 Amen. So keep your place in Zephaniah chapter one. We're going to get back to that story in just a few minutes. But look at the front of your bulletins real quickly. Look at the verse of the week. So this evening, this morning we talked about how to financially get through hard times, some things that you can do in your life according to some principles from the Bible. In Proverbs 18 verse number nine, the Bible says, He that is slothful in His work is brother to Him that is a great waster. So we talked about wasting this morning. We talked about not being a waster, how we waste a lot of things in this country, and how we cannot waste things will help us in our lives as far as financially, as far as just physically things that we need. We looked at that. But look at the first part of the verse where it says, He that is slothful in His work. So here the Bible is comparing being slothful or what we would say as laziness. The Bible is comparing laziness to wasting. So laziness, think about what laziness is. We talk about laziness is the opposite of someone who's a hard worker. So if you're lazy, you're not a hard worker. That's kind of the two ends of those spectrums right there. But the point is, is that laziness is a result of something. Laziness is something that you already are. Laziness, if you're familiar with the cause and effect, paragraphs from eighth grade English class or whatever it is, is that there was a cause of something and then there was an effect. So if somebody did something in it, the effect was this. Laziness is an effect of something. So somebody is lazy, it's something that they're doing. It's something that they're even though they're doing nothing as being lazy. But it's an effect. Turn to Isaiah. Keep your place in Zephaniah chapter one. And then turn to Isaiah chapter 32. And the thing that laziness is an effect of is this. It's this idea of complacency. So the sermon tonight is on complacency and what the problem is with complacency. What is complacency? Complacency is literally, is not caring about something. So if you're complacent about something, you're careless about that thing. So many people are complacent about certain things in their life, but more and more you are seeing in the country, especially that we live in today, people that just don't seem to care about anything at all. All right, I saw a sign driving to church this morning, a sign on the freeway. And it said, it said, don't drive drunk, it said. And that's not all that it said though. It said, no, it said drunk driving saves lives. That's what it said. And then at the bottom part of the, there was another part that said, the life saved could be your own. And I'm thinking that's pretty brilliant for that person who wrote that because it says drunk driving saves lives, but here's the thing. A lot of people don't care about other people's lives. So they put another addition to that phrase that, hey, it could be even your own life because they're hoping that person that wrote that is hoping that this person at least cares about their own life. They may be a selfish person that's complacent about all the lives of the people around them, but they're trying to really point to that selfish person and say, look, even your own life because they're trying to just grab on to maybe the last thing that that person who's going to drive drunk actually cares about because people are so complacent today that it's not a guarantee that you would care about the lives of other people. That's why they put that second line on that freeway sign here on, you know, on the freeway. So look, complacency, laziness, it comes from complacency. If you're lazy, if you don't work hard, you just lay around, that's all you do. You're already lazy. It's just you don't care and you've become lazy. Look at Isaiah chapter 32 and look at verse number nine. Look what the Bible says. It says, rise up. Isaiah was a prophet, you know, at the end of the lower kingdom of Judah's reign. He says, rise up, ye women that are at ease. Hear my voice, ye careless daughters. I'm sorry, he was a prophet of Judah during the northern kingdom's Assyrian takeover or Assyrian when the Assyrian Empire destroyed them. Rise up, ye women that are at ease. Hear my voice, ye, what does it say? Ye careless daughters. Give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled ye careless women. Hear he says, careless again. For the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. It says, tremble ye women that are again, what does it say? At ease. Be troubled ye careless ones. Strip you and make you bear and gird sackcloth upon your loins. So here, Isaiah, I'm going to give you three thoughts about complacency this evening and this leads us into our first thought right here. Notice how he says, he's like, he's trying to get them up. He's like, he's trying to get their attention. He's like, wake up, rise up, and they're careless. How many times has he said the word careless? They don't care about anything. He's like, don't care. He's like, you're careless. He doesn't mean they're careless like they stumble around. He means they literally don't care about anything. And he's saying, look, you should be trembling. He's like, you should be trembling. You should not be these complacent people. So the first point I want to make about complacency this evening is this. Complacency comes from comfort. Complacency comes from comfort. Now do you see why it's an American problem? Complacency, look at verse number 11. He says, tremble ye women. He's saying, be afraid. Tremble. He's like, be