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Amen okay so Galatians chapter 6 we're in here and I just want to look at three verses there in Galatians 6 we're going to look from verse 7 Galatians 6 and verse 7 reads be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spiritual of the spirit reap life everlasting and let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not and that's the title of my sermon this morning it is we shall reap if we faint not we shall reap if we faint not I'm going to pray before we get going with the message father thank you for your word thank you for this church lord thank you for everyone here ready to listen to your word preach please film with your spirit help me to just preach accurately boldly clearly and just in a way that people just take home this message that I've been thinking about this week lord just don't pray amen okay so we're getting close to February which means that that many good intentions at the start of the year will will wane now I was looking at some studies and reports on this and it's not really the sermon I just found it interesting just on new year's resolutions and specifically how long they last according to a compilation of stats put together for an organization called inside out mastery they kind of studied a lot of the different stats from different nations and it seemed that 43 percent of all people expect to fail before February so they expect that and almost at one out of four quit within the first week of setting their new year's resolution most people quit before the end of January and only nine percent see their resolutions through until succession that's not a very good stat that is it um it says uh 23 percent of people quit by the end of the first week 64 after the first month that's according to a study with Australian and UK citizens and 81 before the end of the second year so so most people quit apparently according to uh Strava the running and cycling app on the second Friday of the month they named this quitters day I don't you work that out I don't know there must be some reason for that 43 percent of people expect to give up on their goals by February which explains a relatively high quitting rate in January so basically if you're out there and you're sitting there thinking well yeah I made a new year's resolution if you haven't already quit it you're statistically more likely to quit it before next week's service okay so if you haven't already quit you're actually likely to have quit by next week's service and I'm not encouraging you to quit I'm just saying that's the likelihood out there right and I'll tell you why because a lot of people are quitters people just quit they give up they fail they they stop trying to do what it is they set out to do and in case you're wondering I'm not about to rehash our new year's sermon okay just kind of re-preach it and and talk about your goals and stuff like that but I do want to encourage you not to faint okay I want to encourage you not to faint it and not just when it comes to your resolutions as well to any positive changes you may have attempted and just ultimately to your life as a whole in in many areas of life and we're going to focus on a few of those today because it's a fainting that stops us reaping that's what it is it's our fainting that stops us reaping verse nine they're said and let us not be weary and well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not so there's a guarantee followed by a condition there's a guarantee of reaping but it's dependent upon the condition of not fainting what does it mean to reap it well it's cutting grain in harvest it's when you receive the fruits of all your efforts basically you've dug that ground yeah you've sown seeds you've watered it you've helped it grow you've dealt with the pests you've dealt with maybe even the rodents yeah you got like the ratting dogs in you you dealt with all these different things and now it's time to gather the fruit it's a reward it's what you receive for your work but but you know it you you will have heard it applied often to negative things as well the the rewards you can get for negative things and i'm talking about the negative reward you will have heard people just saying you reap what you sow yeah that's something that we were here a lot you reap what you sow basically what you're going to get your just desserts for whatever you've done type thing now what does it mean to faint well turn to second corinthians chapter four as a verb such as here it's talking about the verb fainting we could use it to describe someone passing out losing consciousness yeah we'll use that we'll say you know i don't want to faint for example maybe some people when they see blood or other things maybe they're prone to fainting but it's used here it's used it's used just basically in the bible especially in the new testament to indicate stopping doing something to just stop doing something in second corinthians 4 1 we see an example where he says therefore seeing we have this ministry talk about the ministry of reconciliation as we have received mercy we faint not so we have the ministry we've received mercy we don't quit we don't stop yeah says in verse 15 for all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many were down to the glory of god that was verse 15 verse 16 in second corinthians 4 says for which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day so for which cause the the cause of glory god we choose not to faint or stop to give up to stop doing anything okay that's what it's talking about here so back in galatians 6 where paul said let us not be weary and well doing in verse 9 for in due season we shall reap if we faint not he's saying let's not get tired of doing good because eventually we shall receive reward if we don't quit now let's go back to look at the context though because paul wasn't talking about their new year's resolutions in the galatian church okay he wasn't closing it and just reminding them about any any kind of positive changes they've made in fact this passage in galatian 6 is primary application is actually about giving to the ministry okay that's what it's about but we're not going to preach on that today i just want to show you that quickly in verse 6 it says let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things communicate means to impart or to distribute and the following verses after that are very similar to secorinthians 9 where paul is collecting for the saints in jerusalem second corinthians 9 6 you can flick back if you want it's only a few pages back but i'm just going to quote the one verse second corinthians 9 6 says but this i say he which so if sparingly shall reap also sparingly and he which side bountifully shall reap also bountifully and here in galatians he said about communicating or distributing we would use the word to him that teaches followed by be not deceived god is not mocked for whatsoever man so if that shall he also reap for he that soweth through his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting it's not about salvation he's saying that if the work we put in is for our own carnal benefit in life our own riches our own stuff we just corrupt ourselves that's our reward but if the work we put in is for god the result is salvations because that's the end result he said in verse 9 and let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who have the household of faith so primary application was imparting of our abundance however okay that's not what i'm preaching about you can apply this principle to many areas of our spiritual lives hence a broad language here okay it's not one of those it's like oh let's just rip out a verse no he used broad language because it applies to many areas he said in verse 9 just he just talked about well doing not just about giving tithing giving to to to the ministry just well doing verse 10 he just talked about