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

🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Amen. Good morning. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church Manila. Let's start our first service by getting our hymn books and turning to hymn number 65. Let's sing a song just over in the glory land. Hymn number 65. Just over in the glory land. Amen. On the first verse, ready, sing. 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Father, we thank the Lord for the presence of each and every one of us here, Lord. We thank you for the good weather that you've given to us and that we be able to gather together here, Lord, and worship you in spirit. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to be attentive with the sermon and I pray that you would remove the distractions there with the Lord. And I pray, O God, that you would bless and feel better succulent in your whole spirit so that you can preach with all boldness and clarity, Lord. And I pray, Lord, that you would guide him as he preached to us the sermon. And I pray, Lord, that you would be edified by the sermon. And I pray, Lord, that you would bless each and every part of the service, from the congregation and singing, from the reading of the word and the preaching of the sermon. And I also pray, Lord, that you would bless the fellowship over the lunch and also that you would give us a good weather for us to go out and win souls through pranks. We're asking all these things in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. For our next song, let's turn to hymn number 220. Let's sing the song Jesus is all the world to me. In number 220. Jesus is all the world to me. On the verse. Jesus is all the world to me. My life, my door, my home. He is my strength from day to day. He has me by the wall. When I am sad to be my soul. My heart, my heart can clear me so. When I am sad, he makes me mad. He is my friend. Jesus is all the world to me. My friend in child's soul. I go to him for blessings and he gives them forever. He sends the sunshine in the rain. Jesus is all the world to me. Sunshine in rain. Heartless of pain. He is my friend. Jesus is all the world to me. And true to him I'll be. Oh how could I be so true to me. Following him I know I'm right. He walked with soul to me at night. Following him my day and night. He is my prayer at last. Jesus is all the world to me. I go to him for blessings. I trust him now. I trust him when. Last day he gave my hand. Beautiful life in such a pain. Beautiful life that has no end. Eternal life. Eternal joy. He is my friend. All right, good morning everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church. We're going to take out your bulletin here today. And our verse of the week is Genesis 19 verse 29. The Bible reads, And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt. And that's a great verse there. We are a family integrated church, meaning children and infants are welcome during the services. We do have a mother baby room back there for your convenience, as well as a lady's comfort room. The men's comfort room is up here in front. Remember no eating during the service. Maintain a professional atmosphere and keep the children from running and making noise during the church service. On the next page are weekly service times listed. Our first service is at 10 a.m. and our second service is at 1130 and Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. Soul winning time is listed Wednesday at 5, two hours before the church service meeting here at the church building. Saturday afternoons we have soul winning, well, 10 to 12, then lunch and then afternoon soul winning as well. And then on Sunday afternoon we do have soul winning today at around 2.15 p.m. Our salvations are listed there for March and also year to date in our churches and Bible study fellowships. Birthdays and anniversaries as well listed there for March. Then our Bible memorization challenge, so keep up with that and get your prize if you're able to accomplish it. A few things to note on the upcoming activities. So today of course we have choir practice. Next week we also have choir practice. I'm also going to be preaching a sermon on the Lord's Supper next week. So in case you're not able to come on April 3rd next Sunday, but you're planning to come April 10th, I would just kind of encourage you to listen to the sermon online. So we take the Lord's Supper only one time a year, so it is a big event, and there's specific reasons why we do that. So I'll preach a sermon about that next week to prepare us a week ahead of time. And then we do have Easter on April 17th, so it's coming up pretty quickly. April 17th will be our men's preaching service. So we officially have four people signed up to preach, so 15 minutes is the time limit, and I'll send you four specific instructions for that event. But be prepared for our soul-winning events coming up April 13th through 16th. Last year that was our biggest week we've ever had as a church for soul-winning, and so hopefully we can break that. This year we have more people, more soul-winners, and everything like that. And I'm hoping also on Easter to break our attendance records. So we'll see, but obviously our attendance has been better. The last six months just slowly getting better. Hopefully on Easter we're able to break our record. We'll see. But anyways, current and upcoming series. We are in the book of Daniel and then also on Genesis. We're actually going to be taking a break from Daniel for a little while because today I'm not preaching through it, and then we've got all these special sermons like Easter and the Lord's Supper. So we'll just take a break and get back into it after Easter. Then on the back there is a place for notes for the sermons here today. So I believe that's it for announcements. We'll have Brother Marlon lead us in another song. Amen for next episode number 110. Amen number 110. Let's sing the song, All the Way My Savior Leads Me. All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me All the way my Savior leads me My soul, my thirst, may be. Lest me wander up before me, because of the joy I see. Lest me wander up before me, because of the joy I see. All the pain and pain remains deep, for the fullness of the soul. The perfect match to me is what is in my father's hearts above. It is light to realms of day, this my soul, blue and the day, yes, it has spread me all the way. It has spread me all the way. Blue and the day, yes, it has spread me all the way. Blue and the day, yes, it has spread me all the way. Blue and the day, yes, it has spread me all the way. Amen. For a scripture reading, please open your Bibles to the book of Genesis, the first book in your Bible, Genesis Chapter 6. Genesis Chapter 6. And as a custom, we'll be reading the entire chapter. Genesis Chapter 6. Please say amen if you're there. Amen. Genesis 6, verse 1. And it came to pass when men began to multiply in the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always thrive in man, for that he also is flesh. Yet as today shall be a hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which are of old, men renowned. And God saw that the wickedness of men was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the thoughts of the air, for it repentseth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood, room shall thou make in the ark, and shall pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shall thou make to the ark, and an acubit shall thou finish it above, and the door of the ark shall thou set, and the side thereof, with lower, second, and third stories shall thou make it. And behold I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sword shall thou bring in the ark, to keep them alive with thee. They shall be male and female, of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth out of its kind, two of every sword shall come unto thee, to keep them alive, and take down unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and it shall be food for thee and for them. Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Amen. Bless the word of God's word. Let us pray. Lord God, in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for the state that you've given to us. I pray that you would bless, Lord, this day, and bless the preacher, the preaching of your word, Lord, this day, and give us good weather for our soul winning later on. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. We're here in Genesis chapter 6, and the name of the sermon is How to Motivate Your Family to Serve God. How to motivate your family to serve God. So I want to preach a sermon on just practical tips of what you can do to help motivate the rest of your family to want to serve God as well. And what I mean by that is, you know, ideally, in a family, the husband and the wife and everybody just wants to serve God, is fully set on the things of God, they want to read the Bible and go soul winning. But honestly, that's not always the case. It's one of the big things that you hear in the ministry where there's, you know, wives that want to serve God, but their husbands don't want to serve God. Or there's husbands that want to serve God, but the wives don't want to serve God. Or there's parents that want to serve God, but the kids don't want to serve God. Or there's kids that want to serve God, but the parents don't want to serve God. And it's a burden a lot of people have, and it's something I hear a lot. So I want to kind of give you some tips on what you can do to actually motivate your family to want to get on fire for God as well. Now, before I get into the points, let me just show that you can actually spare judgment upon your family based on your own personal lifestyle. Notice what it says here in Genesis 6. We'll see the example of Noah. Genesis chapter 6, verse 7. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now, obviously we believe at this church that salvation has always been by grace through faith, but I will say that in verse 8, it's not really applying towards Noah's salvation, but it is a picture of salvation. He found grace in the fact that he was not destroyed by the flood. Now, of course, we believe by grace through faith, even all the way back to Noah, and that symbolizes it, but directly what it's speaking about is that God was merciful to Noah because basically, you know, he was living the right sort of life. God gave him grace because, you know, he didn't deserve that either, right? Grace is basically unmerited favor. And the Bible says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. What I want you to notice is that in Genesis 6, verse 8, it does not say that Noah's wife or Noah's kids found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It's very specific to Noah, okay? The Bible highlights it's directly talking about Noah, and God directly spoke to Noah. Go to Genesis 7, verse 1. And the Lord said unto Noah... So once again, God is talking to Noah, Come thou... Now, thou in the Bible, whenever you see the word thee and thou, that is singular for the word you. When you see the word you and ye in the Bible, it's always plural. So the English language has been very dumbed down from what it used to be, but the words thee and thou are singular, and you and ye are plural. The great confusion of the King James Bible. There it is, okay? The and thou are singular. And so in verse 1, when he says come thou, he's saying, I'm talking specifically individually to you, Noah. He doesn't say come ye, because he's speaking to one person, come thou and all thy house into the ark. Now, in his house was his wife, his three sons, and their wives. So you have eight people on that ark. But what Noah says is, you're coming in the ark and everybody in your house. Why? For your whole family have I seen righteous before me. Is that what the Bible says? It's not what the Bible says. For thee individually have I seen righteous before me in this generation. And God said, I am going to spare you and your entire family, not because everyone in your family is godly. Look, I don't believe that all of Noah's kids were godly. You know, we don't necessarily know, you know, which members of the family were saved or not. The Bible is not necessarily specific. We know specifically the reason why they all got in the ark was not because they were all righteous, but because Noah was righteous. Now, the word righteous there, it's not referencing someone being saved. Okay, I promise you, there's a lot of saved people that died in the flood. What it's referring to is someone who's not only saved, but is actually walking the walk and is actually doing what's right. Now, we understand nobody is perfectly righteous. There is none righteous. But compared to everybody else, Noah was trying to do what was right. And what God says is, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. The world had become very wicked and God looked down at Noah and there was a difference. And God said your whole family is going to go in the ark, not because they're all godly, but because you are godly. Go to Genesis chapter 8. Genesis 8. There's this kind of false idea within the, you know, so-called Christian realm that, well, you know, as long as you're saved, then you don't have to worry about God judging you or punishing you for anything you do. Well, that's completely false. I mean, you don't have to worry about going to hell, right? I mean, if you believe on Jesus, you're saved, but you better believe you reap, you know, what you sow, right? I mean, if you do wrong, if you sow wickedness, you're going to reap that. If you do right, you're going to reap good as a result, right? And so notice what it says in Genesis 8 verse 1. And God remembered Noah, and this is when they're already in the ark and basically everything's being destroyed. And God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters assuaged. The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped and the rain from heaven was restrained. So basically as God is pouring out His wrath, He basically stops because He remembers Noah. It does not say He remembers His entire family. It says He remembers Noah. Go to Genesis 19. Genesis 19. Genesis chapter 19. And look, this really has nothing to do with the sermon. Let me just use this as an example of why you shouldn't watch like these Christian movies. Because when I first got saved, you know, I was like, okay, I've got all these things in my life that are problems. I was like, I'm just going to listen to all these, watch these Christian movies and listen to this Christian rock music and everything like that. I saw a movie from Noah, just in a movie from a long time ago. And I got so confused in what the Bible taught because I wasn't reading the Bible, but I was watching these Christian movies. And then all of a sudden they're in the ark and then all of a sudden Noah sees Lot out in the water. Not, I mean, I don't know what the relationship of Noah and Lot is, but he sees him. I mean, they're in an ark and then Lot is on this little mini raft that's not going to survive anything. And then literally Noah says, you made it too. And it's just like completely nothing to do with what the Bible says. But the Bible specifically says, God remembered Noah, okay? That's the one person he remembered that he looked at as being righteous. It's the same terminology you see in Genesis 19, verse 29. Of course, Genesis 19 is a famous chapter of Sodom and Gomorrah, but notice what it says in verse 29. And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham. See, this is why we cross reference. You'll see similar terminology. And God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt. Why is it that Lot was not killed in Sodom and Gomorrah? Because people would say, well, because he's saved. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches God remembered Abraham. Look, just being saved does not mean you're not going to be destroyed by God. Right? God did not remember Lot and say, well, he's saved, so I'm not going to destroy him. No, he says, actually, he would be destroyed except I remember Abraham, meaning Abraham had a nephew that he loved and he cared about and he pleaded with God for. And then God remembered Abraham and said, I'm not going to judge Lot, but not because of him. I mean, when you read Genesis 19, he brings wine out of Sodom and Gomorrah. He doesn't listen to God's instructions. He complains about it every step of the way. Why would God spare him? The only reason why is because of Abraham. It's not because of Lot. Go to Acts 16. Acts 16. So we see the example of Noah, we see the example of Abraham. Let me give you an example of some godly ladies in the Bible, because this is not just specific for men in the Bible. Obviously, you know, women can be just as godly as men and obviously the Bible speaks about men more. So you think of these great characters, but there'd be just as many great women that have lived throughout history as there would be men. And we see a couple great ladies here in Acts chapter 16, verse one. Starting at verse one, it says this, Then he came to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple there was there named Timotheus. You know, Timothy was probably the right-hand man of Paul, kind of the second big guy, maybe even above Barnabas, that you read in the New Testament. The son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek. See, what the Bible's telling you in Acts 16, verse one, is this is a family with a saved mom and an unsaved husband. Because it's very specific. She believed, but his father was a Greek. And what the Bible's trying to tell you is the father didn't believe. So this is a marriage where the mom is saved and the mom wants to serve God, but the husband isn't saved. Now, of course, we don't know what the situation was of why they got married or when she got saved, but we know that this is the situation. And so you have a saved wife and an unsaved husband. Verse number two, which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. So this was known that Timothy's got a saved mom. It's well reported and an unsaved father. Everybody was aware of it. Verse number three, him would Paul have to go forth with him and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters, for they knew all that his father was a Greek. Now turn to 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy 1, we're going to get the names of his mom and his grandmother. 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. And look, obviously, this is not an ideal situation to have a saved wife and an unsaved husband or a saved husband and an unsaved wife or a husband that wants to serve God and a wife that doesn't or a wife that wants to serve God and a husband that doesn't. But what we're seeing in this example is that even in a worst case scenario, only one of the couple is saved. Right? The wife is saved and the husband is not saved and yet she raised Timothy, one of the greatest people in the Bible. So it is possible in a difficult situation to actually do a good job and have a big impact. 2 Timothy 1 verse 5. So the Bible says is with Timothy that his grandmother was saved first, Lois, and his mom Eunice was saved. I presume that means Lois got his mom Eunice saved, right? I mean, that's her daughter. And my opinion, you could disagree with me if you want, I don't believe Paul got Timothy saved. I understand it's referred to as his son in the faith, but I think that's because he trained him because he's got a godly mom that probably got him saved as a little kid, right? Because if you have godly parents, they're going to be given the gospel their kids at the age of five and six and seven and eight and his mom got saved first for sure. So it's possible that, you know, Paul got his mom saved or they started coming to church. I just don't think that's the most likely to be honest. You can call someone your son in the faith if you train them. You know, biblically that's okay. But you could have different opinions. But what we're seeing here is his mom's name was Eunice. This was a godly woman that was saved, that wanted to serve God and it was well reported of. People were aware of it that Timothy was raised in a home where the father was not saved and the mom was saved. Go to 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3. Let me show you just real quick clearly why I believe Timothy got saved at a young age from his mom in 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy 3 verse 15. And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. So from a child Timothy heard the Scriptures and he knew the Word of God. I mean, yes, it's possible that, you know, his mom didn't get him saved. But I would say that if his mom saved, which we could presume she was already saved at that time, she probably led her son to the Lord. Now it certainly wasn't his father because his father wasn't saved. But here's a young boy Timothy that at a young age his mom taught him the Scriptures and taught him the Word of God. And you know what? He ends up becoming a great man of God and serving God not because of the father but because of the mother. Go in your Bible to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. So what is the secret to motivating your family to serve God? What is the secret to getting the rest of your family on board with wanting to serve God? Now this first point might sound counterintuitive but I'll prove it to you with the Word of God. But the first thing you do to get your family to want to serve God is focus on your own spirituality. Focus on your own spirituality instead of focusing on getting other people to want to serve God you need to focus on yourself first. Now of course we know the Bible says that consider not the things of yourself but the things of others but you need a proper balance on all topics, okay? And let me just prove this to you in 1 Peter 3 verse 1. Here's an example of a wife that wants to serve God and a husband that does not in 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3 verse 1. Likewise ye wives be in subjection to your own husbands. The idea of the husband being the head of the home and the wife being, you know, submitting herself to her husband. That if any obey not the word they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. Now let me just say this. You could make a secondary application to salvation but that's not the context here. When it's saying that they may be won by the conversation of the wives it's not saying that they may be won to the Lord by the conversation of the wives. What it's saying is a husband that does not obey the Word meaning he's not trying to keep the commandments, not trying to read the Bible, not trying to do what God says. He's not obeying the Word but the wife is. And she can win her husband over to obeying the Word and doing what's right. How? Not by word. It says without the word. It's not our words but it says by the conversation of the wives. Now you need to realize if you look up conversation every time in the Bible it is not usappan like we would think of conversation. It's referring to your lifestyle because this direct verse says not the word. So it'd make no sense to say not the word but the things coming out of your mouth. What it's saying is it's not by your words but actions speak louder than words is the principle being taught in verse number one. And what the Bible says is that if a wife has a situation where she wants to serve God and the husband doesn't want to serve God how does she get her husband to want to serve God? By her lifestyle. By her actions. By the way she conducts herself not by what she tells her husband. Not by word but through actions. And look, I wish this was never the case in today's world but this is actually a very common thing in today's world. And look, just to let you know in general women tend to be a bit more spiritual than men. And some proof of that is on Mother's Day we will have a bigger attendance than Father's Day because that's just always the way it works. Moms will say, I just want our family in church and the husband's like, it's Father's Day. I get to sit around and watch TV and watch sports or whatever. But this is a common situation where you'll have wives that want to serve God and then husbands don't want to serve God. And what the Bible says is if you want to convert your husband over to obeying the word how do you do it? Not by your words but by your actions. It says here in verse number two while they behold your chaste conversation which is chaste lifestyle coupled with fear who's adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or putting on of apparel but let it be the hidden man of the heart and that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. What the Bible is saying here in verses three and four is it's not about what's on the outside it's actually what's on the inside. Now look as I said let's get a proper balance on things. It's not a sin for a woman to put on makeup or lipstick or try to look nice but I would say this if you spent an hour this morning in front of the mirror and you didn't pray and you didn't read the Bible that is sin because you're focusing on the outside and not on the inside at all. Right? I mean that should be pretty obvious. I'm not saying it's a sin to try to look nice and spend time but if you don't spend time with God and you're just trying to look good on the outside that is a sin. That is wrong because more important than the outside and the outward is the inside. That's what the Bible says and the reality is your husband would care more about you being right on the inside because it will manifest itself on the outside than he does that you spend a lot of time putting on makeup or trying to look nice and look if your goal is to try to impact your husband to want to serve God then you should take heed to this. Spend time working on the inside because the reason why she has a chase conversation is this is a woman that has a walk with God. She's serving God. She's focusing on herself, her spiritual life and the result is she can win her husband over to wanting to serve God. Verse number five. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trust in God adorn themselves being in subjection onto their own husbands even as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord whose daughters ye are as long as ye do well and are not afraid with any amazement. So Sarah is a great example of obeying and respecting her husband. Go to Judges chapter 6. Judges chapter 6. And as I said there's nothing wrong with trying to look nice but what's more important is actually the inward than what's on the outside. Now I will confess this like I've realized recently I didn't think this before but men are probably just as vain about their looks as women just kind of in a different way and so like for example you know when guys like to work out they'll oftentimes like stare in the mirror afterwards to try to like see how muscular they are and everything and my wife made a comment because I'm always working out at home and everything and I'm like hey it's no different than you putting on makeup in front of the mirror and trying to look nice it's just kind of in a different way. So guys can be guilty of this as well to basically focus on the outside and not focus on their walk with God, right? But we see an example of a wife that converts her husband wanting to serve God not through her words but through her actions. Now think about the context of what we saw in this section in 1 Peter 3 you're in Judges 6 but let me just say this that we're talking about a woman who basically is in subjection to her husband and she's winning him over through her actions not her words. Let me ask you a question do you see a problem with this mentality of a wife trying to convert her husband to being the leader of the home by saying if you don't start leading our home then you know whatever. It's like you're bossing him around and telling him to be the leader. It contradicts. It doesn't make sense. I mean you can't boss your husband to wanting to be the leader because you're doing the exact opposite. It's like all right honey I'll submit to you and start being the leader, right? It doesn't make sense, right? You can't win them but you can't force them to be the leader but here's what you can do through your actions be submissive and basically put him in a position where he's going to lead. See there's a lot of husbands in 2022 they don't want to lead because their wives would complain about all the decisions and not want to do this and so it's just not worth the effort but if you willingly submit yourself and put yourself in that proper role it's going to make him want to fulfill his role because in the heart of a guy he wants to lead. He wants to be the leader of his home and let me just say this as at a church here I'm a leader at this church. I have experience leading. Look you know what you don't like is if followers complain about the things you do and try to say no we're not going to do that it's annoying. It's the same thing with a husband in a home if the wife's complaining about everything and then something goes wrong well it's your fault. It's just like he's going to be like it's not even worth the effort I'm not even going to try to lead right? Look if you want your husband to fulfill his proper role you need to fulfill your proper role and the way you do that is through your actions not your words. That's what the Bible teaches. Look that should actually be encouraging because instead of being so burdened that you've got to try to convince your husband to want to serve God actually focus on yourself and that has a bigger impact than anything that you would say to him. Judges 6 let me give you another example. Here's an example of a child converting his father to wanting to serve God. Judges chapter 6 verse 27. And this is a story where Gideon is told to cast down the altar of Baal and it says here in Judges 6 verse 27 Then Gideon took men of his servants and did as the Lord had said unto him and so it was because he feared his father's household and the men of the city that he should not do it could not do it by day that he did it by night. When the men of the city arose early in the morning behold the altar of Baal was cast down and the grove was cut down that was by it and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built and they said one to another who hath done this thing and when they inquired and asked they said Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing then the men of the city said unto Joash bring out thy son that he may die because he hath cast down the altar of Baal and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it and Joash said unto all that stood against him will you plead for Baal will you save him he that will plead for him let him be put to death was yet mourning if he be a god let him plead for himself because one hath cast down his altar. Here's an example of a young man Gideon that is doing right and wanting to serve God and look my opinion is he had probably talked to his dad a lot about wanting to serve God and doing right but his father's just not wanting to do right because when he cast down the order of Baal they assume his father's just going to bring him out to be put to death because they figure you know he's on board with worshiping Baal or whatever and it puts his father in a position where he's got to make a decision and through the actions of Gideon his own personal walk it impacted his father and he makes a very profound statement well I mean if it's a god how did he destroy it? Why do you have to protect and save your god I mean if it's destroyed I mean think of an idol an idol smashes onto the ground and it's destroyed well apparently it wasn't a god right and that's what his father says and what you're seeing is the child impacts his father that did not want to serve God that didn't want to do right how? Not through his words but through his actions through his lifestyle I promise you he had tried to convert his dad to wanting to do right all the time but it had no impact but here in this situation he cast down the altar of Baal and then his father actually does the right thing turn in your Bible to Genesis 18 Genesis 18 now look this sermon is not meant to make you feel bad if you're in a situation like this and you feel burdened about it I think it can actually be a big relief it can be a big burden off you because you're not failing look if you're reading the Bible every day and you're going to church and trying to do right you are not failing just because some of the rest of your family doesn't want to serve God look if you're a husband in this room and you're reading the Bible and going to church and going soul winning and trying to do right and your wife just is not interested at the end of the day she has her free will to make her choice you can't force her to serve God if you're a wife in this room and you're reading the Bible and going to church and being faithful to the things of God and you cannot get your husband on board you are not failing you say why because number one the Bible says focus on your own spirituality and that is what's going to impact your family but you cannot force them to serve God they have free will I wish we could just force people to serve God right I mean I wish we go out soul winning we could just force people to get saved right they don't want to listen grab them by the ear say these words now right doesn't work that way I wish it did right I wish you know these people that we got saved you know they don't show up we'll go to their house say hey you come to church right now and then ever since that day they've been faithful it doesn't work that way at the end of the day they make their choice whether or not they're going to serve God but what you can do is make sure that you're serving God and doing right and if you are doing that that is the biggest step by far in getting your family on board through your actions and your lifestyle and the fact that you're serving God point number one focus on your own spirituality point number two another thing you can do is just pray for those in your family pray for those in your family take that burden off yourself and then just basically speak