 Amen. All right. First Corinthians chapter 5. Okay. My sermons here. That's good Sermon notes. That's a recurring dream. You guys will have to ask pastor. Me he has some some recurring dreams But he's got some funny ones. I won't expose them here But a recurring dream that I've always had as far as you know, when you preach a lot You know, you'll start to have these recurring dreams and one that I've always had that's just happened to me I don't know probably a dozen times is that I'm preaching and then halfway through the sermon pastor Comes up and he's like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That was garbage, you know We don't believe any of that stuff and they like pull me off and you know, it's all that but you know I did have a dream that I opened up the pulpit and there was no sermon in there So the sermons here and we're good. So let's go ahead and get started first Corinthians chapter 5 We're gonna get something a little bit different in first Corinthians chapter 5 Then you would normally look at in this. This is kind of a good chapter for Church discipline things that are allowed in the church things are not allowed in the church What I want to focus on and I'm just going to use this as kind of a segue into the sermon It's not really going to be what the sermon is about but look down at verse number 9 and verse number 10 The Bible says I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators. Okay, we get that right? We understand that but then verse number 10 says this it says yet Not all together with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners Ridolators for then must you needs go out of the world and then it goes in and it gives in verse number 11 Of course, you know those things that aren't to be allowed in the church Right, but in verse number 10 It's saying that there's a reason that verse number 11 says if anyone be called a brother do these things because it's saying like look If you would have to stay away from these types of people like you couldn't even go out in the world You couldn't even go out there, you know You couldn't so it's talking about just a brother things that are allowed in the church not you know People just out in the world otherwise you you would just have the need to not even go out in the world We'd all have to like move to you know North Dakota or something and hide from people, right? So it's saying you know We're gonna have to learn to deal with this type of thing and I'm actually gonna talk about that in quite some detail in a couple of weeks, but I just want to give you a segue To you know what I'm gonna talk about this morning. I had a guy that I worked with so we're especially guys Need to understand verse number 10 because guys are out in the world, you know ladies wives, you know They're lucky in this sense that they don't have to go out in that as much as the guys But us guys we're gonna have to deal with people in the world We're gonna have to deal with unsafe people out there I had a guy at work about a year and a half ago Maybe a year ago. I worked with this guy quite a bit and we worked pretty close together We were pretty close together. He was very good at what he did and you know I appreciated that about him, but look this guy like he wasn't religious at all. He was a nice guy He was a nice guy. He had a family. He was a normal Person. He was not religious. He was not saved and he's probably not gonna get saved And you're gonna meet a lot of people in your life like that That you know just there, you know, I guess you know I kind of looked at him and I just kind of figured I figured he's too good at what he does You know, he's too good at his job if that makes sense He's too good at what he does to pay attention to some of the things that he he knew that I paid attention to And he knew that you know, I spent time on he knew that I was You know involved in the church here He found out and you know, I didn't really announce that to people at work and things but you know people know people find out about you and you know, I talked with this guy and You know, he's like, oh, you know, you're involved in the church there He's like, oh, you know, so are you that are you the pastor of the church and I'm like and I'm like no, you know No, I'm not the pastor, you know, and he's like, you know, cuz let me he could understand that You know, if you're the pastor he's he's not a religious guy But that was something that he could understand like no, I'm not the pastor Then I explained like it's a church plant of a of a Baptist church in Sacramento And then he you know dies glaze over and and he doesn't really understand What he's talking about but he knew that I was I was involved in this ministry in town And he kind of knew that I spent a lot of time here And I spent a lot of time and thought and effort on this and look he just didn't really get it He didn't understand it. He wasn't rude about it. He just didn't understand, you know He said to me at one point. He's like, I don't understand why you you spend so much time on that You know and look I had no problems with this guy. He had no problem with me We worked very well together. We did some great things together. It's just he just didn't he just didn't get it He didn't understand why I put so much effort in