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

All right, amen. Well, I am definitely glad to be here, and I want to thank you all for coming out. It was supposed to come last year, but I had a hindrance, and it almost happened again this morning. So, I was at the airport, and they were like, oh, we overbooked this flight by three people, right? And I just happened to be one of three people that didn't have an assigned seat, and they kept asking, like, are you sure you can't go tonight? Are you sure you can't go tomorrow? We can get you there by midnight tonight. Like, still tomorrow, it's not going to work, so. I'm like, look, there's no way I'm giving up this seat. They're like, we're giving $500 that you can use at another time, like, nope, find somebody else. So, the Lord worked it out, and I'm here, I'm glad, and it worked out great. But, I want to thank Pastor Thompson and Ms. Sherry for inviting me. We've definitely enjoyed our friendship over the years, and I'm glad to meet and fellowship with all of you, and those of you that I haven't met, Brother Paul, thanks for picking me up this morning. I really appreciate it. And Brother Jason, where's he at? Oh, back there. Thanks for giving me a ride tomorrow. Now, we're going to hold you to it, or otherwise, I'm going to preach a whole other sermon on Sunday, all right? It's going to be real bad. So, I'm just kidding. I'm just teasing. All right, well, let's get into this here. We're in Acts, chapter number 18. If you would, look down to verse number 17. So, before we read that verse here, let's just kind of talk about what's going on here. So, I'm going to be preaching with this passage here between verse 10 and verse 17. So, this passage where Paul's being comforted by the Lord Jesus for preaching the gospel, and, you know, the Lord tells him, hey, you know, I've got your back. I have a lot of people here, you know, continue doing what you're doing. There's no reason to be afraid, okay? And as with any church or anyone preaching the truth, certain people don't like that, and they want to try and hinder that, and they want to try to stop that. So, the Jews make insurrection like they always do, and they cook up a story and decide, you know what? Hey, we're going to go ahead and turn Paul into the authorities, right? Because you know that the authorities love to settle disputes about religion and about things of faith. So, just to start off here, I want you to look down at verse number 17. So, the Bible says, then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat, and Gileo cared for none of these things. Now, the title of the sermon this evening is How to Not Catch a Fade. How to Not Catch a Fade, okay? Some of you know what I'm talking about. Some of you don't. If you're not familiar with that, that's street terminology for not to catch a beating, okay? How to not get beat down. And, you know, obviously, you know, I could preach this sermon about physical security and so forth, but really that's not what it's about. When I found out I was coming here, I was kind of thinking like, you know, what am I going to preach? What am I going to preach to a church that's, you know, going through their third year anniversary? And I got to thinking, and I was thinking, you know, a couple weeks ago, because I preached out of this chapter to my church about two weeks ago, and I was like, what would I preach if I had to, you know, if I had two hours to preach to my congregation on our third year anniversary, which, you know, we took care of last Sunday? And I figured, you know what I would preach? I would preach about time management, about time management, about not getting beat down by time, okay? And I'm going to unpack all of this stuff here in this passage. We're going to wind up coming back to it, but if you would, look down at verse number 14. So back up and look at verse number 14, and I want to show you one of the reasons why Sosthenes got a beating, okay? Now, it's kind of a good thing, because I believe that this is the same Sosthenes that we read about in 1 Corinthians that actually wound up getting saved. Now, can you prove that? No, but that's what I believe. I believe that because after this happens, the Bible says that Paul continued preaching there and teaching and doing what he always did, and I, you know, I believe that, hey, you know, if you can't beat him, join him, so I think that's what Sosthenes probably experienced, which I'm going to save that title for next year, okay? You can only do so many out of the chapter before people like, what, are you out of material? So, okay, so if you would, look at verse number 14 and notice, I want you to notice something here. So these Jews, right, they come, they bring Paul, like we've got him, you know, Galio, he's going to do something about this. He's going to get this guy out of here, okay? And then when Paul's ready to defend himself, okay, he doesn't even get a word off, but look what happens here in verse 14, it says, and when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Galio said unto the Jews, if it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, oh ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you, but if it be a question of words and name and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matters, okay? So one of the reasons that they're upset is because Sosthenes is literally wasting their time, okay? I mean, think about it. There's probably several reasons that they're upset. One, that you know how the Jews are, right? They haven't changed over the years. They're always, and I'm not, you know, look, being Jewish is a religion, okay? And they want to say, oh, well, this is our race. No, that's your religion, okay? Rejecting Christ is what you do. Trying to stop people from preaching the gospel is what you do, okay? You weren't born that way. Someone taught you that, okay? It's a religion, and this is literally what they do today, okay? And so these Greeks, you know, they're just like, we're probably, we're sick and tired of this. We're sick and tired of hearing all this, and here is a perfect opportunity to take out some frustration. But most of all, these guys are literally upset that Sosthenes and his crew would waste their time. I mean, think about it. You know, it's like if we try to take Stephen Furtick to court for being a heretic, you know? Or take any of these false prophets to court for being a heretic. What do you think the judge would say? The same thing, you know? And I don't think we'd get beat today because most people are weak, you know? But I could be wrong. I mean, that day is coming, but you get what I'm trying to say, right? We wouldn't, they would be like, you're wasting time here. You went through all this trouble, and you actually thought you were so important that we would care about this petty issue, right? I mean, our government, you know, they want to silence us, right? But they're not going to get involved in a lawsuit over preaching the gospel or over somebody, you know, preaching or repenting your sins or something like that. They're going to say, no, wait, man, you're wasting your time, okay? And so the topic of this sermon is how not to fade back into time. How to fade back into that slumber, that sleep, that does so easily tempt us, okay? This is something that's been on my heart for a while. It's something that I've experienced in my own life. It's something that we've all experienced, okay? But you need to be on guard with this. You know, when I was writing this, you know, I wish I could just preach a two-hour one to every church that's going through their three-year anniversary, because the Book of Acts is just, you know, like spot on. I mean, of course, it is the Word of God, but if you remember in Acts chapter 20, you know, Paul calls the leadership of Ephesus together. He calls the Ephesian elders together, and he tells them, you know, I've been with you for three years, and I've been preaching, and I've been teaching you guys, you know, and he's like, I'm getting ready to leave. I'm getting ready to depart, you know, and he's basically saying, hey, you guys need to have a sense of urgency regarding everything that I've taught you over these last three years, and here's why. Because grievous wolves are going to come in, and they're not going to spare the flock, okay? And then by the time you get to Revelation, what do you read? You read a letter of rebuke. You read how the church in Ephesus lost their first love. And so what I told our church, I made the application, you know, we're going to go back to the basics. Not because I'm trying to administer some punitive action, right, but because that's the lesson that I see here, right? We need to go back to the basics every so often so that we get that urgency, so we maintain that hate, and yes, I said hate, for false doctrine, okay, for those who hate God. Because if we don't, who will? You're going to trust in these liberal churches to do anything for God? I don't think so. Look, it's us, and