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In Psalm 39 the Bible says in verse number 1, I said I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. Now the first thing I want to point out is in that first phrase where it says, I said I will take heed to my ways. Turn to Psalm 119, keep your finger there in Psalm 39 but flip over to Psalm 119 and look at verse number 9. It says in Psalm 119, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. You don't have to turn there but of course in the book of Hebrews it says in chapter 2 verse 1, therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip. You see the natural tendency is always to do the wrong thing. The natural tendency is not to live a clean and righteous and godly life but to live a dirty life but to live a corrupted life. And so the Bible says here, David is deciding, hey I'm going to take heed to my ways. I'm going to decide to watch over myself and guard my life. I'm going to be careful to do the right thing. How is a young man going to cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. We must make concerted effort to do the right thing. It's going to take an effort to clean ourselves up and live right. Because as soon as we don't take heed to it, it's going to begin to slip is what he said. That's why we need to be in church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, reading the Bible every day so that the things that we've gained spiritually, the progress that we've made in our life doesn't slip and we go backward. And so that's what he's saying here when he says I'll take heed to my ways and then he begins to talk about a certain situation. He says that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is performing. Now you think of a lot of different ways that you can sin with your tongue. First of all, you could lie. That would be sinning with your tongue, telling a lie. Also, you could blaspheme God or blaspheme Jesus Christ. You could curse God in your heart or curse God with your mouth. You could be blasphemous with what you say. You could also talk about something that's dirty or smut filled or whatever. Or you could just pick a fight with someone for no reason needlessly and that would also be a sin. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse 22 when he said, You have heard that it was said by them the whole time thou shalt not kill. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother Rekha shall be in danger of the council. Now I don't know what Rekha means. I'm not going to sit here and get out some dictionary and try to explain to you what Rekha means. But obviously it's something that you say that would make somebody really mad. And he's talking about getting angry with somebody, saying Rekha to them, just mouthing off to people for no reason, just picking a fight. And he says whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire. Not that it's wrong to use the two words thou fool because of course Jesus used the term thou fool to someone. And even the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 addressing the Corinthians says thou fool. But the context there of the verse is basically starting something with someone. Picking a fight, provoking someone to anger, just mouthing off to people, saying Rekha, saying thou fool, getting angry for no reason. That's what he's talking about and basically just saying inflammatory things that pick a fight needlessly with someone without a cause. There's a lot of different ways to sin with your lips. It could be something perfect, it could be blaspheming God, it could be lying, whatever it is. But he said I said I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. And I turned to James 3 in the New Testament, toward the end of the New Testament, James chapter 3. He said I'll keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace even from good and my sorrow was stirred. James chapter 3, of course this is a chapter that deals with the tongue. It says in James chapter number 3, verse number 1, it says, My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the great accomodation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, are driven of fierce winds. Yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor blisseth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body. It seteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beast, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. But the tongue can no man tame, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Now, just to sum that up, you know, you can read the whole chapter obviously, and really a lot of the book of James, but the part that we read, just to sum it up, is that, you know, what you say, one little thing that you say, can basically be like a spark that starts a huge fire. Now, this could be used for good, or for evil. You know, if you preach something that's good, if you go and win somebody to Christ, you know, that person could win a lot of people to Christ. You know, the fruit of the rice is a tree of life. And he to win his souls is wise, because you set a process in motion when you win one person to the Lord, that could lead to them leading someone to the Lord, and a lot of people being saved. I mean, think about it, if you've won a lot of people to the Lord, whoever won you to the Lord, I mean, set in motion something, a process by which many people are saved. A little fire, a little spark, can start a huge fire. But