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

you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Amen. Alright, great singing this morning. It's good to have you all here with us on a cold rainy March morning at Strong Old Baptist Church. You just never know what you're going to get this time of year, but it's not that bad anyways. It could be way worse. You could be up north somewhere. Alright. Sorry, I'm making a few notes. I want to add to the announcements so I don't forget them. Alright, so if you don't have one of our bulletins this morning, just slip your hand up real high and one of our ushers will make sure that we get one to you. Just keep your hand lifted until we get to you. And then as you open up to the first page, you'll see the service times listed there as always. Sunday morning at 10 30, Sunday evening at 5 p.m. Wednesday night 7 is our Bible say we're closing out the book of Malachi this Wednesday. So come on out and join us for that. We've got the soul winning opportunities listed there as well as the salvations and baptisms for the month of March as well as for the year. Let's go ahead and count up if you have any salvations to report for the week. Just slip your hand up real quick. We'll get those counted up. One yesterday. Amen. Anybody else? Very good. And of course we will be going soul winning this afternoon. Regularly scheduled time. In between the services for anyone who's interested in coming out preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ with our church. The best time is this afternoon. It's the biggest time. We have the most participation. But any of those times that are listed there are also available. Whatever works best for you. Alright down at the bottom of the page we've got the offering totals for the month of March. Pray requests. I added the additions from last week. We added Miss Catherine Ricardo as well as Michelle Taylor who is someone who's been out soul winning and I've updated some of the issues a little bit. For those of you that didn't get the update about baby maverick the fluid is gone pretty much. Like that's not an issue anymore. That was the original issue when he was born. But now as they've looked at him again there's a nerve missing from between that would normally connect the left side of the brain to the right side of the brain. Which can be very obviously extremely significant. Very important. So I guess he could go between being pretty normal and functioning right to not at all. And having a lot of problems with motor skills and things like that. You know left side of your brain throws the right side of your body. Right side of your brain throws the left side of your body. Obviously you want them both in conjunction working together in order to function properly. So it's a big deal. I guess we'll find out more about what is going to happen and what people think. I've never heard of this before so I'm completely ignorant on this subject. Hopefully it's something that can be that the body will create the connections that need to be created. But we'll be praying whether that's normally what happens or not I'll always pray that God will allow this child to have a good proper existence and be able to continue on without much problem. That he'll make a way to heal that child. So that was the update on him. We also want to pray for brother Keith. We're glad you're with us this morning brother Keith. Do you mind if I just share with the church the news? Is that okay with you? So just recently many of you know brother Keith has been caring for his father who is well aged. Who's 91 years old. Is that correct? And he just passed away this week. So please the good news is from multiple accounts he's got a good testimony of salvation. And that is extremely comforting as always the case when people pass on. But even when things are expected. Even when you know you feel like you know things are coming. He was not doing well with his health. It's always there's always it's not always easy still to deal with the passing. So please pray for brother Keith and for his whole family who are in town or coming into town. And that they'll be comforted through their grief and the loss as they mourn the loss of his father. And just say some extra prayers for them as well. Appreciate that. And then other updates. I don't have other updates on the prayer list. Does anyone have an update that they would like to give or they have anything to update us on. Yes sir. Mom's been doing good lately. As far as I know she hasn't had the problems kind of dissipated. Still good and bad days. But what she was going through. Well hold off. We'll keep her on the list for a little while. But that's good news. So Miss Faye Henry is improved and is doing better. And she has issues that come and go a lot. So every time I've removed her name from the prayer list it's like she stops doing well. So we're just going to leave her off this for another week or two and see how things are going before we remove her name. Might as well right. Just get a little extra prayer. But I'm glad to hear that. Very happy to hear that she is she's been improving and feeling better. And then of course we've added Mountain Baptist Church. Pastor Jason Robinson, Fairmount West Virginia. Which by the way he is coming to our camping trip for pretty much the whole week. So he's going to be there all week. And that's really exciting. I'm planning on getting more of that done actually this afternoon to get the I know a lot of people have been asking me and I really I do apologize for not being having this done earlier. There's just been a lot of crazy things going on. Not trying to make excuses but I'm planning I'm getting this done this afternoon as far as our church plans with all the requests that people have been putting in for what you'd like to get with campsites and cottages and stuff like that. So I could at least give start giving people answers. You can expect that after today. So this week after today I should be able to get back to you and say hey but I do there may be there may I may not get back immediately because I do have to reach out to some pastors I've invited all the pastors get invited stay in a cottage so depending on how many are coming also determines how many I'm able to to give out. So that's the only other thing that's going to hold back the information for the camping trip. I spoke with our contractor again last week. Asked not to send out the last guy that sent out that melted our carpet and mudded in our switch for the light. We're almost there I hope. You know I've received another promise. We'll see we'll see if this one holds true or not. Thankfully you know this isn't this isn't like the Lord this isn't our salvation of trusting in this company because we'd be we'd all be in big trouble. We had to rely on their promises to come true. Thank God that he never fails us so. Anyways thank you for bearing with us. I know it seems like it's not much and we should be able to just do a lot more things. I just I really need to get the we really need to get the passing of the fire marshal that's it's actually it's a big deal for us to get this done and I hate that it's lingering over our head but it could mean more construction and other things which is why I haven't moved forward on all the rest of the projects that we want to do because we need to have that certificate of occupancy since all the structural changes are done before we start doing more of the things that that I wanted to get set up in here. So that's just an update on that as well. Also after the service so you can