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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. He covers me there with his hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord. He taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved. He giveth me strength as my death. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his hand. And covers me there with his hand. With numberless blessings each moment he crowns and filled with his fullness divine. I sing in my rapture all glory to God for such a Redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his hand. And covers me there with his hand. On the last. When clothed in his brightness transported I rise to meet him in clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, his wonderful love, I'll shout with the millions on high. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his hand. And covers me there with his hand. Amen. Great singing, let's pray this word of prayer. Dear Father we just thank you that we could come together tonight to hear the preaching of your word. We pray you speak to our hearts through the message preached tonight, that you feel Pastor Shelley with your Holy Spirit. Help him to give us wisdom and that we could apply it to our lives tonight. We love you Father and pray these things in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Next is going to be Psalm 149 in your white handout. You should have one of these in the seat in front of you. If not you can always turn your King James Bible because we sing it verse by verse Psalm 149 where you can try and share with your neighbor. It's going to be Psalm 149. Praise ye the Lord, sing unto the Lord a new song and his praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise his name in the dance. Let them sing praises unto him with a timbrel and harp. For the Lord take it pleasure in his people. He will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand. To execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people. To bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron. To execute vengeance upon the handwritten, this honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. Amen. Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you didn't already get a bulletin, just slip your hand real quick and one of our ushers will come by and they can get you a bulletin on the front. We have our Bible memory passage, Psalm 148. On the inside we have our service and soul winning times as well as church stats. I'm going to get a count for anything as far as soul winning to report from the last few days. Was there anything from Thursday to report for soul winning? Okay. What about Friday? Anything for Friday? Alright. What about yesterday? Saturday? Anything from yesterday? Friday? Okay. One for Friday. Yesterday? Eleven? Alright. And then what about today? What do we have for the van? We have? Okay. So we have one. Alright. Seven for today. Praise the Lord on that. Also on the right, please be in prayer for all of our expecting ladies. We have several there mentioned if you'd please be in prayer for them. And also we have our prayer list as well. Just additional prayers that you can be in mind of. Also we have down below some upcoming events. Shreveport, Louisiana Soul Winning Marathon. We have a sign up sheet over here on the cabinet. Please make sure to sign up. That way we can anticipate for food and everything like that. Also Pure Words Baptist Church on September 25th is going to have a false Bible burning. And that's going to be like a Saturday. That should be a Soul Winning Marathon day as well. So if you'd like to go down there and participate. And then I'll be preaching that Sunday the 26th. October 2nd is a false swap. So it's just any items that you have that have value, not trash. Anything that has value you can bring to the church. And basically as a donation swap. And if you have any questions just ask Miss Natasha Zermano. She has all the details on that. Also we have October 6th to the 10th the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship. November 13th we have an Oklahoma City Soul Winning Marathon. So we have lots of different marathons and events. I'd encourage you to participate in those. That's pretty much all I have for announcements at this time. Let's go to our third song for this evening. 81 When We See Christ. Song 81. In that song 81. When We See Christ. Sing it all together on the first. Song number 81. All together now. Of times the day seems long Our trials are to bear We're tempted to complain To murmur and despair But Christ will soon appear To catch His bride away All tears forever over A God's eternal day It will be worth it all When we see Jesus Life's trials will seem so small When we see Christ One glimpse of His dear face All sorrow will erase So bravely run the race Till we see Christ Sometimes the sky looks dark With not a ray of light We're tossed and driven on No human help in sight But there is one in heaven Who knows our deepest care Let Jesus solve your problem Just go to Him and pray It will be worth it all When we see Jesus Life's trials will seem so small When we see Christ One glimpse of His dear face All sorrow will erase So bravely run the race Till we see Christ Life's day will soon be o'er All storms forever past We'll cross the great divide In glory safe at last We'll share the joys of heaven A harp, a home, a crown The tempter will be banished We'll lay our burdens down It will be worth it all When we see Jesus Life's trials will seem so small When we see Christ One glimpse of His dear face All sorrow will erase So bravely run the race Till we see Christ Ecclesiastes chapter 9 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise in their works are in the hand of God. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the clean and to the unclean, to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not. As is the good, so is the sinner, and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all. Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live. And after that they go to the dead, for to him that is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished, neither have they any more portion forever in anything that is done under the sun. Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God now accepted thy works. Let thy garments be always white, and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun all the days of thy vanity, for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest. I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not his time, as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so all the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it fallest suddenly upon them. This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me. There was a little city, and few men within it, and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city, yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength, nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroyeth much good. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for the opportunity to live a life that's meaningful. I pray, Lord, you would fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit. Allow him to preach boldly. Help us pay attention that we might apply it to our lives, and in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Look back at verse number 10 where the Bible read, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. But there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whether thou goest. And the title of my sermon is real simple. It's actually found here in this verse. It says, do it. Say, what is the title? Do it. That's the title of the sermon is just do it. And the reason why this is being brought up in this chapter is because he's saying eventually you're all going to die. We're all going to die. Eventually it's going to be over, game over. And so he's trying to emphasize, hey, if you have something that you can do, do it. And look, we're all going to have different opportunities. We're all going to have different circumstances. We're going to all have different tasks, roles, and everything else. But God has given you a portion. God has given you a job. God has given you opportunities in your life. God has given you the ability to do a lot of different things. But instead of just worrying about all the things that you want to do or could do or wish you could do, why don't you just worry about the things that you can do and just do them? And not just do them, notice it even says do what thy might. And so not only do you want to do something, you want to do it with your strength. You want to put a bunch of effort and energy into it. You don't want to be halfway into the things that you do. But the Bible constantly brings up this phrase, do it. Go if you would to Proverbs chapter number three for a moment. Go to Proverbs chapter number three. And really this sermon should just be a motivation. If there's something on your heart, if there's something in your mind, if there's something that God has given you right now and you feel like you're just not really doing it or you're just not really taking advantage of that opportunity, I really want to motivate you to decide, hey, now is the time. I'm going to start doing it. I'm going to put my effort and energy into what I do have, the things that God has blessed me with. Or if there's a task or a job or something you've been kind of putting off, just go ahead and do it now. Now look at what it says in Proverbs chapter three, look at verse 27. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand, notice this, to do it. So it's saying, hey, you don't always have the opportunity to be successful or bless people or help people. But if someone comes along your path, if there's an opportunity where you can actually help someone or do good into someone, and it's something that you have the ability to help them with, he's saying do it. And obviously if someone came across your path and asked for help and you can't help them, you're not capable, you don't have the means by which to help them, then it's not a real opportunity. Someone comes around and says, hey Pastor Shelley, I need a million bucks. It's like, I'm not your guy. Sorry, I can't really help you. But if someone said, hey, I need five bucks and I got five bucks in my wallet and it's the right person's right opportunity, it's saying, hey, when I have the power to bless this person, I have the power to help this person, don't push them off, don't be like James chapter number two and say, well, go in peace, be filled and warm. No, rather pull out the money and just do it, just give them the five bucks. You know, just go ahead and take advantage of the opportunity that's set before you and when you have the power to do it, do it now because there may come a day when you can't do it. There may come a later opportunity where now you can't bless people because you don't have that future opportunity. You go to Deuteronomy chapter 12, go backwards in your Bible, go to the beginning, Deuteronomy chapter number 12 and when it comes to God's commandments, when it comes to what God has instructed us with, we're supposed to just go ahead and do it. We're supposed to take advantage of those opportunities that we've been given and I think a lot of people become very discontent with what God has already given them and they struggle with performing the task that they already have because they don't look at it as an opportunity. You know, they only look at opportunities that they don't have rather than realizing all the opportunities that are already set before them, all the things that they have right in front of them. They're always concerned with what they don't have rather than what they do have. Deuteronomy chapter 12, look at verse 32, what things soever I command you, observe to do it. Thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it. So what God is telling you is he's saying, look, don't worry about all the things that I haven't said, worry about the thing I did say. He's saying don't diminish from what I said either, but don't add. So what would diminishing looking like? Well, it's like being kind of halfway into God's commandments, not really fulfilling them, not really taking advantage of them, not fulfilling God's will perfectly. What would be adding? Getting concerned and busy in a whole bunch of stuff that God didn't tell you to do, that God never asked you to do. And it's funny because when you look at churches today, I feel like they struggle with this, where they don't necessarily go all the way into some of the things that God has asked them to do, like hard preaching, they don't preach all of the Bible, they only preach some parts of the Bible. They don't go all the way into evangelism, they just do visitation rather than soul winning and actually trying to get people actively saved. Or they add a whole bunch of stuff that God didn't even tell them to do, and they become a food pantry and they worry about the choir and the Christian school and all these other activities that they get busy with, rather than focusing on the things that God actually told them to do and worrying about just doing it. Worry about what God actually said and do it, stop worrying about all the other things that God didn't tell you to do. Go to John chapter number 2, go to John chapter number 2. So we need to do things that God told us and we need to do it with our own mind. And the opportunities that God has set before us, we need to stop worrying about what we don't have and worry about what we do have and just do it. Just do what we have right now. John chapter 2 is a great passage of scripture where it's going to give us the first miracle of Jesus. The first time Jesus performs a miracle and it's at the wedding of Canaan. Now, this is what Mary says, look at verse 5, it says, his mother. And notice that phrase, his mother, because it's really his mother, okay? His mother saith unto the servants, whatsoever you sayeth unto you, do it. I like her attitude. She says, hey, if Jesus tells you to do something, do it. She's not, you know, well, it might be a good suggestion or maybe she's just saying, look, if he gives you a commandment, just do it. Go to Colossians chapter number 3, go to Colossians chapter 3. I'm not showing you every time this phrase is mentioned, but there's a lot of times it's mentioned. And it's just constantly, just over and over, just do it, do it, do it. You know, Nike, just do it. And you say, oh, you're copying Nike. No, Nike's copying the Bible, all right? Because Mary is the spokesman for Nike. She's like, hey, whatever Jesus says, do it. Colossians chapter 3, look at verse 18. Wives, submit yourselves in your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. So notice, he's giving all these instructions. He's telling the women and the children and the men and the servants. He's saying like, hey, whatever role you're in, whatever position you find yourself in, do it. Hey, if you're a child, be a good child. Obey your mom and dad. Be the best child that you can possibly be. If you're a wife, be the best wife that you can possibly be. Just do it. Hey, if you're a husband, be a husband. Hey, if you're a father, be a father. Hey, if you're a mother, be a mother. Hey, if you have a job, do the job. You know, don't be an embarrassment to your company, to your employer, by not actually fulfilling the role that you have. Why? Verse 24, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. Notice that every single task that you have in your life, God looks at it as if Jesus is giving you that instruction himself. Because he is. Obviously, he's using other people to give it to you practically, but every instruction that you're given through the proper authorities in your life, it's as if Jesus Christ is standing there telling you, obey your parents. Whatever comes out of your parents' mouth, it's like Jesus talking to children. Whatever your husband says on you wise, it says Jesus is speaking to you. Hey, whatever your boss says at work, your unsaved, smoking, drinking boss, whatever he says, it's as if Jesus says it. It's as if Jesus said it to you. Isn't that? And then you're like, that's weird. But that's what the Bible isn't telling us. And it's saying, hey, when you're given a job, do it. And do it heartily. Notice, again, the same reminder as we had earlier, to do it with thy might, do it heartily, because you have to realize you're actually serving the Lord. Now, go back to Deuteronomy. I know we're kind of doing a full circle here. Go back to Deuteronomy. I've laid a foundation. I just want to give you some practical thoughts now. The Bible's clear. Do it. Whatever God tells you to do, just do it. What are some areas of our lives that God wants us to just do something? What are some things that God is saying practically that we need to do? Here's one. Get saved. Right? I mean, isn't this something? When you go out soul winning, what do you really want people to do? Just do it. You know, you show them the Gospel, and what's one of the most frustrating things is when you show them the Gospel, they admit and agree with you, and then they're just like, I'll pray later. You're like, no, do it. You're like, now. I mean, the Bible even says now is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time, and what would be the worst thing that they could do is not do it. Or not do it with their heart, not do it with their might, right? Just kind of like a half-in, just, well, I'll just repeat your prayer, but I don't actually mean it. I didn't actually change my mind. I didn't actually repent and believe the Gospel alone. Instead, they just kind of like go through the motions. That would be a horrible thing. And look, I'm not saying, we don't know, but I bet sometimes people just kind of just, yeah, I believe in Jesus, whatever. They just say it, but they didn't actually mean it. And we don't know who it is that did or not. I think the vast majority of time, people are sincere, and they are getting saved, and the Gospel is really compelling. But the worst thing you could do at that point would be what? To not do it or to not really do it truly. Because if you don't actually mean it, if you don't believe with all thine heart, then you're not really saved. You know, it's not just tagging Jesus on the Buddha. It's not just tagging Jesus under the Pope. It's not just tagging Jesus under your repentance of sin. No, it's a full rejection of dead works. It's a full rejection of repenting of your sin. It's a full rejection of any other ideology. It's a complete admitting that you were wrong and turning only into the Gospel of Jesus Christ that gets you saved. And if you don't do that, it's meaningless. Otherwise, you believe in vain. You can't believe part of the Gospel and get saved, as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15. You can't just believe the death and burial. You've got to believe the resurrection. And you can't just believe in a guy named Jesus. You have to believe in the Jesus of the Bible. You have to have the right Jesus. So, when you're actually going to do the Gospel or have a chance to get saved, you need to do it. Look what it says in Deuteronomy 30, verse 14. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. Hey, we need to encourage people to get saved today. We need to encourage them. And look, if someone's not saved, now is the time. Now is the accepted day. Behold, now. Why? Because you need to do it. You need not promise tomorrow. We're not promised another moment. And every single person has to choose personally to get saved. They have to do it. No one's going to force them to get saved. And so that's a really important decision that you can make. Here's another one. Get baptized. You say, well, I don't know. Do it. If you haven't been baptized, do it. Just go ahead and pull the trigger and go ahead and get baptized. And it's not going to be a half in, half out. We're not going to just sprinkle you. We're going to dunk you all the way. And this morning's baptism, the guy was like, are you going to hold me under for a while? And I was like, no. And he was like, oh, okay. But look, it's going to be all the way. And sometimes people resist a little bit. But I get them down there. Sometimes they're kind of, you pull them down, they kind of hesitate a little bit. And you're just like, sorry. I'm not going to half baptize people. It's going to be all the way. My Savior leads me. Here's one. Get her phone number. Do it. Hey, if you're going to walk over there and talk to her, get her phone number. That'll usually give you a good idea where you stand. Because you're like, hey, I'd like to get your number so we can go talk sometime. He's like, I don't have a phone number. He's not that interested. He's like, my phone's not working right now. Then you kind of know where you stand. Or you get the phone number and you're like, I've called her 37 times this week. She must be really busy. She's not that busy, okay? But, you know, just get it. If you like a girl, just pull the trigger. Because often this is what a girl thinks. Well, they came and talked to me and it was really nice, but he didn't ask for my number. So I don't know if he's interested or not. I don't know if he was just kind of filling things out or whatever. When you ask for the number, it's like, oh, he must be interested. Oh, this is actually moving on. And here's my encouragement. Do it. And to me it's kind of similar to like preaching the gospel. The hardest part about preaching the gospel is just the first question, isn't it? Isn't it just the hard, like especially if it's a friend, it's a co-worker. It's not like door to door, it's just in your regular personal life. The hardest thing to say is just to say, if you were to die today, you're 100% sure you'd go to heaven. After you say that, it usually gets a lot easier. Because you're already in the conversation, you're kind of going downhill. It's the hardest part about when you're talking to a girl is just being like, hey, can I get your number? You know? That's the, in my opinion, you know, especially when you're kind of engaged. It's either like, hey, my name's John or hey, how's it going? Kind of just chit-chatting or small talk. But just go ahead and ask the question. You know, and look, asking to marry her is even harder. So you go ahead and just ask for the number, right? You know, just get a ring. If you're interested in a girl and you want to marry her, get the ring. Just do it. Hey, how about this? Get a skill or get a job. Just do it. Get a career. Some guys need to get a haircut. Just do it. Just pull the trigger. You know, dress godly, get the right clothes. Here's one. Just get married. Do it. You know, you only have one life to live. And, you know, I see some people, it seems like they hesitate to get married or seek after marriage. And then they blink and they're like 35, 40, you know. And look, here's the problem. It gets harder. What's frustrating about marriage is I think the longer you wait, the harder it gets. Because there's less people on the market. You're just out of practice. And everything else is going on. And most people that you marry, they typically say this, I wish we'd gotten married earlier. I wish I'd found you sooner in life. You know, they're not typically thinking like, I really love you, but I wish we'd kind of waited a few years, you know. Like, I wish I had spent less time with you or something. You know, it's typically you wish you'd met them earlier or sooner or sealed the deal quicker. I mean, me personally, I dated my wife for five years. And that was a bad idea. Like, I wish we'd gotten married way sooner. That was just not the right decision. And so sometimes you need to encourage people to do it. You know, don't be afraid of it. Don't be scared of it. You know, rejoice with the wife of Vayup, as the Bible says. Go to Colossians chapter four for a moment. Go to Colossians chapter number four. You know, the Bible says in Ephesians five, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Redeeming the time. Take advantage of the opportunities that you have now. Take advantage of being young. Take advantage of youth. You know, take advantage of having extra time, effort, and energy, and sleep. You know, young people that aren't married don't realize all the advantages they have in their life right now. Of just the fact that they can take a shower whenever they want. They can be quiet whenever they want. They can read the Bible whenever they want. They can hang out with friends whenever they want. They can eat whenever they want. They can go to sleep whenever they want. They can get dressed whenever they want. You know, I mean, life is just easy. Redeem the time. You know, take advantage of what you have now. You know, whenever I was young and single, I wasted it all on like video games and just messing around and doing stupid stuff and vanity. I didn't, you know, I wasn't working hard or I wasn't learning a language or I wasn't reading my Bible or I wasn't going soul winning. I wasn't doing anything of real value. You know, I was just wasting my youth. I was just wasting all that time and effort and energy that I could have been putting into something. And look, you need to find something good to do and just do it. Colossians chapter 4, look at verse 5. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time. Again, the Bible constantly is reiterating the theme of redeeming your time. Take advantage of your time. Because before you know it, you're going to be old. Before you know it, it's going to be over. And in the grave, there is no more time to do things. And typically before the grave, you really can't do anything either. You know, once you get pretty old, I mean, you can get to a point where you're not mobile. You can't see as well. You can't hear as well. You don't have the money. You don't have the effort. You don't have the energy. You know, it's just all frustrating at that point. But you might as well take advantage of your youth. You might as well start doing stuff now. And if you look at the horizon of our world, it seems like our world is only getting more wicked, more restrictive, more problems. So if there's ever a time to start doing the things that are important, it's now. Do them now. Start working. And I don't live my life thinking that tomorrow is, you know, the whole world is going to be destroyed. I live my life thinking that I have every single year left. You know, I'm going to live to be an old man. I'm going to die in my sleep. So I'm going to make sure to plan for the future and not just kind of be hesitant to actually make any real investments or make any real long-term strategies or plans or goals today. You know, we should strive to have long-term plans, strategies, because you don't know what's on tomorrow. And look, people have been waiting for Jesus to come for thousands of years. He still hasn't. Don't live your life. You know, whenever they went into captivity, one of the things God told them