Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. Be sure to subscribe
Speaker 1: so we can get you these new sermons every week.
Speaker 1: I hope you're blessed today.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Wow, what more times for the Lord? All right,
Speaker 2: praise God, you can be seated. I love you too.
Speaker 2: You know, we we tell each other we love each
Speaker 2: other all the time, but I really really do love Halloween, Stephen.
Speaker 2: And it's kind of funny you have connections with certain
Speaker 2: people and I met him, I don't know how many
Speaker 2: years ago at a Hillsong conference in Australia and there
Speaker 2: was just like an immediate bond. And so it's an
Speaker 2: honor for me to be here today. And I want
Speaker 2: to teach you something that will you'll enjoy have fun with,
Speaker 2: but it will also make you come a pyre because
Speaker 2: we're living in a day that really, to be honest,
Speaker 2: we talk about how hard it is, but God shows
Speaker 2: us for this time. We didn't just end up here
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty five accidentally. We're here for a purpose
Speaker 2: and the world is very dark, but we have the
Speaker 2: privilege of being lights in a dog for it. And
Speaker 2: I think we need to shine a lot little brighter
Speaker 2: than what we are. Amen. And you know, everybody, you
Speaker 2: all have a pulpit. Maybe it's not this one. It
Speaker 2: might be your backyard fence or your desk at work,
Speaker 2: but you've all got a pulpit. And most people that
Speaker 2: will come to the Lord will come through somebody like you.
Speaker 2: Your influence, because the ones that really need it aren't
Speaker 2: here today. But they are different places in your world.
Speaker 2: And really we're not supposed to be doing all the
Speaker 2: work anyway, Paul said. You train them up so they
Speaker 2: go out and do the work of the ministry. You know. Well,
Speaker 2: first of all, I'll tell you I have four grown children,
Speaker 2: and my baby will be forty five in December. My
Speaker 2: oldest son will be sixty. I don't know how that
Speaker 2: all worked out, since I'm only fifty's that's an odd thing.
Speaker 2: But we have four grown children. Dave actually ended up
Speaker 2: with some kind of virus and couldn't come this weekend.
Speaker 2: And we have four grown children. We have twelve grandchildren
Speaker 2: and twelve great grandchildren. And so I feel like all
Speaker 2: I do is write checks all year, don't take them
Speaker 2: very long, and all they wants money, like five or
Speaker 2: six years old, they got their hand out for the cash.
Speaker 2: Dave and I in January will be married fifty nine years,
Speaker 2: and we are not alike at all. So don't tell
Speaker 2: me that you can't get along with somebody that's different
Speaker 2: than you are, because you can if you want to.
Speaker 2: And I've actually had the great privilege. I can't. I
Speaker 2: can't think of having the privilege of doing anything greater
Speaker 2: than actually handling and teaching the Word of God, the
Speaker 2: most important thing that we have. And I've been teaching
Speaker 2: for fifty years, and i want to talk to you
Speaker 2: today about well. I actually put two titles on it.
Speaker 2: The first one was acceptable Sins, which I think that
Speaker 2: we think there are some of those, and I think
Speaker 2: there are things that are sin that we have forgotten
Speaker 2: our sin. But I decided to change the title to
Speaker 2: just a little bit, because you know, that's the biggest
Speaker 2: lie the devil tells people. It's just a little bit,
Speaker 2: that's not a big deal, that doesn't matter. I think
Speaker 2: the hardest thing for a sincere Christian to do is
Speaker 2: to keep the balance between holiness and legalism, because see,
Speaker 2: I've been legalistic, and I don't want to be legalistic.
Speaker 2: I don't want to feel like I can never do
Speaker 2: anything or never have any fun, you know, but all
Speaker 2: I can do is spiritual things. However, if I have
Speaker 2: to choose to lean toward holiness, I'm going to always
Speaker 2: lean toward holiness. And some people will call that legalism,
Speaker 2: but it's not. And God has called us to be
Speaker 2: a holy people. And we live in a more casual
Speaker 2: society today, and I don't know that I think it's good.