see the upcoming birthdays and anniversary listed there. There's none for today but you can see that Charis has a birthday tomorrow. So her family has brought in some treats for the whole church after church. When you come out here there's some tables set up and there'll be some treats available just as a celebration for Charis' birthday and everybody is welcome to have some. Mrs. Carter will be out there kind of explaining how it's going to work but I believe there's some bags that are going to be pre-made for some of the smaller children so they'll be able to grab a bag but then older people will be able to pick and choose between some different things that you'd like and there'll be bags there if you'll be able to take what you'd like to have. So I appreciate that. It's really nice and I think those are all the extra announcements. So let's continue on here on the second page. March challenge is a prayer challenge. Hopefully you are participating with this even if you miss a day. As I say with all the challenges you know yes that may preclude you from getting a prize but just stick with the spirit of it. It's a challenge right. We want to challenge ourself. We want to get in prayer. Make sure you're creating good patterns for yourself to pray and hopefully and this is a challenge in itself. We do a lot of different challenges and some are more time consuming than others and some are not very sustainable but I believe that others are sustainable. So singing hymns for example I think is very sustainable. Something that could be done throughout the year easily. Not listening to worldly music would go hand in hand with that. That was the December challenge. This one also spending 20 minutes of time in prayer. I kind of think this should be like not a challenge but a minimum personally. I really do think that that this should be a minimum that we should be able to do. So hopefully you are doing this and participating in this and then even you know making the time to have it permanent. Because what we can do and I've done this before too. You use the same time for one challenge then to complete the next challenge and the same time you're doing that but some of these things and I get that for some of them. You may not be able to keep up with the same reading pace for example that we get in January with the New Testament or the extra sowing every single day of the week when we do some of the sowing challenges. Some of those things I get it's not always sustainable but this this definitely should be a sustainable challenge. We ought to be able to look at our prayer life as something that hey I need to increase this. This is something that just needs to be part of my daily routine no matter what. That it's that I make the time so you know I recommend doing some morning prayers doing some you know evening prayers and midday prayers. Personally and when you split it up to a few different times that you're dedicating to pray it's not that much time that you really need to spend. I mean even if you just did five five five you know whatever like moving forward in your life you take this time say hey I'm gonna set aside five I mean it's like think about five minutes can I set aside five minutes for the Lord in the morning before I go to work or before I start my day can I do that? Yeah I mean hopefully hopefully the answer everyone's just like yeah of course I could do that but then it's just a matter of doing it so and these prayer these challenges are meant to get us thinking about these things all the various areas of our life spiritually to be able to do that so anyways I'm taking up too much time now so let's keep going here Hebrews chapter seven is our memory passage we're halfway through with this you will get a prize if you complete that within the time allotted verses one through fourteen birthdays as I mentioned before anniversaries are listed there through the month of March down at the bottom of the page we got the upcoming events so our next homeschool field trip is on a Friday and then Saturday is the soul winning marathon I've been getting a lot of feedback thank you for the people who have been sending me information about the soul winning it's looking like we're going to be in the Marietta Smyrna area that's what everybody's been sending me so alright the voice of the people have spoken I was hoping to go a little bit farther north but I don't know where to go and I guess you don't either so alright we'll do that eventually but you know as I mentioned before these marathons I want to be able to try to hit some areas that we think are going to be really really receptive and have these great days and there's I mean we've got we've got a while and I'm going to get that map placed very soon and we'll see how big the the land area is that we have to hit anyway so there's plenty of places to hit so that's going to be the plan for that and then yeah our camping trip I already talked about that that's about it for our announcements so I am going to turn the service back over to brother Peter who will lead us in our next oh one last thing sorry I knew there was one more thing for the men that were volunteering okay I'm still reviewing all of that information I will get back to you by next week on giving more instruction on those who have volunteered to say hey I want to do this and I want to do this and we're part of those meetings so I am not complete with that yet either but that that is something I plan on being done with by next week and expect to hear from me if you are not already involved in some ministry right now and you're looking to get involved I will talk to you more specifically about the what what we're going to start having you do so that's it thank you brother Peter come on up yes Church you can open your emails to someone 392 song 392 a soul winner for Jesus that's what we're all about Church song 392 let's sing this out I want to be a soul winner for Jesus every day He does so much for me I want to win a loss here to lead us anywhere from what is free a soul winner for Jesus a soul winner for Jesus you let me be each day a soul winner for Jesus a soul winner for Jesus He's done so much for me I want to be a soul winner and bring the loss that He made us this way no more I want to be for Christ never and do His blessing because He loves me so a soul winner for Jesus a soul winner for Jesus you let me be each day a soul winner for Jesus a soul winner for Jesus He's done so much for me I want to be a soul winner till Jesus loves for me to lay my burdens down I want to hear Him say sir, you gather His sheep receive a starry crown a soul winner for Jesus a soul winner for Jesus you let me be each day a soul winner for Jesus a soul winner for Jesus He's done so much for me Church, while we all pray and pray for being passed around, you can open up your Bibles to the book of Psalms chapter 39 The book of Psalms chapter 39 as we do customary here at Stronghold Baptist Church I want to read the entire chapter like that's brother Devin if he can please do that for us Psalm 139 O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me Thou knowest my down-sitting and my uprising Thou understandest my thought afar off Thou compasses my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways For there is not a word in my tongue but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid thine hand upon me Such knowledge is too wonderful for me It is high, I cannot attain unto it Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I send up into heaven, thou art there If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there