that, you know, and I never really I never really I kind of knew You know where he was at spiritually and I never really said much to him about it You know, I kind of kept it short But I have thought a lot about that question since that time, you know, what is what is my motivation? You know, you spend so much time in an effort like this, you know There needs to be some motivation behind that you can't just look this isn't something that and I could say this about the church People as well, you know, but this isn't something that you can just go through the motions to do You know, you have to have something that is motivating you that is driving you to do something like this So I kind of wanted to just give you, you know an idea of what those things are this morning from my perspective, you know, I Want to tell you where I'm at. I want to give the answer to that guy's question You know, if you'll give me a few minutes of your time, you know, I'll tell you where I'm at I'll tell you where my motivation was why the time and energy to put into this effort here was actually fairly easy to do and Hopefully you can take these points of motivation and you can use them in your own life And you can use them to drive your Christian life. So you say, you know, what is it? What motivates you is it a is it a nice building, you know, is it is that what you're after, you know And it's like, you know, not obviously that's not it, you know I mean, I mean if we need if at some point we need a bigger building I suppose we'll get a that would be a good problem to have and We'll get a bigger building as a matter of fact. I'm thankful for this building is as old and you know The carpet used to be white. We just eaten so many tiger blood snow cones in here that that's not I'm just kidding But I mean look, this is a maybe we'll move out of this area at some point, you know Get in a better area. I mean, you know that the battle I've had with the bums downtown here has been epic Okay, I mean, and it's lucky, you know, I've said this before but it's lucky I was raised on a farm pitching manure because some of the things that I've cleaned up around here It's I never would have thought I never would have thought when my dad would clean out the corrals every single year And I would have to go with a pitchfork and rubber boots for like six weeks on these piles of manure and spread the manure So you get the tractor up on the manure piles and and till it into that into the tree rows And I never thought that that was preparing me for for a moment like this You know, but now I look back on that and I appreciate it. I'm like, you know dad. Thank you. Thank you for that But look, it's obviously it's not the building. Yeah, how about the attendance? How about is it the attendance? Am I concerned about the attendance am I driven for the attendance? You know that over the last two years That is the number one question I've been asked The number one question I've been asked is how many people you running there? How many people are coming to church there? Look, I get it. That's important and I'm going to get into why that number is actually important You know a little bit in a few minutes, but really I'm happy with the people that we have, you know, I mean, you know Garrett even said that last night We walked in the house and Garrett's like man if the church never grows and we just have these people He's like that would be great. I'm like I agree, but you know, we still are gonna allow visitors Okay, but the point is I mean, that's not my main drive either My main drive is is not numbers. I'm not sitting there looking at the numbers every week and being like, oh man You know, look, we just do what we're supposed to do and God will handle the numbers I mean, that's the way I've always felt about that always. I'm not even the slightest bit concerned About the numbers and guess what we've grown We've almost doubled in size since we've been here through all the The the garbage that we've had to go through in the last especially the last year and a half We're growing. We're a growing ministry How about how about this one? How about social media? Is that is that does that drive me? Here's the thing I don't know how many of you know me that well, but I hate social media Yeah, I mean I hate it. I mean hates not even a strong enough word and as a matter of fact I might even hate it to a fault if that's possible But I hate it especially lately I hate it even more But look look here's the thing I think God was kind of resetting me a little bit about this because we were getting through I'm the kind of guy I'm the kind of guy that how do you how do you handle all these things coming at you at one time? How do you handle being so busy? I hand it's really easy. I handle things one at a time You fight the monster in front of you so yesterday or Friday night and yesterday morning people are like Hey, are you are you excited about tomorrow? And I'm like no not really because we have this soul-winning event to run today So I'm just like I'm gonna get the monster in front of me out of the way And then I'm gonna preach this sermon and then I'm gonna be excited about tonight So I mean I'm the kind of person that just takes one thing at a time And you just focus on the thing in front of you and then you can