also, negatively, you know, you can tell a little lie, you can say one hurtful thing to somebody, and you could really hurt them and destroy their life, or just say one little lie and get yourself into all kinds of trouble and so forth. He's saying here we need to control ourselves, whether it be our tongue, our whole body, it needs to be bridled, it needs to be under control. It shouldn't just be we just say whatever we want, you know, whatever comes to mind, we just say it. You know, we control ourselves, think before we speak, think before we act, that's what he's saying here. And so he's saying, you know, when the wicked's before me, I'm going to be tempted to say things that I shouldn't say, just because of anger, you know. One thing that I think of with this is, you know, when reporters used to come here and they would try to provoke me, you know, and they'd try to mess with you, and they would just hammer you and try to get you to say something, they'd try to get you worked up, you know, and it's hard to keep your cool sometimes when people are just attacking you constantly. But you've got to have your mouth bridled, you don't want to say something that you're going to regret later. And so he says, you know, I'll keep my mouth with a bridle, he's resolving to keep his mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. Jump down, if you would, to verse number eight. It says, deliver me from all my transgressions. Make me not the reproach of the foolish. He's saying, look, I don't want to say something stupid. And then basically everybody can revel in that, because let me explain something to you. The wicked people of this world, they're not just content with being wicked. They're not just content with doing wrong and indulging the flesh and getting drunk, looking at porno, whatever they do. They're not content with it unless they cause the righteous to fall. That's what they want. Now, it doesn't make any sense to me either. I don't understand why the evil, wicked people of this world, Kansas school, live their own life and mind their own business, but no, the Bible's clear. The wicked bendeth his bow, he may ready his arrow upon the string that he may privily shoot at the upright in heart. I mean, the adulterous will hunt for the precious life, the Bible says. Over and over we see that it says they will not rest until they cause somebody to fall. And the righteous are in the target and the crosshairs of the wicked all the time, and the wicked will rejoice when the righteous fall. You know, if nothing else, boy, just do right and stay on the right. Do you really want the devil to be so pleased? And think about all the enemies of God and the enemies of Jesus Christ that would just be so happy if you'd fall into sin. I mean, stop and think about that. You know, all your relatives that might hate God or other, you know, old friends or acquaintances or people at your job that hate Christianity, that hate the Bible, they hate the fact that you go to church and win souls, wouldn't they just love to see you fall? They would love to see you bite the dust. You know, they'd love to see your marriage fail and end and get divorced. They'd love to see you get into fornication. They'd love to see you quit church and quit soul winning and prove them right. You know, I don't want to prove them right. I want to prove them wrong. You know what I mean? I just want to keep going, if nothing else, to say, hey, I'm not going to give my enemies the satisfaction of being a failure and sinning. And that's what David's saying here. He's saying, look, I don't want to be the reproach of the foolish. I was thinking about Psalm 13 where he says, How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O Lord my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest my enemies say I prevailed against them. And those that trouble me rejoice when I'm moved. You hear that? Those that trouble me rejoice when I'm moved. But I trust in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. You see, the wicked love for the righteous to fall. That's why the devil is on the attack, walking about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. That's what he's doing. It's a full-time job for him, and he has plenty of people helping him with that job, whose full-time job is to cause you to fall. You've got to take heed to yourself. You've got to not fall into the trap. You've got to guard your eyes and your mind and put a bridle on your mouth and control yourself not to fall into the devil's trap because it's out there and it's being laid by all of his servants all the time and they would love nothing more than for you to fall. You know how many people would rejoice if Faithful Word Baptist Church failed? I mean, yeah, you laugh because you know it would be in the millions that would rejoice if Faithful Word Baptist Church failed. I mean, they would love it. They would be... I mean, and there's really no explanation for it. It really doesn't help them if our church failed. But all over America, all over the world, people would be rejoicing. They'd be rejoicing if Faithful Word Baptist Church failed. Ha! They'd love it because they love to see the righteous fall. You remember those two prophets that are one day going to be upon this earth? We don't know who they are. We don't know if they're alive today. But remember those two prophets who God uses during the time when he's pouring out his wrath and these prophets basically have