do good he said he said as he said as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men and in verse 7 he said whatsoever a man that shall he also reap so this principle applies to everything okay it applies in all areas of life and like i said earlier this is usually used as a warning so you better watch what you do type thing you hear people say that many people who don't even have anything to do with the bible so you reap what you sow i mean nowadays probably more like they're going about karma or something right but but that's what you hear a lot of but but if you really want to reap for good things if you really want to gain reward then you need to keep going you need to not give up and that's an obvious principle in life i believe but but you kind of need to remind you it sometimes basically you need to put some graft okay you need to put some effort in and once you've done that once you've put the graph you put the effort don't then quit you put some effort in you've put the graft in don't then quit and the principle applies to everything but the principle is that you get what you put in but you don't get what you put in if you give up before harvest time so well i put some effort into that why am i not reaping the rewards well don't give up before harvest time can you imagine that you've gone out you've sown the seed yeah you've sown that seed in the ground you've you've gone you know but in fact before you've sown the seed you're digging over the ground that's some hard work right okay you're preparing the soil on and think on a big scale i'm not talking about your little plant pot at home yeah you think it's not really much work you're preparing the soil in a field you're digging it over you you're putting in the seed you're watering everywhere as well you then after that you're trying to tend for these little plants and you've got to be careful at the beginning right they need a little bit of weathering to strengthen them but they don't you don't want to just kind of leave them out to all sorts of elements they might be covering when there's a frost there's all this work you're putting in you're protecting them you keep out all the pests that are coming in right and and there's ways of doing that with different sorts of plants and different sorts of pests that are attracted sometimes you might need to net them you might need to do all this different work all this preparation all this graft and and and you're tending for them you're caring for them and then you get right to the end i'm done with this you walk off that'd be madness wouldn't it why did you do all that work why did you put all that graft in to just quit before the harvest came or you get to the harvest it's like going around with that sickle's a bit of work oh i can't be bothered i'll go to the supermarket i mean it would be a complete waste of time wouldn't it okay it sounds it sounds crazy but people do this in all areas of life they put the graft in they put the groundwork in and then they give up before they reap the rewards of it he said and let us not be weary well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not and i want to look at a few areas to apply it to however the list is endless so if you're sitting here in the areas that i talk about don't really talk too much at this point please just apply this to somewhere else in your life my goal is for you to apply this in all areas of your life okay i'm telling you right now my goal of this sermon okay my goal of this sermon is for you to leave it with this verse this truth etched in your mind so you're going to hear this verse a lot this sermon i want you to go away and i want it etched in your mind so you just in your mind is we shall reap if we faint not we shall reap if we faint not and that applies to all areas of life verse point number one sorry is we shall reap souls if we faint not we shall reap souls if we faint not turn to psalm 126 soul winning takes some work okay it takes some graft you've got to put the hours in don't you okay you you ain't just going to turn up soul winning once a year once every couple of years and then just go just yeah it's a waste of time don't even get the salvations you know it's it's pointless don't even know if that person believed i couldn't even get him to the end or anything else you've got to put some graft in you've got to turn up to the soul winning times you you've got to you've got to try and make it to solve it you've got to make the effort to go no i'm going to learn how to solve it that might be that might be a week a month six months a year two years three years whatever of just being a silent partner and just learning and learning and learning alone and that's putting graft and that's putting time in you need to stay consistent it's no good doing one month where you so win a few times a week and then not so winning for another six months and then turning up again and go i just don't even get any salvations it's a waste of time right you've got to persevere when it feels unreceptive and that could be that could be a test can't it that's a challenge when it's kind of you're half hour in you're 40 minutes in and it's like no one even seems to want to talk to me they're all mocking me and slamming the door in my face that's the time to dig deep that's the time to go no i'm going to carry on knocking i'm going to keep knocking i'm going to keep knocking i'm going to get somewhere with this and even if i don't in that session i am the next session and the next session after that psalm 126 says it's the song of degrees we'll read the song it's only a short psalm when the lord turned again the captivity of zion we were like them that dream then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen the lord have done great things for them the lord has done great things for us where of we are glad turn again our captivity our lord as the streams in the south they that sow in tears shall reap in joy he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him because sometimes soul winning can be tough got it soul winning can be tough sometimes the tears are there and you're thinking have you been crying without soul winning past heaven sometimes the cold makes you cry oh you get they start coming when that wind's blowing in your face and it can look like you're crying sometimes got it right you can get those tears so winning in this station at least and you know what this station it could be a lot worse okay by the way as well yeah we moan about the cold sometimes i mean can you imagine soul winning in scotland oh it's cold up there right okay that's why they come down here these guys i'm kidding okay it is it can get cold can't it but it's not just a cold sometimes you're crying or you're close to crying because you just keep treading in something nasty do you know what i mean sometimes when you're going around those streets you're trying to get in especially when you got kids and they're not looking where they're going it's just like i just feel like i'm just battling with dog waste every time i'm going out soul winning it can feel like that right and sometimes sometimes it can be in a in a for a variety of reasons sometimes it can be how mocked you are how scorned you are by people sometimes it can be a variety of reasons that you that you kind of all my sowing in tears right but isn't it joyous when you get someone saved isn't it joyous when you get and i'm not talking about when you get someone who kind of like you think well i don't know like when you get one of those where it's like yeah they got it they believed it they they wanted to get saved they were like yeah i want to get saved show me they're putting their faith in christ when you you know you get those salvations that one i would hang my hat on that one yeah that one is is you know i i i'm as sure as i can be that person that is a joyous feeling isn't it isn't that a great feeling and you