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Yeah, we're in Colossians 3 and like brother Eli was saying in his prayer there You could make a sermon pretty much out of every verse of this chapter. It's a great chapter in the scriptures But we're gonna focus on just four verses This morning beginning number verse number 22. The Bible says servants obey in all things your masters According to the flesh not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart Fearing God and whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men Knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done and there is no respect of persons Let's pray Lord. We thank you so much for the scriptures this morning I pray that you just help me to preach this morning Lord You fill me with your spirit Lord fill this whole congregation with your spirit Lord we know that you're in the midst of us where two or three are gathered together in your name and Pray that you would help the people to hear what the spirit says of the church this morning in Jesus name pray Amen. All right. So the title my sermon this morning is what's the reason and who are you pleasing? I kind of did a Joe Jones thing there, but pastor Joe Jones. Sorry, but what's the reason and who are you pleasing? so obviously I take that title from these scriptures here because the reason why we do things is to serve the Lord Christ and The person that we're supposed to be pleasing is the Lord Christ. That is what the Christians responsibility is Obviously we're supposed to it says in the first verse to obey your masters according to the flesh But when you obey your masters according to the flesh What's that talking about? Like where you work who your boss is the authority in your life the God-given authority in your life And when you're doing that then you are pleasing God and if you're do everything in this world as if you're doing it for God, then You're gonna try to do things as best as possible So I just want to talk about these concepts this morning and point number one is Don't do things to be seen of men. Don't do things to be seen of men Look at collages 3 22 again. It says servants obey in all things Doesn't say some things does it or what you don't feel like doing it says obey in all things your masters according to the flesh not with eye service as men pleasers, so What what is that talking about? Well to be seen of men to please men to make people You know like you or want to You know kind of It's kind of like you're just trying to be a showboat to things You know those people that you work with sometimes and they're just like they just want to tell the boss about how great they're doing or they're not working hard until the boss shows up and then they're just like You know being this these little yes-men bootlickers or whatever and it's good to be nice to your boss everything But you've all worked all you guys have probably worked with somebody that's it's like that and they just you know They'll do anything to get to the top of the ladder and then including throw you under the bus but it says so not with eye service as men pleasers, so that's not the way God wants us to do it just as Something that just people see and they think that you're great or whatever as men pleasers But in singleness of heart fearing God, so You know the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge And that that's where we should start off as Christians, I mean as a Christian I got saved because I feared God I knew that the devil was real. So therefore God must have been real and that's kind of you know a bat, you know Some people get saved in different ways But really it should begin with the fear of the Lord the fear of going to hell the fear of being condemned by God drives us or should drive you to Want to be saved but we shouldn't be doing things when we work for the Lord You know, obviously we're not saved by our worse, but we should work for him. We should serve him and In fear, so when everything that we do in our lives should be to be seen of God Not necessarily to be seen of man, but men will see what you do and that's great But we shouldn't be tooting our own horn or Acting in a way where people it draws attention to us as to what great things we are doing You understand now turn to Matthew chapter 23 And of course, this is a scathing rebuke against the Pharisees and it's funny that a lot of people call us Pharisees When in reality the Pharisees were really permissive about a lot of different things They were just like divorce any reason, you know, and then putting their commandments the doctrines of men over the commandments of God, which is also Wicked, but they also like to have a great pretense and a great show amongst other people Just to show people how holy they are right by dressing like wizards by wearing weird outfits You know, no, we you know you looking like Gandalf doesn't make me want to go to your church Okay, so look at verse 1 in Matthew chapter 21 So now obviously The Pharisees many of them were not saved But some of them were saved some of them did get saved and follow and Jesus here This is probably one of the hardest rebukes in the whole Bible is Matthew chapter 23 verse 1 and it says Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples saying the scribes and in the Pharisees sit in Moses seat All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe and observe and do but do not eat after their works For they say and do not so basically they're really big hypocrites and if you do a study on it hypocrites You know, maybe I'll preach something about this sometime soon or sometime in the future But a true hypocrite is a pretender to the faith. They're a fake. They're a phony They're not really saved Okay Now obviously Christians can be hypocritical and I think every Christian is probably hypocritical in some way shape or form But they're like the hypocrite is like a pretender, right or you say you believe something and then you do the opposite of what? You're saying that you believe so but so he's saying, you know Do what they say because what the what they're most of the things that they're saying are okay because they're sitting in Moses seat So they're giving out the commandments and things like that But don't do after their works for they bind heavy burdens and Grievous to be born it's like, you know You're loading up somebody have you ever been moving and you're just trying to hand things to people to move into the house or just anytime you're ever moving heavy stuff and they're just like Stacking all these layers of things thinking you're stronger than you really are That's kind of the you know, the concept that is saying they're buying that they bind heavy burdens Grieve and grievous to be born like to be carried. They're giving out All these heavy loads of things to do and it says and lay them on men's shoulders But they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers They won't even try or attempt to do the things that they're telling others that they must do Now verse 5 says but all their works they do For to be seen of men. So do you think Jesus is right here? Of course, he's right. He's God. He's the Son of God He's Lordly this is red letters, right but all their works they do to be seen of men So we ought to be careful as Christians not to do our work so that other people can see him and and be like well Hey, you know look at what all I've done and all this other stuff, you know, look how hard I