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

Alright, we're here in Psalm chapter 37, and the name of the sermon is, Fret not thyself, fret not thyself. And let us just start at verse number one, the Bible reads, Fret not thyself because of evildoers. And I'm just going to turn this off, we've got a small enough crowd, I don't know. But it says here in verse number one, fret not thyself because of evildoers. Now you say, what does that word fret mean? Fret means to be constantly scared or worried. So the Bible is saying here in verse one, fret not thyself because of evildoers. Don't get scared because of the wicked people that are out there. Because our tendency is to get afraid of bad people, and of course, there is caution that we need to have. But the Bible says, don't spend your whole life just scared to death of what might happen because of wicked people that rule this world. The Bible says, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. So it's saying, don't be afraid of bad people, and don't envy them, right? Because you look at a lot of politicians that are really rich, that are bad people, and you could be afraid of them, or you could envy them because they're rich. What the Bible's saying is, don't be afraid of people like this, and don't envy people like this. Because look, as a child of God, serving God, you have a better life than a wicked, rich person. Not even just talking about what takes place in the afterlife, but just here on Earth, when you're serving God and doing right, you're in a good mood. You're happy, and yet rich, wicked people, they hate their lives. They're miserable, so there's no reason for us to envy people like that. Verse number two, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the greener. The Bible's saying, you don't have to be afraid of them, because they're gonna be killed here soon, they're gonna be destroyed. The wicked shall not live out half their days, the Bible says, and there's no need to envy them, because they're gonna be going down very quickly. Now the analogy he gives is interesting, because he said, they shall soon be cut down like the grass. Grass is something that grows very quickly, right? I remember one of the big things you hate in the US if you own a house, is the fact that you have to mow your grass every week, or every two weeks. Right, I mean it looks nice, it's nice to have, then all of a sudden you mow it, and a few days later it's like, man, how has it already grown so quickly, right? I would say it grows a lot faster than hair does. You can go a little while without getting a haircut, but when it comes to mowing your grass, if you don't do it for a couple months, it's gonna be pretty high, right? And so the Bible's saying, these people, it's like they come, they look beautiful, they rise up, and then they're just destroyed. Because every couple weeks you mow your grass, so it's here and then it's gone. It's here and then it's gone, right? They shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. And so look, grass and green herbs and plants are a very beautiful thing. I remember when I was living in Manila, one of my favorite things was on Saturdays just seeing the color green on the drive down to Pampanga. Because it's just not something you see a whole lot in Manila. And it can be a bit depressing when you never see plant life ever, you never see grass. And then just on the drive down, it's like, man, I see the color green, right? It's like, this is awesome. It's something that's beautiful, and yet you mow the grass, and then it's just gone, right? The Bible's saying these rich people, they rise up, they're successful, and then they're gone. But then somebody else is gonna rise up. But there's no need to envy the next person either, because honestly, their lives are just nothing that we should look at and be envious about. Bible says in verse 3, trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily, thou shalt be fed. Verse 4, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. And somebody could look at this verse and take it out of context. And they could think, well, if you delight yourself in God, then God's gonna give you every single thing you want. So for example, I mean, if you wanna be rich and you delight yourself in God, boom, God's gonna make you rich, right? You start serving God, here's gonna be the brand new car, brand new house, prosperity gospel, everything's going great. Anything you want, God's gonna give it to you. Is that really what's being said here? The Bible says, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Well, why is this? Because when you delight yourself in the Lord, your desires actually match God's desires, right? I mean, if you're reading the Bible and going to church and not living a sinful life, you know what? Your desires are gonna match the same ones that God has for you. I mean, God wants you to serve him, God wants you to go sowing, and God wants you to read the Bible. When you do those things, your heart changes, your desires change. Why? Because feelings follow works, they follow works. Your heart follows your actions, right? I mean, the Bible speaks, actually go to Matthew chapter six. Matthew six, I'll just add this, it's not in my notes. Matthew chapter six, The Bible says in Matthew six, verse 21, part of the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapter six, verse 21, Matthew chapter six, verse 21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The Bible says where your treasure is, your heart is also gonna be in the same direction. Now, this is true with money. It's also true with anything that you invest into, whether it's your time, energy, and effort. So think about this, let's say you buy a brand new cell phone, a brand new iPhone 55 or whatever, right? That costs like 100,000 pesos, I