find you'll find in your life that you can handle an awful Lot if you can you can but if you worry about everything all the time you just you're gonna you're gonna crumple Because if you worry about everything all the time, so here's the thing It's funny because I was I was concerned and I was thinking about the day yesterday, and I was it was 15 minutes It was 15 minutes before I started and I kicked off the soul-winning event yesterday and We're still on social media by the way But it's 15 minutes before I kicked off the event yesterday my wife walks up to me. She's like you got a letter And I'm like a letter. Okay, and here I have and I'm not gonna mention the people's names And I'll mention you know it's a letter from a couple in Pennsylvania And I hope they don't mind I'm gonna read one and a half sentences out of the letter This is right before the big day yesterday, and I get this letter and it says I just want to send you this letter of encouragement As the day of your ordination draws closer It says Man, this is not good that I'm getting into this right now It says we are blessed by your sermons, and we thank God for the technology that brings you into our home So okay, you know maybe it's to a fault and I've overcorrected and I pegged the needle on that one But still it's not social media that does not drive me Okay, sometimes I think the less people know who I am the better it would be for my family But look so I made a list for you all this morning I made a list of three things and I made a list of three things about what motivates me here and what I'm all about here And I hope that this list matches Your list as well. It's a testimonial of sorts I'll give you this morning So here's the thing about this list though this list as far as you set goals in your life It's a weird list because I mean I like to set goals and you should learn to set goals And then what I do is I set a goal and I achieve that goal. That's that's what you should do in your life But here's the thing about this particular list. It's it's kind of a list of motivational goals But none of them can be completely achieved I mean you think it's kind of depressing But it's really not but none of these goals that I'm gonna list for you this morning can be completely achieved In your life I'm gonna start from the easy ones. There's only three. I'm gonna start from the easiest and go to the hardest So let's let's begin the first one is this mistakes mistakes motivate me Turn to Psalm 119 look I've made some mistakes in my life Maybe I can help people make less Is a is a motivation for me Through I mean look through my experience is number one of mistakes that I've made and but especially Especially through God's word Maybe we can we can avoid Some things in our lives there. You know what the the Bible says they're they're avoidable Look at Psalm 119 I could read the whole chapter for you I just picked a couple verses the Bible says in verse number five. It says all that my ways were directed To keep thy statutes Then I shall not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments. Look, this is preaching right here It's like all that my ways were directed all that somebody was was telling me to do what the Bible says Well, that's preaching right there All that my ways were directed. That's you reading the Bible right there That your ways were directed, you know a lot of people they read the Bible and they're like, okay You know the Bible says this but then it helps to have somebody come up and just scream at you And direct your ways So why so why why do you need your ways directed so you won't be ashamed? So you won't be ashamed in your life Keep us from being ashamed who wants to be ashamed raise your hand if you want to be ashamed Look at verse 50 look at verse 50. This is my comfort in my affliction That thy word hath quickened me verse 51 The proud have had me in greatly in derision yet. Have I not declined from my law? Look God's law saves us But it also makes us strong when people are putting us down when people are attacking us When people are pushing on us when they're putting pressure on us. It's God's word That keeps us strong in that time. It's the preaching of God's word turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Why why is it? Why does it have that effect? Why does it have that effect go to Hebrews chapter 4? Look, and I can tell you I can tell you that that this goal that this goal is already working here This one's already working in this church look at Hebrews 4 12 Why is it working? Why is it working? I can tell you it's not because of me. I Could tell you it's not because I'm some great orator. I Could tell you it as you know look here's why it's working look at verse number 12 of Hebrews 4 for the word of God is quick and powerful and Sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing of thunder of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow and The discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart look this word of God is so powerful. It will move your flesh Is what the Bible is saying Look, I can already see this goal being achieved. That's that's encouraging That's encouraging. It's working, but you said oh, but you can't achieve this goal completely But guess what it works for some but not all It works