Speaker 2: But maybe that's because I'm older. I don't know, but
Speaker 2: it seems like the more casual our society gets, the
Speaker 2: more casual our morals get. And I think we have
Speaker 2: to be really careful because we are a unique generation
Speaker 2: that has been called far such a time as this.
Speaker 2: Do you know that Jesus actually really could come back
Speaker 2: in our lifetime? I mean, he really could call the
Speaker 2: church home at any day. And I don't ever want
Speaker 2: to be ashamed when I stand before him. When fifty
Speaker 2: years ago, just as I was starting to teach home
Speaker 2: Bible studies, I was going to a Walgames drug store
Speaker 2: one day, and I remember I was walking down the
Speaker 2: street to get there, and I saw a penny laying
Speaker 2: on the street and I just kind of kicked it.
Speaker 2: Walked over it, and I got about this far, and
Speaker 2: the Lord spoke very clearly to me, and he said,
Speaker 2: if you pick up pennies, you'll always be blessed. But
Speaker 2: I knew it had nothing to do with the penny.
Speaker 2: What he was saying to me was, if you pay
Speaker 2: attention to little things, I'll always bless your life. And
Speaker 2: he has. And We've picked up many pennies in our life.
Speaker 2: I will dig them out of the dirt. I won't
Speaker 2: leave them there because they have a very special meaning
Speaker 2: to me. And we've tried the best we can to
Speaker 2: run our ministry with integrity and excellence. But I think
Speaker 2: it's time to tighten our belt of truth just a
Speaker 2: little bit tighter. You know Ephesians six, when it talks
Speaker 2: about warfare, one of the first things that says is
Speaker 2: tighten the belt of truth. Tighten it so you may
Speaker 2: know the word, but God wants us to lean in
Speaker 2: on it a little bit more. Make sure we're living it,
Speaker 2: not just not just talking about it. And so I
Speaker 2: think that there are things that we do that we
Speaker 2: shouldn't do, but we do them because the devil says
Speaker 2: it's just a little bit. Everybody does it. I mean
Speaker 2: maybe you're not here because I know their integrity. But
Speaker 2: there are pastors I know that do things that God
Speaker 2: won't let me do, and I used to. I went
Speaker 2: to God complaining about it one time because there was
Speaker 2: a movie that was out that I really wanted to see,
Speaker 2: and I just knew God didn't want me to go
Speaker 2: see it. But I mean, my pastors were seeing it.
Speaker 2: Everybody was seeing it, and I got a little miffed.
Speaker 2: I thought, why is it that everybody else can do
Speaker 2: stuff and I can't do anything? And you know what
Speaker 2: he said to me. Look, Joyce, you asked me for
Speaker 2: a lot. Do you want it or not? So you know,
Speaker 2: everybody wants everything that you here talked about, but not
Speaker 2: everybody's willing to live the lifestyle they need to live
Speaker 2: to get it. I want to read your story. It's
Speaker 2: by a woman named Annette Nee. Many parents are working
Speaker 2: hard to explain to their children and teens why some
Speaker 2: video games, music, movies, books, and magazines are not acceptable
Speaker 2: material for them to see or bring into their homes.
Speaker 2: One parent came up with an original idea that's hard
Speaker 2: to refute. He listened to all the reasons his children
Speaker 2: gave for wanting to see a particular PG thirteen movie.
Speaker 2: It had their favorite actors. Everyone else was seeing it.
