1 00:00:14,250 --> 00:00:21,610 I've done a lot of funerals and I've been around a lot of death 2 00:00:22,610 --> 00:00:26,610 and I've seen a lot of people go through a lot of difficult 3 00:00:26,610 --> 00:00:27,770 things. It's very different when it's 4 00:00:27,770 --> 00:00:33,770 your family and, you know, I have empathy, I guess you would 5 00:00:33,770 --> 00:00:35,840 call it. I was talking to doc this 6 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,600 morning and, you know, I, I, I work with these families. 7 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:40,240 I don't even know the person who died. 8 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,600 And I feel bad for the family because they're the ones that 9 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:45,000 are left that have to deal with it. 10 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:47,760 And you know, but it's, it's very different. 11 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,280 It's very different when it's you and when you're going 12 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,400 through those things and when you're the ones that dealing 13 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:54,720 with somebody in your own family. 14 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,600 I mean, you grew up together, you know, you don't expect that 15 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:04,840 you're going to be going up for a funeral and, you know, burying 16 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,440 your younger brother. You just don't expect it to 17 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:09,600 happen. I wanted to go 1st and let 18 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,880 everybody else be the ones that have to deal with that, you 19 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,840 know, but I'm in the same thing from my, my dad, you know, you 20 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:21,400 don't, you don't bury your kids either, you know, and I think 21 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:22,560 it's just a little bit of a shock. 22 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:26,320 But the Bible says this in Matthew chapter 6 and verse #19 23 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,360 God laid this message on my heart a couple days ago when I 24 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:37,680 started planning to preach it. And when I went to bed last 25 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,320 night, I had no idea that it was going to be exactly what I 26 00:01:41,320 --> 00:01:43,080 believe God wants us to hear this morning. 27 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,040 I thought about changing the message, but I think this is 28 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:48,240 exactly what what God wants me to preach. 29 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:49,360 So I'm going to preach it this morning. 30 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:52,520 The Bible says this in Matthew chapter 6 and verse #19 Lay not 31 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:56,160 up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth 32 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:58,360 corrupt, and where thieves breakthrough and steal. 33 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,560 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where 34 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:04,400 neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do 35 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,760 not breakthrough nor steal. For where your treasure is, 36 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:11,120 there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the 37 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,320 eye. If therefore thine eye be 38 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:15,200 single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 39 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:17,480 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of 40 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:19,800 darkness. If therefore the light that is 41 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,560 in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? 42 00:02:22,920 --> 00:02:26,960 No man can serve 2 masters, for either he will hate the one and 43 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,520 love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the 44 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:34,160 other. You cannot serve God and mammon 45 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,560 verse #33 but seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his 46 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:42,760 righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. 47 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:45,720 I'm not much for Facebook and I don't I don't I don't post much 48 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:47,280 on Facebook. I don't get into a lot of the 49 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:49,840 Facebook trends and everything else, but I saw this trend going 50 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:53,440 around a few years ago that really got me thinking. 51 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:57,400 It said, everyone who knows me knows that I love blank. 52 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:00,680 And I think it was meant to be kind of like a, you know, a 53 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:02,840 playful thing rather than something that's life 54 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:04,520 evaluating. But I think it's a pretty life 55 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:06,560 evaluating post if you really think about it. 56 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:10,600 If you were to ask yourself that question, everybody who knows me 57 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:13,040 knows that I love fill in the blank. 58 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:15,560 What, what would the answer to that question be? 59 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:17,920 I think for a lot of people it's pretty obvious. 60 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:20,720 Oh, that person is so into fill in the blank. 61 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,640 Everybody knows me, knows that I love money. 62 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:27,000 Everybody knows me, knows that I love sports. 63 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,240 Everybody who knows me knows that I I love my job. 64 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,000 Everybody who knows me knows that I love politics. 65 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,400 Everybody who knows me knows that I love toys, whatever it 66 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:40,320 happens to be. What would somebody say about 67 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:42,840 you? What would what would you have 68 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,720 to honestly say if you were the 1 to fill in that blank? 69 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:47,600 What would you say? I, I know what we would like 70 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:50,680 that blank to say, but what would it say? 71 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,200 I've, I like to have checklist to make sure that I get things 72 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:56,440 done. And so I have AI have a 73 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,320 checklist every week, one that I, I, I printed off and it's the 74 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:01,040 same. And then I add to it and I fill 75 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,120 up pages and everything else. I, I love to mark things off the 76 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:06,720 list number one, to make sure that I got it done And I'm not 77 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:09,040 forgetting something, but #2 I like to see that I'm getting 78 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:11,040 things done. And so as you mark them off the 79 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:12,880 list, that those things get accomplished. 80 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,320 And when I make that list, I have to make sure that I have 81 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:17,920 the things in that list in the right priority. 82 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:21,040 Things that, that, that matter need to be done first. 83 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,080 You can't. You can't put the same priority 84 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:24,840 on things that are not important. 85 00:04:24,840 --> 00:04:26,520 The important things have to be done. 86 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,000 And that list that I print off every week has a list of all the 87 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,000 things that these are things that have to be done. 88 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:34,280 I have to put a message together for Sunday morning. 89 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,280 I have to put a message together for Sunday night. 90 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:39,440 I have to have my Sunday school lesson ready to go. 91 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:42,240 I have to have a lesson or a message ready for Wednesday 92 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:43,680 night. I have to have the bullets and I 93 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:45,120 have to have all these things. Those are things that are 94 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:46,520 priorities. Those are things that have to be 95 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:48,440 done. And then I have a list of of 96 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:50,360 other things that I've got to get done that week. 97 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:51,920 And some of them are higher priority than others. 98 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,000 But then I've got a little checklist that's on the side of 99 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:56,920 when I get everything finished. There's a reason that checklist 100 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:59,000 has been there for a while. But when I get everything 101 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,160 finished, these are things that I need to make sure that I get 102 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:02,920 done as well. These are things that are not as 103 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:05,000 high a priority, but they're things that matter and things 104 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,800 that need to get done. Everything would get out of 105 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:11,960 whack if I didn't put the most important tasks first, if I 106 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:15,080 didn't prioritize the things that matter the most. 107 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:17,880 And I think that's exactly what we have to do in our lives. 108 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,240 We have to be on guard in our lives to make sure that our 109 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:22,000 priorities are in the right order. 110 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,320 First, John chapter 2 and verse 15 says love not the world, 111 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:27,920 neither the things that are in the world. 112 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:30,880 If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him 113 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:33,880 for all that is in the world. The lust of the flesh, the lust 114 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:36,720 of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but 115 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,800 is of the world. And the world passeth away in 116 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:43,040 the luster of but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. 117 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:45,880 So here's what happens. We get so involved in the world, 118 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:49,240 We get so involved in things of the world, things that just are 119 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:51,640 absolutely not going to matter in eternity. 120 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:54,400 And we allow that to pull us farther and further away from 121 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:56,960 our relationship with God. And things really get messed up 122 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:59,680 and everything gets all out of whack because we put the wrong 123 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:04,520 priorities in the wrong place. I want to ask you a lot of 124 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:06,840 questions this morning. Questions that only you are 125 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:11,560 going to know the answer to, but that'll give you a great 126 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:13,400 evaluation of where you are in your life. 127 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:18,400 Everyone who knows me knows that I love Blank. 128 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,640 What would I like for people to say about me and answer to that 129 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:24,720 question? You have to be honest with 130 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,520 yourself this morning. Oh, you can say everybody who 131 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:28,920 knows me knows that I love Jesus. 