it to God and just pray for them and just say I really want my family to serve God please you know help motivate them pray to God Genesis 18 verse 23 and when you're talking about praying you're talking about asking for something and this is a bit unique because Abraham's directly speaking to God but he's speaking about God preserving the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah because obviously he cares about his nephew Lot Genesis 18 verse 23 and Abraham drew near and said wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked peradventure there be 50 righteous within the city wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein that be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far that be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right now let me just say this what Abraham is saying there is just completely wrong right God does pull out judgment on saved people and they can actually be killed you can sin on to death and God's obviously not doing wrong if you were to do that but obviously Abraham cares about his nephew Lot so he's trying to plead with him and basically get a hold of God and it says here in verse 26 and the Lord said if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city then I will spare all the place for their sakes when he says 50 righteous he is simply stating 50 saved people he's not saying 50 people that are actively wanting to serve God just 50 saved people and Abraham answered and said behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and ashes peradventure there shall lack five of the 50 righteous wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five and he said if I find there 40 and five I will not destroy it and he spake unto him yet again and said peradventure there should be 40 found there and he said I will not do it for 40 sake and he said unto him oh let not the Lord be angry and I will speak peradventure there shall be 30 found there and he said I will not do it if I find 30 there and he said behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord peradventure there shall be 20 found there and he said I will not destroy for 20 sake and he said oh let let the Lord be angry and I will speak yet but this once peradventure 10 shall be found there and he said I will not destroy for 10 sake now I don't know why he didn't just keep going down because he did not go down far enough he got God to agree if there's 10 safe people I'm not going to destroy it for 10 sake and then of course Abraham's not sure what's going to happen because he wakes up the next morning early in the morning and he's just looking and it's like all right and then all of a sudden he just sees it going up in smoke being destroyed right and so what we're seeing here is Abraham is directly talking to God and asking for something just like in prayer you ask for something and you might feel like Abraham wasted his time but did he really waste his time because God did not destroy Lot now he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah but he spared Lot right and we saw earlier God remembered Abraham and he saved and spared Lot so I don't believe this was a waste of time here this is basically praying and talking to God and what it did spare the judgment upon Lot so what I'm saying is this you can actually pray for your family and put that burden onto God and just pray say God can you help them I'm trying to do what's right I'm trying to motivate them I don't know what I can do can you please help them want to serve God can you please help them want to do right and look I do believe that God wants to answer the prayers of his children especially those that are doing right think about your own children that ask for something especially if they're really being obedient and they're caring about you and loving you and everything like that you're going to want to answer their prayer requests you're going to want to answer what they ask for and what we have here is Abraham who cares about his family he cares about his nephew he loves his nephew and you know what it has an impact because I believe God actually answers that I believe this conversation is the reason why God does not pour out his judgment and let Lot die and spares Lot now you might say brother Stuckey why did he even have to ask I mean God would have spared Lot anyway I don't think so but prayer is not a waste of time yes we do believe that God guides our actions but we're not Calvinists we do believe in free will and I do believe when you ask for something it has an impact you say I don't know brother Stuckey well think about your kids I promise you your kids they want to eat chips and ice cream and coke and here's the thing you already know that I know my kids want chips I mean if I bring them home chips today they'll be very happy right but here's the thing I'm probably not going to do it unless they ask for it you know that they want it but I'm not going to do it they do ask for something you want to honor that request you would feel guilty about not answering it you know if they're loving you and showing affection and doing right you want to answer that it's the same way that God is with us as children he knows what he wants he knows what we need but he wants us to actually say it it's the same thing with our kids we know what they want but until they actually say it right now I try to live in general a healthy lifestyle but I do like drinking you know diet Pepsi and my daughter Christabel especially when she sees that she'll start looking at that Pepsi and it's like I know what she wants but I don't want to share right but when she actually says daddy can I have some it's like all right let me give you a little bit of a glass all right I try to drink it when she's not around but then when she catches me it's like and she asks for it it's like okay I'll honor that request because she asked for it right well you know what it's the same way with God he knows what we want he knows what we're burdened about but if we never ask for it ye have not because ye ask not not because you don't want it but because you're not asking for it same way we deal with our children Abraham asked for and look here's the thing when God hears us praying to him and talking to him sometimes maybe the things we say are not fully perfectly accurate but God knows what our heart is in that situation in this story what Abraham is literally saying please do not destroy Lot he doesn't care about Sodom and Gomorrah he cares about Sodom and Gomorrah what he cares about tags along with Abraham it's essentially like his son and when you think about it Abraham didn't have a son and so he cares about him it's like a son to him and then to Lot this is like his father and then he sees his son or his nephew kind of go wayward and make bad choices but he cares about him and he asks for God and God this is 18 I don't believe it's a waste of time because I think God saw these words and realized he doesn't really care about Sodom and Gomorrah what he cares about is his nephew Lot and he honors that so look praying for your family is not a waste of time go to Numbers chapter 12 Numbers 12 let me give you another example Numbers 12 and look you can interpret that differently in Genesis 18 but I don't really see a reason why Abraham would care so much about Sodom and Gomorrah I think the main reason is he cares about his nephew which like I said when you're reading Genesis it's like his son to him right I mean it's as if it's his own son so he really cares about him and loves him Numbers 12 here's an example of Moses, Aaron and Miriam who are brothers and sisters and you know in this story you know we don't really know what happened with Moses' first wife the Bible doesn't really tell us what we do know is that Moses remarries and his brother and sister basically criticized him for it now Aaron was basically the right-hand man of Moses you know before Joshua even when Joshua was around as well and Miriam was obviously godly as well but they criticized Moses because they kind of want a piece of that leadership and notice what we see in Numbers Miriam became leprous white as snow and Aaron looked upon Miriam and behold she was leprous Miriam's the second person in the Bible mentioned as being leprous at one time does anybody know number the first person first person who ever caught leprosy first person anybody? Moses he's the first person mentioned only for like a brief second as a sign earlier that's just helping you out with Bible trivia if we ever have a Bible trivia game again in the future so something about this family