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All right, we're here in first Peter chapter four and the name of the sermon is arm yourselves with an internal mindset Arm yourselves with an eternal mindset now look at what it says in verse number one It says for as much sin as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind and when it says arm yourselves It's trying to give you a picture of like a war where you take up weapons and you arm yourselves Basically you prepare for battle and see the bible is indicating this battle actually starts in the mind And I want you to realize that as we live our lives the world is lying to us all the time And we must arm ourselves with an eternal mindset if we're going to be successful But it's interesting how it says with the same mind now turn to philippians chapter 2 philippians chapter 2 philippians chapter 2 And in philippians chapter 2 in verse number three the bible reads Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness in mind let each esteem other better than themselves Look, not every man on his own things But every man also on the things of others if you remember from saturday what I talked about is this is essentially the opposite of grandiosity Where people think the world revolves around them and the bible says Actually, you should lay down your life and say everybody's more important than me exact opposite of the world revolving around you But see after it says that then it says this in verse five Let this mind be in you which was also in christ. Jesus And what the bible is going to do is give you the perfect example of basically where you care about other people More than yourself and it's saying that this was the mind of christ This is how christ lived his life when he was here I mean his whole life here on earth was about other people and not about himself I mean, he would go sewing all the time. He preached the gospel. He'd spend the night in prayer. He'd go fasting at times Times he wanted to take a rest. He had to minister and do things for god And so christ lived his whole life caring about other people More than himself and he gave us a perfect example of an eternal mindset Okay, then he gives this example here in verse six who being in the form of god Thought it not robbery to be equal with god But made himself with no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men We understand we know that jesus christ was god of the flesh. The bible says god was manifest in the flesh However, he made himself of no reputation When jesus christ was here, he didn't walk around and say, you know, i'm the king of the world, right? He made himself of no reputation And there's nobody in this world who has a better reputation ever than jesus christ Because honestly outside of judaism what religion ever criticizes jesus christ I mean even atheists say good things generally about jesus They just say wow, you know you christians don't understand what he's talking about, right? I mean buddhists will praise jesus muslims praise jesus Hindus praise jesus Nobody has a better reputation ever than jesus and yet nobody made himself lower than any person right, he humbled himself and then says And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross Wherefore god also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name and so jesus humbled himself more than anybody He lowered himself more than anybody and he will be exalted more than anybody What's interesting is satan exalted himself more than anybody and nobody's going to suffer more than satan So kind of the idea is this that the more you exalt yourself the more you're going to be brought down Whereas the more you lower yourself the more you're going to be exalted one day. However, that comes when we get to heaven Okay, if you humble yourself in this life i'm not saying hey You know what you're going to be elected the president in about what nine ten months or whatever That's not what i'm saying Right what i'm saying is if you humble yourself in this life Then you're going to have great awards in heaven for all the great things that you did. Okay Verse 10 that in the name of jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth And then every tongue should confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father Even the most ardent atheist will bow down before jesus christ and beg for mercy That's what the bible indicates the most arrogant people in this world that hate our message They hate what we stand for they hate our church one day They're going to bow down before our savior and beg for mercy and no mercy is going to come. Okay Now go back to first peter chapter four So When it's talking about arming yourselves with the same minds think of the mind of christ That's what it's trying to bring you toward and see what the bible is saying Is this that we as god's people should live our lives trying to lay down our own lives and care about other people more than ourselves And if you live your life just caring about yourself, you know what you're going to end up being a miserable person But if you live your life concerned about other people You're gonna be a happy person. We're gonna see that in this chapter This is what god calls us to do arm yourself with the same mind For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin Okay. Now this phrase has been taken out of context by a lot of cults because there are cults so-called christian cults that will say that jesus christ Became the son of god at the virgin birth but in the old testament He was just an angel or a man or he was just a sinner and then he became deity and then he ceased from sin No, there was no sin in him. The bible says in him is no sin It's not saying he reached a point in life where he can cease from sin And there's other religions that would teach this where you can attain a state of godhood And they'll use places like this and say well see jesus christ He was a sinner that he ceased from sin and you can become god, too And it seems so ridiculous, but honestly isn't that what genesis 3 is about how you can become as gods And so many religions teach in buddhism. You can become omniscience. You can reach that state of godhood in hinduism They say the true idol worshiper Realizes he is god, right? And so religions actually teach this. Okay. Well, what does it mean that he had ceased from sin? Well, here's what the bible's saying We know that christ was perfect We know that christ is sinless But what the bible's saying is that if we arm ourselves with the same mindset of laying down our lives for other people What we're going to do is live a holy and godly life It doesn't mean that we're going to be completely 100 without sin But it means we're going to start serving god get rid of worldliness. We're going to start reading the bible going so in it You say why because we're not thinking from a worldly perspective And the bible says that if we arm ourselves with that mind of saying my life is not about me We're going to stop sinning in many areas of our life now Of course, we're not never going to be perfect I'm, not saying that but what i'm saying is we're going to start getting rid of a lot of our sins and become a better And better person and really serving god