132 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:32,240 But do they really know that somebody looking at you from the 133 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:37,880 outside, can they say, I know that person loves God, that 134 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:41,680 person loves you would like them to say a lot of different things 135 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:44,520 about you. But based on the way that you 136 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,160 live your life, what would have to go in that blank? 137 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,160 That's what I'm gonna preach to you about this morning. 138 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:53,400 I want to give you 3 things, 3 priorities that we should have 139 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:54,960 in our lives. Three things that should be at 140 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,480 the very top of a description of me. 141 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,160 Three things that should be at the very top of a description of 142 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:02,840 you. If somebody said everybody who 143 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:05,880 knows me knows that I love blank. 144 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,480 Everybody who knows me. That's the title of the message 145 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:10,120 this morning. I want to give you 3 things, but 146 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:13,040 let's pray and we'll look at those in just a few minutes. 147 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:15,360 Father, again, we thank you for your goodness to us. 148 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:17,560 So thank you for the opportunity that you've given us to be here 149 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:19,560 around your word. I pray that you give me the 150 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:20,840 strength. I preached the message this 151 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:22,240 morning. I pray that you'd help us as we 152 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:24,120 listen. God, may you, may you stir our 153 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:27,240 hearts now. You help us to be exactly what 154 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,000 you want us to be so that when our time comes that we're going 155 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,240 to stand before you, we'll have no regrets. 156 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:33,600 We'll have nothing to be ashamed of. 157 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,120 We won't have to hang our heads and say, I wish I had done so 158 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:41,760 much more, but we can present the crowns that we earn from 159 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:46,040 living for you. Say, it's all that I have, but 160 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:48,640 they're yours. And I'm so glad I gave my life 161 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,200 for Christ. May you help us this morning. 162 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:54,720 Thank you again for all you do for us in Jesus name, Amen. 163 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:00,560 Everybody who knows me knows that I love what number one, we 164 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:02,440 should love the Lord first and foremost. 165 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:05,760 You should expect that that would be the point that I was 166 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:08,280 going to give you first. If God is not first in our life, 167 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:10,640 then nothing else can be in the right place but turn over to 168 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:13,880 Matthew chapter 22. Easy to say that and a lot of 169 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:16,560 people would say, oh, everybody that looks at me would say that 170 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:18,400 I love God because I go to church. 171 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:22,000 Everybody who looks at me would say that I love, love Jesus 172 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,160 because. What? 173 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:27,360 Because what if all you do is go to church? 174 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:29,000 That's not proof that you love God. 175 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:31,160 Now you should go to church, right? 176 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:34,080 You should read your Bible. But is there things in your life 177 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,240 that make it very obvious that you love Jesus Christ more than 178 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,919 anything else in your life? Go back and look at your 179 00:08:40,919 --> 00:08:44,480 Facebook posts and I know maybe you post a verse here and there 180 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:46,640 or something like that, but go back and look at your Facebook 181 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:48,360 posts. What is predominant on your 182 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:52,000 Facebook page? To let everybody know what you 183 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:56,480 think is the most important in your life because what you post 184 00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:58,880 on Facebook is what you want everybody to know about you. 185 00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:02,360 What do they see? When they look at that, do they 186 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:05,280 see a a gospel witness? Do they see a representation of 187 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:07,520 Jesus Christ? Do they see things that that let 188 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:09,000 everybody know that you're a Christian? 189 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:11,560 Or do they see things that that in the light of eternity don't 190 00:09:11,560 --> 00:09:14,760 matter or maybe even on farther out than that, things that are 191 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:16,480 that are that go against God's word. 192 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:19,080 And you might say that you love God and you might say that you 193 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,520 love church and you might say that you're a Christian, but 194 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:23,640 your Facebook page shows nothing about that. 195 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:28,000 You cannot say that if somebody saw you and asked you that 196 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:29,920 question. Everybody that knows me knows 197 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:31,560 that I love. Fill in the blank. 198 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:34,440 Now, Facebook page is not everything. 199 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,520 That's not the evaluation of your life, but it's a good place 200 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:39,720 to start. Because it tells everybody what 201 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,320 you love. It tells everybody what you put 202 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:46,480 as your number one priority. Matthew chapter 22 and verse #34 203 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:48,800 says this. But when the Pharisees had heard 204 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,560 that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered 205 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:53,400 together. Then one of them, which was a 206 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,200 lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master, 207 00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:58,720 which is the great commandment in the law? 208 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:03,960 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 209 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:08,840 thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. 210 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:12,480 And in another parallel passage, he said with all thy strength. 211 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:17,640 This is the first and great commandment. 212 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:24,000 That's the foundation of everything in Belize right 213 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,960 around the corner from actually right right across the canal 214 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,080 from where the Airbnb was that a lot of the the group that's 215 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:31,960 going to be there. And by the way, this is the 14th 216 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,600 anniversary service today for the church down there. 217 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:35,640 They'll be starting their service. 218 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:37,240 Actually, they're starting their service right now. 219 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:40,760 And they're, you know, they're expecting 3 or 400 people to be 220 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:42,400 there. And, and obviously the gospel is 221 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:44,160 going to go out and we're praying that souls will get 222 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:46,240 saved. But there's a couple different 223 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:49,160 churches that are there that are, that, that have taken part 224 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:52,600 in the, in, in getting out the invitations and sharing, sharing 225 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:53,760 the gospel. And they're going to be part of 226 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:55,200 the service and everything else today. 227 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:58,400 But right next to that, right right across from the the canal 228 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:00,840 from where they were staying, there's a house that's a 229 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:02,800 beautiful, beautiful White House. 230 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:07,200 It was built by a Canadian guy who came down to Belize, bought 231 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:10,440 a, bought a piece of property and had some builders come in 232 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:12,680 and build the house. I think he spent something like 233 00:11:12,680 --> 00:11:16,440 $500,000 to build this house, a nice, nice house right there in 234 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,200 not not a great neighborhood necessarily, but right there in, 235 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:23,200 in Belize City. When you look at the house, 236 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:25,640 something really is off about it because the house is actually 237 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:31,960 sitting on the ground like this. In Belize City, everything is 238 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:34,280 sand. And if you're going to build it 239 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,200 the right way, which you should because it's it's of the code 240 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:39,920 and everything else, you have to drive piles down into the sand. 241 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:43,320 Big concrete pillars that go all the way down to bedrock. 242 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:46,280 And in some places I got to drive 40 feet or more per 243 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:48,880 pillar. And when they built that house, 244 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,160 they didn't do that. And so now this beautiful 245 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:57,000 $500,000 house made out of all concrete and brick is sitting 246 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:00,440 there unlivable because it sits at such an angle that if you lay 247 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:04,400 down on the bed, you'd probably end up on the floor because 248 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:06,280 somebody didn't build on a solid foundation. 249 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:08,720 And that's the most important thing. 250 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:10,240 You've got to build on the right foundation. 251 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:13,640 The foundation of loving God is to know Jesus Christ as your 252 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:15,440 Savior. Turn over to Mark chapter 8. 253 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:19,760 You know the, the, the, the way of salvation is, is, is very 254 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:21,800 simple. It's so simple that even a child 255 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:23,960 can understand it. But so many people are 256 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:27,200 interested in in in being dunked in a tank for baptism and 257 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:29,400 calling it salvation. Or so many people are interested 258 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:31,800 in in in repeating a prayer after somebody. 259 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:35,040 Else to say that I, I just I, I, I don't know if this is going to 260 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:37,040 work or not, but I'm going to. I might as well try it. 261 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:39,360 What does it hurt to repeat a prayer and hope I can get to 262 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:42,360 heaven someday? I forget who it was, but one of 263 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:44,920 these. Actors always the guy who, who, 264 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:47,600 who is The Who wrote the Dilbert comic comic. 