 Amen. Thanks for the Garrett. First off I want to say thank you for the opportunity to preach. I appreciate it. I was talking with my wife when we're coming back from soul-winning. I think the last time I was set to preach was actually July 10th and that was the day my wife went into labor with baby John. So it's been a it's been a quite the journey and it's nice to be back here so thank you for that and again thank you for everybody's prayers. It's so great to have them here and healthy and we attribute a lot of that to the prayers and the support of this church and others. So we're there in Psalms 103, really good Psalm. I think sometimes we can overlook the Psalms and the stuff that the meat and the good doctrines that are in there. For introduction let's start in verse 8. Psalm 103 in verse 8 says the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide neither will he keep his anger forever. He had not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him and as far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. That's a great promise. It's you know especially a topic that's been discussed here with the whole Flat Earthers. You know that's a finite distance if somebody believes the Flat Earth theory. Thank goodness that we believe that you know we know that the earth is round and that's an infinite distance. The east never touches the west so if we're saved that promise is for us. Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Verse 14 this is kind of what I want to focus on. For he knoweth our frame he remembereth that we are dust. As for man his days are his grass as a flower of the field so he flourishes for the wind passes over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more. The Bible says he knoweth our frame. God knows our frame. He knows what we're made of. You know you see all these houses built. All these buildings are built. Most of them are built the same way. There's some brick but most of the time it's framed. Two by four studs framed. That's what they're made of. All the other stuff on the outside it's extra. It's above that. But he knows what we're made of too. He knows our frame. He knows that we're just dust. And kind of what I want to touch on with this is the pride to humility spectrum. The Bible talks a lot about pride. You can't hardly read a chapter of the book of Proverbs without coming across something on pride. If you would turn over to Proverbs chapter 16. God knows our frame. He knows what we're made of. He remembers that we are dust. You know our life is but a vapor. Our life is fragile. We're here today. Gone tomorrow. The Bible talks about a vapor in the wind. Water spilled on the ground. And that is one aspect of it. But I want to focus on the aspect of the humility of our lives. Understanding our place and the correct humility for our lives. Right? If pride is a spectrum you have pride on one side. If you're there in Proverbs 16 verse 5 is what God thinks of a proud heart. Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Though hand joined in hand he shall not be unpunished. The Bible is very clear that we want to try and avoid pride in our life. Pride leads us to destruction. Pride leads us to a haughty mind and boasting and so forth. We want to avoid pride at all costs. Proverbs 3 and 34 says surely he's scoring at the scorners but he giveth grace unto the lowly. The humble in spirit, the humble in heart is what the Bible tells us we should be. How we should be. But I think sometimes and don't misunderstand my point. I'm not trying to push anybody towards the pride spectrum but I think sometimes we in our lives we can overshoot in an earnest way to try and avoid pride in our lives. We can overshoot humility to the point where we're self-defeating. Where we're oh I'm not I can't do anything. I'm worthless for the kingdom. I'm not worthy to do anything. Right? Why should I be knocking somebody's door? Why should I be bugging them? Why should I be? Who am I that I should do this? And that's kind of the point I want to talk about is finding that true humility. Avoiding pride, finding humility but not pushing yourself too far on that on that spectrum. 1 Peter chapter five if you would turn there please. 1 Peter chapter five. We want to be humble. We want to have a humble heart and a receptive heart but we also want to remember who we are and what needs to be done. 1 Peter five if you're there in verse six. It says humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. We need to humble ourselves under his hand, under his law, under his rule, under what the Bible tells us. Verse seven. Casting all your care upon him for he cares for you. This chapter is is geared to pastors and people at church. So this is talking to the save for he cares for you and I want to make it a point too that we know that he cares for the unsaved. Right? John three sixteenth says for God so loved the world every single person he had loved at one point. He wants us to reach the gospel to everybody. That's why we go. That's why it's important that we're part of a church that actually goes soul-winning. Mark six and there was 34. It says in Jesus when he came out saw much people and was moved with compassion toward them because they were as sheep not having a shepherd and he began to teach them many things. Jesus had compassion on the loss. What the guy that we had that same compassion when we go knocking doors. It can get to a routine. We have the script that we say and hi you know we're from such and such and it can kind of get monotonous because we do it so often but let's make sure we have tender hearts and understand that for he cares for you talking about to a church to save people but also he cares for the lost. Jesus has a heart for the lost. Let's us have a heart for the lost as well. He cares for you. I want to talk about that with the unsaved but I also want to