the power to pray to God and stop the rain and turn water into blood. Basically like a modern day of Moses or a modern day man of God filled with power. These two witnesses that are talked about in Revelation chapter 11. You remember how when they die, everybody's rejoicing? You remember that? I mean, these guys are preaching God's Word. Whenever they die, people are sending gifts to each other and celebrating it like a holiday. You remember that scripture in Revelation? The wicked love for the righteous to fall. They love for the righteous to be the reproach of them and their foolishness. But let's keep reading. He says, I was dumb with silence. Verse 2. I held my peace even from good and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me. While I was musing, the fire burned. Then spake I with my tongue. Basically, his heart's hot within him. He's angry. While I was musing, the fire burned. He's thinking about things. He's meditating upon God's Word. It's burning inside of him. He says, then spake I with my tongue. Now let me show you some scriptures in Jeremiah that liken God's Word to a fire. To a fire that's burning. Almost a similar passage in Jeremiah 20. But let's look at Jeremiah 5 first. Jeremiah chapter 5 says this in verse 12. They have belied the Lord and said it is not he. Neither shall evil come upon us. Neither shall we see sword nor famine. And the prophet shall become wind. And the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done unto them. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts. Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire. And this people would and it shall devour them. Look if you would at Jeremiah 20 verse 7. Jeremiah chapter 20 verse 7. It says this, O Lord, thou hast deceived me. And I was deceived. Thou art stronger than I and hast prevailed. I am a derision daily. Every one mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried, violence is spoiled. Because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me and a derision daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of it. Nor speak any more in his name. Now isn't that similar to what David said in Psalm 39 where he said, I was dumb with silence. I held my peace even from good. And my sorrow was stirred. Look what Jeremiah is saying. He's saying, I will not make mention of him. Nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in my heart as a burning fire. Shut up in my bones. And I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay. For I heard the defaming of many. Fear on every side. Reports say they, and we will report it. All my familiars, except my own relatives. He's saying, all my familiars watched for my halting saying, Peradventure he will be enticed and we shall prevail against him and we shall take our revenge on him. But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one. Therefore my persecutors shall stumble and they shall not prevail. They shall be greatly ashamed for they shall not prosper. Their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. But O Lord of hosts that triest the righteous and seest the rains in the heart, Let me see thy vengeance on them. For unto thee have I opened my cause. And then just one more place. Jeremiah 23, 29 says this, Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Now that's what God's word is. It's basically so powerful that it could be like unto a fire. It's so powerful it could be like unto a hammer that could break a rock in pieces. Now, it reminds me of the part where it talks about how Jesus Christ has made the cornerstone. And he said, whosoever, you know, falls upon this stone, he said, you know, will be broken to pieces and upon whomsoever this stone falls it will grind him to powder. You know, God is like a rock that you can either be your foundation, he can either be, you know, the shelter in the time of storm, you know, you can either be there where you're anchored to him, or it can be a rock that just like smashes you into the ground and destroys you. That's what he's saying. He's like, look, I'm going to be one or the other. Either you're going to be in heaven with me forever, or you're going to be burning in hell for all eternity in my wrath. Or you're going to be in a loving, perfect, wonderful place in heaven, but it's going to be one or the other. And God's word is the same way. It'll either be a destructive force, or it'll be an edifying and uplifting and building force. It could either be a fire that could warm you and that could burn inside you and motivate you, or it could be a fire that will consume you in his wrath. It could be a rock that breaks you to pieces, or it could be a rock that could be, you know, an anchor of the soul during a difficult time. It all depends on which side you're on here. And this is what preaching is. That's why some people love good Bible preaching, and they love it. I mean, they'd rather listen to it than all the rock and roll, and they'd rather listen to good preaching than to watch a movie or a TV show. Other people, they can't handle it. They hate it. It makes them mad. It's literally like nails on a chalkboard to them. I've literally been preaching and had people just get up and walk out just because they just couldn't take it anymore. They just couldn't take it. Who's ever been here when that happened? You see people walk out because they just couldn't take it anymore. Other people love it. They thrive on it. They want to hear