I will meet the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me Even the night shall be light about me Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day The darkness and the light are both alike to thee For thou hast possessed my reins Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb All praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made Marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God How great is the sum of them If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand When I awake, I am still with thee Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God Depart from me, therefore ye bloody men For they speak against thee wickedly and thine enemies take thy name in vain Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee and am not I grieve with those against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies Search me, O God, and know my heart Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Brother Chad Gonzalez can you pray for us please Amen. Amen. Alright, so the title of my sermon this morning is Thought Crimes and um I'm just going to clear up the title right away because it's not intended to be clickbait later in the future for the video. I just like the title and as we get into it you'll see why I could have gone in a whole other direction you're like we started in Psalm 139 you might be thinking we're going to focus on the end of that chapter there because that could also fit with the Thought Crimes title if you look down at the bottom there the Bible says in verse 21 do not I hate them, O Lord that hate thee and am not I grieved with them that rise up against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies and I wasn't even planning on going over this right now but I might as well we're here and I could easily preach an entire sermon on how hey this is one this is scripture this is what the Bible says you have to reconcile this somehow it has a meaning to it and then when you follow up with verse 23 which is right after what I just read there in verse 22 search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting it wasn't just David having this wicked thought of hating those that hate the Lord he even says like look try me Lord and this is all under inspiration of the Holy Ghost anyways so and of course these days even just saying this out loud at least in many countries can get you in trouble as a Thought Crime because they don't want you hating people okay well how could you control that from anyone how could you even know that for sure you know I think a lot of Christians are lacking in this area but this is what the Bible says but I'm not going that route that's not what this sermon is about at all actually Thought Crimes I want to focus more there in Psalm 139 at the beginning of the passage verse number 1 the Bible says O Lord thou has searched me and known me thou knowest my down sitting and my uprising thou understandest my thought God knows when you get up when you lay down God knows your thoughts and he knows your thoughts from afar off Job 42 you don't have to turn there the Bible says this then Job answered the Lord this is after the Lord was rebuking Job and you know giving all this information you know just inundating him with all this well where were you when you know and he talks about these great creatures and everything else near the end of the chapter Job answers the Lord and said I know that thou can't do everything and that no thought can be withholding from thee no thought is held back from the Lord's knowledge from what God knows and God knows everything about us he knows the number of hairs on your body he knows the thoughts that go through your mind he knows your heart and your intentions he knows it all and the reason why I'm even preaching this is because I think we need to be reminded of this from time to time every thought every word every action God knows you cannot hide from the Lord if I send up in the heaven or if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there God's there you can't hide from God no matter where you could go to the ends of the earth you can go make some spaceship and try to travel light years away or whatever and you cannot escape God no matter what you do God is always there think of this think of just being recorded by a video camera every moment of your life I mean that's the newest thing anyways right people are all into reality tv and stuff and whatever but imagine your life that you're in front of a video camera all the time that might make you a little uncomfortable I know it would make me uncomfortable I don't want it to be recorded all the time but obviously I don't want to be recorded all the time because other people are sinful and stuff you want to have your privacy and like I'm all about privacy and things like that you ought to be able to have your own home life and not have prying eyes looking and seeing and watching what you're doing and everything else but in a sense we are under that video camera surveillance all the time from the Lord right and that recording that video it's not just an external thing because God can zoom in and change the lens to see the heart to see the mind so it's not just an action of like oh well I'm just going to clean up a little bit and move this and you know that's what a video camera would just pick up but it's what's going on up here while you're doing all those things or whatever God knows he knows everything he knows it all we ought not to forget that and hopefully that will keep us humble as well because there are a lot of sins that can be committed right up here now I will say this too you know there is a difference between thinking something and doing something and that's clearly outlined in scripture so I don't want you to think that it's exactly the same and even just a concept of all sin being equal is not true all sin is not equal there's tons of scripture devoted to all the different types of penalties and punishments that you would give to people who commit different sins and different crimes they have a different weight a different offense and that's what justice is justice is bringing forth a just recompense a just reward for what has been done and God is the perfect judge now it is true that when it comes to heaven and hell if you're guilty of one sin you might as well just be guilty of all of them because all sin will send you to hell any sin will send you to hell you must be completely righteous to enter into heaven so yeah that is absolutely true and that's where the false doctrine of this all sin is equal but it's not equal if it was all equal then there wouldn't be a lowest hell there wouldn't be different layers of hell of like you know this person you're going to get a greater damnation that the Bible talks about Judas receiving a greater damnation well why would it be greater? I mean he sinned, they sinned because they're worse because some sins are worse than others absolutely and thinking something sinful isn't as bad as following through and doing that which is sinful but it's still sinful and that's going to be the focus today so that we can help and also by the time we get to the end help to figure out well how how can I deal with this because it's one thing just to recognize okay this is a sin and some people I'm going to go through some scriptures just to make sure it's proven that this is a sin you know thinking wrong things is a sin and some people might not even think well that's not I didn't see that most well how about we see this in all the you know there's the law and the prophets there's