was, hey, plant, build, get married, do all these activities. Because when you're in a situation of uncertainty, it can cause you to kind of have paralysis analysis where you just kind of are afraid to do anything. You're like, well, I don't want to enter into the tribulation with a wife. I'd rather just stick it out and be single. I want to buy a house. I'd rather just, you know, be really free. Or I don't want to, you know, invest in this or that. Look, go ahead and invest in the future. Invest in your children. Invest in the things of God. Do it. Go ahead and do it. We don't know. As much as a lot of people think we may in our lifetime have Christ return, it's very well likely it doesn't happen. Everybody else before you thought it, and it still didn't happen, there's no guarantee of that. But what you are guaranteed is now. And what you are guaranteed is that you can do stuff now, so why don't you just do it and do what I might and start redeeming the time that you have now. Because sitting around waiting for something to happen is benefiting you nothing. Start doing stuff now. Go to Hebrews chapter 12. And another thing that sometimes what people do is they might be on the right path, but they're not really going to do with all their might, and they give up kind of in the last moment. You know, they're about to cross the finish line, and then they just give up, and it was like, dude, why'd you stop? Why didn't you just keep going? You would have ended up reaping a huge reward if you just kept going. Do someone like that? Esau. You know, Esau has spent his whole life on a certain course, a certain path, and he's right there at the door. But then he just gets kind of disgruntled against the race, or he gets disgruntled against the work, or his inheritance, and then he just forfeits it all, rather than just continuing, persevering, just doing it. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14. Follow peace with all men and holiness, thou which no man shall see the Lord, looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness spring up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. What the Bible is showing is Esau is a picture of someone who's too impatient to go ahead and enjoy the blessing. He has to go through something where it's kind of difficult, it's kind of way he has to be patient, and he ends up just basically being too impatient and just ruins it all. And it likens it unto someone who commits fornication. You know, you could be a virgin and purer for 18 years of your life, and marriage is on the horizon, and instead of just waiting just a few more months or a few more years, they go ahead and basically spoil themselves. They go ahead and defile themselves before the time, and then they have to live with the regret of that for the rest of their life. Rather than just hanging on for a little bit longer, just saying, you know what, I've done it for this long, I've been pure for this long, might as well just wait it out, and marriage could be on the horizon, you don't even know it, and then you have the joy of the fact that you waited your whole life. Whereas Esau, you know, he's on the horizon of inheritance, I mean, really, pretty close to the point, and when his father's going to die and he inherits everything, is when he sells out. It's when he gets it all away. I mean, he was right on the verge of inheriting everything, and he just got too impatient, he was too bitter. It's, oh, this is frustrating, or he didn't care about it, or it's hard work, and so he ends up just quitting when it was right on the horizon. And look, there could be something that you've been waiting for for a really long time, that God wants to bless you with, that God wants to give you, and instead of getting frustrated with the fact that you don't have it, just continue to be faithful because you never know when he might just give it to you right away. And then you can enjoy, rather than having quit, or screwed up, you know, other pictures of this would be Hagar and Ishmael. It's like, you've waited 80 plus years, just wait a little bit longer, just wait another decade, okay? What's another decade, right? You're finally going to get Isaac, but instead he lays with Hagar, and he has all the problems with Hagar. And look, this is the thing with Christians, where they're on a good path, they're headed in the right direction, but instead of hanging on, instead of continuing to do it, that which is right, they get off course, they get bitter, they get discouraged, they end up quitting. And really, it's a shame, because it was so hard to get to the point that they're at, yet it was so easy to quit. You know, it's easy to quit. It's hard to be faithful for decades. It's hard to do that which is right for a long period of time. And if you've been on the right course for a really long time, period, don't quit. Don't give up. It's like, man, I've been going to this church for a decade. It's like, well, keep going. Don't just give up now. You know, or you've been serving God for the majority of your life, and then at the end you just kick the bucket. I mean, you don't want to just quit at the very end. You know, think about Demas, it's like, Demas, just keep going. You know, just keep staying on the straight and narrow here, take it seriously, but because he didn't take it seriously, he lost out on the opportunity, and notice he couldn't get it back. Just like fornication. You know, fornication is one of those things that you can't take it back. You can't say like, oops, I screwed up, I'm going to take virginity back. No, once the cat's out of the bag, it's out of the bag. Once the water's been let out, you're not going to gather all that back again. And so that's why it's important that there's going to be certain things in your life, certain areas of your life, that you need to just be patient in. Fornication is one of those. Go to Mark chapter number 12. Go to Mark chapter number 12. What's the title of the sermon? The title of the sermon is do it. You know, you say, hey, I've been a virgin for 20 years, we'll be a virgin for another year, and another year, and another year. Just keep going and just keep being patient, keep doing that which is right. Don't throw it all away. Don't get to the point where you're like, man, I was on a good path. Because you could end up destroying yourself when you get off that path. Mark chapter 12, look at verse 41. We have a scenario where Jesus is noticing everybody giving money, tithing to the church, or putting their offerings, free will offerings, everything, into the treasury. And he ends up pointing out this woman who ends up casting in two mites, and he says she gave more than everybody. But why is it that she gave more than everybody? Was it more financially? No. It was more in connection with how much she had, because she gave it all. Everybody else is just giving little trinkets of whatever they have extra, all their extra income, all the money that they didn't really need anyways. It was easy for them to hand that over, but she has nothing but a few mites, and she's like, you know what, I'm just going to give that to God. She looked at it, and it's like, I have nothing, but she's like, you know what, I'm just going to do it anyways. I'm just going to give it to God. What I have, I'm going to give to Him. Rather than having the attitude of saying, well I don't have much, why would I give that to God? Or how am I going to get fed, or how am I going to do these things? Rather than just saying, you know what, I have it, I have the opportunity, I'm just going to do it. I'm just going to serve the Lord. You really think that she's in a bad situation now? You think she's really disappointed that she gave two mites now? And that's what's so silly. People that have almost nothing are so afraid of giving that to the Lord, and it's like, it's two mites. You might find two mites on the ground somewhere in the future. God might do all kinds of manner of things to bless you, but what she got on top of that was the spiritual reward, the spiritual blessing laid up in heaven for casting in those two mites. And she had that opportunity, she's looking for the reward, she has faith in the Lord that He's going to take care of her. She just casts in all of her want into the treasury, and you know what, God's going to bless her because she just did it. Go to 2 Kings chapter 13, go to 2 Kings chapter number 13. Look, you have an opportunity to do something, just do it. I have an opportunity to be a blessing financially, do it. Or give to the Lord, or help the Lord. And look, it's not like God needs those two mites. What was God really after? He was really after her heart. And what I like about this story is, here's the thing, what God wants is all of your heart. Whatever is there. And you know, if money has your heart, He wants you to give up money so that He can have your heart. You know, if it's time, He wants you to give up time so you can have your heart. You know, if it's physical possessions, He wants you to give