scared. Be fearful. Instead, what are they? What are the next words? He says, ye women that are at ease. They're just, they're totally relaxed. Isn't that the opposite of trembling? They're totally relaxed when they should be in fear. He's trying to convince them. Turn to Revelation chapter 3. So the first point I want to make about complacency, I want to kind of give you an idea of where it comes from. Okay? How do people, because we can look at these three points that I'm going to make, and then we can look at complacency, and we can look at these three points, and we can make sure that we don't become complacent. We can, we can see the complacency. We can understand how so many people are becoming complacent today, but we can also take heed for ourselves that we don't become complacent in our lives. So here there is these women that were at ease. They were, they were, everyone was just relaxed, and he's saying, tremble. Be afraid. Look at the church in Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3. We see something very similar in Revelation chapter 3. We study through these churches. Laodicea, they were neither cold nor hot. They were just kind of meh. They were just kind of there. All right? But look what he says in verse 17. Look what Jesus says in verse 17. He says, because thou sayest. So first of all, the first thing you need to understand about verse 17 here is, is this real? Is this a real thing? It says, because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and what? And have need of nothing. So the first thing you need to understand is these people are very comfortable. That's the first point on complacency. But look what he says next. He says, and no, it's not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. So these people in this church are like, we're good. They're like, we're good. We have nothing that we need. We're rich. We don't need anything. But the point I'm trying to get at is, was that the truth? Was it the truth that they needed nothing? Was it the truth that they were increased in goods? No. It said that Jesus himself says, you're wretched. You're miserable. You're poor. He says, and they think that they're the opposite. Doesn't that sound familiar to Isaiah chapter 32? Where the women are just completely at ease? And he's saying, no, you should be afraid. It's kind of like somebody, just imagine, you know, a picture of somebody sitting on a train track, just sitting there and just meditating on a train track as a freight train is bearing down upon them. This is the kind of picture that Jesus is giving in Revelation chapter 3, and that Isaiah was giving in Isaiah chapter 32. He's like, you're at ease and you should be afraid. You should be going up to that person on the train track and saying, you don't seem to care about anything right now, but there's a train right there. You should care. Okay? Now just think about this. Think about, you say complacency. Why is it such a big problem? Think about if Satan could convince people that they had no need of salvation. Imagine. Imagine if Satan could convince people to be complacent about their need for salvation. Because think about, I mean, think about how silly this is. What are we doing when we go out soul-winning? Are we selling something? Are we selling anything? You know, I knock on no soliciting doors all the time because I'm not selling anything. We're actually showing people how to get something that's free. But the vast majority of people don't want it. Imagine if you're walking around with bags of gold. And imagine nobody wanting it. But that's what we're talking about. We're literally walking around with the instruction for people to have eternal life. And most people don't want it. Why? Because Satan has convinced them to be complacent. They don't care. They're at ease. They're not trembling about anything. That's why when we do talk to somebody, what's the first thing that we do? We don't talk to them about, here's how you get eternal life immediately. We talk to them about their sin. We talk to them about the consequences for their sin. Because what are we trying to do? We're trying to get them from that place of ease to a place where they're trembling. They're afraid. Because that is what? That's the truth. The truth is that they're miserable. They're poor. They're wretched. Anybody who's ever been saved realizes that they were miserable. They were poor and they're wretched. Look, they may have thought before somebody talked to them about the gospel that I don't really need anything. Thank God they had enough motivation or right spirit within them to listen to the Word of God so they could get to that point. But complacency is the problem today. People just don't care. Look, this idea of complacency, this idea that people just don't care, it's sending people straight to hell. It's a big deal and the Bible talks a lot about it. This is the American problem today. Because guess what? Ease. Comfort. Sitting back on your lease, as we just heard in Zephaniah chapter one. Everybody wants to be comfortable today. I mean, that's the goal for people today is to just be comfortable. I was explaining, Jacob and I were working yesterday and I was explaining it to them, the idea of a vacation. You know, this concept of a vacation and I was telling them, like, you know what? When we go camping and we go fishing, like, it's way more fun when it's sandwiched between hard work. Like, hard work, hard work, hard work, fishing. And then, hard work, hard work, hard work. That vacation, just all that much more