265 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:51,280 And he said as he was getting ready to die, he said, well, I 266 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:53,880 don't know if this is going to do me any good or not, but I'll 267 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:57,320 become a Christian. I mean, if I if, if there's 268 00:12:57,320 --> 00:12:59,600 nothing out there, I have nothing to lose, I'll go ahead 269 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:01,680 and become a Christian. That's not salvation. 270 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:04,120 That's not Christianity, that's not putting all your faith and 271 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:06,840 trust and your hope and your life in the hands of Jesus 272 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:08,560 Christ. That's counting on him. 273 00:13:08,560 --> 00:13:11,600 Plus a lot of other things. Romans chapter 3 and verse 23 274 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,160 says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. 275 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:16,400 We're all sinners. And because we're sinners we 276 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,600 cannot get into heaven. Sin cannot enter heaven because 277 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:24,960 God is just and God is holy and God is absolutely righteous, but 278 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:26,160 He didn't leave us without any hope. 279 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:30,000 Romans 6 verse 23 says for the wages of sin is death, but the 280 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,120 gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 281 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,560 He came and died on the cross to pay for your sins, to pay for my 282 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:38,720 sins. He took the debt that we owed 283 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,680 that we could never pay, and He paid the debt that He did not 284 00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:44,840 owe. He gave his life in my place and 285 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:47,720 he was whipped and he was beaten and He was sacrificed there on 286 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:50,560 the cross. Romans chapter 5 and verse 8 287 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:54,000 says, But God commendeth His love toward us in that while we 288 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,560 were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 289 00:13:57,040 --> 00:13:59,320 While He was on the cross, I was on His mind. 290 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:01,640 He knew that I was going to come along someday. 291 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:03,920 He knew that I was going to be a Sinner and that I was going to 292 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:06,200 be in need of a Savior and the blood. 293 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,320 Of Jesus Christ is so powerful that it covers all of my sins, 294 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:12,080 past, present, and future. Covers the sins of the entire 295 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,160 world, past, present and future. And everybody must come to 296 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:18,440 Christ the same way. Come to him in faith, believing 297 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:21,200 that I'm a Sinner and that I cannot get to heaven on my own, 298 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,200 and come in repentance and say God, I've been running towards 299 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:25,400 sin. I'm running the opposite 300 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:27,720 direction. And you don't stop sinning in 301 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:30,560 order to be saved, but you stop sinning because you are saved 302 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:34,080 and you put Jesus Christ as the priority in your life. 303 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,480 Romans chapter 10 and verse 9 for says that if thou shalt 304 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,080 confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thy 305 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:42,960 heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be 306 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:45,240 saved. For with the heart man believeth 307 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:48,200 unto righteousness. With the mouth confession is 308 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:50,520 made into salvation. So many people want to make it 309 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:53,200 about the mouth. I prayed a prayer somewhere 310 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:56,320 along the lines though it's it's a belief in the heart. 311 00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:59,760 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be 312 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,240 saved. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8 313 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:04,640 makes it very clear that that that they're not getting to 314 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:05,880 heaven through the Catholic Church. 315 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:07,800 You're not getting to heaven through most churches, you're 316 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:09,640 not getting to heaven through any church, You're getting to 317 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:11,840 heaven through Jesus Christ. But a lot of these churches try 318 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:13,920 to tell you that you got to do all these things and. 319 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:16,200 You got to be a good person, and you got to do all these 320 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:18,880 sacraments and you got to do all these ordinances, and you got to 321 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:21,280 follow everything that our church tells you that you have 322 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:23,920 to do if you have any hope of finally getting to heaven 323 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:26,240 someday. That's not in the Bible. 324 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:28,520 In fact, the opposite is found in the Bible. 325 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:31,840 For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of 326 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,120 yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of 327 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:37,360 works, lest any man should boast. 328 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:40,120 I'm not going to get to heaven because of all the good things 329 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:41,400 that I've done. I'm going to get to heaven 330 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:43,880 because of what Jesus Christ did for me. 331 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:48,240 And only when I put all of my faith and all of my trust in Him 332 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:54,160 will He mark across the page of my sins justified. 333 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,000 And when God looks at me, he doesn't see me with all of my 334 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:00,000 sins. He sees only the blood of Jesus 335 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:03,280 Christ covering my sins. And that's how I'm going to get 336 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:06,360 into heaven. I'm thankful that my brother 337 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,960 knew Jesus Christ as his Savior. My mom's already there. 338 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:13,480 I'm a little jealous because he's the first one that got to 339 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:17,560 see her. I'll be there soon, I hope. 340 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,520 But Mark chapter 8 and verse #36 the Bible says, for what shall 341 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:25,040 it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own 342 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:29,920 soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 343 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:33,200 There's a lot, a lot of people who want to talk about God, a 344 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:37,040 lot of people who say that they believe in Jesus and even that 345 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:40,200 he died on the cross, but they don't know Jesus Christ as their 346 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,600 personal Savior. They've never been to the foot 347 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:44,120 of the cross. They've never dropped their 348 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:46,680 burden down at the at the foot of the cross and. 349 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:48,040 Giving it all. Over to him. 350 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:52,440 It's all lip service. Oh, oh, people know that I love 351 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:53,880 Jesus. How? 352 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:57,680 How do they know that? Is that the priority in your 353 00:16:57,680 --> 00:16:59,000 life? Is that what is that what 354 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,320 predominates or what dominates everything that you have in your 355 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:04,400 life? Is everything about living for 356 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,599 Christ or do you have a lot of other things that you put as 357 00:17:07,599 --> 00:17:10,920 other priorities in your life, other things that you've allowed 358 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:14,640 to slip in there? You have to work. 359 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:16,720 I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a job. 360 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,000 You should have a job, but that job is not your life. 361 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:24,240 That job is not your priority. If you died today, they would 362 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:27,359 replace you tomorrow. And there'll be a couple of 363 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:29,880 people who might be sad that you're gone, and there might be 364 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:33,880 a few people who miss you, but give it 10/15/20 years and 365 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:35,880 they're not even going to remember your name. 366 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:39,880 And yet you gave your entire life to that job. 367 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:42,200 You gave your entire life to making money. 368 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,080 You gave your entire life to a political system that's going to 369 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:47,280 be gone someday. It's not going to count for 370 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:49,760 anything. You gave your life to having all 371 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,240 the toys that you can have in this life. 372 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:56,600 They're going to be gone and. They're not going to count for 373 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:59,880 anything. Only thing that's going to count 374 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:03,000 is what you've done for Christ. And I want to stay. 375 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,920 I want to be able to stand before Christ and say I did what 376 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:10,080 I had to do to stay alive. I did what I had to do. 377 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:12,360 I made the money that I had to make and the money that you gave 378 00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:16,040 me, I used it for you. But here's everything that I'm 379 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:20,200 giving back because you can't take it with you, but you can 380 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:23,880 pass it on ahead. And what most people are living 381 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:27,000 their life for things that are going to die right here with 382 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,920 them. Oh, somebody else is going to 383 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:33,040 spend that money. Somebody else is going to live 384 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:35,320 in your house or they're going to sell it. 385 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:38,280 The second you die. Somebody else is going to drive 386 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:40,880 your car. Somebody else is going to have 387 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:43,880 your job. Somebody else will replace you 388 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:46,480 when that political system is not in power anymore. 389 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:50,040 When that political system is gone, it's all going to be gone. 390 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:55,200 Everything's going to be gone. Where's your priorities? 