if we fade out, if we fizzle out, if we take a fade from Father Time, then guess what? The work isn't going to get done. And this is what we see constantly, you know? You guys don't want to go into ministry. You need to prepare yourselves, prepare your hearts for this letdown, because it's a real thing, and it happens often. It happens all the time. And before it ever happens, there are always warning signs leading up to it. And that's what I believe Paul was trying to tell the Ephesians. He was trying to tell them, hey, don't think that just because you're in your third-year apprenticeship that you've got it all figured out, okay? Because after I leave, and you get that journeyman's card, guess what? Trouble's coming, and you're not as tough as you think you are. Don't ever neglect the basics. Don't ever think, oh, I've got it so put together, I'm just going to keep trying to learn and never visit the basics, never go over the foundation. Because here's what you've got to understand. When people come in and they do damage, okay, and they get kicked out or they get exposed to whatever it is, you have to realize they did some level of damage. So a foundation check every so often is very needful, okay? Because this life, when you decide that you want to come to this church here, and you want to serve God, you want to be a disciple, you want to draw the line in the sand, so to speak, you better realize that at a certain point, you may not see it, but you better understand that complacency wants to set in. Oh, the same old cycle. People come in, we attach ourselves to them, and then they let us down or they get exposed, and you just get this emotional rollercoaster, just up and down, up and down. We need to develop thick skin, we need to develop some patience, and we need to most of all protect our time, okay? Because it's so easy to be like, man, these people keep hurting us, these people keep damaging us, they're wasting our time. And you'll start having this conversation with yourself, like, man, you know, is this what my life's about, this constant let down? Okay? But don't ever have that mentality, because I watch it happen to people all the time, and they're out, you know? And it's like, I don't take this attitude, and it's tempting to, like, oh, you're quitting on me. No, you're quitting on God, and it's embarrassing. It's sad, it's terrible, because there are a lot of doors out there, there are a lot of people that need to get saved, that need to get discipled, and who else is going to do it? But I'll tell you what, if we don't learn how to manage our time, it will beat us down, just like Sosthenes got beat down in this chapter. So if you would, turn to John chapter 9. John chapter 9, and I want to read four verses here, and we're going to take this apart in the next few minutes. But in verse 4, we're going to learn something that Jesus teaches us about time. And it's very, very, very important. It's something that you should not walk out of those doors, not completely understanding. So let's look at it together. Look at verse number 1. It says, and as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. Verse 2. And his disciples asked him, saying, master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Now, look at the patience that Jesus has here. Look at verse 3. And Jesus answered, neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be manifest in him. Look at verse 4. I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. You understand what he just said, Darren? We have to work when it is day because the night's coming. You say, well, yeah, the night comes every single day. He's not talking about the physical night. He's talking about when your purpose, when your position here is over. Okay? He's letting us know, hey, you better get this concept through your skull because you will regret it if you just throw away the work that needs to be done in the day, so to speak, which is a picture of the Christian life. I promise you, you will regret it. And we tell people this all the time. Oh, yeah, that's right. Amen. And then a year later, two years later, three years later, okay, these things start to appear. People start to get complacent, thinking they know everything, thinking they've got it all put together, and the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about your hedge of protection, seeking where he can get in and mess with you and start playing mind games with you and start throwing you off track, and the next thing you know, you start feeling like you're owed time, like you're owed something, and then you no longer do the work, and then the night comes in a moment where you don't expect it, and you will spend eternity, not sobbing your eyes out. I'm not saying that, but to some degree, we don't know how this is going to look or how this is going to work, but we do know that you will regret it. And I tell everybody at our church this all the time. You know, you're going to be in eternity a lot longer than you are here, so you might as well just realize that and give up your time. Now, you can leave your place there, but keep something there because we will come back to it, but go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 3. I believe one of the biggest threats that Christians face today is being distracted by things that don't pertain to the mission. I believe that people develop this attitude, right, and I see this all the time, and if you think about it, you see this all the time as well. You get somebody in the church, or you get a few guys in the church, or it doesn't matter who it is, right? They read the Bible, they study, and they're like, you know what, you need to just go and be a pastor. You need to just go off and, you know, or be an evangelist. You need to be in a position of authority or something, okay? That's real, I mean, there's obviously nothing wrong with that, right? We need people to go out and start churches. We need people to step up and be pastors and to be deacons and all of these sorts of things, but here's the thing. When this mindset sets into the church, what that does is it tells the other people, well, I'm not that important. I don't have any desire to go into the ministry, so, you know, I can do whatever I want to with my time, and nothing can be further from the truth. You are in the kingdom of God. You are a worker just like me or just like Pastor Thompson, just like anybody, and we need your help. And so I've got this statement that this sermon is built around, and it's this. We should be willing, okay, we should be willing to serve God with our valuable time, not our spare time, okay? We should be willing to serve God with our valuable time, not our spare time, and isn't that what we see often from people? You know, I've got a few extra minutes here. Yeah, I'll read a chapter, or I've got a free Sunday. No problem. I'll go to church. How would you like it if God was like, well, I've got a spare minute. I'll go ahead and bless you in that financial crisis you're going through. I'll give you five bucks. I'll get you halfway there, okay? He's not like that, but that's how we can get with the things of God, and Jesus tells us here very clearly. He says, hey, I must work the works of him that sent me. That should be the attitude of every single believer in this room. I must, I must, not my pastor must, not the deacon must, not the evangelist must, but I must work the works of him that sent me. If you develop that attitude, look, you're going to be on the right track. You're going to be on the track to finish the race, like Paul said, because that's what we need. You have to understand, most people will quit. It's just a fact of life. Most people will quit, and I'm telling you right now, it starts because people get distracted with stupid things that don't matter, and they will never remember when they get into eternity. Don't we want this thing to grow? Don't we want more people? It's not going to happen if we don't grow. It's not going to happen if we start becoming distracted with things that do not pertain to the mission. And you say, what are you saying? I should just quit my job and do that. No, look, we've got to work. We have wood, hay, and stubble. We have things that we have to do. I get that. Everybody gets that. You've got to make a living. But you know what, there's something very special, very interesting about time, and I'm going to show you that here in a second. So you're there in Ecclesiastes chapter number 3. Look at verse number 1. It says this, the wisest man to ever live inspired by the Holy Ghost. He says this, to every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. So what we need to understand here is that we have a purpose. Jesus said, hey, I must work the works of him that sent me. While it is day because the night cometh when no man can work. Okay, that is our purpose. You should purpose. We should purpose in our hearts. When those church doors are open, we're there. You know, when it's time to go soul winning, we're