focus mainly this night this evening on God cares for you as a saved individual. If you would turn to Exodus chapter three Exodus chapter three kind of on the spectrum of of pride and humility and not overshooting it making sure that we understand that we have a job to do. Sometimes we can we can get down on ourselves or we can get maybe to the point where again we're like self-defeating our own worst enemy we're discounting what our capabilities are what our level of importance is. Exodus chapter three this is Moses in the burning bush if you're familiar with the story. Moses was born in Egypt he grew up in Pharaoh's household his mother nursed him for a first few years and then he grew up in Pharaoh's household and then when he was old he actually comes back to to Egypt to do a great thing which is as a side note that we ought not discount the importance of a mother in the early formative years of her child. You know Moses was only spent two to three years with his mom this isn't the point of sermon but I think it's worth noting he only spent two to three years with his mother but those years that he spent brought him back when he was older right the Bible has that promise train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it that's we can we can cling to that promise and we see that in Moses's life but anyway so Moses he grew up in Egypt he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew one of his fellow brothers and he killed the man he fled he went to the desert and he got married had a family and he's raising the flock of his father-in-law and he sees this bush that's burning and it's not consumed so he goes to check it out we'll pick up the story in verse nine it's God speaking to Moses out of the bush now therefore behold the cry of the children of Israel is coming to me and I've also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them come now therefore and I will and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou may bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt God tells Moses I've got a job for you Moses you're going to go to you're going to go to Pharaoh and you're going to bring my people out of Egypt this is a couple hundred thousand people this is a big job and I I like Moses's response here because sometimes I've had this and I'm sure other people have had this as well we think what Moses says here and Moses said unto God who am I that I should go into Pharaoh who am I I'm just a regular guy I'm not anybody special I'm just it's just me that's just me we know our own faults we know our shortcomings we know the things we struggle with who am I to go tell somebody the good news who am I who am I worthy to be able to open the Bible to somebody and explain it to somebody who am I that I should go into Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children out of Egypt hold your place there in Exodus chapter three if you would turn to John chapter one John chapter one again sometimes we can get this thought in our mind and I think you know the Bible tells us that Moses was more meek than any man on the earth when he lived so he was a very meek and humble guy and maybe this question that he asked was from a place that we can find ourselves in too where we're trying to avoid pride and trying to aim for humility but maybe we overshoot it a little bit maybe we get to the area where we're questioning ourselves or I'm not talking about being puffed up or having self-esteem don't don't misunderstand me here but who am I that I should go to Pharaoh what what what do I have to do with this John chapter one and verse number 12 but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name if you're saved this evening if you've got the Holy Spirit living within you you are a child of God you are worth God God has a plan for you we're not worthless we're not unable to do anything for the kingdom God has a plan for us and we're children of the most high God that's who we are who am I says Moses well God's got a plan for him God's got something for him to do flip back to exes chapter three if you kept your place there God says and he said certainly I will be with you God's not going to leave him alone God's not going to have him go off on his own I will be with you God says and this will be a token under thee that I've sent thee when now has brought forth the people out of Egypt you shall serve God upon this mountain Moses still kind of has this mindset if you'll flip over to exes chapter four just a page or two in your bible he still has questions he still has doubts he still has concerns it says in verse 10 of exes chapter four and Moses said unto the Lord oh my lord I am not eloquent neither here to for nor since I was spoken unto thy servant but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue and the Lord said unto him who hath made man's mouth who make it the dumb or the deaf or the seeing or the blind have not I the Lord Moses is still having reservations and God you know I can't speak well I don't know what to say God says I made your mouth I'm going to teach you what you should say look at verse 12 now therefore go that's a direct command and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say we can be confident when we go soul-winning when we go to preach the gospel when we set standards in our family when we uh make it a point to anything that people question people that aren't outside that maybe don't understand or don't read the bible anything that people question we can be confident in our decisions if they're based on what the bible teaches Proverbs if you want to turn to Psalm chapter 31 Proverbs 3 and 26 I'll read for you it says for the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken we're supposed to have confidence not in ourselves not in our own abilities not in our pride or being boastful with you with a humble heart we're supposed