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Now changes not thy compassions, they fail not, as thou hast been, thou forever will be. Great is thy thankfulness, great is thy thankfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy thankfulness, Lord unto me. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, join with all nature in manifold witness to thy great thankfulness, mercy, and love. Great is thy thankfulness, great is thy thankfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy thankfulness, Lord unto me. Morning for sin and love, peace I endure, and final near presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings, O mine, with ten thousand beside, great is thy thankfulness, great is thy thankfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy thankfulness, Lord unto me. God is so good. God is so good. God is so good. He's so good to me. He cares for me. He cares for me. He cares for me. He's so good to me. And now on that last verse. He's all I need. He's all I need. He's all I need. He's so good to me. Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my sovereign die? Would he be both that sacred and poor such a work as mine? He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. Yes, I know. He gave himself to die for me because he loves me so. Was it for crimes that I have done? He roamed upon the tree. Amazing, pretty, grace unknown, and love beyond degree. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. Yes, I know. He gave himself to die for me because he loves me so. Well, might the sun in darkness shine and shine his glories in. When Christ the mighty maker died for man, the creature sinned. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. Yes, I know. He gave himself to die for me because he loves me so. Thus might I light my blushing face while his dew cross appears, dissolve my heart in thankfulness and melt my eyes in tears. He loves me. He loves me. Yes, I know. He gave himself to die for me because he loves me so. But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Dear Lord, I give myself away. Dissolve that I can do. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. Yes, I know. He gave himself to die for me because he loves me so. But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Yes, I know. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. Page 19, there is a fountain. Page 19, there is a fountain. All out on the first. There is a fountain filled with blood, God's holy name you'll see. Hands in his mind we need that blood. Loose all the guilty strains. Loose all the guilty saves. Loose all the guilty saves. Hands in his mind we need that blood. Loose all the guilty saves. One second. Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh 20 when I see the blood Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Thanks for coming to steadfast baptist church If you didn't get a bullet and you'd like one just lift your hand up real quick. Our officers can come by Matthew 28 we're doing our Bible memory passage on the insides their service and soul winning times our service times Church stats make sure you're putting that into our group also on the right We have a list of expecting ladies. Please be in prayer for them. Our kids choir has been going really well Thanks for those who are participating and I'm really looking forward to their performance on Easter The Foley wedding is this upcoming Friday. If you have not RSVP do it now So you have permission you get your phone out and you can sign up just make sure you fill that out so we have an idea of how many people are gonna be coming and Then also our spring swap is gonna be April 13th Mansfield soul winning marathon is April 19th Easter Sunday the 20th. We have our Easter cards out So if you'd like to use those for soul winning, we already have some nice Easter invites You can be handing out at the door. And so that's a nice to have Ladies tea is gonna be May 10th. We have some church reminders down below on the back is our prayer list It's pretty much all I have as far as announcements. We'll go ahead and just sing our third song make sure again to be praying for Our evangelist Duncan or bannock and his family as they're gonna be heading back tomorrow morning Or just tomorrow. I don't know exactly when but they're gonna be heading back. He's in the morning So they're gonna be flying out it's a long long flight and so just be in prayer that it goes smoothly and Really appreciate you guys being here and you guys are on our hearts and minds and we're looking forward to Your monthly newsletter every week or every month. So thank you so much We'll go ahead and sing our Psalm of the week Psalm 67 if you can get in your special binders Psalm 67 Psalm 67 Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Great singing this evening at this time the offering plates will go around if we can all turn our Bibles to Luke chapter 2 Again, that's Luke chapter 2 You You Luke chapter 2 the Bible says and it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed and this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria and all went to be taxed everyone into his own city and Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem Because he was of the house and lineage of David to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife being great with child and so it was that while they were there the days were accomplished that she should be delivered and She brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and Lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid and The angel said unto them fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy Which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior Which is Christ the Lord and this shall be a sign unto you you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger and Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men and It came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven The Shepherd said one to another let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass which the Lord hath made known unto us and They came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger and when they had seen it they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child and All they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them and When eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child his name was called Jesus Which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished They brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as it is written in the law in the law of the Lord every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons and Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and the same man was just and devout Waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon him and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost That he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ and he came by the Spirit into the temple and When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law Then took he him up in his arms and blessed God and said Lord now let us thou thy servant depart in peace According to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou has prepared before the face of all people a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel and Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him and Simeon blessed him and said unto Mary his mother behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against Yea a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed and There was one Anna a prophetess the daughter of fanuel of the tribe of Assar she was of a great age and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity and She was a widow of about four score and four years which departed not from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day and She coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem and When they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord They returned into Galilee to their own city Nazareth and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit filled with wisdom and the grace Of God was upon him now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover and when he was 12 years old They went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast and when they had fulfilled the days as they returned the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem and Joseph and his mother knew not of it But they supposing to him to have been in the company when a day's journey and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance and when they found him not they turned back again to Jerusalem seeking him and it came to pass that after three days they found Him in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors both hearing them and asking them questions and all that heard him were astonished at his Understanding and answers and when they saw him they were amazed and his mother said unto him son Why has thou thus dealt with us behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing and he said unto them How is it that she sought me wish ye not that I must be about my father's business and they understood not the saying Which he spake unto them and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Let us pray dear Heavenly Father Thank you for the Word of God. I thank you for this section about Jesus Christ and his birth and dear God I pray that you would please bless our evangelist or Bannock as he Goes back to the Philippines give them safe travels and please bless the message now that you've laid on past Shelley's heart in Jesus Amen. Amen. I want to look at the end of this chapter again in the Bible says in verse 48 and when they saw him they were amazed and his mother said unto him son Why is thou thus dealt with us behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing so Jesus has been missing and of course if you ever lose one of your children It's one of the most heart-wrenching experiences of your life this goes on for a few days So I can't even imagine what kind of feeling that might have been so when they finally recover their child Who's 12 years old? He's not necessarily a toddler, but it's still kind of a scary experience They're saying Didn't you realize we were missing you? We've been looking for you What's going on? And