it. Why? Because one of them, it's just preaching their destruction. It's just preaching their doom. It's just preaching everything that's wrong with them. Someone else who's doing right, it's encouraging. It's building them up. I mean, even this chapter, every chapter in Psalms. I mean, Psalms is kind of a repetitive book in a way because it's just constantly saying, Hey, God's going to bless the righteous. God's going to lift him up. And God's going to destroy and blot out and burn and kill the wicked. That's the way the Bible is. That's the way God is. And so God's Word is like a fire. We think of it as a two-edged sword. We think of it as many things, but it's like a fire. Positive, negative, however you want to look at it. It depends on which side you're on. But he said in verse 3, back to Psalm 39, he says, My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned. Then spake I with my tongue. Lord, make me to know mine end. And by the way, that's what a preacher should have God's Word burning inside of him. I like how Jeremiah tried to quit preaching, but it was just burning inside. It just had to come out. And I'm so sick of listening to preachers who don't care about what they're doing. It's like they're just almost filling time. They just get up and they've got their series that they're in or whatever. They're just going to give you the next installment. But they don't really feel strongly about what they're saying. And the reason why most preachers aren't dynamic is because they don't care about what they're saying. Because those same preachers that aren't dynamic, you can get them on some other subject that gets them excited. They'll start yelling and screaming and they'll get all excited. And then they get behind the pulpit and it's just monotone. It's just dearly beloved mode that they switch into. And it's all just putting on a show. It's just going through the motions. What he said here a little bit further down. Let me find my place here. Where's the part about putting on a big show? Somebody help me out. We're not going anywhere until invited. I thought I was in this chapter, right? Yeah, there we go. Surely every man walketh in a vain show. Surely they're just quieted and vain. Heepeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them. A show is always vain. It's always vain. Putting on something on the outside. Getting up and preaching a sermon. Going through the motions. Putting on a show. Telling people what they want to hear. We need preachers who believe the Bible. We need preachers who have God's word burning inside of them. And they want to get up and preach because they have something to say that's valuable, that's needed. That could mean the difference between success and failure and heaven and hell and righteousness and wickedness and the people that they're speaking to. You know, that's the kind of preachers that we need. If you're ever going to preach, don't preach about something unless you feel strongly about it. You know, I've said often when I'm giving advice to people who preach, I say, look, if there's a sermon, if you have a great sermon, but if you're not excited about it, then don't preach it. You know, if it's not something you feel strongly about, and a lot of times I'll come up with a really good idea for a sermon or somebody will give me a really good idea for a sermon. But if it's not what I'm fired up about right now, I'm not going to preach it. You know, because I don't want to just get up and just go through the motions. I want to preach something that I'm fired up about, that I feel strongly about. You know, if I'm feeling strongly about something, that's what I'm going to preach on. Because if I'm not interested in it, if it's not burning within me, why would you want to listen to it? You know what I mean? And so I want to be excited about God's Word. I want to preach things that matter, that's going to change something, and not just go through the motions and put on a show. And that's what David's saying here. He's saying, look, God's Word was burning in me. Jeremiah said it was like a fire burning inside of me. It just had to come out. And that's why I preached. That's why I didn't quit. That's why I kept preaching. He says in verse 4, Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days what it is, that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth, and mine ages as nothing before thee. Verily, every man at his best state is altogether man. Now what he said, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days what it is, that I may know how frail I am. He said, Lord, just help me to realize how short my life is. Just somehow help it to register with me how short my life is, how it's just a little vapor that appeared for a little time, and then vanish it away. Help me to realize that. Help me to know that whatever I do with my life, it's only the tiny bit that I have. Don't waste it. Endure the pain. Do what's right. And so many people waste their life, just week after week. They just work. They go to church. But are they doing anything for God? Are they winning anybody to Christ? What a waste. And everybody thinks a little down the road. Later on, I'll do it. Missionaries today, when they get to some country, that's when they're going to do the soul winning. You know what? They need to know how frail they are and the measure of their days. We need to realize, look, if we don't get involved in soul winning this week or next week, you know what? Our life is slipping away from us. Before we know it, we're going to be old. Before we know it, it's all going to be over. We're going to be at the end of the race. We look back and say, what have I done? What was the cause? What was the purpose of my life? What have I accomplished in life? We only have a little bit of time. We need to redeem the time because the days are even. You might die tomorrow. We don't know how long this world is going to be the way it is. We don't know how long America is going to be the way it is. We need to use every opportunity that we have to win souls to serve God because we're not assured tomorrow. He said in verse 6, we already read about every man walking in a vain show. Surely there is quiet in vain. Heepeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them. And by the way, that's the vain life right there, just heaping up riches, making money. Laying up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rusteth corrupt and where thieves break through its field. It's in vain. You can't take it with you. It's a waste. And yet that seems to be the driving force today among people. Even Christians just, oh man, we've got to pay off the house. We've got to buy a new car. We've got to buy this new toy. We've got to make ourselves financially secure and have six months salary sitting in the bank. We've got to do this. And you know what? Quit listening to all these bunch of financial shows on the radio. And I don't care if it's a Christian show. Why don't you get the Bible and listen to that for a while? Why don't you care about somebody's soul instead of your ledger all the time and get off this bunch of financial stuff? And it's the craze among churches, you know. I mean the church now has a guy on staff that will be your financial planner. He'll set up your Roth IRA and he'll set up all this stuff for you to invest your money in the stock market. The love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they've earned from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrow. For they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. It's not about money. It's not heaping up riches. For what? For who? Who are you heaping up for? Oh, I'm laying up all this money for my children to go to college. You know, I pay my children not to go to college. You know, and everybody's saving up for the college fund. Saving up so that they can be indoctrinated in Satan U and Devil State University. Saving up money, putting it aside, heaping it up for retirement. And then, you know what, how do you know that when you're 64 years old and 364 days, you're not going to fall over dead and God's going to look down at you and say, Now fools, this night shall thy soul be required at thee and who shall be all these, you know, who is this going to belong to? Who did you lay it up for? What did you work for? What did you spend your life for? Imagine people who worked their tail off to buy that big fancy house only for the economy to collapse and then it's foreclosed upon. Think about that. Or how many people have worked and worked and paid off that big mansion only so they can be sued and it's taken away from them? Or a flood comes or a fire comes, you know, whatever. How many people have worked in vain and wasted their life laying out money? As far as I'm concerned, Donald Trump's life is a waste. You know what I mean? That doesn't impress me. Oh, Donald Trump's going to be, you know what, I wouldn't pay five cents to listen to anything that that guy has to say. I'd rather listen to a pauper that's filled with the Spirit of God than an ungodly, unrighteous man who's rich and wealthy and famous and everything like that. It's vanity. Vanity of vanity, sayeth the preacher. Vanity of vanity is all is vain. What profit hath the man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun? One generation cometh, and another generation goeth, but the earth abideth forever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he rots. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. Under the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of labor. Man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath been is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there anything wherever may be said? See, this is new! It had been already a whole time, which was before us. There's no remembrance of former things. Neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come, but those that shall come after. I, the preacher, was king over Israel and Jerusalem, and I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that have been done under heaven. This sword-trap veil had God given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. It's vanity. Those words are spoken by the richest man who ever lived. The man who had a thousand women to pick from every night when he went to bed. Because he had, what, 700 wives and 300 concubines. The man who, if he saw something, he just took it. The man who was the most powerful, richest, wisest, most intelligent man in the world just said, You know what? You're wasting your life when you build orchards and plant vineyards and build houses and make pools of water. He said, You're wasting your life. He said, Fear God! Keep his commandments! This is the whole duty of man. He said, I'd rather spend my life preaching, is what Solomon said. He said, I'd rather preach God's word and teach the people wisdom. I'd rather fear God and keep his commandments because there's no profit in that business. There's no profit in working yourself to the ground. The profit is a spiritual profit. I'm talking P-R-O-F-I-T. When you go out and win somebody in Christ, nobody can ever take that away from you. Those of you that were out sold in yesterday, Sunday, today, Monday, whatever the day you were out, nobody can ever take that away from you. But you know what? Your money, your clothing, your car, your house is here today, done tomorrow. Your job can be done tomorrow. Anything you own can be taken away from you except for what you've done for Christ. You've laid up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. He said, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and enduring substance. The economy can fail and I don't care what you do with your money. I don't care whether it's in the stock market, the bank, gold and silver coins. Your gold and silver will canker. You can put all your money in a safe. You can have guns. You can do whatever you want to invest your money. But you know what? I'm going to invest my money in heaven because that's where I know that I'm not wasting my time. You know, when I started this church, I started it the way that I did for a reason, because I didn't start at the conventional way, which is going out and just inviting a bunch of people, handing out 20,000 flyers and so forth. It's not how I started this church. I mean, I started this church from day one. I got here on Thursday. We started the church on Sunday. And I started on Thursday just knocking doors. And I didn't just knock as many doors as I could, give out a bunch of flyers. I just, every door was just, do you know for sure if you die today, you go to heaven. You know, I just tried to win people to Christ. And, you know, I did that for three days. And the first service rolled around and, you know, a couple of people showed up. You know, basically we had, it was basically my family of five at that time. Now my family has seven people in it. But at that time, my family of five, plus four, told men that I had knocked doors and won to Christ, you know, out of those three days. And you know what? I didn't knock thousands of doors. I probably only knocked a hundred doors or so. You know, not even that many. Just maybe 150. I don't know. Whatever. But let me tell you something. I never wasted my time. Because you know what? There were times when I'd go out every single day soloing for like three hours a day. And Sunday would roll around and nobody new would show up from the three hours up. But you know why I didn't waste my time? Because I won people to Christ. I got people saved every day. I'd go out for three hours knocking doors and somebody gets saved. But what if I handed out 20,000 flyers and nobody showed up? Did I get anybody saved? Did anybody show up? I just wasted my time. I said, you know what? I don't want to waste my time. You know, I'm going to use my time for something that matters. I don't care if nobody shows up to church, hey, I'm going to go out and win somebody to Christ. That is something that matters. And you know, really, winning somebody to Christ is permanent. Because they have eternal security. Because they have eternal life, everlasting life. But you know what? Bringing somebody to church is not permanent. Because you could get some visitor in church, that doesn't mean they're going to stay with the church. How many people come through the revolving door of Faith Worth Baptist Church? Or any other church for that matter? You know, don't waste your time on things that are vain. Living for money is vain. Now I realize we have to work and pay our bills, you know, and I go out and work and turn the screwdriver and swing the hammer. But you know what? That's not what I want my life to be about. I don't want that to just take over my life. You know, I'd rather have my life be about winning souls and doing something that matters. And you know, if that's what your life's about, I feel sorry for you. Because one day, it's going to be taken away from you. You will lose it all. It will be a waste. It will go, you know, when you die, it'll go to the government. You know? I mean, it's going to go to somebody that you don't even like. It's going to go to something that you don't even believe in. Or you'll put in your will that it's all going to some church that you donated to, and then the church is going to go liberal by the time you die. Because every church goes liberal. That's why my dad told me, never go to a church that's called First Baptist because he said it's had time to become liberal. That's what he told me. You know? Wisdom from Dad. Because of the fact that churches go liberal over time, things change. Things decay and die. That's why we always need to have new churches starting up. But the point is that I don't want to spend my life on something vague. Vague. Putting on a show for people. Driving a fancy car. Wearing fancy clothes. Looking good. You know? Spending money. Hey, I want to do something with my life that matters. I don't want to build some fancy church building for show. I mean, that's great, right? But it's going to crumble to dust. But the people that we win to Christ will always remain. Hey, the world passes away and the lusts thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. We're going to live forever, per se. And everybody that we win to Christ is going to live forever. I'd rather invest