for some and not all look I I'm encouraged in my life that I can help some people to to hear the word of God And I can preach and yell the word of God and I can I can help people through preaching I can help people through personal advice that by the way I get from the word of God It's not like I'm some brilliant person that just knows what to do in every scenario No, I know what the Bible says and that's what I'm gonna tell you what to do So but look here's the thing some people just insist on making their own mistakes Well, I've been that person. I don't want you to be that person, but you'll be walking along with people In life and you're walking through life with them ministering to them and you say oh look up. There's a hole there There's a hole there and some people are just like, you know what? I'm gonna go in there. I'm like, okay, but no, that's a hole. You don't want to go in there. They're like, no I'm going in the hole. I'm gonna go in the hole and they just jump in the hole And you're like man Why'd you jump in the hole for I told you there's a hole there And they're like I'm in a hole Help me But here's the thing here's the thing and here's the thing about the Bible too So, you know that can be frustrating, but that you know, that's my flesh that gets frustrated with that But here's the thing. I'll stand by the hole I'll stand by the hole and when you're ready to get out of the hole. I'm okay. I'm not going in the hole with you I'm not jumping in there with you, but when you're ready to get out of the hole I'll grab you by the collar and I'll pull you out of the hole That motivates me That motivates me. Look like I said none of these goals are fully achievable People are gonna jump in the hole, you know, I mean you can't get to the point on this list where you're like check that one's done People are just gonna some people just insist on making their own up their own mistakes And that's okay. We'll walk alongside you And when you fall on the hole We will walk circles around the hole and Then we'll pull you out of the hole That's the Christian life. That's a motivation to me right there. That's a small one. That's the smallest one What's the second one? The second one is the gospel You're like this one the gospel better be on the list Here's the thing and here's what we really need the numbers for turn to Ephesians shout We're just look at the front of your bulletin Here's what we really need the numbers for we need an army because we're in a battle Ephesians chapter 6 or the front of your bulletin in verse number 12 says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood But against principle principalities and powers against the rulers of the darkness in this world against spiritual wickedness in high places We've been studying through the book of Joshua. It's a lot of battles big armies like physical actual armies and battles, you know, they're fighting They're fighting a physical war with people, but it's surprisingly similar as a matter of fact It's exactly similar because we're fighting a spiritual war for people Is what we're doing and Jesus even talked about this and that's why we need an army We need an army Turn to Matthew chapter 26. We're in a spiritual war for people. We're not fighting for land We're not fighting a physical wrestling match against people. We're look It's the spiritual wickedness that we're fighting It's the rulers. It's the powers and it's the spiritual wickedness that Exists there with the rulers and with the powers. That's what we're fighting and that's where we need the army It's not against flesh and blood Even Peter misunderstood this even Peter got this one wrong because I understand it gets you angry Peter got angry look at verse 20 verse 51 of Matthew 26 Peter misunderstood this for a brief moment. What kind of battle we were to fight here? Look at Matthew 26 and verse 51 the Bible says and behold One of them which were with Jesus Stretched out his hand and drew a sword and struck a servant of the high priest and smote off his ear We know from John 18 that this was actually Peter look at verse 52 Then Jesus said on him put up again I saw it into its place for they that take the sword shall perish Wish with the sword. He Jesus is saying to Peter here. He's like no, no, no, no There's bigger things for you to do There's big I mean imagine imagine if Peter would have raised an army management of Peter like they took Jesus and they they killed Jesus Let's get an army together imagine if that was the mission of the Apostles was to build a physical army You know, and then they you know, okay, so they kill a few Romans maybe some Pharisees or whatever and That's it. Would that have been the best spend for Peter's life? Think about that Jesus knew turned to 2 Timothy chapter 2 Jesus knew where he needed Peter and what kind of battle he needed them to fight and I'm glad those guys fought it I'm glad those guys fought it and we're still fighting it today Look at 2 Timothy chapter 2, but we do need an army We do need an army. It's funny because this old this army needs to have the exact and I'm going to show you it needs to have The exact same attributes as the Old Testament army, so it's a it's a spiritual war versus a physical war But it needs to have the same attributes Don't miss that Look