she says thy father and I have sought thee and he answers in verse 49 He said on them. How is it that you sought me? Wish ye not that I must be about my father's business and and what's kind of interesting is kind of a spicy reply honestly but what he's really trying to get at is that he has a call on his life to Serve God and to do something spiritual with his life and so he's kind of making this statement and we kind of have a different meaning here because his Earthly father is not really his biological father his earthly father is just simply an adoptive parent in a sense because Jesus Christ doesn't have a biological father he's the son of God and that's from a biological perspective because Mary is his mother biologically, but biologically he has no earthly father. He's just simply a Conceived in the Holy Ghost conceived in the womb by the Holy Ghost So however that works he is Physically the son of God just like Adam is the son of God made from dust There's one other son of God in a sense from a biological perspective and that's the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus is the second Adam in a sense as the Bible describes him and so he's kind of making this statement to clarify like Joseph's not my father My father is God the Father in heaven now He still though if you notice it says in verse number 51 and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them He's not trying to be disrespectful. He still honored his father and his mother, but he's just trying to make it clear like hey I'm here to serve my Heavenly Father as my primary goal in life But obviously as a young boy We still need to be subject to our parents until we become an adult until we're on our own But what I wanted to draw from this text is just this phrase my father's business And that's what I want to preach a sermon on this evening is my father's business when we're a young child We are subject to our parents and we need to obey our parents and and do everything they ask But there comes a point in a young man's life when he himself has to make decisions for himself And he becomes a man he becomes an adult and he moves on with his life The Bible says that a man is supposed to leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife and they start their own family They start their own Unit, even if a man does not get married eventually He's obviously gonna move out live on his own and not be with his parents. The Apostle Paul doesn't still live with mom at home he's obviously a grown man he can take care of himself and historically when young men grow up and they become of age They typically would follow in their father's footsteps they would often have the same profession They would have the same job. They would have the same accolades They just do the same things if he was a Smith They are a blacksmith just like their father was if he trained horses. They train horses if he was in finance They're in finance. They just kind of follow in their father's footsteps. They take his career They model their life after their father. They're about their father's business Right, whatever or they take the family business in many cases A lot of people have their own business and the son is kind of expected to take their father's Business and to keep going in that same trajectory But Jesus is showing no, there's gonna be a break here I'm not just gonna do what my dad did and we know from the biblical text that his father was a carpenter and Jesus did do carpentry, but Jesus did not continue doing carpentry Jesus changed professions because he was about his father's business Which means God the father's business and at the end of the day all of us that are saved We have a Heavenly Father and we're supposed to make a decision to say, you know What my life should be about my Heavenly Father's business, not my earthly father's Business now, I want to go to a lot of verses go to Ephesians chapter 1 go to Ephesians chapter 1 You Know we read this and it's a great verse because we think oh, yeah Jesus was supposed to do what God the Father wanted him to do. You know what? That's not just for Jesus That's for all of us We all should have the same attitude and say you know what I need to be about my father's business Which is God the Father now, none of us can pick who our earthly father is Some people in here. I guarantee some of us have great fathers. We have just great parents We had a great earthly father He was awesome And then some of us probably don't have a great earthly father some people lost their father Some people's father left them. Some people's father was just a bad father I mean not everybody has a great father from an earthly perspective But the good news is is that no matter what your father was you have a Heavenly Father? That's willing to adopt you and come alongside and to be a great father unto you Okay, Ephesians chapter 1 look at verse 3 blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ with blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ According as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in Love having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself According to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace where he hath made us accepted in The beloved so no matter who you are where you come from who your dad was You have the opportunity to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ become a child of God and then you're adopted Into God's family and now you have a new father you have God of the Father and God the Father Wants to be your Heavenly Father, and he wants to take care of you He wants to bless you and he wants to guide you and lead you he wants to have a relationship With you and he wants to have a fellowship with you You know one thing that you constantly hear From the non-denominational crowd and people at the door is they talk about salvation is having a relationship It's all about having a relationship and the reality is salvation is not based on having a relationship You know I have a relationship with my boss that doesn't make me a son Because it's not just having a relationship that gets you saved. It's believing on Jesus that gets you saved, okay? But at the end of the day You know what they're bringing up the concept they're bringing up is a good concept even though that words never found in the Bible It's it's fellowship is kind of the word that's used in the Bible But of course the Bible does want us to have in our modern vernacular a relationship with God God wants us to have some kind of a fellowship with him and each individual every single one of us needs to have our own personal Relationship or personal fellowship with God he is our father. He has adopted us, and we need to ourselves have a Relationship with him and be about his business and his goals for our life Now let's go to some more verse go to Matthew chapter 10 Let's go back to the Gospels and go to Matthew chapter number 10 Let's see a few more verses before we kind of get into some of the subject matter here But we need to make a decision to be about our father's business and What I like as I like how Jesus worded it He said it's my father's business because he made it personal because our Heavenly Father is a personal God, and he is my father He's also your father. He's our father for all of us that are saved you Judas. You don't have you know. Sorry. You're a bastard but We have a father God the Father and we are saved and he's my father He's someone that's personal to me And it's even personal you and we need to strive to have a relationship with him And we need to strive to be about his business not about our earthly father Now for some of us that might not be as big of a task because maybe you don't have much a relationship with your father But if you have a pretty good relationship with your father The Bible is saying in some cases You have to put that on the back burner and you have to choose to not be about your earthly father's business You need to be about your Heavenly Father's business. Look what it says in Matthew 10 verse 34 Think not that I'm coming to send peace on earth I came not to send peace but a sword for I'm come to set a man at variance against his father Notice the first person mentioned in this list is your father to set a man at variance Against his father because you know what? We're not here to serve our earthly father We're here to serve our Heavenly Father and we have to put preeminence in the relationship of our relationship with God over our earthly father and Look, I believe that we should have a great relationship with our father. I believe that we should Celebrate our father. I believe we should be willing to provide for our parents in their old age and we should take care of them But let me tell you something. I am NOT here to serve my father Earthly speaking I'm here to serve my Heavenly Father and I have to elevate my relationship with God above my heavenly or my earthly father So much so that you should always ask yourself this question any decision or anything you're doing you should ask this Is this gonna please God the Father more or my earthly father more and you have to make that decision and say you know what? This is a better spiritual move for me. This is gonna draw me closer to God So therefore I have to make that decision over the decision of what's better for my father and you know for a lot of fathers You know specifically even in my life They want you to just be around and hang out and just do stuff with them because they like you I mean me my dad have a great relationship. We love each other. We talk all the time We played sports together all the time. We watched basketball and we did all kinds of stuff. I mean great relationship I lived one block from him, you know, whenever I moved out, I only moved one block away Okay, so was it real far and we play golf all the time We do all kinds of games. He's really smart. So it's really fun. We have a lot of good conversations So, I mean, I have a great relationship with him hung out with him a ton Did he want me to move and go train to be a pastor? No Selfishly, he would rather me just hang out and be near him for the rest of my life What do you like for me to move here and not be near them? No, he's always like hey Why don't you start a church in our area and you