in something that's permanent than in the things that are seen which are temporal. But the things that are not seen are what is eternal, according to the Bible. So anything you can see with your eyes is temporary. It's temporal. The thing that you can't see, that's what's eternal. But the reason why most people invest in that which can be seen is because of a lack of faith. Because you have to have faith to see something that's invisible. To believe in something that you can't see. You see, when we go out and knock doors and get somebody saved, we can't see that. But we believe that they're saved. And we believe that we'll see them in heaven. That's why we'll motivate us. Whereas we could just say, well, let's just go for what we can see. Let's build a building. Let's build a nice building. Let's fill it with bodies. But you know what? It's not going to be permanent. It's going to be vain. It's going to crumble to dust. Let's keep reading. He said in verse number 6, where we read about the vain show, Surely every man walketh in a vain show. Surely they are disquieted in vain. He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is indeed. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Make me not the reproach of the foolish. Now, when he said that in verse 7, And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is indeed. He's saying, look, that's my goal. That's what I'm working toward. The things of God. That's all I'm waiting for. That's all my hope is. What is my hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? He said, my joy is going to be when I get to heaven and get to see you that I won to Christ. That's my joy. He said in 1 Thessalonians 2 at the end there. But he says in verse 10, Remove thy stroke away from me. I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth. Surely every man is vanity. Selah. Have you ever seen a moth just disintegrate? Who knows what I'm talking about? It's like you'll swat at a moth and you're looking for the body. You want to make sure you've got it. Like with a fly, you swat the fly and there's the body. You know, it's like we must find the body to know that it's really dead before we can have closure. And so it's the same thing with the moth. You swat the moth and there's nothing there. The moth just disintegrates. Does anybody know why that is? Do you know why? No, I don't. You're just stretching. You know what? I don't know why it is, but it disintegrates. God's saying, look, if I have to rebuke you and straighten you out, you know, I can just make your beauty just disintegrate like a moth. You know what I mean? I mean, God has so much power. We need to just realize that, you know, we don't want to mess with God, because God can make us just disintegrate like a moth. And He can make your business and your job and your car and your house just disintegrate like a moth. He says, Surely every man's vanity, see love. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry. Hold not Thy peace at my tears. For I am a stranger with Thee and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence to be no more. Basically, Dave is calling out to God and saying, look, I know I'm just like a moth where you can just blow on me and I'm just going to disintegrate. I realize that I'm totally just vanity. I realize that the 28 years that I've been alive on this earth is nothing compared to the thousands upon thousands of years of human history and the eternity past that you have existed, God. I realize that. I understand that I'm nothing, that I'm nobody, that everything I can work for in this life that I can see with my hands is meaningless and vanity. But He's just saying, God, please look down upon me. See my tears. Understand that I'm trying to do what's right. I'm trying to serve. Don't let my enemies rejoice over me when I fall, when I fail. Lift me up, God. Hear my prayer. Is this the attitude that we have when we pray to God? An attitude of humility? Or is it just, God, my name's Jimmy. I'll take all you give me. God, please give me this and give me a better house and give me a better car and give me this and it's not fair and why are you doing this to me? David's just saying, look, you don't owe me anything. I'm nobody. He's saying, you know, what is man that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest him? He's just saying, when I consider the heavens, when I look up and see your creation, when I think about the billions of people on this earth and the people who've lived throughout thousands of years of history, and how my life is like a drop of water on a hot stove. And yet God does love us. Yet God does care about us. But we still, just because God loves us and cares about us, we need to understand that, you know, God's goodness and love and kindness are there, but it's all by grace. You know what I mean? It's not that we deserve it. It's not that he owes us anything. We don't want to get too high-minded or to think of ourselves above what we ought to think. We need to be sober-minded and just get it straight here. You know, we're on the earth. God's in heaven. We're a human being. He's God Almighty. He's the creator. We're just the creature. You know, we're just the creative being. And we need to have the humility of going to God and understanding who God is, who we are, and then just, you know, begging God to have mercy on us. You know, begging God to step in. Basically, it's about prayer. And, you know, really, preaching out