plenty of scripture that's given to us under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost it doesn't have to necessarily be something that's spelled out or penned down in Exodus or Deuteronomy right it doesn't have to be found in a specific book of the Bible to say well then these are the only sins no there's a lot more than that in Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verse 20 the Bible says curse not the king turn if you would to Acts chapter 8 Acts chapter 8 Ecclesiastes 10 20 says curse not the king no not in thy thought and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber for a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter this is just good wisdom and you know advice saying you know don't even speak these things because you start speaking against you know this guy in power he's going to find out right through means that you don't think he's going to find out you know if you're going to start saying this stuff you better realize that you can't just expect to have whatever your any evil thought you might have to not leave your walls right because someone's always listening and not just God right this advice is saying hey look don't curse the king no not in thy thought don't even don't even think that curse curse not the rich in thy bedchamber is like you know what it's going to be found out so you be careful with the things that you say Acts chapter 8 we're going to see this situation here with a man who gets saved and you know I've heard people say this guy's not saved but you know I'm going to turn there myself because the Bible records right oh I'm in John 8 I'm going to be in Acts 8 we're going to start looking here about Philip and Simon so verse 12 the Bible says but when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ they were baptized both men and women Philip is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ people are responding they're believing they're getting baptized being added to the church right they're getting saved verse 13 then Simon himself believed also so we just got done talking about people were getting saved and baptized by believing the things that Philip was preaching and then it says then Simon himself believed also in like manner just like they did oh well his belief wasn't real because look he believed also he's in the same group as everyone else that was there you're going to say that all the other people weren't saved too why would you even say that he believed also and when he was baptized he continued with Philip and wondered beholding the miracles and signs which were done so he's seeing now what they're doing he's like man this is amazing you know they hear the doctrine they hear the gospel get saved and this guy just in case you didn't know already this from the story he was elevated as someone who was this real man of God or whatever because he was able to deceive the people through his enchantments and stuff and it says it says specifically that in verse 9 there was a certain man called Simon which before time used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria giving out that himself was some great one so he was claiming to be this great man of God and everything else but he was using sorcery he was not of God and he clearly wasn't saved but that's who he was presenting himself to be and the people followed him and were listening to what he was saying he had a lot of people deceived but then he hears the gospel and he gets saved himself he gets saved and he sees now he starts to see like man these apostles are coming and they're doing these great miracles and people are being able to speak with other tongues these signs are following when they're laying their hands on people they're getting full of the Holy Ghost and getting bold and able to preach and do these different things and receive these different gifts and he's just like I mean he's blown away by this this is way more powerful than anything that he's ever dealt with and his sorcery and his bewitchments you know he's seeing this is real this is true this is of God like this is the power of God so he sees that and I think also just based on his past too he's like well hey I want to be able to do that too and he sees this it says in verse 14 now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God they sent unto them Peter and John who when they were come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost for as yet he was fallen upon none of them only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and this is that's a whole another separate doctrine I could teach on this isn't the indwelling of the Holy Ghost that you receive when you're when you get saved this is the power of the Holy Ghost to be able to do these other miracles and other signs and wonders and things that were being done at that time and that was only given through the laying on of hands when the Holy Ghost was given in verse number 17 says then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost and when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given he offered them money saying give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost now personally we can't see this guy's heart I actually think that he wanted to do good and and give people the power of the Holy Ghost but he's totally off on what it even means and you know like like what are you thinking offering money for a spiritual gift right like that that in itself is just is just way off and that was sinful for him to have such a foolish thought to even think that the things of God can be purchased with filthy lucre he's ignorant granted he's a new believer but it's still sinful for him so you can't rely on the well I just didn't even know you know people have these stupid thoughts all the time and you know what they're sinful a lot of them are sinful a lot of stupid thoughts that people have now they want to serve God when they're just completely off on it like this is way off thinking that the things of God can be purchased money is actually it's a very big deal and if you don't understand that that's fine but just read and believe what the Bible says anyways because now we're going to see the response that he receives to asking to buy to give money in order to get this spiritual gift verse 20 but Peter said unto him my money perish with thee you know what you can take your money and your money is going to die with you because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money because thou thought thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right in the sight of God see I can see right now that your heart isn't right and like I said before I still believe his intentions may have been to do good but his heart wasn't right in thinking that you can purchase the gifts of God with money his heart was just way way off on that way wrong his understanding no understanding on that and he says this verse 22 repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee for I receive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity then answered Simon and said pray ye to the Lord for me that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me so the thought of trying to attempt to get money you know just want it that sinful that was sinful and people have this really bad idea and turn if you would to Deuteronomy chapter 15 because you know I was saying earlier it doesn't matter if it's in a specific book of the Bible but this is in the law too by the way references to thoughts being sinful my point is it could be anywhere if it's being condemned as a sin and it's