know, it's just like no it's not gonna happen But obviously selfishly parents want to be around you. They want to be around grandchildren. You know what? I'm not here to serve my father I'm not here to serve his wants and wishes and needs I'm here to serve my Heavenly Father's wants wishes and needs and so my decision-making should be first God the Father second my earthly father now it doesn't mean that I Have to have like a problem relationship. It doesn't mean I have to have bad relationship It just means I'm gonna choose my Heavenly Father over that other relationship It says notice here in the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's foes Shall be they of his own household and in what context does this mean? It means for many people? They're just not gonna choose to serve God Because of an earthly relationship they would rather please other people over God But we have to be about our father's business. We have to choose now I'm gonna be about my father's business, which is my Heavenly Father not my earthly father Verse 37 he that loveth father a mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me and he that taketh not his cross and followeth after Me is not worthy of me He that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it in order to be A disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ you have to personally say you know what God the Father is my most important relationship And I'm gonna always choose that that's what it really looks like go to chapter 19. Go to Matthew chapter number 19 This is not a one-off passage of the Bible. It's constantly brought up and You see Jesus Constantly showing how he's not preferring Flesh and blood over the work of serving God I mean even his mother and his brethren come to talk to him and he's just like he kind of refuses to go out and talk With them and he says behold my mother and my brother and my sister, you know, he's like hey who is my mother? Who is my brother they that hear the Word of God and do it? That's the people that he's saying are the ones that he's gonna give the preeminence to these give the most attention to and Focus on Matthew 19 verse 27 Then answered Peter and said on him behold we have forsaken all and follow thee What shall we have therefore and Jesus said unto them? Verily I say unto you that you which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory he also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel and everyone that have forsaken houses or Brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands from my name's sake Shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life But many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first So the Lord Jesus Christ is telling his disciples. Hey, there is a reward To serving him but it's gonna cost you something and in many cases it's costing people a lot houses Brethren sisters father mother wife children lands for my name's sake so You know for a lot of people they have to walk away from physical possessions Maybe making a lot of money Family, I mean this verse is really personal for me Go view it in mark 10. I think that for a lot of you. It's probably personal You know, I it's it's really that whole verse is really personally is I was in a family business where we owned lots of lands And houses and when I moved I literally said bye to all that, you know And it's not that I think there's anything wrong with that. It's fine. There's nothing wrong with being in family business There's nothing wrong with owning rental property or owning houses or owning lands And I'm not saying you even have to forsake all that to serve God, but sometimes you do I'm not saying you always have to forsake your father to serve God. Sometimes you can serve God with your father I'm not saying you have to forsake your brothers and your sisters. You don't have to but sometimes you do For some of us for some of our situations. We do have to say goodbye to certain things And you know what? We should be willing to do so That's what a real disciple looks like is someone that says hey, I'm willing to do that. I'm willing to walk away I'm not gonna put you as the most important relationship. I'm putting God as my most important relationship mark chapter 10 look at verse 28 Then Peter began to say on them lo we have left all and I followed thee and Jesus answered and said Verily I say unto you there hath no man That have left house or brethren or sisters or father a mother a wife or children or lands for my sake and the Gospels But he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with Persecutions and in the world to come eternal life, but many that are first shall be last in the last verse now This verse makes more sense for me because it's like hey, yeah, I might not have the same relationship I've had with a lot of my brethren physically and sisters But look I have so many more brothers and sisters that I get to hang out with and have all kinds of fun and All kinds of other place. I mean if I need a place to stay tons of people would let me stay with them And so I have all this this stuff But it did say with persecutions that that's also real. Okay. That's a real phrase right there. You got a circle underline highlight So whenever you serve God you get hey, you still get brothers and sisters They're just spiritual brothers and sisters and you still get houses and stuff, but you get something else with it with persecutions Okay, but you know, that's the reality. That's the reality but many that are first shall be last and the last First, you know if you want to be about your father's business You need to realize that serving God is gonna cost you something Most I mean, there's really just not anybody out there. That's just gonna say like I didn't cost me anything We all probably have to give up something We all are gonna have to make some kind of a sacrifice and make some kind of a difficult decision for some people It's easier than others, but I want to go to Matthew 4 if you would I'll show you a couple people that did this specifically in the Bible But we need to have a vision for our lives That is not set by our parents, but it is set by our heavenly parent our Heavenly Father The vision for your life should not be what your parents want you to do. It should be what God wants you to do and In fact, it's not even what you want to do. It's still what God wants you to do We need to say, you know what? I'm gonna be about my father's business in my life now What's the first step of that? Well, you need to get saved and you think everybody has to personally get saved Your parents can't get you saved. No one can use it. You have to personally believe on the Lord Jesus Christ You have to make that choice You have to personally decide I want to believe in Jesus and I want to become a child of God After you get saved you then still have to make other decisions. You have to personally decide to read the Bible yourself No one's gonna I mean your parents might ask you to read your Bible and they might kind of force you a little bit But beyond being a young child eventually, you're gonna have to just make a decision yourself. I want to read the Bible because it's hard work and a lot of people aren't gonna read the Bible but instead of just Reading other material or just not reading you need to say, you know what? I'm gonna read the Bible because I want to have a relationship with my Heavenly Father You have to decide that you're gonna worship God for yourself You have to decide I'm not going to church because my spouse comes to church I'm not going to church because my parents are making me go to church I'm not going to church because someone else I'm going to church because I want to go to church. I Want to show up I want to open the hymnal. I want to sing loud unto the Lord I want to be about my father's business. I want to worship God in my own heart Because you know worship doesn't really really work in the sense that you don't care like This is what's silly about worship and if you just fake it is you're fooling no one that matters because the only person that matters in your worship is God and God can see your heart and if you're not worshiping God in a true heart, it's just a meaningless thing anyways It's just like us in marriage when you ask your spouse something important They give you a sarcastic answer or something or it's Micaiah giving us our cast You can tell and you just kind of like that's meaningless. You know, if you ask your spouse like hey, do you love me? Like yeah, I love you You're like that doesn't really benefit anything in the same way you showing up at church and just just just going through the motions But you don't really have any desire to love God. You don't really care about God. It's a meaningless worship We need to have true heartfelt worship where it's like hey, I'm here about my father's business. I love God I appreciate what he's done for me and I'm gonna actually sing with some conviction You know when I sing to God be the glory I really mean it I really want God to be glorified for what he's done in my life. I want God to be glorified for my salvation I want God to be glorified for the works that he's done in the sacrifice. He made with his son the Lord Jesus Christ I really want God to be glorified for the changes I've made in my life I want God to be glorified for my children and for my wife and for the works that we've done and accomplished I want God to be glorified for the Salvations that our church has had I want God to be glorified in my life and that's why I'm singing I'm not just singing because it's awkward if I don't I'm singing because I actually want to worship God You know, we need to decide to pray for ourselves You know, we need to we need to actually say, you know what I'm gonna actually pray to God I'm gonna by myself go somewhere and I'm just gonna pray to God and I'm gonna actually pour out my heart to him and I'm Gonna tell my Heavenly Father the things that I need, you know Most of our children have no problem going to mom and dad and asking them for stuff all the time Can I candy can I have ice cream can I stay up late can I watch you know? TV shows or watch a movie or can I go play outside? I mean, they're constantly Bombarding us with just wants and wishes and and and just sometimes it's can I