don't know. And then all of a sudden, the first day you accidentally drop it, and then it breaks. Man, you're gonna be devastated, right? But let's say you buy one of those old flip phones, and then you accidentally drop it. It's just like, well, it only cost me 20 pesos anyway, right? So it's not gonna bother you as much. You say, why? Because your heart's not as invested into it, because you haven't put as much money into it. It's also true with time. The things that you invest your time into, your heart is in that direction. And with things that are from our past, there still might be some of our heart in that direction, things that you just find interesting. I will probably always find the sport of soccer incredibly interesting, because you know what, I know the history of soccer, I spent all my life doing it when I was younger. And it's like your heart goes the direction of your actions. It's why we gotta be very careful, what direction are we headed in life? What direction are we allowing our kids to head to? Because their heart's gonna go down the same direction, right? Go back to Psalm 37, Psalm 37, Psalm chapter 37. You say, what are you saying, Brother Stuckey? I'm saying that when I first started going soul winning, I did not actually wanna do it, to be honest. I did it because I didn't want people to go to hell. And I knew that God told us to do it. But I didn't have a desire like, man, I can't wait to go soul winning. I was just like, knocking on random doors. It's like you're afraid they're gonna answer. I don't know what they're gonna think. But once you start doing that, you find out actually it's pretty exciting. And then your heart actually enjoys it. When I first started reading the Bible, to me it was difficult. It was a chore to sit down and read the Bible. It's like, man, there's so many things that are really interesting to me. But then it's like you start reading the Bible and you get consistently into it, and it becomes a part of your life, and then you enjoy your Bible reading time. It works its way with everything. It's like your heart will follow your actions. So when people say things like, well, you know what, one day I'll get dedicated to church, but you know what, I just don't really desire it now. I'm just not in my stage of life. It's like you're not gonna desire it until you start doing it, right? Once you actually commit your works to the Lord and delight yourself in the Lord, what's gonna happen is your heart is going to follow, right? I mean, at first, serving God might seem like a chore. You gotta make changes, you gotta do this, you gotta do that. But then once you start to do it, you don't find it to be something that's a burden. You actually enjoy doing it. Why? Because your desires match God's desires. Verse five, commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. So once again, he's saying, hey, don't be afraid of these people that are rich and successful and wicked people, right? And what he's trying to say in between verses one and seven is that, you know what? If you serve God, you commit your way to the Lord, you delight yourself in the Lord, you're actually going to enjoy it. And so if somebody is feeling down about serving God, I'd say serve God more zealously. And you're going to find it's a better life than what those people have, right? I don't look at my life and feel like, what a horrible life I have. Man, I'm in church three days a week, then I gotta read the Bible, and then I need to memorize the Bible, and I need to go soul winning. I consider it a blessing to get to serve God. I enjoy serving God. It's like, I mean, when so many marathons come up, these are enjoyable things. We have great fellowship, people get saved, it's exciting. These are not things that I find to be a burden, I find them to be exciting. And here's the thing, your heart follows your actions. That's the way it goes, right? So what I would say to people is, start doing the actions and your heart will follow. But on the contrary, if you start doing wrong things, guess what? Your heart is going to follow that direction. I can say right now, I don't really have a desire to listen to rock music. It's been a long time since I listened. But if I started listening again, after a week or two, all those words come back into my head, and guess what? I'd probably start to desire it again. Right, I mean, if somebody's gone five years without smoking a cigarette, they probably don't have a strong desire to smoke. It's gone down quite a bit. But let's say they just smoke a couple in one day after five years. All of a sudden, where's their heart? I want to smoke more cigarettes, right? It's the way it works. Your heart follows your actions. It's just the way it works. I mean, people, this is why it's so foolish. Always let your heart guide you. It's like, no, actually do what's right, and then your heart's going to be headed in the right direction. Rather than just follow your heart, follow your heart. That is bad, bad, bad, unbiblical advice. Because your heart is going to lead you astray. Your heart is going to deceive you. I mean, the heart is deceivable of all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it, right? So following your heart is a bad idea. But what's a good idea is, you see what's right, what does the Bible say? You do what's right, and your heart is going to follow in the same direction. So this can be something that's very encouraging or very scary, right? Because if you're doing right, it's exciting that your heart is going to match it. In fact, when we were singing the song just a second ago, it's like this is why I told Brother Roger before the service, 315 Take My Life is one of my favorite songs. I've always liked the line, take my will and make it thine. It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is