enjoyable. Because guess what? Think about the last vacation that you went on. You think about the last vacation you went on. You know that if that would just be your life, because this is what people want to do. This is what the rich people do. This is what the celebrities do or whatever. People that have all kinds of money, this is what they do. They just make their life a perpetual vacation. If you went on a vacation, think about your last vacation, wherever you were. Maybe you went, you know, to some place on the coast or wherever you went. If you would just stay there and that would be your life, you would be miserable. But you would get sick of it. You would be bored. You would be miserable. But people want to, like, have their life become a perpetual vacation. It doesn't work that way. You would just be miserable. You have to sandwich it between hard work. And then it's rewarding. That's why a vacation feels like a vacation. Even, look, even secular people have figured this out. There's a, there's a guy that wrote a book. And I don't endorse this guy. I've only heard about him a couple of times. I'm sure that, you know, I don't endorse him at all. I don't endorse the book either. But it's interesting some things that secular people observe. His name is Michael Easter, and he wrote a book called The Comfort Crisis. Think about that. The Comfort Crisis in the United States. He says he makes the, he makes the case, Easter makes the case that modern life might be too cushy for our emotional and psychological well-being. You know, I love when, like, you know, modern, you know, journalists and scientists, like, catch up to the Bible. Right? I love that. She's saying that, like, this life of comfort may not be good for us. Imagine that. When all of our most fundamental needs, food, warmth and safety are so thoroughly and perpetually satisfied, he says we not only lose our appreciation for what we have, but we also move the goalposts and fixate on social comparisons that make us miserable. This is the keeping up with the Joneses. This is somebody that lives in a super nice neighborhood, in a super nice house, and all they could carry, all they think about now is, like, how somebody has it better than them. And then he says, quote, he says, a lot of people do not realize how good they have it because they have never had it bad. This is America, right here. This is America, right here. You know, this is the person that, you know, they get the house, and they got to get set up with the TV and the recliner, and, you know, they just want to sit home, and, you know, the second they experience, what are the three things that he named? Food, warmth and safety. Like, the second, this is why people waste so much effort, you know, to like, the second, this is why people waste so much food, by the way, as we talked about this morning, is because God forbid, you would experience hunger for an hour before supper time. Because the minute anybody in this country experiences any kind of hunger, they're like, ah, cheetos, or whatever. And then dinner time comes around, and they don't want to eat their food. Because that's how we become great wasters, but the point is, it's just nobody wants to, we have this philosophy in this country that any kind of struggle, any kind of discomfort, anything but complete ease is bad. And that's wrong. That's wrong. People have never been cold, they've never been hot, you know, if they're hungry for five seconds, they eat something right away, I mean, they're in the safety of their own home, they're trying to be on a perpetual vacation, any kind of discomfort, and they just can't handle it. This is how people get complacent. They're too comfortable. They're too comfortable. Now go back to Zephaniah chapter 1. So we see, the first point I'm trying to get you to understand is where complacency comes from. Complacency comes from this idea of being careless, of not caring about anything. It comes from too much ease as the King's Bible, in the King James Bible would say it comes from too much too much comfort, as even modern psychologists have figured out. But look at Zephaniah chapter 1. Look at Zephaniah chapter 1. Look at verse number 12. Zephaniah chapter 1. So he's a prophet at the time of King Josiah, you know, right, you know, just a few years before, you know, Judah is going to be taken into captivity, but look what he says in verse 12. He says, it shall come to pass in that time. Remember, these people are sitting on their leaves, they're just relaxing. Again, there it is as well, just like Isaiah chapter 32. It shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles and punish the men that are settled on their leaves that say in their hearts. So God saying, guess what, God saying I'm the freight train. It's like I'm the freight train bearing down the tracks. And he said, I'm going to punish the men that are settled on their leaves that say in their hearts, the Lord is good, neither will he do evil. This is another level of complacency right here. So these people, not only were they so comfortable that they were just complacent, they didn't care about anything, they actually transferred that on to God. Those people are, they said, you know what, God is just like that too. These people actually said that God is complacent. Like God doesn't care what's going on here. They turned to Jeremiah chapter 6. They said the Lord will not do good neither will he do evil. You know what that means? You know what that means? Here's a translation. Translation is, God doesn't care. That's what those people