work. Well Do that for God do it to God and he's gonna see your hard work and then he's gonna reward you But it says they make broad their flak trees and enlarge the borders of their garments So this is referring to the wizard outfits that they wear and it's funny how people still wear those things Even though Jesus condemned people for doing that wearing long robes you know and then you'll see these like Catholic and Orthodox priests and and even like Presbyterians and you know all kinds of other different, you know Anglicans They wear these like dresses or whatever and they put their collar on backwards some of these people and they're trying to wear a religious Outfit basically, it's like religious cosplay or something. It's it's just really strange and When I saw these These Jews on an airplane when I was flying to the Philippines and I was awake when the Sun was coming up and they start like tying these Leather things around their arms. I don't even know what were they get that in the Bible, but I'm sure they have some kind of You know quote or text or something that they use but then they're just like, you know praying in the airplane And stuff it's just it's bizarre and you know why they do that so that people will look at them ago Look how religious they are Look how holy you know They got up at sunrise To put all their weird leather outfits and and their wizard costumes on to show us just how holy they are Look the way you dress Shouldn't be something that draws attention to yourself in that way And so any religion where you see a guy in a wizard outfit, they're a false. It's a false religion They're like the Pharisees It says they make brother their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments and they love the uttermost Or excuse me uppermost rooms at the feast at feast and the chief seats in the synagogue so they want the best seats the best spots and people to just adorn them and Make it all about see how they're self-centered like this and it says in greetings in the markets and to be called of men Rabbi rabbi and of course you got that where people just want to be called some religious title also like Pope or Cardinal, you know, I I don't see Cardinal in the Bible I've never seen that in the Bible, but I thought it was just a bird or something, right? But But they make up these things that are not in the Bible They want the greetings in the marketplace to be called of in rabbi rabbi But be not eat called rabbi for one is your master even Christ and all ye are brethren So he doesn't want us to be called master But isn't that funny that even today? You have these Bible colleges and things like that and when they come out of these Bible colleges, they're called masters of theology It's like I thought the Bible said not to be called masters one is your master even Christ So you want to call somebody master? We serve our master the Lord Jesus Christ And you know somebody's going around saying that they're a doctor, you know I just I think it's we I've always thought it was weird when when Baptist preachers call themselves. Dr. So-and-so Dr. Ruckman, dr. You know, even dr. Hiles like I just think that that's how about brother Hiles or pastor Hiles or whatever You know, so I think that's strange But he's just like cutting down every single hypocrisy and everything that they want to do To be seen of men and to have admiration because of the respect of their person right and call no man upon a father upon the earth for one is your father which is in heaven, so Now, of course if you're if it's really your father like your physical father, that's not what he's talking about He's talking about calling religious people father, you know like Father, you know Malachi from the Catholic Church or whatever You know, this is the kind of things, you know, it says be not called father and yet the Catholic Church calls their priests father Father bless me for I have sinned It's like that's blasphemous folks. That's just it just flies in the face of everything. Jesus says not to do It says neither be called masters for one is your master even Christ but he that is greatest among you shall be your Servant and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased so what does that mean when you exalt yourself your look you're trying to put yourself out as your somebody important and It says if you do that, you're gonna be a base. What does that mean brought low? so the people that are just you know, trying to be seen of men and and trying to Just look like the most holy people these holier-than-thou type people They're gonna be the ones that are a base and it says and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted So what does the Bible actually teach when you're humble you don't do things to be seen of men You don't have to tell everybody your good works resume every time you see them You know humble yourself and you'll be exalted who's gonna exalt you though God and maybe men will too but when you're just when you have to tell everybody all your great works when you have to show people how religious you are by Wearing a special costume when you have to just do things just to be seen of men then that is exalting yourself That's what the Bible is teaching. We should not be doing things for a show. Look at Mark chapter 12 Mark chapter number 12 and You see these videos of people and it's usually around Christmas time, right? Or when the time is when people you know, and these people that our pastors will go and film themselves Giving Money to some homeless person on the street and hugging them or something And that's just so bizarre and weird Why would you do that, you know because you lose your reward when you do that, right? So when you're going out to exalt yourself, look at me buying groceries, you know There's all these there's a ton of videos on YouTube about it or people are just well You know, it's gonna they'll walk up and put their groceries in front of somebody else's and then like, you know It's just people are just doing all these weird pranks in public It's just it's bizarre because everybody just wants to be seen and be part of the conversation and their opinion everybody thinks that their opinions matter and Really? It's just become a bizarre Bizarro world that we live in When you look at someone's Facebook page and every there's like 900 pictures of themselves of different poses and stuff Like you don't need to be seen have been Quit doing that. It's just it's people think it's weird If you don't think it's weird, then you got issues. You need to just go delete all those who just have one picture of yourself going Or something like that right mark chapter 12 verse 38 Bob says and he said unto them in his doctrine Beware of the scribes which love to go in long clothing and love Salutations in the marketplaces and the chief seats and the synagogues in the uppermost rooms at feast Which devour widows houses and for a pretense make long prayers So it's kind of just saying some of the same things that said in Matthew there But notice how it says that they love to go in long clothing You know people say well every picture I've ever seen of Jesus in the modern day is him wearing a long Robe down to his feet long hair skinny bird legs and a stick figure type looking person and It's that's not what Jesus looked like But yet people look at a picture But what does the Bible say? You know wouldn't it be weird if Jesus said they love to go around in long robes, and then he