thine own. It shall be thy royal throne. And it's just like asking God to change your heart to match him. But honestly, if you start doing the works, you're going to find yourself wanting to do them. Because your heart follows your actions. That's what the Bible teaches. Verse number eight, cease from anger and forsake wrath, fret not thyself and any wise to do evil. And the Bible says, you know what, don't feel like you've got to pour out vengeance on a wicked person. It's like those people are going to have what's coming to them. Now go to Romans chapter 12, Romans 12. And look, there's no doubt about it. There will be people out there that will hate you just for doing right. Because they hate the God of the Bible. They hate what the Bible says. I remember a long time ago, this is probably, man, more than 12 years ago, 13, 14 years ago, I don't know. But I was working at a job, a retail job. And there was another employee that was a homo, homosexual. And I never talked to this guy, never said a word to him. I mean, we weren't in the same department or anything. But other people warned me about this person because they said, hey, this person hates you. And I'm just like, who are you talking about? Because I didn't even know who the person was. And then it's like they're saying, well, he's mad because he knows you're against homo. I was like, oh, the homo. That's what you're talking about, right? And apparently this guy, I've never talked to him before. And he told other people that he was going to bash my head with a baseball bat. Simply because I went to Faithful Word Baptist Church. Simply because he knew what I believed. That he's going to wait for me. They're warning me because he said he's going to wait for you to leave work and he's going to bash your head with a baseball bat. It's like, I never even talked to the guy. But it's like, boy, these people are such nice people though, right? They're such nice people. They're so funny. They're so nice. And then all of a sudden, I'm going to just kill this person. Because he doesn't like me for being a homosexual. That's basically what he said, right? And it's like, and honestly, when I heard that, it really didn't scare me. I felt, I think because I was right with God, so you're confident, you're bold. But something like that can certainly make you scared from time to time. I mean, if you're like David that has a lot of enemies, you're going to have weak moments where you're afraid, no doubt about it, right? Bad people like this, they don't want to see people serve God, right? I was just thinking of an example, I'm not going to say names, but one of the members in Manila, it's like they're able to start going to church now more because they have a new boss, because their old boss was a homo. And he didn't want people to go to church. So he just forced them, forced those that wanted to go to church, well, we'll just make you work through Sunday, right? It's just like because they don't want people to serve God, they hate the God of the Bible. And it's like there are evil people out there like that, and they want to destroy you because of what you believe. And it can make you afraid, no doubt about it. I mean, it can make you afraid, especially if you're in a weak moment, people in this Bible say, fret not thyself. Don't worry, don't fear, and don't feel like you've got to put vengeance in your own hand because God is the one who will retribute vengeance to them. Notice what it says in Romans 12 verse 17, or recompense, I should say. Romans 12 verse 17, recompense to no man evil for evil, provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. If it be possible, because it's not always possible. I mean, I want to be at peace with everybody. I don't want to have problems with people. I mean, I want to be able to get along with people. I mean, even people that would be bad people, I want to not have any issues with them, I just want to be able to go about my day, go about my life. But the thing is, it's not always possible. So if I was saying, if it's possible, live peaceably, but if not, that's just the way it is. And there's going to be times if someone is mad at you or a bad person or whatever, and you might feel like you want to recompense evil to them because of that. But the Bible says recompense to no man evil for evil. Why is that? Verse 19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourself, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Now, realize if somebody's a reprobate and a horrible person, it's like, you know what, you're never going to get along with them. It just is what it is. They're never going to like you. But at the same time, there could be other people that are not workers of iniquity, people that are your enemy because they don't agree with what you believe. Right? I mean, I'm sure everyone has Catholic family members that just disagree with the things that you believe. Right? We're Baptist family members. Baptist, Pentecostal, whatever. I mean, you have people that they have different opinions than you about stuff, and they might get mad at you because of your beliefs. Right now, the Bible does not tell us we ought to be united with all these people. But if it's possible, try to be at peace with them. Not united together as if you're one, but try to be at peace with them if that's possible. It's not always possible. Right? I remember at my old job in the US that one day I went to work and I put a post online, a really exciting soul winning story of somebody getting saved. And I posted it. This was a long time ago, like 10 years ago at this point or whatever. And then all of a sudden, I look the next day and it's like World War Three on my Facebook because I have coworkers I'm friends with on Facebook. And then I have new IFB friends. And some new IFB friends are a