getting leprosy is just you know a common thing but Miriam became leprous white as snow and Aaron looked upon Miriam and behold she was leprous and Aaron said unto Moses alas my lord I beseech thee lay not the sin upon us wherein we have done foolishly and wherein we have sinned let her not be as one dead of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb and you know Aaron speaks to Moses and he's basically pleading with Moses now the reason why he's pleading with Moses is because he knows God is very mad at him and God probably doesn't want to hear what Aaron has to say so what Aaron realizes is Moses is a friend of God God loves Moses and God will actually answer the prayer requests of Moses right? Because notice what it says in verse number six and he said hear now my words if there be a prophet among you I the lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream my servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all mine house with him will I speak mouth to mouth even apparently and not in dark speeches and the similitude of the lord shall he behold wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses so God just directly said that you know what Moses to me is different than other people I speak to him basically as as he's my friend right? Here's what I want you to realize if you are serving God and doing right and trying to obey what God says God looks at you as a friend ye are my friend if ye do whatsoever I command you and look he's going to want to answer your prayer requests if you're burnt and look this could be you have unsafe family and you're praying for an unsaved husband unsaved wife unsaved kids unsaved parents that might be what your prayer request is now God cannot force them to get saved but he can do everything he can to try to help them along the way I mean if you have family members that don't want to serve God but you are serving God if you pray and ask God to help them out I believe God's going to do everything he can now at the end of the day there's a free will choice that people have to make and we understand that but look prayer is not a waste of time and Aaron says can you just pray Moses can you be merciful because he realizes Moses has basically God's heart notice what it says in verse 13 and Moses cried unto the Lord saying heal her now oh God I beseech thee and the Lord said unto Moses if her father had but spit in her face should she not be ashamed seven days let her be shut out from the camp seven days and after that let her be received in again what he's speaking there in verse 14 is cleanliness laws where basically if she had just been spit in the face there's a cleanliness rule that's given so if she had leprosy seven days will have to pass is what's being mentioned there in verse 14 but God basically Moses basically prays unto God and asked for her to be healed and it says and Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again but then she's cured of her leprosy why was she cured of her leprosy well it's not because she was begging for it or Aaron but because her brother actually loved her and cared about her and God wanted to answer the prayer request of Moses go to Galatians chapter 6 Galatians 6 Galatians chapter 6 so the first thing you can do to try to impact or motivate your family whether it means to try to get them saved if they're not saved or whether that means you know get them to want to serve God if they're not serving God well the first thing you need to do is focus on your own spirituality now here's the thing about this when we go soul winning people have no idea how we live our lives they don't know anything about us but your husband does know a lot about you your wife does know a lot about you your family does know a lot about you I mean your family is going to know your biggest faults and your biggest problems they're going to be aware of it now when we go soul winning maybe it doesn't really matter how you're living your life outside of that because they have no idea and you're just presenting the gospel here's what I'm saying though if you have a bad lifestyle and you're not actually walking the walk it's going to cause your family not to want to listen to you look I understand people have free will choice to make up their mind but for some people the reason they can't get some of their family saved is because they have a bad personal testimony of how they live their lives and the family's thinking he's criticizing my religion but I'm more righteous than him why am I going to listen to him? right he's saying all this bible stuff but then he's going out and just doing all these things that are wrong I mean he's listening to stuff I wouldn't listen to he's watching movies I wouldn't he's going out and drinking which I don't do and then he's going to tell me about how to serve God he's going to tell me about how to get to heaven they're not going to want to listen and the same thing is true if you're trying to get others to want to serve God you're trying to get them to come to church but you're not actually living a good life outside of church now look I'm not aware of this because people come to church they're dressed nice they talk the talk but then you go home and then your family knows exactly the things that you do right so here's the thing make sure your own spiritual life is pretty good because they're going to be able to see right through it and look if your actions are good if you're doing what's right then you can have a big impact on your family via your actions number two you can pray for those in your family now the good thing about points one and two for those that are burdened about trying to get their family to serve God those things are in your hands you can make the decision to serve God if you're not serving God that's your choice anyone in this room can make the decision to want to serve God how about praying for those in your family well of course you can do that I mean it's completely up to you I mean many people probably most people in this room have unsaved family that they think about and care about but it's completely up to you if you're actually going to pray for them now obviously try to give them the gospel if you can but this is the way it works with family they shut it down if they choose not to listen and there's like no opportunity to break through that right you try to give the gospel to your family and then they never want to hear it after that you try you try unfortunately that is often the case but you know what you could still pray for them you could still show them through your actions you could still pray for them you could still have an impact on them in that way okay notice what it says in Galatians 6 verse 1 brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault so here's an example of someone who's basically maybe backsliding doing something that's wrong if a man be overtaken in a fault you which are spiritual restore such in one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself lest thou also be tempted you know the bible speaks here about bearing one another's burdens and the bible says that if you are spiritual you can help out that person basically if your spiritual walk is right with god then help somebody else out which goes exactly to our point if you're going to motivate others that's a great thing to do but first make sure you are spiritual and if you're not spiritual then you're not going to be able to do it look if you're not serving god how can you motivate somebody else to serve god let's just think about this logically if you're not serving god and you're not doing what's right why would you waste the time trying to get somebody else to be right with god when you're not right with god you're not going to be able to do it you haven't even figured out how to do it for yourself how are you going to get somebody else to want to serve god the bible says ye which are spiritual and this leads to point number three how do you do this well the bible says in the spirit of meekness in the spirit of meekness now this is going to be associated primarily with your words what the bible is saying is if you're trying to motivate or get someone to get right with god do it in the spirit of meekness now people wonder what does the word meek mean in the bible now from my personal study i believe meek and humble are basically identical with the only difference being humbleness is an individual thing where you're a humble person and it manifests itself as meekness if you're humble if you understand what i'm saying meekness is involved with interacting with