up the physical possessions so you can have your heart. Not that He doesn't want you to have physical possessions, not that He doesn't want you to have money, not that He doesn't want you to have time for other things. It's just, God's just after your heart. And all this is just a simulation, because it's all going to burn up one day. And God's just saying, look, what do you really care about? Do you really care about all this fake stuff? Or do you care about me? And God just wants you to go ahead and decide, you know, the only thing that really matters is the Lord, and serving Him, and doing the things that He's commanded me, and doing with all my might, doing with all my heart. But some people, they're just kind of lackadaisical about their efforts, about serving the Lord. And because of that, they end up missing out on blessings. Here's an example, 2 Kings chapter 13, look at verse 17. And He said, Open the window eastward, and He opened it, and then Elisha said, Shoot, and He shot. And He said, The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria, thou shalt smite the Syrians in Apheth, though thou hast consumed them. And He said, Take the arrows, and He took them. And He said, And the king of Israel smite upon the ground, and he smote thrice and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times. Then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hast consumed it, whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. So the king of Israel has this special opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He's meeting with the man of God, the man of God's about to die, and he's seeking for a blessing. And the man of God's giving him all these interesting commands. He says, Shoot, and he shoots out a window, and he says, Oh man, you're going to have this military victory. And then he tells him to smite the ground. And instead of doing it with all his might, instead of doing it, he just kind of does it. He's just kind of like, Oh, you know. And then the man of God gets really angry, saying like, Look, you had this opportunity, you know, to spin the wheel, to basically get this great victory, and you just kind of were half in, half out. You didn't really do it. Because you only smote three times, you're going to have a few victories, but you know what? You're going to lose the war. He says, You should have just sat there and just smitten, smitten, smitten, and just been like, Yeah! Ahhh! And he's like, You're going to win, you know. This is going to be a full victory. And it's like, Look, if you're going to compete, if you're going to fight, if you're going to war, if you're going to serve God, why do it with just half of your strength, half of your might, no, do it with all of your might. And think about it. He did it three times, he's saying you should have done it six. Sounds about a 50% effort, doesn't it? Why serve God with 50% of your heart, with 50% of your strength, why don't you serve him with 100% of your strength? 100% of your effort, just do it! Just say, You know what, there's nothing more important than the Lord, I'm going to serve him, I'm going to do it. You know, with the children of Israel, they've gone through so much, and they're about to enter the promised land. And you're just sitting there and you're reading the Bible and you're just like, Do it! And then they don't. And then they have to wander even more. And they have to go and just wander more and more and more. And they're right on the verge, they're right on the edge, and Joshua's sitting here like, Come on guys, they're going to be meat for us! Look at the grapes! Come on, the grapes of Eschol, let's go! And they just won't hearken. They won't do it! I mean, after you've seen the miracles that God's performed, he destroyed the Egyptians before your eyes. They walked through the Red Sea. He's performing miracle after miracle, he's raining manna down from heaven. You have all these miracle after miracle after miracle and you're standing right there, and then they just quit. And they murmur and they complain and they get scared and they don't want to do it. And Joshua and Moses and all of them are just like, Do it! Get in there, I'm sick and tired of this! I mean, Caleb's like, so old. You know, these guys are old. They want to get in there. And it's frustrating. You know, the Bible says we're supposed to present our bodies a living sacrifice as a reasonable service. Do it! You know, it talks about the talents, the parable of the talents. You have one guy who just buries in the ground. And when his master returns, he calls him a wicked and slothful servant. Why is he being rebuked? Because he didn't do anything. He was afraid of what was going to happen. And so he just did nothing. But some people, they literally live their life as a just do nothing. They just go to their job, get their money, spend it all, eat, drink, sleep, go to their job, eat, sleep, drink, go to their job, eat, sleep, drink, and die. And it's just they did nothing with their life. They didn't accomplish anything. They didn't help anybody. They weren't serving the Lord. They didn't preach the gospel. That's a worthless life. Don't bury your talent that God has given you in the ground. Use the talent that you have. And you say, Well, what would be that talent? I don't know. How about lead a soul winning time? You say, I don't know if I could do it. Just do it. Do it. You know, and when you're going to lead a soul winning time, do it. You know, have the purpose of teaching and training other people. Be organized. Help others have a time to go to. You know, sometimes people come to me and they say, Hey, I want to do this soul winning time at this time. And, you know, I'm going to go soul winning at Saturdays at 5 30 in the morning. I'm like, No, they didn't really say this. I'm just giving you an extreme example. Okay, but it's just like, that's not a very good time because no one else can show up. You know, when I would think of a story time, I'm thinking like, what will be a time that other people are interested in? And in fact, that was the advice that Pastor Anderson gave me. He said, Why don't you just ask people like what time you say, Hey, I'm thinking about leading a soul winning time. Is there an extra night of the week or time that would be convenient or you would like to go or whatever? Find a couple people that want to go and then set up a time where you can all go. Because there's no point in just having a soul winning time for you to go by yourself. You could do that whenever you want. The whole point of having a soul winning time is for other people. So you should focus it around other people. Encourage other people. Be organized for the other people. You know, pair different people together. Be prepared. That's why a lot of times when I lead soul winning times, you know, I'll pair myself last or something. Or I'll try to make sure everybody else has a partner. You know, if there's an odd man out, I'll just try to give it to myself. Because I don't need that necessarily encouragement. You know what, I don't want someone to show up to a soul winning time and not be put together with somebody. Or not be able to enjoy the soul winning time. Or not get to learn. Or not have the fellowship. Like they're there to show up to do the soul winning. I want them to have a good time. It's there for them. You know, lead a soul winning time. And if you're going to lead a soul winning time, lead it. Don't just be like, Where are we going to go guys? I don't know. I thought you were leading it. You know, it's like, What do you think we should do? It's like have a plan. Have maps. You know, actually be prepared. Get a program. Do some things. Get some water. You know, if you're going to do it, do it. Right? And if you have an opportunity to give the gospel, do it. Don't be a silent partner your whole life. And then there's nothing wrong with being a silent partner. But, why don't you go ahead and become a talker. Just do it. And often times, you know what the difficulty is? Just doing it. Because if you've been a silent partner for a while, you've gone out a few times, you probably already know how to give the gospel. You're just trying to come up with excuses like, Well, I don't know what to say. And it's like, So, do you know if we're sinners? He's like, Yeah, I know we're sinners. And it's like, Okay, well, what's the punishment of sin? They're like, Hell. And it's like, What? Were we all death and hell? Were we all death and hell? No, Jesus died for all our sins. And you're like, Well, what do I have to do to be saved? And they're like, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm like, Could I lose that? And they're like, No. You know how to give the gospel! Congratulations! You just figured it out! It's like it's that simple. And just throw in a few verses. I don't know, like John 3.16. You know, you sit here and roll your eyes when I turn there in the Bible. It sounds like you must know it. If you know the verses so well, and you know how to get someone