feel great about it and you go away and you feel and you feel like i've really got something there and ultimately yeah god did the hard work but he still look it's still you've got to go and do that right and you get someone saving it's a joyous feeling but for some people the salvations don't come so easy that that's just a reality right for some people they won't come every week for some people maybe not every month some people it might be even less than that and and it can start to feel rough can't it not everyone is going to get those people all the time for whatever reasons okay and there's many reasons for that but in verse six he said that you shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him bringing that reaped harvest along so there's a bit of a guarantee there so he's saying that if you go forth and weepeth but who who's going forth and weepeth but if you're going forth bearing precious seed you shall doubtless come again with rejoicing now if you've gone and thrown one seed is that what it's talking about no it's it's it's a continuous action it's going forth he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed if you're doing it with time you shall doubtless come again with rejoicing you say well i rarely get people saved i don't feel like i'm rejoicing with sheaves well turn of john chapter four did you know that soul winning is a team game anyone know that anyone know that someone needs a team game and and i'm not just talking about the pairs or the groups maybe you know sometimes you've got some kids along or maybe there's a two or three or something else that's not what i'm talking about when you go out and make up a pair okay and and even if you knock a load of doors and no one answers yeah that's some doors that so and so in the church didn't knock that day so especially for example even if we're not doing every door if for example yesterday especially when we're doing an every door policy in the whole of our area but even if yesterday i i've just done some maps on what i consider hopefully being receptive areas up the road yeah i've given a map to so and so i've given a map so i'm giving a map so and so you've gone and knocked a road and you've got no salvations but that map could have been given to someone else who went and got three salvations where he went and it's just the way it goes and you going and knocking that meant that he didn't go and knock that or she didn't go and knock that you're a part of those salvations every time we go out from this church and we knock the salvations we get i don't go if you notice though i don't go right brother so and so sister so and so this person got this salvation that person got that today thank you guys do you know what i say we got three salvations this afternoon we got eight salvations yesterday we got that because it's a team game because everyone's involved everyone who went out in that soul winning in fact the whole church really because even just people being in motivates us to serve god just sitting in church is part at least a small amount parts of it now you should still go out and soul win you should be trying to get to that point where you're ready to go out something but ultimately it's all part of it we're it's a team game we're all a part of the salvations the thing of it like a football team when a football team scores a goal do they is it only the striker that celebrates no if that striker scored a goal it's not just him saying they don't just go yeah well you know they won because of so-and-so now sometimes they do but they got it wrong ultimately it's the team performance it's the whole team that have got to that position where that striker was able to put that ball in the goal and to not concede all the other goals to make them lose the match so it's like that we're so winning we're all part of it we're all part of that end result of salvations whether you're getting that person calling your name the lord in front of you or not and and and there's another way of looking at as well because it's not just it's not just the knocking the unreceptive ones at hell i believe that we'll all be surprised by the by the part that we've all had to play in salvations i really do i think when you're in heaven it have many years time for some of us maybe less time than others right when you're in heaven i think you'll be surprised by the amount of people you've actually had a part to play in their salvation have a look at john 435 jesus speaking to his disciples and says say not you there are yet four months and then cometh harvest behold i sound to you lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white or ready to harvest and he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together and herein is that saying true one soweth and another reapeth i sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labor other men labored and ye are entered in to their labors often when you're out so winning you're sowing for someone else to reap in the future and often you're reaping what someone else has sown in the past did you know that you have sometimes come across people that have actually heard certain bits they've heard parts they've heard bits and pieces they just need straightening out and getting saved and other times you'll get someone that that you know you just left a verse with them maybe and maybe a year later two years later five years later ten years later 20 years later someone gets them saved you have bestowed some labor on that person but but it's not just about leaving a verse maybe you've just said enough to them to get them to actually look at a gospel presentation maybe you've knocked on the door and you've had a nice enough way about you and you didn't just push them and force them to listen to you and agree with you whether they agreed or not and maybe you had a nice enough way you you were polite enough you left with a good enough taste their mouth that they went away and went yeah i might have a look at that that wasn't like the jehovah's witnesses that wasn't like the pushy people that was someone who's just polite nice friendly i might go look at that what they gave them and maybe they went and got saved and that was thanks to you going and knocking on that door and of course we're not just into giving out flyers but you don't know what your work what you're acting if you go out with the intention to do what god tells you to do you don't know where that will lead in the future maybe like i said you've left that nice taste in their mouth that next year they'll listen maybe 10 years later they'll listen maybe 20 years later they'll listen but you're trying to you're you've gone out from an independent fundamental baptist church and maybe they'll in years to come say yeah i want to listen now you don't know what your work now is doing for the future let me tell you what would stop reaping though quitting soul winning will stop reaping yeah fainting will stop reaping just giving up not doing it anymore me changing the name to outreach and singing in the town centre that's fainting we're not going to reap like that because we're not told to do that so if we go right yes be good but it's kind of more of an outreach project now and now we just go and hang around in the town centre and sing songs together and that will get people to get saved okay that's fainting because that's not the mission is it standing in the high street sending out church invites and then preaching gospel messages here every week so you guys are like yep the uh 150th gospel message this week he's managed to shoehorn it into another passage in the bible how great is this you know at least we know our gospel right and that's that's fainting on the job and that is a lot of churches around isn't it i was at a church like that they just gave out flies come to church come to church come to church come to church come to church that was about as far as the talk he