to have confidence in the Lord and what the bible teaches we should do Psalm 31 and verse 17 is a very neat Psalm let me not be ashamed oh Lord for I have called upon the I'm saved if you're saved if you've called upon the name of the Lord let me not be ashamed he says let the wicked be ashamed let them be silent in the grave sometimes it's hard you know if you if you're especially if somebody's not plugged into a church and they're trying to do what the bible says in their lives maybe they're trying to homeschool their kids and they don't have anybody they don't have a community to homeschool with if they're trying to home if they're trying to go soul-winning and if you don't have a church that's sending you out soul-winning many of us have gone a couple times on our own and you just it's difficult to make that a habit that you stick to because you're out there by yourself doing it how so they go except they be sent this says in Romans chapter 10 if you're that lone rock standing in the current of the river the current of the world and you're trying to stand out like a sore thumb and you're all by yourself that's a tough thing if you're standing with a group of people a church and you're you're all pulling together in the same direction you're fighting that same fight together you're surrounding yourself with like-minded believers and you're you're gaining strength and power from that through what the bible says and through applying it to your lives let me not be ashamed let's not be ashamed of the things that we're doing that are based on what the bible teaches let the world be ashamed let let them that are sending their kids off to daycare let them that are not not following what the bible teaches let them be ashamed let them be silent in the grave Romans 1 and verse 16 again we can have confidence when we go out soul-winning when we base our decisions how we live our lives on what the bible says Romans 1 16 says for I am not ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of god unto salvation everyone that believeth to the jew first and also to the greek sometimes sometimes again if we're out soul-winning or if we're making decisions on our christian life or if we're in situations where uh you know we're with family members or with other people that are not doing things the same way we're doing we can have this small voice of doubt that creeps in the back of our head you know is it is it is it really worth me bugging these guys on a sunday afternoon to try and give them the gospel because most people don't most people aren't interested in what what we're trying to show them from the bible we hear we hear the door get shut a lot and no thank you no i'm not interested every once in a while there's a screamer that comes out against you like last week you know it's easy to have that small voice in the back of our mind say you know is it really worth it is it important what we're doing is it making a difference to what we're doing is it really that big of a deal if i go see a movie is it really that big of a deal if i don't follow this standard or if i take that drink or if i whatever whatever that small voice is telling you that small voice is not the voice of god almighty that small voice is not the voice of the holy spirit and that voice is not the voice of the word of god what is the first thing that satan said when he was in the garden the first thing that god records that he said ye hath god said he's casting doubt on what the bible says so if that small voice that you hear if that that temptation or that doubt in your mind is going against what the bible says that's not the voice of god that's not the voice we should be listening to we should have confidence and we should not be ashamed let let the let the wicked be ashamed the bible says if you would turn to aphesians chapter one luke chapter four and thirty six kind of highlights this power and authority and they were all amazed and spake among themselves saying what a word is this for with power with authority and power he commanded the unclean spirits and they come out this is the authority and power that we have when we base our lives on the bible when we open the bible to somebody at the door when we teach them what it says it's not our words it's not our talk it's not like el mosa says it's not our eloquence or our lack thereof that gets somebody saved it's the word of god i'm sure i don't know i've been out so winning with people that you know either very experienced or inexperienced and and they're mumbling on i'm sure i've done it myself where you're jabbering on with somebody and you're you're preaching the gospel to them and maybe it's been a long time and you're kind of rusty and you're going all over the place and as a silent partner i remember here in one time it's like oh man i can't even follow this we had the guy get saved and it's it's not our words that help people to get saved it's us going out and telling what the bible says the bible is what has the power and the authority not our words so who am i we're children of god if you're safe tonight you're you're a child of god god has a plan for our lives what is god's plan if you're there in Ephesians chapter one look down at verse 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in christ don't don't be confused that dispensation that's just talking about if you think of like a soap dispenser it's dispensing soap if you think of time as instead of soap it's dispensing time so in the dispensation of the fullness of times like at the end of the world at the end of time is what this talking about uh in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in christ both with our in heaven and which are on earth even in him in whom in christ in whom we have all excuse me in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who work at all things after the council of his own