a psychiatrist or a psychologist which are usually people that are extreme atheists extreme left-leaning people like those industries are bad industries folks is they're not industries based on the Bible or Christianity whatsoever you have to go to them and then they have to do this big old personality test on you and they will just decree to you that you have ADHD and isn't this great because their whole livelihood depends on them diagnosing you with that I mean what kind of what kind of psychologist is gonna say like oh alright sweet rich parents keep bringing me this kid but actually the kids totally fine the kid just needs a spanking the kids needs to be stopped being put in front of a screen from birth but no of course the psychologist is gonna say oh yeah this kid's super messed up come to me every week for the rest of your life so that I could get your money oh I'm sure that's a crazy conspiracy right no one would ever do anything for money I mean the love of money is not the root of all evil or anything like that right here's the diagnosis here's how you get diagnosed with ADHD and children you talk with your child's health care provider if you are concerned about whether your child might have ADHD the first step is to talk with a health care provider to find out if the symptoms fit an ADHD diagnosis deciding if someone has ADHD is a process with several steps there is no single test to diagnose ADHD this is the CDC I'm not making this up and many other problems such as anxiety depression sleep problems and certain types of learning disability can have similar symptoms one step of the process involves having a medical exam including hearing and vision tests to rule out other problems with symptoms like ADHD so they're just excluding by chance other disorders diseases that are similar to ADHD diagnosing ADHD usually includes a checklist for rating ADHD symptoms and taking a history of the child from parents teachers and sometimes the child itself ADHD in adults ADHD can last into adulthood some adults have ADHD but have never been diagnosed the symptoms can cause difficulty at work at home or with relationships symptoms may look different at older ages for example hyperactivity may appear as extreme restlessness symptoms can become more severe when the demands of adulthood increase find out more about ADHD here so they can't really tell you specifically what it is they can't really tell you exactly how it's diagnosed how you can find out if you have it you just go to a psychologist or psychiatrist they have a checklist they ask parents they ask teachers so they're just they're just going off of what people say it's not like a fact just going off what people say and then if you meet a certain amount of criteria they'll just say you have ADHD which is literally just a label that was just made up to describe a certain group of characteristics about a person this is not a disease folks this is not something that you catch this is just completely made up in my opinion and you know what I think most ADHD diagnoses are I think they're complete and utter excuses and you know what it does it robs people of their responsibility to change because isn't it doesn't make parents feel nice doesn't make them feel so good that their kid fails in school their kid is poorly behaved their kid can't learn their kid can't pay attention doesn't it make parents feel so good to sit there and say well it's not because I didn't spank my kid like the Bible said it's not that I don't discipline them it's not that I don't love them and train them and instruct them and spend time with them I just put them in front of a screen from birth I mean we've all gone to restaurants where the little kids they just have the tablet in front of their face all the meal you got to believe if they're doing that in public it's probably at home the same way it's not anything like that oh thank goodness it's just his brain oh I thought I was a bad parent for a second there whoo thankfully I have no responsibility thankfully there's nothing I can do to fix the problem it's okay because Johnny's brain has ADHD let's give them the drugs right now let's give them the Ritalin right now this is mental weakness this is excuse making this is bull crap this is lazy terrible parents not taking responsibility for following what the Bible says and their kids are being harmed as a result is it must make you feel so good about yourself as you're harming your kids let me tell you this Ritalin crap harms kids turns them into different people kids are hyperactive folks kids have struggle paying attention and and let's talk about the adults with ADHD it must make you feel great about yourself that the reason you fail at everything in your life it must make you feel good that the reason why you failed in college you don't do good on the job you struggle in your relationships it's okay that you're doing that because your brain it probably makes you feel real good about yourself but it doesn't change the reality of where you are and it's not going to ever change in the future until you take responsibility for yourself what if I told you that we as human beings have the same flesh and we are all jacked up together what if I told you that our flesh does not want to work hard did you know that did you know that there's no person who enjoys hurting their flesh and working that doesn't exist okay oh man just paying attention is so hard reading is so hard it's hard for everyone like it's it's so easy to just pull out your phone and just doom scroll that's why people do it it's so easy to not pay attention in class it's so easy to not be consistent at your job it's so easy to be scatterbrain and not be disorganized all these things let me tell you something it's our natural flesh it's our sinful condition but you know what is actually loving to a child is saying hey you've struggled you're struggling this area you've got these