there. And look, I don't beat people up because they can't go three, four, five times a week. If you go once a week, I'm like, praise God, you know. But hey, can you do that once a week, not grudgingly? Not like, you're lucky I showed up today. I had a spare day off. We need to run that attitude out of church. And I'm not saying that's here, okay. I'm not even saying that's at our church, okay. I'm just saying that these are the type of things that creep in. These are the type of things that will come into a church, come into your heart, into your mind, and lead you astray over a slow process. And you won't even realize it if you're not aware of it. And that's why I say we should be willing to serve God with our valuable time. Because think about it, you know, you get off work, you get, maybe you get a day off, maybe you get something, you know, you have this time, you're like, wow, what am I going to do with it, right? You know, hey, bless your families, take them places. You know, do some stuff for yourself once in a while, but hey, you know, use some of that time to actually be a part of the things of God. Don't just be like, well, if I've got a spare moment, you know, yeah, I'll come to church. Some people tell us how it's so many all the time, you know. You get them saved, you go maybe follow up with them, and they're like, yeah, you know, I'm still excited about that message. I think it was great. Oh, well, you know, we rejoiced for an hour after you left. It's like, great, you want to come to church? Yeah, you know, if I get a spare Sunday, right, if I get a spare Sunday, I'll go. Right? You kind of expect that from babes in Christ. But why do we see people after the two, three-year mark, three-month mark, develop that attitude? And it's because we don't have certain things ingrained into our hearts, like the fact that you don't know when night's coming for you. I don't know when night's coming for me. And when you learn to live like that, it kind of motivates you. And it's going to keep you on the right track. And here's the thing, let's tell them Brother Paul this, this morning. Time doesn't discriminate. Think about that. Time doesn't discriminate. You know, people, I love it when people tell me, oh, you know, I just don't have as much time as you do. Oh, really? I work more than 40 hours a week. I have a family that I want to bless, that I want to take care of, that I want to spend time with. I have to write three sermons a week. And it's not always easy. I have to take care of my dad, who's got full-blown Alzheimer's and dementia, which is an absolute nightmare. And yet, I'm able to do it. And it's like, you're single? And you don't have time. Please tell Paul about that when you get to heaven. I'd love to see the look on his face when you explain that to him. You say, you're mad. Yes, I'm mad. I'm upset. Right? We should all be upset when we see people leave the faith, because they're distracted. Not leave the faith, but, you know, leave church. Leave soul winning. Leave Bible reading. Leave the things that need to be done to someone else, because they're like, oh, it's going to be a long time before that night comes. You have no idea. You don't know that. And so Solomon says, to every thing, there is a season. That means to this purpose that we have, there's a season. And it's different for every single one of us. You know, we all have 24 hours a day. All of us do. And you can't tell me that as the weeks go by, as the months go by, that you don't have time to go to church. You don't have time to go soul winning. You don't have time during the day to read your Bible? You can't read one proverb a day? Now, it's like, look, you know what I like? I like the guys that are just honest, right? We have a few of them. You know, they'll come in from time to time. Man, I'm just backslidden. I'm just all, I'm just all laid up, but I'm here. And it's just like, praise God, man. I love those people. You know, it's the excuse makers and the blamers that really frustrate me at my heart. Because it's like, don't you understand? I've got the same minutes, same hours, the same days in a week that you have. Think about that. And here's the first point that I want to make. Time management really is life management. And that's why Solomon is saying this. To everything, there is a season. And of course, we need to understand that when we're going through these trials and tribulations and people are attacking us and sending us stupid messages in the middle of the night, or somebody wants to take you into an office and explain to you that there used to be, Nephilims that were 18,000 feet tall, that there's a season until those people get told not to ever come back. Ever. Ever, ever, ever. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 8. Ecclesiastes chapter number 8. But really, when you think about it, time management is life management. God has given us time. So why are we so stingy with it? Why are we like, wow, yeah, if I get a spare moment, you know, then I'm definitely going to come to church. I am definitely going to do something for God. You do that, God's going to take away that spare time. Right? You just take that away. And then what? You're not going to have no more spare. You're not going to have any time. And you're going to wish, oh, I wish I wasn't so foolish. Look at verse number 5, Ecclesiastes 8, verse number 5. It says this. Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing. Let's stop right there. Do you think the apostles felt some evil thing? Of course they did. Evil means to hurt. Right? That's what that word, it means to hurt. Were they not beaten? Of course they were beaten. Right? That's what they wanted to do to Paul here. Paul was beaten several times. What happened when he was beaten? Then he got back up. He'd be like, hey, where's the next town? Where's the next city? And you mean to tell me, whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing? Yeah, because your perspective is different. You change your perspective, you change your life. Look, when you change your perspective on time, it's going to do so much for you. Look what he says. Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing. And a wise man's heart discerneth both, don't miss this, time and judgment. Time and judgment. Both of these things, and you guys know this, are under attack today, aren't they? Especially judgment. And there's an entire gym where their motto is, no judgment. And it's all purple. It's that Planet Fitness, you know? I don't know if people like purple. I'm not down on you. I'm just saying that. I got a problem with the no judgment thing. That's what I have a problem with. Planet Fitness Baptist Church. Planet Fitness Community Church. Wouldn't that be something? You walk into a church, and it's all purple like Planet Fitness, and they've got the lunk alarm. Who's heard of the lunk alarm? The lunk alarm is basically this alarm goes up that will, like, trigger, it'll go off if somebody drops weight. You know, like, when you're lifting weights, you're done. You just drop them down. Well, that alarm goes off, or you start grunting too loud, right? You start putting forth too much effort, right? That alarm goes off. Who knows a church like that? We all do. All of us do. They're all over the place. They are the majority. No judgment. You say, well, what about time? Look, there's all kinds of things demanding your time. Look, your coworker's constantly on you. Your neighbor's constantly, oh, you're going to church again? Boy, it sure takes a lot of time. You know, my mom used to go to church back in the day, and she only went once a week. You're going Monday. You're going Sunday. You're going Sunday evening. You go Wednesday, and I see you guys going somewhere on Saturday. It looks like you're going to church again. What's going on with you? The question should be, what's going on with you? What's wrong with you? What are you doing? Nothing. You're wasting your time is what you're doing. You're wasting that precious time that God has given you. So, both time and judgment. A wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment, and that is why we have church. That is why we are commanded to meet together, right? To get wisdom, to learn from each other, to learn from the Word of God. And a part of being wise is having the ability to understand, to discern time and judgment. Without those two things, you will fail at the Christian life. I promise you, you will fail, and this church will not thrive. It will not succeed. It will go down. We need everybody in here to have this as a goal, to be wise. That's what Jesus was saying. Hey, you need to learn to work while it is day. You need to take ownership. That's what he's demonstrating. Hey, I must work the works of my Father while it is day. I must. That is you, us, all of us. We must have that attitude. We must do these things no matter what. No matter how many threats are coming. No matter how many idiots get exposed. No matter how many people want to come