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

country other than Vatican City, which isn't really a country where divorce is illegal. But... Obviously, no guy marries a girl in Vatican City. Anyway, that's just it's just the way it is. But anyways, this is like the one country where divorce is illegal. And obviously people have ways around that. So it's kind of unique compared to other countries. But we're talking about it because this is a big doubt people have. And I promise you there's people married here in the Philippines that wonder this all the time. Am I married to the right person? Well, yeah, you are. Because once you make your decision, it's a permanent decision. And it's a foolish thought to think, well, what if I could go back five years ago and redo this? Would God want me to marry them? Look, that's a stupid thought. Because you can't go back to the past. Whoever you're married to is who you're married to. Let me say this, that when it comes to dating somebody, the world, that's a big question they have. Am I dating the right person? Should I marry the right person? Okay, what do they often do? They kind of delay that decision. How do they delay that? They live with them for years. Now look, if you've been dating someone for years and living with them and you're not married, you know what? You probably don't want to marry them. I mean, I think you would have made that decision a long time ago if you really liked them. Honestly, you know, it shouldn't be that hard for us as believers. And I'm not for people just rushing into marriage. But there's just a few basic questions you have. Are they saving? Do they love the Lord? That's number one. Do you enjoy spending time with them? Do you find them attractive? Look, that's about it. And then, you know what? It's a lot easier for us to make those decisions. The world can't figure that out. Why? Because they don't consider things like that. I mean, when one of your considerations is, are they a godly person? That already narrows down your list. See, the world's like, man, I got billions of people to choose from. We don't have billions of people to choose from. It's like, our list is just, you know, pretty small, right? You don't have that many options. So that's going to narrow it down because there's not that many people that want to live for the Lord. Yeah, but you see how that's a much harder decision and a big doubt for the world to figure out than us for believers? It's a huge wonder they have. Am I married to the right person? Should I marry the person I'm dating? Look, these are not really questions that we have to worry about as believers because, you know, the Bible gives us the answers to questions like this. Turn to Genesis 13. Genesis 13. And so one of the other big questions that the world has is, Should I be living in the place I live? Am I following my destiny by living in this location? Or should I move somewhere else? That's a big question that the world has. Now, I want you to notice Genesis 13. And one of the things underneath this is, a big thing the world considers is, can I make money there? The world loves money. They live for money. That's what their whole life is about. Money, money, money. Let's look at Genesis chapter 13, starting verse 5. And Lot also, which went with Abraham, had flocks and herds and tents, and the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together, for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle, and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. So what are you seeing here in these verses? They basically have too much money. Because your money was more wrapped up in your, you know, flocks of cattle and things like that. It wasn't just like in your pocket or whatever, you know. So, having too much money, they literally had a lot of cattle, a lot of flock, they had nowhere to put them. They had too much money, is what the Bible's saying. You say, well, how did they get this money? I don't have time to go into it. But if you remember in Genesis chapter 12, there was a famine, and Abram got scared, and he went down to Egypt. Okay? What ended up happening in Egypt, he got rich. That's what you see. He lied about his wife, and said, she's just my sister. And then it makes it very clear that he was given a lot of stuff when he first said that was his wife, he was given a lot of stuff, and it was never taken back. It says he took every bit of it. So the Bible's very clear, he left because of the famine, he went to get rich, and guess what? He got his money. He got rich. That is why they have too much. See, this was not a problem earlier. Now they have too much. Okay? Notice what it says in verse 8. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen. For we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as have comeest unto Zor. So why did Lot choose Sodom? It reminded him of Egypt. Lots of money. Great vegetation. Looks like a great place to live. Why? There's lots of money there. You'll get rich if you go there. That's why he chose Sodom. Notice what it says in verse 11. Then Lot chose them all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves with one from the other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain. And he pitched his tent towards Sodom, but the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. Let me ask you this question. Was that money that he got in Egypt, was that a blessing or a curse? It was a curse. It wasn't a good thing. They got too much money. They had too much money. What happens? Lot ends up going to Sodom. Why did Lot end up in Sodom? Because Abram got scared about not having enough money, and he fled into Egypt, and he got rich, and then they had too much money. What is the Bible trying to show you? Look, making money is not necessarily a blessing. Now look, obviously we have to provide our needs, but look, being rich is not necessarily a blessing for people. In fact, for most people it's actually a curse. Most people that get rich, they ruin their lives. They hate their lives. It destroys them. Money does not buy happiness, and the truth is money can also be a curse. Not only did he leave to go to Egypt when there was a famine, remember what else he got out of Egypt besides lots of money? He also got Hagar out of Egypt. Was that a blessing or a curse? It was a curse. Look, leaving due to money is a foolish reason to leave. You say, why do you preach this? Because you know what, the world will leave due to money. They say, I got to go to some other location because I need to make more money. Now look, obviously everyone's welcome to make their choices, and you know what, if you leave here to go to another like-minded church that's a soul-winning church, hey praise the Lord if you found the job here. That's great. Don't leave a good church for money. That is a foolish decision. You will end up regretting that choice, and you might never connect the dots to why your life is screwed up, but I promise you, you will screw up your life. If the number one reason for you moving somewhere is due to money, that's the wrong reason. I promise you you're making a bad decision. I'm not saying it can't factor in. Like for example, before I moved to Verity Baptist Church, there's a few churches that I considered like-minded that I would have considered moving to, and if a job offer just came up, I might have thought that was from the Lord. He was guiding me in that direction, but deciding on a location. Just say, well you know, I'll just go here because I have the best job and just go to the best IFB church I can find. You're making a terrible decision because look, churches are just not the same. It just is what it is. You're making a bad choice if you make your decision based on money. This is a decision the world makes, but is it really something we have to worry about? Because look, our selections narrow down when you decide I'm going to go to a godly church, and when you're at a good church, it's foolish to leave to go somewhere else unless you have a great church on the other end. That's fine. If you get a job offer and you have a great church there, you know, hey God bless you, we'll pray for you. I have nothing against you, but if you just leave and say I'm going to move to wherever and you have no idea where there's a good church, that is a foolish decision, and you know what, you're going to screw up your life. Turn to Matthew 6. Now this is definitely what the world will do though. In fact, the world will say you're crazy if you decide you're going to move to somewhere for a church. It's like, oh, why'd you move to Sacramento, California? Oh, just to come to this church. It's like you moved across the country to go to a church? Yeah, I did do that. They think it's crazy. Why? They make their decisions based on money. That should not be the decisions we do, okay? Now let me say this, that I will never, I will never try to convince somebody to move this church. I will never. People that are at this church that you live a long way away, that is completely your choice what you do. And the reason why I would never do that, I'll never ask someone who lives in some other area and try to convince them to move here. You say why? Because oftentimes when people move to a church, there's things they don't like about it and they'll end up presenting me. If I persuade someone to move here and guilt them into moving here because they say, well, you don't have a good church. And then they move here and they regret the decision. Guess who they end up hating? They hate me. I don't think it's right for me. That's not what I, other churches do different things differently. That's up to them. That's fine. I will never try to convince you or persuade you or guilt you. Now, if you ask me, if you ask for advice, then you know what? I'll tell you what the Bible says. I'll tell you what my opinion is. But quite honestly, that decision can be very different for different people because people are just in different situations. It's easy to say just step out by faith. But you know, honestly, the decision could be different depending on where you are. You know, I've seen sometimes online people that are like in this movement, so to speak. They're like from some country where there's no great church and people are like, just move. It's like, look, it's not really that easy to move from one country to another. Like even legally, you might want to move and not be able to. Okay, so I'm not going to personally try to persuade people to move to this church. You know, if people choose to come close to where we are in passing, that's great. You know, but that's up to you. That's your decision. And quite honestly, it might be the right decision. It might be the wrong one. It