Speaker 2: Even church members said it was great. It was only
Speaker 2: rated PG thirteen because of the suggestion of sex. They
Speaker 2: never really showed anything. The language was pretty good. They
Speaker 2: only used a large name in vain three times in
Speaker 2: the whole movie. The video effects were fabulous, The plot
Speaker 2: was power packed. Video effects were fabulous. Yes, there was
Speaker 2: those this one scene where they blew up a bunch
Speaker 2: of people in kill them, But you know, not violence
Speaker 2: as normal stuff today. It wasn't really that bad. Even
Speaker 2: after all these explanations for the rating, the father would
Speaker 2: not give in. He didn't even give them a satisfying
Speaker 2: explanation for saying no. He just said no. A little
Speaker 2: later that evening, the father said to his teens, if
Speaker 2: you'd like some brownies, I've made some fresh. He explained
Speaker 2: he'd taken the family's favorite recipe and added a little
Speaker 2: something new. They said, what is it, and he calmly
Speaker 2: replied that he had added just a little bit of
Speaker 2: dog poop. He said, but it's just a little as
Speaker 2: in this whole batch of brownie. You won't even taste it,
Speaker 2: But all the other ingredients or gourmet quality. He had
Speaker 2: taken great care to bake the brownies at the precise
Speaker 2: temperature at the exact time. He was sure they'd be superb.
Speaker 2: Even with all the explanations of the perfect attributes of
Speaker 2: the brownies, the teens, not one teen would even try one.
Speaker 2: The father acted surprised. Well, there's only one little element
Speaker 2: in there that I don't know. Why you actually stubborn?
Speaker 2: He said, I assure you you won't notice it, you
Speaker 2: won't taste it, if at all. But they all held
Speaker 2: firm and not one would even try the brownies. He
Speaker 2: then explained that the movie they wanted to see was
Speaker 2: just like those brownies. Stand enters our minds and our
Speaker 2: homes by deceiving us into believing that just a little
Speaker 2: bit won't matter, just a little bit won't make any difference.
Speaker 2: So now when the father's children want to do something
Speaker 2: they shouldn't do, he just says, would you like a brownie? Now?
Speaker 2: I have one main thing that I want to get
Speaker 2: out today, and so I'll have to just kind of
Speaker 2: give you a little dust over so we all have
Speaker 2: a good idea. Okay, I doubt that any one of
Speaker 2: you is going to rob a bank next week. I
Speaker 2: doubt that anybody here is planning to rob the local
Speaker 2: mini march. I doubt that anybody here is planning a murder.
Speaker 2: But there are some of you here this morning that
Speaker 2: harbor jealousy. Oh yeah, it is a sin. Bible says,
Speaker 2: Jealousy rots the bones. You know, it's amazing to me
Speaker 2: that we don't see this center. Everything that God tells
Speaker 2: us to do or not to do is not for
Speaker 2: his benefit, it's for ours. He just tells us to
Speaker 2: do what will make us happy, and what will make
Speaker 2: us better, and what will that make us healthier and
Speaker 2: make us live long. Jealousy rots the bones. It has
Speaker 2: an actual effect on your health. But let's just say
Speaker 2: that there's a woman at work that is not a believer,
Speaker 2: and there's an office that's opened up. There weren't enough
Speaker 2: offices for everybody, but certain people got offices and somebody
Speaker 2: had quit, and so now this office was open. And
Speaker 2: you're a Christian and you prayed for that office. You
Speaker 2: even gave a little extra that week in the offering
Speaker 2: because you wanted that office. But this girl who wasn't
Speaker 2: even a Christian got it. Now, all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: you can't like her anymore, because as soon as you
Speaker 2: become jealous of somebody, you can no longer have a
Speaker 2: loving right relationship with him. Or maybe let's say it's
Speaker 2: a sibling rivalry. Maybe just somebody here today maybe or
Speaker 2: somebody watching on television. Maybe you have a brother or
Speaker 2: sister that's smarter than you are. I had one son
Speaker 2: that got straight a's and never had to crack a book,
Speaker 2: and another another one that a girl's. She got good grades,
Speaker 2: but I mean she studied so hard. That was all
Speaker 2: the girl did. And then I had two who didn't care.
Speaker 2: And one of those two the ministry now. And because
Speaker 2: he wasn't a book guy, he was a hands on guy.