391 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:02,400 Does everyone who know you know that you love Jesus Christ first 392 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:06,440 and foremost? For those who have accepted 393 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:08,760 Christ as their Savior, I want to ask you a few questions to 394 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:10,880 see if He really is first place in your life. 395 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:12,600 Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 6. 396 00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:17,840 I want to ask you this question. Do you love Him? 397 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,880 Do you love him? I know that you would say yes. 398 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:24,640 I know you would say yes because you know that that's the right 399 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:26,000 answer. Yes, I love him. 400 00:19:27,360 --> 00:19:31,280 Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse #5 And this is what I just read 401 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:33,920 the verse back in Matthew chapter 22. 402 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,040 But Jesus was referencing Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 403 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:40,520 #5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, 404 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:45,040 with all thy soul, and with all But I might. 405 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:47,360 I know everybody would say, Oh yes, I love Jesus. 406 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:51,400 But do you really love him? Turn over to John chapter 14. 407 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:53,800 How do you know? How do you know if you really 408 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:57,240 love him or not? How do you know if you really 409 00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:59,600 love Christ? Well, we have a pretty good 410 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:07,160 answer right there in John chapter 14 and verse #15 Jesus 411 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:12,520 made it very plain. If you love me, keep my 412 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:17,040 commandments. OK, prove that you love me. 413 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:21,320 Do what I say, follow me, obey me. 414 00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:24,680 I gave you everything that you need to know in in my word. 415 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,280 Are you obeying it or are you living your life the way that 416 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:31,800 you want to live your life? That's what a lot of people do. 417 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:34,680 Oh, I love Jesus. But I can do all these other 418 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:36,640 things. I can drink, I can smoke, I can 419 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:39,560 go to parties, I can, I can hang out in places that I shouldn't 420 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:41,240 be. I can watch whatever I want to 421 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:42,760 watch. I can listen to whatever I want 422 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:44,880 to listen to. Oh, but I love Jesus. 423 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:52,280 OK, Jelly roll, Right. That's not Christianity. 424 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:55,000 And I know. Oh, well, I'm a, I'm a baby 425 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:56,520 Christian. I'm just learning these things. 426 00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:58,880 You know what's right? That's why you're making that 427 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:02,160 excuse. And so do most Christians. 428 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,400 They know what's right. Most of these things are basic 429 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,160 things about Christianity. And I know that we'll spend a 430 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,640 lifetime digging through God's Word and finding things out as 431 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:15,920 we study out his Word and as we as we find things that God wants 432 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:17,800 us to do. We'll never be perfect. 433 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,200 And we're never going to get to that point where we've finally 434 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:23,720 arrived at everything we should constantly be studying to try to 435 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:26,720 get closer to God. But most of these things are 436 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:29,760 basic Christianity. And most Christians don't even 437 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:33,000 follow basic Christianity. And they make all the excuses in 438 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,720 the world for why they can't and why they don't and why they 439 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:40,440 won't. If you love me, keep my 440 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,720 commandments. Start with the 10 commandments. 441 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:46,320 How about that? Thou shalt have no other gods 442 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:49,440 before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee 443 00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:52,320 any graven image. Thou shalt not bear false 444 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:55,840 witness against thy neighbor. That's only three of them. 445 00:21:56,160 --> 00:22:00,440 Thou shalt not commit adultery. If any man look at a woman in it 446 00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:03,320 to lust after her in his heart, he hath committed adultery with 447 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:07,920 her already in his heart. Let's just start with the 10 448 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:10,520 commandments that everybody thinks they know and see if we 449 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:12,440 can start there with obeying him. 450 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,120 There's 1000 and I think there's something like 1300 451 00:22:16,120 --> 00:22:17,440 commandments. In God's word. 452 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:21,480 Let's just start with the 1st 10 and see if we can prove that we 453 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:23,000 love him. Bye. 454 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:26,920 Keeping his commandments turn over to Luke Chapter 12. 455 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:28,400 One of the marks of love is giving. 456 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:33,640 How do you prove you love somebody? 457 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,200 Give. Give them money, give them your 458 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:46,000 time, give them yourself. That's how you prove that you 459 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:47,480 love. Somebody and it's the same thing 460 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:50,600 that that God is expecting from us, right? 461 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:52,000 How do you prove that you love God? 462 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:54,840 You give. You give to his work, you give 463 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:57,160 to missions, you give to the things that he's. 464 00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,720 That that that he's trying to accomplish through His church. 465 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:03,840 You give him your time. That's how you prove what you 466 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,240 love. You give your time to the things 467 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,240 that you love, right? If it's sports, then guess what 468 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:11,720 you're going to do and be glued to that television. 469 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,200 You're going to be spending all your time figuring out the stats 470 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:16,280 of all these players, and you're going to figure out who got 471 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:18,160 traded here and there, and you're going to know who's 472 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:19,480 playing for this team and that team. 473 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,000 You know everything about it. You're giving your time because 474 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,560 you love it. There's a lot of other things 475 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:30,120 that we do the same thing with. But what about Christ? 476 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,160 If you love him, you're going to give him your time. 477 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:40,920 You'll be here when we have an opportunity to share the gospel. 478 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:43,400 You'll be here when we have church. 479 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:47,520 You'll be here when we're doing things that that that, that are 480 00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:52,280 centered around the gospel. Luke chapter 12 and verse #34 481 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:54,840 makes it very clear. For where your treasure is, 482 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:59,120 there will your heart be also. The things that you give your 483 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:02,680 money to, the things that you give your time to, the things 484 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:07,760 that you give your life to are the things that are really 485 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:12,880 important to you. So everybody who knows me knows 486 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,680 that I love blank because this is what I give my money and my 487 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,560 time and my life to. What is it? 488 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:21,760 What do you, what do you have to put in that blank? 489 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:24,800 What do you have to put there? If you're being honest with 490 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,120 yourself, what do you have to put there? 491 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,400 Can you honestly put? Everybody who knows me knows 492 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:31,920 that I love God. Everybody who knows me knows 493 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:35,640 that I love Christ because I give my time and my money and 494 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:39,720 myself to him. You know, I would argue that 495 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:43,960 your time is, is far more valuable than your money. 496 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:46,520 Now, giving is a principle in God's word. 497 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:50,600 You ought to, you ought to be given your money, all right. 10% 498 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:52,240 of it automatically belongs to God. 499 00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:54,480 And then there's giving on top of tithing. 500 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,360 But you know, the billionaire whose health is failing would 501 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:03,440 give up every penny that he has for another five years. 502 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:08,760 You can be in good health and not have a lot of money and 503 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:14,040 still have a good life. Time is more valuable than 504 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:17,000 money. Your health is more valuable 505 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,680 than money. So what you give your time and 506 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:25,440 your life to and your money are the things that you have as 507 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,920 priorities in your life. Do you love him? 508 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,560 Let me ask you this because this goes right along with that. 509 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:35,200 Do you serve him? Does God know that you're a 510 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:37,280 servant or do you have to remind him from time to time? 511 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:40,560 Hey, by the way, I'm, I'm, I'm your servant because he never 512 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:44,880 sees you showing up to serve that. 513 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,480 You're part of a body. What are you doing in that body 514 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:51,480 to serve Christ? That's why it's important that 515 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:56,680 you join a church. Get plugged in, become a member, 516 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:01,200 serve Him. That's what He expects out of 517 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,320 us. You should never get so busy in 518 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,760 the work of the Lord that you forget your relationship with 519 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:11,440 Him. Never get so busy serving the 520 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,200 King that you forget who the king is. 521 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:15,640 That's a word of caution because there's a lot of people who jump 522 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:19,760 in and do everything and they neglect their relationship with 523 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,160 Christ. But that's, that's, that's not 524 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,360 usually what happens. Most people have all of their 525 00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:29,000 other things that they've got going on and they neglect their 526 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,400 relationship with Christ. They neglect their opportunity 527 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,480 to serve. Turn over to Philippians chapter 528 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:39,160 1. Do you love Him? 529 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:41,320 Do you serve Him, but also do you witness for Him? 530 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:42,840 That's how you prove that you love him. 531 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:46,320 That's how you prove that that He is everything to you. 532 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:49,440 Philippians chapter 1 and verse #20 Paul said this according to 533 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,920 my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be 534 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:56,320 ashamed, but that with all boldness as always. 