depends on your situation. I'll let you know if you talk to me and you can tell me about the situation. But I'm not going to say everybody should move within five minutes away of our church in passing within two months. I'm not going to say that because I don't think that's true. And I don't think it's my place to do that. I think I would be stepping outside of my authority if I went to you personally and said, you should do this. I'll preach what is clear from the Bible. I think there's wisdom in being part of a great church. And obviously you are part of this church. It's your decision though where you want to live, whether or not you want to move close or not. I won't try to persuade you to do that. Quite honestly, I know a lot of people that have moved to churches and you know what, it was a struggle for them because sometimes people have this idea that if you move to a church, everything's going to be like, perfect. You're going to get there and the street's paved with gold and you got honey and manna and milk waiting for you. Look, that's not reality. Quite honestly, when I moved to California, you know what really suffered? My finances, like immediately. Why? It's expensive to move. I mean, it was an expense to move across. It's about a 40 hour drive. The United States is pretty wide. It's like a 40 hour drive. Look, it costs a lot of money just getting the hotels and finding an apartment and things like that. You got to count the cost if you make a decision like that. And so if you're thinking about it, I encourage you to count the cost. Make sure it's a good decision. Okay? Obviously faith is good, but blind faith can be foolish as well. You got to think these things out. You got to reason them. So I'm not going to try to persuade you to move close to this church. You can talk to me if you have any thoughts and I'll let you know what I think. I'll show you what the Bible says, but it's ultimately your decision. Matthew 6 verses 31 and 32, Therefore take no thought saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Look, this is what the world seeks after. They are worried, do I have the food that's going to be provided for me? Do I have the clothing? Look, that is not something we should be concerned about. Look, God will feed you. God will give you clothes. Okay? You're not going to starve to death. You will have your food. It doesn't mean you're going to have the nicest house though. He doesn't promise that. It doesn't mean that you're able to go on vacation every year. Now there's nothing wrong with going on a vacation. If God has blessed you or you save up money or whatever, go on vacation. Don't feel bad about it. You don't have to feel like every time your vacation is just church stuff where it's just like, oh, I'm saving up my vacation for the missions for the next year. If you want to do that, that's fine. You're welcome to go somewhere for vacation though. There's nothing wrong. There's nothing sinful in that. I could never point you a verse in the Bible and say it's a sin to go on vacation, but it's not a promise from God that you get to go on vacation every year. Do you understand what I'm saying? I mean, obviously when you're younger, it might take time to save up money. Save up money. You know, when I was young before I was married, I was smart. I did not really go out to eat. I would go out to eat with my friends all the time and never order anything. Why? Because I didn't think it was smart to spend $10 on a meal at the state I was in life at the time. I was like, you know what, I'll just go and just hang out. That's what I would do. So look, you got to be smart with your money. And see, because people aren't smart with their money, they end up having to panic. All of a sudden when the famine comes, so to speak, they're not prepared for it. We ought to be prepared for it. Because when you're young and single, you ought to be able to save up some money because you don't have to spend all the money you make. I know that's what the world does, but should we really be getting our advice from the world that says, hey, if you got, you know, a thousand pesos, spend it somewhere. No, save it up. You don't have to waste your money. But when it comes to money, these are things that the Gentiles seek after. They are obsessed with money. They live their lives based on money. Look, we don't have to worry about if God's going to provide our food and clothing. It's a guarantee that he will provide that. Turn to First Timothy 5. First Timothy 5. And so it's kind of an interesting balance when it comes to moving to a church and things like that. Because one thing we've had for sure at this church, which I preached about, we have people in the United States, they just kind of show up in Sacramento. And it's just like, they don't have any money. It's like, well, what do you want us to do? Why did you just come here? And you're just like, I mean, what do you expect us to do? We don't have a hotel room waiting for you. I mean, we weren't expecting you to come. You can't just show up and expect, hey, you know, the church is going to take care of me. No. I mean, where's that in the Bible? Do you see that in the Bible? No, you don't. Why didn't you save up money and then you could buy your own hotel room? Look at what it says in First Timothy 5. We shouldn't go overboard with the idea of trusting God. Yes, he's