walked around in long robes I Mean you're like. What do you think you wore pants? Yeah? I do think that Well pants isn't in the Bible. Yeah, I know pants is a more modern word for it But you know there's there were pants people been working for thousands of years And pants are what men work in it's not a new thing Like they discovered some 35 year old jeans in China okay in some cave Might not have been jeans, but there were pants. Okay, so if they were around 3,500 years ago That's when Moses was around and I believe that Moses said That they were supposed to make you know these linen bridges they go from the loins to the to the knee That's what the men priests wore under their robe But I don't think that their robe is some long flowing Nightgown looking thing I mean we were in Toronto last week, and I just seen all these Muslim guys walking around They're literally just wearing dresses It's like what are you doing? You know the only difference between their men and women and what they wear is the women have like a Darth Sidious hood over the top of their face or something They look they they look bizarre You know their face all you can see is like the slits of their eyes like this It's strange and to see dudes walk around in dresses is just you know they like to throw almost all buildings But like they look like home was when they walk down the street, so I don't know how they differentiate between themselves, but anyway it says and So look at verse 40 again It says which devour widows houses and for a pretense make long prayers, so what does that mean? Well, it means that they're pretending to pray Because you know if you remember the story where the Pharisee and there's a there's a guy There's a publican and a Pharisee and the Pharisee is like I thank God that I'm not like this person over here this publican this sinner, and I here's all the things that I do You know I tithe of everything I have and I fast often and all this other stuff And He's like it says he's praying within himself So he's not even really praying to God. It's a pretend prayer It's not going anywhere, and then the other guy that's actually saved saved You know or get saved right there. It says he just he bows his head. He won't even look up and he says God have mercy upon me a sinner and one of them went out justified and guess who it was it was the Humble one that wouldn't even look up They just realize he's a sinner, but the other guy the Pharisees like I thank God Thank God that I'm not like this sinner over here. It's like you're worse. You're dead men's bones. You're a whited sepulcher You're not even saved if you're having to pray you're within yourself, and you're not even praying to God. It's really strange But it says for a pretense make long prayers these shall receive greater damnation So what does that tell you about them that they're damned So we don't want to be like these people Because obviously Christians can become pharisaical in some things Christians can become holier than thou's and we don't want to have the attitude that Jesus is rebuking in these in these scriptures And we don't want to just put ourself out there like we're some great thing when we're just we're just humans We're we're just all the same we're brethren right so look at mark or excuse me Matthew chapter 6 Matthew chapter 6 verse number 1 a few pages back in your Bible there Probably more than a few Matthew chapter 6 the Bible says take heed that you do not Your alms before men that's like giving to the poor like I was just talking about in the videos right to be seen of them See this is the difference why if you want to give somebody something and help them out Those things should be done in secret and it's because it's saying right here It's rebuking these video people or the the pastor that pretends He's like a homeless person then comes in and preaches a sermon or whatever I'm sure you've seen that video roll through your YouTube feed or something But this is what they're just doing it to be seen of men even that David bet David or whatever he's like this value tainment guy and he's like You know he seems to be a Christian But like he does this video around Christmas where he's just like Paying for all these people's groceries and like puts it on his YouTube channel I just think like have you not read the Bible have you not read that we're not supposed to do things like that So because look what it says in the second part of that verse 1 it says Otherwise you have no reward of your father, which is in heaven So when you're doing that you're losing your reward so ultimately why are you doing it? You're doing it so you can be seen of men exactly like these people right here Therefore when I do sign alms do do not sound a trumpet before thee So if that's what's going on. They're literally if they're literally sounding a trumpet before them. It's like I'm about to give money to the poor she Take a picture You know my my reels bro and all that stuff It says therefore when thou doest thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in The streets that they may have glory of men you see the theme here Jesus is rebuking people for trying to get the glory of men verily I say unto you they Have their reward so you will get a reward for it, but you're not gonna get it in heaven You've got it right then when you took the selfie with the homeless person Giving them groceries or something It says but when thou doest alms let not the left hand know with thy right hand doeth that thine alms May be in secret and thy father which seeth thee in secret himself shall reward thee openly So you want to be rewarded openly you want some praise you want some exaltation do it for the right reasons? Do it in secret and God will exalt you God will lift you up And he'll make sure that you have this open reward That's the right attitude and like I just think it is kind of just weird to want to be rewarded like that Like we go so when he and it's like you know we we do get rewards for that But I've rarely stressed the fact that that's why we're going so money. It's just like to me It's just like something that God does cherry on top Extra To bless your life You know went, but you know we don't do it to be seen of men And if you are doing so wanting to be seen of man just to say I got you know five hundred saved today or whatever You know then you're doing it for the wrong reasons, and you're gonna be reward You're not gonna be rewarded openly You know we got to have the right reasons for the way the reasons why we do these things so look at verse five And when I praised thou shalt not be as the hypocrite the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and In the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men Verily I say unto you they have their reward So the reward was what so people would see them so people would admire them and their great prayer that they prayed But thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door pray to thy father Which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee Openly so the theme is don't do things to be seen of men do things for the right reasons and if Exaltation is what you want then let God exalt you what let somebody else say something nice about you for the things That you do look at verse 16. It says moreover when you fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance And it's really funny because I was going to this church one time and I was like looking at one of the the youth