saved, just do it. Because you don't want to go your whole life having never given the gospel or attempted, and then someone comes in your path that's real important to you that you have an opportunity, and then you squander it because you weren't prepared. Or you had that opportunity to get that family member saved, and you waited, and then they died suddenly. And you didn't give it to them. You know, if you have an opportunity to give the gospel, do it. And giving the gospel, don't have this attitude that you can't improve. You know, try to improve on your gospel. You know, try to quote the verses perfectly. If you're going to give the gospel, give the gospel, right? I'm not trying to encourage you to be a bad soul winner. I want you to do it, but you know what? Do it with all I might. Take it as an important job, as an important role, as an important task, as something that, you know, you're an ambassador for Christ here. Just as embarrassed as you would be for someone to ask you about your job and know nothing to say, or you couldn't explain it. That's how it should be if you're a Christian. For someone to ask you how to get saved, and you're like, I don't even know. That's kind of embarrassing. I mean, imagine if, you know, any job that you have. Let's say you work at a restaurant. You know, I worked at Chili's as a server. Someone, you know, is like, hey, what's on the menu? I don't know. Well, I'd like to order a burger. I don't know how you can do that. I'm going to have to, you know, we're going to have to get someone else over here so you can get some food. You know, it'd be kind of weird. It'd be embarrassing, right? Or if they said, hey, does this taste good? I don't know. I don't try any of the food here. I don't like the food here. You know, that's weird. Like, you should be an ambassador for your company. You know, a good server is going to be like, hey, I like lots of things on the menu. Let me make you a recommendation. Let me tell you what you should order. Let me make sure and get that for you quickly. You know, or making tips and suggestions about the food. They've tried it. They know what's good. They know how the kitchen works. And sometimes they'll be like, don't try the fish. You know, don't get the ranch. You know, that's a good suggestion, all right? That's a good employee. I'm just messing with them. But you know what? If you're going to do something, do it. If you're going to have a job, you know, know how to do your job. And if you're a Christian, you should know how to give the gospel, all right? If you have an opportunity to preach a sermon, do it. You know, there's going to be times when you have an opportunity to have preaching class or, you know, an opportunity to go out and preach at another church or preach in a certain environment, you know? When you have an opportunity, preach that sermon. And when you're going to preach it, do it with all thy might. You know, study. Actually study for your sermon. You know, make sure you're preaching the clear commandments of God. I always, it baffles me how many times people have preached a sermon and I'm thinking like, what verse is your sermon based on? And there's like no obvious verse. And I'm thinking like, you just like failed instantly. Like, have a verse that is somewhat related to what you're preaching on. You know, have a verse that's basically communicating what you're communicating. Otherwise, you're just communicating your own personal ambition, your own personal ideas, you know? Make it plain. It's important what you say because the Bible even talks about how, you know, it's like a rudder controlling the whole ship is the preaching of God's word. You know, you have this great ship but you have this small little piece of the ship that's basically going to turn the entire ship in the direction that it's headed, the way that it's pointed. That's why preaching is so important because it literally affects the whole congregation. It affects everybody, the direction they're headed, how they're thinking, how they're feeling. You know, if you have an opportunity to play music, do it. Hey, if you can play an instrument, get up here and play the instrument. You know, hey, if you have breath in your lungs, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Hey, when it's time to sing the song, do it. Hey, when the preacher gets up and says turn your Bible to a certain passage in the Bible, do it. Do it, right? I mean, what's the point in coming to church if you're not even going to sing? What's the point in even coming to church if you're not even going to look at the Bible? Why are you here? You can take a nap somewhere else. It's way more comfortable, I promise. I can sleep anywhere though. Okay, I get it. You know, if you're going to go to church, do it, right? Why go to one of these weak, effeminate churches? Go to a real church, right? Go to a church where they're going to preach the Bible. I mean, why not? I mean, do I really want to just find a church that's the closest church to me or find the best church? You know, in every other area of our life, we don't do this. I mean, if I'm going to eat some food, I'm not like, what's the absolutely closest restaurant to my house? I'm thinking like, what's the best restaurant? You know, I'm not thinking like, well, there's Jack in the Box down the street. It's not even on the, it's not an option. I just, I pretend like it doesn't even exist. You know, there are certain restaurants that don't even exist for me. I don't see them. I don't know about them, you know, because they're not options. That's what I think. The Catholic Church, I don't see it because it's not an option. You know, all the non-Anon churches, it's not an option. You know, that's like the Chinese buffet. It's like, I'm not interested in that, you know. You don't know what they're serving. You don't know what the ingredients are. You don't know what they did to that stuff. It's all junk. They try to allure you with all these options. It looks pretty and they have all these options. But you look at the individual item and you're like, eh, I don't know what that is, you know. How is the chicken orange? You know, they took me to this Chinese buffet in California and I'm looking at these drumsticks, fried drumsticks, and it's orange. I'm like, on the inside, I'm like, what is this? It's weird, you know. You get what you pay for, okay, when it comes to food. And look, I'm not trying to see, you know, what's the just closest restaurant to me. I'm thinking like, what's the best restaurant? What sounds the best? You know, what's going to be good? And when it comes to church, I'm not saying like, what's the closest church to me? I'm thinking like, what's the best one for me? You know, what's the one that's nutritious, that's going to feed me? Where's the strong meat, right? I want some meat. I don't want a soy boy burger. I don't want the impossible burger. I want the real burger, you know what I mean? And here's another thing, you know, most people just don't stick with church. Let's be honest, a lot of people, they show up at a church and they get all excited, but then they leave very soon after. Most people don't stick with the church. You know, the church that I was sent out of, State Board Baptist Church, of people that had started at that church in the first year and are still there, it was like one. Like one person. You know, and even this church, having, you know, taken the pastorate, I keep real detailed stats on everything, and I have lists of like all the people that were here before me and then after me. And all in between and everything else. And, you know, I told a lot of people that I said, look, in five years from now, most of the people that are coming here probably won't be here. Not because I don't want them to. Not because they shouldn't be in a good church. Because it's reality. Because that's what happened. And the people that have been here very long, they've seen a lot of people come and go. I mean, they could testify. And it's funny because they don't even remember. There's so many people you just don't even remember that used to come and don't come anymore. Because you just kind of forget about it, but there's just so many people, it racks up over time. I mean, I think about five, six hundred people have come to this church over how long this church has been in existence. Think about that. But how many people are still here? How many people are coming? How many people are going to be here tomorrow? How many people are going to be here the next year? How many people are going to be in a church somewhere? Five years from now, ten years from now, at the end of their life. How many people are going to raise their children to serve the Lord? It's unfortunately, a lot of times, very few and far between. But you know what? You're in control of you. Do it. Every decision you make is going to affect the course of your life. You know, just go ahead and get really plugged into church. Just do it. Three times a week. Just say, I'm going