said in Zephaniah chapter 1. And God through the prophet Zephaniah was saying, I do care and I'm coming to punish you. And these were the people that said, God doesn't care. He doesn't care if we do good. He doesn't care if we do bad. They actually thought God was complacent as well. Look at Jeremiah chapter 6. We see more people like this. More people like this. These people were against the prophets. The prophets are just yelling. There's a train coming. Trains coming down the tracks. Trains coming down the tracks. And all these people were against the prophets saying there's no train. God doesn't care. God's complacent. Look at verse 13 of Jeremiah chapter 6. We're just looking at a couple examples. There's dozens and dozens of examples like this in the Bible. Otherwise, they would have listened to the prophets. If they cared and they were not complacent, they would have listened to the prophets. Look what these people said. From the least of them even unto the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness. So these people are in terrible sin. And from the prophet even unto the priest they even deal with falsely. So here he's saying everybody's greedy. He's saying everybody in this nation is greedy. They're covetous. And the prophet and the priest are a bunch of thieves. Is what he's saying. Even the holy people are a bunch of thieves. You know, a bunch of crooks. Look what he says in verse 14. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly sing. So this is what he's saying. He's saying all these prophets and priests here's what they've said to the people. Here's how they've healed them. Here's how they've made them feel better. They've healed the daughter healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying peace, peace. But guess what? When there is no peace. Very similar to Isaiah chapter 32 and Revelation chapter 3. These prophets are out there saying this is the pastor today that gets up and says there's nothing wrong with what's going on in this country. It's okay to murder babies. It's okay to be a pervert. It's okay to do all these. Whatever. God will neither do good nor he'll do bad. This is what people, I mean it's happening today folks. It's happening today. Jeremiah spoke of the modern day pastor in Jeremiah chapter 6. Where he says what are they saying? They're saying peace, peace. Hey, love. Love everybody. Love. It's all good. It's all good. But look there is no peace. That's the problem. The problem is what they're saying is not the truth. In Jeremiah chapter 6. I mean to be one thing if just peace, peace because that's what the Bible says. But Jeremiah is saying that they're saying peace and it's making the people feel better. But the train is still coming. All they're doing is making the people feel better as they sit on the tracks. But the train is still going to hit them. That's the problem. That's the problem with Revelation chapter 3, Isaiah chapter 32 and Jeremiah chapter 6 that we just looked at. Complacency is an illusion. This is the problem. So that's point number 2. All that to say that complacency is an illusion. So complacency is too much comfort. Too much comfort. And complacency is fake. That's the problem. So when you knock on all these people's door look when you knock on somebody's door and they're sitting there and you open the door like a cloud of marijuana smoke comes out of there and they're just like, hey man we're fine. There's all good here. Hey you know God bless you. You want to hear you know what the Bible, no it's fine. Look, hell is going to be just as real a person. Whether they care or not. This is how Satan wins through complacency. Too much comfort and guess what? It's an illusion. Because it doesn't matter that you care about nothing. It doesn't matter that people in these neighborhoods that we knock on their doors they literally, you will find these people now it seems like they literally care about nothing. I mean it's one thing like you know that you just don't care about anything but you really care about like your car. Or you know you really care about your job. You only care about things that pertain to you personally. You're just really selfish. But you just run into people today where it seems like they literally care about nothing. They answer the door you look at them you're like you clearly don't care about yourself you know they're just, they're a wreck. They don't care, I mean it's two o'clock in the afternoon it's three o'clock in the afternoon we'll knock on people's door it's four thirty in the afternoon on a week day. And you know they got they're in their pajamas they even had a haircut for I don't know a year. They clearly don't know anything look they don't care about anything. Because I have to I have to think that the last thing that you stop caring about is yourself personally. If you don't care about like your own health your own condition of yourself you clearly probably don't care about much at all is what I'm seeing when I see those people. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 this is people today they just don't care about anything but what's the truth the truth is is that that train is still coming that train is still coming. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 look at verse number 3 again the bible says for when they shall say peace and safety then what then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape it's not going to make any difference folks the only difference for people that don't care about anything is that they're not going to know that destruction is there until it's it's upon them it's right there they sit on those train tracks they're not fearing the train coming so they're never going to get off the tracks unfortunately but this is why we walk around with our free bags of salvation and nobody wants them well I mean not nobody but I mean many people don't want them because they are complacent they literally don't care about anything. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4 let me give you the third point complacency and this is one that we need to pay attention to as well because you're like I'm not complacent good I'm glad you're not complacent but here's another you know why we need to really watch ourselves from becoming complacent people look at Ephesians chapter 4 and look at verse number 19 Ephesians chapter 4 look at verse number 19 the bible says in Ephesians 4 19 it says who being past feeling underline those two words in your bible have given themselves over until lasciviousness that means like uncontrolled lust to work all uncleanness with greediness so these people are just like they're just lustful people they're in all sorts of sin, uncleanness greediness, covetousness so here's what I want to here's the connection I want to make for you for the third point the third point is this complacency becoming a complacent person it always leads to sin so whenever you see somebody that's complacent you're going to see somebody that is they're deeply in sin you say how do I know that because if they if you find somebody that just cares about nothing they're past feeling they've lost that self-discipline they've lost that conscience they've lost the ability to control themselves turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 9 Paul talks about this Paul talks about this they just look they just don't care they just don't care so they're led basically it works this way they don't care about anything so they're led by the flesh they're led by whatever desire that they have I'm hungry now, eat you know I feel like sinning they're just not nothing stops them from going into sin so complacency the third point is this complacency always leads to sin in people's lives because people just don't care if it feels good they do it if their body their flesh which is the opposite of what we should be following as Christians if their flesh tells them to do it they just do it because they don't care look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 27 look what Paul says that he does Paul being led by the Spirit being somebody that is trying to do the right things for the Lord look what he says in verse 27 of 1 Corinthians chapter 9 he says I myself should be a castaway Paul here is saying is that I keep my body under he's talking about his flesh he's talking about his flesh the desires of his body he says you know what I keep that under control is what he says and I bring it into subjection subjection of what subjection of the spirit that is in him he's letting he's saying the spirit in me controls my body he's like I am controlling that he's like let's by any means when I preach to others I myself should be a castaway he's not talking about being cast away from God he's talking about being a hypocrite to people that he preaches to he's talking about somebody that would go and preach be a guest preacher and start churches and train pastors and then just be known to be in all this sin that he has no control over himself he's saying no he's like I keep in subjection so complacency this is the thing we need to realize as Christians complacency is not neutral you're like I just don't care but here's the thing the default is sin the default being complacent means you follow your sinful desires you must care and keep this body as Paul says in subjection if you're not caring will always lead people into sin so that's another thing I think about when you meet somebody at the door they just care about nothing I'm just like man they just must be in all kinds of sin and I'm sure that they are because somebody that doesn't care about anything is just going to be following whatever lusts and lasciviousness and desires that their body wants and that will lead you into horrible sin so as Christians so those are the three points the three points is complacency not caring about anything it comes from too much comfort you're like I like to be comfortable look it's not good for you it's not good for you to be too comfortable and if you get, here's the thing as a saved believer if you get too comfortable if that leads you down these and you start to believe the illusion that's point number two that there is no consequences that there is no train coming look you're not going to lose your salvation but there's consequences to the chastisement of the Lord and you will pay for the things that you do on this earth if you believe that you fall into that illusion you will fall into sin the bible says so we need to be careful look back at verse number 24 of verse 1 Corinthians chapter 9 look at verse number 24 let's think about this from our own perspective as Christians how can we be careful well Paul in the verses before talking about how he keeps his body under control he shows us how to not be complacent isn't that interesting how he ties self control with showing us how to not be complacent in our lives look at verse 24 of 1 Corinthians chapter 9 he says let me translate that for you there's a lot of people that run in a race but only one person wins that's what he's saying he's like everybody runs but only one person wins he says so run that you