at look at 1st Timothy or 2nd Timothy chapter 2 look at verse number 3 2nd Timothy chapter 2 and look at verse number 3 the Bible says thou therefore endure hardness So you got to be tough The Bible says you can't be a wimp. You can't be somebody who's afraid of everything. You can't be a coward You can't be a coward as a good. What as a good soldier of Jesus Christ No, no man then he gets into more detail. He says no man that warth and Tango with himself with the affairs of this life that it may please him who have chosen him to be a soldier turned to do to Rami chapter 20 By the way, this army this army. Here's one. Here's the first similarity The first similarity is Jesus Christ is the commander of this army in the New Testament He's the commander of our army and he was also in Joshua chapter 5 the commander of the army in the Old Testament same same commander So not only do you need to be strong you need to be able to endure hardness But you not to be able to be preoccupied with other things it says in the New Testament in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 But look at Deuteronomy chapter 20 talking about the actual army that's going to fight the physical war look what the Bible says It's talking about you know giving them advice like hey when you go into battle here's here's what you're going to need and what you're Going to not need look at verse 20 and verse number 5 I'm sorry chapter 20 of Deuteronomy and verse number 5 and the officers shall speak under the people saying What man is there that hath built a new house look they're recruiting here. They're recruiting who's going to go fight with them And who's not? What man is there that had built a new house and if not dedicated it let him go and return to his house Let's he die in battle and another man dedicate it Verse 6 and what man is he that have planted a vineyard that hath not eaten of it Let him also go and return unto his house lest he die in battle and another man eat of it And what man is there that had betrothed the wife and had not taken her let him go and return to his house Let's he die in battle and another man take her verse number 8 This is your enduring hardness right here verse number 8 and the officers shall speak further under the people There's even more things that they have to look for and they shall say what man is there that is fearful and faint hearted Let him go and return unto his house lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart So that's interesting there, but first of all it matches perfectly second Timothy chapter 2 Saying we can't have any cowards here, and it's interesting the last part of verse number 8 is like You know we don't want a bunch of fearful people here because look that spreads Like we don't want to we don't an army, you know where we bring in a few cowards and pretty soon everybody's a coward Is that that's what's that that's what'll happen? Look at the spies They came back and they're like those people are huge We're like grasshoppers and everybody was like this. It's spread amongst everyone Look, they didn't want people fighting alongside them Whose minds were on their houses their property or even their new wife The Bible says it's exactly the same turn to Luke chapter 14. It's exactly the same as the New Testament army And Jesus talked about it quite a bit actually look at Luke chapter 14 and verse number 16 Luke chapter 14 and verse number 16 The Bible says Then he said unto him a certain man made a great supper and bade many and he sent his servant supper to the time to sing Supper time to them that were bidden saying come for all things are now ready And they all with one consent began to make excuse the first said unto him I bought a piece of ground and I must needs go and see it. I pray they have me excused another said I bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them I pray they have me excused another said I've married a wife and therefore I can't come look These are the same I get that this has got application to salvation, but these are the same Excuses that people gave to not coming to this marriage the property the work the wife or you could even take that into family This comply to us as well This is the same reason that you know, we don't have as many people as we need to Fight this aren't with this army. We don't have enough people in this army Well, when you think about the army that we are building to carry the gospel. These are the main roadblocks right here The same roadblocks as in the Old Testament you think about it think about it What it's because people are pursuing this stuff. What are they pursuing? They're pursuing I Mean this is the stuff that people will throw their whole life away on the things that I just listed to you They're pursuing work They're pursuing their work. I mean think about this one works both ways. I Mean they're pursuing they're too into their work. They're pursuing that they're too into a career They don't have time for anything spiritual my my colleague Just pursuing work the Christian can do that as well you could pursue work so much That you have no time for anything spiritual and be completely saved Happens all the time, you know, this one works two ways. There's two sides of this coin Maybe you know you have somebody just doesn't want to