because we have the right mindset of laying down our lives for other people It says in verse two that he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men But to the will of god, so the bible's saying instead of living to the in your flesh to the lust of men You know the lust of the world the lust of the eyes the pride of life It says to live for the will of god for the time passed in our life They suffice us to have wrought the will of the gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness lusts excess of wines wine revelings banquetings and abominable idolatries now People take this phrase here when it says excess of wine and they try to tell you well It's wrong to have too much wine But it's not wrong to have some wine and they say the problem is having an excess of wine And yes, that's a problem how you used to have an excess of wine But now you only have one glass of wine or dinner or whatever, right? Well, there's a problem with that interpretation All you have to do is go to the next verse verse four Where it says wherein they think it's strange that he run not with them to the same Excess of riot speaking evil you now, let me ask you a question. Is any amount of riot? Okay? Is it okay to just burn down one building? Is it okay just to steal one computer? Is it okay just to smash one window of a building? No any amount of riot whether it's a small amount or a lot is wrong, right? And what the bible is indicating is that any amount of riot would be excess or wrong, okay? Now there's two ways to look at this phrase excess of wine one would be in terms of drinking and alcoholic beverage I believe any amount is wrong Okay But the other thing is this, you know, is it referring to alcoholic wine? I'm, not really sure because the word wine in the bible is sometimes referring to an alcoholic beverage Sometimes it's not and here's the thing when it's referring to grape juice Grape juice was a very expensive luxury. I mean, it's still an expensive luxury today, right grape juice is an expensive beverage But especially during back then when it wasn't factory produced and people had to do all the labor It was a very expensive beverage that they would have at things like weddings and stuff like that And so it could be what the bible is indicating Is that basically living a life where you're living a very luxurious life? You're having all these rich and fancy things would be wrong and it's okay to have some nice things But you better be careful not to have too much. Okay Sometimes wine and oil are terms that are referencing like luxurious things. It's not necessarily referencing Literally, you know just like, you know grape juice is kind of symbolic of that But regardless if you're going to say this alcoholic wine, which you know, I would probably lean towards it says in verse four for excess of riots Okay, and so any amount of rights wrong any amount of alcoholic beverage would be wrong the bible teaches But then it says in verse five who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead and so God is going to judge the quick and the dead you say what is the quick and the dead? There's actually a movie in about 30 years ago in the us there's a western movie called the quick and the dead And quick is an old-fashioned word. I'm not going to hug the word for alive the alive and the dead So the bible says that we're quickened by the spirit. It's saying we're made alive when a person gets born again They are quickened or made alive. They spiritually become a member of god's family So he's saying he's ready to judge the alive And the dead now, I believe what he's saying the alive and the dead he's referring to spiritually basically save people and lost people Because both the saved and the lost will be judged as a safe person what we're going to see in this chapter We are judged in this life If you do wrong you reap what you sow in this life The unsaved people they may not be judged in this life But they're going to spend eternity in hell and pay for each and every one of their sentence He's ready to judge the quick and the dead for for this cause was the gospel priest also to them that are dead Referring to the unsaved right? You don't preach the gospel to a dead body At least I don't I wouldn't recommend it. Okay You don't preach the body the gospel to a dead body You're preaching the spiritually dead the unsaved person that they might be judged according to men in the flesh But live according to god and the spirit see the bible says this that when a person gets saved They should live according to god or the spirit But the thing is bob said we'll be judged of men in the flesh Judge according to men in the flesh and the reality is that people will look at your life And form judgments and opinions about you I mean if you're a christian and you're obnoxious Bastos just just a bad personality. You're giving a bad testimony of christ Because people are going to judge you based on your actions Right. I mean if you're ripping people off if you're rude to people you have a bad attitude People are going to look down on you and it's like look if that's who you are don't tell them Oh, by the way, I go to very baptist church It's like inviting some other church They're not going to come if you have a bad attitude and then you need to make sure That your words and your actions match up Okay, and look we can have a big impact on people through our actions Yes, we give people saved by preaching the gospel But look if you want to get family and friends and co-workers to visit our church It's going to come from your attitude It's going to come to how nice of a person you are And it should be said of god's people that god's people are better than other people in terms of being more nice More hard-working more patient the right words They speak that should be said of us and the reality is people will judge you by your actions Especially as a bible-believing christian especially when you have the beliefs like we have People are already trying to cast stones at us for the beliefs that we have I mean when you preach sermons like I do people are going to try to find something to bring me down Well brother sucky did this right If you're going to have strong words and strong beliefs You better make sure your actions match it because people are going to try to find something against you Look your catholic relatives are looking for something you criticize you for it's reality All of us have unsafe catholic relatives. I'm sure right They are trying to find something to tear you down and to bring you down because they consider you a bible thumper And they're trying to find something to bring you down don't give them anything look they're going to judge you according to your actions We got to live according to god in the spirit and live above reproach Live where they can't criticize you remember the story of daniel in the old testaments They tried to find something against him and the only thing they could find was that he prayed to god That's the only thing they could find So they had to force the king or trick the king into making this new law to basically make him guilty Because they looked at his life and they said well he shows up early for work He doesn't clock in early when