to do it. You say, I don't want to quit church. I don't want to give up church. Well, then get plugged in three times. Because the person that gets plugged in just once, every once in a while, those are the ones you see go real easy. It's rare that you see the person plugged in three times a week leave. That happens. I'm not saying it doesn't. But they typically start to slowly fade, fade, fade, and then you forget that they even exist. Right? But it's a lot easier to keep going when it's three times a week. Because you miss one service, you still went to church two times in a week. That's a lot. People at your workplace would think you're a weirdo for going two times a week. You know, they're like, you go twice? You go twice on the same day? Like, wasn't one, you know, five hour sermon long enough? It's like, whatever. How is that not enough? I mean, our pastor preaches for five minutes. Like, it matters if you go to church. It affects you. Whether you like it or not, whether you enjoyed the sermon or not, it affects you. And you know what, you need to get in the right habits and you just go ahead and do it. Have children. Do it. You only have one life. And you know what, I guarantee every person when they get older and they get to the point where they can't have kids, this is the thought that they're going to have over and over. I wish I had more. I wish I had more. I wish I invested in my kids more. I wish I spent more time with my kids. You know what they don't think? They don't think, like, I wish I had no kids. They don't think that. They think they wish that. You go to the nursing home and ask how many of them wish they had more kids. Because they're thinking, like, I haven't seen any of my kids. My kids never visit me, they never talk to me, they never want anything to do with me. I wish I had ten. But then they only have to call me once every couple days and I have a kid calling me every day. Right? They have someone to talk to, someone to think about. You know, these people that have lots and lots of kids, they're going to have lots and lots of grandkids. And that's going to be a huge blessing. If you have eight kids, and your eight kids have eight kids, that is 64 grandchildren. You won't even remember all their names. You'll have so many blessings. They might even all have the same name. You know, you might have a bunch of, like, Johns and Susans and Marys and whatever. I mean, if you're Hispanic, you're going to have a lot of Marys, okay? You say, how do you know that? When I go to Mexico, every woman is named Mary. Maria. I guarantee more than half the time they say their name is Maria. It's crazy. That's just an anecdote, okay? But if you're going to have children, do it. Take it seriously, too. You know, if you're going to have children, breastfeed. And if you're going to breastfeed, breastfeed. Don't be half in, half out about it. And they'll be like, well, I started breastfeeding, but it hurt. Do it. You know, and look, it hurts a lot at the beginning, but it gets better. You know, if you're going to homeschool, do it. Don't be like, well, this is frustrating. Kids are hard to teach. It's like, it's hard. It's frustrating. But just do it. Don't do no homeschooling. Don't just not educate your children. You know, don't actually, you know, if you're going to do something, hey, watch your kids. If you're going to have kids, watch them. Protect them. Guide them. Teach them. Train them. Hey, once they finally get to the teenage years, don't be like Esau in a fornicator and give up. Just do it. Just be a parent of a teenager. You got that far, just keep going, okay? You've almost got to the end. Don't give up now. You know, push through the teenage years. You know, the Bible says in Luke chapter 16, go to James 1, if you would. It says, if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust of the true riches? You know, we need to be faithful to the things that we have. And a lot of people, they're worried about what they don't have rather than what they do. And look, if you don't have eight kids or 20 kids, you have one, well, just go ahead and invest all that you can in that kid. You know, or if you just, you have a spouse or you have a brother, it doesn't matter. Whatever you have, do it. And stop worrying about the things that you can't do and start worrying about the things that you can do. You know, some people, they get frustrated with not having as many kids as they want or having kids or something like that. And then they're just a bad spouse. And I'm like, well, why don't you be a good spouse then? You know, if that's what you have. Or just be a good Christian. You say, well, I have no spouse. No one will marry me. No one, I can't find anybody. You know? I keep showing up at the comic book club and I can't find any girls there at chess club at the ping pong tournament. And there's not any girls there, you know? I can't find them, you know, and I'm not looking in the right place. You know, well, just serve the Lord. Read your Bible. You know, how are you doing on the things that you do have control with? That you do have the power over right now? Worry about those things. You know, I love this next one. Just read your Bible. Just do it. You know, I don't like reading the Bible. Just do it. I don't like reading Leviticus. Do it. You'll eventually get to Leviticus 2013. You can laugh a little bit and then just keep reading. Okay? You know, even the really tough books of the Bible still have some cool chapters. You know, here and there. You know, the first, really Leviticus, as soon as you get past like chapters 8 and 9 and stuff, it starts getting really good. It's really just those first few that are kind of rough. It's just all the killing of the sacrifices and all the animals. You're just kind of like, oh, man. But if you try to look for Jesus in those, it can be cool, you know, reading those, too. You get to some of the chapters where it's the same thing over and over, like how many spoons, you know, of meal they have and all the carts and the horses. I mean, it's just like, man. But just read it. Just do it. Just have some character. You know, the Bible says the words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. You know, mothers, you need to read your Bible so you can teach your children the Bible. You say, well, that's boring to me. Yeah, but it'll help you teach your children. It'll help you get through that drudgery and give you wisdom to teach your children the word of God. Here's my last one that you should just do is, you know, just listen to the sermon. If you're already here, pay attention. You know, you could be thinking about everything else, thinking about how long is he going to preach, you know, how hot is it, how many protesters showed up, you know, want a drink of water, how many times did this person go to the bathroom, the service, you know. It's like, man, you know, how many times did this kid scream or, you know, you're worried about everything else, you're worried about tomorrow, you have to go to work. You know, if you're going to be here, just listen. Right? Think about, is there something I can take away, is there something I can change, is there something I can do different, you know, just do it. Just listen to the sermon. You know, are you memorizing the things of the sermon? You know, sometimes I'd hear a sermon where I feel like it's a topic that I'm really familiar with or something I've studied really well. But then I think, you know what, there's plenty of verses here that's being used in the sermon that I don't remember the reference to or I don't have that verse memorized. So I should try to think about those and get them deeper in my heart. Because, you know, you and I both know there's plenty of times where we can think of a verse but we can't think of where it's at. We'll take the opportunity when you're listening to a sermon to try and memorize and ingrain your mind where that verse is at and think about that verse and think about that context and take some notes or, you know, if God is working in your heart and reminding you of something in the sermon, write it down. Because oftentimes you'll forget it later and you won't end up making any changes in your life. Hey, if the pastor steps on your toes or you say, that was convicting, write it down. Put a note or think about it or circle it in your Bible or do something, you know, rather than just being like, oh, that was cool. You know, pay attention, listen to the sermon, just do it with my mind. Look at James chapter number 1 and let's start in verse number 23. Let's back up, sorry, verse 22. But be, look at this word, doers of the word. Do it. Do the Bible. And not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in the glass. For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful here, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deeds. So notice God's trying to hit it home here and say, look, when God strikes something in your heart, when God lays something upon you, when you realize, hey, this is