Speaker 2: And everybody has gifts, and you should never be jealous
Speaker 2: of somebody else's because what happens if you're jealous of
Speaker 2: somebody else's gifts. It causes you not to see your own,
Speaker 2: and then we end up being robbed. Because God put
Speaker 2: that gift in them for you. The gift that's in
Speaker 2: me makes me work. You get to enjoy it, right,
Speaker 2: and so I need your gift and you need mine.
Speaker 2: But if we get jealous of each other, then it
Speaker 2: doesn't happen. What if my eyes said, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: really tired of just looking at that ring. I've looked
Speaker 2: at that ring all my life and I'm just tired
Speaker 2: of it, and I want my own ring. Now. What
Speaker 2: if God said, oh, okay, well there you have it.
Speaker 2: So now I've just messed up everything. I got my ring,
Speaker 2: I got my way, but now I can't see what
Speaker 2: I'm doing or or where I'm going in life? Amen?
Speaker 2: Or what about unforgiveness? And you know, I know you
Speaker 2: hear a lot about unforgiveness, but it's the single biggest
Speaker 2: problem in the church. You would be absolutely astonished at
Speaker 2: how many people are in here today that are angry
Speaker 2: with someone and you don't forgive them because you don't
Speaker 2: think they deserve it, or you know, it's it's funny
Speaker 2: when somebody does something that hurts us, how well we
Speaker 2: remember it, but how quickly we forget the things that
Speaker 2: we do to other people.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Wow. Amen. And you want to forgive some of you,
Speaker 2: some of you don't. But if you want to forgive,
Speaker 2: people get mixed up because they think forgiveness is a feeling.
Speaker 2: So you pray to forgive and you don't feel any
Speaker 2: different about that person when you see them, you still
Speaker 2: want to knock them down. But forgiveness is not a feeling.
Speaker 2: It's a decision you make about how you will treat someone. Now,
Speaker 2: I want you to get that, so that'll help so
Speaker 2: many of you. The Bible says that we are to
Speaker 2: do three things. Pray for our enemies. So if you
Speaker 2: want to forgive somebody, you pray for them. You pray
Speaker 2: for them to be blessed. And you think, well, I
Speaker 2: don't want them to be blessed. Well, you pray for
Speaker 2: them to be blessed anyway. And that doesn't mean God's
Speaker 2: going to give them a new house. Maybe He'll give
Speaker 2: them some revelation about how they treat people. You pray
Speaker 2: for them to be blessed, you bless and do not
Speaker 2: curse them, And that means in that way that you
Speaker 2: speak well of them, you don't speak evil of them,
Speaker 2: so you don't run around telling everybody else what they did.
Speaker 2: And Thirdly, if they have a need, who that's the
Speaker 2: out you one. If they have a need, you meet
Speaker 2: that need. Now, forgiveness doesn't necessarily mean that you have
Speaker 2: to be around the person. You don't have to have
Speaker 2: a reconciliation of the relationship. But how you feel about
Speaker 2: them in your heart, you release them in your heart,
Speaker 2: You release them into God's hands, and you do yourself
Speaker 2: a favor when you do that, not them you because
Speaker 2: you can't. It messes your love life up if you're
Speaker 2: mad at people. And I tell you, I want to
Speaker 2: be so good at forgiveness that I'm forgiving somebody while
Speaker 2: they're still trying to offend me. So that's I just
Speaker 2: wanted to give you an idea, But I got to
Speaker 2: get going here to get to the real stuff. One
Speaker 2: I want to mention is lying. There are a lot
Speaker 2: of Christian liars, because any time you don't keep your word,
Speaker 2: you're lying. Now we're gonna get down to the little stuff,
Speaker 2: because I think God cares about the pennies. If you
Speaker 2: tell somebody, I'll call you back this afternoon. And and really,
Speaker 2: if the truth were told, you already know when you
Speaker 2: say that you're not going to call him back this afternoon.
Speaker 2: You've just found a way to get rid of them.