the teens that was in the youth group And I was like and he had this like pouty face on you know he's like Like this I was like hey, what's wrong? You all right? It's like. I'm just fastin It's like that's exactly what Jesus tells you not to do You know you if you're fasting you try you don't try to appear as if you are You don't want to show outwardly what you're feeling inside because yeah when you can't eat food because you've made You know this fast that you're doing and you're just like in the inside your stomachs rumbling on the inside You know because it's it's vexing your soul to it's it's like Causing you to feel pain. That's why you do it is to feel this hunger pain and You get a little bit more spiritual because of the fact that you're doing that But it says that they do it as they have the sad countenance for they just figure their faces That's exactly what people do that are want people to know that they're fasting What's wrong brother just fasting it's like well you might as well just stop now because you just lost your reward dummy Like what are you doing? And they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast we had his bozo in our church up in Spokane and He preached a whole sermon about Fasting saying that it's a command of God What will where's the command where it says thou shalt fast how many days thou shalt fast how many hours shalt thou fast? You'll know you're not you're not gonna find that is fasting a good thing yes It is but if you're fasting for the wrong reasons to like a lot of people do it for health And I'm not against that but don't confuse the two if you're doing it for health Then it's not a spiritual thing. It's a physical thing If you're doing it to be spiritual don't you know it's not I mean obviously you might get the benefits of it But most fast in the Bible are just a short one-day fast Maybe even you know several hours Like David you know there's well, there's just other people in the Bible they fast until even So to go all day without food until it's dark outside That is still vexing to you if you're working in construction, and you go on like a 24-hour fast You're gonna be hurting because you need those Carbohydrates and and all that stuff to help you get the energy that you need and me yes I know me, but carbohydrates do give you energy. That's why they exist I know I'm in with a mixed multitude here when it comes to stuff like this But when the Bible says that bread is good. It's good. It's not the bread for just stop You think that they don't know how to make bread like they did back then Like there's no new thing under the Sun you ever heard that well there is new bread But you know it's like Wonder Bread or whatever but That's probably not the healthiest option But bread is not bad for you now if you're just eating loaves of bread at your dinner that might be bad for you You know just like here. Give me some give me some that garlic bread This is like this thing that like a giant long piece of French bread that you buttered with and put some Some see I'm Mike am I making you hungry right now. You're ready to go to Olive Garden anyway Uh and then just eating full you know meals of bread. That's but sometimes people in the in the and That's all they had to eat was bread It's like bread and water you can live off that you can literally live off red water, so it's not bad for you anyway I'm diverging into things that I should not so But These people are disfiguring their faces to look like they fast its hypocrisy But that went out fastest anoint thine head and wash thy face So you know put some put some lotion on buddy and Put it on your face. Put some olive oil on your it's like talking about olive oil right and it says and wash your face That thou not and that thou appear not unto men to fast But unto thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly so Jesus is teaching to be humble not to just put yourself out there and try to make yourself look good look at Proverbs chapter 27 verse 2 Proverbs chapter 27 verse 2 The Bible says Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth Don't go around bragging about how great you are You know in sports. It's a popular thing to brag and talk smack, and I think guys like that You know Conor McGregor kind of took it to another level basically But there's a it's bragging like when you say that you could beat up Jesus Then you're an idiot That's what he said if me and Jesus got in the ring. I'm going I'm walking out the victor It's like that's why your your careers in the tank. Maybe you shouldn't have blasphemed the Son of God and Then you broke your leg, and he just keeps getting whipped in all this fights. I mean People still like to see him though why because people like someone that's braggadocious like he is That's not how we should be as Christians right and so Proverbs chapter 27 verse 2 says let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth a stranger and not thine own lips So it's the opposite of the society that we're seeing today is what God likes He doesn't like us bragging and boasting and doing things to be seen of men and telling everybody everything that you do For the church or everything that you do and so I mean and look I'm not saying we shouldn't rejoice and we shouldn't post our numbers or something. I don't I'm not talking about that I'm talking about when we have to tell everybody what we do all the time You don't have to tell everybody as a matter of fact the concept here is you know do it in secret and your father Which see if you do it in secret will reward you openly But when you're patting yourself on the back and you're proclaiming all your great works to other people you have your reward So don't lose your reward because you want people to see you God's gonna let people see you anyway So why not just do it the right way and not pat yourself on the back for everything that you have to do and look if a lot of people do a lot of things in this church and I Try to say thank you as much as I can to people but obviously I do I am thankful I'm thankful that you do everything but like some people just need to be patted on the back for every single thing they do Oh, that was great. That was great. That was great It's just like do you have to be told everything that you do is great all the time? That's kind of what this generations turn into It's like oh you came to work on time. Oh, you're so great. It's like That's it. That's that's your job be at work on time Like why why does someone need to pat you on the back because you made it You know to work on time three times out of the week Oh You're such a good boy. We're gonna get you some chicken dinos later Gonna get you some chicken tendies at Wendy's You big boy you put on the big boy pants. You've made it to work on time. Always congratulations. Like it's just It's just how people are these days You can't even get people to show up for work half the time anymore or even show up to a job interview That's how bad it is out there They'd rather be begging people on the streets for money and just saying holding signs and saying please help me It's like a 20 year old guy standing at a median Like hoping people will slow down and not hit him. You know what I mean? It's just like they want to they want to just that's robbing you that's extorting you don't give them any money It's not helping them. It's hurting them. So number two this morning Do your best in everything and do it for the Lord do your best