actually went come to church come to church come to church and then every single week let's preach the gospel and because if they come in i better have that gospel message ready i'll just preach it anyway and there's probably half the people in there unsaved anyway because they're not even getting a personal gospel presentation like oh yeah that bit again what was i doing next week oh yeah i think about getting that defrosting that meat for dinner tomorrow and that's what happens because they just they've heard it so many times and and that that that's fainting that's fainting when it comes so winning telling everyone that you're into lifestyle evangelism no no we don't really do the sowing we're more into lifestyle evangelism you know i mentioned god in my workplace every now and again i tell people i go to church if they ask me what i did on the weekend spreading the news no you're not that's fainting that's fainting now whichever way you try to swing it okay giving up on good old-fashioned door-to-door soul winning is quitting it's fainting whatever way you try to swing it whichever way you try to just paint it to look good and everything else if you're not door-to-door soul winning you fainted on the job and galatians 6 9 said and let us not be weary and well doing for in jew season we shall reap if we faint not don't give up don't quit keep going you shall reap if you faint not the title is we shall reap if we faint not verse no uh sorry keep saying verse number one point number one is we shall reap souls if we faint not point number two is we shall reap righteousness if we faint not we shall reap righteousness if we faint not turn to hebrews 12 what do i mean about reaping righteousness well one of our goals as bible believing christians is self-improvement now when it comes to salvation jesus christ righteousness is imputed unto you you cannot earn it okay you can't buy it by just doing more and more get jesus christ righteousness that ain't happening and that's the only way you'll ever get into heaven is by christ righteousness imputed unto you that's not what i'm talking about here after salvation we're called to live right you're called to live right to put on that breastplate of righteousness for example that's a choice you have that's why that the ephisian church paul talked talking about that arm of god told them to put on that breastplate of righteousness that's not automatic that's not because you're saved you have it he's telling him to actually get righteous and it's a it's a defense for us in our life it's a protection when we're living right timothy was told in first timothy 6 11 but thou a man of god flee these sings talking about talking about covetousness you know the desire for wealth and follow off the righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness against the choice you have in first peter 115 we're told but as he which has called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation talking about behavior it's not automatic is it anyone who thinks that that you're going to automatically live right because you're saved is a complete imbecile because how do they read their bible and see time and time again exhortation encouragement instruction to live right if it's automatic it's just a complete waste of time might as well not bother because i'm going to do it anyway that is i mean it's beyond false doctrine because usually it's kind of interlinked with salvation it's damnable heresy that stuff okay that ain't happening and the other thing to bear in mind the reason we're constantly being told to do it and instructed to do it is because we regularly fail that's another thing that happens he's not telling us because you've got it all sewn up you've got it sorted you're saved he's telling us because we regularly fail and the more you read your bible the more you realize yeah i'm failing i fail in this area i fail in that area that's just the reality of life and if you say you have no sin you deceive yourselves the truth is not in you all these clowns out there think they've somehow reached the pinnacle of righteousness because they got saved or something it's like clearly they ain't saved okay and it's clear as day isn't it in the bible we're constantly being encouraged now there's a way that god helps us to be more righteous to reap that righteousness because that's what we're trying to that's what we want to get to the point where we're going yeah i'm doing well and that's going to wane okay it's not it's not like oh you're going to reach the point you're going to reach the pinnacle you're only going to get that when you get rid of this sinful flesh but we can we can live in the new man more and more and learn to do that and grow in our faith and grow in in our righteousness turn to hebrews uh did you turn to hebrews 12 have a look at verse 5 says that you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children my son despise not thou the chastening of the lord nor faint when art rebuked for him for whom the lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth let me tell you something okay if you don't get chastised it's not because you're too holy okay if you don't get chastised in life it's not because you are holier than everyone else it's probably because you're not saved if you ain't getting chastised there's a problem because it says here he scourges every son whom he receiveth so if you're not getting scourged then there's an issue there's a problem not because i just must have it all sorted okay no you're not getting scourged because you're not saved but he goes on to say if you endure chastening god dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not but if you be without chastisement where of all our partakers then are you bastards and not sons so it's a sure thing if you're saved right it's a sure thing if you're saved you're a child of god you're going to get chastised you have to know in psalm 73 and verse 14 i just this has popped out to me the other day in my bible reading the psalmist asaph said for all the day long have i been plagued and chastened every morning the psalmist the spirit-filled psalmist the guy that was writing music for king david's court asaph says all the day long have i been plagued and chastened every morning i think we're gonna be getting chasing guys sorry to break it to you you're gonna get chastened in life potentially every morning okay i'm not telling you don't get up in the morning all right because you get chasing if you lie in bed okay that's even more easy to get chasing all right but he said all the day long have i been plagued and chastened every morning and it says here back in back in uh hebrews 12 and verse 9 furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live basically you need to get right you need to give him the reverence okay the fear the respect that he deserves we do that for for the worldly father yeah and and look there are our fathers correct us we give them the reverence we give them that respect we give them that that jew fear because we don't want the punishment yet so many believers won't do that with god they won't accept they're being chastised they won't accept that they've done wrong they won't give him the respect the respect that he deserves and and it's such a weird thing because if they did they'd be getting less chastisement but you know what i think part of the problem is part of the problem is this just complete just joke image of jesus christ pushed and promoted through centuries really and and not just by the catholic church by the rest of them the long-haired hippie the peace man guy that they just they can't understand that god actually will chastise you and whip you then i understand that jesus will be whips i understand when he comes back to have eyes of flames of fire it's the the jesus in the story books in the kids books is not the jesus of the bible and and if you could get your head around