Speaker 2: I tell you how God cured me of that. We
Speaker 2: were in Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, ministering several different churches and
Speaker 2: we kind of really hooked up with this one couple
Speaker 2: that were pastors, and so we said to them. I
Speaker 2: said to them, hey, you guys ought to come to
Speaker 2: Saint Louis sometime and stay for about a week, and
Speaker 2: we'll take you to the arch and you know, we'll
Speaker 2: do all these things. Well, I don't even know why
Speaker 2: I said it. I didn't really say it. I didn't
Speaker 2: really say it because I wanted them to come. I
Speaker 2: just was trying to be nice. Well, about a month
Speaker 2: went buying the man calling, he said, well, we're ready.
Speaker 2: I said, ready for what? He said, We're ready to
Speaker 2: come to Saint Louis. And I thought, oh, And I said,
Speaker 2: to god, God, what am I going to do? I
Speaker 2: can't have company for a week right now. I'm just
Speaker 2: up to my eyeballs and work. And he said, I'll
Speaker 2: tell you exactly what you're gonna do. You're gonna tell
Speaker 2: them to come, and you're going to put them in
Speaker 2: a good hotel and you're going to spend the week
Speaker 2: with them. And that's going to teach you not to
Speaker 2: say things that you really don't mean. And ma'am, don't
Speaker 2: tell people. I'll pray for you, and then don't pray
Speaker 2: for them. I'll pray for you as a good way
Speaker 2: to get rid of people too. Sometimes I'm gonna pray
Speaker 2: for you about that. Well, then you pray for them
Speaker 2: about that. If you tell somebody you're going to call
Speaker 2: them back, you call them back. If you say I'll
Speaker 2: call you in a few weeks and we'll go to lunch,
Speaker 2: call them and take them to lunch. We expect God
Speaker 2: to keep his word, and God expects us to keep
Speaker 2: our word. Amen. I mean these to me are areas
Speaker 2: where you could lean a little toward legalism and it
Speaker 2: wouldn't hurt I honestly try before God, anything that I
Speaker 2: tell somebody I'm going to do to the best of
Speaker 2: my knowledge, I do it. And if there's anything I've forgotten, Lord,
Speaker 2: please remind me. But the thing I actually want to
Speaker 2: talk to you about today is a big sin, but
Speaker 2: one that people I don't think you even think it's
Speaker 2: a sin, and that's complaining. I don't know if you
Speaker 2: know who Madam Guyan is, but she lived in the
Speaker 2: sixteen hundreds and some of her books have really helped me.
Speaker 2: Pretty strict, but they've really helped me. And she said
Speaker 2: something is just like God, You've got to be kidding.
Speaker 2: She said, even if you sigh, it's a sign of discontentment.
Speaker 2: So let me just tell you I've got a ways
Speaker 2: to go, because I still do sigh. In numbers twenty one,
Speaker 2: verses four through seven, the Bible says, and they journeyed
Speaker 2: from Mount Horror by way to the Red Sea to
Speaker 2: go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient, depressed,
Speaker 2: much discouraged because of the trials of the way. And
Speaker 2: the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have
Speaker 2: you brought us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness.
Speaker 2: There's no bread here, neither is there any water. And
Speaker 2: we loathe this light, contemptible, unsubstantial manna. Then the Lord
Speaker 2: sent fiery burning serpents among the people, and they bit
Speaker 2: the people, and many Israelites died. It was twenty three
Speaker 2: thousand exactly. And so they went to Moses and said,
Speaker 2: we have sinned. Duh. Sometimes it takes us a long
Speaker 2: time to get the idea that God's trying to get
Speaker 2: something across to us and we're just not paying any attention.