work. They're like allergic to work Lots of people like that too, but guess what in Ephesians chapter 4 it says the work of the ministry The ministry's work How about your wife or even family? I mean look that derails people That messes people up that stops people from joining the army that one thing right there property houses the vineyard People obsess over that stuff to the point where they will not join the army And here's the thing we can't have we could never have an army that was effective for carrying the gospel if We brought these people in and that's all they cared about it wouldn't work They were just fearful and all they cared about was worldly things. They just wouldn't work It would ruin the goodness of the army that we had I Guess there's nothing new under the Sun, you know, it not only stops people from joining the army these things It was the same thing that they were concerned about in the Old Testament with the physical army fighting the physical war but look Second Timothy chapter 2 it says that people will get entangled with these things And it'll destroy the effectiveness of our army turn to Matthew chapter 19 turn to Matthew chapter 19 Matthew chapter 19 look at verse number 29, but Jesus addresses this he addresses this he understands that if you have an army That's gonna carry the gospel. He's like you're gonna have a bunch of people that aren't affected by this stuff that aren't affected by the the property and the work and the world and the thorns of of this life Around their neck that are gonna choke them and choke their spiritual life out of them. Look at verse 29 That's why Jesus says in everyone that forsake at houses or brethren or sisters. I mean you've seen a pattern here Or father or mother or wife or children or lands For my name's sake because look if you're gonna join the army, that's what you have to do If you're gonna join the army if it's gonna be an effective army This is what the people the soldiers in the army are gonna have to do they're gonna have to forsake these things Jesus knew it Jesus knew it. Look what he says. They shall receive a hundred fold And she'll inherit everlasting life everlasting life not and she'll inherit everlasting life See how I just an inflection on a word can change doctrine You won't see you have to work to get saved. No They'll receive a hundred fold along with their everlasting life folks So look, I mean if we do this effectively if we build this army Effectively look and here this kind of the point this kind of that the motivating point of this goal right here Is if we build this army effectively and that's it's never it's never really been about the numbers to me It's been more about the the army being ready to do the right thing It's about the army having forsaken these things, I mean is that wrong is that not what I've been preaching for the last 300 sermons I Mean it just it's about forsaking these things so we can have this army Well, and then once we get that army. I wonder how many people we can get saved. I Mean I wonder how effective we can actually be You know back to my second point of you know when the battle heats up When the battle heats up, you know, it's about the gospel You're gonna need that hardness But here's here's the thing here's the thing about that second point that the one word gospel Here's the thing about the gospel. Here's the thing your life is probably gonna get tough at some point You know life is life is peaks and valleys That's just the way it is. It's probably gonna get tough at some point But as tough as it gets if you're in this army, here's the thing the gospel is always your fallback position You say I don't understand What you're saying? Here's the thing you need to understand this. I'm gonna explain it to you as best I can The gospel is my fallback position. What does that mean? It's it's what has driven my decisions for the last six years the gospel You say what do you mean? Okay? Well, what do you mean decisions? Well the decision to to move to, California It's a big decision Decision to move to California. Okay, give up a career give up a business move to California. You're like, ah like ah It's a lot of it's a lot of decisions to make. Oh, but the gospel Like, okay, that's the other decision to change jobs. Ah Oh, but the gospel That's it. That's the fallback That's the fallback when you have doubts in your life the decision to move we got a good church and it you know There's like the best ever in Sacramento It's like I'll always remember those years there. It was awesome. I Mean the best friends ever the best church ever the best pastor. I mean no offense I mean, but you know, I mean everything was great there and moved to Fresno Move to Fresno. Oh But the gospel It's always the fallback position. Are you getting it? Are you getting it? How about how about change jobs again? Oh Ah, oh, but the gospel Look if moving to Fresno was to get one person saved it'd be worth it Think about that when you go soul-winning Think about that when you go to church if the goal of your life is to get one more person saved It's worth it It's worth giving up all the houses and the land and the cars and the whatever To get one person saved But instead it was hundreds of people in Fresno that have been saved 18 just yesterday look I saw grown