that and the more you read your bible the more you'll understand that yeah god doesn't change jesus christ same yesterday today and forever and and he's a scary god we need to give him reverence and if you start to accept yeah look i am a sinner therefore i am getting i am getting punished and you start to fear him for it you're more likely to get righteous and what's great is it's for our own good it's for our own good he does it for our own good it said in verse 10 for they verily for a few days chasing us after their own pleasure yeah guess what dads aren't perfect yeah that's what it's talking about your father life none of us are perfect sometimes we're gonna get the um and punish our kids maybe when maybe they didn't deserve that punishment that time maybe they they didn't deserve the punishment we gave out that time but maybe we're gonna miss it when they do we ain't perfect but you know who is perfect god god is perfect but he for our own profit that we might be partakers of his holiness he's saying that the chasing of god is what helps us to be holy okay it's for our own profit that we might be partakers of his holiness now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous it's not fun is it okay when you get chasing nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby the punishment yields righteousness you shall reap righteousness if you faint not if you faint not he said in verse 12 wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees it makes you think of kind of like the sulking teenager doesn't it you know it's like lift them up yeah the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet he's saying start getting right yeah living right lest that which is lame be turned out of the way and let it rather be healed and like don't get to the point where god can't even use you anymore in fact get right when you're getting chastened saying stand up straight you say take it like a man take your punishment like a man yeah respond to it get right from it reap the righteousness instead of quitting reap it use it as it's meant to be for your own good don't just quit don't just give up because how many how do many respond instead to chastisement they go the other way they pull away from god when they're being chastised when things aren't going well that's when they stop going to church that's when they stop reading their bible that's when they stop praying i'm just finding it really hard to pray to god right now because things aren't going well in my life get right with god then get right pray to god and things might start going better you might reap the reward for what was probably chastisement don't sulk don't let the the hang their hands hang and the knees go all feeble because you're only going to get more of a whipping it's like kids if the kids when you get punished in life by your parents just respond to it such a simple formula respond to the punishment and things will go better don't respond you're going to get more punishment and you're going to mind about the punishment and it's just but it's exactly the same with us isn't it we moan we complain why i think so perfectly in my life because you're a sinner and you need a whipping and you need to get right respond to the whipping what they do ultimately is they run away from the harvest and we all do it when i say they every every one of us can do you run away from the harvest you run away from the field that's they're waiting with the sickle maybe you've got the sickle someone's sickles there even it's just pick it up and and reap it you can reap that righteousness i'm showing you what you've done wrong i'm showing you what to do i'm trying to help you here and instead it's like poor me poor me god doesn't love me anymore i'm done with him sort yourself out right you say yeah but you're not just automatically more righteous after punishment you know you know we don't really need it we're not just going to suddenly get better well turn to second timothy three you can be if you recognize what the chastisement is for you go well how do i know is he is a billboard going to light up going you filthy whatever oh that was it right it's even easier you have to look for the billboard and wait for the whisper in your ear and kind of you know in the writing in the smoke or something else secretary 316 says secretary 316 all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness it's all here it's all in your king james bible that's how you know when you're getting chastised because he's telling you what you're doing wrong when you're getting a spanking you need to listen to the instructions that are coming from the spanking and obviously we don't want to give our kids a spanky and then not tell them what they're doing wrong but when you get a spanking in life you need to find out why you're getting a spanking right don't shut your ears don't get the spanking and when the kid when the parent says right come here i want to talk to you well i'm going the the other direction now and that's what people do they get a spanking and they don't go in the church they don't open their bible they don't go in prayer to god and they just go the other way and guess what happens then more spankings more and more spankings it's true the harvest is here that's off and i obviously say it's ready for you to reap he's got it there he's telling you look i've got it there for you and what do they do they go the other way oh well there's a very big bible there pastor look i don't even know how god does it sometimes he reads through the bible it's like just jumps out of you you're like i needed that that's what i'm doing wrong you're like how did he add that even work but you know it's not just that as well do you know also when you come in the church and you're in church and god's laid something on that spirit's heart to preach to you and you hear it and you're like that's what i'm getting whooped for i didn't even think about that you need to be around the word of god you need to be around preaching you need to be reading your bible as well Galatians 6 9 said and let us not be weary and well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not don't quit don't run away don't back out from god when you're getting chastised the title is we shall reap if we faint not number one we shall reap souls if we faint not number two we shall reap righteousness if we faint not and number three we shall reap a happy marriage if we faint not turn to luke chapter 6 contrary to popular belief marriage is for life and not just for christmas did you know that yeah i know that's a very unpopular thought nowadays it's an unpopular idea that actually you marry someone for the rest of your life and and here's the thing is if marriage is a lifelong commitment you'd be sensible to do your best to make it a happy marriage wouldn't you yeah kind of pretty sensible idea there isn't it you're making a lifelong commitment or you've made a lifelong commitment what what on earth would you want an unhappy marriage for that's going to be unhappy that's going to be an unhappy life yeah you know they do the old saying don't they uh what is it happy wife happy life there's a lot of truth in that right okay you want a happy life you need a happy wife okay and vice versa ladies so don't sit there with your feet up now going yep time to be pampered yeah look you want it's a lifelong commitment though right how do you mate how do you get a happy marriage well first things first you need to build your marriage upon something solid and now look if you're here sitting going yeah we're already married you're only talking to the single so i'm not okay because you could always rebuild and rebuild and rebuild you can always put more work into your marriage in luke six jesus said it like this he said and why call you me lord lord and do not things which are saying there's a lot of people that do that don't they whosoever cometh to me