will that's kind of a mouthful being predestinated we have a predestinated plan according to the purpose of him who is him of god who work at all things together all things after the council of his own will we are predestinated according to god's purpose is what that's saying that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in christ so this verse verse 11 being predestinated according to the purpose of god this is talking to those about those who first trusted in christ if we've trusted in christ we're saved we're sealed with the holy spirit god has a plan he has predestinated us for his purpose there was a there was a man kent hoven we were talking about him just the other day and uh he used to say he had all these creation seminars and he used to say in the seminars you know kind of alluding to the purpose of life everybody out there wants to know what the purpose of life is you know theologians and and and philosophers are always questioning and asking what is the purpose of life what is the purpose of life essentially the purpose of life is there's two things and hoven kind of asked it in his question he had in his quirky way said if you're not saved i want to get you saved and if you are saved then what on earth are you doing for heaven's sake that was kind of his way first first thing for first purpose of life is to get saved if you're not saved you should get saved second purpose once you're saved you should do work for the kingdom of god what are you doing on earth for heaven's sake that was kind of his way it was quirky way but it makes sense aphesians chapter two if you want to flip over there from aphesians chapter one we'll go over a verse that we all know well aphesians two verse eight nine and we'll add on number ten as well aphesians two verse eight says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast we are saved by trusting only in what christ did on the cross as full payment for our sins not of works lest any man should boast verse ten says for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus unto good works we as as saved people how we are saved are created in christ jesus unto good works we are saved to do good works which god had before ordained that we should walk in them god does he saved us and he saved us for a purpose we have a purpose for others to the sermon this morning our purpose is to help others to help others get saved mainly to help spread the gospel and it's interesting there the king james bible says that we should walk in them one important note the new american standard bible it's a very popular bible especially months like calvinus leading churches it says in verse ten which god prepared beforehand that we would walk in them would implies that it is going to happen this is where you get the if saved always save or if you are saved you will have the good works which is a false gospel that we should walk in them we should get saved god commands us all the commandments of the bible all the old testament new testament laws that were not disannoled through you know the meat drinks cardinal ordinances diverse washings those were postponed but all the how god feels about murder how god feels about rape how god feels about stealing theft adultery whatever the things that god says those commandments still are in place they're still for us we're still commanded that we should walk in those good works god you know when somebody gets saved i tell sometimes i said look all these commandments we should do them god commands us to do him he expects us to do them they're not part of salvation it's the next step right you get saved and then you want to follow jesus that's the next step get saved first make your decision to follow jesus it's the next step but god does expect us to do him that's not would walk in them that's should walk in them so what works do we have to do in our life what does god's plan for us he has a plan for us that we get saved and that we follow the bible we do those good works like it talks about effusions two and ten well the first works would be mark 16 15 and he said on them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 this is this is soul winning this is reaching the lost and there's multiple ways obviously to do this we all have friends we all family members you know that we can share the gospel with not necessarily out of soul winning time but soul winning is a great way to get plugged in to have it as a routine part of your life 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3 says but if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost if we don't follow these first works if we don't go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature if we don't actively make it part of our routine it's not going to affect us we say that all the time soul winning i'm not coming out knocking on your door as part of me trying to get into heaven it's just as our duty to follow what the bible says we should do it we should walk there in and if our gospels hid if we don't go out it's hid to them that are lost they're the ones that are going to suffer the watchmen from Ezekiel right if he if he sees the sword coming and he just like oh i'm out of here see you later the whole town that's the one that gets damaged it's not him he's out of there his neck is safe right but the people that lost are the ones that would suffer flip over to 2nd chrintians chapter 5 2nd chrintians chapter 5 just a page over and all things are of god verse 18 excuse me and all things are of god who has reconciled us to himself by jesus christ that's how we were saved we we had a debt to pay we had sin that we had committed and we deserved hell for that sin but he has been we have been reconciled to god by jesus christ sacrifice and hath given to us the saved people the ministry of reconciliation so this is how we are we are the ones responsible you know