others so basically if you're not humble then it's going to show that you're not meek when you deal with other people the way you talk the way you act with them so it's basically the same but humbleness is an individual thing and meekness is basically how it manifests as you interact with other people the bible says that moses was the meekest man on earth that does not mean that he was weak people often look at meek as being a bad thing well it's it's not a bad thing it's actually a very good thing and the bible says if you want to convert other people do it in the spirit of meekness what the bible is saying is this if you're trying to get somebody to serve god you don't do it by screaming at them you say why that's not meekness and here's the thing if that's your method to try to get someone to serve god by screaming and yelling at them what is probably showing is that you're not spiritual yet yourself because you're not doing it in the spirit of meekness because if you are spiritual the way you're going to try to impact other people is in the spirit of meekness you're not going to yell at them and get them to do what's right you're going to do it in the spirit of meekness you say what do you mean brother Stuckey well here's an example we've got mother's day coming up in may i believe right mother's day is coming up in may and you know if you have this situation where the rest of your family doesn't want to serve god you can just say you know honey for mother's day i'd really love to have all of our family in church that's the one thing i want for mother's day not yelling at your husband but just in a quiet way just say i'd really like to have all of our family in church for mother's day now i'm not standing here saying i'm guaranteeing this is going to work i'm just saying that's much more effective than screaming at them it's like why won't you come to church right a better thing would be in the spirit of meekness saying i'd really like to have all of our family in church for mother's day for just you know that's my gift for mother's day right and look that is actually how a lot of women get their family in church that never come for mother's day they do something very similar to that what that is is using your words but doing it in the spirit of meekness now of course number one you need to make sure you have your spiritual life right first number two you should be praying for them number three when you do use your words you need to do it in the spirit of meekness you say why because if they don't want to serve god they're already looking for a fight when you're trying to get them to serve god if you yell at them that kind of gives them a justification to basically reject what you're saying but when you do it in a nice way it's kind of hard for them to deny that in the spirit of meekness the bible says verse 2 bury you one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of christ for if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself so verse 3 is kind of indicating someone who thinks they're spiritual but they're actually not and they're deceiving themselves verse 4 but let every man prove his own work and then shall he rejoicing in himself alone and not in another for every man shall bear his own burden the idea that's mentioned here in galatians 6 is that all of us individually are going to have burdens and difficulties and problems we have to deal with nobody has just this easy life where everything goes perfectly you're going to have individual burdens and here's the thing you're going to bear that burden but before you take on another burden you need to make sure that you can deal with your own burdens yourself and the bible says do this in the spirit of meekness so go to matthew 7 we'll look at a few other places matthew 7 the idea is basically not trying to put on too many things at one time to deal with because you only have so much energy in life to deal with things matthew chapter 7 matthew 7 this is the end of the sermon on the mountain notice what it says in verse 24 matthew 7 verse 24 therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them i will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock now what he's what he's basically describing is our bodies are the temple of the holy ghost our bodies are like a building that's the symbolism and basically you know this is basically our house so to speak and he says that the person who hears these sayings and does them and obeys what god says that is the wise person and he built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not why for it was founded upon a rock it had a strong foundation and the bible says the person that's doing what god says they have a strong foundation and so when the rain descends and the floods come and the winds blow they're going to stand because they're founded upon a rock basically their faith is strong right and what you see in that verse rain descends from above the winds hit the side of the house and the floods come in the bottom and what you're seeing is different storms will hit you at the same time in different areas all at once that's kind of the way it works either your life is just going very great or then you have left and right when it rains it pours and look that's actually a biblical concept it doesn't just feel that way it's actually a biblical concept according to matthew 7 because the rain comes at the same time the winds and the floods come and this is the way it is in life and basically we all kind of get a little bit arrogant everything's going well when and then all of a sudden all the storms come and then you find out how strong and spiritual you actually were because everybody's spiritual until storms come and when your family starts making fun of you for being at church and criticizing you you're having problems with your finances and everything's a mess that's when you find out what you're founded upon that's when you find out how strong you actually are is when you go through storms and the bible says the wise person he basically hears what god says and he does it and that person lasts through the storms of life but here's the thing would it make any sense for someone who's not spiritual think of the analogy of a house let's say your house is a mess right it's got a bad foundation the windows are broken everything's just breaking and then you're like hey you really need to fix your house over there right you need to you know basically you know i don't know paint it do whatever make all this construction on it you're worrying about somebody else's house and then they're like well look at your house like what are you talking about your house is a mess right you've got a broken window for like six months and you're worrying about my house it wouldn't make any sense would it what's the same thing spiritually if your house is a mess if you've got problems you got to figure out before you focus on someone else's problems look at your own problems what often people do is they deflect their own problems onto somebody else so basically they have a lot of problems and they see one person have something very minor and it's like can you believe the way she was dressed and it's like they've got much bigger problems in their life than that and they kind of just deflect you know because they don't want to deal with their own problems go to luke chapter 22 luke 22 the bible says many times thy gentleness hath made me great and look of course god does pour out judgment upon us sometimes but honestly god is very merciful he's very long suffering and in gentleness he leads us his mercies are new every morning we screw up and you know what god could rightfully just destroy us but you know what god is very long suffering god is very merciful he leads us in the spirit of meekness now let me just show you an example here to close in luke 22 of simon peter and i i want us to realize this that every single one of us in this room is probably not as spiritual as we think we actually are we all tend to think well if i was in the wilderness for 40 years i would have never backslid against god and yet there's many saved people and pretty much every single one of them did right or if i was you know if i was elijah i wouldn't have gotten scared you know when jezebel was threatening me well he was the most righteous man on earth and he screwed up so we probably would too actually we probably wouldn't have made it past first kings 18 right look none of us are actually as spiritual as we actually think we are we all think we're going to do right and yet our faith fades very easily very