men cry yesterday Literally the gospel that's why That's why that is the point look but we'll never fully achieve Because most people don't want it So we got to go and we got to dig we got to find the people that want it we got to go get them It takes work. It takes hardness It takes enduring that it takes an army that's made of the right things In that army What the army needs when you read about those battles and you read about those people in the Old Testament? That's exactly what you have to have It's the same But we'll never fully achieve it not even close on this one not even close Like I said brother Stucky figured 98% unsaved. No, I think he was 99. I was 98 because I was the pessimist But look most people aren't gonna they're not gonna want it So that's a tough goal But it's a worthy goal and guess what the gospel the gospel will keep you grounded because whenever you have doubts about Anything in your life. It's always true It's always true and it's always your job To carry it. It's always your job to be that ambassador. It's it's your fallback no matter what's going on No matter what's going on in your life good times bad times. It's it's sad, but the good times usually is when we forget about it It's when the good times come is when we're like yeah, I'm taking a sabbatical from the army you think it'd be the other way around But it's not God blesses your life, and that's when you say you know what I'm going on leave for a while Or I'm going AWOL for a while happens all the time But the gospel is your fallback Folks, what's the third one? I told you these goals. I told you these goals are getting progressively harder You're like what could be harder than that Like what could be harder than that? What could be harder than trying to go out and get 99% of the world to accept Something that they don't want What could be harder than that? Well, here's the next one that motivates me and this is the last one. I'm going to list this evening. Maybe Maybe we can raise a godly next generation This is a big one This is a big one and it's funny because it's not funny, but it's it's one It's one that not many people in the Bible achieved. I mean it's depressing When you look at the great men of the Bible and you look at this goal Most of them failed, but what if we can do it? What if we can do it? Look here's the thing. I'm already seeing that too. I'm an expert at trends I'm an expert. I can see trends of things. It's just I don't know. It's just 20 years of looking for trends I can see trends and let me tell you something. I got five years of data now. I Got five years of data points on this one. I Came to Verity Baptist Church in 2016 and look many kids since I've been here a lot of them are here today Many kids when I got to California. They're just kids They're just little kids And you're like does it work is this goal achievable is this whole idea that we're doing is it is you know I get it. We talk about it a lot, but does it work? Look, I seen just kids five years ago, and now they are adults serving the Lord on their own accord How's that for a trend? It's working these look forget about what you hear on Social media or whatever that is real It's happening It's happening, and we are and you are watching it happen You are seeing it happen. It's God's word working in their lives Is what it is and that motivates me That is a great motivation to me watching the word of God produce The next generation and this next generation that comes up. They pay no attention to the status quo Status quo is powerful the status quo is ruining 99% of people in this country And yet these kids are Bucking that status quo. That's the trend that I see That's the data points that I put together. That's what I'm saying. What guess what that's what I'm seeing here That's what I'm seeing here It pains me to think it pains me to think on this goal that we might not achieve it fully, but we probably won't We may lose some here or there, you know this guy a guy I talked to yesterday I come up to him and you know we're soul winning and I ask him the question He's sitting on his porch on his front lawn and ask him You know I'm talking to him about you know eternal life and if he wants to know if he's going to heaven He's like no, but I want my kids to go to heaven You're like, okay That's a completely natural feeling that you would want your kids to go to heaven. Let me help you with that You know, let me help you with that and then I want it. I want to show him the Bible That show that I can show him how he can get to heaven Because he's more concerned about his kids, but hey, we got to focus on you for a minute And then we'll get to your kids And you know, I don't know I don't know if I could have said something different or what but the guy just had the guy They just had no interest. I mean talk about just like a twisted logic a Twisted reality, but here's the thing folks. Here's the thing if you care about the next generation your life matters Your life means everything look your walk matters Your walk matters for the next generation look I'm not I'm I don't I'm gonna forget about God's word But I want my kids to follow it what in the world What Bible are you reading? It's not gonna work folks that look this guy didn't have a clue, but you you should know that You