this this this question that moses had who am i who am i that i should be out here bugging people on a sunday afternoon who am i that i should be out here following what the bible says and telling other people about it and you know not in a contentious way but in a confrontational way where you're approaching people and you're talking to people about who am i that i should be doing that well god has given to us the ministry of reconciliation if we don't do it people are going to suffer people will die that would have gone to heaven they will die and go to hell that would have gone to heaven if they if we had gone out to wit verse 19 to wit that god was in christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto him and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation we have the bible we have the power and authority of the bible that we can help people get saved through that now then we are ambassadors for christ as though god did beseech you by us we pray you in christ said be reconciled to god we are the ambassadors of christ we are the only god doesn't when jesus christ was walking on this earth he got people saved but since then people other saved christians get other saved other people saved nobody gets you know hit with the bolt of lightning and all of a sudden they're saved right it's somebody somebody preaches the gospels to him somebody explains the verse or two to him somebody you know and it's it could be a mini step approach right somebody gets one part and one part and one part and they get saved eventually but it takes people saved christians opening their mouth and making known what the bible says to get people saved if we don't do that nobody's gonna get saved same with apostle paul right he was he was on the road to a maus and christ kind of knocked him off his horse there and struck him blind but then we saw on wednesday night when he went to ananias ananias was the one that told him like calling the name of the lord like he was the one that helped lead him to get saved and so we have an important job to do sometimes we can think oh who am i i'm nobody important i'm just an average joe like we have our uh insecurities we have our our mistakes are highlighted in our minds right we play those on repeat all the time let's not get in our own way let's not be prideful don't don't peg the needle on the pride spectrum let's stay humble but let's not overshoot it and get to the point where we're taking ourselves out of the fight right we have a job to do is save save christians john 15 in verse 5 says i am the vine year the branches he that abideth in me and i and him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing there's this there's this clear uh topic or i forget what you want to say i'm losing my word but there's a there's a clear theme in the bible that we should be as christians we should be fruitful and i think one of the lies that the liberal churches do that you know maybe they're safe people to go to these churches that they do to kind of calm that you know because we have this urge we we know we should be fruitful you can't help but read a couple chapters of the gospels or a couple of the epistles and and not see that we should be fruitful we should be sharing we should be witnessing we should be you know soul winning um the lie that they say is that being a fruitful christian is done by exhibiting the fruits of the spirit the fruits of the spirit is is love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness and temperance being fruitful is not exhibiting the fruit of the spirit those are not the same thing exhibiting the fruit of the spirit means that you're walking in the spirit and that's the lifestyle of angelism and we should all have that we should have you should see a christian who's saved and walking in the spirit you should see them have love in their life and joy in their life and be patient long suffering be gentle be meek we have temperance and not get not fly off the handle so easily but that is not being fruitful as a christian if you think of a a tree a tree that produces fruit an apple tree produces apples if you stick the apple on the ground and you plant it it would become an apple tree reproduction reproducing yourself is is what it's talking about about being fruitful so if as a christian you are not sharing the gospel with other people or you're not helping to further that that is not being fruitful you can walk in the fruit of the spirit that's a good thing and we should do that i'm not trying to discount that but again i think a lot of the liberal churches where saved people can be they can comfort themselves and say well i'm checking the box i'm being kind i'm being you know loving i'm being joyful and i'm being fruitful by doing that well no no no you're not being fruitful by doing that you're exhibiting the fruit of the spirit and that's good but the first works is going to preach the gospel that's the most important thing now and this idea being fruitful and this idea with a tree right so if you imagine a tree a tree is growing and it's producing fruit um in order to help a tree produce more fruit oftentimes you need to prune it it'll shoot out all these wild branches and you'll end up with thousands of these little tiny fruit that aren't edible they got huge seeds and it's not it's not training it in the right direction or it can be too big and too unwieldy and it'll literally break the tree uh so you need to prune the fruit god is the same way when we're trying to bear fruit in our lives if we're following what the bible says sometimes there's going to be things that the bible teaches us that are going to be pruning in our lives prophets 3 and verse 12 says for whom the lord loveth he corrected even as a father the son in whom he delighteth god's correction you know and some of these things are going to be as far as you know maybe