quickly here's an example in luke 22 verse 31 and the lord said simon simon behold satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat now here's another example in verse 31 where the lord is talking not just to simon because he says you you and your bible is always plural okay so in verse 31 what the lord says to simon is that satan's desire to have you saying all of you satan wants to destroy all of you but then he says this in verse 32 but i have prayed for thee thee is singular so what he's saying is satan wants to destroy all of you but jesus is specifically telling peter i've specifically prayed for thee okay of course jesus prays prayed for all of them but specifically here he's saying i prayed for peter the reason why is because peter was basically the early leader of that group i have prayed for thee even though satan's tried to destroy all of you then he says this that thy faith fail not why and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren he says i'm specifically praying for you peter because you're going to be the leader and he says when you're converted i want you to strengthen your brethren now look peter's already saved when it's saying converted it's not saying being one to the lord of course in our modern day when you think of converting someone you're thinking of getting somebody saved and there's nothing wrong with that terminology but realize converting is not always getting somebody saved here what it's saying is simon peter is already saved but he's not yet spiritual he's not yet strengthened to be a leader because he's saying i need you to get strong spiritually and when you're strong spiritually then i want you to convert the others around you i want you to strengthen them and be the leader right here's what it says in verse 33 this is peter and he said unto him lord i am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death he's basically saying what do you mean i'm not strong i'm already strong i would go to prison i would go to death with you then it says this in verse 34 and he said i tell thee peter the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me i'd say probably most of us are familiar at least a little bit with that where basically he's told he's going to deny jesus three times and he even says in one of the gospels he's like though all men deny you though everybody else around denies you i would never deny you and then all the disciples are saying that and yet none of them none of them stayed faithful at least all the men there's a couple ladies that stayed faithful but all the men are just scared as can be when jesus is about to be crucified and they just back down and then of course when the cock crows three times simon peter weeps greatly see he thought he was spiritual he thought he was strong and yet god says you're not strong you need to focus on your own spiritual life and look we tend to think that we're really spiritually strong and yet we're not yet and that's what we see with peter and even after that event jesus rises again it's not like peter immediately gets right with god because he's still backslidden and then basically you know when they're inside the ship that's when basically peter kind of switches and gets converted and decides to go all out serving god and that is the point he gets converted to strengthen his brethren that's the point he gets spiritual right kind of an example of my personal life you know i got saved when i was 18 years old and you know you first get saved and you know my reaction i was obviously you're excited you're saved but i didn't know anything about the bible then you know you start reading the bible you start going to church and everything and you know one thing that happens in a lot of baptist churches and i'm not trying to say this to be arrogant but probably many people have felt this way is that you compare yourself with other people at the church it's not a good thing to do but it's kind of what we naturally do and then i just think to myself i've read through the bible many times i've been saved for three years most people in the church have never read the bible so you start feeling like you're really spiritual because nobody's doing anything for god right i mean isn't that true probably a lot of church you've been to now that's not the case at this church because i promise you many people read through the bible a lot here but at many baptist churches nobody reads the bible so you start feeling like you're really spiritual and everything and you know i had a desire to be a pastor and i'll be honest with you i mean i wasn't married at the time but outside of that i felt like in my young 20s i could do it now right and what's interesting is you know many years later you know after you know actually being trained in the ministry and having a family and everything i felt less prepared to start a church when i'm like 30 than i did when i was like you know 21 and it's like how is that that you i've read through the bible so many more times and memorized but you start realizing it's not as easy as you think and basically i thought i was really spiritual when i was in my young 20s i was zealous i was going soul winning reading the bible but i wasn't as spiritual as i thought i was and then as time goes by you start realizing that and then of course the goal is for example with peter he reaches that point where he actually does become spiritual and he's able to strengthen his brethren and here's what i'm trying to tell you number one if you want to motivate your family to serve god the biggest thing you can do by far scripturally logically what the bible teaches is you need to be spiritual yourself if you're not spiritual then you need to get spiritual first meaning you need to make sure you're reading your bible every day you're praying every day and look let me just say this that if if someone in your family sees you reading the bible that will have a big impact on them not that you intentionally pretend to read it but they actually just see you know you're you're in the morning or whatever they see at the table just reading the bible taking notes that will have an impact automatically especially as they're safe if they're a safe person they see you reading the bible and taking notes you know what they'll start feeling guilty themselves they see you do that consistently that can have a big impact when they see that you're reading the bible they go to the living room you're not watching tv but you're down on your knees at the couch it's kind of like it's going to start having an impact on them your actions are the biggest thing and look you're not going to be able to convert someone and strengthen them if you're not spiritual yourself now look by all means you can try to strengthen and convert other people and motivate them but you need to make sure number one that you're spiritual yourself and here's the thing if you're in this sort of situation and you are trying to do what's right and it does not seem like it's working you are not failing because you're doing what the bible says you have your spiritual walk you're doing what's right number two pray for your family at the end of the day it's going to be in their hands but i do believe that god can make a difference to impact those people number one make sure you're spiritual number two pray for them number three can you use words to try to impact them yes but you need to be very careful the way you do it is in the spirit of meekness and if it's not in the spirit of meekness then it probably shows you need to kind of look at yourself and realize i need to make some changes myself and what the bible shows us is that it's great to try to strengthen other people and take on their burdens but number one we need to make sure we're spiritual ourselves otherwise we're just not going to be able to do it let's close in order prayer dear heavenly father thank you for allowing us to be here today and i ask you to just help us apply this to our lives and you know i ask you to help everybody in this room to want to serve you and do what's right and obviously it's it's it's hard to walk the walk and do what's right but i ask you to help specifically those in in our church that have unsafe family or maybe safe family that aren't serving you i ask you to help strengthen them help them become spiritual help them to impact their family we just ask for those that that are not serving god help motivate them god we just pray this in jesus name amen amen let's take our hymns and turn to hymn number 258 let's sing the song guys receive it sing it is is is is is amen