in? Everything you do and do it for the Lord. Look at Colossians 3 23 back in our text Colossians chapter 3 verse 23. I should have just told you to keep a bookmark there So don't be don't just do things to be seen of men let another man praise you let God Exalt you and then do your best in everything that you do and do it for the Lord look at the Colossians 3 23 It says and whatsoever you do that's anything right whatsoever you do Everything right do it heartily like with the heart as unto as Excuse me as to the Lord so everything that we do in our life should be we should be just pretending or not pretending but like For lack of a better word we should be you know, because obviously you work for people But ultimately if your mindset is that I'm doing this for God, then you're gonna do a better job, aren't you? So So do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men Knowing that of the Lord he shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. So everything we do whatsoever you do do it heartily and Have you know, I mean the Oakland Raiders have a great motto Commitment to excellence That's what every Christian should really have is a commitment to everything that we do in our lives the job We work how we are as a parent how we are as a husband how we are as a wife how we are as children Just everything in our life if we just have this attitude that we're doing it as to the Lord Because we serve the Lord then we're gonna do things better because who wants to give God their worst I mean and so if that's the mindset that God wants us to have and everything that we should do or Everything everything we endeavor to do it shouldn't be cutting corners doing it sloppily you know if you do things for the church, you know, you're you're doing things for the Lord and So do the best job you can don't do it half. You know, what do it all the way, right? Don't do it half high knee, all right I'll use the Approved verbiage there. So Now look at turn to Ecclesiastes 9 10 So everything we should do we should try to do the most excellent we can our jobs at work You know how we are, you know, if you're up for a wife perfect cooking, you know You're supposed to be cooking for your husband and your family So get you know, maybe you just know how to make sandwiches Well, great add to the sandwiches spaghetti add to the spaghetti pork chops add to the pork chop steak You know, it takes a while to become a good cook But eventually you're gonna learn how to cook things the way your family likes it, you know I mean nobody likes bland food. So if it's like well, here's some hard-boiled eggs with no salt. No pepper. It's like right There has to be some salt added to these items, right? So So and then anything you is that's worth doing is worth doing right that's a good that's a good quote there and Then when you do something you should do that job. Well, especially if you're doing it for the Lord Ecclesiastes 9 10 a says Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might so whatever your whatever you're laboring at Do it with your might and you're like, well, I'm not very mighty well men get mighty. All right Get mighty have a work ethic have you know? People should look at you in the job force that you're one of the hardest working people there And if you're not doing that, then you need to get better, you know men need to be men You know what the church needs men that are manly And whatever your job is if it's just like typing things on a keyboard, you know, do it manly I'm just kidding, but Don't be like, oh get a paper cut. I Can't have lemon juice because it'll hurt my paper cut, you know to be a man I'm sure that most of us men here have smashed our thumbs with a hammer or You know hit our you know, there's all kinds of wounds you get from doing physical labor but in the office too, somebody was just telling me about a guy that went to their church and He like worked an office job, but he bent down to pick up like a file or something that he couldn't get back up It's physical labor though I mean sometimes you can get hurt doing some weird stuff like just any weird way that you turn your back Could be like an ender for you for a while But yeah everything that we do man We should try to do it as manly as possible because we're in a very unmanly world today we're in a world today where you know, women are being exalted and men are being debased and You know, there's a lot of jobs that women just can't do and I'm not trying to like be misogynistic or whatever But it's just a fact Okay, men jump out of helicopters men are supposed to be the ones on the battlefield You know men are supposed to be the ones that are doing the construction work and that's generally true There's not a lot of sewer technicians that are you know sewer clean, you know when I was in the sewers department there was like one Homo that was in there and that was it and she was looked more like a man than she did like a woman But she was still lazy anyway, but you know There's certain things that women just can't do why because men are just stronger physically than women in most cases now I know the exception proves the rule But we all have our lots in life and you know women's isn't Storming the beaches at Normandy. I mean if you've ever watched that footage, there's no women storming the beach at Normandy. Why? Because men are faster men are stronger men can hold like big giant machine guns and stuff and you're like well There's women in the military right now. I know it's a sad state of affairs in this country Isn't it men are supposed to go out and fight the battles? Not women now, I'm not saying women don't have their place in society Of course, they do and you're like, well, you don't love women. I'm married to one. What are you talking about? I love my wife, but even she knows they're certain. No, can you reach this? Yes, I can and I will For some reason the trash being taken out is mainly my job and that's just the way it is They take a you know Sometimes if she really wants to take it out She'll just like pull it out of the can and just like tie it in a bow and just leave it there It's like here's your cue dummy. Take the garbage out But or put the garbage out like who who what men in here do put the garbage out to the curb Come on What wives do it? Okay, never mind. Don't do it. I Don't want to embarrass anybody here So well, that's kind of like, you know men do they're like the the stuff around the house Obviously, there's what there's things that women can do around the house. I'm talking about the maintenance and repair Something's broke now for the vacuum cleaners broke. My wife is is like a vacuum cleaner technician She's gone through many vacuum cleaners over the years and I just still haven't figured out how to even change a belt on one of them so she is better at me than a lot of a lot of different things, but But whatever you're supposed to be doing just do it hardly as unto the Lord do it with thy might Number three this morning doing wrong through boasting is unwise vain and it's sinful doing wrong through boasting is unwise vain and sinful Now look at Colossians 3 25 Colossians 3 25 we'll spend the rest of the Sermon focused on these things and I've already kind of it's kind of tying into the first point a lot but I kind of just want to cover some some more aspects of it because You know, it starts off saying Servants obey or servants obey your masters and everything you're doing it as unto the Lord you work for Christ But then in verse 25 it says but he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done And there's no respect of persons No, that means God does not respect anybody above other people in in the aspect of When someone sins, it doesn't matter what their title is doesn't matter what their state status in life is God looks at everybody equally when it comes to You know committing sin and he says there's no respect of persons He's not gonna punish me less because I'm the pastor than he would you for doing the same sin That's basically what I take out of that. Now. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 5 verse 37 Matthew chapter 5 verse 37 Now The chapter 5 verse 37 And this is how we should operate in this world Jesus said in Matthew 5 37 it says but let your communication be yay. Yay. That means yes. Yes or Nay, nay, no, no for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil So when you're when you're just over communicating Or just you know when someone's asked you a question and the answer should just be yes then answer Yes, and if it's should be no then no You don't have to like put a whole disclaimer in everything that you say and obviously we all kind of tend to do that Sometimes I'm sure but what's Christ saying? He's saying that we should our communication should be very pointed very Easy to understand yes or no. It's a yes. This is what they do in Congress The question is yes or no the question is yes or no then they'll start saying well You know the in 2016 is like yes or no yes or no It's like and then anyway, and they just drone on with all their little political diatribe or whatever But that's not how we you know if they ask a question they want the answer is it yes Or is it no and then if you need to explain further They'll tell you but this is how our communication should be with each other and with other people in the world if people If you say you're gonna do something do it Don't promise to do something that you're not going to be able to do And don't say no something to something that you should be saying yes to that's another fair point like sometimes You know people ask us for stuff. I'm like no. I can't really do that It's not is that really true though. You probably could do something, but this is basically talking about how we communicate though It's yes or no, and you know there's a there's a famous quote by John Maxwell it says your talk talks and your walk talks But your walk talks louder than your talk talks so in other words Talk is cheap You know what you say doesn't always mean equal what you're gonna do And so we shouldn't be overly promising to do things or saying that we're gonna do something and then not do it That is sin you know God expects us to do what we say we're gonna do So if you don't know that you can do it like sometimes you're like well, I'll be there Lord willing You know Lord willing means if nothing else happens in between this time. I don't get into a fiery car crash or You know my my work doesn't call me in for some emergency situation or whatever So we should you know if we're gonna say we're gonna do something It should be Lord willing or yes, and no should be the communication now look at Proverbs chapter 14 verse 23 Proverbs chapter 14 verse 23 The Bible says In all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury So there is profit in all labor. That's that's true, but when you're just talking about doing something It's you know I'm gonna get out there, and you know mow that grass tomorrow And then you know tomorrow comes and you don't get out there and mow the grass You know or you know applying this to farmers You know they know they got to get out there and water their fields or they know they need to get out there and plow their fields Then and they're not doing those things. That's gonna. You know what is penury well It means extreme poverty or destitute if all you do is say what you're gonna Do and you never do what you're gonna? What you say you're gonna do then it means nothing talk is cheap You're you know what doing things? Via You know it's just doing it and not saying a bunch of stuff About what you're gonna do and people like to just brat well in five years. I'm gonna be married I'm gonna read the Bible ten times. You know the the new IFP checklist for being a pastor or whatever Talk is cheap just do it quit saying what you're gonna Do and just do what you do what you know you need to do, and if you say you're gonna Do it then do it This is a concept in modern society. That's very lacking people saying they're gonna. I'm gonna be there You know people tell us that all the time when we get someone say they're like hey You know we like to invite you to church. They're like. I'll be there this I'll be there this Sunday. I'll be there and How often does that really happen? Like a very small percentage, right? So what are they doing? They're lying? They're just saying you know, but maybe some extenuating says you know the circumstances happened They got sick You know their car broke down And actually these are the types of things that the devil will do to people that are trying to get right with God and trying to come to church on a regular basis is You know the devil will you know try to mess with our lives to make us not want to be faithful in church and because then once you've gotten this habit of not coming or gotten to the habit of not sowing or got into the habit and You know then you just stop doing it That's what the devil wants he wants you to stop coming to church He wants you to stop serving God, and how do you do that? Well cursing your life? You know and sometimes that happens When people are moving I'll just all kinds of different situations like that happens so now We don't want to just talk with our lips because the Bible says that tendeth only to penury extreme poverty or being destitute we want to just back up what we say we're gonna do and Turn to first Kings chapter 20 verse 10. There's a great example of this Happening and God is really basically already given the victory to the king of Israel, which is they have at this time, and you know Syria has this great army That they're coming against the children of Israel with but like I said God's already said he's gonna give him the victory And it says and Ben Hey, dad This is the king of Syria says sent unto him and said the gods do so to unto me and more also if the dust Of Samaria shall suffice for the handfuls of all the for all the people that follow me He's like basically saying I got a huge army We're gonna crush you that's basically what he's saying and the king of Israel answered and said tell him Let not him that girdeth on his harness Boasteth or excuse me boast himself as he that putteth it off So what is he saying you haven't done anything yet? You're acting like you've already won the battle and you're taking off all your gear But you haven't done anything yet. He's like basically saying talk is cheap buddy Let's bring it on right and and Israel did beat them obviously with God's help But we shouldn't be boasting about something that we're gonna do you know as if we've already done it all right That's the the concept there now. Let's turn to James chapter 3 James chapter 3 I'm getting close to finishing here. I got two more places to go and then we'll be done James chapter number 3 The Bible says even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things Behold how great a matter a little fire Kindleth so