may obtain now he's talking about the race of the Christian life but he's comparing it to a secular race or a secular mastery of something look at the next verse again he's still kind of using this in a secular comparison in verse 25 and he says and every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things now I'll explain that in just a minute but he says now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown so he's saying somebody in a worldly competition you know they're doing it to obtain a corruptible crown like a trophy or something that's silly that's corruptible he's saying they're doing it to win a worldly prize okay but look what he says he says every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things you know what that means he's like if you want to master something you must be temperate you know what temperate means it must be self-discipline he's comparing he's saying even people that do worldly competitions and strive for worldly things know this hello even the world knows this is what Paul is saying he's saying you cannot master anything without self-discipline okay so look the first thing is this you say I don't want to be complacent well here's the thing strive for mastery strive for mastery ask yourself this men women kids in the room do you strive for mastery in your life because this is what Paul is telling you to do he's saying strive for mastery see here's the problem if all you want is comfort you will never be a master of anything just think of just a like Paul is using a secular example let's think of a secular example think about your job your work think about your job everybody just wants to be comfortable in their job everybody wants to nobody wants to go to work and feel like an idiot who wants to go to work and feel like an idiot nobody wants to do that that's what you should do why? you should go to work and you should figure out your job and then you should figure out you know how to do the next hardest thing at that job here's the trick folks let me tell you guys you young men something keep yourself confused when I had my first job out of college I thought it was an absolute fool for two years I'd go home and I'd tell my wife I don't know if I'm smart enough for this it's like just when I think I have it there's some other complicated aspect of it but guess what you get it but then you know what you should do then you guess what you get comfortable you figure out how to do something it's the same thing with ladies, homeschooling whatever it is that you do raising your children you know what you get in a routine you get good at it but guess what keep yourself confused go push yourself to the next level find out you know what you don't do what kind of skills does he have that I don't have and learn those things always be keeping yourself confused don't get comfortable because if you get comfortable you will never become a master you will never achieve mastery look this takes years this takes decades I mean studies have shown it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at anything 10,000 hours that's like 4 years but then what then you master that one thing then you get comfortable and chill out for the next 30 years that's what most people do but that's not striving for mastery you have to strive 10,000 hours strive again keep striving keep yourself confused in your life you know what that takes because you know what your flesh wants your flesh wants comfort your flesh wants to sit back on your lease your flesh wants to be at ease as the Bible is telling us but you know what you need to be temperate you need to be self-disciplined is what Paul is saying Paul is saying you want to become a master you want to strive for mastery self-discipline means you keep under your body your body says comfort you say no forward this is what Paul is saying this is how to avoid becoming a complacent person but it takes temperance it takes self-discipline it takes telling your body and your mind to go where it doesn't want to go that's what it takes you should always be pushing yourself to things you don't know look at verse 26 but is he really talking about a race I mean these are all great concepts to take to work these are all great concepts to take raising your kids these are all great concepts to take personally for anything that you do maybe you just have goals you just have fitness goals you have just secular goals that you want to just health goals whatever and you want to just do that look because you just want to get ice cream you want to not work out sometimes you want to do these things you want to be complacent you want to be comfortable you have to push your body to do things it doesn't want to do but really what he's relating this to is the Christian life is what he's relating it to you should strive for mastery in the Christian life because just like that secular job just like whatever goals you have in your secular goals you know what this is how growth occurs this is how growth occurs as you and guess what as you grow in the Christian life God will open doors for you I mean keep in mind that what does God need God needs people the laborers are few the harvest is plenty God needs people it's like a company that needs a million people and God has ten there's always job openings so he's looking that's what Paul is saying strive for mastery in this thing don't be getting into sin because that's just going to derail your Christian life that's going to put you in the other direction he's like we need the people there's opportunity everywhere I mean