535 00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:01,520 So now also Christ. Christ should be magnified in my 536 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:05,520 body, whether it be by life or by death. 537 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:09,240 If I have to die in order for Christ to be lifted up, I will 538 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:12,760 gladly do it. If I have to live for him in 539 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,560 order for Christ to be lifted up and Christ to be magnified in my 540 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:20,360 life, I will gladly do it. Very few people can fit into 541 00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:23,200 that category. Very few people say I want 542 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:25,480 Christ to be magnified in my life, no matter how it has to 543 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:27,800 happen if I have to die. For it to happen, then great. 544 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,760 If I have to live in a different way for that to happen, then 545 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:32,800 great. I just want Christ to be 546 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,760 magnified by my life. Is is everybody. 547 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,560 Around you know that when they see you, you're going to try to 548 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:47,080 give them the gospel. I think a great mark of whether 549 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,000 or not you are a true witness is sometimes people go the opposite 550 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:51,760 direction because they know that you're going to give them the 551 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:55,120 gospel. I would rather have that happen. 552 00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:58,280 I would rather have it that somebody walks the other way and 553 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:02,720 tries to avoid me because they know what I'm going to say than 554 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,000 for them to be my best friend and not even know that I'm a 555 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,280 Christian. But that's how most Christians 556 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:15,240 live their lives. Your priority is not Jesus 557 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:17,600 Christ. If you're not sharing the 558 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:19,760 gospel. Boldly sharing the gospel. 559 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:22,680 Oh, you'll throw a plug in here and there. 560 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:24,400 Oh, yeah, I go to church, I'm a Christian. 561 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:27,320 That's not that's not boldly sharing the gospel, especially 562 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:29,080 in America. How hard is it to tell people 563 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:30,280 that you're a Christian in America? 564 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:33,360 Everybody is. It's not hard. 565 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,480 Sharing the gospel is hard because that's where you get 566 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,760 down to the, to the to the, to the meat of it. 567 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:43,920 And that's difficult because most people don't want to hear 568 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:45,680 it. They don't have any problem 569 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:47,240 hearing about God. They don't want to hear about 570 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:49,160 Jesus. They don't want to hear about 571 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,720 their sin. They don't want to hear what 572 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,360 they have to do in order to be saved because they've heard 573 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,000 religion and they know everything that they have to 574 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,280 know because they've been baptized or because they've been 575 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,160 going to church here and there on and off for the last 10 576 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,080 years. And that's their salvation 577 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:05,960 experience. And they don't want anything 578 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:09,120 else because somebody along the line told them that that's what 579 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:10,160 they have to do to get to heaven. 580 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,840 And they're OK with that. And then we come along. 581 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,920 We say that's. Not what the Bible says and they 582 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:23,630 don't want to hear it. Are you a witness for Christ? 583 00:29:24,470 --> 00:29:27,150 That's how you prove if if that's your number one priority, 584 00:29:29,070 --> 00:29:30,910 The Bohemian reformer. And you probably heard of the 585 00:29:30,910 --> 00:29:34,030 name John Huss, but he was a man who believed that the Scripture 586 00:29:34,030 --> 00:29:36,360 was infallible. There was a lot of people during 587 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:38,680 that time that didn't believe that, but that that he believed 588 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:41,360 that the Bible was the the supreme authority in in every 589 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:44,040 matter. He died at the stake for that 590 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:48,920 belief in Constance Germany on his 42nd birthday. 591 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,200 And I gave him an opportunity before he died to renounce his 592 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:58,960 faith one more time. And he wouldn't do it as he was 593 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:02,480 being burned at the stake. These were his last words. 594 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:08,120 But I taught with my lips, I seal with my blood. 595 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:15,160 That's Christianity lived out. We have a testimony to uphold to 596 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,200 a lost and dying world. A commentator by the name of 597 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:21,480 Robert P Lightner said this. Paul's concern was not what 598 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:25,000 would happen to him, but what testimony would be left for his 599 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:27,200 Lord. Released from prison would allow 600 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:29,760 him to continue preaching Christ, but martyrdom would also 601 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:34,160 advance the cause of Christ. So know also Christ shall be 602 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,800 magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. 603 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:43,320 The story maybe you've heard of it before, about 40 martyrs in 604 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,200 Russia. And these forty soldiers, all 605 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:53,360 Christians were members of, I'm sorry, not Russia, the Rome, it 606 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,480 was in Rome. But they were all members of 607 00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:59,800 what was, what was a famed 12th legion, Rome's 12th legion. 608 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:05,880 And the emperor made a decree. Emperor Lucienius had sent out 609 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:10,120 an edict that all soldiers were supposed to make a, an offering 610 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,640 or make it to make a sacrifice to the Pagan gods to prove that 611 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:17,000 they were soldiers of Rome. But these Christians, 40 of them 612 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,480 said, you can have our armor and you can have our bodies, but we 613 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:24,680 are not going to deny our allegiance to Jesus Christ. 614 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:29,160 Our hearts belong to Him. And so this was in the midwinter 615 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:35,720 of AD 320, and the captain had marched these forty soldiers out 616 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:38,920 onto a frozen lake. They stripped them of their 617 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:42,840 clothes and said that they would either die or denounce Christ. 618 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,440 You're going to be out here on this frozen lake either until 619 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:47,680 you're dead or until you come walking back and tell me that 620 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:51,560 you're denouncing Christ. And those forty soldiers, they, 621 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:55,040 they sat out there and they, they, they sang together, same 622 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,400 way that Paul and Silas sang in the prison. 623 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:03,680 But slowly the chorus grew quieter as one by one those 624 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:06,920 soldiers passed away from the exposure to the cold. 625 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:12,560 Finally, when there was 1 soldier left, he lost his 626 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:14,400 courage and he stumbled over to the shore. 627 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:20,040 He renounced Christ. The officer of the guards had 628 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:23,320 been watching all of that, and he had been given a witness of 629 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:27,400 the gospel already. So he was aware of the gospel of 630 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:29,360 Christ. And as he watched these forty 631 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:33,280 soldiers one by one lose their life, lives, he became, he came 632 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:36,960 closer and closer to realizing that he needed to accept Christ 633 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:39,640 as his Savior because there was something to this Christianity. 634 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:41,040 There was something real about it. 635 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:46,800 So as this lone soldier made his way back to the shore to 636 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:53,280 denounce Christ, that soldier dropped his armor, shed his 637 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:56,600 clothes, and walked out there onto that ice. 638 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,320 By the time they came to collect the bodies, there were forty 639 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:03,200 soldiers who had given their lives for Christ. 640 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:07,920 We can prove our love for God by standing for him, by being a 641 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:11,080 bold witness for him. That's that's how you prove that 642 00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:14,120 you love him. No, it's not hard in this 643 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:18,160 Facebook age, in this Instagram age, you can put a post on it 644 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:22,160 anytime you want telling people who you are, but most people are 645 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:25,640 afraid of what their followers are going to think about them. 646 00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:29,720 Most people are afraid of who might be offended if I put this 647 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:34,120 post out there on Facebook. You can give without loving, but 648 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:35,680 you can never love without giving. 649 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:38,320 And that's what Christ demands of us. 650 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:41,200 Someone would ask about your life. 651 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:45,120 When they say, now there's a man, there's a woman who loves 652 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:48,520 the Lord. Everyone who knows me knows that 653 00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:50,800 I love. Fill in the blank. 