cleaning up our lives you know we get saved we get baptized you get into church you start maybe going soul winning or walking around and you see a little bit of fruit god might prune some things out of your life that can help you become more fruitful maybe it's worldly music maybe it's uh worldly friends that are dragging you down maybe it's whatever it is tv different things that can pull our hearts away from what the bible says sometimes those prunings can be a sharp pain a quick you know it hurts to get a branch cut off you know you want you want to have that branch but sometimes we need to get pruned so that we can be more fruitful more productive for the kingdom turn to luke chapter 13 another thing that you think of with a fruit tree or a vine or something that's producing fruit yes you need to train it as far as pruning it but sometimes you need to fertilize it luke chapter 13 uh in verse 7 this is a parable then he said under the dresser of his vineyard behold these three years i come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none cut it down why cumberth at the ground it's taken up space there's no fruit cut it down and he answering said unto him lord let it alone this year also till i shall dig about it and dung it and if it bear fruit well and if not then after and after that i'll shall cut it down sometimes we need a little bit of fertilizer in our lives as far as our spiritual lives to help us bear more fruit a tree is the same way if you don't fertilize it if you don't prune it it's not going to produce good fruit it's not going to produce plentiful fruit you know it might make really tiny small fruit it's not going to be a good healthy fruit tree and our christian lives our spiritual lives are the same way one thing with fertilizer dung it it says oftentimes fertilizer is a little pungent you know sometimes when we hear preaching from the bible it might hit us in the face it might oh you know startle us a little bit sometimes it's not the most fun thing to hear but it's it's for the purpose of us producing more fruit it's for the purpose of us getting more people saved uh turn with me to first carinthians chapter six please first carinthians chapter six we want we want to be vessels that god can use to further his kingdom and the and the better we are you know the more productive of a fruit tree we are if you will you know the more pruning has taken place the more fertilizing has taken place the more fruitful we can be as christians god has a plan for us he wants us to do the works the first works and this is kind of talking about that we want to be fruitful as christians first carinthians chapter six is what know you not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost which is in you which you have of god and you're not your own we are the vessel that the holy spirit will dwell in right we are that vessel that can go around and and through the word of god and through the holy spirit within us we can preach the gospel to other people that's why we can have that boldness james chapter four in verse eight says draw night of god and he will draw night to you cleanse you hand cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you doubled minded james chapter two also says see us thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect so it's this pruning this fertilizing then in our christian lives this this cutting sin out of our lives this uh adding you know fertilizer to what the bible says to help it grow to help us grow strong to help us take good strong root to produce more fruit these works and us you know those are works cleaning up our lives getting baptized reading our bible praying these are works that we should do but these works wrought with our faith and those help make our faith more perfect more complete more whole stronger bigger so we can reach more people matthew 23 and 26 you know god god cares about everything he gave us the bible he gave us rules for how we ought to look how we ought to speak how the things we ought to watch the things we not ought to watch what we should do with our time he told the kings to write them a copy of the book and read in it all the days of their lives he told them you know it's it's not for kings to have wine or strong drink they gave us rules for our lives he cares about every aspect of our lives he's the god of detail he's the god of order he's the god of organization matthew 23 and 26 says thou blind Pharisee cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also if we're vessels of the holy spirit to be a better used vessel we should be clean like the bible says here cleanse first that which is it within the cup and the platter in our hearts we need to have clean hearts we need to have hearts that are receptive and humble to what the bible teaches us that the outside of them may be clean also god also does care about how we look out the outside of our how our spirit is not just what our heart is yes that's the more important but he also cares about everything so to be a useful vessel for the holy spirit and for this purpose we need to focus on that as well so god has a plan for our lives we need to do the first works we need to it's up to us to help reach the gospel to everybody you know we can get that small voice in our mind who am i what what what purpose do i have well god has a lot of potential for us turn to ezekiel chapter 22 ezekiel chapter 22 you know what is the potential of our of our christian life how how can we how can we affect the world around us ezekiel 22 is a great chapter on this the pastor preached on it a few weeks ago in verse 27 it says her princes ezekiel 22 and verse 27 her princes talking about political leaders her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravining the prey to shed blood to destroy souls and to get dishonest gain boy doesn't that sound like united states today