little bit overly zealous. And somebody posted, it's like, well, how do you know they got saved? Did they get baptized? That was a coworker of mine that said that because she believed in baptismal regeneration. And then all of a sudden there was like new IFB people that were blasting her saying you're a heretic and all this stuff. And let me just say this on a side point. It's like sometimes you can be too zealous. Do not start World War Three on somebody else's Facebook because that could be their brother, their sister, their cousin, their coworker, their boss. It's like you don't know. And I had just gone to bed so I didn't have a time to put out the fire. I wake up and I'm deleting posts and everything. But I get up there in the morning and my office is right beside my boss's office. This woman storms over and she starts screaming at me in front of my boss. It's like I didn't do anything, right? And she was like really, really angry because I had made that post and because of the fact people were arguing with her about it, about baptismal regeneration. This woman, I mean, I worked there for another three years and it's like this woman did not like me, always rude to me. I mean, every time she'd walk by me, it's like, right? And I always try to act nice, I try to act friendly, I always acted respectful. Here's what I can say, when I was done working at that company, there was a point where she switched over and she did not dislike me. Now, she would never admit this, she probably never admit that she hated me before, but she switched over because I was always nice to her. I was never rude to her. A couple of reasons why, number one, because I wanna be at peace with people if possible, because I don't think she's a bad person, she just has a false church. And of course, it does you good to be at peace with people, because if you have enemies, that can cause you problems in life, right? You don't wanna have enemies every single place you go. Bible even says when you get ordained to the ministry, you need to have a good reputation without the church, outside of the church. And the idea would be this, cuz obviously you're gonna have certain people that might dislike you. But if you just act like an obnoxious jerk everywhere and everybody hates you, it's not because you're so Christian, it's because you're rude, right? Because if you act nice in general, people are gonna act nice to you, right? But what I'm saying is this, it's like I acted nice to her and eventually overcome evil with good. Now, it doesn't always work that way. Some people might just hate you, and that's never gonna change. But at the same time, here's the thing, if as Bible-believing Christians, God allows us to get some persecution on a small level, it's God's choice, right? I mean, and honestly, this is a very light persecution. So somebody screamed at me in front of my boss, and I had a slight fear I might get fired or something like that, right? But is that really major persecution? I mean, people have been killed for the cause of Jesus Christ. It's a very light and small persecution. Romans 13 verse 1, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt not praise it the same. For it is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Now the Bible says it is the government's job to put to death criminals and instill justice in society. So if there's someone who's an evil doer, someone who's a bad person doing horrible things and the government doesn't do their job, it doesn't mean we put the vengeance into our own hands, right? I mean, I can't remember the name of the person. There was a guy in the Philippines a couple of years ago was on the news, because he had been arrested. It was somewhere in Pampong, he got arrested. But he had like killed his wife like 15 years in the past, and then he was in Congress or whatever, House of Representatives or something like that, because he was rich, and he was like a cult leader. He has like this small, weird cult. I don't remember the guy's name, but it's just like, and then he's in politics and successful and powerful. Now how that ends up working, I guess money can get you whatever you want in life, right? But there's bad people like that, and we don't need to spend our whole lives just being overly worried about bad people that are successful, because I would not want to be that person in a million years. I don't care how nice his house is or how nice his car is or how much money he has, because when you live a sinful life, it doesn't make you happy, right? We don't have to worry about bad people like this. We can trust that God will protect us from people like this. Go to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. I mean, obviously, we ought to be smart and wise in situations, but at the end of the day when the Bible says safety is of the Lord, the reality is that if you're serving God, you don't have a lot of fear. We all know that's true. When you're reading the Bible and going soul winning, you find yourself just not being that afraid of everything that could go wrong in life, because you just feel like God's going to protect you. And I believe that's true. Now, of course, God can allow certain things to take place. Tragedies happen. We understand that. But in my opinion, the safest place to be is in God's will. And if you're in God's will, I just believe God's going to protect me if I'm doing right. Now, here's the thing. I'll give you an example of this. When I was in the US, I was driving one time, just got out of church. I'd gone soul winning that day, went to church, was coming home from church. I had nothing majorly wrong in my life. I'm serving God, trying to do right. And then I'm on the road and all of a sudden my back left tire exploded. I didn't get a flat tire. It just exploded. It's when you see like a tire in