Speaker 2: Oh joyce, does the Bible really say complaining is sin? Well,
Speaker 2: it says give thanks in all things, no matter what
Speaker 2: the circumstances. Might be be thankful and give thanks for
Speaker 2: this is the will of God for those of you
Speaker 2: who are in Christ Jesus. Well, that was a lousy clap,
Speaker 2: that was Pye. And then over in the New Testament
Speaker 2: in First Corinthians eight through eleven, it repeats that whole
Speaker 2: thing again, that's in numbers, and Paul said these things
Speaker 2: befell them by way of a figure as an example
Speaker 2: and a warning to us, a warning. You know, everything
Speaker 2: that you hear in church is not supposed to make
Speaker 2: you feel great. And that's one of the problems we
Speaker 2: have today. People just go to get their blessing and
Speaker 2: they want to feel good. Tell me how wonderful I am,
Speaker 2: Tell me all the good things that the Bible has
Speaker 2: to say about me. Well, you know, I just went
Speaker 2: through a season of doing that. I spent about six
Speaker 2: weeks telling the whole world how wonderful they were. Now
Speaker 2: I feel led to go in another direction. I feel
Speaker 2: a new annoying coming on me for a season. One
Speaker 2: of those Mama's thinkings, we must not gratify evil desire
Speaker 2: and indulge in immorality, as some of them did. God
Speaker 2: called what they were doing immorality. They were crabbing and
Speaker 2: complaining about this miracle that God's raining down out of
Speaker 2: the sky. You think miracles would keep you happy, They
Speaker 2: really won't because we get too used to things. I
Speaker 2: bet they were excited about that Man of the first
Speaker 2: few days, But you know, we get familiarity with things.
Speaker 2: I remember saying to the Lord once, why don't you
Speaker 2: do the things that you used to do? When I
Speaker 2: was first baptized in the Holy Spirit? I mean, I
Speaker 2: had so many supernatural things happening. It was just like
Speaker 2: I'd ask God for an answer to something and open
Speaker 2: my Bible and that would be the answer. Why don't
Speaker 2: you do the things you used to do? And boy
Speaker 2: did he shock me? He said, Oh, I still do them.
Speaker 2: You've just gotten used to them. How many amazing things
Speaker 2: is God doing in your life every day that you
Speaker 2: don't even recognize as amazing anymore? Do you know how
Speaker 2: amazing it is just to have a church like this
Speaker 2: to go to? I mean, really amazing. There's so many
Speaker 2: amazing things that God does for us. But we have
Speaker 2: gotten Yes, God's our friend, but he's also sovereign, and
Speaker 2: he means what he says, and when he says to
Speaker 2: do something, if we don't do it. We're going to
Speaker 2: feel it in our own life. Remember what I say.
Speaker 2: I think if you get this, it'll really help you.
Speaker 2: Everything that God tells us to do or not to
Speaker 2: do is for our benefit. It's not for his. It's
Speaker 2: for our better. He's telling us what will make us happy,
Speaker 2: what will make us powerful, what will put us in
Speaker 2: a position where the devil can't touch us. He's telling
Speaker 2: us how to live a life that is so far
Speaker 2: superior that you can't hardly believe it. And we have
Speaker 2: the audacity to obey him. Yes, but just a little bit.
Speaker 2: There's just a little bit that we You know, Saul,
Speaker 2: when God told him to go in and kill all
Speaker 2: the women, the men, the babies, the cattle, don't leave anything.
Speaker 2: And Saul did a little too much thinking, and instead
Speaker 2: of just doing what God told him to do, he
Speaker 2: killed everybody, kept got rid of everything except the good stuff.
Speaker 2: And when Saul confronted him about it, the prophet Saul,
Speaker 2: he said, well, I just kept the good things to
Speaker 2: sacrifice them to the Lord. Now you're really getting light.
Speaker 2: I just did it for you. Lord. Well, I desire sacrifice.
Speaker 2: I desire obedience, not sacrifice. And I think Sometimes we
Speaker 2: don't obey God in something, and then we will do
Speaker 2: something like give extra money in the offering, and I
Speaker 2: think it just happened so fast. Sometimes we don't even
Speaker 2: realize what we're doing. We're trying to make up for
Speaker 2: something else that we should have done and we didn't do.