the the Bible is talking about the tongue. It's it's it's boast all these great things. I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do that and and it and it says How great a matter a little fire kindleth? You know it says the time the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity So is the tongue among our members that it defile at the whole body and set it on fire the course of nature and is set on fire of hell and So that it's time You know the tongue can be used to do good things to preach the gospel to preach the sermons to just bless other people with But then it can also be you know really bad You know when you're in traffic and someone cuts you off And you know you might be in the car alone and say some things that you wish you could get back You know, but you know it happens, right? But the Bible is just saying that it's the tongue is dangerous and it's dangerous because it can hurt it can cause a Division with someone by saying one wrong thing and then forever that that relationship is severed in some way shape or form You might still be friendly, but like sometimes there's just things that you know obviously as Christians we should overlook things like this and be willing to forgive and be defrauded for the things that people say to us and and I think that's a great way to be but You know they there's some people that just can't get over something that you say to them And they never will so we got to be careful the way we use our tongue We don't want to use it for boasting and bragging and and cursing other people cursing cursing people's lives and things like that Or talking with gossip behind people's back. You know being a tailbearer Among the congregation these are things that or make it set on fire of hell now It's not saying our tongue is literally set on fire. Okay. This is you know just a Figure of speech here but it's just telling us how dangerous it is and it says for every kind of beasts and birds and the serpents and and Things in the sea is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind But the tongue can no man tame it is an unruly evil full of deadly poison, so What does the Bible say the tongue can no man tame? It's hard enough to try to just tame it a little bit But nobody can completely tame their tongue somebody's gonna lose their temper and say something They shouldn't say or say a potty word that they shouldn't say that doesn't mean that someone's not saved Because you know I this is kind of where the spiritual holier-than-thou has come in Like I can't believe that that person cussed. It's like Show me thou shalt not cuss in the Bible obviously We should our communication should be you know becoming as it become at the Saints And we should we should talk the best we can but everybody loses their temper Everybody has a problem, and maybe you're maybe your thing with your tongue is not is not cussing But you know it's it's something that's worse It's something that's like Cursing somebody that's a saved person like I see people just cursing you know people That go to our church or me And it's like you're cursing a child of God if you're saved and you're cursing someone as if they're damned Then that's that's I think that that's worse than any f-bomb any s-bomb or any other thing like that And obviously those things are just ugly words, but you know you we can't you know people say words You know sticks and stones so can break my bones, but words will never hurt me That's not true. That's not what the Bible teaches You can hurt people with your tongue, and you can use your tongue to do devastating things to other people You know tail-bearing Revealing secrets the Bible says that that's is wrong to do that And it's wicked and we need to get our tongues under control but we definitely shouldn't be bragging about how great we are because in reality we're sinners saved by grace and We're all in the same. You know we're all in the same game Maybe your sin is worse in one area than somebody else's, but we all have sin We all have different things that we struggle with and so You're still a sinner. You're not better than everybody else, and you know we shouldn't act like that at all So it says in verse 9 wherewith bless we God even the Father and Therewith curse we men which are made after the similitude of God out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing My brethren these things ought Not so to be so we shouldn't be cursing you know our brethren We shouldn't we should be blessing them so but out of our mouth the same thing goes we can tame the Beast You know we can turn ships with a little member, but this little member back here is Impossible it says it's it can't be tamed well all we can do is walk in the spirit and not try to fulfill the lust of the flesh and You know if you got a bite your tongue. You know how people say well I was really having to bite my tongue. Maybe you should just actually bite it Maybe just go You know because if you bite it hard enough It's gonna hurt for like a few days. You don't need bite your tongue when you're eating food or something. It's like ah bleeding Some of them are worse than others obviously Or by you know your snaggletooth hits like one of the parts of your lip and kind of cuts it You know I'm talking about Maybe you don't have snaggle teeth, but anyway It is a thing last Last place we're gonna go And I just wanted to show you just one more time how we're to be exalted by God look at James 4 6 it says But he giveth more grace Wherefore he saith So he gives more grace wherefore he say that means because of this he's saying God resisted the proud but giveth grace unto the humble so God hates pride, and he's not gonna give us grace when we're prideful Well, we're just like I'm not it's not wrong. You know you start sinning, and you think it's not wrong. It's not that bad He's gonna give grace to us But he resists it says God resists at the proud and giveth grace to the humble So the best thing for us to do in our life is to be humble Not boasting not bragging about the things that we do not bragging about the work of the Lord that we do Obviously, it's not wrong to talk about the work that we do for the Lord. I'm not saying that But you know whether you're doing that for the right purpose or not and God knows So I might not know, but you know does God God can read our minds and knows our hearts We he knows us better than we know ourselves So it says submit yourselves therefore to God Resist the devil and he will flee from you draw nigh to God that means draw near to him And he will draw nigh to you. You know it's just like the prodigal son. He sees the son Walking and he his father runs to him to meet him This is God. You know when we're doing wrong, and we get ourselves right God is right They're ready to receive us again, and so when we draw nigh to God He'll draw nigh to you it says cleanse your hands. He sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded and Again, everybody has times when they're double-minded, but we need to realize it We need to catch it because it's really funny people just never see their own moles They never see the problems that they're doing they just always want to concentrate on what other people Are doing it's just a bad issue It's a bad problem You know we need to clean up our own backyard and stop knocking on the neighbor's door to tell them to clean up their their Yard first clean up your own backyard clean up your own life clean up your own mouth