this is the problem with the Christian the Christian race this is the problem right here it's like I mean what kind of race have you ever heard of where somebody did well where they ran the race for a while I mean think about how long is the race that Paul is talking about how long is the race isn't it second Timothy chapter 4 where Paul says he's like I've finished my course you know what he's talking about he's talking about his life he's talking about his whole life this race is our entire life how many races have you seen somebody do well in where they run they run really fast for like 1% of the race and then they stop they stop racing does that person do well in any race they stop maybe they start running again maybe they stop for 2 years and then they start running again they stop and then they never start maybe 15 years later they start look they're not going to do well in the race there is no good where I'm at in the Christian life you see what I'm saying this is the problem with this idea of retirement you know this idea of retirement like I'm not saying that you shouldn't save money and you shouldn't be responsible with your money that's not what I'm saying but this idea that I'm going to work really hard for 35 years so I can do nothing for the last 30 years of my life it's ridiculous it's ridiculous and it doesn't translate to the Christian life I ran the race all the way up to the end when you know I think they killed him you know that was when he says I finished my course that means like he's dead that's how long Paul ran the race there's no turn to mark chapter 4 here's another thing there's no just like cruise control in the Christian life either because if you're like yeah you know I think I'm doing enough right now I think I'm good you know I'm going to take a break you know work on my business or whatever it is I'm going to do here's the problem with the Christian life the Christian race the problem is this that as soon as as soon as this careless attitude comes in that it creates atrophy in the Christian life as soon as this idea of just not caring works its way into your Christian life look at mark chapter 4 and verse 18 these are the problems because then the thorns work against you in your life it says and these are they which are sewn amongst the thorns such as hear the word this is talking about the parable of the sower okay and the one that the seeds that were sewn among this thorns the word of God that was sewn among the thorns are people that hear the word and what the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches there's that illusion right there by the way the deceitfulness of riches and the loss of all other things entering in do what they choke the word and it become unfruitful as soon as you become this careless person in your Christian life that the Bible says it is going to destroy your spiritual life complacency will kill the spiritualness inside you that's what it's saying it'll choke out what you had that's why it's called deceit that's why it's called deceitfulness of riches just like the ladies Leo to see in church in Revelation chapter three they thought that they were rich but that is deceitful it's not real it's not real so that's what it's talking about in Mark chapter four when it says the deceitfulness it doesn't say riches it says the deceitfulness of riches it's just people that think yeah I'm just going to I'm just going to take some time I've met people like this like you know what I just need to step away from my Christian life for a little bit I'm just going to make a bunch of money and then I'm just going to do so much good in my life I've met several people in my life like that they're just like I just have to like do this really hard right now and I'm going to make a bunch of money and then I'm just going to like do all this spirit filled stuff with the money look it's deceitful because the problem is as soon as you go over here and you're focused on that it kills the spirit filled part of you it chokes it it chokes it it kills it and it's this idea this deceitfulness of riches too it's like the never-ending vacation if I could just if I could just be at Nottsbury farm every day if I could just be here every day I would be happy look it's deceitful because no you wouldn't you would be you would be literally miserable you know you think that's what will satisfy you but that's not what will happen it will kill your spiritual life you must keep growing you know that's that's retirement today is the perpetual 30 year vacation it's like and it never really works out that way look I've seen retirement destroy people I've seen retirement literally destroy people that I have known and loved my whole life it just why because it made them complacent and what does complacency lead to it leads into terrible sin matter of fact one case I won't mention any names but one case I can think about many many years ago as soon as the retirement of this individual happened and I saw you know what they were doing with their time I just told my wife it's like this is going to end horribly and it did complacency will destroy you it will destroy your spiritual life why because in the race goes to the end the race goes to the end you must keep reading you must keep serving you must keep studying you must keep working you must keep yourself growing in the Christian life because if you're not growing you're going backwards into complacency into sin think about soul winning think about soul winning as if we're all going to figure out this infinite book I mean give me a break