Speaker 2: Wonder how happy it would make the Lord if everybody
Speaker 2: that's a Christian never complained. I'd be happy if I
Speaker 2: could make it through one whole day. And I mean,
Speaker 2: I really try to do this. I'll tell you what
Speaker 2: we don't do very well is inconvenience. We are just spoiled,
Speaker 2: rotten inconvenience. Well, my electric went off for two hours.
Speaker 2: None of my electronics would work. I couldn't use my epad,
Speaker 2: you paid epad, whatever they are, there's too many, too
Speaker 2: many things. It's YouTube and whatever the pad is. I forget.
Speaker 2: I mean, we can't live if we don't have all
Speaker 2: of our electric stuff. I mean, I left my phone
Speaker 2: at home on this trip, and I was kind of
Speaker 2: proud of myself. I thought, I'm gonna see how I
Speaker 2: do without it. But they figured out a way to
Speaker 2: get it to me and I got I had it
Speaker 2: by the time I got here. Okay, listen to what
Speaker 2: Poe says in First Corinthians. First Corinthians ten eight. We
Speaker 2: must not gratify evil desire and indulge in immorality, as
Speaker 2: some of them did, and twenty three thousand suddenly fell
Speaker 2: dead in a single day. Wow. We should not tempt
Speaker 2: the lord try his patience, become a trial to him
Speaker 2: by critically appraising him and exploiting his goodness, as some
Speaker 2: of them did and were killed by poisonous serpents. Nor
Speaker 2: should we discontentedly complain, as some of them did, and
Speaker 2: were put out of the way entirely by the destroyer.
Speaker 2: Now these things befell them by way of a figure,
Speaker 2: as an example and a warning to us. They were
Speaker 2: written to admonish and fit us for right action by
Speaker 2: good instruction, we in whose days the ages have reached
Speaker 2: their climax. You know, the Bible doesn't say that we
Speaker 2: are just to be encouraged, Paul told Timothy. Preach the
Speaker 2: word encourage, urge, warn, and rebuke. So we need a
Speaker 2: healthy diet of all of it in order to be balanced. Yes,
Speaker 2: we need to be encouraged. There are times when we
Speaker 2: need to be rebuked. There's times when the sermon needs
Speaker 2: to make you squirm just a little bit in your seats.
Speaker 2: And you know, I mean, if we're not going to
Speaker 2: learn anything, you got to learn something when you go
Speaker 2: to church. I mean it's great, the worship is great,
Speaker 2: and it's great to jump around and be happy, and
Speaker 2: we all need that. But you need to listen to
Speaker 2: every word that Stephen says. Don't ever be the kind
Speaker 2: of person if somebody asks you what did Stephen preach
Speaker 2: on the day, say it was good? I know it
Speaker 2: was good. I want you to know. Well into the
Speaker 2: middle of next week, if somebody asks you, oh, I
Speaker 2: heard Joyce is at your church. On you what does
Speaker 2: she preach on? I want you to be able to
Speaker 2: tell them that we have to stop just letting a
Speaker 2: little bit of sin into our lives because a little
Speaker 2: bit doesn't matter. And when you have something inconvenient, I
Speaker 2: want you to when you start to complain, to remember, oops,
Speaker 2: that's something I'm not supposed to do. Yeah, go on,
Speaker 2: how many of you complain? Everybody in the whole church
Speaker 2: is sinning. Let me ask you a sincere question. Do
Speaker 2: you believe that little things like this make a difference,
Speaker 2: so it's not the big things that we're guilty of.