sit in your lap? Will you give me a hug? Will you play with me? Will you talk with me? They want a relationship with us and then become teenagers some of them decide they don't want that anymore And it's kind of sad, you know, if it's a teenager just sit in your dad's lap and just give him a hug You know, don't be awkward about it. He still likes you You know wrestle with dad play that, you know in the same way our Heavenly Father wants us to have that relationship with him He wants us to pray to him and he wants us to go to him when you're when you're feeling sad When you're anxious when you're stressed when you're worried when you're uncertain when you're concerned We're supposed to go to the Lord in prayer We're supposed to go it to our Heavenly Father and we're supposed to have a real relationship with him and pray to him you know, we need to have a desire To have a personal relationship with God the Father and we need to decide Hey, I want to do what my father wants me to do You know, we have a desire inside to please our father earthly father But we should also draw out that spiritual desire to please our Heavenly Father And say hey, I want to do what my Heavenly Father wants me. He created me. He gave me a life He gave me a wife. He gave me children. He gave me a job. He's given me all kinds of great things I mean, I love steak. I mean think about it. God never had to create steak. He never had to create cows Praise God for cows, you know You can all eat Chick-fil-a and I won't save the cows. Okay, I want to eat the cow, right? It's like praise God. He made beef. He made brisket. Praise God We're in the New Testament and I get that bacon I get to make pork baby back ribs. I mean these things are awesome You know having a wife is awesome I mean God didn't you know, he started out with just men and then he's like it's not good for the man to be alone So I'm gonna create him a help me and he created him a woman and let me tell you something having a wife is awesome Having children is incredible Having the ability to just go out. I mean our world is beautiful in so many ways There's so many cool things to do God gave us all kinds of cool Awesome things to enjoy because he actually loves us and he cares about us looking at the stars. It's so amazing You know when you look at the stars and the Sun and the moon you're supposed to say What is man that thou art mindful him and the son of man that thou visit is him? We should just be just kind of in awe of the God of the universe creating this wonderful playland for us to just go out and enjoy that fun and And Serving God doesn't stop the fun Because you know what? I probably would have never gone to the Bahamas in my life if it wasn't for soul winning. I Don't really have a desire and it's really expensive But it's like hey, you're gonna go out there and preach the gospel and boy the Bahamas is amazing. I Mean the water there is beautiful. I was kind of jaded against beaches because I'd only been to Galveston, you know, this is like it's brown All right. This is not what the brochure had, you know But you go you go to the Bahamas and it's like it's crystal clear I mean, it's like clear looking water and you just think like this is amazing. This isn't beautiful There's places like that all over the world. It's not just the bomb is what I'm just saying. There's beautiful beaches There's all kinds of mountains if you like mountains There's all kinds of cool things to do and you know what serving God you still get to enjoy some of those pleasures, too But you know, there's a special joy when you help somebody that was confused about how to go to heaven Realize how to be saved and you preach them the gospel and Not everybody they get saved is very emotional. Not everybody gets saved is even very appreciative Some people are like, okay good. Can I close the door now? I'm like, yeah, bye But there are some moments where you get someone saved and they're just really appreciative Maybe they're emotional you can tell that a burden has been lifted You can tell they can kind of see now you can tell that things have clicked in their mind and who knows what God will Do in that person's life who knows the work that that person may accomplish in the future? But you know what? You just got it kick-started and it's a beautiful thing It's a beautiful thing to see people, you know join our ranks or join our church and they're kind of worldly Or maybe they got a lot of issues and they start getting plugged in and they start changing boy. It's a beautiful thing You know hard preaching works I've seen people who were pretty worldly and apathetic and After a couple years of preaching they really changed and became a different person and it you know, it's a really cool thing it's a really cool seeing thing to see God working in people's lives and The making positive changes and doing this work because you know what? Serving God has great joy and benefit to it and we need to decide to say, you know what? I'm gonna be about my father's business. He created me. He gave me life. He gave me joy he gave me pleasure and the least I can do is just serve him with my life and And Of course, that's why I think some people, you know, they have this attitude They're willing to make tough decisions and sometimes even tough decisions just just like that God tells Abraham to move from his family and he just moves God God has Moses just kind of have to make a separation from Pharaoh and that Family and Moses is gone. Moses is willing to Choose affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Here's a couple examples. How about these disciples Matthew for look at verse 21? This is Jesus and going on from Vince He saw two other brethren James the son of Zebedee and John and his brother and a ship with Zebedee their father Mending their nets and he called them and they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him They said hey, I must be about my father's business They're with their dad in the family business Their fishermen Jesus comes along and says let's go and they just go They just drop it and they have that attitude saying you know what? I need to be about my father's business hey, my father says go and I'm just gonna go and They left their own father and look I think they probably had a great father There's nothing in the Bible to suggest anything other than that. They had a great father. They had great parents He's providing for them. He's teaching them. They have the family business I mean, they have no reason to walk away except for one that they're gonna serve God the Father And we have to make that decision ourselves go to Mark chapter 1, of course He also called Peter and Andrew and they immediately left their job and occupation and serve the Lord Jesus Christ But it's kind of interesting that you have James and John and the Bible just says they immediately left their father They immediately were gone from their own father They were set at variance against their own father to go and serve the Lord Jesus Christ mark chapter 1 verse 16 The Bible says now as he walked by the Sea of Galilee saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea They were fishers Jesus said unto them come you after me and I'll make you to become fishers of men a straight way They forsook their nets and followed him straight way is again. Just saying immediately they gave up their job They gave up their career and just said, you know what? I'm gonna serve The Lord Jesus Christ now, of course, I don't know that the text tells us that Simon or Andrews father Was a fisherman but it's probably likely it's probably likely that they're learning the same craft or trade that their parents had had And yet they're again probably following in their father's footsteps in a sense But as soon as Jesus comes along, hey, no now I'm gonna serve him now. I'm gonna follow him I'm gonna be about my father's business same about James and John here It says in verse 19 and when he had gone a little farther fence He saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother who also were in the ship mending their nets and straightway He called them and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants and went after him Now this is what I think is really important to think about who ends up being the greatest Disciples who ends up becoming the greatest Christians that we read about in this time period James John and Peter Do you think it's a coincidence that the guys that? Immediately left their father in the ship are the same guys that end up being the greatest Christians that we see in the Bible It's not a coincidence because you have to have an attitude and a heart that says hey I must be about my father's business and you have to forsake all and say, you know what? I'm putting on the back burner because I'm gonna serve God with my life God the Father is my life. He's my business He's what I'm about and I'm gonna serve him and those are the people that God used greatly Hey, you want to be greatly used by God you have to say I am willing to put it all on the altar I'm not about my earthly father's business I must be about my Heavenly Father's Business if you want to be a great disciple You have to make that decision in your heart and your mind and say you know what it's about my father's business I want to go to another story go to judges chapter 6 go to judges chapter number 6 We can read about many people that have to make sacrifices But I'm just kind of focusing in on here this contrast between an earthly father and a Heavenly Father We see Jesus Christ bringing this up. We see James and John have to go through it We see Abraham having to walk away from his father Tara And we have You know plenty of examples where I could show you but here's one that I thought was kind of an interesting example was Gideon Gideon is Someone who has to make a choice to kind of make this Separation from his own father in a sense or kind of go against his father in a way now I'm not gonna read the whole story about Gideon but at the time of Gideon the Midianites are greatly oppressing the children of Israel and the children of Israel are very impoverished because of the Midianites and Ultimately, it's a punishment for having turned away from God there. They're not very godly. They're very Wicked they're filled with