he leaves. He makes sure he's safe the whole time. He doesn't take a long lunch He doesn't take you know, 10 smoke breaks during the day like some people right? I mean he was working hard. He was above reproach and they said the only thing we could find is he praised it with god Right that is what should be said about us that we live our lives in a way where people Cannot just find something to criticize us. Okay, we got to live above reproach. It says in verse seven But the end of all things is at hand be therefore sober and watch on to prayer Okay Now here's the thing. It says the end of all things is at hand and some people would take that phrase to say well see Jesus can come back in any moment Okay. See that's not true. Go to second Thessalonians chapter two. That's not what it's referring to second Thessalonians chapter two second Thessalonians chapter two Second Thessalonians chapter two And see what at hand means is about to take place Okay Means about to take place. It doesn't mean that it's already happened. It means it's at hand like right in front of you It's about to take place. Okay Second Thessalonians two verse one now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our lord Jesus christ and by our gathering together onto him So the coming of our lord Jesus christ is when jesus christ is going to return the return of christ and by our gathering together onto him That's what we would call the rapture, right? The Bible says the dead in christ shall rise first then we which are alive remain are gathering together onto him The coming of our lord jesus christ, we can see those things are linked together But he says this that he be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled Neither spirit nor by word nor by his letter as from us as that the day of price is at hand He says I don't want you to be troubled because the day of price is Not at hand don't think it's about to take place It wasn't the spirit that told you that it wasn't the word of god It wasn't a letter or a pistol that we wrote to you and he's saying don't be shaken in mind or in trouble It's not going to happen right now Okay, the day of christ is not at hand is what he's saying in verse two. It's not about to take place Now why is it that paul the apostle knew it was not going to take place? Okay, what he says in verse three let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come Except there come a falling away first and notice this and that man of sin be revealed The son of perdition see the bible says before christ is going to return the man of sin the antichrist Is going to be revealed Now as far as I know everybody agrees that verse three is referring to the antichrist So I think in my mind what's the problem what are we confused on the antichrist is going to come first The day of christ is not at hand. He's not going to come until the antichrist comes first Who's the antichrist I mean who's the literal antichrist what's the name of the antichrist that's going to come like I don't believe in the antichrist Nobody knows you know what that tells you it hasn't been revealed If it was revealed i'd stand up here and say pope francis Right, but I don't know that is it a possibility. Well, it's possible. I doubt it Right. He's an evil person. He's probably not the antichrist though But it's like I don't know the name of the antichrist meaning it hasn't been revealed It hasn't been made known And nobody knows the name of the antichrist So what does that what does that tell us? Well what it tells us is that christ can return now because the antichrist must be revealed The antichrist will come first the bible teaches we will go through tribulation and will be raptured before the wrath of god So it's a post-tribber pre-rap rapture now Here's the thing. I do believe that paul wondered if it was going to happen in his life However, he said it wasn't at hand because I know first the antichrist must be revealed Because you have to understand during this time period the world was in terminal With the roman empire and the oppression that was going on There have been many points in history where people thought hey it could come in in the next 10 years. It could come You know pretty soon right during the black plague when? half of some countries in europe died Say brother sucky, this virus is terrible. We're not not compared to the black plague Right. I mean the viruses during the end times are probably going to be a lot worse when the bible speaks about plagues I mean the black plague killed about 35 percent of europe 35 percent of the population Right, but here's here's the thing during that time I'm sure people wondered whether or not it could happen in their life. But here's the thing the antichrist hadn't come so Until the antichrist reveals himself. We don't know is the world crazy right now. Absolutely Is it possible it will come in the next 10 years? It's possible But here's the thing until the antichrist reveals himself as christians. We don't really have anything that Here's our proof. It's about to take place, right? The antichrist must reveal himself first and until that happens I would just say well, you know what the world's had a lot of time here. He goes through ups and downs of Craziness and then non-craziness and back and forth and back and forth. So As far as I know it's not happening in the next 10 years, you know We'll see but here's the thing regardless of what your thoughts are on that The antichrist must reveal himself first and that has not happened It says about the antichrist who opposes and exalted himself above all that is called god or that is worship So that he is god sitting in the temple of god Showing himself that he is god the antichrist will declare himself to be god in the temple of god over in drussellum He's going to declare himself to be god now look I understand that there are people that will declare themselves to be god But but not over in the temple of god that i was referring to I get it If you live in da now, there's a man who says he's god, right? That's not the same thing as what's being talked about in second thessalonians 2 verse 4 He's going to do it in the temple of god showing himself that he is god But then he says this remember you not that when I was yet with you. I told you these things He's like I already told you it's not a preacher rapture I told you that you're not it's going to come as a thief in the night to the unsaved But not to the same He's like I already told you you're going to be aware of it You're not in darkness that they should overtake you as a thief and yet during this time period you know what the implication is There were false teachers during this time period that were teaching the day of christ at hand It could happen at any moment. That's why I pause to rewrite them and let them know. No, wait a minute We didn't tell you that it wasn't the apostles of god It wasn't servants of god and great men of god that taught you that and yet during that time period the indication is False teachers are already trying to teach. Guess what? It's at hand Happened at any moment. The bible says the anti-christ must reveal himself first Okay now Go back to first peter four first peter four first peter chapter four So here's the thing if paul makes it very clear the anti-christ must reveal himself first And he says the day of christ is not at hand You think peter was just confused you think paul peter was teaching a preacher rapture And paul was teaching a poster. No, I don't think so Because one thing that peter was told is that he was going to be martyred as an old man So how could peter believe it could happen at any moment when he was told he was going to be martyred as an old man So why would he have told them? Hey, it's at hand. It can happen at any moment Peter was told he was going to be martyred as an old man Right. So peter was also aware It was a post-trib rapture and he was aware that all of god's people have always been persecuted It's always been like that. It always will be like that and it's going to just be heightened during the end times So what is peter saying here in verse seven? Well, what has this book been about so far? It's been about serving god with the life we have on earth and what the bible is indicating and what peter is saying is Hey, you know what the end of your life Is at hand meaning your life is here and it's gone Our life flashes before our eyes Right the bible says teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts onto wisdom You say why because literally our lives will flash before our eyes and you're gonna wake up and you're like man I'm in my mid-30s right now It's like where did the last, you know, 20 years of my life go It's like I remember being in high school just yesterday and then all of a sudden boom It's like i'm 36 years old Right and that's reality and you know something that's incredible about time Is that time speeds up as you age? Isn't that true? I mean, it doesn't make any sense and you tell people that I mean every parent tells this to their kids when they're young And they don't believe it right and then all of a sudden when they get older and they get married and have a family Then they realize this is reality that as you get older time just starts to speed up more and more and more Right and life's busy And you're always busy and tired and before you know it everything is just going to be over and see the indication is this You know, why spend your life just caring about the things of this earth when it's here today and gone tomorrow Why not just spend your life on things of eternal value and things that matter because you want the end of your life is at hand The end of my life is at hand It's going to be here today and it's going to be gone tomorrow. We live and we die No, maybe if you live during the early days of genesis you could say I know I still have a lot of time I'm gonna live to be 900 years old or whatever But you know for us we live 70 or 80 years is is the indication of the bible and you know what that comes and it goes It flies by like nothing And so he's saying be therefore sober and watch on to prayer and above all things have fervent charity among yourselves For charity shall cover the multitude of sins Use hospitality one to another without grudging so he's trying to motivate them Have charity to basically live your life process charity is the bond of perfectness I think is the quote and basically it's kind of a combination of all these great attributes So spend your life just caring about other people more than yourself Okay Instead of just spending your life caring about yourself care about other people use hospitality one to another without grudging So one thing is to be hospitable That's something that the bible commands us to do Right, and that's one of the big things when it comes to getting new people connected into a church And to join our church is just being hospitable to new people making them feel at home Making them feel that they have a church family. This is an important thing for us to do as fatherly leading christians notice what it says in verse 10 As every man hath received the gift even so minister the same one to another as good rewards of the As good stewards of the manifold grace of god. So the bible says as every man hath received the gift Even so minister the same one to another so here's the thing If you're saved and the book is written to save people every man hath received the gift because you get saved by receiving eternal life But as many as receive them to them giving power To become the sons of god even to them that believe on his name And so the bible says as every man hath received the gift You have eternal life even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of god Because we're saved by grace So if you're saved you receive the gift of god, you know what we should do pass that on to other people That's what the bible's saying Now what direct application is certainly so with it I mean that's directly how we win people in the lord is just preaching to someone one-on-one That's how they get saved But another thing you can do Is join up with a great church and get on board and support that church And support the vision and the mission of that church because that church is the operation of how god reaches people Right. I mean if you're not connected into a church, you know The amount of souls you're going to get saved is going to be very small in your life The same would be true myself If I wasn't in a church and I was just listening to sermons online. How much am I going to really do for god? Right You know on days when you don't fit, you know, you might have days where you're like man I'm gonna go on soul wedding but then you're gonna stop once you get a little bit depressed or whatever I mean today we we got rained out somewhere right, but it's like right when I walked down to the park Maybe it's my fault. It started raining, right? And uh brother rod and sister russell were there everyone just kind of left once it was raining But here's the thing You know what? I would have if I wasn't connected to a church and I was just motivated to preach the gospel I probably wouldn't even gone because I said well it might rain today And of course it did end up raining, but you know sometimes when it might rain it doesn't rain right And so what the bible is saying is this, you know, yes, you know You perceive the gift of eternal life and you need to give it to other people But you know honestly one part is just getting connected to a good church that's serving god And you know get him on board with the church to do mighty things for god verse 11 if any man speak let him speak as the oracles of god the oracles of god Now the oracles of god is is basically referring to the scriptures turn to hebrews chapter five I'll show you a reference to this hebrews chapter five The bible says that the jews were given the oracles of god It said they had an advantage because the word of god was poured out in the area They lived in because what advantage didn't have to do much in every way because none of them were given the oracles of god They were given the word of god the scriptures the preachers the responsibility to preach the gospel hebrews 5 verse 12 For when for the time you ought to be teachers give need that one teach you again Which be the first principles of the oracles of god and are become as such as have are in our become such As have need of milk and not of strong meat and see the bible says this that there are people who ought to be teachers And yet they need to be reminded about the very basic of the things of god The very basics of what god expects in our lives and the bible says they still need the melt instead of the strong meat Now if somebody's been saved for six months We expect them to be a baby christian right My my my daughter is one and a half years old. Okay, it's still saying that she's a baby But then as kids get older you expect them to make progress in their lives in various different areas I mean imagine if my daughter is 20 years old And then i'm up here holding her and then just feeding her, you know, it's like what you expect when she's 20 years old She's going to feed herself Right and see the indication though is there's a lot of people that are spiritually They've been saved for a long time, but they're babies I mean, they're spiritual babies. They need to be spoon-fed everything all the time But the reality is that we should be reading god's word on our own Not just relying on the preaching of god's word to learn things And see that's one thing that is true about our church and churches like ours is that people read the bible for themselves? Right one of our members in um manila, he told me at his old church that had hundreds of members his baptist church and the pastor like, you know asked during the church like You know who's read the bible, you know cover the cover before and he said like, you know And he raised his hand and looked around nobody else was raising his hand So he felt you know now he got shot So he took down his hand because he he was kind of embarrassed being the only one with his hand up But it's like you got 200 people and one person in the church has read a cover cover And what's really irritating is when people will tell you you're wrong about something in the bible and they've never read the bible It's like well, who are you to tell me i'm wrong? Right, and it's funny because nobody would do this about anything else Any other subject if somebody has studied and poured their time into something you wouldn't tell them. They don't know what you're talking about Whatever you've studied you're going to be an expert on you're going to be knowledgeable Right in college. I got a math degree. So I know a lot about math, right? My wife, you know got local degrees. She got a nursing degree It's like she knows more about that than me, but it's like if you haven't studied anything Why would you tell them? No, no, you're wrong about that. But somehow people think they know everything about this book It's the only book in the world that people have never read and yet they think they're experts And you know, honestly when I got saved I felt the same way before I got saved. I thought I knew this book pretty well. I couldn't quote John 3 16 And then I realized man, I knew nothing and the more you read it the more you realize wow There's a lot to learn in this book And yet there are churches and people out there that have never read their bibles and they're going to say i'm wrong with the things I preach and it's like Who are you to tell me i'm wrong if you've never read it? And I don't tell people like that I don't I don't try to be rude if people honestly that's what i'm thinking I'm, just like what are you talking about? Like, well, you don't know the bible teaching come at any moment, right? We're talking about the rapture. Okay. Well, you've never read it And the only reason why you believe that is because you heard one verse taken out of context by your baptist pastor But you've never even read the new testament cover to cover. So it's like you don't know whether it's right or wrong You're just trusting that the person who taught you see here's the thing I am not afraid of you reading the bible Right. There's a lot of churches. It's like the pastors are afraid of their members reading the bible It's like man if I let them read the bible on their own there's no telling what they might believe Right. Well, look i'm confident that the core of doctrines that I teach are correct and i'm confident that if you're saved You're going to come to the exact same conclusion because it's the holy spirit of god, which is your teacher now Of course there's things that are deep things and dark things and things people that have a different opinion I'm sure if you dissected every verse and every phrase in this chapter There'd be a few things you come to a different conclusion or having a different idea Of what's the main thought but in terms of core doctrines? You're going to have the same beliefs you say why the same teacher the holy spirit of god And i'm confident that if i'm being taught by the holy spirit of god and i'm reading the bible and he's my teacher Then if you're being taught by the holy spirit of god and you read the chapters that i'm preaching on It's only going to confirm the things that i'm preaching because It's the same teacher right And so the bible says in verse five talks about the oracles of god now go back to first peter four first peter four first peter So when we're speaking we should be using the word of god Okay as our reference and when we're trying to give people advice and things like that You should think of what does the bible say about the power? And then it says if any man minister in verse 11, let him do it as of the ability which god did it So if you're going to minister do it as the ability which god has given you there's kind of two applications I want to focus on One is to make sure you know what you're talking about But the other thing is to not overburden yourself. Okay, go to ecclesiastes chapter 7 Psalms proverbs ecclesiastes psalms is right in the middle of your bible and ecclesiastes chapter 7 psalms proverbs ecclesiastes And it says in ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 16 Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 16. It says be not righteous over not much neither make thyself over wise Why shouldest thou destroy thyself? And Of course throughout the bible It's always trying to motivate us to do so many great works for god But it also gives us a proper balance on things. The bible says a false balance is an abomination to the lord The bible says be not righteous over much Meaning don't overburden yourself. Don't take on too many responsibilities that you're not able to handle And you know what? Of course, I want people to serve god with all of their zeal But one thing I do not want you to do is just crash your entire life For the sake of the service to our church or whatever There's a lot of churches where it feels like, you know, that is the case with people But you know, we need to have a proper balance on things because I mean if you're married and you have kids You need to raise those kids and put your heart and soul and effort into those kids and do a good job Now, of course, you still need to be faithful to god but you know one thing you see is this churches will try to guilt you into serving church and then basically Forsake your personal life and your family just destroyed It's like one of the amazing things in a lot of baptist churches is how they'll try to get people to be like christian school teachers and everything for a very low salary because when you have christian schools What they do is they guilt their members into working for a very small amount And it's like why don't they just raise their own kids? It's like they try to guilt them into raising somebody else's kids It's like why don't you just allow the proper folks like the bottom of that people put their heart into raising their own kids And it's like they got everything backwards And it's like sometimes you're just like what are they doing? It's just like the exact opposite of what the bible says They try to guilt you into serving church and then just destroy your life. And then why is it we see many kids In baptist churches that grow up and they don't survive Because the parents were just always dedicating to church never spent time with the kids and then the kids grow up and resent god Because it's god that took them away from them, right? Although it's not really god It's really the church that built them into that. Okay So one thing is be not righteous so much now go to first peter four first peter four first peter four first peter chapter four So Now, of course there are some basics that we should be doing all the time we should be involved in church We should be reading our vitals. We should be praying but There's also a proper balance and stuff. I go sowing several times a week, but I don't go sowing seven days a week You say why i'm too busy to go sowing seven days a week unless I just crashed my own life Outside of these two churches. I work for marion baptist church Tomorrow i'm going to be transcribing the sermon of the prison ministry i've made so many bad for them It's like I still have other responsibilities at my job and look i'm not really different than anybody else because we have jobs, right? We have to work and we're busy and it's just like I go sowing but at the same time I'm, not going to go seven days a week because honestly, I think that would just be too much for me to be able to get Now here's the thing if somebody is able to handle more, that's fine I'm not competing against anybody and none of us are competing against anybody. I don't want to slow you down If you're reading the bible more than me and you're memorizing the bible more and you're going sowing more I mean praise the lord for that, but it's also not a competition, right? We need to be very careful not to try to guilt people into doing exactly like we are especially when we live different lives We're in different situations and it's just not the same Okay. So one thing is being careful not to overburden ourselves and honestly, I think in the long run that's important because I plan to serve god my whole life Hopefully everybody feels that way and you know what we need to make sure we're serving god each and every week But you know what? You need to have a proper balance. Otherwise, you're going to crash and burn Right, you're going to be going all out effort for like, you know day after day and then after like a couple months It's like oh, I hate my life. I hate the church and everything. It's like you're better off just having a proper balance There's nothing wrong with with spending time with family. There's nothing wrong with going on vacation and things like that You know, you need to have a proper balance on things. Okay. The other thing is this Let them do it as the ability which god giveth And especially if you're speaking or teaching or whatever you need to make sure that you know what you're talking about Now this is true with me as i'm preaching sermons I need to make sure that whatever I preach i've actually studied and I know what i'm talking about But also in our own personal lives, you know And you're going to have opportunities as this church grows to minister and help other people that are new We're going to have people that are new at soul winning and you're going to be teaching and helping them and explaining certain things and everything And of course, you know, we have one person who's preaching the majority of the sermons but at the same time You know what people that know their bibles can still help people teach people new things and turns out soul winning and stuff like that And but make sure that you know what you're talking about If they ask me something and you don't know what you're talking about Then it's just like it's better just saying oh, that's a good question Right and sometimes those questions come up and i'm just like i'm not a hundred percent for sure I was like I haven't thought of that because there's a million questions in the bible and no one's going to know everything. Okay Now first Peter four verse 11 Then it says that god and all things may be glorified through jesus christ to whom he prays in dominion forever and ever. Amen Beloved thinking not strange concerning the fiery tribe which trials Fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened on you So basically do not be surprised that you're going to have persecution coming If you're serving god, do not be surprised that a fiery trial is going to come in your life And look all of us when we started serving god, there is at least some level of persecution It's amazing how when you get saved and start going to church some of your old friends don't want to talk to you anymore And it's like what in the world? Right, you got family that starts getting mad at you because you make decisions and they don't and then they get mad at you And everything they try to tear you now you think of david before he kills goliath his brother's trying to stop him And it's like who are you to take on the lion, right? And the reality is that when you're trying to do what's right people if they are not doing what's right They will feel bad and then they'll get mad at you about that. That is what takes place So look there's going to be a fiery trial that's going to happen in our lives and don't be surprised When it happens Because many people they they think that you know, the christian life is so easy. There's not going to be any problems No, there's going to be battles. There's going to be problems You're going to have relatives that probably aren't going to be the happiest with your decision not to go to san todos Are your church anymore, right? They're going to be upset when you made changes in your life That's the way it happens now. Here's the thing you say why is it? That they get mad at you and disown you well people think that it's because of them but honestly it's because of ourselves because when we change They don't like the new you They like the old you I mean if you're someone who drinks and parties and you have all these friends if you change They don't like the new you They didn't change You change if you have this idea when they start serving god, oh my friends change they don't want it. No, no you changed That's the reality and once you can change they don't like the new you it's kind of like moses, right? He went up to the mountains to talk to god. He physically changed when he came down. Everyone was afraid to come nine I'm like, whoa And see that's a spiritual application to us that when we change When we start serving god and reading the bible, it's like people are like what in the world? We start quoting the bible in our lives and stuff like that like man, I don't want to hear about that church is on sunday It's like man. I'm just trying to play basketball. Why are you showing me a verse of the bible, right? And so when we change a lot of times people Aren't too interested in being close to us anymore. Don't be surprised verse 13 But rejoice in as much as you are partakers of christ suffering Sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed he may be glad also with exceeding joy Now this kind of brings you full circle the beginning of the chapter when it said let this mind be in you Which was also in christ jesus because he suffered to be ultimate for us and gave us a perfect example And the bible says that you know, you're going to be partakers of christ suffering That when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy Look the more you're serving god, there's going to be persecution. There's going to be trials go to second timothy three second timothy chapter three Second timothy chapter three I mean, I wish I could stand up here And just tell you that your life's going to be perfect now that's your jobless church. You're never going to get depressed You're you're never going to have to work hard anymore life's going to be easy. You're always going to be in a good mood You're never going to fight with your wife anymore I mean your kids are going to obey every single thing you say every single thing just perfectly you're never going to get frustrated Your kids are never going to spill something on the floor. You're never going to be in a bad mood You're always going to have a perfect night's sleep, but that's not reality And it's like there's a lot of churches where that's literally the sort of sermon they preach every week your best life now joel osteen, right? And it's like they tell you about how your life's going to be perfect. Well here's the thing that might be a fun message and I wish it were true too, but it's a lie And honestly when you're preaching you need to prepare people for the battle I mean imagine If you are going to war tomorrow and you are not aware of it Right, you're gonna have i'm talking old-fashioned more where you're handling a sword or whatever and it's like you haven't practiced sharpening your skills Or whatever. You don't even know how to put your helmet on you put it on backwards that I can't see it's like Isn't it good to be prepared for that battle? I mean if you're going to go into battle tomorrow, but you've never held a sword. You don't know what you're doing You're going to be destroyed That's why in church as you're preaching sermons people need to be prepared for the battle that's taking place And you have people get upset about that. But the reality is it's a battle if you're going to serve god There's a war that's going on I mean, how can you sit here and say you believe in the devil, but it's going to be an easy life and no battle Do you really believe in the devil then? Right, I mean there's spiritual warfare that is taking place and there's going to take place in our lives And look, it's better to be prepared for the battle that's going to take place Instead of just saying well, you know why if you're really serving god, it's going to be easy But what does the bible say second timothy three percent? But that was fully known by doctrine manner of life purpose faith on suffering charity patients Persecutions afflictions which came on me at Antioch at iconium at lystra What persecutions I endured but out of all the lord delivered me and you know paul's saying Wherever I went I had persecution. I was serving god in antioc persecution. I was serving god in iconium Persecution I was serving god in lystra persecution Whether you're serving god in the philippines or the us or india or whatever country there is going to be persecution Now, of course in some countries in some areas there's going to be more than others But there's going to be some network Right. I mean it wasn't even and you know, honestly, we don't go through a whole lot of persecution But I kind of got a little taste this when we first started Because right when our church started and I preached one sermon the most famous baptist pastor here in the philippines Is threatening to sue me at a funeral and it's just like and I've watched the video I've watched the clip and i'm just like you are Are the head of the funeral to talk about somebody who passed away and he was talking about himself in this american missionary right And it's just like you know This sort of persecution is going to come if you're serving god and the bible says it's going to take place Okay It's a guarantee that is going to happen. There's going to be persecution. There's going to be affliction Yeah, and all the will of godly christ. Jesus shall suffer persecution. It's a guarantee it's going to happen There's going to be persecution Go back to first peter four first peter four first peter chapter four But you know, it shouldn't upset us It shouldn't let us get us down I mean because the bible actually says here in the rest of the chapter we can have great happiness in actually serving god We can have joy in serving god first peter chapter four verse 14 First peter chapter four verse 14 Is Even your approach for the name of christ happier you see the bible says you can be happy if your approach for the name of christ And it says through the spirit of glory and have god arrested upon you on their party is evil spoken of but on your part He is glorified. It's funny because you've got all of these eastern religions and eastern mysticism That say the key to happiness is remove suffering from your life And yet the bible says you can actually be happy in sufferings And see actually when you're serving god, if you're obeying what god says you can be happy even if you aren't going through persecution Okay And it says here in verse 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer as a thief or as an evil doer as a busybody in other ways matters Yet if anyone suffers a christian let him not be ashamed Let him glorify god on this behalf and so it kind of makes a comparison Between suffering by doing wrong being a murderer thief or evil doer Being a gossip a busybody versus suffering as a christian by serving god and see what the bible is basically saying is Choose your suffering in life If you decide i'm just going to live it up and get drunk and party late in life, you're going to destroy your life Because sin has consequences you're going to suffer in your sin But if you serve god, you're going to suffer as a christian. So here's the thing. You're not going to avoid suffering You just have to choose your suffering Are you going to choose suffering because you're a wicked evil person and you're reaping what you've sown all the time for all the sins You've committed or are you going to suffer because you're serving god and people get mad at you for your beliefs You will not avoid suffering But you can choose your suffering And look we should decide to choose to suffer for christ and the bible says that's what gives us happiness And sometimes christians look at the world And you look at all these people they're getting drunk and fornicating and destroying their lives And then sometimes we can even get a