and, oh, I'm going to shut you down. Oh, I'm going to get you building, blah, blah, blah, blah. Come and try it, is what I say. Go ahead and come at me and see what happens. You say, boy, you're getting pretty upset. Yeah. All right. Look at verse six. I'm about to change the sermon here. Look at verse number six. Says, because to every purpose there is time and judgment. Therefore, the misery of man is great upon him. You want to know why your coworker's always moping around and trying to drown his sorrows with booze or drugs? It's because of this right here. It's because they don't know. They don't understand what they are doing and what they are lacking in regards to time and judgment. You can both of those things, and saved or not, you're going to have a rough life. You are going to be in misery, and that's what Solomon is trying to tell us. Go back to John chapter number nine. You know, I'm the perfect illustration of this. You know, I did a lot of dumb things when I was a kid, and now I think I'm being chastened for it, you know, because I'm having to take care of my dad, who's just like a zombie. It's weird. He's getting healthier, right? At 78, he's getting healthier, but his mind is getting worse. You know, and I'm having to listen to him threaten and threaten my kids and all of this stuff, and he takes up so much of our time, and I'm sitting back here, and I'm just pulling my hair out, literally. At least that's what I'm going to be saying in a few years, but, you know, I'm just sitting here like I wish that I had more time to do more things like this, to do more events, right, but maybe if I wasn't such a knucklehead as a teenager, maybe I wouldn't be in this position, I don't know, or it's just a test. I'll find out one day either way, but the point is, if you're not a good steward with your time, like I said earlier, you could wind up in a situation where all of a sudden now you've got that desire. Oh, now all of a sudden that's all you can think about is, oh, I'm going to go do all this soul-winding, and you've got that urgency. You've got it. You know in your heart and your mind you're going to do all this stuff, but now all of a sudden you can, because you have these circumstances that are demanding your time. Part of being wise is making better decisions so that we can live with fewer regrets, right? I mean, that is the whole point. That is what he's saying here, and when you understand what I'm talking about and you develop that discernment for your time and respecting the time of others as well, and judgment, you know what? You're going to have a better quality of life. You're going to be more effective, and that's what we need today, right? We want that zeal, right, but we want it according to knowledge, and we want to be able to be efficient at what we're doing, because time is discipleship, time is souls, and all of that stuff that we understand and we talk about. So understand that our purpose is to edify one another, right, that's discipleship, and to evangelize the lost. That is why we exist. That is what we are about, okay? And it's not just the leadership that's about that. That's you. That's all of us. You're a king, and you're a priest, and you must take ownership of this concept, okay? So we're going to move on here and kind of unpack some more of John chapter 9. So look down again at verse number 1. So he says this. It says, and as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. Now obviously in the context he's blind physically, okay? But we're going to kind of look at this metaphorically, right, how many of us get blind emotionally, or how many of us get blind spiritually with doctrine and different things? I mean, the disciples are demonstrating that perfectly. Like, was he born blind because his parents sinned? And Jesus is like, no, okay? Not everybody who has a disability sinned or their parents sinned. It's like, come on, guys, you should know this type of stuff, right? You should understand this. How many of us are administratively blind, though? With the things that we know we need to do every day? How many of us are blind with the position that God's given us? And we're just not aware of what's going on. We're just aloof to everything. That causes damage, too. That wastes time. Whatever it is that you decide to do, especially in your jobs, your families, church, you ought to strive to do it efficiently and to be the best at it. Be the best at all of it. Because you don't know when the night is coming. We've all met people that are just uninterested, unaware, and all that sort of stuff, right? But look at verse number, look at verse number two. It says, and his disciples asked him, saying, master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? And again, we've all been in that position, right? I've listened to myself, and I'm like, why did I say that? Like, how did I read that in there? I'm like, I hope nobody watches that. Look at verse number three. Jesus answered, neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. And again, look at verse number four. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. You know, back when I used to go to this liberal church, and they sold books, you know, a lot of you have been to churches where they will sell books in the bookstore, right? I read this book, it was called One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven. And the reason why I got it is because the guy used the King James Bible, and yeah, he's right on the gospel. And, you know, it was a good book. It honestly was a good book, and it kind of made you think, and kind of made me realize for a while, like, wait a minute, why am I in this liberal church? It did, and I got it in a liberal church. Like, why am I here? Like, that's so true. This church does nothing to try to reach the lost, and yet they're selling this book talking about soul winning, you know? Now, obviously, guys, methods are not like ours, you know, exactly, you know, he does the whole track thing, but whatever, right? He can, he knows about the Romans road, he uses it. He's against repenting your sins. But I'm reading this book, and I'm like, I need to get out of this church. You know what I mean? Isn't that funny? I bought a book at church, which you're not supposed to do, and it started the ball for me to find the truth, and basically led me to this, you know, it got me out of there. But the whole point was, the night's coming. There's one thing you can't do in heaven, and that's get someone saved. Right? I mean, everybody in here, look, if you go soul winning, you just come to this church, and you hear about people getting saved, right? That's very encouraging. That's very motivating, and it's super motivating when they actually come in, and they stick around, and they want to stay. But you know what? They're only going to come in and stay at the place where people respect the time that's God given them, or that God has given them, and that they understand judgment, and they're not, you know, willing to compromise. People could sniff that out. They really can. You know, they can sniff that out. They can walk into a place and see, oh, they're just being, you know, they're just being nice, because they're already thinking about it. They're already running scenarios through their head before they even come in, right? I'll bet they're going to judge me on this. I'll bet they're going to say this to me. I'll bet this. Right? So they're just looking for an excuse. It's their defense mechanism. They don't know. They're not sure. It's our job to neutralize that. It's our job to embrace them and to build them up, because look, you've only got a short window of time when you first meet somebody that comes in through those doors. You don't have much time. How you treat those people will determine whether or not they come back. I told my congregation the story last week. You know, when we were young and weren't reading the Bible, I was stationed in the military in Louisiana, and we were going to this stupid Nazarene church. I was all messed up. Yes, I know. All messed up, you know. But when you're not reading the Bible and just reading books about the Bible, you know, it's kind of where you end up, right? This is how it is. You guys know that. And so my boss at the time invited me to his church. Okay, it was a non-denominational church, but they were Pentecostal. They denied it. Oh, we're not Pentecostal. We're just non-denominational. We just let the spirit work. Okay? And we stayed there for like a year. Stayed there for a year through all of their charismatic garbage and everything. And looking back, you know, even to this day, there are still people from that church that we talked to. And I'll tell you why we stayed. It's because of how nice and genuine the people were. They were really genuine. They were really nice. Now, like 98% of them weren't saved, but they were very nice. So it's been, it's been getting me, you know, thinking. Like, what are we doing wrong? And again, I'm not saying that's