to shed blood to destroy souls i saw we were driving on highway four going through downtown stockton there was this big old billboard on the sign that says abortion will it is and will remain legal in california we got you we got you guys there's the politicians to shed blood to get dishonest gain and her profits in fact is equal 22 in verse 28 and her profits the preachers have dobbed them with untempered moreing mortar seeing vanity and divining lies under them saying thus say that the lord god when their lord has spoke had not spoken and the people of the land had used oppression and it's exercised robbery and have vexed the poor and needy yay they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully this is the state of this country at this time that is he was talking to it doesn't sound a whole lot different than what the united states is today right we see a lot of these same things and look at verse 30 what what what is said and i sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that i should not destroy it but i found none he sought for a man he didn't see look for 10 000 people he didn't look for 300 000 people he sought for a man one person to stand in the gap to make up the hedge one person and i found none therefore have i poured out my name dignation upon them and i've consumed them with the fire of my wrath their own way have i recompensed upon their heads say at the lord sometimes our potential who who am i like who is moses moses ask that question who am i that i should go before ferro moses didn't get started he says in exodus chapter seven and verse seven that he was four score years old when he stood before ferro he was 80 years old when he when he stood before ferro so when he's in the burning bush it could have been 80 maybe a couple years before he was 80 so 80 and he died when he was 120 years old the bible tells us so the last third of moses his life he spent going to ferro doing what god told him to do right god said go therefore go and teach my people get my people out of there he spent the last third of his life he got late start you know he was saved i'm sure when a young late went from a young great age but he got a late start serving the lord but you could make a very good argument that moses was one of the most influential men in the old testament and he spent the last third of his life serving the lord doing what god told him to do it doesn't matter how old we are it doesn't matter where we are at in this life it doesn't matter you know what our situation is if you're saved and you have a heartbeat you can do something to serve the kingdom of god to to help make a difference in future generations right we see this in ezekiel 22 the state of the nation is such and he was he was seeking for one person the difference that one person can make who who am i you know i'm just an average joe i'm just i'm just you know some guy that grew up somewhere and as a family you know everybody everybody's an average joe right who am i well who is moses he was the same boat and he turned out to be one of the mighty men of god he he was there with jesus in the in the amount of transfiguration there's good reason to believe that he's maybe one of the two witnesses in the end times who is he he was just an average guy that got that he just in the last third of his life decided i'm gonna i'm gonna do what god wants with my life and i'm gonna follow what he tells me to do and look what he accomplished colossians four and verse five says walk in wisdom towards them that are without to the unsaved and to the lost redeeming the time it doesn't matter when we start it's it's what we do with the time that we have left redeeming the time the time is short turn to matthew chapter four turn to matthew chapter four let's not let's not forget the importance of one person don't misunderstand me i'm not trying to say that we should puff ourselves up that we should aim towards pride at all we want to keep that humble heart but we want to make sure that we have proper humility i heard it said once and it matches what the bible says that true humility is thinking of yourself exactly as god sees you no more and no less we're all wicked sinners we all have terrible past or you know we all have things that we we know our own issues that we have we know our own shortcomings we know the things that we've made mistakes on and the issues that we've had but if you're saved you're a child of god and we and he's got a job for us to do and so that's why it's important that we get part of a good church we go to a church that's soul winning we we learn how to do that and we we try to make a difference if we're following Jesus look at matthew four and verse 19 every word of the king james bible we just had this with the nasb you know every word of the king james bible is pure words the pure words of the lord we can trust every single word every single word is a promise says in matthew four and verse 19 and he saith unto them follow me and i will make you fishers of men this is a promise statement if we are following christ he will make us fishers of men soul winners people that are getting other people saved helping other people to get saved when we get saved the reason we don't just get raptured up to heaven right away is because we have a job to do on this earth let's not forget the job we have to do we're saved to do works for god to further his kingdom here on this earth right we're saved to save the average joe lost person we're saved to save the person that we knock on the door with today we're saved to save the the random person that we meet on the street the our co-worker our family member our neighbor our friends we're saved to save the average joe but think about this turn to acts chapter 17 every single person every single great person in the bible that you read about was saved by somebody maybe the person that helped get them saved was the average joe that got saved we're saved to help find the gideons and the sols and or the paul's and the james and the peters and the johns we're saved to help find those people that are also going to do mighty works for the kingdom any preacher that we know that's a that's got great reach pastor other pastors that we know that pastors are friends with they were saved by somebody maybe at a young age their family members you know they all have stories oh my grandparents got saved and then we got plugged into a church and then my parents got me saved at a young age and look at the reach you know of that of their spread of the gospel our kids we want to raise them up to where pastor talked about this a week ago with where we have a good testimony that they have a good testimony that they hopefully get saved at a young age and that they grow up in church and they grow up doing things for christ but we don't know what our kids are going to do or what our grandkids are going to do or we don't know what we could we can do if we do like moses and we just okay from this point on i'm going to follow what god tells me to do look what happened to moses look what he accomplished we could accomplish that too acts chapter 17 now when they had passed through epiphalus uh verse one excuse me now when they had passed through epiphalus in apollonia they came into thessalonica where was the synagogue of the jews and paul as his manner was went in under them and three sabbathay reason with them out of the scriptures pastor touched on this the other week about paul being constantly in soul winning mode paul as his manner was went in he does this all the time the bible saying right here this is who he was this was part of his spirit his being who he was as a person we don't know when we knock on doors of people you know if you have kids your kids hopefully are going to grow up in this and they're going to um you know become great christians and and live a christian life if you don't have kids there's there's always people that we can reach in our community when we go out soul winning we don't know who we're going to talk to we get somebody saved at the door they could be the next paul maybe their kid could be the next paul maybe they're you know somebody like that if we look at paul paul never had any kids but look at the impact that he made on the kingdom of god to the Gentiles he brought the whole gospel i mean the the bible has literally been to every single country the gospel has been to every single country all Gentile nations non-jewish nations we attribute that to paul he was the one responsible for that through the holy spirit of course but we don't know who the next paul is going to be we think of the nation how it talked about an Ezekiel where the princes were doing all these wicked things shedding blood destroying souls getting dishonest gain the prophets are lying the the churches are lying to the people we see that today we're here we're in churches like this we find there are there are other churches like this where there are soul winning people there are soul winning churches that are preaching the right gospel that are preaching the right word of god what's it going to be 20 years from now 40 years from now 60 years from now when our when our kids the next generation the next generation after that yeah we should raise kids this way we should raise kids in this manner there's always been the remnant right the seven thousand that have not bowed their knee to veil who's that going to be in the next generations if we don't have kids if we don't have kids that's fine but make sure we're reaching our community so that we can teach other people people that we knock on their door the average joe that could be the next gideon that could be the next david that could be the next samuel we don't know who we're going to reach right the next famous pastor the next mighty man of god so who am i moses asked that question if you're safe tonight you're a child of god with a responsibility a responsibility to follow god but a responsibility to others to reach them with the gospel to reach them with the discipleship as well right get them saved go there for teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the father son of holy spirit and commanding them everything i missed that of them sorry and and teaching them to observe all things preach the gospel then people should get baptized and people should discipleship that's kind of the order right of getting people saved getting people in church there's a lot of lost souls out there fresno's a drop in the bucket right 500 000 people in fresno were one church there are not a whole lot of churches out there that are soul winning so don't don't in this pride spectrum right if you think of it an analogy maybe to help you you know you it's your gauge on the on the dash of your car you're driving your car sometimes you have the voltmeter on your dash right shows your battery when everything's working like it should you should be at 14 volts that's your alternator is working good your electrical system's charging you're doing good if that's our point of true humbleness humility if if things go over voltage and we're at 18 volts things are going to pop we're going to blow up the battery fry the wiring alternator's going out something's going on if we if we're hitting pride that's not good things are going to destroy we want to maintain humility but we don't want to be low voltage either we don't want to be our alternator's kicking out our battery's going to be dead dead faith is good for nothing right it's it's what profit it doesn't have from james chapter two we want to keep that true humility think of ourselves how god sees us no more no less let's remember that we got a great responsibility to do let's go ahead and bow and bow our heads in a word of prayer