sin and as a result God's punishing them and oppressing them greatly an angel appears under Gideon and is telling him Hey, we're gonna use you to basically Deliver the children of Israel from this oppression of the Midianites and he's giving all these instructions unto him Look at verse number 25. This is what he's telling This is what the Lord's telling Gideon he has to do though verse 25 and it came to pass the same night That the Lord said unto him take thy father's young bullock even the second bullock of seven years old and throw down The altar of Baal that thy father hath and cut down the grove That is by it and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the ordered place and take the second bullock and Offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had said unto him and so it was Because he feared his father's household and men of the city that he could not do it by day That he did it by night And when the men of the city arose early in the morning behold the altar of Baal was cast down and the grove was cut Down that was by it and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built and they said one to another Who have done this thing and when they inquired and asked they said Gideon the son of Joash? Had done this thing then the men of the city said unto Joash bring out thy son that he may die Because he hath cast down the altar of Baal and because he hath cut down the grove That was by it and Joash said unto all that stood against him. Will you plead for Baal? Will you save him? He that will plead for him Let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning if he be a god let him plead for himself Because one hath cast down his altar Therefore on that day He called him Jerubabel saying let Baal plead against him because he had thrown down his altar. So We have this story where God is gonna use Gideon to deliver the children of Israel out of the hands of the Midianites But he kind of has them do this first this first thing This is kind of the first thing that he's gonna use Gideon for and it's almost like he's just testing Gideon How committed are you and so he asked him to do a few different things here number one in verse 25 He says that he wants him to take his young father's bullock Number two, he needs to throw down the altar of Baal and then number three. He has to cut down the grove So he has to basically kind of go against his dad in a sense. Think about it. This is his dad's money This is his dad's altar. And this is his dad's Grove This is all of his dad's things and he's saying you have to throw these things down You have to destroy these things. You have to basically take a bold stand here now. Praise God that his dad kind of Sees through that and sees like okay Wow, that was kind of you know, Gideon might be on the right side here because Baal is you know this false god Why are you pleading for Baal and you kind of almost seem like when his dad over a little bit? But it was definitely a difficult task because even getting himself was afraid to just do this in the open He had to do it at night but he did do it didn't he and Some of us we need to do like what Gideon did in our lives And I'm not necessarily to go in the exact order here, but think about some of the things that he did number one he specifically threw down the altar of Baal and If you think about it I think that God wants us to do a few things when we're gonna decide you want to make my business be about My Heavenly Father's business and not my Earthlies father's business. Is that some things in our lives need to be thrown down If your parents have a false religion that needs to be cast down for you personally You cannot serve Baal and God you have to say you know what if my family's gonna serve that Nuts to that. I want nothing to do with it. I'm gonna destroy it in my life You're gonna destroy that crucifix You're gonna destroy that Hindu God you're gonna destroy whatever it is that's tied to that false religion. You're getting rid of it You're getting rid of that Mary Shrine Here's something you could just throw down. How about Calvinism? Hey, you were raised a Calvinist. Okay, throw that down and just you know, some things are not redeemable We're not gonna reuse Calvinism. We're not gonna repackage it. We're not gonna repackage the Mary Shrine Here's one how about the modern versions of the Bible Maybe you were raised with an NIV Look, there are some people they say my grandma my grandpa my dad. They gave me this special NIV Throw it in the trash Burn it with fire Throw it down. It's not hey, you know what? I know that that's special to you and I'm sure the altar of Baal might have been special for you and your dad But it needs to be thrown down It needs to be destroyed you need to get a King James Bible Get rid of that NISB get rid of that ESV get rid of these modern Bibles We need the King James Bible because I'm about my father's business. I'm not about whatever Bible is handed down to me I'm about the King James Bible and I may not have inherited this from my earthly parents But I inherited it from my Heavenly Father and this is the real Bible and all the other ones are trash and I have no Problem throwing them in the trash and burning them with fire Hey, if someone gives you an altar of Baal you need to throw that thing down I've been given gifts from people that are close to me that are the tree of life version It's trash. It is trash and needs to be burned with fire. No one should ever have that Bible And you know what? Honestly, the cover was really nice. It was green. It was like a like authentic leather It was like really really nice it burned well Hey, you're raised with Pentecostalism throw it down You're raised with speaking in tongues throw it down Hey, you were raised where you thought Robert Morris was a good preacher throw him down He needs to be thrown down and you know what? He's a pedophile and he deserves death and I don't care who Who likes him? He should be put to death. I've had some people say oh well You know, that was a long time ago put him to death. Oh Well, he didn't do it again. We don't know that Even if we assume he never did that again put him to death Throw him down Hey, I don't care what Robert all he built this big church. It's fake It's full of unsaved people and you know what their resources need to be put to a real work of God Instead of just continuing his fake legacy the pedophile, you know I preached against this guy for 10 years for over a decade because he preaches a false gospel. He preaches lordship salvation He's not saved. He's a wicked evil false prophet And you know what him being a pedophile should be everybody's wake-up call But it's sad how many people still like Robert Morris or still fall over themselves alike him and you know what? Hey, he should be thrown in the trash with the altar of Baal Hey, maybe you're raised to listen to a lot of satanic music That needs to be thrown down And when I say satanic music, let me make it clear what I'm saying. I'm saying satanic music I'm saying like you look at the album cover and it has a pentagram on it You know, it's literally talking about Satan. Okay, I don't think that necessarily all music is satanic Okay, just because it's not a him or something like that. Some people might be like, oh, I don't know Some people might disagree with this, but I'm just saying I think that God created us to just make music Hey, you make music. It's music, right? I don't think there's anything wrong with opera I don't think there's anything wrong with classical music I don't think just because you write your own song or love song or whatever. It's somehow satanic But there are songs that are worshiping the devil literally They're not redeemable. They should be thrown down. You should stop listening to them Don't listen to bands that are named some kind of an anti Christ God hating name like Pantera Which is a blasphemy against the Lord Jesus Christ because according to the Talmud Jesus is not the Son of God. He's the son of Pantera. So of course and he's the bastard child of Pantera So why do you think there's a band called Pantera because of that? Why is there a band called Avenged Sevenfold Oh, because they love Cain and they love the works of Cain And they want to be Avenged Sevenfold. Okay, so it's like all these satanic bands You know, they're all in Seattle. Okay, that's where you know, basically it's not basically if they're from Seattle. They're probably of Satan But I'm just saying like there's all these evil wicked bands out there. We're not trying to redeem them We don't want anything to cast it out. There's satanic movies. There are movies. There's films There's all kinds of just satanic things in the world and I think that the Grammys and stuff it's now It's just like overtly satanic. I Mean, I really I'm kind of stuck in the 90s and early 2000s when it comes to pop culture Okay, so forgive me if all my movie and song references are based on 90s and 2000 I don't know what happened in 2010 to now But it seems like the music and movies were just like overtly satanic now, I mean where they're just Worshipping the devil on stage and doing I can't even describe what's going on because it's just so perverted and So evil and so sodomite and it's just like yeah, we need to get rid of that stuff You know, how can a Bible believing Christian listen to music that's blaspheming Jesus Look you should just get rid of that you just look I'm not trying to be a stick in the mud I'm not saying you can't listen to something that's not a him But you know what if it's overtly blaspheming God, how is that you being about your father's business? You need to say hey dad. I'm not gonna go to the Pantera concert with you. Sorry, you know I'm not gonna watch this overtly satanic thing because I want to be pleasing unto God the Father and some things hey I'm not gonna go to the Catholic Church with you. I'm not gonna go to the Pentecostal Church with you I'm not gonna go to Robert Morris's Church with you Hey, I'm gonna throw that down and say it's not for me I want to be about my father's business come with me Come listen to the music with me and watch the sodomite deception with me and hey, I'm about movies just the right kind Okay And not these lame Christian movies that are cringe. Okay, those I'm not talking about