(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you. Go ahead and get started, let's go and find our seats, and we'll go ahead and pull out our hymnals. We'll actually pull out the white handouts that are scattered around the church, there's a bunch underneath the maps as well. We're going to be singing Psalms 150. Psalms 150, if you can't locate a white handout, pull out your Bibles and turn to Psalms 150. Go ahead and sing nice and loud, Psalms 150. Start there on the first. Praise ye the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in the firmament of his power, praise him for his mighty acts, praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet, praise him with the psaltery and harp, praise him with the timbrel and knats, praise him with stringed instruments and organs, praise him upon the loud cymbals, praise him upon the high sounding cymbals, let everything then at rest, praise the Lord, praise ye the Lord, praise God the Father, praise God the Son, praise God the Holy Ghost, praise God in three persons. Amen, good singing. Brother Mo, you want to pray for us this morning? All right, let's go ahead and flip in our hymnals to song 30. Go ahead and pull your hymnals out. Turn to song 30, nothing but the blood. Song number 30, nothing but the blood. First, one can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my part in this I see, nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing this my plea, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can force sin atone, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Amen, great singing this morning. So at this time we'll go ahead and go over the announcements. Go ahead and pull out your bulletins. If you didn't, grab one on the way in. You can just raise your hand high in the air. We'll have brother James bring them around to you. And we do have our Bible memory verse. They're listed on the front page. We are memorizing Psalms chapter 47, very short chapter. It's only nine verses. We're going one verse per week. We are in week five, verse five. So keep working on that. If you can, quote the entire chapter. There will be a special prize for you. And we have our service times listed with our soul winning times and respective leaders. And also our stats. And as of right now, do we have any salvation report from Friday, Saturday five? Amen. And I have two. Did I miss anybody? All right. So we are going to be heading out at two o'clock this afternoon. We'll try to be here just a couple minutes early. That way we can leave on time. Our upcoming guest preaching schedule. Today, May 15th, we have brother Vin Naeem. He came down from Fort Worth area, Steadfast Baptist Church. He's been here many times. He's an honorary member of True Words Baptist Church. So definitely thank him. Shake his hand for coming down. It's a blessing having him. July 7th, which is a midweek service, a Thursday service. We have Pastor Steven Anderson coming out from Faithful Word Baptist Church. So definitely try to be here for that service. Support him and definitely thank him for coming out as well. For our expecting ladies in the church, we do have Sister Corinne Darnell expecting in June. And we also have Sister Christian Rogers expecting. She's not here on the bulletin. Maybe you can kind of write that in there or just remember to add her to your prayer list. Just keep them in your prayers. And I believe brother Vin's wife is expecting as well, a little girl. So keep his wife, Alicia, in your prayers as well. So congratulations to them. Some upcoming events here right around the corner at the end of this month. May 21st, there is a soul winning marathon in Austin, Texas. So just write that on your calendars. It is a Saturday, May 21st. We're going to go down to Austin and preach the gospel to the city of Austin. Try to get that place normal again. It can take a lot of work. All right. But definitely looking forward to that. August 18th through the 20th is the Steadfast Baptist Church Mighty Men's Conference. So as details kind of get solidified and come in, we'll go ahead and announce that to you. But you could write those dates on your calendar. August 18th through the 20th is the Men's Conference. I wasn't able to go last year, but I heard it was a great time of fellowship. It's a time for guys to hear some good preaching and just to be men. All right. So looking forward to that as well. We do have our prayer requests listed here. We do have brother Edward here with us in the flesh. So those prayers have been working. Good to see him. But if you do have any prayer requests, add those to the list via email. It's yourwordbaptist.gmail.com. We'll add those to the prayer request list and we'll be in prayer for anything that you might need. And they're listed at the bottom of the bulletin. There's some church reminders. Children are not allowed on the stage. Children are not allowed to run in the church. Children being in the distraction, just take them to the mother baby room. And just keep your children supervised at all times. But with that, that is the announcements. Let's go ahead and pull out our hymnals and we'll turn to song number 43. Song number 43, we're marching to Zion. 43. Nice and loud. First, come we that love the Lord and let your joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Join in a song with sweet accord. And thus surround the throne. And thus surround the throne. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upwards to Zion. The beautiful city of God. Let those refuse to see. Who never knew our God. But children of the heavenly king. But children of the heavenly king. May speak their joys abroad. May speak their joys abroad. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upwards to Zion. The beautiful city of God. The hill of Zion. Heals a thousand sacred sweets. Before we reach the heavenly fields. Before we reach the heavenly fields. Or walk the golden streets. Or walk the golden streets. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upwards to Zion. The beautiful city of God. Then let our songs abound. And every tear be tried. We're marching through Emmanuel's crown. We're marching through Emmanuel's crown. To fairer worlds on high. To fairer worlds on high. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upwards to Zion. The beautiful city of God. Amen. So with that, let's go ahead and pull out our Bibles. And turn in your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter number nine. Ecclesiastes chapter number nine. We'll have Brother Jeff come read for us. And we'll go ahead and pass the offering. All right, so you're there in Ecclesiastes chapter nine, verse one. Ecclesiastes chapter nine, verse one, the Bible reads, For all this I considered in my heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, for the good and to the clean and to the unclean, them that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not. As is the good, so is the sinner, he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. This is an evil thing among all things that are done under the sun. There is one event unto all, yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live. And after that they go to the dead. For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. The living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything. Neither have they any more a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished. Neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun. Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be also white, and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life of thy vanity, which ye have given thee under the sun all the days of thy vanity, for that is the portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor the vice, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest. I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not his time, as the fishes that are taken in evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it fall suddenly upon them. This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me. There was a little city, and a few men within it, and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city, yet no man remembered that same poor man. And said I, Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom is despised, his words are not heard. The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroyeth much good. I'll bow our heads for a quick word of prayer. All right, amen. And I appreciate what Brother Nick said there about being an honorary member, but, you know, even if I showed up like once every five years or something, I mean, I would still view this church as part of the family as steadfast. You know, we have the same pastor and everything, but anyway, appreciate that comment. Ecclesiastes chapter nine, first of all, I just want to thank Pastor Shelley for the opportunity to come back once again, and we're starting there in Ecclesiastes 9. Look at verse 9 where it says, Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest, all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee unto the sun, all the days of thy vanity, for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest unto the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest. So