under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and not just someone's you know opinion if it's a narrator saying these things like look this is this is wicked it's wrong it's sinful and I'll get to what I was just going to say in a minute I'm getting a little too far ahead of myself verse number 7 in Deuteronomy 15 the Bible says this if there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee thou shalt not harden thine heart nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need and that which he wanteth and again wanteth isn't the same as desire wanteth is a need big difference it's not just oh your brother desires something just give him everything that he desires that's not what it says gives him what he wants wants means it's a need it's he's lacking something like I'm lacking food I'm going hungry help your brother out right that's what it's talking about verse 9 beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart saying the seventh year the year of release is at hand now the year of release was something that it was every seven years for the children of Israel if you were indebted to anybody you were going to be free from that debt if you went into this indentured servitude where you're paying off a debt by working for someone you would be released every seven years it's something that God had this every seven years of release to just kind of clear clear it up between themselves and be able to move forward and now he's saying because if you're giving to someone that's in need and you're giving expecting to receive something back because you're lending it to them okay look you're in need here you go I'll give you something now but then you're going well wait a minute the year of release is like six months away like when we observe and we like there's no way this guy's going to be able to pay me back in six months this is what God is saying now if you have this wicked thought going well I don't want to give to this person in need because the debt's just going to be wiped away anyway he's not going to pay me back I just don't want to give to him because now I'm just out and God says that's a wicked thought that is a thought in thy wicked heart saying the seventh year of release is at hand and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother evil you're doing them harm by not helping them and now give us to him not, not meaning nothing you give him nothing and he cry in the Lord against thee and it be sin unto thee say well I didn't do anything but that was the problem you didn't do anything to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin and when your brother is in need and you have the ability to help your brother in need you know what you are duty bound to help your brother in need according to the law and if you start thinking about my return and going wait he's not going to get you know that's a wicked thought God set up that year of release for a very good reason and it wasn't for people to game the system and going like well yeah I just won't give you anything now I'm only going to give people something when I have at least six years of giving time to pay me back or whatever that's wicked and that could just be your thought and that would be a wicked thought in your mind and that would be sinful obviously here it's followed by inaction but all of our thoughts all of our actions are preceded by thoughts our thoughts determine our actions every action even a reaction still there's some thought going into it no matter how small amount of time it is or how much small how much little thought there is there is thought going into everything everything that you do the Bible says this I'll read this for you turn if you would to um turn to Matthew chapter 12 Proverbs 24 I'll read this for you Proverbs 24 Bible says in verse 8 he that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person he that deviseth you're just it's in your mind you're devising to do evil they're called a mischievous person and it's followed up with this the thought of foolishness is sin and some of you may use this I know I do sometimes from time to time just letting people know like hey even the thought of foolishness is sin the thought of foolishness just thinking about doing something foolish devising to do evil is foolish that's I think why it's in the context here but there's many many many things that are foolish that a fool would do and anything that's contrary to the law is going to be a foolish thing to do because you're breaking God's command that's a very foolish thing to do so thinking about doing things that are against the law is a sin it's a sin and look this is I would say probably the most difficult thing different difficult aspect of a human being that we are to try to get under control but there's no doubt about the sinfulness of it and we need to confront this from time to time it's even worse than our mouth because a mouth is another really thing that's hard to tame it's not easy to control but we can do better at controlling our mouth than we can with our mind because even the things that come out of our mouth still stem from up here the thought of foolishness is sin and the scorn is abomination to men if thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small if thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain if thou sayest behold we knew it not doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it who's he that pondereth the heart God God knows the thoughts of your heart so if you say hey we didn't know it God knows your heart and he that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it and shall not he render to every man according to his works God knows you can't lie to God you can't have an excuse for God and this is just in general I'm talking about the thought crimes but with anything and this will help you to receive mercy from God in your sins do not go to God with your excuses of why you commit a sin I recommend not doing that my experience as a father helps me with that understanding I don't want to hear excuses you know what I do want to hear? I want to see and I want to hear repentance and full acceptance and acknowledgement I was wrong so even in your thoughts you have a wicked sinful thought I don't care you know we can't control always everything that comes in front of our eyes and I'll get to that in a minute too it's going to be one of the things that we can try to do to help prevent wicked thoughts is controlling what comes in front of our eyes you can't always control that but you know what if you think of bad thoughts you don't go to God and say well God I mean this came you know like look that's an excuse you still shouldn't have a wicked thought no matter what's coming in front of you you need to be able to control that it is coming forth out of your heart and like I said I could 100% say I'm not saying that I have this all settled and I'm perfect like no way no way but we can't just ignore it either and just because it's a sin that every single person is guilty of and I'm guilty of too I'm still not going to just refrain from preaching on this I'll acknowledge and admit wholeheartedly I am definitely not perfect on this okay but it's still true and it's written in scripture over and over and over again and we ought to recognize this and not downplay it and not think it's not a big deal this is the main thrust and focus of the sermon is that nobody downplays the wicked thought because it is a big deal and God knows all of it we need to start looking for the mercy and forgiveness and have that repentance while it's still just a thought because