here, but if we could, if the heathen, because that's what they are, if they've got that figured out, we as God's children who know the truth and who stand up for the truth should definitely have that figured out. Right? You should always have time management on your mind. When someone comes in, you look, you've got a small window to either get them saved, and if they're already saved, you've got a small window of opportunity to let them know that you care about them where they're at with the goal of building them up, to edify them, to disciple them. And if you can change and adopt that, I promise you, we're all going to do well. God will bless that. That is what we are learning. That is what God is saying. So the night cometh when no man can work. You know, wouldn't that be sad if the day came tomorrow and you couldn't go soloing? You know, when people come, oh, it's too cold out. Oh, man, it's so cold. And I get it, look, especially with the ladies, you know. I feel, I feel for you, you know. You've got the little kids and stuff. Look, I'm not talking about, I understand that. But when it's all year, when it's anything under or above 72 degrees, you know what I'm talking about? We've got a problem. Because, you know, there are people that cannot go soloing that want to. I used to go to this old IFB church, Pastor Thompson knows, up at Tacoma called Liberty Baptist Church, right. And we had this guy in there. And I forgot what his disease was, but he had, he had to use a mobile cart to get everywhere. Okay, he had no use of his limbs, just very little use of his right hand, and he could drive around with that. You know, and he wanted to go soloing so bad. He came from Jack Hyles' church. He actually had met Jack Hyles when he was younger. You know, and he was like, the only thing I would just wish, I'd just long to go soloing. And the pastor was like trying to get people to take him. And nobody would. He's like, but I got these Anderson Ives that'll probably take them. Because that's kind of what they would refer to us as when we weren't present. And you know what, my son and I and a few others in the church, we would go pick them up, like physically pick them up, put them in the vehicle, pick his scooter up, put that in the vehicle and take him out soloing. Changed his life. He loved it. But then, you know, we had to part ways, and I'm not sure what happened to him. But just think about guys like that. They would love to be able to stand. They would love to be able to curl their fist like this and to knock on a door. Think about being in that position for a second. The next time it's 75 degrees. And the sun's out. And the sun hasn't been out in months. And you want to do something else. Look, we should be willing to serve God with our valuable time, not just our spare time. Go to Romans chapter number 13. Romans chapter number 13. And the second thing I want to talk about is this. When you realize, when you finally internalize that the night is coming, you know what that does? It helps you to manage the day. It helps you to manage the time. That's the whole point of this sermon is to get us all to understand, to realize that the night is coming. And the most severe part of this entire concept is that we don't know when. Because it's different for each of us. It could be tomorrow. It could be 10, 15, 20 years. We don't know. But we ought to live like it's tomorrow. We ought to live like it's next week. Like we don't have time. Because if you're paying attention to the things that are going on in the world right now, yeah, you better understand that that night's coming, whether anybody likes it or not. And it seems to be coming quick. So when you realize and you internalize that the night is coming, that will change your life. That will help you to manage the day. That is what that will do. You change your perspective. You change your life. Look at Romans 13, verse number 11. Paul's telling the Romans the value and the benefit of loving one another and taking care of one another and the message and the signal that that puts off to other people that are outside. And then he starts talking about this. Right after he teaches that, we don't have time to go through all that, but look at verse 11. He says, and that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. And again, that points right back to John chapter nine and verse number four. Right? Think about when you got saved. And count the time up until right now. And that is the time that has passed. That is the time that has gone. Are you satisfied? Are you pleased with what you have done for God up until this point? And if not, that's okay. We can all do more. But here's the thing. Don't do it grudgingly. Don't be like, I've got to give up my time. Oh, there's more stuff going on at the church. Another potluck. Look, you don't have to go to the potlucks. I mean, you know, if you're on a diet, I get it. But you could go Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday. You can go three times a week, you know. And then I get it. Some of you can't. Some of you, you know, came into this thing and your job won't allow that right now. That's cool. I understand that. We're not down on anybody that's in that situation. But I hope that someday you have the goal to work things out to where you can get to that point. We're not saying just throw everything out of the way. You know what? I'm just going to chuck everything off and just see what happens. Quit my job on a whim. No, you don't want to do that. I've done that before. It don't work too well. Look at verse number 12. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light, the works of darkness. You know this new meta thing that's coming out, you know, and all this whatever it is, that meta book. You watch the time that that's going to suck from people's lives. And what Paul is telling the Romans is what we need to understand very clearly. We are not exempt. We can be tempted and drawn away back into slumber just like anyone else can. The night is far spent. He said this what? I don't know, 2,000 years ago, something like that? Look, we're losing time. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Look at verse 13. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envy. Okay? These are all things that will get you into the mind frame. Again, I've said it before. I'll say it again. It's like, really? I'm giving my life to this? To these problems? Doesn't everybody know that I'm the one that's right? And they're always wrong? I keep getting into these arguments and stuff, Chevy versus Ford, and I'm getting sick of it. Look at verse 14. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. What is he saying? Don't put yourself in a position where you know you're not going to get out of. Don't go buying season tickets. Oh, I won't go on Sundays. Really? Are you that strong? And you know in your heart whether or not you are. Don't put yourself in that type of position. Don't make provision for the flesh. Don't fall prey to these distractions that are out there. Don't let them take your time that God has given you to serve him because it is a privilege and an honor to serve him. That is the attitude that everybody has to have. And when you can maintain that, look, then you will be like the disciples and take your beatings and be like, hey, none of these evil things move me. None of these things hurt me. Go to 1 Thessalonians, chapter number 5. This church cannot afford time wasters. My church cannot afford time wasters. Big churches cannot afford time wasters. And you know what? The kingdom of God cannot afford time wasters. It's just not something we can afford. So when this church does grow, I want you guys to remember this, and you are growing, whether you like it or not. Don't ever get this attitude, oh, they got it. All right, don't worry, somebody will take care of it. No, they won't, right? Your pastor puts out a sign-up sheet, and there's like two names on there and 30 things. Like, it'll come together somehow. Yeah, because he's going to do it all, okay? That's not good. That's not cool. David told us to teach us, he said this to God, teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom, and if you're struggling with this, that would be a good prayer, but just to understand, it could be a dangerous one, teach us to number our days. But really, it's hard, it's a hard saying, but it's something we all have to do. Hopefully, you can get that message through just reading the Bible, just understanding, or hopefully you're already there. But you got to understand, you need to number your days because you don't know when the night is coming. So 1 Thessalonians, chapter number 5, this is talking about the rapture, but there's some definite application we can make here for what we're talking about. Look at verse number 1, it says, but of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. Verse number 4, but ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. Okay, don't ever just stop reading right