the Bible is telling us here in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, essentially, that while you're alive on this earth, that what you find your hands doing, do it with your might, meaning put maximum effort into what you're doing, because the time to do that is now in this life on this earth. This is the opportunity that we have to put in maximum effort. That's our mandate as Christians, is not to do the bare minimum, but rather to go above and beyond and to do the very best that we possibly can, rather than settling for mediocrity. In a world where people are entitled and only want to put in as much as they feel they're going to get out, we need to be different from the world, and we need to be a people who are ambassadors for Christ in the sense that they look at us and say, that's a person who cares, that's a person who goes above and beyond, that's a person who puts in maximum effort, that's a person who isn't lazy, who isn't slothful, who isn't entitled. Like a lot of people, this is a poison that I think people talk about the COVID pandemic and spreading all over. Here's an illness that's spreading all over. Here's something that's spreading all over the population, the Western world, laziness, slothfulness, entitlement, wanting all the wealth and the fame, wanting the big house, wanting the fancy car, but putting zero work in to achieve financial security. Not saying that those are the things we should be seeking after anyway. Those things are vain, but my point is that people want to make money, they want to be able to pay the bills without even working whatsoever, without putting any work in, without putting any effort in, and the Bible is telling us that whatever you find yourself doing, that you should do it with maximum effort, that you should try your best, and obviously that's very general. We'll get into more specifics in a moment, and there also is an obvious caveat here where it's not talking about sin, right? It's not like you should sin as hard as you can or put all this effort in when we're breaking God's law. So let's use common sense throughout the sermon here and realize that that's not what I'm talking about, but the title of the sermon this morning is Do It With Thy Might. Do It With Thy Might. Let's head over to Hebrews chapter four and read there what I think is a similar concept in Hebrews chapter four. What I wanted to focus on in this sermon are different components of the Christian life and doing those things with our might, doing those things the best that we possibly can, going above and beyond enthusiastically. Live your life with your might is what the sermon is about because people have to wake up a little bit. I feel like there's kind of an apathy and it's something Christians can struggle with as well, kind of getting apathetic about our responsibilities, about the things that God expects of us, and that's something that all of us can struggle with. You can all get burned out. You can all get a little bit apathetic, and my hope is that this sermon kind of injects you with some energy and gets you excited and enthusiastic about the things that we have to do as Christians. In Deuteronomy chapter 11, I'll quote this for you. I had you turn to Hebrews 4, but I wanted to quote a few verses in Deuteronomy 11 where the Bible read, and it shall come to pass if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain that thou mayest gather in thy corn and thy wine and thine oil. The reason I wanted to quote that is because it says if ye shall hearken diligently. Now the word diligent can be defined this way, a steady application in business of any kind, constant effort to accomplish what is undertaken, exertion of body or mind without unnecessary delay or sloth. So basically kicking laziness, slothfulness to the curb, right, and putting in a constant effort with whatever it is that you're doing, whether you're soul winning, whether you're Bible reading, whether you're coming to church, and I'll talk about those things a little bit later on, but be diligent in your work. Be diligent on the job. Be diligent in your marriage. These are some of the concepts that I will be explaining in a little bit more detail, but in Deuteronomy chapter 11 God promises a specific blessing associated with diligence and this is a national blessing, but I think the same concept can apply to the individual. The Bible believing Christian in 2022 can incur a blessing for being diligent, for putting in maximum effort. That's our mandate as Christians. That's what separates us from people who aren't saved. People should look at us and say, wow, there's something different about that person and the reality is there is. You know what? You have the Holy Ghost. That's what's different about you. You're a child of God and so we need to be the accurate, the positive reflection of the teachings of scripture in our everyday lives and what better way to do that than to do all with thy might. The emphasis is placed on scripture to go all in. To go all in. To go all in though you have to go all out. To go all in you have to go all. You have to be fully plugged in, maximum effort. It means taking, you know, making the time for the things that you have to get done in your life. Making time for prayer. Making time for church. Making time for Bible reading and Bible memorization. Making time for evangelism. You know, people can make time to go watch the next sports game. They can make time for the Dallas Cowboys. I'm sorry, I guess the team here would be the Houston Texans. You know, they make time for Houston Texans. They make time for whatever the major sports teams are in this city. The NFL, the local NFL team, the college teams that they follow. I never got college football, frankly speaking, because it's like, wouldn't you just want to watch the best players in the world? Anyway, you know, they make time for all these vain things, but they don't make time for God. They don't put an effort in for God. They don't care about the things of God. And that's why this nation is where it's at right now. If my people, the Bible says, you know what, it starts with Christians and Christians need to wake up and start living their life with their might. Hebrews chapter four is where I had you turn. Look at verse number three. It says, for we which have believed do enter into rest. As he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. If you've believed on Christ, you're going to go to heaven. This is the most obvious statement in the world, but it uses the word rest here. And the Sabbath is a picture of salvation because when you've believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are resting on his. You're resting on his works. And so that's one way to look at that word rest. Another way to look at it is that once you get into heaven, you've entered rest. And I believe that's the primary context of Hebrews chapter four, specifically verse 10. If you look down at verse number 10, it says, for he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did from his. Again, nothing wrong with looking at this as simply referring to believing on Jesus Christ. That's fine, but I believe the primary application, what it's trying to explain to us is that once we've entered into heaven, we've ceased from our works. That's not the time to do works for God. The time to do works for God is right now. It's this life. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the time. Now is the appointed time. And so you can't do that. Obviously, you can't earn rewards in heaven while you're in heaven. You have to do the works now. And so when we've entered into that rest, which is heaven, we've ceased from our own works. Now look at verse number 11. It says, with that in mind, so keep that in mind, the context I just explained. In verse 11, it says, let us labor therefore to enter into that rest lest any men fall after the same example of unbelief. People have had some problems with this verse thinking, oh, is this, it sounds like maybe work salvation or something. No, it's not teaching work salvation at all. I believe this is the same concept that we find in Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Remember what it said there, that whatsoever you find your hand doing, it said to do it with thy might. Why? Because now is our chance to do so. It's this life where we have an opportunity to do all with our might. We can live our life with our might now on this earth in this life. And in Hebrews chapter 4, we see a similar concept where, you know what, now is the time to do works for God. We should labor to enter. Look, we're going to enter into rest regardless. We're going to go to heaven no matter what, whether you sat at home and ate corn flakes every day of your life or whether you went soul winning every week and got some souls saved and went to church and were on fire for God, you're going to the same destination. You're going to go to heaven. But the difference is one will be greater than the other in heaven. Obviously, the person who does mighty works for God will procure mighty rewards. But my point is that in Hebrews chapter 4, it's telling us, let us labor. Therefore, we're going to heaven no matter what. We might as well work while we're on our way there. We might as well labor while we're on our way to that rest to obtain a better resurrection. Look at Colossians 3, Colossians chapter 3. What's the sermon about? Doing all with all thy might. Laziness would be the antithesis of this. Laziness will destroy your life. Laziness is pathetic. Laziness will leave you wanting. And I get it, we all struggle with this. I'm not saying that, no one's perfect. Nobody is perfect. We all struggle with this. The flesh, the old man is still here. The flesh is still here. We have to fight against that. Sometimes, I mean, it feels like I just have to physically move my hand and just kind of put it on the Bible and just kind of open it up and say, I'm reading this. You know, my flesh is like, oh, why don't you go browse YouTube? Why don't you go look at Facebook for a little while? Why don't you go look at Twitter for a little bit? And it's like, no, no, no, no, come here. You're going right here. You're reading this thing. You know, you are getting out of bed and you're going to the soul when in time. Maybe you have to yell at yourself like a crazy person. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not sitting down and playing Xbox. I'd like to, but I'm putting that controller away. I'm getting up out of bed. I'm putting my clothes on. I'm going to the soul when in time. Get excited about me, sing a hymn, whatever you got to do. But you just got to sometimes, you got to force yourself to do that which is right. If you want to do all with thy might, it takes effort. And look, let's not kid ourselves. It's not like you always feel like doing works for God, right? Who here says I always 100% of the time feel like going soul when in time? And if you raise your hand, man, what a holier than thou you are. I mean, come on. Let's just be real, okay? Just be real. It's okay to admit it. We all struggle with that. But you just got to force yourself. You just got to force yourself to do all with thy might. And doing just enough to get by is the wrong way to do it. And let me tell you why. Because that's how you slowly deteriorate. Because all of a sudden, instead of doing just enough, you're doing just not enough. And it keeps deteriorating from there. Colossians 3, where I had you turn, look at verse 23. And I get that all of this is kind of general. I will get into specifics. It says in verse 23, Colossians 3, verse 23, and whatsoever ye do, same concept as Ecclesiastes 9, whatsoever ye do, do it heartily. That means do it with effort, maximum effort as to the Lord and not unto men. Verse 24, knowing that of the Lord, ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ. Whatever you do, ensure that it's done heartily, with zeal, with vigor, with enthusiasm. That'll separate you from everyone else. Conversely, slothfulness, idleness. What are these products of? Apathy. That's not going to get you anywhere. I've made it pretty clear what the Bible is teaching, that we should do all with our might. Whatsoever you find your hand doing, do it with your might. And it's easy to agree with that. If I got up here and I said, sin is bad, everybody would say, amen. Yeah, I agree with that one. But what if I started applying that to drinking? It might get a little quieter. What if I applied that to watching Netflix, horrible Netflix shows or something like that? Obviously, it'll get quieter and quieter in the room. And so, yes, you should put in maximum effort in whatever you do. Fine. But what am I talking about specifically in your Christian life that this would apply to? Well, turn to Titus chapter 2 and let's look at the first one. Titus chapter 2. My first point is work. When you go to work, you might as well do it with thy might. If you're going to go to work, you might as well do it with thy might. And let me explain something. When you're on the job, that is part of your Christian life. You are representing Jesus at your job. Let me say it again. You're representing Jesus at your job, men. And so when you come to work and you stag your shoulders and you come to work and you're not getting the job done and your boss has to rebuke you every day, you're making Christ look bad. So think about that the next time you're tempted to cut some corners. Think about that the next time you're tempted not to do the job right, not to listen to the boss. Titus chapter 2 says in verse number 9, you say, I came here for a fun sermon. Well, guess what? You know, we need our spiritual broccoli and our spiritual green beans too. Yeah, I love me some spiritual barbecue. Oh, man. I love me some spiritual pizza. You know, I'd eat that every day if I could, but we also need our spiritual broccoli, our spiritual green beans, you know, whatever healthy, obviously I don't eat healthy enough because I can't even name other ones, but you get the point. All right. Spiritual organic food. All right. Whatever. Titus chapter 2, look at verse 9. It says, exhort servants to be obedient under their own masters and to please them well in all things. Pay attention to these words, not answering. Again, importance is placed in scripture on obedience to authority. That's what I said, obedience to authority. I know we live in a world where it's like, I'll do whatever I want. That's not what the Bible teaches. Bible says obey the authority. And again, yes, if your boss is telling you to sin, don't sin. If your boss says, I need you to go to the bar and go drink alcohol, which I don't understand, that never happened, but I mean, you get my point, right? If your boss is telling you to sin, then that's different. Then you will obey the higher powers. You obey the higher authority and it's better to obey God rather than men. I understand that. But in general, that's not what's going on at places of employment. And so what is expected of us is to be obedient. This servant-master relationship that the Bible is talking about would be in the context of an employer-employee relationship like what we find in the modern day. And it says not answering again. As long as you're not asked to sin, it's yes, sir. And be the employee, be the one worker that he can rely on to say yes, sir, when handed down a task. The bosses like workers who try hard. Bosses like workers who come to work and say, I'm going to do my work with my might. Bosses like workers who don't have to be asked two, three, four, five times to do the same task. Bosses like workers who don't answer again. Bosses like workers who don't constantly complain about the job. Bosses like workers who are obedient and who quietly get the job done. Who are reliable as well. Who are coming to work on time, getting the task done, and going home. That's what it's all about. And man, here's something for you guys to really help you, to really motivate you. Because if you're going to work each and every day and you're not getting the tasks done, and you're being slothful, you're checking your phone, you're disobeying the boss, you're finding ways to cut corners, but here's my question for you. How do you look your wife and your children in the eyes, knowing that that's what you're doing when you go to work every day? I couldn't imagine looking my family in the eyes, knowing that when I leave them every day, they're relying on me to put a roof over their heads. They're relying on me to put food on the table for them. And when I go to work each and every single day, I'm being a goofball. I'm being the bozo. And I'm on the verge of getting fired. Imagine looking your wife, your children in the eye, because you just got fired for stealing on the job, for cutting corners on the job. How embarrassing would that be? And even more so than that, arguably even more important than that, how do you think God feels? He gave you the job you have. You say, my job isn't perfect. Of course it's not. Nothing's perfect. And if you want to look for another one, great. Amen. Go find another job. I'm not against, just understand what I'm saying here. God gave you the job you have right now. How do you think he feels when you trash it, when you don't put in the effort, when you're disobedient, when you're slothful, when you're sluggish? Probably not very good. And so think about those things whenever you're tempted, they kind of cut some corners a little bit. When you're tempted not to go to work with your might. Hey, we serve God when we're excelling at work. You know, what does the Bible say? It says unto the Lord, unto Christ. You see this all the time in scripture that, Hey, you should think of your boss as if it was Jesus giving you that task, giving you that order. And you sound like, well, you say, well, that sounds kind of crazy. That's what the Bible teaches. That's the concept in scripture is that when the boss tells you to do something, do it as unto the Lord, do it as unto Christ, have the mentality that says, Jesus is my boss. Imagine if Jesus was standing right next to you as you were going through your workday every single day, how would he feel about what you're doing? You'd probably clean some things up a little bit if Jesus was standing right next to you, watching your every move. Well, that should be our attitude. Hey, what if Jesus was right here? Would he like how I'm going about my business at my work? Look at Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six. Exactly what I'm talking about is about to come up here in Ephesians chapter six and verse five. Ephesians chapter six, look at verse five. It says in Ephesians chapter six and verse five, servants be, Ephesians chapter six and verse five says, servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart. Notice as unto Christ, not with I service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men. What's the Bible telling us here? Obey the boss as unto Christ. When he hands down a task, he says, I need this to get done. Do it as unto Christ as if it was Jesus himself who gave you that task. Verse number eight says in Ephesians chapter six, knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bought or free. You know what servants are told to be obedient as unto the Lord, as unto Christ, knowing that there's a special reward associated with that. And when you do a lousy job, when you do a lousy job, when the boss hands you a task, when you sag your shoulders, when you're sluggish about it, you know what? You ought to think, man, what if it was Jesus who gave me that? That might change the way you think about it a little bit. If Jesus said I need to get this assignment done, wouldn't you put in maximum effort? Wouldn't you want to get that done the best the best way you can? You know, the way I think about it is if Jesus were the one giving you a particular job, a particular task to complete at your job, my guess is that you would be motivated to do it with your might. So try to think about it that way. Our work performance as men, it's part and parcel of our Christian lives. And guys will often say this, they'll say, I just want to serve my life. I'm sorry, I want to serve God with my life. And praise the Lord for that. I know what they mean most of the time when they say that, and that's great. They'll say, well, I want to go in the ministry because I want to serve God with my life. Praise the Lord, right? Nothing wrong with saying that, and I'm not attacking people who say that. But please understand, I'm not attacking you if you've made that statement before. I think that's great. But please understand that there's a difference when you mean that. This is what you mean when you say that. If you mean I want to go into the ministry to serve God with my life because I feel like I can't serve God with my life now, that's where I have a problem. Let me explain why. If you're not in the ministry today, you can still serve God with your life right now. Right now. You say, how do I do it? Every single time you get up in the morning and you go to work, that's a way in which you can serve God. When you go to work and you do it with all your might, you're serving God. That's part of the Christian life. The Bible says to obey our masters in the flesh. And so when you're going to work every single day with maximum effort and the boss sees there's something different about you, guess what? You're serving God with your life in that way. And that's not to say that everything in balance, folks. That's not to say that we should allow our pursuit of success in the carnal world to supersede our pursuit of success in the spiritual things. Yes, we shouldn't let our job take us away from serving God. I get that. And in those situations and those scenarios, I would say perhaps it's time to find a different job if it's preventing you from serving the Lord. But if those two things are in balance and you say, I want to serve God with my life, but I have a secular job, you know, don't go to this holier than thou attitude that says, oh, I'm just so much more holy. I can't work a secular job because I'm just so much holier than everybody else. I'm so pure and righteous. And I look down at all those heathens that are at my job and I just simply, when they come toward me, I say, stay 15 feet away. I can sense your sin. It's like, really? No. Guess what? You can do fine in a carnal job. You know, what do you think the apostle Paul did when he wasn't preaching the gospel? Tent maker. If he can do it, you can too. So don't fall into that attitude. You can serve God with your life outside of being an ordained pastor or evangelist or something like that. And the means by which you can do so are the tasks that you're given at your work. How good are you at your job? Are you going to work with your might? You say, I'm a plumber. Be a plumber with all thy might. You say, I'm a construction worker. Hey, be construction worker with thy might. I'm an administrative assistant. Boring. I've been there. Menial tasks. But you know what? You better do those menial tasks at the office with thy might. You flip burgers. Maybe you're a young guy. You're just starting out in the workforce and you're flipping burgers right now at the local McDonald's. Let me tell you something. You flip those burgers better than anyone else in that kitchen. You flip those burgers like you work for a hibachi restaurant. Hey, you flip those burgers with thy might while everyone else comes to work and they're complaining and they're whining and they're pissing and they're moaning. You come to work every morning with a smile on your face and you say, I'm ready to flip some burgers today. Let's go. Let's do this. Come on. Say we're customer service. Hey, you want to talk about a dying art in our world today. Customer service. I mean, I called order a pizza last night and the guy on the other end of the line's like, we're not taking orders. We have too many. Click. I'm just like, good night. Couldn't have said a little nicer. You go fly. You go take a flight somewhere. Man, it used to be when I was a kid and I remember flying Olympic Airways, which is defunct now, but it was this Greek airlines. When I would go back and forth visiting my family in Lebanon and the flight attendants were so polite and they'd give you the snacks and all the rest of it. And it's like now as a 28 year old man flying today, anytime you ask these flight attendants, you know, you ring the bell for them to come. Maybe you want to water or something like that. What do you want? Put the tray table up. Put the seat up. We're about to land bozo. And then during COVID, it was like the worst thing in the world. Where's your mask? Put the mask on. I'll tell the pilot to turn the plane around. The damn mask on. It's like calm down. Right? If you're in customer service, be the one guy or girl or whatever, which if you're a woman, you know, the Bible says guide the house, but that's a different topic for a different time. Here's my point. Be the one person that says, you know what? I'm going to be a customer service agent with my mind. I'm actually going to be polite to people. I'm going to give them high quality customer service unlike everyone else. You think of Joseph. He was promoted to the governorship in Egypt. So there's a pattern with the great men of God in the Old Testament that they excelled in the carnal world. In Daniel 1, you don't have to turn there. I'll just quote this for you. In Daniel 1, it says, and a king communed with them, and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Misha, and Azariah, therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. And Daniel continued even under the first year of King Cyrus. Hey, the people of God, 10 times better than those freaks, those magicians. You're in customer service, be 10 times better than everyone else. You flipping burgers, be 10 times better than everyone else. Hey, are you an administrative assistant? Be 10 times better. Construction worker, be 10 times better. Be 10 times better to glorify God, not yourself. Let's look at Ephesians 5. We'll move on to the next point. Ephesians chapter 5. And my next point is this. Let's talk about marriage. Let's talk about marriage. Ephesians chapter 5 is where I had you turn. Look at verse 22 when you get there. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 22. If you're going to be a husband, if you're going to be a wife, might as well do it with thy might. Do it with thy might. Look at Ephesians 5 verse 22. It says, wives, submit yourselves under your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he's the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Let me repeat that. So let the wives be to their own husbands in everything, in everything. Wives are told to submit to their husband. And notice the parallels between Christ's relationship with the church and a husband's relationship with their wife. So when people would denigrate women who believe in being subservient to their husband or submitting to their husband, they're blaspheming Jesus Christ in the process. They might as well just denigrate Jesus Christ in the process. If you think this means that wives have a lesser value than husbands, here's my question for you. Does the Lord Jesus Christ have a lesser value than God the Father? Because guess what? Jesus submits to the Father in the same way that a wife is supposed to submit to the husband and we also see that Christ's relationship with the church is a direct parallel to a husband's relationship with his wife in the sense that Jesus, you know, he exhibited a sacrificial love, bled and died for the church and the same is expected of husbands to exhibit and display that sacrificial love for his wife. Yes, husbands are supposed to be dictators. Amen to that, but how about we show ourselves benevolent, benevolent, excuse me, benevolent dictators. Benevolent dictators and wives, the Bible says, should submit in everything, not some things. You say, I want to be a wife with all my might. I want to put in as much effort as I can. I want to go all in in my marriage. Well, I think we have the formula submit in everything. Be subject to your husbands in everything. It was Peter who said this in 1 Peter 3, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. That's a good role model for women. Lots of role models for women to choose from. Lots of role models. You could be like Ellen DeGeneret, the dyke. You could be like Kamala. You could follow her edicts, her life lessons. Or you could flip open your Bible. You could be like Esther. You could be like Sarah. You could be like Hannah. You could be like these godly women who were obedient and the Bible says Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. The respect factor is so huge when it comes to marriage. And as a woman, if you feel this temptation to slip in this area and you realize, you know, I haven't really been a wife with my might and I've been really disrespectful and bitter toward my husband, just realize that when you're doing that, you're making women like Kamala proud. You really want to make Kamala happy? Kamala would love it if women everywhere were rebellious toward their husband. She would love it. She'd be gushing with joy. That whore. Kamala Harris is a whore, by the way. Yeah, yeah. She's a whore. Go cry about it. What does that have to do with the sermon? I'm not sure. But my point is, hey, every time you, look, you want to be rebellious and you kind of want to be that contentious woman, you're putting a smile, think about it, you're putting a smile on a woman like Kamala Harris's face. And, you know, that would just, that would cut to the heart a little bit, right? And so for a wife to be a wife with their might, what does that entail for them? It entails, you know what, I'm going to respect, I'm going to pedestalize, I'm going to lift up my husband, he is the king of the castle. And think about this, look at Esther chapter eight, Esther chapter number eight. Let's look at an example in scripture of a woman who did this. You want to talk about a woman who was married with her might, who was a wife with her might, despite being married to someone that she couldn't exactly call godly, named Ahasuerus. Let's see how she addressed him. Let's see how she communicated with him. Let's see what she said when referring to or speaking to her husband. Because to me, this is the example. You could turn on the television set and you're going to see the example of feminism. You're going to see the example of a bunch of blue haired freaks who want to go murder their own children, who are running around the streets of Washington DC screaming and yelling, foaming at the mouth about how badly they want to murder their own children today. Or you could take the example from the word of God. You could look at what godly women have done in the past and how they addressed and treated and respected their husbands and say, I'm going to take some notes and follow them rather than the God haters. Esther 8. Look at Esther 8 and look at verse number 4. Esther 8 and verse number 4. It says here, look at verse 3. I'm sorry, look at verse chapter 3. Let's go there first. Esther chapter 8 verse 3. It says, and Esther spake yet again before the king and fell down at his feet and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite and his device that he devised against the Jews. Then the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther so Esther arose and stood before the king. Now get the context. She's trying to get Ahasuerus to reverse an edict that would have her entire people wiped out. So think about that for a minute. Think about what she's asking for. If there was ever an excuse to show her husband some attitude, this would be it. But notice how she addresses in verse number 5 and said, if it pleased the king and if I have found favor in his sight and if the things seem right before the king and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hamadatha the Agagite which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces. For how can I endure to see evil that shall come into my people or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? Think about that. Her people about to be wiped out and how does she address the husband if it pleased the king? That should be the mentality of the godly wife who wants to be a wife with her might. Hey, you know what? If it pleased the king, I'm going to love my husband. I'm not going to gossip about my husband like the other women. I'm not going to gossip and backbite and talk bad about my husband. I'm going to love my husband. I'm going to respect my husband. I'm going to lift up my husband and I'm going to have the if it pleased the king attitude about my husband. If it pleased the king. If it pleased the king. You got to think about that and I think that'll really help in your marriage whenever you feel like you're tempted to slip in this area. You want to be a wife with your might? Well, have the attitude that says if it pleased the king. What does this look like? Putting in maximum effort from a wife's perspective. And by the way, men, don't get too comfortable. I'm coming for you next. Whenever there are these marriage sermons and preachers get up and they talk about women should submit to their husbands and be obedient to their husbands, there's always that guy who's like, yeah, amen. Yeah, preach a letter. Hey, she can't. I don't think she can hear you over here. Come on. Come on, preacher. Yeah. It's like calm down, all right? You're going to, it'll get quiet real quickly. But be a wife who instead of the TV dinners, maybe you take the time to really prepare something with love for your husband after he comes home from a long day at work, right? That's what it looks like in my estimation to be a wife with your might is to really take that time, take that extra step to be there for him after a long day of work and say, hey, you know, I know you had a long day. Is there anything I can do to make you feel comfortable? The table's set. Food's ready for you. Have the kid teach the kids that when daddy's home to come and say hi to him and make him feel welcome at home and things of that nature. Now let's pick on the husband's for a second. Look at Ecclesiastes 9 where we started, if you would, Ecclesiastes chapter 9. And I wanted to focus on the context of the verse that I've used for this sermon in verse number 9. In Ecclesiastes, I'm in Proverbs, excuse me, Ecclesiastes chapter 9, look at verse 9. It says in Ecclesiastes 9, 9, live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity which he hath given thee unto the sun all the days of thy vanity but as thy portion in this life and in thy labor which thou takest unto the sun and then verse 10 where we derive the sermon whatsoever thy hand find it to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whether thou goest. It's not a coincidence that marriage is mentioned in the verse that directly precedes the verse that talks about whatsoever thy hand find it to do do it with thy might because marriage is such an important component of our lives as men and when we're struggling in our marriages and when we're fighting all the time or the marriage isn't going right that's going to affect the spiritual portion of your Christian life and the Bible tells us to live joyfully with the life whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity. That means having a good marriage and the Bible talks about exactly how to do that from the husband's perspective in Ephesians chapter 5 let's go back there Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25 live joyfully with your life be thankful with your wife for your wife I should say be thankful for your wife praise God that he's given you a godly woman who's willing to go to church with you on a Thursday night on a Sunday morning on a Sunday night who's willing to dress like a godly woman that is more precious than rubies who's striving to be like the proverbs 31 woman be thankful for the wife that God has given you and yes women they are expected to obey the boss at home which is the husband husbands lead the home my friend husbands are in authority husbands are supposed to be the boss at home there's no question about that but you know what that means for the husband great responsibility great responsibility in leadership leading his family leading his wife but also loving his wife look at verse 25 it says husbands Ephesians 5 25 husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word wives supposed to be obedient to the husband the bible says well we see that the emphasis on the husband is placed on loving their wives a sacrificial love as Christ loved the church use your authority to do what's best for your wife what's best for your children and that might mean having to tell her no having to say that's not right yes you have to put your foot down at times as a husband and lead and lead with with some might and lead with authority be a man right but there's also with time as well to display some mercy Colossians 3 says husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them when men fail in this area it's because of a lack of mercy when men fail in this area it's because they're they've they've allowed bitterness to grow in their heart toward their wife as a result of a lack of mercy imagine if this imagine if the second you sinned god thundered forth from heaven and destroyed your flesh and wrecked your life you probably wouldn't like that would you you know we love god's mercy when it's applied to us we love god's grace when it's applied to us but how about we take that exact same concept and apply it to our wives they're going to screw up they're only human are you going to cloud up and rain down on them the second that they do are you going to show them some mercy are you going to be merciful towards your wife and that takes strength be the the one part of the marriage who isn't just emotionally going all over the place it takes strength to kind of control your emotion control your emotions you know there's this guy i met and he basically this is this is kind of how he framed his marriage this wasn't anybody in church it was in the secular world he framed his marriage this way he's basically just talking about how his wife is just so lucky that he hasn't even divorced her yet that's this guy i barely knew him and and he just devolved all this information to be about how horrible his wife is and and you know he's going through marriage problems and of course it's all his wife's fault and she's bad and she never listens and blah blah blah and meanwhile what i was able to discern from this individual is he puts zero percent effort in as a husband he's addicted to looking at things on the internet he divulged that to me which i'm not going to go into more detail behind the pulpit and he's talking about all these and he's just like he puts zero effort into his marriage he sins against his wife he sins against god the guy is lazy and slothful and unmotivated he's not a husband with his might whatsoever and basically this is attitude as well i'm you know she's she's lucky i didn't kick her to the curb that's embarrassing that's garbage that's not loving your wife that's not being a husband with your might you know what that looks like that looks like getting the sin out of your life you know what that looks like that looks like taking the time to say hey let's spend some time together and and that doesn't mean staring at a television screen for two or three hours a day that means taking the time to go out together you want to be a husband with your might take some time to spend with your wife take her out for dinner take her to a local museum go hiking together spend some time communicating one window with another now here's something you could do as well why don't you read the bible together as a husband take that leadership that that step in leadership and say we're going to spend some time reading the bible together and here's what i do with my wife as i said we're going to spend 20 minutes or you know an allotted period of time reading the bible we're each going to take notes about what we read after the allotted time is done let's say it's been 20 minutes or so after that's done let's talk about what we wrote down she writes down her questions what she read that maybe confused her she wanted a little more clarification on and then you know i'll help her answer it meanwhile if there's something that stuck out to me that i thought would be worth teaching her i'll go over my notes and talk to her about it that's just that's what works for us there might be something better that works for you maybe you maybe reading aloud together works better for you find what works for you and spend time with your wife in that way reading the bible together you know but here's the reality this guy i met was putting no effort into his marriage whatsoever and he was expecting to get a whole bunch of benefits out of it and here's why that's wrong you put in all right sorry you get out what you put in you want to have a great marriage husbands then be a husband with thy might put the effort in give maximum effort no be a husband with thy might if you if you're going to be a husband you why does you might as well be one with your might let's look at let me see what the time is here let's look at the song of solomon chapter 4 if you would song of solomon chapter 4 the bible says in first peter chapter 3 likewise he husbands dwell with them according to knowledge giving honor unto the wife as under the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered wives are the weaker vessel and so we should give honor unto the wife meanwhile islam says treat them like dirt meanwhile islam says that you know that they're they're less than nothing that they're basically just dirt put a hijab on them that they can't even look men in the eyes disgusting the way islam treats women but then oh the the ifb you're so misogynistic have you ever read the quran i mean really you're gonna levy the accusation against us song of solomon 4 says in verse 1 behold thou art fair my love behold thou art fair thou has doves eyes within thy locks thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from out gilead thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn which came up from the washing where of every one bare twins and none is barren among them the husband speaking to the wife you know talking about her long flowing hair dove's eyes says her teeth are like sheep that are even shorn and i think the teeth are probably representative of the saints being clean and white and washed in the blood of the lamb but one of the ways that you can determine if you're being a husband with your might how often do you take time to complement your wife's appearance women are being bombarded today with messaging that says you're not attractive enough because they're seeing all these billboards and these hollywood plastic figures that look fake and they you know are kind of being brainwashed into believing that that's the standard how often are you saying to your wife hey you look gorgeous today you look beautiful today do you take the effort do you make the effort to shower your wife with praise you put in that effort be a husband with thy might by showering your wife with praise making her feel loved making her feel appreciated no that's one of the ways that you could be a husband with your might is showering her with the praise that we see in song of solomon chapter four now you probably ain't as poetic as this thou art fair to look upon but try your best all right song of solomon five look at verse 10 song of solomon five look at verse 10 make your wife feel loved make your wife feel special make your wife feel beautiful that'll go a long way in improving your marriage and it's one of the ways in which you can be a husband with your might look at song of solomon five verse 10 my beloved this is the wife talking to the husband my beloved is white and ruddy the cheapest among ten thousand look at the love she has for her husband on display here building him up the respect that she has for her husband saying that he's the cheapest among ten thousand keeping praise keeping honor keeping respect a wife who says i want to be a wife with my might isn't talking crap about her husband to her friends to her girlfriends isn't gossiping gossiping about her husband in fact for both members of the marriage whether you're a husband or a wife we should never ever talk badly about our spouse in public to anybody that's always wrong never do that let's look at uh proverbs i'm sorry let's look at deuteronomy chapter 31 deuteronomy chapter 31 deuteronomy chapter 31 actually i'm going to call an audible for sake of time hebrews 10 let's go to hebrews 10 instead my apologies hebrews chapter 10 my fourth point my fourth point is this church church if you're going to go to church you might as well go to church with thy might hebrews chapter 10 look what it says in verse 24 hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works not forsaking the assemblies of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching how do you go to church with your might well bible talks about it says provoke one another be an example exhort one another and you can't do that if you come here just to take a nap you can't do that if you're coming to church because you view it as nap time because you come to church to view it as daydreaming time you know when it's time to come to church have the the thought process that says i'm gonna go to church with my might and what does that mean it means bring a bible to church pay attention you know look through the scriptures along with the preacher and look i get it sometimes you know you're tired or whatever i'm not trying to pick on anybody okay but this is all i'm saying is that when it's time to come to church it's a time to pay attention to the preaching it's a time to pay attention to what the preacher what god has laid on his heart and you say well well oh that's not my favorite preacher isn't preaching today what a carnal attitude