and here with my sayings that do with them i'll show you to whom he is like he's like a man which built an house and dig deep and laid the foundation on a rock and when the flood arose the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it for it was founded upon a rock he's saying if you're trying to build a house you need to build it on a rock and that rock is jesus okay he is the rock okay he's the rock that we need to build our houses on and if you're getting married or you are married or you've been married for years you need to make sure that that marriage that house is what you're starting basically what you're building is on that rock jesus not built on the latest feminist false duest writings okay that's not what you're building your marriage on is it the latest fake duest because that's what they all are by the way none of them are jews according to the bible that that's just come out with some absolute poison and made it all mainstream whether it's through through literature or through movies or series or whatever else you ain't gonna have a happy marriage built on femi nazi propaganda okay you're not gonna have a happy marriage based on your old drinking buddy's marriage counseling consisting of treating me and keep him keen okay i i knew a guy that said that once and it was so funny and this is he was actually a boss when i was young i was like for about a week i was working for angley and windows i was like 16 or something and he had this girlfriend and he said they got this massive razor treating me and keep him keen an hour later they broke up for good okay i learned quickly that was not good good advice right that was not good relationship advice and by the way those guys that give that usually either divorced or eternally single okay not a good example you built you need to build your marriage upon the word of god but don't miss something here okay it's not the easy option surprisingly look what it said here it said he is like a man which built in house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock that's not easy okay anyone ever digged for foundations it's hard graft okay it's a bit easier if you've actually got mechanical digger even then it's kind of hard because you're just concentrating trying not to smash windows and anything else nearby and suddenly forget and spin around in it and like knock out whoever's nearby or something else okay it's all hard work it's just all hard graft you're digging you're even laying concrete anyone ever laid concrete it's hard work trying to level that out and shovel it into areas well before it sets and trying to drag out the timber and everything else it's just all hard work okay laying foundations is graft digging deep is graph and you know what building your marriage upon the rock is actually hard graft it's not just old piece of color we're married we're saved it's all sorted no that's not the reality of it you've got to put some work in you need to build it upon the word of god he said in verse 8 he is like a man which built an house and dig deep and laid the foundation on a rock and you know what what what when i'm talking about putting work in sometimes you know the reality of it is sometimes it takes effort to love each other did you know that sometimes you've got to put some effort into that go what do you mean are you not just always just smitten with each other waking up and going oh what a beautiful morning and with the love of my life and you walk down stairs holding hands and that's not that's not reality because sometimes you wind each other up sometimes you annoy each other sometimes all your many faults that every single one of us has ends up hurting that other person sometimes you say things you do things which hurt your spouse and it can be hard then to still love but that's what we're told to do and that's that's building it upon the rock that's doing things god's way because sometimes it would be easy to just prop that house up quickly on those with no foundations just a prop up house don't put any work in any graft in but he said in verse 49 but he that heareth and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell in the ruin of that house it's great makes me think of these married couples that never never have any contention anything else because they can't see papering over cracks they're always paper they they never say and they never try and deal with anything and then what happens they've never really put the work in and put the graft in and then often it all collapses and i've known people like that who who it looks good on the surface and behind their spouses backs they're doing all sorts of crazy stuff because they just kind of oh yeah we're just kind of you know it all looks good never say anything never deal with anything you need to build your marriage right don't fate when you're building your marriage don't give up on doing things god's way and sometimes it can be had hard and if you're sitting there going yeah well i'm doing it god's work god's way i go to work she cooks cleans and child rears why why is it not working out yeah because there is more to god's way than the traditional marriage roles that the unsaved by the way have been naturally following for centuries okay the traditional marriage roles aren't anything out there they're just just slightly by our very recent society people that's for centuries have had traditional marriage roles in all cultures okay it's just the western society has been trying to really push that out of people right now okay that's not the that's not the hard bit that should be the easy bit turn to colossians three i'm talking about the stuff that the flesh doesn't like to do sometimes build it upon the timeless word of the almighty god who said in colossians 3 18 wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the lord husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them and when things are rosy that bit might not be so difficult but when things aren't so rosy that's when you've got to dig deep when that you know do you know when the wind is really vehemently beating on your house the wind is vehemently beating on your house when something tragic happens in your life the wind is vehemently beating on your house where maybe you lose your job and you can't afford to pay for things and things are going wrong in your in your life the wind is vehemently beating on your house when you go through some really some real health problems some real trouble that's when those foundations that's when building it properly doing it god's way you'll come out and that house won't fall when things aren't all just a bed of roses because do you know what the tendency is when a lot when when a wife is feeling unloved do you know what the tendency is for that wife to do is to stop submitting that's what that's what her tendency is when she's unloved to stop submitting that's what wives do and do you know what the tendency is when a husband is feeling disrespected and not submitted to to stop loving to start getting bitter that's just what we do right well that's when you've got to dig deep that's when you lay those foundations when the other one isn't that's when you've got to put the that's when it's even more important you put the effort in think about it like this yeah say you and a two-man team laying foundations yeah they've got you in to lay the foundations and you've got to dig out that ground and you've got to you've got to lay some of that hardcore you've got to compress that hardcore you've got to shutter in some concrete you've got a good big thick slab of concrete you've got to make but one of them isn't pulling their weight you've got two options you either don't pull your weight as well and the job's a write-off and it's done or you've got to work double hard and it's like that in marriage because there's going to be times when one of you isn't doing what you're meant to be doing there's