something I need to change, you need to do it. Don't forget it. When you're reading your Bible in the morning and something sticks out, take a note, make a list, I need to change this, do something about it. You know, do it. And when you're already here at church, you're hearing someone preach a sermon to you, if something, you know, triggers in your mind and in your brain, say, you know, I'm not doing that, do it. If there's something you've been thinking about that you've been wanting to do, do it. Do it. You know, when it comes to the Word of God, here's a question I ask myself when I'm listening to a sermon. Maybe the sermon's on baptism, right? But I say this, could you on the spot, if I just hand you a Bible, say, give me five verses and compel me to get baptized. Could you do it? Well, I've heard the pre-wrath rapture a whole bunch of times. Okay, give me five verses and prove it to me right now. Could you do it? And you say, well, why would I want to do that? Because you're going to run into your family, friends, coworkers, and everybody else, and things are going to be brought up, and you're going to be like, oh, I know all about it, it's pre-wrath. And they're like, no, it's not. Yeah, it is, it's in the Bible. Where? I don't know, my pastor uses the Bible every time he preaches. Somewhere, you know. Amos, I don't know what that's about. No, you should want to have verses that you can use to your benefit. So, take opportunity, it's a sermon I already know. Okay, well, do you really know it, though? Do you really have it memorized? Could you really point to verses? Could you really explain it? Or pay attention to how the preacher's explaining it so that you could explain it in a good way. Because I've literally seen people, they go to a church that's King James only, it's soul winning, all these type of things, and someone will ask them a question in your presence about that topic, and they just explain it really bad. Or you see this on Facebook. People just have really bad reasons why they're King James only, or why something's by faith, or they're misinterpreting the Bible, and you're just thinking like, I know you've heard tons of sermons explaining that. It's because when they hear a sermon that they think they already know, they check out mentally rather than trying to get it stronger in their mind, in their heart. You know, when I go to the gym, I can look at the dumbbells and be like, I've already lifted these in my life before. But I need to do it again, right? I need that repetition, I need to keep doing that work, and keep getting those gains, because if you don't, you're just going to end up being a puny man. Don't be the girly man. Pump it up. And when you come to church, pump up the spiritual man. Do it. You know? Don't look at a church as like, well, I'm only here to learn something I've never heard in my entire life. Then go to Old Path Baptist Church. You'll hear a new heresy every single week. You know what? We're going to hear the same old truths of the Bible. You know, if you want to hear something new, you're in the wrong place. You should hear the same truths maybe in a new way. That it's going to be the same truths, the same verses, the same Jesus. You know? Get them deep down into your heart. And, you know, it's funny because if you looked at someone and said, hey, do you know how to fight? Yeah, I watch Jackie Chan movies all the time. I watch a lot of USC. That doesn't make you a good fighter. Watching someone preach a sermon doesn't make you a good preacher. It doesn't make you know the Bible. You reading the Bible and studying it yourself will make you actually know the Bible. You actually getting in there and doing the work is going to make you be able to fight spiritually. So you need to prepare yourself. You need to study yourself. Go to Hebrews 5, the last place you'll have your turn, okay? Take some notes. You know, whenever I hear something or I'm reading something and it really strikes me, I try to take a note. And I try to, you know, write it down, think about it, you know, make plans. And I'm not perfect. There's plenty of things that, you know, I can procrastinate on or be lazy about. But at the end of the day, we need to motivate ourselves to do it. We need to motivate ourselves to just go ahead and put our hands to the work and just start working. Look at what it says in Hebrews 5 verse 12. For when the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that won't teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God and are become as such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, free as a babe. Strong meat belongeth them that are full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. You know what he's trying to help them understand? The reason why you guys aren't growing, the reason why you guys are still immature, you're still a babe in Christ, is because you're not doing anything, because you haven't exercised, you haven't used that information. And the reality is, if you don't use the information that you've been given, if you don't put Christianity into practice, if you're not actually going to do it, you're just going to stay a baby forever. You have to do it. You actually have to get the reps in. You have to do the exercise. You have to actually go to the church. You have to read the Bible. You have to talk about it. You have to think about these things. You have to study them so that you can do it. I don't want to just hear the truth or hear the doctrine. I want to be able to teach it to my family, to my friends, to my children. You know, if nothing else, just your children. You really want to be at a point where your children ask you questions about the Bible and you just can't even explain any of it. You don't know any of it. That's how you raise your children for the world. And like other independent Baptist churches and other good churches, so-called, decided not to sit their children down and be patient and teach them and train them, and then when they get old, they don't know anything. They don't know why they're King Jamesians. They don't know that salvation is by faith alone and that repenting your sins is a false doctrine because they've heard all kinds of weird preaching their whole life. They don't know why women dress like women. They don't know why men dress like men. They don't know why there's a difference. They don't know any of these things because the preacher wasn't getting up and preaching it, or even if he was, the parents weren't reinforcing it at home. Look, your kids care way more about what you say than what I say. And I can be a positive influence on your kids, but at the end of the day, you have the most impact on your children. You need to reinforce it at home. You need to teach and train them what the Bible actually says. The Bible says church is for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. If you're going to go to church, if you're going to hear good advice, you need to do it. You need to do it with all of your might. Let's do some prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for our church. Thank you for the men and women that are here. I pray that you would just motivate us and encourage us to realize that, you know, life is short. Life is a vapor. We don't have a long period of time to be here. But since you have given us the time and opportunity and all kinds of things in our lives that we can do, I pray that we'd see those opportunities before us and we'd do them. And that we'd do them with all of our might, that we would care about your commandments. And I pray that as we do them, you would give us just favor and blessing and strength to do them. You'd come alongside us, that you would prosper us, that you'd give us success. And that our fruits and our labors would not be in vain, but rather they would be a spiritual blessing. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, let's go ahead and sing one more hymn before we go. Go ahead and take out your hymnals. Song number 112, Be Still My Soul. Make sure you sing loud, all right? Do it. Song number 112, Be Still My Soul. Sing it all together at first. Be still my soul, the Lord is on the side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide. In every change, he faithful will remain. Be still my soul, thy best, thy heavenly friend. Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end. Be still my soul, thy God doth undertake to guide the future as he has the past. Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake. All now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still my soul, the waves and winds still know. His voice should roar them while he dwells below. Be still my soul, the hour is hastin' on. When we shall be forever with the Lord. When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone. Sorrow foregone, lust for his joys restored. Be still my soul, when change and tears are past. All safe and blessed we shall meet at last. Amen. Thank you all for coming. God bless. You are dismissed. Thank you. Thank you.