there. Well, I'm saying that day is not going to overtake me as a thief. Hey, praise God for that. Okay, but look what he says next in verse number 5. You're all the children of light and the children of the day. You understand that? Where do you think he got that from? We are the children of the day, and we need to make sure that we act like it, we need to make sure that we demonstrate that. So that when people do come in here, they're like, these people are serious about this stuff, but they're still loving, they still care. We are the children of the day. He says, we are not of the night, nor of darkness. So we're not of the night, but why do so many of us fade and get beat down by the distractions and times that do beset us? Why do we fade back into that nice, comfortable nap spot in the Christian life? It's because we lose sight of ownership. We lose sight of the mission. We lose sight of the ideology of the precept that Christ taught us. I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. Look at verse number 6. He says, therefore, so for that reason, right, therefore, let us not sleep. So what does that mean? Guess what? Just because you're saved doesn't mean you aren't going to go to sleep. It happens all the time. You get complacent, and then you go to sleep. And then the edifying stops, and there's less soul winners. There's less things that get done around the church. Look what he says in verse 8. I'm sorry, look at verse 7 again. It says, for they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. Verse 8, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for in helmet the hope of salvation. So what is he saying now? We ought not to act like the world, because you can. Every one of us can. You know, it's funny. You get people come in, and they're kind of fanboys, you know, and they're just like, oh, man, I heard about this online. This is great. You know, I'm going to go soul winning every single day. And at our church, we try to grab them real quick and turn them into fanatics of God as soon as possible, because what always happens is they wind up getting distracted. They wind up getting complacent, right? I mean, when the shock sermons are over, and they've washed them 8,000 times, okay, because they keep circumventing the ones like this, or the one like you're going to get on Sunday. You know, they're like, oh, where's that Leviticus 19 one again, you know, and those are great, right? We need those, like constantly we do. I mean, it's, especially in today's day and age. We've got to have them, right, but we ought to have the whole counsel of God. And those people, man, they're missing a huge chunk of wisdom. And that's what happens. They're missing a huge chunk of wisdom. And then what happens is they can no longer discern time and judgment and say, why is pastor doing this? Why is so-and-so doing this? It doesn't make any sense. People keep coming in and messing things up. You know what? I'm out of here. I ain't giving my life to this. It's a wrong attitude. So Acts chapter 18. We're going to move into the final parts of the sermon here. How do I get my time back? So just a quick review here. What did we talk about? Time management is life management. It really is. This is the most important thing. The most, I'm telling you, the most dangerous thing that I see that we all face, and we face a lot of dangerous things, a lot of evil things, a lot of hurtful things, but the most dangerous thing that we face is people neglecting that time management, people not understanding that it's life management. And look, once you're in the family of God, once you're in the kingdom of God, guess what? You are called, you are bound to a different set of laws. We do not get to play by the world's handbook. You will get chastened by God. It is a guarantee. Oh, you're trying to put God in a box. You're trying to preach superstitions. Really? Chastisement superstition? It might take a year. Or it might just take you going into eternity and not having any rewards and being like, what was I thinking? And then someone comes up to you and says, you weren't. You weren't thinking. And the second thing that I wanted to bring up was we have to, when we realize and we internalize that the night is coming, and you get that, and we get that, and we understand that, and we take that into our hearts. It makes managing the day so much easier. It makes, that's what's going to get you. That urgency that we need. So, how do we get our time back? Let's go through this passage here again. Look at verse number 12, Acts 18. Look at verse number 12. It says, and when Galio was the deputy of Achaea, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat. So, what else is he doing here? What else are these guys doing here? They're wasting God's time because Paul's doing what Christ sent him to do. And all of a sudden, these heathens here, these Jews are like, you know what, we're going to stop this mission. You know what, that doesn't make God very happy. And that should be encouraging to all of us. When these clowns start messaging us in the middle of the night or the middle of the day and calling and blah, blah, blah, and sending threats, you know what, they are messing with the time that God's given us. And because we are doing what he told us to do, because this church does stand on truth, because you love the truth, you know what, that makes God very angry. And that should be comforting to you to know that he will deal with it. They're going to catch a fade that they're not going to recover from. Go look up Todd Ferguson. We'll talk after the service, because I don't want to change again. It's so easy to start, you know, doing all this stuff. I got to stay right on this track. Look at verse 13. Saying this fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. And Galio's like, ooh. Look at verse 14. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Galio said unto the Jews, if it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O you Jews, reason would that I should bear with you. But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matters. So even this guy here, okay, who doesn't want anything to do with it, he understands the value of his time. And you know what, these Greeks, they understand the value of their time. That's why they're about to get upset. And I'm going somewhere with this. Look at verse 16. And he draped them from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Galio cared for none of those things. So there you go. Sosthenes catches a fade, right, a fade. Now, luckily, I believe that this fade led to a salvation. Okay. And again, there were many reasons why they probably beat him, you know, just the history and all that goes on, or that had been going on from the Jews. They were probably like, this is a great opportunity. You know, we're not in Jerusalem here where we're outnumbered, so to speak. We're here, you and a whole other country, and we're going to take care of this business. But these ordinary Greeks here, right, they understood the value of their time. And you know what? There are tons of people in the world that have this figured out. They just don't have the judgment part figured out, which we need to go give them and get them saved so they can figure that part out. I mean, think about it. There are tons of people that are very industrious, that are very resourceful, very efficient with their time. They make YouTube videos, and they get rich off everything. It's like everything they touch is gold, right? But they don't even serve the one who gave us the time. So how much more is God going to do that for us when we understand what He said in John chapter 9, verse 4? I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. Because the night cometh. Go to Ephesians chapter number 5. Ephesians chapter number 5. And I want to bring up another thing of what, regarding what we just read there. You know, the Greeks, Gallio, Sostenes, you know, they all represent the world, right? Metaphorically, I mean, you could say that they're definitely not saved, but they represent the world. And the reason why they acted the way that they did is because they couldn't manage their emotions. They couldn't understand, you know, how to give them time back. And a lot of people don't. A lot of people that aren't saved, they don't understand it. You know, there is this concept taught in the Bible that you can redeem time. You can get time back. And this is probably the most important piece of application I'm going to give you today. And it's really this. And I tell my church that I try to make it a point to say this like once a quarter. Whatever it is that has your time right now, and only you know, you know what has your time. You know what has you in that mindset, if this is you, that says, you know what, I'm going to give God out of my spare time. You know what that is. Here's the deal. Whatever that is, is not going to give it back. It is not going to give it back to you. You have to take it back. You have to claim it