should know that like I'm gonna jump in that hole. I'm just gonna go in there. Your kids are gonna go in there, too I mean, what can you say? You don't care about yourself. Do you care about your kids? What maybe that'll motivate people Motivates me. It's like look wake up your kids are gonna follow you in and You're saved buddy And this is a really selfish thing about it right here This is the really selfish thing about the hypocritical parent that's gonna live a hypocritical life right here They're gonna jump in the hole They're gonna land the hole They're gonna land. They're gonna wallow in the hole You know what they're saved though You got little kids You want them to be saved You know, why don't you relate that to your kids? How about how about you not live a hypocritical life? So your kids when somebody comes up to them probably you with the Bible, you know, they don't laugh in your face Because you're wallowing in a hole That's where it matters Look if you could if you could give me the option like hey, man Somebody's going to hell you or your kids. I'm like me Every time any any father that's worth anything would say me, but that's not how it works That's not how God designed salvation You can't just trade places with people. This isn't the Catholic Church You can't write somebody a check Look you got to get saved and then you got to walk it because that's how you get the next generation in it Look that motivates me That motivates me because it's look it's hard It's hard to do that's why so many people fail at it So there you have it folks. I mean, it's not complicated It's not complicated the things that that motivate me here, you know preach the Bible Teach people how to do this life, right? God gives us all the directions number two train train the wards army to preach the gospel to the lost And then raise a next generation of god Fearing children. That's what drives me. I mean You say, you know At the end of the day, that's it for me. You're like, man, that seems too simple But here's the thing at the end of the day. It's really about just spending this life in a worthy cause That that's it to steal a quote from taty Roosevelt But I mean that that's and and that's it. That's all it is It's pretty simple But it's hard It's simple, but it's hard To spend this life in a worthy cause, but the thing is folks. We only have one to spend We only have one to spend now Let me take some time here at the end to thank my family especially for The last two years. I want to thank them for their hard work And their their sacrifices that they've made. I want to thank ashley Ashley, you are the music ministry You know, you've you've been with your mother. You've you know, every you know, every single cleaning day These kids are there next to their mother And and they're working They're in the work of the ministry garret I don't even know like How you do all the stuff that you do I have nothing to do with the youtube stuff or cool videos or anything like that and just let me say I got a bunch of words here You're a better man at 19 than I was when I was 30 Don't don't get puffed up Jacob, you're there helping your mother Every single day Every single day And uh My wife Like I said, I have I mean you are so wise You are so wise So many times you think you don't see much of her You don't you certainly don't hear much from her, but so many times I've gone to my wife and I was like I got this idea I got this idea for a sermon and she's like, oh, you can't say that You can't preach that Everyone's gonna hate you I'm rough. I'm rough around the edges. She's the sandpaper Think about it that way and you know, you ever seen that you ever seen that bumper sticker of of People that you know some guys got this bumper sticker and says I love my wife You know the bumper sticker I'm talking about it. Am I the only one to seen it? I've always thought that guy was lame You know, I'm just like you need a bumper sticker You love your wife, you know, but I'll tell you what I love my wife And she's proof if you've ever wondered the answer to this doctrinal question She's proof that god answers the the prayers of the unsaved If you think does god answer the prayers of the unsafe he does She's sitting right back there 22 years And every year is better than the last one And guys, I think if you're gonna put a a measuring stick on your life, that's a pretty good one If you look at your marriage and you say, you know what? Anniversary time was last year was this year better than last year? And if every year just keeps getting better I think I think you're doing something right world class World class I would have failed if it was for her so many things So many things I want to thank the church family I got in the car on wednesday night With ashley and garret and the first thing that they said to me Was our church family is awesome It's so generous So spirit-filled I'm sorry. I mean, look, there's there's a lot of words. They're gonna be said today. There aren't the words There aren't the words. I'm so excited For the future with this group of people. There's no group. Look, there's no group And I mean this from that from the bottom of my heart. There is no group That I would rather face the future with Than you all let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer