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

When Jesus comes to reward his servants, whether it be noon or night. Faithful to him will he find us watching, with our lamps all trimmed and bright. O can we say we are ready, brother, ready for the soul's bright hope. Say, will he find you and me still watching, waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come? If at the dawn of the early morning, he shall call us one by one. When to the Lord we restore our talents, will he enter thee well done? O can we say we are ready, brother, ready for the soul's bright hope. Say, will he find you and me still watching, waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come? Have we been true to the trust he left us? Do we seek to do our best? If we obey all the Lord's commands, we shall then be truly blessed. O can we say we are ready, brother, ready for the soul's bright hope. Say, will he find you and me still watching, waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come? Blessed are those whom the Lord finds watching, in his glory they shall share. If he shall come at the dawn or midnight, will he find us watching there? O can we say we are ready, brother, ready for the soul's bright hope. Say, will he find you and me still watching, waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come? Brother Kevin, you want to pray for us? Amen. Turn to your next song, song number one. Song number one, Jesus I My Cross Have Taken. Jesus I My Cross Have Taken, All to leave and follow Thee, Tested to despise forsaken, Well from hence my all shall be. Perish every fond ambition, All I've sought and hoped and moved, Yet how rich is my condition, God and heaven are still my own. Let the world despise and lead me, They have left my Savior too. Human hearts and books deceive me, Thou art not like men untrue, And while Thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love, and might, Foes may hate and friends may shun me, Show thy face and all is bright. Men may trouble and distress me, Twill but drive me to my breast. Life with trials hard may press me, And will bring me sweeter rest. Hope is not in grief to harm me, While Thy love is left to me. Hope were not in joy to charm me, Were that joy unmixed with thee. Haste Thee on from grace to glory, Armed by faith and wings by prayer, Ebb's eternal days before me, God's own hand shall guide me there. Soon shall close thy earthly mission, Swim shall past thy pilgrim days, Hope shall change to black fruition, Faith to sight and prayer to praise. Amen. So at this time, if you could go ahead and pull out your bulletins. If you don't have one, they're on the back shelf. You can raise your hand. Brother Eli will bring them around to you. We have our service times on the top left, and we have our soul winning times below that. We do have a Saturday soul winning time, and that takes place at 10 a.m. It's led by Brother Mo, Brother Morgan. If you do plan on going on Saturday, just kind of give him a heads up. Or you could give him a call. His phone number is in the bulletin right here. And below this, we do have our totals. So we went out today. It was a good day out there today. Brother, what was the total? We had two. Okay, we had two. How many did you have, Brother Sam? None? Okay. You had two, so that's four. We had three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, nine. Any more? Alright, so we had a total of nine salvations out today. Good job out there today. So we'll get that added to the total. And also just another reminder being prayer for our expectant mothers. Just that everything goes well with the babies and the mothers. Everyone's healthy. And then our preaching schedule. We have Brother Chris Segura from Faithful Word Baptist Church. It's been a blessing having him today. And then March 22nd, we have Brother Duncan Urbanic. April 5th, Brother Jeff Goodwin. April 26th, Brother Matt Taylor from Verity. And then May 24th, we have Pastor Bruce Mejia coming out from First Works Baptist Church. So, very grateful to all these brothers that have been preaching for us. It's a blessing having them. And then just another reminder, March 27th, here coming up, we have a men's fellowship. It'll be a shoot plus a dinner, kind of like we did last year. So we're kind of planning it out. It's going to be very similar to the same event that we had. So definitely looking forward to that. Guys, if you kind of pencil that into your calendar, it'll be a fun time going out and shooting some guns and eating some steaks. So it's going to get much better than that. And then that very next Sunday is the friends and family day. So again, if you have any friends or family that you want to bring to church, a great day to do that. They'll, you know, get presented with the gospel if that needs to happen. And we'll have some gift bags for them, some good documentaries and some goodies for them. And then the mega marathon is taking place April 11th, the day before Easter. And again, it's going to be the same way we organize soul winning marathons. So we'll meet at a location, refreshments and drinks will be provided. We'll go out for a couple hours, come back to that same location, and we'll finish it up with a couple more hours in the evening time. And that is April 11th. And then the Bahamas missions trip will be May 4th through the 9th. So if you still want to go, it's not too late to go, just email Pastor Shelley your itinerary, and then he'll take care of your lodging and transportation. But that is the announcements for the evening. If you could go ahead and pull your hymnals back out and turn to song number 45, Brother Mo will lead the third song. Song number 45, When I Can Read My Title Clear. There on the first. Song number 45, When I Can Read My Title Clear. Two mansions in the skies. I'll bid farewell to every fear. And wipe my weeping eyes. And wipe my weeping eyes. Wipe my weeping eyes. I'll bid farewell to every fear. And wipe my weeping eyes. Should earth against my swollen years. Fiery darts be hurled. Then I can smile at Satan's rage. And face a frowning world. Face a frowning world. Face a frowning world. Then I can smile at Satan's rage. And face a frowning world. Lead cares like a wild day. Looch-climbing storms of sorrow. Then I but safely reach my hope. My God, my heaven, my all. My God, my heaven, my all. My God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my hope. My God, my heaven, my all. Where shall I bathe my weary soul? In seas of heavenly rest. And not a wave of trouble run. Across my peaceful rest. Across my peaceful rest. Across my peaceful rest. And not a wave of trouble run. Across my peaceful rest. All right, good singing. Turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 19. Proverbs chapter 19, we're going to have Brother Sampson read for us. We'll pass the operating plate. All right, praise the Lord. Proverbs chapter 19, so we're here again. And as always, we're going to read this chapter together. So if you would, find your places and read with me here. Starting in verse number 1 of Proverbs chapter 19 where the Bible reads. Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool. Also that the soul be without knowledge it is not good and he that hasteth with his feet sin it. The foolishness of man perverts his way and his heart predates against the Lord. Wealth maketh many friends but the poor is separated from his neighbor. A false witness shall not be unpunished and he that speaketh lies shall not escape. Many will entreat the favor of the prince and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. All the brethren of the poor do hate him. How much more do the friends go far from him? He pursueth them with words yet they are wanting to him. He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul. He that keepeth understanding shall find good. A false witness shall not be unpunished and he that speaketh lies shall perish. The light is not seemly for a fool much less for a servant to have rule over princes. The discretion of a man defereth his anger and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion but his favor is as dew upon the grass. A foolish son is the calamity of his father and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. House and riches are the inheritance of fathers and the prudent wife is from the Lord. Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul but he that despiseth his way shall die. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will he pay him again. Chasten thy son while there is hope and let not thy soul spare for his crying. A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment for if thou deliver him yet thou must do it again. Hear counsel and receive instruction that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. There are many devices in a man's heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand. The desire of a man is his kindness and a poor man is better than a liar. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life and he that hath it shall abide satisfied. He shall not be visited with evil. A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again. Smite a scorner and the simple will beware and reprove one that hath understanding and he will understand knowledge. He that has wasted his father and chases away his mother is the son that causes shame and bringeth reproach. Cease my son to hear the instruction that causes it to air from the words of knowledge. An ungodly witness, scourges judgment and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity. Judgments are prepared for scorners and stripes for the back of fools. Bow our heads for a quick word of prayer. Heavenly Father we come before you again this evening giving you thanks for bringing us back here safely. Give you thanks for the soul winning that we did this afternoon and for the souls that were reached. Pray again for brother Segura that you would fill him with your Holy Spirit and let him preach a bold sermon again this afternoon and that you fill us all with your Holy Spirit. And always we pray this in Jesus Christ's precious name. Amen. Amen. Alright Proverbs 19 the verse that I want to focus on if you look down at your Bibles it's going to be verse 15 that says this. Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. The title of my sermon is simply this. The idle soul has to go. The idle soul has to go. Now explain that as we get into the sermon. But if you have your Bibles go to Proverbs 31. Go to Proverbs 31 please just flip a few chapters to the right. And go to Proverbs chapter number 31 we're going to look at the virtuous woman. And when it comes to the idle soul or that word idle idleness this is a word that's not positive in the Bible. This is something that comes up in the Bible and it warns us against because God does not want to have this in our lives. He doesn't want us to have idleness or to be idle or to be known as an idle soul. And I'll get into it in a second and here's an example of how idleness is not looked at as a positive thing. We'll start in verse number 10 it says who can find a virtuous woman? A righteous woman, a great woman. For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband does safely trust in her so that he shall have no need of spoil. She would do him good and not evil all the days of his life. She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands. So she's working. So if you can see down in the next verses she's a stay-at-home mom. She's taking care of the house. But the Bible makes it very clear in verse number 13 that she is working. Being a stay-at-home mom is legitimate work in God's eyes and even in the world's eyes. Me and my wife are trying to get a loan one time and we have to put down our occupation. So I put down that I forgot what I was doing at the time. I think I was a cable guy or cable technician and she put unemployed. And the loan officer is like, no, no, no, no, no, no. You are not unemployed. You are a stay-at-home mom. That is an actual job. That is hard work. Oops. Stay-at-home mom. The world knows. But of course Christians sometimes may think, hey, what's going on with your mom? No, no, no. She's at home. She's working. She has a tough job. She has a very important job and she is crucial to our success. Amen. Amen. So verse number 15 or actually 14, she is like the merchant ship. She brings up her food from afar. She rises also but is yet night. So she gets up early before the sun even makes the day, you know, happen. And giveth meat to her household in a portion to her maintenance. Verse 16, she considered the field and buyeth it with the fruit of her hand. She planted a vineyard. She girded her loins with strength and straightened her arms. Well, planting trees in a vineyard is going to make you strong. It's a woman that's staying in shape. Verse 18, she perceives that her merchandise is good. Her candle goes not out by night. So she doesn't go to bed right away. She stays up a little bit up at night. She lays her hands to the spindle and her hands hold to the staff. She stretches out her hands to the poor. Yea, she reaches forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household. For all her household are clothed with scarlet. She makes herself covered in tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fire linen and selleth it and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Strength and honor are her clothing and she shall rejoice in time to come. I mean, this is a woman that's doing a lot. It's clear. She's doing this, that, and a whole bunch of stuff. Says she opened up her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She's looking well to her, well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness. And you're like, wow, she gets a lot done. I wonder where her secret is. Here's her secret. She doesn't eat the bread of idleness. Of idleness. And what is idleness? Well, go to Exodus 5. Go to Exodus chapter number 5. While you go to Exodus chapter number 5, I'm going to read from Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 verse 18. This still looks down on idleness. It says, by much slothfulness the building decayeth, and through idleness of hands the house droppeth through. So here it's saying that here's an individual who has idleness of hands. He's not an individual that's taking care of business, you could say. Says that the house is dropping. It's falling apart. So spiritually, and if you wonder, why is my life falling apart? Your spiritual house, quote, unquote, they could be idleness. And I'll talk about it a little bit more, but it's not the same as laziness. Slothfulness is not. And we'll see that in a second. But what is idleness? Here in Exodus 5 is the famous story of Moses and Aaron going down to Pharaoh and saying, Hey, let us go that we may sacrifice unto our God. And this is the response that Pharaoh has. Verse number 6 in Exodus 5. And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people and their officers saying, He shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as hitherfore let them go and gather straw for themselves, and the tale of the bricks which they did make hitherfore. He shall lay upon them, he shall not diminish out thereof, for they be idols. So here's Pharaoh talking to his troops and saying, look, don't give them straw anymore. The truth of Israel, hey, don't give them anything. These people are idol. And what did he mean by that? Therefore they cry saying, let us go and just lay around and do nothing for a while. Is that what they're saying? No. What does Pharaoh say that they're saying? Here's what Pharaoh is saying that they're crying, let us go and sacrifice to our God. That's not standing around doing nothing. So what Pharaoh is saying is, hey, these people are not doing anything important in his eyes. Because it is important to sacrifice to the Lord. And plus, they were doing what God commanded them to do. So if them going to sacrifice to our God is idleness, God would have never told them to do it. Because idleness is a sin. Having an idol soul is not good. But here you see that he's saying, hey, these people are idol, give them more work to do. They're not working. In fact, they want to go sacrifice. So what is being idol? Simply put, you're not doing anything productive. You're not quote unquote working. Go ahead and go to Matthew 12, please. Go to Matthew 12. And while you go to Matthew 12, I'm just going to read a few verses down in Exodus 5 that says this. But he, talking about Pharaoh, said, you're idol, you're idol. Therefore you say, let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. That's not sitting around doing nothing. But what Pharaoh is saying is, look, these people aren't working. They want to go sacrifice. So what he's saying is, they're idol. They're not working. Hey, give them work to do. Don't give them straw. They're not busy enough. They're not working enough. How do you know, Pharaoh? Well, look what they're asking to do. Go sacrifice to their God. What a waste. No, forget that. That's a waste of time. Go get them in my field. Get them working. So when you're an idol soul, you're an individual that's not doing something productive. It's not that you're not doing anything. It's not that you're laying around doing nothing. It's that you're not doing something productive. Something that you should be doing that's going to benefit people. So you're right there in Matthew 12. Simply put, I'm just going to give you some words. I'm just going to give you some words to explain idleness. This is from theservice.com, just to keep it as simple as possible. So when it comes to idleness, this is what I saw. Unproductive. Sound familiar? Useless. Sounds like Pharaoh saying, hey, these people are doing stuff that's useless. What are they doing, Pharaoh? They want to go sacrifice to their God. Who is the Lord? That should obey his voice. He said, they want to go waste time sacrificing to their God? No, they need to get in the fields and work for me. Get some work done for me. That's what he's saying. Here's some other words. Hollow. Rambling. Abnoveil. Pointless. Unhelpful. Unnecessary. Vain. Vain. These are words that mean idleness or being idle. And so, of course, even our words, not just our actions, can be idle. Saying idle things, pointless things, you know, unproductive things, useless things, unnecessary things, unhelpful things can also be said. How do we know? Look down at verse number 36 of Matthew 12. This is a famous verse that comes out of the mouth of Christ. He said, but I say unto you that every what? Idle. Idle word. And insert any of those above. Unproductive. Useless. Hollow. Abnoveil. Pointless. Unhelpful. Unnecessary. Vain. They all make sense. They all make sense. That every idle word that men shall speak, they should give account thereof. In the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Go to 1 Timothy chapter number 5. When you go to 1 Timothy chapter number 5, I'm going to explain Matthew 12, 36. And you can find an explanation of Matthew 12, 36 in Jude 1. Starting on verse 14, this is what Jude says. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches. That's words. Vain words. Idle words. He's saying of all their ungodly speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against them. So Jude's saying, hey, the Lord's going to return, and he's going to punish. He's going to punish these unbelievers, not just for their actions, but for the stuff they say. Their idle words. Using God's name in vain, et cetera, et cetera. But even these, these are murmurers, complainers. Did you know that complaining, murmuring, those are idle words. How do I know? Remember, what's the definition of what words describe idleness? Pointless, unhelpful, unnecessary, vain. And nothing can be more vain than complaining, amen. Nothing can be more idle than complaining. It helps no one, not a single person. Even if you have a legitimate reason in your eyes to complain, don't do it. Perfect example is when the children of Israel were thirsty in the desert. They think they're going to die of thirst. They're like, Moses, your brother's out here to die of thirst? I mean, that's in a sense a legitimate complaint. Wouldn't most of us agree? It's like, Moses, give them a break. They're thirsty. They're in the desert. Hey, honestly, it looks like we might die out here. But what did they do? They started complaining and said that it displeased the Lord. It didn't say the Lord understood because we're weak. We're human, you know. That's not what the Bible says, said that it displeased the Lord. But they did have a, quote, unquote, legitimate complaint in my eyes. But when it comes to idle words, we need to watch out, not to be these individuals that got looks down and said, hey, this guy has a mouthful of idle words. What comes out of his mouth is unproductive, useless, hollow, rambling, of no avail, pointless, unhelpful, unnecessary, bang. I don't want you guys to be that individual. And let's just face it, we've all been guilty of saying stuff that was pointless, useless, hollow, unprofitable, pointless. But let's just recognize the sin for what it is. You guys are there in 1 Timothy 5. Is that where I had you go? Let's look at more scripture that has the word idle or idleness in it. 1 Timothy 5, 11, it says, but the younger widows refused, but when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry, having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith, and withal, I want you to look at this, they learn. They learn to be idle. This is something that we learn. This isn't something that we're born with. We learn to be idle. And I guess a good example is children. Children, hey, they're ready to do something if you give them something to do. I mean, back at our church, it was a pretty decent building, but I got these vacuums that are wireless, or I guess you could say they don't have any cables, and they just pop them out and start vacuuming. We don't give them to the kids, but the kids love those things. If I'm like, hey, I got some vacuums, who wants the vacuum? Whoa, they run, but they're expensive. They're like $300, so I don't really want to give them out to kids. But children, hey, believe it or not, they'll clean toilets. And the thing is the coolest thing in the world. It's like you give it to them, and they're like, hey, give me something to do. They have that spirit of just doing something. They want to do something. And of course, as they get older, they'll learn to be idle, meaning that they're doing things, but they're doing things that are pointless, vain, things that don't matter. And it says in verse number, or the second part of 13, it says they learn to be idle, wondering about from house to house. They're going from house to house. And not only idle, but toddlers, also busybody. Busybody is somebody who's in people's business. But they're not just sitting around doing nothing. They're doing something, but it's vain, pointless, it's not productive. They're going from house to house, being toddlers, busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. Since I was there for the younger woman, married, fed her children, got the house, gave none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. But that's what this person is, or this individualist in this chapter is somebody who's just known as being idle. It's not that they're sitting around doing nothing, it's that they're doing things that are not productive. They're vain. If you've got your Bible, go ahead and go to 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter number 1. And while you're going to 1 Timothy chapter number 1, I'm going to go to another verse that uses the word idle. And this is found in Luke 24. This is after the resurrection of Christ, where it says, Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre, and they answered in and found out the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass that they were much perplexed thereabout. Behold, two men stood by them in shining garments, and as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek you, the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how He spake unto you, He spake unto you, when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of simple men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered His words, and returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. And it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles, and their words seemed to them as idle tales. Idle tales. What is it saying? In a way you can say, hey, it was just stupid tales. They thought it was just dumb. It's like, hey, I don't believe this. It just doesn't seem good. It just was too good to believe, or whatever the case may be. You know, but you're right there, 1 Timothy 1.4. Here's an example of idle tales. It says, Neither giving heed to fables, to fables in endless genealogy, which minister questions rather than godly aid of finding, witches in faith, but refused profane and old wives fables, and exercised that self rather unto godliness. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth. I'm just reading 2 Timothy 4.4. I'm sorry. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and it shall be turned unto fables. I'm reading from Titus 1.14 now. Not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. So even in the time where Mary's talking to the apostles, they're saying, hey, these sound like idle tales. Just dumb, vain, pointless stories. And then we saw there in 1 Timothy 1.4, it says, Neither giving heed to fables in endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than godly aid of finding, witches in faith, so do. And when I think of these verses, I just think about wasting time on YouTube, listening to stuff that if you really look into them, it's just a bunch of vain. It's just a bunch of idle tales. It's just a bunch of fables. And we need to be careful not to allow ourselves to waste time and end up having an idle soul. Because the verse says that the idle soul shall suffer. Just like whosoever shall call upon in the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's the same shall used in that verse saying, look, if you end up getting this idle soul, you will suffer. And I don't know about you, but I don't like to suffer. I just don't like pain. I just don't want to be a part of unnecessary pain. If I have to suffer for the cause of Christ, so be it. If it has to happen, it has to happen. And I can live with that. But suffering for nonsense, suffering for being just idle, for doing things that are vain, that is something that is harder to live with. Amen? So what we want to do is we want to be careful to become an individual in God's eyes that look down and you're pretty much somebody who will be considered an idle soul. Because let me tell you right now, if that's you, you know, if you let it go too much, too far, it can be seriously dangerous. If you have your Bible, I want you to go to Matthew 20. Go to Matthew 20. While you go to Matthew 20, I'm going to read from 2 Peter 1.16, where it continues to warn us against fables. It can also be known as just idle tales, dumb stuff. It says, not giving heed, I'm sorry, for we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we may know not to you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Peter's saying, look, we did not follow these dumb fables. We didn't follow dumb idle tales. You know, we were following stuff that actually edifies, that actually makes a difference. You know, we weren't following the Marvel comics, you know. We weren't into Spider-Man. We weren't into the Wolverine. We weren't into the next Avengers film, you know. We didn't spend around our time talking about those things. Those things are for children, amen. But if you're so into the next film, hey, that is idleness. That is idleness. And these films are designed for adults to trap them, to get them, and to sin, to see things that they ought not to see, to covet things they ought not to covet. That's why a lot of these movies have female superheroes. What's the goal of the female superheroes? It's not to prove that women can do the same. It's to get the man to lust, bottom line. That's what they're doing. They're using these female superheroes to get the husbands to lust after them in their heart. And of course, the children, the five-year-olds, the six-year-olds, the seven-year-olds, to them is not the case, because they're not at the point where they think that way. But the dads sitting down watching these things need to remember that, hey, you know what, this isn't good. You know, this is being idle. And that can be passed on to the next generation, which can obviously be worse on them, because the sins that we commit, the next generation, are going to commit worse. So we need to watch out and not pass on an idle soul to our children, not even have it ourselves. But you're right there in Matthew 20. Here's an interesting scripture when it comes to what can I do to help my idleness? Well, let's take a look at this scripture, verse 20, verse 1. It says, For the kingdom of heaven lives like unto a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning to have their laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard, and he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. Notice they're standing idle. This is not considered work. When somebody says, hey, I'm doing something, and I'm out here on the side of the road with a sign that says anything helps, God bless, you know, I'm working. Look, this guy's putting in some work. Nobody hires him. No, that's being idle, just standing around where no man gives unto you and no man hires you. You know, just sitting out there in the hot sun with a sign that says, hey, God bless, anything helps. That's not considered work in God's eyes. These people are standing around, and they're actually trying to get somebody to hire them. But yet the workers that say, hey, why are you standing idle? You guys ain't doing anything productive. You're just standing here. No one's giving you any money. You guys are trying to get work. I'll give you work. Let's just go to verse 7. They say unto him, because no man hath hired us, he saith unto them, Go ye also in the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the Lord of the vineyards saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. So what we see is these guys that were hired in the morning. They were hired in the morning. And then there were these guys that were hired at the eleventh hour. Then they went into the vineyard for just an hour. They all came back, and they all made the same amount of money. They all made the same amount of money. You know, there's a lot of truth to this parable. What I want to show you guys is that, hey, these guys that started out their day, the first guys that were hired, they put in a 12-hour day. So what am I saying? Man, don't freak out if you have to work 12 hours in a day. It seems like it was kind of the norm. So when it says in the Bible, in Exodus 29, Six days should I labor and do all thy work. Then you see this verse down here, and these people were in the fields for 12 hours. 12 hours. So think about it. Let's just say somebody puts in 12 hours a day, six days a week, that's 72 hours. You're like, whoa. That's a lot of hours. It is, but we have a very wicked heart. It's probably designed to keep us out of trouble. Bottom line. And you know what? The most successful people, they work those schedules. You know, the Elon Musk, the electric car guy, he's like, well, I'll put in about 80 to 100 hours a week. 80 to 100 hours a week is what I put in. He loves what he does, so it's probably not work to him. Just other people. I saw a YouTuber who, he had a video on why I work 80 hours. He was just some kid that spent his days playing video games, and I guess I told him, hey, get to work. Do something productive. Don't be idle. What? I'm doing something. I'm learning guitar. I'm playing video games. He's like, no, no, no, no. You need to do something. Something productive. Something is not a waste of time. So he ended up getting into, I don't know what he ended up getting into. I don't remember. But he started to just work these long hours. He ended up getting some job or whatever the kids may be. And then he ended up just getting addicted to working 80 hours a week. And now he's working 80 hours a week every single week. And he says, I feel good when I do it. I don't know why, but it makes me feel good. And now he started his own company and is a young kid. And he started his company right after high school, I believe. And now he makes over $200,000 a year. $200,000 a year. And you would think that people like him would be miserable, right? He's like, I'm not miserable. I'm happy. In fact, I'm miserable when I don't work 80 hours a week. So I don't know about working 80 hours a week. I guess that helps your success. But is it really a shocker? Now, I'm not about these people that work 100 hours a week. If you do the math, that's not enough time to spend time with your kids. That's not enough time to spend time with your wife. That's just not. If you really do the math 100 hours a week, I'm not about that. I mean, if you have to do it, because the pastor has had weeks where he had to work 100 hours a week. But I don't think that's biblical. I think these people lose their families in the end. Because I know of a guy who's very popular on YouTube and likes to brag how when he was your age, son, I worked 100 to 120 hours a week. Yeah, but your kids are retarded. He's a billionaire. He's a billionaire guy. I'll give you his name if you want it later. I just don't want to mention him because he's kind of a pervert, in my opinion. He's too puffed up in his own eyes. But this guy cries about how I don't even need to work. He's a billionaire. And he's like, I put in 60 hours a week. I don't even need to work. I haven't even need to work for the last 30 years. I'm worth this much money. And when he started out, yeah, I was putting in this and that, that many hours. But he lost his kids. His kids are a bunch of knuckleheads. And they're so bad. His kids are so bad. Guess how much money he's going to give them once he's dead and gone? Zero. He has three kids. He's not going to leave any of them any money, supposedly for their own good, supposedly for their own note because you raised a bunch of idiots because you weren't there as a dad. And he's trying to show how successful, and he's trying to kind of live an immortal life through YouTube. So now he has like this YouTube channel and just pumps videos left and right. And I guess he just wants to have a really good name when he dies and leaves because the guy's like in the 70s or whatever. But he's like, I'm not leaving my kids any money. Yeah, because you raised a bunch of dummies. Actually, you didn't even raise your kids at all. You put too much, too many hours into your job. 100 to 120, that's not enough time to spend with your kids. It's just not. But when I did the math, 72, it still kind of gives you about two hours with your kids and two hours with your wife if you do the math right. It really does. If you do it, it will. Because guess what? That's like 12 and six. But sometimes people wonder why they don't make enough. And when you look at how many hours they put in, it's like 40, 45. It's like, sorry, buddy. I haven't worked a 45 hour a week in who knows how long. It's like everybody who succeeds around me, they're kicking in 50, 60 hours a week. It's not a surprise that God wants us to work six days, and then it says that these guys went out at the first hour, and then there were people at the 11th hour, and then they went out, and after the 12th hour, they came back to get paid. They were going out for 12 days or 12 hours. And even in John 11, if you have your Bible, go ahead and go to Proverbs 18. In John 11, this is what Jesus said. Then after that, say he to the disciples, let us go into Judea again. His disciples say unto him, Master, the juice of life sought the stone, and go as thou thither again. Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in a day? Six days showed out labor. These went out on the 11th hour, came back at the 12th and got paid. I don't know, man, but don't freak out if you have to work 12 hour days. It's okay, ladies, don't freak out if your husband has to work 12 hour days, amen? If he's putting his 70 hours at work, it's okay. 72, it's okay. 100, yeah, you might want to pull him and say, hey, man, that's way too much. I don't buy into the 100 hour. I'll give you the 80 and that's it. Hey, man, I'll give you the Elon Musk, 80 to 100. Okay, 80, but he does make an effort to spend four days out of the seven with his kids, so he knows the importance of raising his kids. But the other guy, he blew it. He messed up big time. Proverbs 18 says this. He also that is lawful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. And look, we're all going to have moments where we're idle, where we're going to waste our time. But let's not be known as people that waste great amount of time. Let's not be like the guys in their 30s and their 40s that are playing 12 hours of video games. And yes, I understand that they got YouTube channels that make millions of dollars, but that's not everybody. That's like 1% of who knows how many gamers are out there. And that's not what I believe God wants you to do is play all these gory war games, shoot them up games all day long, blowing people up left and right. Then from there, you go to another game where it's just a bunch of crazy games out there, you know, just promoting it, and then little kids get into it, and you wonder why the little kids are shooting up schools and shooting up this and that and whatever. But that's what happens when you're obviously just idle. You will waste time, but let's just make sure we're not a great waster of God's resources and his time. If you have your Bible, go to Ezekiel 16. Go to Ezekiel 16. Because there is slothfulness. Here's some verses on slothfulness. The desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labor. Proverbs 26, 13 says this, The slothful men say, If there's a lion in the way, a lion is in the street. So there is an individual known as a slugger. The slugger will not plow up our reason of the cold. Therefore shall he beg and harvest and have nothing. So a slugger is somebody who just refuses to work. He doesn't want to work. He's just a lazy individual. But an idle soul is not necessarily a lazy individual, and I'll talk about that in a second. But you're there in Ezekiel, I hope. Ezekiel 16. The downfall of a society is idleness. Idleness. It's not that they're not doing anything. It's that they're not doing anything productive, something that matters. It says, Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister. What? Sodom. And what happened to Sodom? Did it last or did it get destroyed? It got destroyed. It says, This was the iniquity, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of what? Idleness was in her and in her daughters. Neither did she straighten the hand of the poor and needy. Fullness of bread. It was a wealthy country. Idleness was everywhere, because they didn't have to work 70 hours a week. But look what happened. It went down the wrong road. So I wonder why God said six days shall thou labor. It's probably so we don't destroy ourselves with so much free time that we end up using that time for evil instead of good. Amen? But the thing about idleness is that it's not only dumb to be idle, to just waste time, video games, whatever the case may be. It is dangerous. Dangerous. If you can, go to 2 Samuel, please. Go to 2 Samuel. Go to 2 Samuel chapter 11. While you go to 2 Samuel chapter 11, I'm going to read from Proverbs 29 15 that says this, The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. A child that's just sitting around doing nothing, you just leave him alone, will bring the mother to shame. And I guess for me, when I read this, I think of a time when I was a child. I was left to myself. Mom is doing her thing. Dad's doing his thing. I'm just idle. I'm just bored. And I had these really cool baseball gloves. I had these really cool baseball gloves. You know, I was playing, I believe it was softball, literally. I don't remember. And I put them on. And you know what? I was just outside. I think I practiced a little bit. I don't know. But I somehow ended up in the garage. And we had these neighbors that would just shoot at our garage with a BB gun. And they would shoot our garage door. There was a pain. There was a bad kiss in the neighborhood. And so sure enough, I was walking in my garage and I noticed they shot up our door. And there were little holes, you know, little BB holes in the glass. And so I saw that. I'm like, I can't believe they did that. And I got a little bit mad, you know? And I don't know why. I guess I just saw too many Hollywood movies, way too many as a kid. And I had these gloves. And I see the glass. And it has a bunch of BB holes in it. And I decided to punch it. It didn't work out like the Hollywood movies. Let me put it that way. I punched it. Boom. Brought my hand back. And blood squirted off my thumb. It cut pretty much the top portion of my finger. It was hanging. And I'm like, whoa. It sliced to the baseball glove, sliced my skin. I'm like, whoa. I grabbed it. And like, blood's coming everywhere. And I run into my house. And I'm like, Mom. Ah. She's like, ah. Blood everywhere rushes me to the emergency room. And man, my hand was on a tray. And I filled that tray up with some blood. Now you see why I'm saying that idleness is dangerous? Now, I didn't lose my life. But I feel a little nauseous, you know? They injected me with needle after needle after needle. And the doc is just sewing me up like crazy. And the whole time, I mean, the tray's just filling up with blood. I didn't get a blood transfer. But man, it was like, am I going to die? I must have been 11, your age. So idleness is dangerous. I didn't lose my life. But in the Bible, somebody did lose their life for being idle. And this was not a lazy individual. He was not a lazy individual. You probably know where I'm going with this. Go ahead and look. Where did I have you turn? Samuel. Did I say 2 Samuel? OK, go to 2 Samuel. And it says that it came to pass after the year was expired. You probably already know where I'm going with this. At the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with them in all Israel, and then destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, but David tarried still at Jerusalem. Would anybody here say that David was known as a sluggard, as a slothful individual? I wouldn't say that. None at all. And it says that it came to pass, verse 2, in the even tide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. Now, walking on the roof. Hey, he's doing something with his time. But he was doing something that was vain, pointless. What in the world is he doing, walking on the roof? Well, he's bored. If he had energy, he should have been doing something productive. I don't know, sharpening his sword? I don't know. Maybe going into the record books and reading something, doing something productive that wasn't pointless, useless, and vain? But he didn't schedule his time that moment, and he ended up, because he was being an idle soul, up on the roof, looking at a woman, and you guys know what happened next, verse 4, And David sent messages and took her, and she came in after him, and he lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness, and she returned unto her house. He committed adultery with this woman. And the woman conceived and sent to David and said, I am with child. And because of his idleness, his idle soul, what ended up happening? He ended up killing the husband. He ended up getting into murder because he was idle. He allowed himself to become an idle soul. And in verse 19, Proverbs, or chapter 19 says, They'll suffer hunger. Well, that's not the only thing you'll suffer. Look what happened here. David caused him to commit