going to provide our needs, but we need the proper balance on this. First Timothy 5.8. But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. Do you notice God's strong language about a guy that doesn't provide for his family? He says you're worse than an infidel. Here's what you have to understand. Guys that are young, put yourself in a position in life where this could never be applied to you. Because when you're young, you can save up money, and you can put yourself in a good position. Don't just waste all the money you have. The Bible says you're expected to provide for your family. That was given to the men. Look, there's things that are specific to women that they're supposed to do. There's things that are specific to men that we're supposed to do. And if you get married, you're expected to provide the bills. And so if you're a single person here, and you say, I have no money at all, I just use up all my money on restaurants all the time, you're acting foolish. It just is what it is. You're acting foolish. You should save up money. Because the Bible says you're worse than an infidel if you don't provide. That's why I tell people, I recommend when you're young, develop a career now because if you're 35 years old, with no experience, nobody's gonna hire you for anything. Why? Because you don't know how to do anything. Learn that now when you're in your 20s. And you can start at a small salary and you can build it up into something. But don't wait until you're in your 30s, you're getting married. So now all of a sudden you look for a career. Look, God's not gonna just drop down that career from heaven to you. You should have been preparing for that. You say why? Because God told you to do that in the Bible. He told you to be prepared. So don't be foolish with your money. Be smart about it. So when it comes to expecting God to provide money, we take this by faith. We don't have to fear like the Gentiles fear, but at the same time, we don't act foolish either. The Bible does give principles on saving up, and if you're expected to provide for your family, that means you gotta be smart about it, right? Like when I moved to California, I knew I was in a position financially that I could move, and when I planned to move to California, I did not know I was gonna be working for the church. I got the offer a couple weeks before I moved. I did not know I had a job waiting for me. My plan was to work as a substitute teacher because that's something you can get on immediately in California until a better job came along. That's what my plan was, and then Pastor Mendez called me and offered me to work for the church. I did not move knowing there was a job waiting. I did not know there was a job waiting for me. I was planning to work as a substitute teacher, but I did plan ahead. I did say this is what I'm gonna do. This is how much money I'll make. This is how much money California's expensive. I'll lose every month until I find, you know, a better job. I did plan for it though, so we got to be smart. You know, let's not be fools, and I turned to Philippians 4. Philippians 4. So when it comes to this idea of am I living in the right place, the number one consideration that the world has is can I make money. Now there is an element where you need to be able to make money, but at the same time that should not be your primary reason. And obviously people listen to this sermon online, you know, praise the Lord for that, but I'm preaching to the church here. You're in a different situation than most people because you do have a good church. This is not a perfect church. I'm not the greatest person at preaching, but you do have a good church. So for you personally, it would be foolish to leave based on money. Other people are in a unique situation. Maybe they say, man, I can't afford to move, but I want to go to a great church. It's a tough call. Depends on the situation. They got to count the costs themselves, but you that are here, you are part of a great church. Never leave this church to go to some lame church because you got a good job off. And look, I promise you that this temptation comes up because the devil will offer you these things. And a lot of people take them and I've seen a lot of people leave for a great job and look, they might end up becoming rich. Didn't Abraham become rich because he went to Egypt? He did. Doesn't mean it was a blessing. It was actually a curse for him. Notice another thing people wonder about if I'm living in the right place. Am I happy here? Well, let's look at what it says in Philippians 4 verses 10 through 13. This is Paul the Apostle speaking. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now the last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of one, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer and eat. I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. Now, Philippians 4 13, this is one of the most famous verses in the Bible, isn't it? People always show that verse everywhere and they have no idea what it's even talking about. I mean, fighters always use this verse. I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me. It's like, yeah, God gave me the ability to knock out that other boxer, that MMA fighter. Yeah, that's exactly what he was talking about in the Bible, okay? Now, the context here is the fact that Paul has learned to be content wherever he is in life. If he has a lot of money or if he has nothing. The key I want you to focus on is where it says in verse 11, I have learned. What does that mean? It means it didn't come easy for Paul the Apostle. It wasn't an automatic thing. He had to learn to be content wherever he went. You say, Brother Stuckey, I'm not happy where I live. Maybe say, you know, maybe my spouse wants me to be at this church. I'm not that happy. He learned to be content. Paul the Apostle said you can learn to be content. That's what he said. See, the world wonders, am I happy here? What does the Bible say? Just learn to be happy anywhere you are, whether you're rich or whether or not you're poor. Look, I've lived at some pretty bad place before. Like I said, the first apartment we had when we got married, there was nails and staples sticking out of the ground. That was not the nicest place to live, okay? I don't live in a place like that now. That's the choice we made. But you know what? Wherever you are, you can be happy. I was fine living there though. It was fine for us at the time. You can learn to be content wherever you are. And so for us as believers, our number one question shouldn't be, am I happy here? Because you know what? We can learn to be happy. You want to know how to be happy? Live for God. Serve others and that will make you happy. It will make you start to realize, man, you know, my life isn't really that bad. It's actually pretty good. Look, in this country, you might not be able to go on all the fancy vacations, but you know what? You can win a whole lot more people to the Lord than people in other countries. That's something that's awesome about this country. There's advantages and disadvantages to anywhere you live. That's the truth. You say, what should be the consideration for us? Well, can we serve God there? That should be the consideration. Look, I probably wouldn't be that happy in North Korea. You say, why? Sowing would be pretty rough there. I'd have to come up with some unique strategies to figure out how to win people to the Lord because it wouldn't just be as easy as just walking up to someone and trying to preach the gospel to them. Now I do believe God can open up doors and opportunities because there's people saved in every country outside of Vatican City, as I always say, but I wouldn't be that happy in North Korea. Why? Because I can't really serve God there. But you know, you can serve God in this country. You can serve God in the U.S. You can serve God in a lot of countries. In most countries, you can serve God. Now it might be more or less receptive. Hey, that's fine. There's a wrong attitude people have that, you know, everyone should just move to the most receptive country. Now we're blessed to live in perhaps the most receptive country. Not everyone needs to move here though. Why? Because we need churches in those areas because otherwise, you know, missionaries can't be sent out. Look, we're not going to have the money to send some missionary to the United States to start a church. That's not going to happen, right? So look, we need churches, good churches everywhere. Obviously, you know, for me, my wife is from the Philippines and I felt God led me here. It's different maybe than a lot of other people. But look, we don't need everybody living in the most receptive countries because you know what? Wherever you go, if you can serve God, you should be happy with that. Even if it takes 10 hours to get someone saved. Look, those 10 hours of soul winning are just as valuable as the 10 hours here because in the end, those are the churches that are going to send people out to be missionaries. Pastor Mendez just preached on this in Sacramento where he's talking about, you know, the mission trip and everything. And I agreed with everything that he said. They need to consider their soul winning very serious every time they go out in Sacramento even though we will get more people saved. Our church gets more people saved than very Baptist Church in Sacramento. Why? We don't have as many people. It's just more receptive. But that doesn't mean that their soul winning is of less value. They do more hours of soul winning than us at this church. They do more hours of soul winning. They have more soul winning times. They have people that go out several times during the week. They do more hours of soul winning. And look, look at the church plans that have been started as a result of that. Brother Joe Jones is going to officially be the pastor here in like 12 hours or whatever of Verity Baptist Church Boise. Look at Sure Foundation Baptist Church. Look at this church. Look at the future church plans. The soul winning there is very valuable. And so wherever you live, learn to be content there. See what the Bible says is fear God and keep his commandments. This is the whole duty for this is the whole duty of man. And so am I following my destiny? Are you keeping God's commandments? Then yeah, you are. That's his will for your life. You're keeping his commandments. Yeah, you're following his destiny. Now unfortunately when I went to Google and typed in the doubts of the world, that wasn't a common answer to the problems. It wasn't well fear God and keep his commandments. That will mean that you're following his destiny. That wasn't the answer that Google gave or people gave. That's what the Bible says. Now