problems let's support you let's give you all the tools that you need let's love on you but you know what I'm going to tell you Johnny don't let this define you don't let this excuse stop you you know what you still have to get good grades Johnny you still have to show up at work you still have to be a good employee and I'm not going to excuse you and even if you believe that ADHD is completely real and everything about it is a 100 fact let's just say you believe everything about it is true the worst thing even if that was the case the worst thing you could ever do is tell a kid that they have that it is let's just say that you believe it's real the worst thing you could do is tell someone that they have that because what you've done is you've given that a kid an excuse to not work hard you've given that kid an excuse to not overcome to not be challenged and let me tell you something you are all going to have challenges in life we all have challenges in life and you know we don't need to be told hey it's okay that you failed because there was a challenge there we need to be told hey embrace every challenge and work hard anyways and push forward anyways and we all have different struggles I'm sure that there are people who they genuinely do struggle more with paying attention than other people okay I'll grant you that but I'm not going to sit here and tell a kid hey it's okay that you fail in everything because you have ADHD you're robbing that child of their responsibility parents are robbing themselves of responsibility but it's all okay because it makes you feel good doesn't it you know what that's not loving folks that is not something that actually is caring about people and that brings me to number three this morning is that excuses rob yourself of your potential excuses rob you of your potential go to Philippians chapter number four Philippians chapter number four Philippians chapter number four I hope you believe this verse in verse 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me see Jesus Christ actually gives us an empowerment you know an ability to be empowered and to take responsibility and to affect change in our life and not through our own flesh and our own intellect alone but it's through Christ with strength which strengtheneth us we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us folks and so the good attitude to have is saying hey I do have some legitimate excuses and if you and I were to talk today you could probably tell me about some legitimate excuses in your life that caused you to be the place that you're at I could give you some legitimate excuses but you know what we should do is we should say hey we can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us you know that there's people with autism that have been very successful in life there's been millions of people with ADHD because they give that diagnosis to literally everyone it seems like you know there's been people with no legs no arms that have done great impressive things people that have gone through severe hardships and trials and excuses beyond anything you or I have ever experienced and yet some people have just pushed through and you know what I guarantee you the people that have done that they weren't surrounded by a culture that says it's okay that you're failing no big deal don't feel bad about anything that you're at in your life I guarantee you that they were either from themselves from the bible from people around them around people saying hey take ownership take responsibility take control of your situation don't let these excuses stop you from growing you know you're robbing yourself of your potential and this is what pisses me off about the psychology and psychiatrist industry I'm not saying that there's a never a time to get help there's never a time for even some of those medicines like if you are are planning on committing suicide if you're thinking about that kind of stuff I'm not going to sit here and stop anyone from doing that I'm not going to have that on me okay go ahead and get any any help that you want but this is just what's weird to me from a Christian perspective folks is that I thought we were Christians I thought that we believed the bible I thought that we believed in something called prayer I thought that we believed that God can help us I thought that we actually believed that we could do all things through Christ which strengthened with us and it's like we live in a society where it's like you can't pay attention you're stressed you're fidgety you're depressed you're anxious and Christians first response is to go to drugs and to go to God hating oftentimes atheistic left-wing feminists that work psychology and psychiatry jobs why is that our first response and again I'm not telling you never ever seek help for something like that but again it's just like this is my mentality with mental health is like if you are soul winning if you are going to church every time the doors are open if you are reading the bible if you are praying if you are thinking about other people if you are hearing hard preaching if you are getting good sleep getting exercise if you are doing these things chances are you're not going to have severe mental health problems okay this is just common sense chances are if you're actually doing all these things you're not going to have all these issues you could pray and ask God to help you but at least at least check all those things off the box before you start popping drugs into your kids it's like I don't go to church I'm not married I don't work out I eat cheese puffs all day I doom scroll on instagram and on facebook I don't read anything I don't pray to God and I'm sad and I'm depressed it's like I wonder why but I bet you it makes it I bet you it makes you feel good about yourself though to sit here and say I have all these problems through no fault of my own no fault of my own I have no responsibility I