that throw those in the trash, too Okay, all your Kirk Cameron and whatever Go over to first King keep your fingertips are coming back go to first Kings chapter 15 go to first Kings chapter 15 Doesn't Kenneth Copeland have some like cringe movie or something too? I don't know someone shared something online Get rid of that stuff too. Kenneth Copeland should be thrown in the trash, too He just looks like a demon. I don't even understand Like how someone could personify a demon so much, but he just looks evil. Okay? Here's someone that had to make a pretty tough decision, but he made the right decision is Asa look at first Kings chapter 15 look at verse 11 and Asa did that which is right in the eyes of the Lord as Did David his father and he took away the sodomites out of the land? I mean it's great verse great verse in the Bible and he removed all the idols that his father's had made This is similar to what Drew bebel what Gideon had to do is he's getting rid of? Idolatry he's getting rid of false religion that had been passed down and handed down from his father's Specifically in verse 13 and also Mecca his mother even her he removed from being Queen because she had made an idol in a grove and Asa destroyed her idol and burned it by the book Kidron boy Mother's Day was a little spicy after that. All right, I Mean think about it. You have to remove your mom from Queen You have to take her idol and you're burning her idol. That's a bold stand But you know what? He was about his father's business He did that which was right in the eyes of God not in the eyes of his mom Not in the eyes of his father's he did that which was right in the eyes of God because you know what we are here to Please God the Father not our earthly parents Now, of course God wants us to obey our parents and be respectful and do good on them But if they have an idol in their life It needs to be torn down and thrown in the trash and need to be destroyed and burnt with fire Go through it back to our passage here in Judges chapter 6. I want to read it read a couple of these verses again So some things in our life need to be just discarded, you know, if you were raised in a Christian home You probably don't even know what I'm talking about Just praise God that you don't But for a lot of us we weren't and some of us have some things that need to be thrown away Some things need to be destroyed now what's interesting is this Grove because Gideon not only that he destroyed this altar of Baal, but he was told to cut down this Grove and Then did you notice in verse 26? It says an offer a burnt sacrifice With the wood of the Grove which thou shalt cut down So he's not just cutting down the Grove He's actually taking the lumber from the Grove and then he's gonna use it in the sacrifice unto God And this is the second thing that I think that we need to do is We need to not only just destroy certain things is we need to take some things that cut them down and reuse them for God's purpose So there may be resources that God has blessed you with that you're not using for God You've been using it for a different purpose and now you need to use that for God's purpose You know One that just comes to mind that's really just obvious for me though. It's like someone has musical talent Maybe God blessed you with a lot of musical talent and for a while It was a Grove you are using that talent for the Grove, but God wants you to cut that down But it doesn't want to get rid of your musical talent. He wants you to repurpose and use that musical talent for God Use your singing ability use your instrument ability, you know, God it's not like God doesn't like music. He loves music He's all about music he just wants us to be singing praises unto him doesn't he and again It's it's not to say that you can't use your musical talent for things that aren't just directly worship But that should be where we're really focusing our effort and energy and our talents shouldn't be We should be focusing our musical ability and giftings and talents for serving God, you know playing instruments for him Writing songs unto him singing praises unto him. We should be using that talent that God has given us You know to be purposed for him maybe God gave you a talent or gave you resources like a family and We should be using that family to serve God if God gave you a wife, you know You should use that wife to serve God, you know and and help your wife to serve God to Taking that resource and not using it selfishly but using it to serve God Making a family having lots of children, you know, if God gave me a wife and we just say, you know what? We're not gonna have children. Well, that's not using those resources correctly I might be using it for the Grove purpose and not for the sacrifice purpose, you know We need to be using our talents and the resources that God's given us To make lots of wonderful children and children that please the Lord God takes great pleasure in children that are raised to serve God Of course God is so merciful that many of us or some of us that maybe we didn't rate We weren't raised Christian or we weren't raised very godly We can still come in and join the fold and we can play catch-up You know what? God takes great pleasure and children that were raised correctly children that were raised with the Bible in hand children that were raised to serve the Lord and we should take special privilege and Care with those children and we should raise them for the Lord not raise children for another purpose So many children today are being raised with a selfish ambition In fact, there was a I think there was a famous chess player who married like another smart chess player and Their only goal was to try it try and like create genius chess prodigy children Like they didn't I don't think they really loved each other They just simply were like experimenting and they just wanted to like have children and then just have their children train in chess their entire lives to see if they could become grand masters in chess and I think You you fact-check this look this up, but I think like one of them did I think one of them ended up becoming like a grand Master, I think the other two were just like what's known as like an international master or just kind of a little bit lower level But it's isn't it interesting that parents will literally dedicate their entire child's life to chess to a game How much more should we be willing to try and dedicate our children's lives of serving God Being like a Hannah and saying you know what? I'm gonna lend Samuel unto the Lord and I want to train a child to actually love God and be used of God What a better purpose for your child's life to try and train them up in the Lord and try to teach them to be a godly Child, you know, there's parents that do this in sports Of course sports is probably the big one where parents are vicariously living through their children and trying to make them become themselves You know one that's really successful is Tiger Woods Tiger Woods Dad would hit golf balls in their garage every night and had there's his son hit golf balls in the garage like every night And in fact Tiger Woods was a known prodigy because he was on television as a young child Already demonstrating how gifted he was at golf. He was I think it was like five or six years old Look it up, but he was like super young He's like already on national television because of how much this dad was just making him play golf all the time He was known in high schools already be like a superstar and he just I think he only played Maybe a few years in college. I think like maybe one year in college, but by the time he was going pro He had already had like a huge major endorsement deal before he'd even played because he just expected this guy is gonna be amazing But think about it that actually happens in the Bible, how about John the Baptist before the guys even born? People already know there's something special about this kid and they know that Zacharias and Elizabeth are gonna raise this child to serve God think about Manoah and and his wife when we have Samson another child that was dedicated unto the Lord and ends up being greatly used by God and look I don't think that children serving God is an accident in many cases It's purposeful just like you don't just become this awesome superstar with no practice and effort Many of the greatest athletes and professionals in our world were doing so as a child We're trained as a child and that's why they are the way that they are whether they're an Olympic athlete I mean you go to China they're picking kids at a super young age and training them being Olympic athlete, you know for way in the future And it's like we should also be striving to use the resources God's given God's given us children Why don't we help them to serve God? Memorizing Bible verses reading the Bible learning the hymns. I mean my kids already know the hymns better than I do Okay, and that's not hard because I have like a mental issue when it comes to lyrics with songs I have no idea what's wrong with me, but I cannot remember any lyrics of songs, but my kids are already just so sharp I mean, they're just singing the hymns because at night we'll like sing a song we have to do it by heart and I'm over here like And they're just nailing the words and I'm just thinking like man, it's great. This is great They're just already learning all kinds of songs learning hymns that they read the Bible so many times that they're memorizing scripture They already know what so many is I mean, they're just they're on a great trajectory on a great path to serve God And I hope they choose to make that decision for themselves But I'm gonna give them as much opportunity to serve God as possible God's given me these these trees. I'm gonna use them for him you know, maybe you have You don't have a lot of just worldly or carnal talents. Maybe you're not a great singer Maybe you aren't that successful in the business world, but maybe you're a great soul winner You should use that talent there's so few people that are out there soul winning and You know, if you're a great soul winner, you need to be using that talent for God You could be using that talent for something else I mean, I think that you know for some of us like there's a crossover between just salesmanship