little bit envious of the world and think that they've gotten better It's a lie. The bible says happiness is found in serving god Let me tell you something people that get drunk all the time they put a smile on their face and they're miserable inside You say how do you know that because that's what the bible says in proverbs 23 That's what the bible says in proverbs 31. They're miserable They hate their lives and they're just putting on a smile And you know what? They hate their lives and they try to get other people to do the same because they want to justify their actions And they wake up they destroy their lives and yet they seek it again Why? I don't know But that's what they do It's like they're trying to find happiness and it's like well, let's just keep doing it over and over and over and say, okay You got five minutes of happiness, right? And here's the thing if it makes them so happy Why is it they do something where they black out and they can't even remember what happened? I don't want to black out because I enjoy my life And look life is difficult. It's hard. But you know what? I like to actually know what i'm doing in life I enjoy my life. I like the fact that I remember, you know spending time with my kids spending time with my family And yet supposing what they enjoy more than anything else. Like I don't even remember what happened last night Wow, that's another class of fun It's like they're miserable That's reality and look as christians. We should we should learn our lesson from solomon who went down that road And just in his life happiness for us is found in serving god. It's honestly sad When you look at people in the world and of course if they're not saved the biggest problem is that they're not saved They're going to go to hell but people in life want to be happy Isn't that true that all of us want to be happy? Anyway, the sad thing is people have no idea how to be happy And there's books that are written and people study and study. What's the secret to happiness? The answer is found in the bible Obey god keep his commandments happier you get from you than the bible says talk about obeying god's commandments And it says in verse 17 For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of god And if it first began in us what's to be the end of them that obeyed of the gospel of god? So the bible says here and it's really linking to verses 15 to 16 that judgment's going to begin at the house of god We will reap what we've sown in this life God is our heavenly father if you're saved and you want if you do wrong if you disobey him you're going to pay for it Okay in this life we're going to reap what we've sown judgment must begin at the house of god We will not get away with our sin But then it says what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of god Let's refer to those that never believe on jesus christ. They're unsaved people Now verse 18 it says and if the righteous scarcely be saved where so the ungodly and the sinner appear Now verse 18 is a verse that's taken out of context and some people look at this and it says The righteous scarcely be saved I mean it sounds like it's really hard to stay saved Right, it's hard. The righteous barely make it to heaven. That's how some people want to interpret that You know what? It's saying the righteous scarcely be saved is saying the righteous scarcely be saved from the judgment of god in this life because that's the context And the bible speaks often about the judgment coming in this life And it's linking these verses verses 15 through 18 and what the bible is saying is this we as god's people You know what? We're not going to be spared 100 from god's judgment if we did wrong And the reality is most people do a lot of things wrong And so they get judged in this life But then what it's saying is well, where's something in the center here if god judges his own people And they reap what they sown what's going to happen to those that don't obey the gospel? What's going to happen to the ungodly and the sinner? I mean if god judges us when we do wrong What's he going to do to those that never believe on him? And bible's saying don't be envious at the unsaved world because it's going to be one million times worse for them I mean if god will sometimes give us a spiritual spanking And the righteous scarcely be saved now referring to all the righteous barely making it have no saying that the righteous, you know in this life You do wrong. You're going to be judged It's like what's going to happen in the unsaved world Because in general the unsaved world is probably doing worse things than the average saved person and it's like what's going to happen to that? Well, they're going to burn forever and ever and ever so it's not saying when it says the righteous scarcely be saved man They're righteous They barely make it they barely stay safe So what's going that's not what it's saying It's talking about the judgment of god in our lives here because that's what the context is in verse 15 and 18 Just running a comparison if god's going to judge us in this life Let's remember what he's going to do to the unsaved world I think it's You don't have to turn there, but I think it's psalm 73 with asaph And he's writing about being envious at the wicked and the evil doers and then when he went into the house of god Then he remembered their end and that's basically what it's drawing to it's like hey, yes, sometimes you get disciplined And every loving father and loving parent disciplines and chases a child, but remember asap what's going to be the end of the wicked people Okay verse 19 we'll close up Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of god commit commit the keeping of their souls to him and well-doing as onto a faithful Creator, so it's it's it's ending the chapter talking about suffering as a christian And that's really how it started because it said let this mind be in you which was also in christ Jesus was the link in philippians 2 and christ's whole life Was laying down himself. So What's the main thought here in this chapter? Arm yourselves with that mind of laying down your own life for other people And this is why we go so many, isn't it? I mean, we're not doing it for ourselves I already knew i'm going to heaven we do that because we care about other people It's like why should we do anything because we care about other people in christ's whole life He spent just laying down his life for other people because he showed us an example your life is not about yourself The world does not revolve around you. It does not revolve around me In fact, if there's been you know There's like this argument between his closest followers in the bible where they were like who's going to be the best in the kingdom, right? And it's basically well who is willing to suffer more who's willing to humble himself more Who is willing to lay down his own life because if you want to be great, you're going to humble yourself And he is going to exalt you the bible says so arm ourselves out of mind of laying down our lives and caring about other people Let's close one more prayer your heavenly father. Thank you for allowing me to be here today Again, you see your word in this topic and it helps to apply this to our lives