every time I read it there's new stuff that pops up I mean every I mean look at the garments in the race what in the world look at how deep that is look at how deep these studies are in the Bible as if we're ever going to get it all soul winning as if we're ever going to master soul winning all the time out soul winning I'm always thinking how could I have done that better every single one of us has people probably every week if you saw in every week where you're just like man is there something I could have said that were to make that guy take it more seriously because there's something I could have said could I have been more persuasive could I have been more of a people person could I have been a better ambassador for Christ in that one particular situation I'm always thinking about that the one that kills me is just that the person that you know just has a great heart they just have a good heart and they're just on that bubble of like maybe I want to listen or maybe I don't but this complacency just it's balled them up it's wrapped them up and I'm just like what could I have possibly have said how could I be better to to get through to people like this because I know there's something you could say to get through to a lot of people but look it's all about growing in the Christian life this relentless pursuit of comfort in this country is destroying this country it's yielded it's yielded complacency out of that has come laziness look drugs and alcohol just make this easier for people alright but it's yielded a nation that says peace peace and guess what there is no peace in this country you know struggle is good folks struggle is good for us I remember like hard times they create a marker for us in our lives I remember a time many years ago where we had a car and the heater on the car I lived in North Dakota and it was 20 below zero and the heater on my car the fan blower didn't work and I didn't have 20 bucks to buy a part I didn't have the money to fix it and so in North Dakota if the fan motor on your heater doesn't work and you're driving in that kind of weather you will literally ice up your windshield outside with your breath I know it's hard for you to imagine that in California so I literally had to drive to work with my window down in order to stop my windshield from icing up because I just didn't have the money during that month to fix that that problem that happened you know I didn't have the money for it to this day whenever I have a car that breaks down because guess what folks cars break all of them it's just a matter of time and I either have the money to buy the part or I have the means to take it in and have it fixed I'm thankful for that I'm thankful I think back to that time I think back to you know driving down a country road in North Dakota when it's negative 20 degrees outside with my window down because I didn't have the money at that time to fix it but look even hard financial times I'm very thankful for those things I hit a grandpa my grandpa on my dad's side I was very close to him and he lived through and I just love this guy so much I loved his attitude and his perspective on things I was very close to this man I was as close to him as my own dad and he had lived through the Great Depression and if you've ever had a chance to become close to somebody who's lived through the Great Depression they have a much different perspective on things my grandpa would see us butcher chickens on the farm and he would just be appalled that we didn't pickle the feet of the chickens because we're wasting because he actually went through times when there was no food he went through times when there was no money he went through times where they had to literally go hungry because there was nothing to eat I mean unless you know somebody who lived through the 20s and 30s you can't even wrap your head around that concept today my grandpa he kept every single piece of the machinery that ever broke on the farm and he lined it on a fence no, because he never knew when he might need a part he never knew when you might need to take an old chain off of something and make a chain to work on a machine that you had back then you just had to keep things going and they appreciated not wasting things but those times in his life those hard times they defined the rest of his life so look folks if you're struggling in your life you may not rejoice in it at that time but you should because that struggle in your life will help you not become a complacent person as you live the rest of your life as you run the rest of your race which guess what in the Christian life it's your whole life it's your whole life so look America today this idea of complacency this is the number one problem we have with the gospel it's complacency it's that people don't care so with us in our lives let's not let it creep in even the slightest bit let's keep complacency out of our lives look it'll help you keep sin out of your life too it'll help you keep sin out of our lives but this is why this is the one reason you're saying why am I walking around you have those days out soul winning why am I walking around with these two bags of gold bars and nobody wants them it's because people are complacent they don't care they're sitting on their leaves they're at ease and they should be trembling let's not let it creep in to our Christian lives because we should always be striving for that mastery keeping ourselves temperant under control and just growing growing growing especially in our Christian lives we should be the opposite of complacence