if you continue to have thoughts especially similar thoughts or the same thoughts of wickedness of foolishness of sin it will turn to action it will turn to action especially the really bad sins I mean the capital crime type sins those things definitely don't just they're just not these total impulsive oops like a thought may come across your mind the actions are not like that the people who commit adultery it's not just like wow I just walked to this room and then it happened like I don't even know how no there's some thoughts going on behind the scenes there's a departure in your heart from your spouse already has taken place because if any situation were to present itself and none of that stuff was going on and you were completely content and satisfied with your spouse that wouldn't be happening it wouldn't be happening you'd be like no but when you start sowing those seeds and you notice the people are like I'm married well I could still look at the menu no no you don't and especially not if you're looking at it for I mean no you're not selecting anyone there's no one to choose from I don't care why you're looking at the menu you don't need to look at it ever unless unless you're a widow then you can pick up the menu again see what's out there alright that's it you get married no looking at the menu what's the point of that what you're going to do is you're going to start planting stupid foolish thoughts in your own mind and you'll be thinking about things you shouldn't be thinking about the Bible says in Matthew 12 well I'll just read this for you in Matthew say in Matthew 12 Matthew 5 27 the Bible says you have heard that it was said by them of old time thou shalt not commit adultery but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart that is a thought lusting after someone in your heart in your mind okay Jesus said now he didn't say it's the same as adultery but he said you have committed adultery with her already and it was in your heart if you're lusting after someone you are already sinning someone's not your spouse you're lusting after them you're married you're lusting after someone else you say yeah but I didn't do anything I didn't commit adultery but you did in your heart and he wouldn't be saying that if that wasn't a sin because then he's going to talk about plucking out your eye and cutting off your hand in Matthew chapter 5 okay it is a big deal it's a very big deal Matthew 12 we're looking down on verse number 34 the Bible says a generation of vipers how can ye being evil speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh a good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things but I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment for by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned these are the words coming out of your mouth they all start from your heart and when the Bible talks about your heart it's it's oftentimes we would consider that our mind right it's the things that we're thinking about it's not just it's not just an emotion it's it's it's tied together it's one of those things that's kind of hard to concretely just just define but we all know what you're saying when something's coming from your heart you're talking to someone it's coming from your heart it's coming out of you but it it's coming out of your being but it's but it's something you can still control like who you are which is which is based in your mind and in your heart this is the areas where this this stuff is coming forward and he's saying look out of the abundance of the heart so if you if you're full of a bunch of wicked thoughts and you have a lot of wicked things going on in your mind those same things are going to be coming out of your mouth and things that come in can influence the things that are going on in your mind so when you're putting a bunch of wicked things in front of your eyes and you're you're getting real worldly and watching all the TV and watching all this and watching all that and what you know you're consuming all this going in it's going to impact the things that you think about and then it's also going to be coming right back out because now you've corrupted your heart you've corrupted your mind into being in this mindset people who are hearing a bunch of filthy language and communication all the time you know what happens? they start spitting out that filthy language that's how it happens no one who doesn't have filthy language no one who doesn't have filthy language just flips a switch one day and just starts talking like a sailor right? if you know what I mean on that analogy right? going out and just or like a rap star right? you don't just go from having a normal English vocabulary and speaking proper to every other word being some four letter word coming out of your mouth but people speak like that and that starts coming out of people's mouth it's because of what you're putting in you're not guarding your heart you're not guarding your mind properly but my point is because you're allowing that in even before it starts coming out and manifesting itself outwardly it's already going on in here just be aware of that stop it before it gets worse and the thought crimes is the place to start start and stop it there get it taken care of before it manifests itself outwardly where do I want you to turn? turn to Joshua chapter 7 this illustrates this perfectly I'll read for you from James chapter 1 the Bible says in James 1 verse 14 the lust of your flesh is driving this temptation but then you start thinking on it and dwelling on it that lust is already conceived and then it's just a matter of time and sin always brings forth death and that's already a sin that conception of that testing of your flesh turning into this desire covetousness and you know what else is covetous not just loving money that's covetous if you desire to sin that's covetous you're wanting something that you can't have so if you're thinking about desiring to get drunk if you're thinking about desiring to fornicate if you're thinking about desiring to list off the sin you're being covetous over something that you're not allowed to have or not allowed to do and that's wicked and that can all be going on up here and look no one knows that but there's one that knows that God knows that see these are things that you can hide from every other person in the entire world to an extent now if you keep on letting it fester it's all going to come out because you're out of the buttons of the heart the mouth speaking so if you allow this to fester and to keep on you know you have this playground in your mind of wicked thoughts it will come out it will come out stop it before it does and get right with God and get repentant with God in your heart and you know on the bad side God knows your heart but you know what on the good side God knows your heart ok so when you get right with God in your heart he'll see that too Joshua chapter 7 look at verse number 20 this was the sin that Achan had that had a huge impact and it didn't even just impact him verse 20 says and Achan answered Joshua and said indeed I have sinned against the Lord, the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus have I done when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels wait then I coveted them and took them and behold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it this was after the victory at Jericho everything was supposed to be destroyed everything was supposed to be you know not taken none of the accursed things were supposed to be taken it was supposed to just be rubble and they were just leaving