of the book of Psalms is really teaching you how to pray, in a way, because most of these are prayers to God. And it's teaching us how we should be. You know, we should constantly be hallowing God's name. We should be constantly confessing our own faults, our own weakness, our own failure, our own shortcoming, and asking God to step in and help us. You know, we need God's help. I mean, this church would not be where it's at without God. God's the one who builds the church. You know, we wouldn't have made it through the trials that we've had if it wasn't for the Spirit of God. I mean, if it's not for the comforter living inside of you, you wouldn't make it through the trials. You'd fall in sin. You'd commit sin. You'd quit. You'd give in. It's only the comfort of the Holy Ghost that even keeps you going. And so we've got to realize that, that He is the one who maintains us and strengthens us. He gets all the glory. Compared to Him, we're nothing. But yet He does love us and care about us on an individual basis. And that's how great God is. But we don't want to let that make us high-minded to where we just think that God owes us a living or something. You know, we have the privilege of having the ministry of reconciliation, of going out and getting people saved. You know, we have the privilege of serving God and being His child and being a part of His kingdom. You know, let's always keep that in mind. Let's always be humble and realize that, you know what? We ourselves also were one time foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. We're not saved because of any of our goodness. And if we're a good Christian or a soul winner, you know what? It's only because of the fact that we read the Bible and it was all God's Word that did it. It was the fact that we were, you know, filled with the Spirit and it was God's Spirit that strengthened us and filled us. Because He said, look, without me you can do nothing. You'd be like a branch removed from a tree. You can't produce any fruit. You can't do anything. And so we need to give God the glory and realize where we fit into things and where He fits into things. You know, God's in heaven and you're upon earth and said, therefore let thy words be few. He said, the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him. We need to have humility like David did, and David was a very humble man. And that's why even though he made a lot of mistakes, he was a man after God's own heart. Because of the fact that he was humble. Because of the fact that he was little in his own sight. That's why Saul was chosen. Then he became puffed up, high-minded, arrogant. We need to stop and put ourselves in our place. And that's what he's saying here. And we need to realize that, look, God will make or break us. Financially, God can lift you up or put you down. He will feed you. He feeds the raven. He feeds the fowl of the air. He clothes the lilies. He will feed and clothe you. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. That's a command from Jesus Christ. He didn't say, if you feel like it, if you want. He said, look, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. That means it comes before your job. That means serving God. It comes before job, friends, family, money, whatever. He said, seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you by God. He said, all feed, all clothe, I will determine your destiny. Your job is to serve me. That's what we need to realize, that it's all God. If we make it financially, it's because God allowed us to make it financially. If we're a financial flop, it's because God did not allow us to make it financially. If we are good looking, it's because God created us good looking. If we're ugly, it's because God created us ugly. If we are talented, it's because God gave us talent. If you go to jail, God allowed you to be thrown in jail. If you're free, God allowed you to be born free. We didn't earn anything in this life. Everything that we do in the flesh is wrong. It's sin. We can't please God. Everything is what God gave us. Salvation, the ability to serve Him, the ability to get wealth. That's what we need to realize today and give God the glory. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for reminding us of these things, dear God. Help us not to be puffed up and high minded. Help us to take heed to that which is right, dear God. Help us to strive to live a life that would please you, not to please ourselves, not to please the flesh, but rather that we would live our lives in such a way that you would be pleased, dear God, because we've been bought with a price. Help us to glorify you in our body and in our spirits because they both belong to you. And so, Father, please just fill us now with your spirit as we go. Help us to walk out of here and not live for self and pleasure and fun and money. Help us to walk out of here and say, you know what? What can I do for God? What can I do for Jesus Christ? And you know what? Yeah, I'll go to work and pay the bills. I've got to make money. That's part of what God commands me to do. But you know what? I'm never going to let the things of this world choke out my ability to bring forth fruit. Help us all, dear God, to make bringing forth fruit a priority in our lives, getting people to say it's the only thing that's going to last. It's the only thing we can take with us is someone else. And so we love you and thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.