customer service Maybe just some of those skills kind of transfer over and so winning a help a little bit But you don't even have to have those skills But here's the thing if you do have those skills instead of worrying about making tons of money you're doing something else Why don't you use that to serve God? And say hey, I got this Grove But I'm gonna cut it down and I'm gonna use those skills in order to get as many people say as possible Hey, you're charismatic. You're likable You have a high aptitude use those talents for the things of God and about your Heavenly Father's business You know, I'm not against sports. I'm not against professional singing and all this stuff But God didn't give you the aptitude and the skills and the talents you have to use them selfishly To just play a game for the rest of your life You know what God gave you those abilities and talents to serve him and do great things for him We need to cut down some of the groves in our lives and we need to reuse them for his purpose here's the third thing that we notice is that he offers this bullock on the offer on the altar and The second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built, you know Some things are gonna cost you a lot of money the Bullock represents money and when when we're serving God There is a financial sacrifice in many cases go to Romans chapter 12 you would go to Romans chapter 12 You know in order to serve God, sometimes you have to sacrifice your money. Sometimes you have to sacrifice your job Sometimes you have to sacrifice your career Sometimes you have to sacrifice the assets that you have because the Bible already brought up houses and lands, didn't it? And you know what? It costs Gideon something to sacrifice this Bullock It costs money, but you know what? He wasn't worried about his father's business He wasn't worried about money. He was worried about just pleasing God and And what did he end up receiving from the sacrifice? Oh, yeah He delivered the children of Israel from the Midianites and he drug his entire nation out of poverty And so that little tiny financial sacrifice he made Ended up having a huge financial payoff for the entire nation and I guarantee even personally benefited him And you know if you want to save America We need to be investing in the spiritual condition of our country by getting people saved That will drag us out of the financial woes that we're in Because think about it if we're getting tons of people saved and doing the work of Lord God could just cause like our tax burden to just completely go away and Just bring it. Just give us so much more financial prosperity Whereas if we were being selfish He could just bring in more Bidens and Kamala Harris's and just taxed us to death and you end up having less money Even though you're not even spending a dime on Spiritual things whereas you could be spending a bunch of money on spiritual things and he gives you even more money Because you know God's economy doesn't work the way our world does God's economy doesn't even make sense It's like you give and you get more and the world that doesn't really work that way and a carnal way But it does in God's economy You know, I live in God's economy not Joe Biden's economy not Biden economics not Trump economics not Reagan economics I live in God economics and some Goshen economics, you know what I mean? And Hey when you serve God, he just takes care of you anyways You know, I've never had this conversation as a single time in my life I've never had this conversation where someone came up to me and said pastor Shelley. I think I've given too much money to God You know, no one's ever come up to me I've never had this in my entire life No one's ever come to me said like pastor Shelley. I think tithing is just ruining my life Hey pastor Shelley, you know buying a plane ticket the Bahamas just was the worst thing that I've ever done Hey pastor Shelley, you know taking a little time off to go so any day it ruined and wrecked my life I just never hear that You know what? I just don't hear these these things ever being brought up to me I'm not even saying it couldn't happen. Maybe it could I just never hear about it Isn't it funny that when people just serve God and make spiritual sacrifices somehow God just constantly taking care of those people For some reason and I'm not saying it's a lottery ticket I'm not saying like hey I serve God today and then he just gave me a million dollars or something if he did Let's get a building. Okay, but I'm just saying like that didn't that doesn't happen But you know what? He will take care of needs won't he? He'll provide for you and over the long run you look back and you say wow. I don't even know how I got here But obviously by just serving God he actually has been blessing me and bringing me along further than I thought And anyways, even if it costs you everything even if you never get any money back that's the requirement Romans 12 1 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your body's a living sacrifice Holy acceptable to God which is a reasonable service. I am NOT entitled to anything The Bible says with food and clothing. I'm supposed to be content The only time I'm allowed to complain is when I don't have food and clothing and you know what in America We have so much more but we get sometimes an entitled attitude, you know Nowhere in the Bible does it say thou art entitled to own a home with a four-bedroom? Two car garage, you need to have four vehicles you get a retirement you get You get to only work five days a week. The Bible doesn't bring any of this stuff up But sometimes don't we get this American entitled attitude of like that's what we that's what we're supposed to have Like we're supposed to have this 1950s dream life You know The reason why you have a 1950s dream life is because you bombed all of Europe and destroyed everybody else and you ripped them all Off financially. Okay, then we have our little dream life Yeah, I guess if you just go rob 50 people you might be living your little dream life if you don't get caught Okay, but that's not really fair to say like I want to go back to that Okay, you know how we go back to that World War three Who wants to really do that when we kill off hundreds of thousands of our men and then it's like hey housing is cheap because there's all these houses on the market from all the people that died and No one can buy them because we have a shortage of manpower Let's go back to that time where it was great. It's like people don't even understand what they're asking for No one promised you these things But you know what in many cases when you serve God and you're living sacrifice He gives you all the blessings with it anyways, and you know what I would rather live in 20 25 America than 1950 America I Mean we can travel so much easier. We have so many great Options for living. I mean, it's a great time to live. It's a great time to be alive. I mean the Internet's awesome Online stuff is cool Technology is fun. There's so much stuff to enjoy right now that they didn't get to enjoy back then Okay, don't don't always try to glorify the past or another time realize that we're living in such a great time And even if it did cost you, you know all this money or time or sacrifice in many cases it pales in comparison To what other people have sacrificed what other people are going through? I mean you could give up all your money right now Like you just sell all that you have and start over and you'd probably still have a better life than most people in the rest of the world And I'm not saying do that I'm just saying like I don't think we realize like how spoiled we are But God does call us to be a living sacrifice And in some ways you might have to make some kind of a sacrifice go to John chapter 12 go to John chapter Just decide in your heart It's not about my earthly father's business. It's about my Heavenly Father's business. What do you ever he asked me to do? He says drop the the Nets drop the Nets Hey, he says leave the house leave the house leave the lands leave the lands leave father mother sister brethren You know wherever the spirit blows I will go I Must be about my father's business now if you're 12 Be subject unto them, but if you're 22, hey, I must be about my father's business, right? Look at John chapter 12 verse 25 He that loveth his life Shall lose it and he that hated his life in this world shall keep it unto life Eternal if any man served me let him follow me and where I am There shall also my servant be if any man served me him will my father honor Hey, you want God to like you? Well, you got to lose your life Lose your life Say you know what? I'm done with that and I'm just gonna make my life about my father's business You know, there's a great example of this evangelists are bannock. I Mean look at this guy really in a lot of ways losing his life Changing his life drastically. I guarantee if you know, we go back in time Far enough when he's a young teenager and say hey, you're gonna sell all you have and go move to the Philippines He'd be like you're insane. I Would never do that Thousand year wouldn't even make sense to him and you know for most people like carnally speaking. It doesn't even really make sense still But spiritually Who in here would say like, you know what? I wouldn't mind standing at the judgment seat of Christ and he's like, all right Let's tally up. Oh you got four thousand people saved in 2024 Like who in here wants to trade their salvation number with Duncan for 2024? I do right now. I'll trade him right now. I mean this guy is about his father's business, isn't he? And you know at the end of the day it's like hey, maybe you have a nicer house or car or whatever You know that stuff you can't take with you. That's the wood. Hey stubble. That doesn't even matter And you know what? I like to be around people like him that say hey, I'm about my father's business That I want to serve God. I'm willing to make sacrifice. I'm willing to you know what throw down some things in my life I'm willing to cut down and reuse some things in my life and I'm willing to you know What make a personal sacrifice for the things of God? And you know, this is how you have a close relationship with God. Those are the type of people I want to hang out with Look at John 14 verse 23 flip the page You know first John tells us that The whole point of that epistle being written is that we'd have fellowship with God I'm just gonna read for you it says that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with us and Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ and these things rightly unto you that your joy may be full God wants us to have a relationship with him have a fellowship with him How do you do that? Well, let's read a couple verses here. Look at verse 23 Jesus answered and said to him if a man loved me He will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings in the word which he here is not mine But the father's which sent me, you know, how you have a close relationship with the father keeping his word And he abodes with you look at chapter 15 verse 1 I am the true vine and my father is the husband men every branch in me that beareth not fruit. He taketh away And every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit Now you're clean through the word Which I have spoken unto you abide in me and I knew as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself Except that bide in the vine no more can you accept ye abide in me? I am the vine year the branches he that abided than me and I and him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me You can do nothing. Now the Bible is telling us when we abide in Christ, which is the book This is Christ when we abide in this we're gonna bring forth fruit When we're not abiding in this we're not gonna be bringing forth much fruit and God the Father is the husband men he's the one that's constantly coming alongside of us and Caring for us and having a relationship with us and trying to improve us and perfect us so that we can bring forth more fruit It says in verse 6 if a man abide not in me He is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them in the fire and they are burned Hey, don't forsake the things of God don't be a false witness because they're gonna perish Don't be this drunk Loser because God may destroy you don't be that adulterous woman like Jezebel God may throw you in a bed of death Don't be like Ananias and Sapphira and lie under the Holy Ghost because he could just smite you and kill you right away Hey when you're not bearing fruit when you're not abiding in Christ You're abiding in death and you're a dead man walking and God may just take you home early That's why it's important to keep bearing fruit. He's like, oh, you're just always about soul-winning. Well, I'm trying to keep you alive. I Mean, can you blame me? I like you if I don't like you I'll say stop soul-winning Just don't even read the Bible anymore. Just go do your own thing and we'll see you later in heaven Okay, but you know for thus that we like each other. Hey, we should be encouraging one another. Hey, keep bearing fruit, buddy You want to stay alive bear fruit? You you're afraid of God doing something you just keep bearing fruit Because that's the that's the best way that's like the best life insurance policy really You know the Bible says the honor thy father my mother that thy days may be long upon the land was Lord Thy God giveth thee another aspect that is your Heavenly Father and you know, you want to keep Heavenly Father Please I don't like I said that cuz it's on Mormons talk, but you want to keep our Heavenly Father please Hey, it's my Heavenly Father this is like Heavenly Father Heavenly Father Sorry, it's Mormon sound weird It's my Heavenly Father. It's our Heavenly Father. Hey, we want to keep our Heavenly Father, please What does the Bible say look at verse number eight here in is my father glorified that you bear much fruit? So so you be my disciples as the father had loved me So I have loved you continue II in my love Hey, you want God the Father to be pleased with you bear fruit Hey, you want God the Father to be happy with you go soul-winning Get people saved. Hey, you don't want God the Father be pleased with you do nothing God the Father is pleased with people that are bearing fruit when Jesus Christ told James and John to get out of the boat What was the point to gather fruit to be a fisher of what of men? Why is it that God is trying to gather people together to become the disciples of Jesus Christ Because he's the vine and we're the branches so we can bear fruit Why is the parable of the sower even being taught because it's trying to tell people have a good heart to bear fruit Why is he saying in revelation to the church at Ephesus that he's gonna remove their candlestick? Except they repent and do the first works because they're not bearing fruit just like it says in John chapter 15 Hey branches that aren't bearing fruit I'm gonna get rid of and burn them in the fire We need to have an attitude that says my life is about my father's business and my father's business is gathering fruit We are fruit gatherers. That is the occupation of your father and that is what he wants us to do He wants us to gather fruit and when you're not gathering fruit, you're not about your father's business Churches that are not soul-winning are not about the father's business Churches that don't care about soul-winning don't care about the father's business and Churches that don't do so winning don't have the love of God in their hearts you know we need churches to be about so winning and preaching the gospel and getting people saved and Bearing fruit and let me tell you something, you know, God likes the most in this room people that are bearing the most fruit You know, God's really pleased with is evangelists are bannock because he's bearing much fruit You know why we're so excited we celebrated last week because he bared much fruit And you know what? We need to get behind the people that are bearing much fruit because those are the true Disciples of Jesus Christ. Those are the true work men of God Those are the people that we need to get behind and love, you know I'm not gonna get behind men of God that tell you how much they love God Hey, though a man say you have faith show me thy faith without thy works and I'll show you my faith by my works Hey, you want to see someone has great faith, where are the works at? Yeah It's all about the works and it's all about getting people saved Why why do we have a missionary? It's not to go in some deep dark jungle to almost get someone saved It's to go to the receptive places and gather much fruit and to bear much fruit And that's what the father is super pleased with why because you know, it gives glory to God lots of people getting saved It doesn't give God the Father glory when no one's getting saved It's not giving God the glory or God the Father glory when heaven is empty When church is empty when people are not getting saved when people are not getting baptized when nobody's life is just you know It gives God the Father glory when people are getting saved people are getting baptized people are changing their life People are making sacrifice people are cutting down the altars of Baal People are cutting down the groves and they're putting them to use and you know what? They're taking that bullock and they're saying hey I'm gonna sacrifice this bullock because I just love God and I want to get more fruit and I want to deliver my nation Out of the hands of the Midianites. I want to deliver Israel and I want to save souls and you know what the Midianites are oppressing our world today with false religion and false Gospels and Damning souls to hell and we need to go out there and make the sacrifice to get someone saved Before God could use Gideon. He had to say, you know what? I'm gonna throw down the altar of Baal my father I'm gonna cut down his Grove I'm gonna burn his bullock and you know what then I'm gonna serve God and for some of us You might have to just say you know what? I'm I'm done with the family business. I'm done with the family relationships I might be like Abraham. I'm leaving father because I must be about my father's business For some of us you might have to say I'm burning the NIV the family NIV I'm getting a King James Bible and I'm starting over with a new legacy and as for me in my house We will serve the Lord because I must be about my father's business Let's go some prayer Thank You Heavenly Father so much for what you've given us. Thank you for being such a great father. I Pray that we'd have an attitude and a heart To want to serve you and to get excited about the work that you have for us to do I pray that you would never allow us to just lose focus of what's important and that we would continue to just bear much fruit And so that we can be pleasing in your sight just thank you for the fellowship and the relationship you've given us I pray that we would draw even closer Jesus name we pray. Amen Amen our last song this evening will be page 23 There is power in the blood Page 23 there is power in the blood There is power in the blood Power in the blood Would you believe, would believe, would you believe There is wonderful power in the blood There is powerhouse, wonder working power In the blood of the Lamb There is powerhouse, wonder working power In the precious blood of the Lamb Would you believe, would you believe There is power in the blood, power in the blood Power in the blood, power in the blood There is wonderful power in the blood There is powerhouse, wonder working power In the blood of the Lamb There is powerhouse, wonder working power In the precious blood of the Lamb Would you believe, would you believe There is power in the blood, power in the blood Safe 6 of Austin, it's life in blood There is wonderful power in the blood There is powerhouse, wonder working power In the blood of the Lamb There is powerhouse, wonder working power There's the precious blood of the Lamb, the loudest, the last. Would you be service for Jesus, your King? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you think it is gracious to see there's wonderful power in the blood? There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. So we have Sister Ellie coming for baptism. Have you trusted Christ as your Savior? Then I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Hold your nose, hold your nose. Buried in the likeness of His death, raised to walk in newness of life. Applause Make sure to congratulate Sister Ellie. God bless her. Dismissed.