a million pieces on the side of the highway sometimes. That's what happened to my tire. Here's the thing. When you get a flat tire, you start to hear that noise and you can slowly pull off to the side of the road. When you go from four tires to three, you can't drive. Wasn't a tricycle. It was a four wheel tired car. And so when one tire explodes, what happens? Your car is just going crazy. You're lucky. I mean, I was very lucky. I didn't flip the car because it's just like, and within a couple of seconds, I'm on the side of the road stopped and I'm like, because it was like I was this close to just, you know, who knows what could have happened because I mean, people drive, it was like 120 kilometers per hour in the US. So if your car stops in the middle of the road, it's like very dangerous. But I was protected. Now here's the thing. If you're right with God, God will protect you. But what if you're driving drunk? Well, there's no promise of God's protection because you're doing wrong, right? So if you're right with God, I believe God is going to protect you through situations. If you're not right with God, you have a reason to fear. And I can say when you're not serving God to your fullest, you start to get really afraid of things that could go wrong, right? But if you're right with God, God is going to protect you. Psalm 37 verse 9, for evildoers shall be cut off. Cut off is a phrase to say that they're going to be killed. They're going to be cut off, destroyed. But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be, yea, thou shall diligently consider his place and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. That's the expression, the meek shall inherit the earth. You think of like the Sermon on the Mount, it mentions in the Beatitudes, right? And it says, the wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. This is a bit of a scary verse. The wicked plotteth against the just. To plot something is to make a plan. And the Bible is saying, bad people literally make plans to destroy good people. This is not the only verse in the Bible that says something like this, but bad people make plans to destroy good people. Right? You know, you can think of a lot of like-minded churches in the U.S. that have had major protests. And you know, there's people that are just actively trying to come up with a plan to destroy a good church. And you know, people try to destroy good people of God, people that are serving God. I mean, wicked people want good people to fall. And it says they plot against the just, then it says this, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. Now, when it says gnasheth upon him, it's not saying like, biting them. That's not what it's saying. It's not saying biting them. When you cross-reference, gnashing is what's coming out of your mouth. So gnashing upon them with your teeth, it's like saying, you're such a filthy wicked person or whatever, just trying to tear you down and destroy you, trying to get you in trouble, persecuting you, screaming at you, telling everybody how bad you are. So they plot against you, and then they actively with their words try to destroy you. Right? And this plays itself out in life all the time. Gnasheth upon him with his teeth. You say, why? Because they hate you if you're serving God. That's just the way it is. Verse 13, the Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his day is coming. God's like, okay, you're coming up with this amazing plan. It's like, well, we'll see what happens. Think of like Haman. I'm going to destroy all of God's people. Okay, we'll see. Right? We'll see what happens. Like, I can see the future, and I'm going to see, actually, you're going to be the one that's kind of hanging, right? And God obviously sees the end of the matter. We don't see the end of the matter, but what the Bible is saying is fret not thyself. Don't worry. God will pour out his vengeance upon people like this. Verse 14, the wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor needy and to slay such as be of upright conversation. Now, it's interesting it mentions a sword and a bow, because these are two different weapons. And you know what? The way I think of this in a symbolic sense, a sword is a close range weapon, right? You kill somebody with a sword that is nearby you. You're not going to kill somebody from 100 feet away with a sword, right? Maybe that works in a movie, but in real life, that's a bad strategy, okay? But from long range, you kill with a bow. And what I think that's kind of trying to indicate, the sword is kind of like close range and people that are close around you could actually plot to destroy you. People you know, family members, friends, coworkers, people like that. And then the bow is sort of like a long range plan to destroy you, right? So basically they're trying to destroy you in any way that they can. People that are around you, people maybe that are high up in government, but regardless of whether that's the symbolism the Bible is intending, the idea is bad people are actively trying to destroy good people. It's a fact. Now you don't have to let this get you down because this is why I keep saying, fret not thyself. Don't worry. Don't worry about these bad people. I will protect you. Verse 15, their sword shall enter into their own heart and their bows shall be broken. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. Verse 17, for the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. The Lord knoweth the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be forever. Bible says the Lord knoweth the days of the upright. I mean, is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth? The Bible says. So the idea is this. God knows your life. God knows how long you're going to live. And yes, you have situations like Stephen, where God allowed him to die at a young age. But we don't know exactly how old he was, but you know, he died when he's serving God. But God had a purpose because that really inspired Paul to, you know, really serve God, right? We understand things like that take place, but in general, if you're serving God, you really don't have to worry. God is going to protect you, right? I do believe that in situations in the past when the Catholic Church would murder people for serving God, I believe that if you would just stay bold and zealous, in many cases God would protect you through that. Whereas if you were someone who was saved, but you backed down from the truth, I don't believe that's necessarily the case. During the end times, I think the people that are most zealous are probably going to last until the rapture. You say why? Because they have a purpose. They're doing something. Now, obviously, I don't know the mind of God, so I don't want to try to speak and say what I'm saying is for sure true, because I'm just giving you what seems logical to me. But you know, it just makes sense to me that if there's only like a last 75 days to go soul winning and preach the gospel, God will try to keep around those that are actually going to do it. Whereas those that would not, that are just trying to last till the rapture and just, you know, escape, it's like, I don't know, I mean, a lot of people are going to be killed, right? And probably a lot of people like that will be because of the fact they're not really trying to serve God. The Bible says in verse 19, they shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine, they shall be satisfied. In the days of famine, God will satisfy. During the end times, massive famines, and God will protect you. God's going to help you. All the money in the world is going to mean nothing during the end times. But if you're serving God, then God will protect and help you out. Now go to 1 Kings 17. I want to show you a cross reference here that's kind of interesting. 1 Kings 17. And here's a story of Elijah, and here's an instance where God actually tells Elijah to hide him. Okay? So I understand there can be times where you need to hide, you need to be smart. But I want to expound upon the story a little bit and tell you what my thoughts are. 1 Kings 17 verse 3, get thee hence and turn the eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord, for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook. Now you're seeing the ravens are providing his food on a daily basis. I mean literally by faith, Elijah is living and expecting, well, I guess the birds are going to feed me again. And just, I mean, talk about an exciting time because you're basically seeing a miracle every single day. That's pretty exciting. And God helped him even though, because the reason why he's hiding is he pronounced judgment and so the government and the king and the queen, they want to kill him. So basically God says hide because you're going to be killed. Now God prepares him food, but in my opinion, when I think of this logically and I think of what the Bible would say and, you know, what serving God means, and I also think logically how it would work in a situation or a place like this, I don't believe that Elijah was by himself for months and months and months. Now he's there for a long time, but what I believe is that he was preaching the gospel every single day and getting people saved. Now there's a couple reasons why I believe this. In an area like this where you're beside a brook, this is a place where people are going to go with their family. This is where you're going to go and just go for a walk. So he's there by himself living there, but I believe God is sending him people there because I remember, you know, my old job, we were right by a river and I remember sometimes on my lunch break I would go there and there'd be just a few people walking around, never any government officials, and I had opportunities to preach the gospel. I believe he's probably preaching the gospel throughout the day, just people passing by in there. But here's the thing, the government's probably not looking for him there because they're going to assume he's going to starve to death. So there's probably no government officials there and he's just there and in my opinion he's probably preaching the gospel on a daily basis, getting people saved. I don't believe that God would just have somebody hiding out for months and months and just, you're by yourself, you're not able to do anything. In my opinion, when he's there, and of course this is my opinion, I cannot prove this, it doesn't state this, in my opinion I don't think he's just there reading the Bible and praying. I think he's also getting opportunities. Somebody's maybe walking by or whatever and he's saying, hey, you know, do you mind if I share with you what the Bible says? I believe he's probably getting a lot of people saved and God is providing his food so he doesn't even have to worry about that. Now go to Psalm 37, Psalm 37, Psalm 37. The point is though that God does provide in times of famine for those that are serving him. Right? Psalm 37 verse 20, Psalm 37 verse 20, but the wicked shall perish and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs. They shall consume into smoke so they consume away. And I think what he's saying here when it says the fat of lambs, it's like when they had the Old Testament sacrifices, they would tell you to like burn up the fat, you know, not eat that part. I'm assuming that's the reference that's being made there. The wicked borroweth and payeth not again, but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth. For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way. This is a very famous verse that you hear quoted, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And the