654 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:54,840 We should love the Lord first and foremost, but #2 we should 655 00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:58,520 love our family. Turn over to Luke chapter 14. 656 00:33:59,960 --> 00:34:02,120 You might be asking how we can put our family second. 657 00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:04,880 Isn't the family that God gave me the most important thing in 658 00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:06,800 my life? It is. 659 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:09,960 But in order to love our family the way that we should, that a 660 00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:12,840 love for God has to be first. The more we love God and the 661 00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:15,840 more our relationship with God is right, the more we're going 662 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:18,719 to love our family and the more our relationship with our family 663 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:20,719 is going to be right. You want to know why? 664 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:24,800 Why marriages struggle? Because one or both don't really 665 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,159 love the Lord their God the way that they should. 666 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:30,080 You want to know why families are dysfunctional? 667 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:32,719 Because one or both or all of the people in the family don't 668 00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:35,040 love the Lord their God the way that they should. 669 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:38,960 If you love the Lord supremely and you love him most and you 670 00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:41,760 love him best, then you're going to love your wife the way that 671 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:43,679 you should love your wife. You're going to love your 672 00:34:43,679 --> 00:34:45,440 husband the way that you should love your husband. 673 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:47,520 You're going to love your kids the way that you should love 674 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:48,800 your kids. You're going to love your 675 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:50,199 parents the way that you should love your. 676 00:34:50,199 --> 00:34:53,040 Parents, because when you love God, everything works the way 677 00:34:53,040 --> 00:35:00,880 that it's supposed to. Luke chapter 14 and verse #26 678 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:03,760 The Bible says, if any man come to me and hate not his father 679 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:08,200 and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yeah, 680 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:12,200 and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 681 00:35:12,720 --> 00:35:14,600 Oh, so that means I got to hate everybody? 682 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,560 No, it just means that your love for God should be so. 683 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:21,080 Great that the love that you have for everything else looks 684 00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:24,400 like hate in compared in comparison to your love for God, 685 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:29,400 including your own life. God would have to be first in 686 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,520 everything I do so that out of an overflow of my relationship 687 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:36,280 with God, it passes down to my relationship with my wife, it 688 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:39,680 passes down to my relationship with my children and so on. 689 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:43,120 I've given you this illustration before, but if you picture a 690 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:46,000 triangle and, and God is at the top of the triangle and the 691 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:48,520 husband and wife are at the bottom of of that triangle. 692 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:51,520 The closer you get to God, the closer you're going to be drawn 693 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:54,160 to each other. But you think about when you 694 00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:56,600 have a husband who is, who is trying to become closer to 695 00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:58,520 Christ and the wife has no interest in it. 696 00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:00,840 You're not going to get closer together. 697 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:04,400 That relationship is not going to be is not going to be built 698 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,000 the way that needs to be built. It's not going to be built on 699 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,520 the right foundation. Both of you have to be. 700 00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:11,080 Moving in the direction together, Both of you have to 701 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:14,000 make Christ a priority. Both of you have to make your 702 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:16,520 relationship with God the priority in your life. 703 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:20,360 And what you're going to find is that your relationship together 704 00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:23,600 is going to become so strong when you put Christ in the 705 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,000 position that he belongs in in your family. 706 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:30,560 It's not hard for a wife to submit to her husband if she's 707 00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:35,280 submitted to Christ. It's not hard for a husband to 708 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:37,840 love his wife if he's submitted to Christ. 709 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:41,600 It's not hard for a dad to bring up his children in the nurture 710 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:44,600 and the admonition of the Lord if he's submitted to Christ. 711 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:48,240 It's not hard for children to obey their parents in the Lord 712 00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:52,240 if they're submitted to Christ. Everything works when you put 713 00:36:52,240 --> 00:36:55,120 God first. But you ought to love your 714 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,440 family. Husbands ought to love their 715 00:36:57,440 --> 00:36:58,480 wives. And I'm not going to take the 716 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:01,880 time to read through Ephesians chapter 5, but it says that very 717 00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:04,080 plainly. Husbands, love your wives even 718 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:06,400 as Christ also. Loved the church and gave 719 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:10,760 himself for it. That's a strong love, Jesus 720 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:14,320 Christ, love for the church. The way that we prove our love 721 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:17,200 for God is the same way that we prove our love for the family, 722 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,240 for our family, and vice versa. The way that we prove that we 723 00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:21,400 love our family is the same way that we prove our love for God, 724 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:24,280 by giving, by serving, by loving. 725 00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:27,440 By the way, they ought to know that too. 726 00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:32,120 Your wife ought to know that you love her because you tell her. 727 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:35,600 Your husband ought to know that you love him because you tell 728 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:37,760 him. Your kids ought to know that you 729 00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:42,720 love them because you tell them. A wife asked her husband one 730 00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:43,760 day. She said, honey, we've been 731 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:46,160 married 10 years and you never tell me that you love me. 732 00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:49,840 You do things for me and I know that you love me, but you never 733 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:52,440 tell me that you love me. They said. 734 00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:54,520 I told you on the day that I married you that I loved you. 735 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:56,480 And if I ever changed my mind, I'll let you know. 736 00:37:58,720 --> 00:37:59,960 That's not the way that love is supposed to. 737 00:37:59,960 --> 00:38:02,280 Work. That's a that's a humorous 738 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,520 story, but that's not enough. Your wife needs to hear that you 739 00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:07,280 love her. Your husband needs to hear that 740 00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:09,160 you love him. Your kids need to hear that you 741 00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:11,080 love them. Don't just assume that they know 742 00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:13,960 because you take care of them or because you do things for them 743 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,760 every once in a while above the things that you're expected to 744 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:18,840 do. Tell your parents that you love 745 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:21,200 them if you still have the opportunity, because one day 746 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:23,000 that opportunity is going to be gone. 747 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:28,200 I can't tell my mom that I love her. 748 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:33,320 She's not here to tell her. I can't tell my brother that I 749 00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:35,440 love him because he's not here to tell him anymore. 750 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:39,960 I know you've lost people that you can't tell you love them 751 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:43,360 anymore because they're gone. They're not here to tell them. 752 00:38:43,720 --> 00:38:46,680 Use the opportunities that you have while you still have that 753 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:51,200 opportunity because one day you're just going to, you're 754 00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:52,760 going to wish that that's all you could do. 755 00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:58,520 Just talk to him one more time. Just tell him one more time and 756 00:38:58,520 --> 00:38:59,760 the opportunity is going to be gone. 757 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:03,320 Don't miss the opportunity. Well, you still have it. 758 00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:08,360 If someone were to ask you about your life, what they say now 759 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:12,480 there's a man, there's a woman that loves his family. 760 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:17,800 Turn over to Acts chapter 20 and I'm going to give you the last 761 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:22,840 point and then we'll be done. Everyone who knows me knows that 762 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:28,320 I love God. That should be your first 763 00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:31,240 priority. Everybody who knows me knows 764 00:39:31,240 --> 00:39:40,080 that I love my family. Your second priority #3 we 765 00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:44,640 should love our church. The church is so very close to 766 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:48,560 the heart of Jesus Christ. He gave his life, the Bible 767 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:54,520 says, for the church. Husbands, love your wives, even 768 00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:58,280 as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. 769 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,280 Acts chapter 20 and verse #28 Take heed, therefore unto 770 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,000 yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy 771 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:08,200 Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which 772 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:11,280 He hath purchased with His own blood. 773 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:15,760 That's so much Jesus Christ loved the Church. 774 00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:19,680 It was so important to him that Jesus gave His life for it. 775 00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:22,040 Don't you think it's important enough for us to be a part of 776 00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:24,520 it? And if it was so important to 777 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:28,000 Christ that he died for it, if it was so important to Christ 778 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:30,600 that he purchased it with his own blood, don't you think 779 00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:33,480 that's something that we ought to make a priority in our lives? 