right it's not about you know it's not about paul or it's not about apollos it's not about any of these people it's about jesus we're here to serve jesus christ we're here to serve christ and guess what if the person behind this pulpit is saved with the holy spirit inside them and there's a king james bible on this pulpit then it's worth paying attention to in my book and you know a church isn't designed for entertainment we don't come here to be entertained and yeah there are going to be some preachers who maybe aren't i'm not saying here but in general there are going to be some preachers in general who are more exciting than others i get that but we shouldn't come to church every single service and expect the preacher to be hanging from the chandeliers and putting on a big show and and things like that there are going to be times where you come to church and it's maybe more of a kind of a teachy sermon or more of a sermon that's more practical or it's not like you can't come to church every week and expect a sermon on the sodomites or on the jews or on your hobby horse topic like i said earlier you have to be ready to to consume your spiritual broccoli every once in a while yeah we all love spiritual pizza we all love spiritual burgers we all love our spiritual chicken nuggets i get that but sometimes you gotta have your spiritual i don't know lentils okay and we and don't have this thought process that says well unless it's my favorite topic i'm not even gonna pay attention come to church ready to learn but also ready to apply as well be a doer of the word not a hearer only the bible says and so if you want to come to church with your might be ready to pay attention to the preaching bring a bible to follow along with the preacher and be ready to apply the message to your life but how about this also get plugged in look at numbers chapter four numbers chapter four the bible reads in colossians 3 16 let the word of christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the lord hey you want to go to church with your might when it's time to sing the hymns sing the hymns with your might sing as if you're singing to god almighty it's like that's how some people sing it's like come on are you excited to be at church or what let's hear it even if you sound like you're strangling like if even if you sound like a strangled cat it doesn't matter saying with your mind i want to hear it because we all sound good together nobody's asking you to step on the stage and sing a special trust me you wouldn't want to hear it if i did that you want to talk about making your ears bleed that's a pretty good way to do it but collectively we sound great as a congregation and so let the the the song leader hear you sing with your might that's how you come to church with your might numbers chapter four look at verse 15 numbers chapter four verse 15 it says and when erin and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary and all the vessels of the sanctuaries the camp is to set forward after that the sons of coath shall come to bear it but they shall not touch and holy thing lest they die these things are the burden of the sons of coath and the tabernacle of the congregation the coathites are told to bear the vessels of the sanctuary and they bear they bore the ark with the staves all right that was the correct way to do so look at verse 24 look at verse 24 this is the service of the families of the gershonites to serve and for burdens and they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle the tabernacle the congregation is covering and the covering of the badger skins that is above upon it and the hanging of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation the gershonites were told to bear the covering of ram skins died red carried the curtains they hung them up when the tabernacle uh stopped moving look at the verse 31 here verse 31 and this is the charge of their burden this is in reference to the uh mare rights to the sons of mare right and this is the charge of their burden according to all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation again the sons of mare right the boards of the tabernacle and the bars thereof and the pillars thereof the sockets thereof and the pillars of the court round about in their sockets and their pins and their cords with all their instruments and with all their service and by name you shall reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden so they they carry these items that are associated with the holy place the most holy place the holiest of all the court of the tabernacle and they were supposed to count the instruments of the charge of their burden so the children of mare had specific responsibilities and you might be wondering why did you just take the time to explain all that well here's why because these tasks that were connected to the tabernacle they required a collective effort in the same way the local new chest denote the local new testament church in order for it to function correctly requires a collective effort of the individual members of the local body and it's a it's it's an effort that is in unison that works in unison to move forward together just assures the tabernacle had these different components that work together to set it up to bring it down in the wilderness and the levites they were expected if they were going to do these things the right way then what was expected of them to do it with their might if even one of them didn't do the job right then that would cause the entire tabernacle to have problems and so if they wanted to be successful in moving this this mobile tabernacle then they had to do it with their might they had to do the tasks that have been assigned to them with their might there's lots of manual labor involved with this and so they had to put in maximum effort and the same thing applies to the local church whether you're a moray ride or a gershonite or a coethite hey find the role that's been assigned to you and do it with your might find a way in which you can be plugged in and do it with your might it could be the youtube channel maybe the pure words baptist church youtube channel needs help maybe brother nick needs help in terms of cleaning the church there might be a void there where somebody is needed to help clean the church on off days maybe the soul winning leader needs help with printing maps or something like that or there's some way you can assist in the soul winning times or there might be more soul winning leaders that are needed for more soul winning times you can find a way to get involved in that way perhaps the church website maybe pastor shelly and brother nick they might need help updating the church website and you have some knowledge in that area maybe you can contribute that way maybe there needs to be more piano players maybe the young man who plays the piano he needs a backup he needs somebody to back him up when he's not able to come to church and so you know maybe you take the time to learn how to play the piano so you can contribute that way musically at church find the area that you're really good in and then use those skills to make this place better find that skill that you have just like those skills were divided in numbers chapter four to each individual and then you take ownership of that area of the church and you say you know what i'm going to do this with all my might i'm going to do this with all i'm going to serve with all my might here's my final point and i'm going to wrap it up look at ezekiel chapter three ezekiel chapter three my final point is this preach the word of god with thy might preach the word of god with thy might look at ezekiel chapter three verse one this is the last point i'm going to make and i'm going to wrap it up moreover he said unto me son of man eat that thou findest ezekiel three verse one son of man eat that thou findest eat this roll and go speak unto the house of israel i want you to notice that before ezekiel is told to speak he's told to eat the roll verse two so i opened my mouth and he caused me to eat that roll and he said unto me son of man cause thy belly to eat and fill thy bowels with this roll that i will give thee or that i gave that i give thee then that i eat it and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness and he said unto me son of man go get thee under the house of israel and speak with my words unto them ezekiel commanded to eat the roll subsequently to get up and preach to the house of israel what could we learn from this well eating the roll is symbolic of reading the word of god it uses the word honey and honey is associated with scripture so many times you'll find that throughout the bible that it's like it's as sweet the words of god are as sweet as honey you want to preach with all your might you got to eat the roll first if you want to be a christian who preaches with all your might with all your strength with all your effort you have to eat the roll first so that what comes out of your mouth is that which is right is that which is doctrinally sound that's the process that ezekiel had to go through first and look what happens in chapter six again i don't think it's a coincidence that he's first told to eat the roll and look at ezekiel chapter 