And then you can you know judge your brother and help them get this speck out of their eye while you have a big beam hanging out of your own Right it says be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness You know it's good to laugh. I like laughing I like joking around and everything, but there is a time to be serious and there is a time to mourn there is a time to have our joy be heaviness and Afflict ourselves and just kind of self reflect on what kind of person we are What kind of Christian am I what kind of worker am I what kind of husband am I? What kind of wife am I being what kind of child am I being to my parents am I obeying them am I doing what? They what they want me to do are they you know I said this the other day in a sermon I said that we would tell our kids You know if they if they didn't come when we asked them to or do something immediately so that we said delayed obedience is disobedience So how are you doing on the obedience list Christian? Are you actually obeying what God told you to do or are you just kind of doing what you want and making excuses? For not doing what God wants you to do the Bible says humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he Shall lift you up, so when we're humble God's gonna lift us up But when we're proud God's gonna base us and push us down here And so we don't want to do things to be seen of men right we want to do things to be seen of God and Who cares what other people think? You know get your attaboys from God get your pass on the back from God Oh well done though good and faithful servant. You know that's what he says the people enter into the joy of thy Lord That's what really matters what God thinks about us what God thinks about how we are as a husband What God thinks about how we are as a wife what God thinks about how we are as children as Christians as workers as housewives Or whatever it is that we do we should be doing it unto the Lord because we serve the Lord Christ and we should be excellent in everything that we do people shouldn't be able to gain say or nay say our works They shouldn't be able to nay say or gain say how we are as a family The only way that the next generation is gonna be reached is if our families are excellent in this church and in other churches Because we've lost our way as Christians, and it's a sad day when a church like this Can't get their family situations worked out And our you know we're bad examples of Christians in the world. We don't want to be that I don't want this church to be that way. I want our church to be a powerhouse of Spiritual works for many many years to come and I want our families to be an example for people to follow I'm not saying that everybody's family should be perfect because we're imperfect people But we need to lay aside our own issues and do something better for somebody else Quit being so selfish Because that's what it really boils down to these Pharisees were selfish And you know they had a just this attitude of me me They were like the they're like the selfie generation before there were selfies or something Look at me Look at my robes look at all this look you can look good on the outside, but on the inside you can be dead And I'm not talking about being unsafe I'm just saying that your works are not you know you you put on a good face you put on a good show But in reality your life doesn't match What you're saying that you actually are That's where we got to get better, and that's why I preach discern because I just don't want us to You know to slip in these areas, and if you're slipping in any area that I talked about I've kind of painted a broad brush here Then get right That's the beautiful thing about God is that he gives us chances to get it right the next day The next hour the next week. You know we can get it right, but we have to want to get right We can't just sit around and act like Act like Christians and not actually be Christians, and I'm again. I'm not saying I'm not talking about salvation here I'm talking about sanctification and look if our men don't get tough if our men don't get Manly then we're not gonna lead our families right into the next generation if our wives don't get submissive And they don't start you know putting on the duties of a wife and as a mother Then this generation is gonna be lost like the last generation like the baby boomer generation. They just lost it all for us. Thanks But it's not just each you know the boomer generation Messed a lot of things up, but things are kind of the pendulum starting to swing, but hey listen You know we go to a church where the we're preaching of the Word of God is paramount. It's a big deal here But you know we need to match our lives with what the preaching is saying to us We don't want to be that bad example. We don't want to be that holier than thou. We don't want to be that bad family We don't want people to just think of us as well everybody hates them because of their stands on on things But look at how bad their families are too like that shouldn't be something that people say about us So men get your house in order Sort yourself out be manly lead your family because look God expects you to lead your family He expects it and wives let them lead you because you can just blame everything on them anyway Because God's the one that's gonna hold you accountable because you're the priests in your home But wives just help them out Help them be spiritual the Bible says he made them to be a help meet for us that means fitting for us to help us help them If they're screwing up help them don't condemn them Don't just you know pray against them, or you know. I just hope God kills them or whatever. That's just weird Serve your family together Because look these families that break up They end up their children end up being having problems Their children end up in prison, and we want our children to grow up and get saved There's a lot of first-generation Christians in this room, and I want the next generation to get reached But if we're not doing our duty that it's not going to happen You know we don't want to be the ultimate statistic of the world where 50% of our marriages end in divorce You Know we need to stick and stay and make it pay out right we want to stick with what God said to do You know honor your vows children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right and If we get that together if we if we get all this we're gonna be good but We need men that'll step up. We need wives that'll help out. We need children that are gonna be raised in the spiritual Admonition of the Lord right all right, so let's pray Lord We thank you so much for the scriptures, and I just pray Lord that you'd help us to have strong families strong husbands strong wives and That our children be reached in the next generation Lord I pray that you'd help us to Not be prideful in our lives to not do everything that we do just for a show So the people will give us accolades Lord Pray that you just help us to know that you're the ones gonna give us the accolades And if we do things the way you say to do it Then everything's gonna work out the way It's supposed to I pray that you just bless our church and our families in our church and the future families in our church Lord There will be a shining example unto the rest of the world and Lord even if the World the world hates us for some of the stands we take that Lord they wouldn't be able to gain say or nay say Our lives in Jesus name we pray amen