780 00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:38,280 Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling of 781 00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:41,240 ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting 782 00:40:41,240 --> 00:40:43,800 one another. And so much the more as you see 783 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:47,240 the day approaching, most churches are going less. 784 00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:49,800 And their church services. Oh, it used to be that, that 785 00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:52,920 almost every church had a Sunday school and a Sunday morning and 786 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:55,480 a Sunday night and Wednesday night and special services 787 00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:58,240 during the week, and everybody would drop everything to be 788 00:40:58,240 --> 00:41:00,600 there. But isn't it amazing that as our 789 00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:04,000 lives have gotten busy and as we put other things in the place 790 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:07,520 that that the church belongs in, that we've replaced the church 791 00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:10,480 to the point where now most churches have a Sunday morning 792 00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:11,520 service? And that's it. 793 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:14,920 You can't even find a church that has a Sunday night service. 794 00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:17,720 Can't even find a church that has a Wednesday night service. 795 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:21,200 Can't find a church with a Sunday school because 10:30 to 796 00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:26,520 12:00 is enough, isn't it? No, he says so much the more as 797 00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,560 you see the day approaching. The day is approaching. 798 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:32,720 Would you agree with me on that? Jesus Christ is coming back and 799 00:41:32,720 --> 00:41:34,800 it could be today. Everything is in place for 800 00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:37,160 Christ to come back today and I hope He does. 801 00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:39,480 But if he doesn't, I hope he finds me in church. 802 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:43,160 I hope, hope that's where I'm at when he comes and we're here 803 00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:45,640 enough that there's a good possibility that he that he will 804 00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:48,640 come when we're in church. But ain't going to happen if 805 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:50,920 you're laying out because you're doing this or doing that or 806 00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:53,360 putting all the things that are that are that you have made 807 00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:57,080 priorities in your life in the place of church and. 808 00:41:58,560 --> 00:42:00,960 When you really stop to think about it, what's more important, 809 00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:04,480 Your relationship with Christ or your relationship with your 810 00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:08,800 money or your job or politics or sports? 811 00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:10,280 Or. Anything else that you want to 812 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,200 put in the blank? What's more important? 813 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:18,320 Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together for sports 814 00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:21,560 games, but so much the more as you see the day approaching. 815 00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:25,440 Is that what he said? No, not forsaking the assembling 816 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:27,640 of yourselves together for political events. 817 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:31,280 Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together for for your 818 00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:33,520 job. Does he say that? 819 00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:37,960 No, he doesn't say that, because those things don't matter in 820 00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:42,040 eternity. He didn't give his life for your 821 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:45,360 job, He gave his life for the church. 822 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:48,040 He didn't give his life for sports. 823 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:52,440 He gave his life to the church. That's what he places the 824 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:55,680 priority on and that's what we should be placing the priority 825 00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:58,560 on as well. Not forsaking means to be at 826 00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:00,080 church when you have the opportunity. 827 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,480 And I'm not trying to make you feel guilty, but I am trying to 828 00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:05,280 stress to you. The important is that you must 829 00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:08,600 place on being in church if you want to grow in your 830 00:43:08,600 --> 00:43:11,760 relationship with God, especially if you're a weak 831 00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:16,040 Christian. It's funny to me how that works. 832 00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:18,200 The weak Christians are always the ones that lay out of church 833 00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:21,280 the most. And yet they're the ones who 834 00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:23,520 need it the most. We all need it. 835 00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:27,800 We all need it, But especially if you're a younger Christian or 836 00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:32,360 a weak Christian and you know it, you ought to put church at 837 00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:35,280 the top of your list. Tell me when the doors are going 838 00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:38,640 to be open so I can be there. I want to know how I should grow 839 00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:41,400 in my relationship with Christ. I want to know what He wants me 840 00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:43,600 to know. I'll be honest with you. 841 00:43:44,040 --> 00:43:46,600 People that come into my office all the time that want, want my 842 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:47,920 advice. Tell me what I need to do. 843 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:50,440 Tell me how I should do this. Tell me to well, if you'd have 844 00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:52,480 just been here at church on Sunday night last week, you 845 00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:55,200 would have heard exactly what I think you should do because I 846 00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:58,840 preached a message on it. Or a month ago I just preached 847 00:43:58,840 --> 00:44:01,400 on that, and now you're sitting in the office asking me what you 848 00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:03,400 should do. Sit in church and listen. 849 00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:06,520 Almost everything that you need to know about how to live your 850 00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:11,640 life is in church, in messages from God's. 851 00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:13,600 Word. We don't. 852 00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:15,800 Have to waste either one of our time because we already went 853 00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:17,200 over it. You dismissed it. 854 00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:21,280 Church ought to be a priority for you. 855 00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:23,560 If you want to grow in your relationship with Christ. 856 00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:27,000 It ought to be number. One, when it comes to those 857 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:30,680 things, you might say that you love your church. 858 00:44:30,680 --> 00:44:33,720 There may not be people who could disagree with you, but we 859 00:44:33,720 --> 00:44:37,600 could say that that someone loves sports when we can't pull 860 00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:40,360 them away from the television, when you can't pull them off the 861 00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:42,520 field. A kid who loves basketball is 862 00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:45,080 always going to be in the gym. A guy who loves football is 863 00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:48,200 always going to, you know, he's going to follow it religiously 864 00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:50,000 and he's going to know everybody's stats and he's going 865 00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:52,280 to know all the, the different teams and everything else. 866 00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:55,120 And he's going to have a television and on every time his 867 00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:57,280 team is playing. And then if his team is playing 868 00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:59,560 on a Sunday night during church, he's going to miss church to be 869 00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:03,120 there watching the television. Because sports is his God, 870 00:45:04,080 --> 00:45:07,600 right? The same thing could be said 871 00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:13,200 only could be said about you and about your love for the church 872 00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:14,520 if you follow it in the same way. 873 00:45:15,720 --> 00:45:20,080 I can't get enough of it. You don't want to miss a minute 874 00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:23,400 of the singing. I don't want to miss a minute of 875 00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:25,920 the preaching. I don't want to miss a minute of 876 00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:27,440 the fellowship. I've got to be there. 877 00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:30,560 Something's happening at church and I got to be there. 878 00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:32,480 I don't want to miss the singing. 879 00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:33,720 I don't want to miss the fellowship. 880 00:45:33,720 --> 00:45:36,080 I don't want to miss what God has for me. 881 00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:41,560 And I'm telling you, I never, I never preach a message with one 882 00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:44,960 person in mind because the minute I preach a message with 883 00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:47,000 one person in mind, that person is not going to be there. 884 00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:52,880 But I tell you what, God knows your heart, and God knows what 885 00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:53,960 you're dealing with in your life. 886 00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:56,280 And God knows exactly what you're going through, and God 887 00:45:56,280 --> 00:46:00,280 knows exactly what you need. And God puts things on my heart 888 00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:02,680 to preach because he knows that you need it. 889 00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:06,240 And when you miss the opportunity to be in church, you 890 00:46:06,240 --> 00:46:09,360 might be missing the very thing that God wants you to get. 891 00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:13,480 That message might be just for you. 892 00:46:14,720 --> 00:46:16,960 I don't know. Many times when I preach and I I 893 00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:19,120 know the things that a lot of people are going through their 894 00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:21,400 in in their lives. And I know a lot of things that 895 00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:23,400 people are dealing with. And I know what people are 896 00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:25,880 struggling with. It's my job as a pastor to know 897 00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:27,920 those things. And if all I ever did was preach 898 00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:30,680 on the love of God, great subject, but it's not helping 899 00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:32,680 you grow in your relationship with Christ. 900 00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:36,240 I preach on the things that I know that we all need to work 901 00:46:36,240 --> 00:46:38,800 on. But I don't preach a message for 902 00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:41,720 one person. And if you feel singled out in 903 00:46:41,720 --> 00:46:44,240 the message, the Holy Spirit did that, not me. 904 00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:51,280 But what if you're not here? What if you're not here to hear 905 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:53,720 it? And the Holy Spirit wanted to 906 00:46:53,720 --> 00:46:55,920 single you out, but you weren't there for him to single out. 907 00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:00,520 And now what you needed to take that next step in your Christian 908 00:47:00,520 --> 00:47:04,560 life is missing. And now you hear something else 909 00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:07,240 later on, but you missed that step, and now things don't 910 00:47:07,240 --> 00:47:09,560 really make sense. And now I'm struggling with this 911 00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:12,000 because I don't. Because you missed. 