murder, and he did suffer for what he did. His child died, obviously. You know, but, hey, I'm glad I didn't lose my life being idle. Nothing better to do. Whoa, what's this? Oh, they shut our window. Boom. Oh, man. The next thing you know, I'm in the hospital, because I was an idle soul. I was an idle idiot. And I wasn't a lazy kid by far. Hey, my mom had us working since who knows how long. I think I was born with a garbage bag in my hand, because all I ever remember is just being a janitor, you know? But we would do that at night, you know? And then we would just go out at night, and I would help her clean. She was a janitor. It was what it was. But got to be careful, moms and dads. Allowing your kids to just sit around idle. Give them something to do is good for them. I'm glad my mom made me scrub the floor at my house and whatever and pick up the dog food. That all ended up helping me in the long run. But you already saw what David did. David killed a man for being an idle individual. But there's another story where children are just being idle. I'll go to 2 Kings and read. You guys can go to Jeremiah 5.7. And it says in 2 Kings, you know, chapter number 2, verse 22, you guys go to Jeremiah 5. It says, So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elijah, which he spake. And he went up from thence unto Bethel as he was going up. By the way, there came forth little children out of the city and mocked them and said, go up thou bald head, go up thou bald head. There's a bunch of kids just being idle. They're doing something, but they're not doing something productive, something profitable. You know, they're just hanging out with their buds and they decide to just commit sin by making fun of this man. And what happened? And he turned back and looked on them and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And they came forth two she-bears out of the wood and tare forty and two children of them. Of them for being idle. For being idle souls. Hey, I bet they wish they would have just suffered hunger in this situation, but they suffered more than hunger. They suffered a miserable death getting tore up by a bear. Imagine that. The gruesome sight. Forty-two of them just tore up to shreds. I don't want to die that way, man. I don't want to die that way. But I got to watch out for my idleness. And if you're an individual that doesn't have to work 72 hours because you make good money, you know, you're in danger, my friend. You're in danger. You're in Jeremiah, right? Jeremiah 5-7 says this, How shall a pardon be for this, that children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods, when I have fed them to the full? Sometimes you may wonder, why doesn't God bless me with X, Y, and Z? Because He doesn't want you, like it says right there, to commit adultery and assemble by themselves, by troops, in the heartless houses. What is a harlot? It's a prostitute. So here's people that are being blessed by God financially. They have so much. And they also have so much time. So much time that they didn't use it smart. They didn't use it effectively. And it says, hey, I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the heartless houses. Now, of course, with technology and everything else, if you don't pay attention to what you're doing, if you end up just having some idle moments, it happens all the time. You'll end up seeing things you shouldn't see because you're just spending too much time wasting time on things that are unprofitable, vain, you name it. And it may start with just an innocent little video that just caught your attention because it came on your feed, and next thing you know, three hours later, you're like, what have I done with my time? What have I done? And you may not even be a lazy individual. You just allowed yourself to become an idle soul. And the idle soul has to go. It can get you killed. It's not going to bring any blessings upon you. It's not. Instead of reading your Bible for three hours, you were on YouTube for three hours. Hey, I'm guilty of it. I'm Christian myself. But I have to warn everyone. Hey, God does not like an idle soul. He doesn't like idleness. Let's not eat the bread of idleness, amen? But it's not just staying busy because remember, these women going around from house to house, they're busy. They're doing things, but they're not busy with the right things. They're not busy with the right things. I don't know, brother, if I'm busy with the right things. Well, if you have your Bible, you know, what I want you to do is go ahead and go. Let's just go to Ephesians 4, chapter or verse 28. Ephesians 4, 28. This is why God told Adam, hey, now that you have a sinful flesh, a sinful nature and sorrow, so that I eat of it all the days of the life and the sweat of thy face shall thy eat bread till thou return unto the ground. For out of it was thou taken, for thus the art and unto dust shall thou return. First Thessalonians says, and that ye study to be quiet and to do your own business and to work with your own hands. As we commanded you, that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without. Oh, so we're commanded to work left and right. From Genesis to Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, you know, verse 3 or chapter 3, verse 10. For even when we are with you, this would command you that if any would not work, neither should ye, for we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but our busy bodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. So what's the answer to sin? What's the answer to idleness? What's going to help us to overcome this? Work. Work. Look right there at Ephesians 2, 28. Here's a man who steals. He said, let him that steal no more, but rather let him labor. How can this guy overcome his sin of stealing? Hey, go labor. Go work. Same thing. These people that don't work, that are commanded to work, says, hey, if you don't work, you shouldn't even eat. Bottom line, work is what's going to help us, and it doesn't matter whether you're a woman. Go ahead and go to 1 Timothy 5, verse 14. Whether you're a woman or a child, hey, let's just find some good work to do. This girl's playing the piano very well. That didn't come just from one hour of practice, right? Right? Did you practice this one hour and now you're good? No. No. Hey, she used her time effectively, something that will profit. I mean, come on. Even if we did a cappella, it would sound good, but it sounded better with the piano. It sounded better with the piano. You know? Why? Because she's not being idle. She's practicing. She's doing something that's not vain, that's not wasting time. You know, but this will keep husbands from getting into trouble, working some hours. Amen? Don't push it to the hundred hour. I'm not sold on that at all. Hundred hours? Hey, I tried to do the math. Eight hours of sleep. Six hours of sleep. I'm not going to work. Unless you want to read your Bible like five minutes a day. No, it ain't going to work. And you can see the fruit of it. It didn't work for this guy either. His kids are, you know, for the devil, so much that he doesn't even want to give them a million bucks each. He's like, look, I'm a billionaire. I'm going to give you guys a million dollars each, make something with it. You know? The reason I won't give you a building is because it'll destroy your life. Instead of doing that, you know, he's like, no money, zeros. Yeah, because you raised a bunch of knuckleheads. You know? You spend all day building your businesses and making all this money. What did it profit you that your kids are now? A bunch of knuckleheads. But when it comes to who does God command? All of us. All of us. Here's an example. When it comes to the ladies. 1 Timothy 5.14 says this, I would therefore that the young woman marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary which speak reproachfully, for some already turn aside after Satan. Why? Because they were just being idle at home. They weren't busy guiding the house, you know, bearing children, so Satan got them. Satan got your wife, your stay-at-home wife, because she wasn't using her time effectively. I'll read from 1 Timothy 2.14. It says that Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in transgression. I was thinking she shall be saved and childbearing because this work, it's a lot of hard work to raise children and cook for the husband and clean the house. That stuff takes a lot of time. Hey, guess what? It's good for the wife. Just like working six days a week is good for the husband, you know? Hey, the wives, they're going to be working six days as well. Get that one day off and spend it all day together. I'm still working on it, trying to figure out how to balance everything. 1 Timothy 2.14, we just read it, but even children, I mean David, David was considered a child. I'll just read from 1 Samuel 17. It says, And it says, And it says in David, I'm skipping to verse 14, was the youngest and the three elders followed Saul, but David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. So he was obviously known as a child, but he was working. He was working. And Proverbs 20.11 says there's nothing wrong with children working. It says even a child is known by his doings whether his work, his work be pure and whether it be right. So what's the answer, you know, to getting rid of this idle soul? Work, you know, work. What kind of work? Philippians 4.8, Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think of these things and these are what we should be wasting our time on. If you make a lot of money, you don't need to work 72 hours, then great, use that to come clean the building, use that to run some extra so many times, use that to learn an instrument or whatever the case, you know, but you have to fill up your time or you're going to end up becoming an idle individual and you know where that leads you. Emergency room, amen. And the Bible says that all things be done decently and in order, and in order. So whatever you have to do, I mean, I think a scheduled life is a good thing. You know, I try to schedule every minute of my day from the morning I wake up to the morning I fall asleep, do I follow it to the T? No, but my goal is to try as hard as possible to do so, to do so, and you don't have to if you're succeeding, you know, at just not being idle, then great, you know, but I just like to have everything scheduled, as much stuff as possible, little things come up, try to knock them out right away and just try to stay busy from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. You know, I don't have Pastor Anderson on top of me all day long, so I have to be disciplined enough to just do it on my own, and this isn't something new. You know, who knows who Jack Howes is? Isn't his book over there the one I'm preaching? I believe it's page 130 where he talks about having a scheduled life. Who knows what I'm talking about? Who's read that book? You've read it? Know what I'm talking about? Where he says, look, I'm the pastor. I have no boss above me. I don't have anybody yelling at me, you know? I have like so many employees. They all want my time left and right, but you know what? How I get things done? I do have a boss. It's called my schedule. You know what I'm talking about? Remember that part? I wish I could read it for him. He's like, hey, my boss is my schedule. That's what tells me what to do. He schedules his days from the time he wakes up to the end, and he just fights to keep that schedule so he doesn't end up on the roof doing something he shouldn't. That's just the bottom line. So even with moms, I'm not a stay-at-home mom. I've never done it, but hey, it is what it is. Get that schedule going. Confirm it with your husband. Say, look, this is what I'm doing. Let's look at yours. Let's look at mine so we don't bump heads and get mad at each other for no reason, you know? But just work together and try to have that scheduled life. Why? Because 1 Corinthians 14 says, Let all things be done decently and in order. And the Bible makes it very clear that if we know we ought to do something and we don't do it, we deviate from it to do something else, God forbid it's something vain and pointless. Hey, do your best to get it done or else it becomes sin. To him that knows to do good and to him it is sin. So what's the point of this sermon? It's not about laziness. This ain't about laziness. You know, David was not a lazy man. But it's about idol, idleness, having an idol soul. If you're catching yourself just being idle way too much, that needs to go. That needs to go before something bad happens. You know, whether you're a mom or your kids or the dad, we all need to have a structured life, do things decently and in order so our kids are not getting tore up by bears. Amen. You know, and not just that. They don't end up in the emergency over dumb stuff, you know, because I wasn't giving them anything to do so I just went outside, go figure out something to do, you know. But at the end, we just got to watch out for idleness. It's dangerous. Look what happened to David. Look what happened to, you know, those kids got tore up. You know, not just him. I'm sure idleness has taken on a lot of people. But just be careful with it. It's a serious thing. God doesn't like it. You know, we can all fall into it. We're all going to waste time here and there, but let's not be known as great wasters. Amen. Let's pray. Dear Father, we thank you for everything that you've given us, Lord, and we ask you to just protect us and help us and give us wisdom and knowledge and joy. And Lord, I really do appreciate these people. I'm very, very happy that they're still here. Father, I just ask you to just bless them, Lord, whatever they need, whatever's going on in their lives, whether it's health, financial, I don't know, but you do. You do. And you said, hey, if we ask, we shall receive. So I'm asking you to bless this group tonight. I'm very proud of them, dear Father. You know, I'm doing my best to edify them and to help them out, and I hope this sermon has helped them out. And Father, I just ask you to just take care of them, protect them, pardon them. If obviously they're doing stuff they're not supposed to, I ask you, dear Lord, to give them the strength to just, you know, get it out the way and just to start seeking you and doing your will and ask you to do all this. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Alright, go ahead and pull out your hymnals to song number 30. Nothing but the blood. Let's do it. 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 pardon 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 for 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. Good singing. You dismissed.