turn to Psalms 33. Psalms 33. And so whether or not you're happy there, that should not be a concern for us as believers because you can learn to be content. Whether or not you're married the right person, that shouldn't be a concern for us because if you're married that is the right person. Whether or not God's going to provide your needs, look God is going to provide your needs and promises to do that. But where people go wrong is they have this idea that well God's promised to provide me a nice vacation and a nice house and a nice garden. No, he didn't promise that. He promised food and raiment and you ought to be content with that. That's what the Bible teaches. Another thing we have, actually the last thing we're going to look at is this. A big doubt of the world, a big fear they have is for protection. So they wonder, am I following my destiny, the preservation of my soul? But they also worry about protection. They're worried about safety. They're worried they could be killed. Look at Psalms 33. Notice what it says in verses 16 through 19. There is no king saved by the multitude of a host. A mighty man is not delivered by much strength and horse is a vain thing for safety. Neither shall you deliver any by his great strength. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. So what does God say? He says a horse is a vain thing for safety. Look us as believers, the number one safety protection we have is living godly. I promise you that's the case. That's the number one protection is living godly. Now obviously we take precautions in other areas but the big thing you should be concerned about is, am I living godly? And maybe some of you have been this way before. I've had times where maybe I was backsliding a little bit and you start getting, you start having a lot more concerns about whether or not God's going to keep you safe. Because you're like, man, I used to be such a soul winner. God, please don't strike me down. Right? I've been there, all of us. You know, don't lie to me. Everyone's been there. Living godly is the best safety method there is. I remember one time I was on a plane and, you know, there was like a lot of turbulence and, you know, some people were kind of afraid near me. And literally in my mind what I was thinking, because at the time I was really living for God and I was just thinking, I just don't think God will let this plane go down with me inside of me. And I didn't mean that to be arrogant but I'm just like, you know, I'm going soul winning every single week. I'm reading the Bible and living for the Lord. I believe God protects the people that are living godly. But, you know, when there's plane crashes and people die, I promise you safe people die in those plane crashes. He doesn't promise to protect you if you're just living a sinful and wicked life. There's no guarantee of the protection. But look, if you're living for God, the only way God's going to allow you to be, he's not going to allow you to just die accidentally. If he allows you to die, there's going to be a purpose behind it. I had a good friend of mine in college. He was 20 years old. He drowned. It was back in 2008. It's like right before. That's actually the big thing that made me decide to move to Faith Award where I was there for a couple years because one of my best friends that I went soloing with several times every week, he tragically drowned. But, you know what, he was living for the Lord. There's a purpose for that. God's not going to allow someone who's going soul winning several times a week, it doesn't drink, it doesn't party, he's not going to allow someone like that to die tragically unless there's a purpose. And quite honestly, there's a lot of people that got saved at his funeral that would have never heard the Gospel. Maybe that was what his purpose is. I don't know. But I know this, that if you're living for God, you know what, that's the number one safety method that you have. It says in verse 18, his eye, eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him. It says in verse 19, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. Look, if a big famine comes to this country, you that are living godly, look, God's going to protect you from that. Keep you alive in famine. It doesn't mean you're going to be rich, but he is going to keep you alive. Abraham should have never moved to Egypt. Why? God would have kept him alive. He would have given him food and arraignment as he promised. Turn to Proverbs 21. Proverbs 21. We'll just look here at a few more verses. But you know, this is something the world worries about. Because I'll tell you what, the biggest reason why people told me I should not move to the Philippines is it's really dangerous. They're really concerned that I'm just going to be killed. So we've heard of all the killings in the Philippines. It's kind of funny because if you look up statistics, there are tons of cities in America that are far more dangerous with murders than in the Philippines, than any city in the Philippines. But you know what the news does is they highlight certain stories and it makes people just get really concerned. They don't think logically. They just see one story and they feel like, oh wow, everyone's just getting killed in the Philippines. Really? I mean, I haven't seen anyone get killed since I've been here. Look what it says in Proverbs 21 verse 