912 00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:16,200 You missed what God had for you because you decided to skip 913 00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:21,200 church for whatever reason. I give my parents a lot of 914 00:47:21,200 --> 00:47:24,280 credit for this, but I could literally count on one hand the 915 00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:27,000 number of times that I've missed church from the time that I was 916 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:31,080 born until today. And I could probably count on 917 00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:33,320 one hand if I was missing 3 fingers, how many times I've 918 00:47:33,320 --> 00:47:39,200 missed church. We didn't miss growing up, and I 919 00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:46,120 can't say that I've ever missed church after I grew up because 920 00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:49,800 it's a priority. There's no question of whether 921 00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:51,440 I'm going to be at church tonight or not. 922 00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:53,840 Now I have to be here because I got to preach. 923 00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:56,040 But I could easily say, you know what? 924 00:47:56,040 --> 00:48:00,720 Not feeling great today. Hey, brother Matt, you want to 925 00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:02,320 preach for me tonight? All right, You preach. 926 00:48:02,720 --> 00:48:05,520 I'm skipping today. And everybody would give me a 927 00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:08,680 pass because, well, things are difficult. 928 00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:12,920 He's probably sick. I could make excuses in this 929 00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:15,920 church just the same way that you can make excuses in this 930 00:48:15,920 --> 00:48:18,360 church. And sometimes the excuses for 931 00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:24,720 missing church are so lame, you might as well just say, well, 932 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:28,000 you know, I decided that the the cat needed more milk. 933 00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:30,160 It's the same thing. It doesn't. 934 00:48:30,160 --> 00:48:33,760 The excuses are the same, right? I mean, we can come up with 935 00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:36,760 anything we want to come up with if we just don't want to be in 936 00:48:36,760 --> 00:48:41,160 church, right? But if you don't give yourself a 937 00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:44,000 way out, if you don't give yourself an excuse, church is 938 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:45,360 going on tonight. I can't miss. 939 00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:47,840 I'm going to be there. I don't want to miss what God 940 00:48:47,840 --> 00:48:50,320 has for me. I don't want to. 941 00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:51,240 I don't want to miss the singing. 942 00:48:51,240 --> 00:48:52,000 I don't. I don't want to. 943 00:48:52,160 --> 00:48:54,560 I don't want them to not have me there as part of the fellowship. 944 00:48:54,560 --> 00:48:56,600 I don't want them to not have me there as part of the choir. 945 00:48:56,600 --> 00:48:58,480 I don't want them to not have me there as part of the choir. 946 00:48:58,480 --> 00:49:00,120 I don't want them to not have me there as part of the 947 00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:01,440 Congregational. Singing I want to be part of 948 00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:01,880 all. Of it because. 949 00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:05,040 Everybody who knows me knows that I love my church. 950 00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:07,320 I'm not going to miss it for anything. 951 00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:11,680 We should love the people in our church, and we ought to be loyal 952 00:49:12,040 --> 00:49:14,600 to our church and to the pastor if he's following the Word of 953 00:49:14,600 --> 00:49:18,280 God. I'm sure there are other things 954 00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:23,080 that we could be appropriately putting on that list of 955 00:49:23,080 --> 00:49:25,320 priorities, but those are the things that ought to be first in 956 00:49:25,320 --> 00:49:28,600 our lives. Everybody who knows me knows 957 00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:32,920 that I love the Lord first and foremost. 958 00:49:34,240 --> 00:49:36,440 Everybody who knows me knows that I love my family. 959 00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:39,720 Everybody who knows me knows that I love my church. 960 00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:46,840 Can people say that about you? An umpire by the name of Babe 961 00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:51,040 Pinelli once called out Babe Ruth on strikes. 962 00:49:51,320 --> 00:49:53,000 It's a lot of people named Babe back then. 963 00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:55,120 I haven't heard anybody called Babe in a long time. 964 00:49:55,880 --> 00:49:57,800 But he called Babe Ruth out on strikes. 965 00:49:57,880 --> 00:50:01,840 And when the crowd started booing, Babe Ruth turned around 966 00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:04,800 to the umpire and he said, you see that 40,000 people disagree 967 00:50:04,800 --> 00:50:09,600 with your call. An empire turned to Babe Ruth. 968 00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:14,000 And he said, yeah, 40,000 people may disagree with my call, but 969 00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:15,760 mine is the only opinion that matters. 970 00:50:19,080 --> 00:50:21,400 And isn't that exactly the way that it is when it comes to a 971 00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:23,800 relationship with Christ? We need to realize that God's 972 00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:25,360 opinion is the only one that counts. 973 00:50:27,120 --> 00:50:29,760 Doesn't matter if you've moved your way all the way up to the 974 00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:34,400 top of the ladder and everybody loves you and we can't do this 975 00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:38,520 job without you and everybody thinks you're the greatest thing 976 00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:42,760 that ever walked on the earth. If that's not the same opinion 977 00:50:42,760 --> 00:50:44,520 that God has, then theirs doesn't count. 978 00:50:46,520 --> 00:50:48,200 I've had to come to that realization. 979 00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:52,480 There's there's in, in, in what I do with the police, 980 00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:55,520 especially, there's opportunities to be the one 981 00:50:55,520 --> 00:50:58,400 that's out there in the front to be the one that everybody is 982 00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:01,320 looking to. And you know what it's it's, 983 00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:05,720 it's flattering, but it's not worth it. 984 00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:10,960 Is what good is it going to do me an eternity If I was the one 985 00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:14,720 that was the face of my organization, Henrico Police 986 00:51:14,720 --> 00:51:18,680 Chaplain Steve Boots, face of the organization for what? 987 00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:21,520 If I don't lead anybody to Christ, who cares? 988 00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:26,840 If I'm, if I'm spending all my time doing all of that and not 989 00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:28,960 spending any time with my family, who cares? 990 00:51:30,360 --> 00:51:34,160 If it's if it's pulling me out of church all the time, who 991 00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:37,120 cares? There's none of those things 992 00:51:37,120 --> 00:51:38,480 that are going to count in eternity. 993 00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:41,400 The only thing that's going to count is what I've done for 994 00:51:41,400 --> 00:51:44,640 Christ. And I want my priorities to be 995 00:51:44,640 --> 00:51:47,560 in the right place. I want people to be able to look 996 00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:54,200 at me and say, there's a man who loves the Lord, There's a man 997 00:51:54,200 --> 00:51:57,920 who loves his family, there's a man that loves his church. 998 00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:04,560 And when I stand before God someday, and I don't mean this 999 00:52:04,560 --> 00:52:08,160 in a cliche way, I want to hear him say, well done, thou good 1000 00:52:08,160 --> 00:52:13,400 and faithful servant I was been faithful over a few things. 1001 00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:16,240 I'll make you rule there over many things. 1002 00:52:16,640 --> 00:52:19,400 Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. 1003 00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:24,120 Most people are going to have to hang their head and say, yeah, 1004 00:52:25,160 --> 00:52:28,000 stuff that I gave my life to was awesome down here. 1005 00:52:29,800 --> 00:52:33,560 But now I can see that it doesn't really count for much up 1006 00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:35,600 here. It's like playing with Monopoly 1007 00:52:35,600 --> 00:52:38,480 money. You're the king of the board, 1008 00:52:39,240 --> 00:52:42,560 got all the money in the world. You can buy anything you want to 1009 00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:48,800 long as you have the board. You go out and try to spend it. 1010 00:52:50,560 --> 00:52:52,440 And they say this doesn't count for anything here. 1011 00:52:53,880 --> 00:52:55,440 One of these days we're going to stand before God. 1012 00:52:55,640 --> 00:52:57,360 You might be the king of the board down here. 1013 00:52:58,320 --> 00:53:00,640 You might have all the money to do anything you want. 1014 00:53:01,160 --> 00:53:05,440 You control the whole board. You take all that up to heaven 1015 00:53:05,440 --> 00:53:08,360 and God says don't count for anything here. 1016 00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:13,480 And you wasted all of your time gathering all of that money and 1017 00:53:13,480 --> 00:53:16,120 all of those houses and all the properties and everything else 1018 00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:19,880 for something that counts for nothing in eternity. 1019 00:53:21,360 --> 00:53:24,400 What's your honest answer? What's your honest answer this 1020 00:53:24,400 --> 00:53:29,800 morning? Everybody knows me, knows that I 1021 00:53:29,800 --> 00:53:32,720 love. What do you have to honestly put 1022 00:53:32,720 --> 00:53:36,280 in the blank? Because if it's not one of those 1023 00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:39,480 three things that we talked about this morning, I think you 1024 00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:44,040 need to make some changes. Your love for the Lord needs to 1025 00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:47,320 be first and foremost. People need to know that you 1026 00:53:47,320 --> 00:53:49,080 love your family and they need to know that you love your 1027 00:53:49,080 --> 00:53:53,920 church because this, this institution right here, this 1028 00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:59,600 little building up above Broad Street is a place that Jesus 1029 00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:06,320 Christ gave his life for. He bought this congregation with 1030 00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:09,640 his blood. He puts a priority on it. 1031 00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:14,560 And I hope you will too, need to make a conscious effort to set 1032 00:54:14,560 --> 00:54:20,080 those things as priorities. Everybody that knows you knows 1033 00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:26,920 that you love what Let's pray. Father, again, we thank you so 1034 00:54:26,920 --> 00:54:29,280 much for your goodness to us. We thank you for the opportunity 1035 00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:30,680 that we have to be here this morning. 1036 00:54:31,920 --> 00:54:34,800 God, we pray that you'd help us all to have our priorities in 1037 00:54:34,800 --> 00:54:38,080 the right place, that you help us to love you first and 1038 00:54:38,080 --> 00:54:39,560 foremost. May you help us to love our 1039 00:54:39,560 --> 00:54:43,000 families and may you help us to love the church that you gave 1040 00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:45,920 your life for. And may you help us to love 1041 00:54:45,920 --> 00:54:52,800 souls enough to share the gospel with them where we need to make 1042 00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:54,760 changes this morning. God, I pray that you'd help us 1043 00:54:54,760 --> 00:54:57,520 to do that. Thank you again for all that you 1044 00:54:57,520 --> 00:55:00,760 do for us in Jesus name, Amen. You would stand at your seats 1045 00:55:00,760 --> 00:55:02,200 with your heads about and your eyes closed. 1046 00:55:05,440 --> 00:55:08,720 I hope you've done some serious life evaluation this morning. 1047 00:55:08,720 --> 00:55:11,000 Nobody knows the answer to that question but you. 1048 00:55:12,240 --> 00:55:15,120 Nobody knows. I mean, we can look at it from 1049 00:55:15,120 --> 00:55:17,480 the outside and we can, we could all feeling like we can go 1050 00:55:17,480 --> 00:55:21,840 around and we could have a a time trying to fill in the blank 1051 00:55:21,840 --> 00:55:24,520 for everybody else. And that might be very eye 1052 00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:29,480 opening for a lot of us. But I'm asking you this morning, 1053 00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:35,440 what do you know about yourself that people would have to put it 1054 00:55:35,440 --> 00:55:39,160 in that blank? Everybody who knows me knows 1055 00:55:39,960 --> 00:55:45,160 that I love what God spoken to your heart this morning, and I 1056 00:55:45,160 --> 00:55:48,000 hope you'll make the changes that He wants you to make as the 1057 00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:49,920 piano plays. Invitations open, you come.