it there then the next battle is the battle of Ai and that's the one where they get defeated and they're going why? why would you know like God what's going on here they were confused you know Joshua didn't know what was going on and the Lord's just like look someone's taken of the accursed thing so then they do this inquisition they find out that Achan is the one that sinned and now he's you know telling them what he did and how did it but I want to point out how this happened how did this work well he's in there with the rest of the people they're fighting he's warring you know he's doing the killing and everything else they're defeating the enemy and as he's going through and clearing houses or whatever he says he sees he says I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish guy and he's like hey I saw some I saw some pretty good clothing there and 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weights like man I saw the silver and the gold and this you know good clothes the guy the guy that lived here must have been pretty wealthy and he's like I saw this stuff then I coveted them that's the next step so first he sees it now what are you doing in your mind when you see that you ought to be thinking God said I can't have any of that that's for the dung hill that's going to get raised that's going to get burned praise the Lord for the victory that's going away but that's not what went on in his mind in his mind then he saw that and he desired it he wanted that I want that I want that stuff man if I had that what a blessing to have all that silver and gold right and it's change of clothing and change of clothing by the way too back then was a big deal especially you get some real nice fancy clothes like that was not the same economy that we have today with our clothing and the mass manufacturing and stuff like that not like that at all so it was very valuable to get some piece of clothing that's why he was desiring this so then he coveted and then he actually took them the sin started in his mind and not having it settled beforehand nope if I see anything I'm just not going to have it they were given the instructions in advance and we have the instructions in advance we should be setting our mind to just to be look this is I was setting a wicked thing before my eyes I'm going to make sure that I can do my best to prevent this from happening and if any of this happens here's my plan here's what I'm going to do I'm going to look the other way if something crosses my path I'm going to give myself as little opportunity as possible to allow my mind to now start to think and meditate on something that I shouldn't be looking on have the plan already we already have the plan God's given it to us so get this in your mind and in your heart to help prevent you from going further because then even at the coveting the coveting was sinful then too he should have stopped there but then that covetousness led to taking and I think that's ultimately what got him killed him and his family I mean it was more people got hurt as a result of his selfish sin it wasn't just him read the story you go back and find out all that was done it was not just him and his family it was all that he had everything was wiped out because of his sin his covetousness the problem is the more you the more you let your mind go the harder it is to stop that train from moving you're setting forward thoughts and intents in your heart and you're weakening yourself from being able to stop like like when it got to the point of the covetousness it was a lot harder for him then to resist the taking of it because he allowed himself to look on it and think on it and be like oh man I want that and starts thinking about the things that would be great for him to be able to have that and do what he could do with all that and then he takes it and it doesn't take long for all those thoughts to happen in your mind by the way either I'm not saying he was just standing there for like an hour going you know just staring at it it doesn't have to take that long but you know our thoughts move really quickly and you have to keep them in checking and have it ready to go in advance so that's part of the solution so I'll talk about the solution now and turn if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 2 Corinthians 10 and then also Proverbs 16 those are the last two places we're going to look at this morning so part of the solution is going to be keeping your eyes from seeing things that ought not to see just in advance you already know you know just like the foolish man that walked by the way of the harlot's house and you know keep yourself from that you know the Bible talks about the wine when it's red give it its color and color and move itself to the right it's not to even look on it don't look on the wine so how about you just avoid the liquor aisle at the grocery store most grocery stores that I go to they have like the whole thing is just all booze so you're just like sweet I don't have to get anything down that aisle because it's all just booze so just I mean look you have to see it because you're walking down the store and you're at a couple points and you're like oh and here's what you do not going there, just keep going on your way and don't even allow yourself a second thought just there it is okay I'm going to go here that should be a sign of going you know like it's like a big red stop sign so when you start seeing the red wine you go no that's a red stop sign can't go that way I'm going this way and that's it and train yourself to think about it that way to not allow the oh well what you know foolish thoughts and that's just one that's really small example this is one small example but trying to keep your eyes you know Job talks about you know I've made a covenant with my eyes how then shall I think upon a maid right he was married with children he's not going to be thinking about some maid because he's made a covenant with his eyes he's made this deal it's packed with his eyes I'm only going to look at certain things keep your eyes from seeing things I don't have to see number two make a conscious effort to control your thoughts look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse number 3 the Bible says for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to pull casting down of strongholds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ so it's not enough to just try to prevent things from coming in front of your eyes you have to get your thoughts captive you have to get control of them you have to just figure out how to make a conscious effort it takes a conscious effort you have to actually devise a plan and think about it of saying how can I control my thoughts just avoiding things isn't enough because you will inevitably be confronted with things that you can't avoid so that's where you have to train yourself and there's many ways to train yourself and the best way is going to be using the word of God being reminded of the foolishness of whatever wicked thing is enticing to you get the word of God in your heart about those things and you know what I would say too if you're having thought problems on any particular area forget this challenge the Bible memory that we're doing the Hebrew you know whatever it is relevant and focus on you know what I'm going to get this under control and I'm going to make an effort to do this so every day I will start to memorize this verse of the Bible and this verse and this verse and this verse and it's going to be a daily thing it's not like because look you could memorize a verse in 10 