6 and verse 11 and now see what he's being told to do next in ezekiel chapter 6 verse 11 it says in verse 11 ezekiel chapter 6 verse 11 thus saith the lord god smite with thine hand and stamp with thy foot and say alas for all the evil abominations of the house of israel for they shall fall by the sword by the famine and by the pestilence first step you want to be a preacher with all your might make sure you're reading your bible and when i say read your bible i don't mean just stare at some words and then daydream while you're reading it i mean pay attention to what you're reading take notes so you can actually comprehend what you are reading and then once you do that you can equip yourself to preach with your might you can equip yourself to do what ezekiel was commanded to do in ezekiel chapter 6 verse 11 what it says smite with thine hand stamp with thy foot for the abominations of the house of israel and if there was ever a time to do that it would be 20 22 america there are so many sins and abominations that this nation deserves to be preached against for and we need more preachers who've decided to say i'm going to preach with all my might i'm going to be filled with the spirit i'm going to eat the roll i'm going to get behind the pulpit and i'm going to preach against the abominations of this land because who else is going to do it you know a lot of the churches they get their little skinny jean little effeminate faggoty queer behind the plastic pulpit with the purple lights and the fog smog show and they're up there and as god loves you and homosexuality is is is like a sin kind of and you know it's like it's not right no what happened to stone them with stones what happened to that what happened to the spirit filled men of god preaching with all their might what happened to that era it's quickly dying well we need more pastors we need more preachers we need more more men in the congregation who get up when they have a chance to preach behind this pulpit to rip on sin to exhort to rebuke to do those things that are necessary to help our brethren because that's the point is to help people serve christ better we need more you know spirit filled men of god that assign you know what i'm going to smite with my hand i'm going to stomp with my foot i am going to preach with my might i'm going to rip on the abominations of america i'm going to rip on fornication i'm going to rip on alcohol i'm going to rip on gluttony i'm going to rip on pride i'm going to i'm going to rip on all these sins so that i can make this place better even if it's just a drop in a bucket drop on a frying pan i'm going to do whatever i can because it starts behind the pulpit i'm going to do whatever i can within my power so at the very least you know make a positive impact on the brethren around me within my sphere of influence and make sin exceeding sinful instead of the weak preaching that we get in most churches today america is fat drunk and lazy and it's because the churches are failures it's because the preachers are weak it's because the preachers are limp-wristed it's because the preachers do not preach the word of god with their might please be the exception and preach with your might you know get angry about sin get upset about it that people hate god today look at deuteronomy 6 and we'll be done you say i don't preach this doesn't apply to me okay do you go soul winning you go soul winning right hey preach your gospel presentation with your might what does that mean what does it mean to preach the gospel with my might it means if you're just starting out it's a good idea to practice at home right practice your presentation at home you know people ask sometimes well how do i get started preaching the gospel how do i get better preaching the gospel you know what really helps preaching the gospel to yourself get yourself saved that sounds kind of silly preach the gospel you know and practice practice with your spouse practice with your children practice with whoever is willing to listen practice practice practice study the verses that are in your presentation look at the context of the verses what is the chapter about what's the context of the verse what does the verse mean what is it saying what comes after what comes before it really take the time to dive into those scriptures and understand what the bible is saying understand what the verses are saying try and find backup verses in case people throw questions at you that you weren't ready for when you go out soul winning that's important not that we should go into rabbit trails and debate people i'm not endorsing that but be ready to give an answer like the bible says and so if you want to be a gospel preacher with your might have some bible knowledge that you have equipped with you some extra bullets if you will extra ammunition that you can use when you're out soul winning to help answer some questions now let's wrap it up i went over time let's wrap it up deuteronomy chapter 6 look at verse 4 what was the point of that i'm just trying to say if you're going to preach the gospel with your might it means prepare before you go soul winning prepare study your god study your bible understand the doctrines about salvation and the deity of christ and topics that come up when you preach the gospel and also make sure you really study the verses that you use in your presentation and that goes for everybody whether you're starting out or not i think we can all do this to help improve our presentation and truly preach the gospel with your might another way to preach the gospel with your right hey be filled with the spirit of god you can be more effective that way according to john chapter 15 i had more about that but i'm going to skip it for sake of time but be filled with the spirit of god and in doing so you can preach the gospel with your might so you might be wondering well how do i go to work with my wife with my might how can i be married with my might how do i go to church with my might how do i preach the word with my might like what's the motivation that i can have in order to actually apply the sermon well here's your motivation deuteronomy 6 verse 4 hero israel the lord our god is one lord and now shalt love the lord thy god with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might you say what's the motivation for me to live my life the christian life with my might one word love if you live if you love god you're going to glorify him at your job you're going to be a good representation of what it means to be a bible believing christian at your job if you love god you're going to glorify him in your marriage by loving and exalting your spouse if you love god you're going to glorify him by getting plugged into church and going to church with your mind and paying attention to the preaching and applying the preaching to your life and finding ways to contribute at the local church if you love god you're going to glorify him by preaching with your might and if that doesn't mean behind this pulpit that it means when you go out and you preach the gospel you're going to prepare for you know soul winning you're going to prepare you're going to know the verses you're using you're going to know what your presentation is you're not going to forget details you're going to be filled with the spirit and sing hymns on your way to the soul winning time to get filled with the spirit but ultimately if you love god you'll do these things it it all starts with love it all starts with love be the christian that says i'm not going to live my life and die and just achieve nothing be the christian that says i'm going to live my life with all my might let's pray lord heavenly father i thank you so much for the opportunity to preach here and i just pray that you would help us to do all whatsoever we find our hands doing that we do it with our might and you help us to live the christian life with our might whether it's in carnal aspects our job our marriage or going to church preaching your word that we would do it with maximum effort that we would do it with our might and it's in jesus name that i pray amen all right let's go ahead and pull out our hymnals and we'll sing our last song for the morning number 15 number 15 in your hymnals lead me to calgary number 15 number 15 nice and loud first king of my life i crown thee now thine shall the glory be lest i forget thy born crown crown lead me to calvary lest i forget gethsemane lest i forget thy nagony lest i forget thy nagony lest i forget thy love for me leave me to calvary show me the tomb where thou was laid tenderly mourned and wept angels and rogues of white array darted thee while thou slept lest i forget gethsemane lest i forget thy nagony lest i forget thy love for me leave me to calvary thee let me like mary through the gloom come with a gift to thee show to me now the empty tomb lead me to calvary thee lest i forget gethsemane lest i forget thy nagony lest i forget thy love for me lead me to calvary may i be willing lord to bear may lead my cross for thee even thy cup of grief to share thou has poured all for me thee lest i forget gethsemane lest i forget thy nagony lest i forget thy love for me leave me to calvary and with that you are dismissed have a blessed day