idea the Bible gives you is that there's multiple paths. There's the path that God wants you on of serving God and then there's the other path. The Bible says the good path shines brighter as you go. Now when you first start on a path, you know, if you're going on a hike in the mountains, a lot of times there's going to be side trails and when you first see the beginning of a side trail, you don't really know what's up ahead. You can start going down a path, I mean, because when I grew up in the mountain state in West Virginia, you know, you go out in the mountains and there's like all kinds of paths and trails to go down and you start going and then all of a sudden you're curious, what if I go down this direction? And then sometimes you start going down this direction and you're like, well, that's not a good idea. And then you start heading back. And when it comes to serving God, you know what, it's like you take by faith that this is going to be the right way and you're not going to do things the wrong way. And at the beginning, the paths look the same, but as you go down the path of serving God and doing right, you're going to see, you know what, this is correct, right? You know, you try to serve God, read the Bible, memorize the Bible, go soul winning, raise your kids to serve the Lord. And at the beginning, it's like you don't know the end result, but you'll see the end result and it's going to be worth it as you go down that direction. Both paths are going to start off and it's like, well, which one's best? But you do what God says. And the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And God is basically directing your steps as you go if you choose the right path. And it kind of reminds you of where the Bible says that all things work together for good to them that love God. You know, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And so here's the thing, if you're serving God and doing right and you don't have major sin in your life, and then all of a sudden you run into a major problem in your life, you don't have to stop to ask yourself, what did I do wrong? Now obviously if you've done sin, you got to consider things like that. What I'm saying is if you're right with God and then you run into problems, you don't have to think, man, you know, I should have done this instead. It's like, no, if you're doing what's right, you're doing what's right. We all go through storms. We all go through problems. At the end of the day, it's not always fun going through those situations, but we need to realize all things work together for good to them that love God. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, the Bible says. Verse 24, though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hands. Yes, we're going to fall sometimes. Yes, we're going to have problems, but God is going to bring us back up. I have been young and now I'm old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. And you know what, this is very true because it would be a very rare thing to find somebody that's a saved person that is on a street begging for survival. Right? It would be a very rare thing. I'm not saying it's never existed, but what he's saying is this, he's like, I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. Just the fact that, you know, God's people, God provides what they need. That doesn't mean he provides what they want necessarily, but he provides what they need. And he's saying, you know, people that are serving God and they're down the right path, it's like, you know what, they don't find themselves like on the street corner just begging for money, begging for food. Why? Because God is helping them. God's, you know, they're doing what's right. God is preparing for them and helping them financially. Verse number 26, he is ever merciful in Lindeth, his seed is blessed, depart from evil and do good and dwell forevermore. For the Lord loveth judgment and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. And you know, here's kind of an eternal security verse here where the Bible says he forsaketh not his saints and it says they are preserved forever, right? God does not forsake his children. You say, well, rather sucky, I mean, it says saints though. That's not us. We're not saints. Look, this is not a Catholic church. A saint is a saved person. He forsaketh not his saints and it says they are preserved forever. And what we believe in is the preservation of the saints. We don't believe in the perseverance of the saints, but we do believe in the preservation of the saints that if you are saved, God will preserve you. Now, what does that mean preserve? Well, it's kind of like if you, you know, there's preservatives used for food to help keep them to last longer, where basically the food by itself is not going to last past a certain point, but when you use preservatives, it's going to help it last longer. Or you think of like, you know, canning or jarring fruits and vegetables, they can make them last a long time. You are preserving them by doing something, right? And what the Bible is saying is God keeps us saved. We are preserved by God. So here's the thing. If anybody lost their salvation, it was God's fault because He's the one keeping you saved. I mean, if a person could lose their salvation, then God messed up because He's promising I'm preserving you. I'm keeping you saved, right? I mean, obviously we're still going to sin. We're going to make mistakes. And that doesn't mean that you're going to repent of your sins and ask for forgiveness all the time, but you are kept saved. He will not forsake you and send you to hell if you are a saint, if you are a safe person, the Bible says. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein forever. Verse 30, the mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart, none of his steps shall slide. The wicked watch to the righteous and seeketh to slay him. And so if you have the law of God in your heart, none of your steps are going to slide. That's kind of hinting towards memorizing the Bible, but also just reading the Bible a lot, listening to sermons. You might have parts of the Bible you don't have memorized, but if you've heard them preached, it's fresh in your mind. The Bible is saying, get around the word of God as much as you can, and then your steps are not going to slide off the path of righteousness. But if you stopped reading the Bible today and stopped coming to church today and stopped listening to good preaching, you would find yourself getting into the same sins that you did in the past. And I would be the same way. If I stopped reading the Bible, stopped hearing the word of God, what would take place? My flesh would take over. And all of a sudden I would desire that rock music. All of a sudden I would desire everything that my flesh desires or has desired in the past. Why? Because I'm not feeding the spirits. But if you hide God's law in your heart and you read the word of God and you memorize the word of God and you meditate upon the word of God, your steps are not going to slide off the path of righteousness. Verse 33, the Lord will not leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he is judged. Wait on the Lord and keep his way and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay tree. And green bay trees are trees that spread out very wide. So the Bible is saying these bad people like green bay trees, they're everywhere. So at our old house in Sacramento, we had a tree which I love the tree, but it was pretty tall and it spread itself out like a bay tree. The problem is it spread itself over the fence into the neighbor's yard. And so you had to regularly do maintenance on it because, you know, and I did the best I could. I had a machete so I'd climb the tree and chop off branches, but it got pretty dangerous. So someone at church actually, you know, they had a business so they were able to do it to help me. But basically everything is underneath the shade of that tree. And the Bible is saying, you know, bad people, they spread themselves out and it's like everywhere you're underneath that umbrella, everywhere you're underneath that tree. And it's like wicked people in this world, they spread themselves everywhere so everywhere you go you feel like you're under it. I mean, you go to the grocery store, ungodly music, right? Everywhere you go, it's just like this stuff, it's just like it spreads itself over you and you can't get out of it, but wait on the Lord. They will be cut off, the Bible says. Verse 36, yet he passed away and lo, he was not, yea, I saw him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace. The Bible speaks about marking bad people, right? And saying, hey, that's a bad person, stay away from their preaching, stay away from their teaching. The Bible here is talking about marking the perfect man. And the idea would be that, you know, there should be people that you look at as kind of like an inspiration or someone to kind of model yourself after. Obviously don't think too highly of any one person, but if you see somebody who's really successful serving God, it's just like, and you find out, hey, they do this, they memorize the Bible at this time or read the Bible. It's like just mark that man and try to follow some of the things they do, right? And when people come to a church like this, it's like, you know, especially in Manila I see this, people come to our church and they've never gone soul winning, but they know the Bible teaches it. They immediately just start going soul winning. Why? Because that's just what people do at church. It's like we have like 60 people that go soul winning on Sundays now. It's just like, so everybody just follows what everyone else does because they're someone who listens online and then they see people that are serving God and they mark those people, they just kind of follow them. And that's a good thing to do, you know, follow people. And you know, I've done that in my life before, just looked at people and just tried to learn from them because I know they've obviously done certain things correctly. Verse 38, but the transgressors shall be destroyed together. The end of the wicked shall be cut off, but the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time of trouble and the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him. So it's a great chapter. There's a lot of great information and you know, the name of the sermon is fret not thyself. You know, there will be wicked people. There will be bad people. Don't envy them. Don't worry about them. Don't be afraid of them. Don't envy them. It's like you as someone who's serving God have a better and happier life than them. You say, well, prove it to me. Well, the Bible says if you know these things, happier ye if ye do them. And you know what, I know that to be the case that when I'm reading the Bible and going to church, I find myself in a good mood. When you're serving God, you're in a good mood. You're happy. I don't envy. Well, but what about these people that are rich and famous? It's like I would much rather have the life that I have here. When you're serving God, you're happy. Don't envy these people. Don't worry about these people. They will be cut off and God will protect those serving God. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see this passage in Psalm 37. Help us to apply this to our lives. Help us never to envy the wicked people. Help us not to be afraid of them. Help us just to continue to serve you and realize it is worth it. It provides fulfillment and happiness, and it's the greatest joy to serve you with our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.