minutes if you wanted to you can memorize a verse in a really you know if you're really bad at memory an hour or whatever right like it's not that much time to memorize the verse but the key to training is you're going to have to give this in your head over and over and over again because what you want to do is train yourself to have a reaction to whatever it is to remind you how foolish it is and you memorize the word of God that's literally God speaking to you you know people talk about God tells me this and God tells me no this is what God is telling you so get this in your heart and then God can speak to you so that way when you're when you see the things that could spark you your mind to go in a not righteous direction you could train yourself to be like wait no no no I'm not going to give in because God's word can be there with you but it doesn't happen by accident it does not happen by accident it takes effort it takes time and takes thought and serious I mean how serious are you on wanting to live a righteous pure life I mean God will help you with that but you got to try you got to exert effort and then my last part of the solution you know keeping things from your eyes making the effort to control your thoughts and to manage when things do come in front of your view but then the last thing and if you turn to Proverbs 16 an idle mind is the devil's playground when you are not doing anything when you're not busy that is the most likely time for you to start thinking up foolish things and start sinning with your mind the busier you are the less opportunity and time you're going to have for the foolish thoughts to be going on in your mind and that's just a fact because you're going to be focused on whatever it is that you've already decided and are doing that you need to do and as we do our challenges look there's no end to the amount of time you could spend on doing things that are right there's no end to it there's never enough time to complete all of it but even and I'm not saying that a relaxation or a rest is bad or you shouldn't do it we should get rest we need rest from time to time but you plan out your rest too as silly as that might sound plan it out to not just be left to your own devices of whatever always have a plan think of something to not just be like well let's just see what's uh let's just see what's on the internet let's just see that's not going to be that's not going to end well now look maybe you don't act on it but it's going to start infecting your heart it's going to start affecting you your mind you think you know what you're going to be thinking about then is all going to be influenced by that be purposeful if you're going to go online great online is a great tool I love the technology and stuff and the ease of it but be um why is the word escaping me be intentional on what you're doing be intentional have a I'm looking for something or you know this is what I want to see I don't want to get off into various areas and and allow that to happen I'm looking up something specific or whatever Bible says in Proverbs 16 verse number 2 all the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes but the Lord wayeth the spirits everyone thinks they're great and this is hopefully trying to challenge you to think about even your own thoughts wait a minute I definitely have some work to do here but then verse number 3 gives us this great solution this is actually the verse that prompted this entire sermon commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established so yet we do the other things I mentioned are great things you want to try to keep things from your eyes and you want to intentionally try to do things and train yourself to not think wicked thoughts but if you commit your works just what you do to the Lord you just start doing right and say yeah I'm going to read my Bible I'm going to do this I'm going to commit this work then your thoughts will be established your thoughts will follow the work that you're doing you know how you're deciding to spend your time I'm going to commit my work this Saturday this Monday this Tuesday to doing this and then this and then this I'm going to commit my works to the Lord your mind is going to follow what you're doing generally speaking obviously there may be some times but you're not going to go from you're probably not going to go to some weird extreme unless you've been filling that in your mind already so if you're working on like this yesterday I was working on some house projects and doing you know drilling holes and making stuff right like fixing things okay for most of the time I'm thinking about literally what I'm doing I'm thinking about I have to have the screw right here you know whatever like maybe other people are different I have to think about those things but of course there's some time in between you're grabbing materials and doing things but those extra thoughts then you're still probably primarily going to be thinking about what you're doing but of course there's time to think about other things those other things that pop up there are going to be a result of how have you been spending your time what have you been doing recently what do you plan on doing in the future you know that's generally going to be consuming your thoughts it's when what am I going to do today I don't know and you just have nothing that idleness is the perfect opportunity for the bad wicked sinful thoughts that are coming in and for your thoughts not to be established commit your works unto the lord your thoughts will be established so these are ways to help combat that look none of us are perfect but seriously consider consider the the sinfulness of the thought the wicked thought the bad thought the sinful thought it is a sin in and of itself so don't just pat yourself on the back for not doing it like you know for not going forward and actually committing the sin that you're thinking about try to get the wicked thought out of your mind so that you don't go down that whatever path you know whatever is enticing whatever it is that you're allowing yourself to indulge in in your mind just get rid of it let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer dear lord we love you god and we are so far from perfect lord and you do know you know very well how far we are because you know every one of our thoughts you know our intents of our heart dear lord you also know the struggle of our flesh and I pray that you would please help us to overcome that flesh and to be able to mortify the deeds of our flesh and to be able to walk in the spirit dear lord the bible says that if we if we walk in the spirit that we won't fulfill the lusts of the flesh similar to committing our works to the lord and having our thoughts established god help us in our thought life help us to be able to get our minds in check to be able to keep them from wandering off into a sinful area dear lord we love you we don't want to sin but please please strengthen us and help us and help us to put forth that effort too that we would consciously be thinking about changing ourselves from within and we purify that which is within first that the outward also may be clean lord we love you in Jesus name we pray amen alright we're going to sing one last song before we're dismissed and as I mentioned don't forget there's going to be some treats out here for you for Caris' birthday and brother Peter will you please lead us in our last song one two three four four five six seven eight nine 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 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