going to be times when a husband isn't really loving her wife like he should and that is when the wife needs to submit and do it even more that's when she's got to work even harder to be that perfect wife when when in exactly the same way when you're when your wife isn't submitting when your wife isn't respect you when your wife isn't doing the things that you want to do that's when you need to love her even more that's when you need to show even more love because you turn and get bitter you both given up the marriage is going to fail and listen christian marriages fail just as much as the world's marriages and we just need to do not we need to understand do not the most important thing you can understand as a as a believer in marriage just do your part just do your part just love your wives husbands whether she submits whether she's the best homemaker in the world or the worst homemaker in the world whether she's whatever it is just love your wives love them honour them wives do you know what you need to do and obviously you need to love your husbands as well but you just need to respect them and submit to your husbands whether they're just some useless slob who does absolutely nothing all day and sits there playing video games and bringing in the social check or whatever we call it here just just submit and respect it and when you do your bit you know what's going to happen they're more likely to do their bit because you know what people think well if i carry on submitting to my husband he's going to be even more unloving because he thinks i'm just a doormat no you got it all wrong he's more likely to love you and do what he should and same the other way around and men are like well if i carry on loving her when she's not pulling her weight and doing what i want her to do in my life she's just going to carry on doing no no she's going to start sorting herself out with time it's like that two-man working team when you're at work do you like the best way i found as a boss do you know what the best way of getting people to graft is is by grafting yourself the best way of getting people to work hard underneath you is by just working even harder and that's what we have to do with marriage don't quit work overtime don't quit put the extra hours in work overtime do your bit and god willing your spouse will do the same galatians 6 9 said and let us not be weary in well doing for in jew season we shall reap if we faint not the toll is we shall reap if we faint not number one we shall reap souls if we faint not number two we shall reap righteousness if we faint not number three we shall reap a happy marriage if we faint not and number four we shall reap rewards if we faint not turn to matthew five something that we see a few times in the bible is a promise of rewards in eternity for our work done on earth okay there's something that we see quite a few times so therefore it's not it's not you're not somehow carnal and unloving and everything else if you if you think about some rewards in heaven okay because we respond to that and i was actually talking to someone the other day about this as i believe it's a good way to raise children as well because we as adults who know what the word of god says who know that we should be loving the loss that we should be trying to live right that we should be trying to please our father and we don't want to get chastised and everything else we still respond to rewards don't we we still respond to blessings we still sometimes think about yeah i could i want to earn rewards right we think about i want god to bless me and i think it's a good way to raise kids sometimes to give them an incentive to and and we we sometimes do it and it goes well then we kind of forget for a while and it's like and and it i i believe it is a good thing to do it shouldn't just be all chastisement and it's like well you should be doing this you should be expected to deliver sometimes i think it's good for them to look and earn and try and earn rewards in in a household for example there are ways you can reward your children for good behavior because ultimately what we're trying to do is train them up for it to become eventually automatic and i don't want to give like i know the analogy people will find that distasteful especially after my sermon a couple of weeks ago but isn't that what we do with dogs if you seriously if you train a dog you don't just whoop them you usually give them a treat when they do what you want them to do and eventually you stop giving them the treat they've just learned haven't they and that's what we're trying to do with kids no the kids aren't dogs okay but however it's the principle of training right it's correction or it's reward right a lot of people get that all wrong and they just give their dogs treats all day and never actually correct them right but we could go the other way can't we as well well there are promise of rewards in the bible because god knows that we respond to those promises and it's not just about soul winning being a good and faithful servant in all areas of life seems to qualify for rewards okay so if you're thinking well it's only if you win souls that's not how it works he never said well it's per soul because i think some people think that gang it's just like cha-ching it's another soul saved no it's actually based on the on the output that you put in to doing good things there are crowns to earn there are positions of rule treasures in heaven where neither moth nor us doth corrupt and according to first corinthians 2 9 don't well you've turned to matthew 5 but first corinthians 2 5 2 9 it seems that it's hard to even imagine really what we're going to receive in heaven it says but as it is written i have not seen nor heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which god has prepared for them that love him isn't that an amazing thought i don't think it's it can even really be explained for us to understand which is why we're not it's not really painted it's not the pictures not painted as to exactly what it will be and how because i don't think we could even really understand it and imagine it maybe not in our sinful flesh right now as well however i want to focus on one particular way of earning rewards today in matthew 5 it's a famous what they call the beatitudes where he ends the list of those that are blessed with verse 10 where he says blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven he then addresses what was described as his disciples okay directly so he's addressing these people that are described as his disciples he's a saved people on on the whole here on in this sermon on the mat and says blessed are ye when men shall revile you still going to save people here and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you he's saying that when people revile or reproach treat you with contempt when they persecute you when they say bad things about you and the key part here is falsely for my sake now don't get me wrong they'll take a half truth and they'll take maybe a character flaw or they'll take a behavior or something but then they'll twist it that's still false it's still false accusation it's still falsely and if it's for his sake not because you're an idiot not because you're just a moron trying to just like find people to be upset with you not because you're looking for trouble but but because you're doing things like standing on the word of god okay because you're standing on the word of god and saying no thus saith the lord or because of your beliefs because your family your friends whoever they know your beliefs and you're standing on your beliefs for you being a soul winner and people will revile you for that and i'm not just talking about the odd door slam when you're out there's there are people in your in your lives in your personal lives that revile you really because you're a soul winner that's what they hate knock on doors oh how how