back. I'm telling you. You have to identify what that is and be willing and be strong enough to say, you know what, I must work the works of him that sent me. Work the works of God. Okay. Because if you don't, that thing isn't going anywhere. Because next year there'll be another deal on season tickets. Next year there's going to be something else. Look, there's always something banging on your door trying to take your time. Because we live, look, we're ambassadors. This isn't our world. Okay. We're ambassadors. And we're in a spiritual warfare, right. And there's these devils and demons just prowling around. What can I do to distract this person? Why don't you think this stuff happens in the liberal churches? I mean they have weirdos that come in every once in a while, every once in a while, because the devil's already got them under wraps. It's like they're good. I've got them. They're going to come after us. They're going to come after you because we have the truth. So we have to be on high alert all the time. And that can get exhausting. You know, that can cause the old man, and it will cause the old man to be like, man, I wish I just had a little bit more time. There's always something going on in church. There's always this. Don't have that attitude. Don't ever let that attitude come in. But understand this right now. Whatever it is that has your time will not give it back. You have to take it back. That's what Paul tells the Ephesians here. Look at verse 14. It says this, wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. Verse 15, see then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. I dealt with somebody, and some of you probably know this, but I dealt with somebody about two, three weeks ago, after I preached an hour long against the Nephilims. Just wanted to go in the office. Just wanted to take a couple minutes of your time. Next thing you know, an hour and a half had gone by that I missed out with my congregation. Why? Because I let it happen. This guy takes me in the office like, I heard what you just said, and that was great. That was great. That made so much sense. But did you know that the sons of God in the Old Testament are different than the sons of God in the New Testament? Did you know that the dirt that you see outside, those are, that's, all of that stuff, all that dirt, all that grass, all those trees, all those rocks, those are the remains of 18,000-foot giants. They were Nephilims. Yeah. Yes, this is what this guy told me. And I, and you got to give me a little bit of grace here. I think I was just so blown away that this was happening that I was like, okay, there's got to be a bottom line or a punch line or something coming that's going to like edify me, and it never came. It just never came. And finally, it's nine, it's, I think it was like 930, 935, I looked at my phone. I said, go grab your stuff. Go grab your stuff and get out here, you know. He's like, I want, I really want to come back, and I hope you, if you want to throw me out, you can throw me a blah, blah, blah. I was like, just get out here right now. I just cannot deal with this. I wasn't acting, I wasn't walking circumspectly. I should have, after 10 minutes, after he just doubled the five minutes he wanted to give me, I should have just been like, get out of here. But you know what, I'm going to learn from that. I'm going to make sure that I don't waste any more time like that. Because you know what, that's not the first time it's happened this year. Another guy comes in the church, I want to talk to you about how Nancy Pelosi and Elon Musk are robots. Yeah. Look at verse 16. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Okay. Redeeming the time because there are evil people out there. They want to come in and waste your time. I had to miss the pi social because somebody was being a clown. I am done with this stuff. I'm serious, I am done. That's why I'm preaching this, so that I can watch this before every church event that we have. I'm going to watch this once a quarter and be like, okay, that guy made sense there. I'm going to definitely do that. Because apparently, I need this more than anybody. But you notice what he says there? He says, hey, redeem the time because the days are evil. Redeem the time. Think about that. How do you redeem a coupon? You've got to turn it in. You have to take the action. You have to do it. You have to take that time back that other things are taking away. I just saw this app the other day, and it was like download this app, and it will tell you all the subscriptions you forgot about that you signed up for. It's sucking all this money away from you. Well, you know what? We need to be that app for our time. And we need to start doing an internal audit and being like, you know what? This person's wasting my time. That issue's wasting my time. Now, we ought not to get like that with each other, right? Because we do need to build each other up. But you guys know what I'm talking about. There's a certain type of person. And if you haven't met them yet, they're coming. Because I've been kicking them out down there. So, I'm just telling you, they might be coming up here. I don't know. You need to be ready for it, okay? Because they seem to like to make the rounds. Well, there's a new guy. There's some fresh meat. I'll bet he'll fall for my 18,000-foot giant story. I'll bet he'll believe my robot story. It's the most important thing in the world. I need to spend an hour convincing you of this. They're going to come here. Something like that will happen. You've got to take that time back, okay? You redeem the time. Go to Colossians chapter number four. We have to collect. We have to identify it and take it back. Look, this is, again, probably the single most important part of this sermon. Whatever has your time will not give it back. You have to redeem it. You have to take it back. In fact, this is so important that Paul is going to mention it again to the Colossians. Look at Colossians chapter four, verse number two. So, he says this, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. You notice that there in verse two? Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. That is time and that is judgment. And doing that is wise, right? We've got to continue in prayer and understand just because things don't happen according to our timeline. The timeline that we want, we don't get discouraged. We understand that God is in control. He has it and we need to watch in the same with thanksgiving. So, here's the thing, right? Sometimes we'll put stuff on the prayer list and it gets answered like six, seven, eight months later or a year later and we forget. We forget because too much time has gone by and we just forgot about it. Yeah, we're happy that it got answered, but maybe we forgot we even prayed. Hey, Paul's saying, hey, watch in the same. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. No matter what the answer is, watch in the same with thanksgiving. Look at verse three. He says, with all, praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds. Verse four, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. And look, that is us. That is what we want. That is our desire, to go out there and to preach the gospel and to preach truth unto those that receive the gospel. Verse number five, walk in wisdom towards them that are without. How do we do that? You know what? We do that by not being cowards. We do that by understanding we need discernment in time and in judgment. He says, walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time, redeeming the time. So when a church decides in their heart they're going to do this, when everyone decides, you're going to look at your life and you're going to understand now and you're going to collect those things that are taking your time and you're going to take it back. There's nothing wrong with having things. Look, you've got boats, you've got jet skis, you've got your dirt bikes, whatever. There's nothing wrong with having those things. But do those things have you? I say that all the time too. Why do you think I say that? Because I see it all the time. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. There is something spiritual that happens when a church decides to follow this advice. When we walk in wisdom towards them that are without. Look, I'm not advocating lifestyle evangelism here, okay? I'm not advocating that at all. But you know what, there is something to be said about how we conduct ourselves in front of the heathen. And we're going to do that by discerning time and judgment, by understanding, hey, there are a lot of things right now that are out of season. And you know what, despite what they think, despite what the world says, we're still going to preach those things that are out of season. And we're going to be okay when people split and leave. That's on them. We need to realize that's on them. If they want to live their life like that, they want to waste their time, that's on them. They're going to pay the price. They're the ones that are going to be in misery, like Solomon said, look at verse number six. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt that you may know how you ought to answer every man. Go to Isaiah chapter 64. We're almost done. I'm going to wrap this up right now. I like to quote that verse to people, though, you know, when we knock on their doors and they're like, yes, I go to church and I'm a Christian. Boom, they slam the door, right? And then you're walking away and they open up the door and they want some more. I'm like, well, you're just proving you're not a disciple right there. Oh, you go to Life Church, huh? You go to Life Church and you're going to cuss me out because they knocked on your door after you already slammed into my face? You're a great disciple. We added you to this to us not too long ago on our Thursday night soul winning. It's like I told you people not to ever come back here. I was like, I've never even been here before. You must have told a different group. Maybe it was the Mormons. I don't know. She starts following us around. I used to play, you know, Mario Brothers when I was a kid and there was these little ghosts that would follow you around until you turned around and then it would stop. That's literally what she would do, right? What are those called? Booze. Booze? Yeah, the boos of the world, okay? That's what she was. I had to tell her to get back inside. I did. I was like, get back inside. I'm sick of this. I'm not going to let you waste our time. I was mad. But it's like, you know, but I, you know, I'm a Jew, but you know, even Christ is not okay with what you guys are doing right now. We had another guy about a month ago pull a .357 Magnum out in a rich town. Okay, if you know anything about Boise or the Treasure Valley, if you will, like one of the areas that's kind of like, I don't know, like Bel Air, right, the rich part is a town called Eagle. Okay, we went to Eagle and went and did some soul winning. It was great. Went and snuck into this gated apartment complex. Okay, this is gated out in the middle of nowhere. There's no crime. Look, when I'm in Eagle, I leave money on my dashboards that my boss can come by and collect. I leave my doors unlocked. And they tell me to do that. Like, nothing's going to happen, you hear? And it's not the wisest thing in the world to do. But I'm just saying, that's how it is there, okay? There's no Crips. There's no Bloods. There's none of that gang stuff. You know, there's none of that stuff going on there. And this guy's like, you know, we knocked on his door, left a card. We're knocking on another door, and he opens the door. And he's got this big pistol on. He's like, did you just say something about 1st John? I'm like, oh, great, we're going to get shot over doctrine here now, you know what I mean? And he's just like, you guys can't be doing this. He's got this pistol here. And by the way, he's got one hand, right? And this thing's like this big, right? Like, he could barely hold it up. And he's like, you guys can't be out here. You guys can't be doing this at night. I'm a Christian. He's like, I love you guys. I've never even seen Christians in my life doing stuff like this. And he's just talking with his pistol, right? And Kayden's like, you know? And my other part's just like, and I'm kind of like, yeah, I'm like, we've been to the ghettos. And they don't do stuff like this. At night, they don't do stuff like this. He's just like, you guys can't be doing this at this time, right? I'm like, let's just go down to the next floor. I was like, actually, let's go over to a different building. I think we went to a whole other section, okay? And then he calls the church. He's just like, I'm sorry about that, guys, but, man, you can't be doing that stuff at night. It was 645. If it had been May, still sunny out, he probably would have opened the door with a squirt gun, which would have been a lot better, but still, I'm a Christian. I'm a believer, too. Really? You got to pull a pistol out on somebody and start talking like this. He's like, I'm a computer analyst from LA. I'm like, you listen to way too much music. Way too much gangster rap or something wherever you're from there. And one of the things that I think somebody said was like, just live in the ghetto or something, because people here don't do that. It's just like, well, it's just dangerous times we're living in, okay? And I just didn't know. You guys are probably freaking out the neighbors. Really? You didn't do that to the Pizza Hut guy who just left. Amazon's all over this building, and they're out late, too. I bet you wouldn't pull it on him if the Amazon guy dropped off your latest order. But yet, you're going to take that position to us. See, we're not going to let these time wasters get us. That guy's wasting his time. He's probably not even saved. I don't know. I don't want to go back, because I don't want to get shot. Actually, you know, after we left, I was like, I don't think he would have shot us. I think he would have shot the neighbors, because he could barely hold the thing up. Anyways, I have no idea why I'm still talking about that. Look at Isaiah chapter 64. Isaiah chapter 64, verse number 6. Isaiah 64, look at verse number 6. I'm almost done. I just want to leave you with a couple more thoughts. Look at verse 6. It says, but we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags. And don't miss this, and we all do fade as a leaf. And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. I mean, that says a lot. That could be a whole entire sermon. But understand, we do fade as a leaf. Right? Sometimes I use this verse out so many, but to look at it towards us who are saved, I would say realize and understand that we're fading. This old man that we all are clothed with is fading, and we might get to a point where we can no longer do the things that we know we should do that actually do bring us joy. Yes, there's ups and downs with soul winning, and Bible reading, and all that stuff. I get it. I understand. But just realize, don't get to that point in your life where, man, I can't see as well. I wish I could see as well. I wish I didn't get a headache, you know, reading the Bible, and all of these things, and these physical ailments that are possibly going to come upon us. One chapter more. Look at Isaiah chapter 65. One more verse, and we'll be done. Look at verse number 17. Isaiah 65, verse 17 says, for behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, whom the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. Now I'm not going to stand up here and pretend to understand every single little thing that's going to happen to us in eternity, what we're going to exactly remember or not, but it sounds to me like the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. So why allow things to distract us from our purpose, which we can only serve in a season, right? Understand that, right? We should be willing to serve God with our precious, valuable time that he has given us, not our spare time. That's really what I want to leave you with, is that right there. Yes, time management is life management. That is very important. You get that down, you're going to be doing very well. You understand that when you realize and internalize that the night is coming, that's going to help you to manage the day, okay? But the big thing here is that we should be, and we need to work towards being willing to serve God with the time that he's given us, and not have this attitude like, ah, I'll just give him some stuff with my spare time. He doesn't do that to us, right? He doesn't do that to us. He doesn't just bless us sparingly. You're saved. You're in the family, and you know that he's blessed you. You know that he's got your back. You know that he's helped you out. So we should, as part of our reasonable service, be willing to do the same for his kingdom, okay? And that's what I want to impart unto you in your three year, because look, we're in the same boat. We just had our three year. You just having your three year anniversary, we're in the same boat, right? But this is for every Christian, for every church. It doesn't matter. Understand that the night comes, the night is coming when you will not be able to work, and you don't want to live without regret. So let's make the decision now to understand that and apply that. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for this church and their anniversary, Lord. I just want to pray for everybody here, Lord. I just want to pray that you would keep us strong, Lord, that you would help us to overcome these distractions, Lord, that do take time away from serving you, Lord, and help us to identify those things and to have the courage to redeem the time, Lord, that we give to these silly things that don't matter and that we won't even remember and that won't even come into our mind. And I just pray that you bless the fellowship after the service. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. I love you.