can take no ownership I just need to start taking drugs you know what we need to stop coddling people folks we need people to take responsibility for their actions you know let me give you some people who had some legitimate excuses to fail and yet they didn't how about the apostle Paul I'm pretty sure that if someone gave us his list of excuses we might think like yeah okay he's like look I'm tired of getting shipwrecked tired of getting beaten with rods tired of getting thrown into jail I'm tired of people trying to kill me I'm tired of all these things like he's already beaten all the excuses of my entire life just in like five seconds and I'm pretty sure everyone in here but did he fail no he didn't he's like you know what neither can I my life dear unto myself I don't care about my problems I don't care about my excuses I'm just gonna push towards the mark of the high calling of Jesus Christ that's the right attitude to have okay how about how about Daniel when it's literally illegal to pray I mean that's an excuse that's a legitimate excuse oh I can't pray because it's illegal but guess what did he let that excuse stop him or did he just do what God told him to do anyways did he keep doing what's right anyways and you know we may in our lifetimes face a situation where some portion of our religion of our ability to serve God could be legislated and made illegal and you know what we should do we should keep serving God anyways you know we should look to our brothers and sisters in Christ in Germany who have been through some real persecution in the last four or five years and look to them as an example they could have made all the excuses they want they could have stopped serving God you know what they went through police raids at their homes getting their things confiscated going through criminal trials going through deportations and you know what they're still serving the Lord they're still soul winning they're still preaching hard they're still believing all the things in the King James Bible as you and I sit over here and complain as we have little kids today in school complaining about their ADHD folks real excuses will exist in your life and in my life and you know what you should do you should push through them and not give yourself an out mentally saying I'm excused because I have this out nope it's not going to help you go to Matthew chapter number 25 but here is the truth if you want an excuse to not serve God you will find one if you want an excuse to get divorced you will find one if you want an excuse as to why you're failing in any area of life you will find a legitimate excuse to give people and isn't that great to make yourself feel better as you still fail as you still don't improve I'm here in love today telling you stop making excuses take ownership I'm not going to coddle you I'm not going to say it's okay it's all good I actually want to empower you and tell you to change to take ownership to say I can do all things to Christ which strengtheneth me let's finish in Matthew 25 and I want to read a good portion of this it's such a great parable for what we're talking about Matthew 25 verse 14 the Bible says for the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and delivered them unto his goods and unto one he gave five talents and to another two into another one to every man according to his several ability and straightway took his journey then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents and likewise he that had received two he gained he also gained other two but he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his lord's money after a long time the lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them and so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents saying lord thou deliver it's done to me five talents behold I have gained beside them five talents more his lord said unto him well done thou good and faithful servant thou spend faithful over a few things I will make the ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy lord he also that had received two talents came and said lord thou deliver it unto me two talents behold I've gained two other talents beside them his lord said unto him well done good and faithful servant thou has been faithful over a few things I will make the ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy lord let's pause real quick in this story before we read some more and understand that the two servants were given two different quantities of goods five talents two talents but though they didn't have the same number of assets the same number of goods both of them were productive with what they had both of them took those talents and brought an increase for their master and notice the master's response to both servants was very positive the master was very pleased with the person that made an extra five very pleased with the person that made an extra two why because they're being profitable they're doing something even though one is making a lot more money they're both being profitable with what they were given but verse 24 says then he which received the one talent came and said lord I knew thee that thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not struck you know what that was an excuse as to why this person is not working hard verse 25 and I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth lo there has there thou hast that is thine and his lord answered and said on him thou wicked and slothful servant thou newest that I reap where I sow not and gather where I have not strawed thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers and then in my coming I should have received my own with usury take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him which has 10 talents for unto everyone that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath and here's what I want to point out about this parable in regards to our sermon this morning