absolutely horrendous what you know i mean god forbid someone would actually have to answer their door the poor things you know that's how they act don't they disturbing people what right for being part of a proper church people will revile you for that they'll hate you for being part of this church i've already heard people people have said stuff to me about that family members people in their lives already like oh that church it's the church that makes you do this it's a church which expects you not to cross dress we don't expect anything we just preach what the bible says you can do what you want in your personal life right within reason if you start going into biblical kick out stuff that's different right but in on the whole we're just trying to teach you what the bible says it's up to you if you want to apply it to your lives right it's the church that want to take all your money no the bible just gives the principle of tithing 10 it's not really all your money right okay and what benefit do we all get from a church right massive benefit but regardless it's what god tells us to pay but regardless that's a separate sermon point being that people will attack they'll find anything they can it's this it's that oh it's that what they want you there on a wednesday as well oh it's ruining your life it's taking over your life it's just any which way they can find an angle but he said when that happens and when it can get much worse people lose jobs people lose family members they lose friends he said rejoice be exceeding glad why for great is your reward in heaven you didn't say because you're getting some rewards oh yeah a few little perks for that one great is your reward in heaven there's a great reward when you're persecuted for righteousness for his sake so when people do that stuff he's saying it's high five time basically he's saying that when you have that when you have that in your lives in one way or another when people are trying to persecute when people have a problem with you because of his sake not because you're just trying to look for people to have a problem with you so you can claim you're being persecuted when it's for his sake great celebrate bring it on thank you so much i i honestly believe if you if we really had a picture and it just suddenly it all opened up and it was like this what that's what's coming you see people up there with their what you'd be like yes because our faith isn't strong enough because we should take what the word of god says and go okay great is your award i'm getting persecuted thank you all rewards ching ching ching brilliant you know but the problem is we don't trust it do we and and here's another problem is this is when so many choose to faint this is kind of like the crossroads for many people in the parable of the sower that you don't have to turn the stony ground believer falls away due to persecution the stony ground you don't want to be a stony ground christian right okay this is a good foundation of stones okay this is stones which stop you growing and being rooted properly in mark 417 it says and have no root in themselves and so endure but for a time after when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake do you remember that was the stuff that's meant to make us go woohoo high five yeah it's coming rewards rewards rewards immediately they're offended these people fall away they stop serving god they stop doing the things of god because of the stuff which you should be getting rewards for the stuff that we should be celebrating about the stuff that we should be saying we've been counted to be able to suffer for christ's sake hallelujah and instead that's when people give up isn't that bizarre if you think about it that way although it's not because we understand it don't we because we've all been there we've all been at a point where like man this is tiring i don't know if i can deal with this because we're not ready to reap instead we're ready to faint yet ironically jesus said rejoice and be exceeding glad in those situations for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted day the prophets which were before you and you know what i believe maximizes those rewards okay and this is just a very non-dogmatic just kind of thought that i've had is to get through those persecutions those afflictions those trials and tribulations without charging god foolishly without blaming him to get through it all like job who in job 122 we're told in all this job sinned not nor charged god foolishly to not get weary to faint not and then reap maximum rewards in heaven that's what i believe so i believe when you're going through that persecution tribulation if you can get through it without sinning and when i say without sinning look we're all sinners but if you can just not because of that respond in in a just especially presumptuous sinful way just say because of that that's it i'm not going to church tonight done with this persecution i'm not not reading my bible i'm not doing this i'm going to go back into that old sin i'm going to go back into that no no no when you're getting persecuted that's like rejoice time stay close to god that's how we should respond he said blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you for see for my say rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you said those rewards are great isn't that a great thought to have right collation 6 9 said and let us not be weary and well doing for in jew season we shall reap if we faint not if we faint not and and it is down to us it's your choice right that's it that's a choice every single one of us has do we want to reap in all these different situations and like i said there's a hundred situations you can apply this to in life or you're just going to faint and give up and quit and you know what do you know what the best reaping comes from is the hardest work doesn't it and often that's when you need to dig deep you need to roll up your sleeves and go i'm going to graft i'm going to put some work in it might be uncomfortable i might feel a bit lousy for a time i might my back's gonna hurt i'm i'm digging some foundations here i'm grafting i'm i'm protecting these plants i'm i'm i'm gonna put the work in but then i'm gonna reap the harvest number one we shall reap souls if we faint not number two we shall reap righteousness if we faint not number three we shall reap a happy marriage if we faint not number four we shall rewards if we faint not and i could go on and on and on and on and on but you get the idea you get the point please just apply that principle to your lives i think all of us here would just benefit so much from that on that we're going to finish in a word of prayer well thank you for well um just just the sound teacher give us in your word lord about things like this and things which i suppose in a way you could say should be common sense but we we we so often we're we're blown about we're we're just we're we're threatened by just often small amounts of tribulation other things in our life the the fatigue the weariness in the well-doing and it does make us want to faint and help us to just be strong lord to understand that that when there's opposition when there's you know when when there's things trying to stop us doing good that's usually because there's a lot to reap there and whether it's souls righteousness whether it's our a happy marriage whether it's the rewards in heaven or or many other areas in our life help us to just understand that it's not going to be easy however we we can reap if we don't quit and help us to to just apply that to our lives lord as we go forward and especially after this service to going out soul winning lord and um and just just you know just just persevere through lord and and get keep knocking those doors and find those people that want to hear your gospel let's get many people so help us to return for this evening's service Jesus name pray amen