31. The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. So there's nothing wrong with being prepared against the day of battle. You know, a horse is going to be prepared against the day of battle. Yeah, we should be smart. You know, we're not fools. We don't tempt the Lord. But at the end of the day, we trust in God to protect us. Look, I'm not going to go skydiving without a parachute and say God's going to protect me. But you know what, when I'm on my drive over here to church, like I'm not really worried that I'm going to crash and be killed. One reason why I'm not worried is I know where I'll go if I die. That's one reason why people are so afraid of dying because they don't know where they're going to go. But look, I believe God's going to protect me if I'm living godly. Now, if I'm choosing to live a backsiding life, then all of a sudden you start getting a little bit scared. But if you're living for God, look, God's going to protect you. You don't have to be worried. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5. And honestly, for this point, we could go to a lot of verses and a lot of passages that show how God protects His people in difficult situations. When others get killed, God promises He's going to do that. Now, it says in 1 Thessalonians 5, in verses 2 and 3, For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. See, the world is constantly looking after peace and safety. They're so worried with what's going to happen to them. And once they finally feel that they're peaceful and they have safety, guess what? It's the end of you. God's people are going to be raptured, and He's going to pour out His wrath on those. That's what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches, you know, the pre-wrath, post-trib rapture after the tribulation. But the world is going to be constantly looking for safety. And when they finally get it, it's like, you know what, you weren't that safe. Why? Because God has the power to destroy if He wants to. That's the truth. And so the world is looking after peace and safety. That's not something we should be looking after, though, because we know that God will protect us. He promises to do that. So what we saw in this sermon is that, you know what, the world has a lot of doubts that we honestly don't have to have. You say, why aren't you worried that you might get killed? Because, you know what, I don't go to bars at three in the morning. How am I going to get killed? Everyone who gets killed, the truth is 90 whatever percent of the time, they put themselves in that situation. And people could be really offended by that. Like, you know, some kid who's 19 years old gets shot. But you know what, if you go to a club and you're getting drunk, sometimes things happen. I don't go out to clubs and bars in the middle of the night. I'm not a drug dealer. So like, how am I going to get killed? You think someone's going to randomly stop saying, I just want to kill this person in this apartment. It's like, why would that happen? That doesn't make any sense. You know the people that are getting killed in the Philippines? For the most part, they're people that are putting themselves in a position to get killed. Do I feel bad that drug dealers are being put to death? Honestly, not really. You know, if you put yourself in a position to be killed, yeah, you might end up getting killed. But you know, if you're not at clubs early in the morning. So here's the thing, like in terms of, I don't necessarily believe this is the safest country. I don't think it is the safest country. But the idea of being a safe country, it's different for a soul winner versus a non-soul winner. Because you go, you play by a different set of rules if you're someone living for the Lord. So my idea of safety is going to be different than the world. See, the world would have certain places where, see, you know, there's certain countries that might be technically safe, but they're not gonna be safe as a soul winner. You go to some of these Muslim countries, they might be safe countries. Very few people are getting killed. But here's the thing, we're gonna be the people that would get killed. I mean, it's not really safe for us as soul winners, but in the Philippines it's completely safe. Why would we be concerned? The U.S. is completely safe if you're a soul winner. You don't have to worry about being killed for preaching the gospel, but there are certain places where you do. But honestly, we have no reason to be afraid in this room of our personal safety. And these are doubts that the world has, but quite honestly, these are not really doubts that we should have as believers. Now, next week, we're gonna see a little bit of an overlap, because we're gonna talk about, you know, money again, because quite honestly, that is a huge concern that believers have. They are very worried God's gonna provide our needs. So we're gonna talk about it more in depth and look at different stories and see how that pertains to us. But quite honestly, the things we covered, even if you do worry about some of these things from time to time, we don't have to worry about them. These are doubts that the world will automatically have. Us as believers and knowing the word of God and serving God, though, honestly, these things we should not doubt about, we should not be concerned about. Let's close in a word of prayer.