is that we all are different in this room and God has not given us all the same talents okay and so we need to realize that some people in life are going to be more successful than others in a production standpoint in a quantity standpoint some people are going to have a knack for things that you don't have some people are going to be you know having an ability to preach and lead you know fewer people are pastors than people in the pew right we all have different roles to play we all have different talents that God's given us some people have been given ten five two one but here's the thing you have been given something you have been given something by God to steward you have control over something in your life and whatever talents it is that God's given you whatever assets responsibility things to steward in your life whatever those things are God expects you to bring a prophet with those things he doesn't expect you to take one talent and turn it into a thousand necessarily he doesn't expect you to take 10 and turn it into a hundred million necessarily but he does expect you to take the things that he gives you and work with them and bring forth fruit with those things and make a profit from those things go to second corinthians chapter four five second corinthians chapter number five because a lot of times when people make excuses what they're really saying is well i don't have five talents i have one or they're saying well i have five talents i don't have ten but what about the five talents that you do have though what about the one talent that you have like you have something to do you have something to work on you may not be a 10 talent guy you may not be a five talent guy but just do what you can with what you have be responsible take ownership with what you have look at second corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad you will stand before jesus christ someday you will stand before our savior and he will judge you according to your works and i will stand before jesus and he will judge me and i do not want to stand before our savior and say lord here's why i didn't serve you i didn't have a lot of money i had adhd i was fat you know i had just all these problems do you think that that's going to change anything on that day as far as the rewards that i'm going to get nothing's going to change he's not going to say well ah man well done now good and faithful excuse maker you're excused here's all the rewards even though you did nothing for me here everybody gets a trophy no not everyone will get a trophy not everyone will get great rewards he will reward you greatly if you do great works with the talents that you are given and we're all in different situations we're all in different stages of life we all have different responsibilities and priorities but you know what whatever your situation is stop making excuses and get to work take responsibility you don't look and here's the thing some people are going to be very offended by some of the things i said today but you're the one that has to stand before jesus christ and jesus christ is not going to sit there and coddle you so i would rather hurt your feelings now and hurt my feelings now and just say like okay i've got a lot of things jacked up i need to take responsibility and fix these things for the short time that i'm on this earth and have the ability to do so before i just stand before christ and my eternity is locked in my rewards are locked in my works are locked in and you know what i don't think that we're going to be in heaven feeling so good about ourselves about our excuses like we do now because you know what i think that is i think that's the flesh right now and that flesh is going to be gone okay you're not going to be up in heaven giving yourself all these excuses the reason you give yourself excuses today the reason i give myself excuses today is because we want to be lazy as human beings and boy does it make us feel good to know that well we failed but it ain't our fault it's not our problem there's nothing we could do to fix it this is a loser's mentality folks this is a mentality of someone that doesn't go forward that doesn't grow that doesn't accomplish great things for god that doesn't fix things in their marriage in their business in their church and i'm telling you you look at anyone in any situation show me a successful person in ministry i will show you a person who had many legitimate reasons to quit and many legitimate reasons to fail you show me someone who's built a big business i'll show you someone that had many legitimate reasons to fail but you know what successful people do especially ones that are spiritual especially us who believe the bible is say hey i can do all things through christ which strengtheneth me stop making excuses this morning stop making excuses take control of your life god wants to give you that empowerment through his word through his help through the holy spirit of god don't sit here and excuse yourself trust in the lord don't make excuses let's pray lord we thank you for this day and we thank you for your word for the admonitions therein i pray that all of us would take account of our lives and that we look at the problems and the areas that need fixing and not sit here and just blame our parents or other people or circumstances but we would just take responsibility of everything that we can that we would realize that not all of us are going to be 10 talent people but we would just be good and be good stewards with the talents that you've given us help us to work hard until the day of jesus christ we love you in jesus name we pray amen our last hymn this morning number 131 christ is all i need 131 131 christ is all i need 131 there on the first christ is all i need christ is all i need christ is all i need Oh, I need, he was crucified, for me he died, on Calvary, that's why I know he loves me so. He's almighty, amen with that.