Speaker 2: It's all the little stuff. A man that I knew,
Speaker 2: his wife had divorced him and he had met another
Speaker 2: guy and they both claimed to be Christians. And this
Speaker 2: other guy was living with his girlfriend, had been for
Speaker 2: quite some time. And he says to the guy that
Speaker 2: I know, I've got a good idea. Why don't we
Speaker 2: fast once a week and pray together for God to
Speaker 2: do these certain things they wanted him to do. Nay,
Speaker 2: excuse me, but that's just stupid. I mean, why even bother? Yeah,
Speaker 2: but you know, somehow or another, he had himself convinced
Speaker 2: that what he was doing wasn't wrong. And that's the
Speaker 2: scary part. The Bible says that the heart is deceitful
Speaker 2: above all things. Who can know his own heart? That's
Speaker 2: why we got to have some meetings with ourselves. I mean,
Speaker 2: at least once a week. You used to have a
Speaker 2: meeting with yourself and just really ask God, am I
Speaker 2: doing okay? Here? Is there something you need to remind
Speaker 2: me of? Do I need a little kick in the rear?
Speaker 2: And See, this doesn't mean that you have to live
Speaker 2: this rigid, legalistic life where you can never do any
Speaker 2: things or have never have any fun. But how about
Speaker 2: if I throw this out? What if you start listening
Speaker 2: to your conscience. That's one of the best things that
Speaker 2: God has given us as a conscience, it's part of
Speaker 2: our spirit. Conscience comes from their intuition revelation. So I
Speaker 2: can sit and talk to your head all day, but
Speaker 2: I want it to fall from your head to your
Speaker 2: spirit and become a revelation. We have got so much information,
Speaker 2: but we needed to become revelation because when it's revelation,
Speaker 2: that's when you start really doing it. One of the
Speaker 2: definitions I found for complain, to complain means to remain.
Speaker 2: So the Israelites remained in the wilderness forty years, trying
Speaker 2: to make an eleven day trip, and one of the
Speaker 2: reasons found. I have found ten reasons why they stayed
Speaker 2: out there, but one of them was just complaining. They
Speaker 2: just complained every time it was inconvenient. Now it's God's fault,
Speaker 2: it's Moses's fault, and we wish we would have stayed
Speaker 2: in Egypt where we had those onions and leaks and garlic. Whew.
Speaker 2: I might rather try a brownie than that. I don't
Speaker 2: know if we could just understand what we give up
Speaker 2: in an effort to try to get what we think
Speaker 2: we want. God doesn't answer complaints, He answers prayers. Philippians
Speaker 2: four six Philippians for six. Do not fret or have
Speaker 2: any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything,
Speaker 2: by prayer and petition, definite request with thanksgiving. Now, you know,
Speaker 2: the Lord says a lot of stuff to me that
Speaker 2: I just don't get by with much. Not that I'm
Speaker 2: trying to, but I don't. And I was praying for
Speaker 2: something one time, and the Lord said, why should I
Speaker 2: give you that? You're already complaining about what you've got.
Speaker 2: Why should I give you something else to complain about.
Speaker 2: We're supposed to be thankful. People I love be thankful
Speaker 2: and say so. It's not enough to say, well, I'm
Speaker 2: a thankful person. Well, how many people are in your
Speaker 2: life that are blessings to you that you haven't thanked
Speaker 2: in a long, long, long long time. You know, if
Speaker 2: the word thank you was around your house as more
Speaker 2: marriages would last a lot longer. Dave told me the
Speaker 2: other day to get him something, and I said, say please,
Speaker 2: and he didn't say it. I said, you're not getting it.
Speaker 2: Till you say please. Don't take me for granted. Even
Speaker 2: in your home, you need to say please and thank you.
Speaker 2: It's amazing. I mean, if we just had better manners. See,
Speaker 2: how can you be a light in a dark world?
Speaker 2: Get out there and you know, you don't really have
Speaker 2: to preach to everybody. I forget the famous person that
Speaker 2: said it, but somebody said preach at all times and
Speaker 2: if necessary, use words. Who was it, Mike Saint Francis
Speaker 2: of Assissi. He's like my brain when mine gives out.
Speaker 2: I say, there's so much stuff I forget. Now it's
Speaker 2: just gotten to be hilarious. I don't even argue with
Speaker 2: my kids anymore when they tell me you told us
Speaker 2: that last week. I just said, okay, if you say so,
Speaker 2: I don't remember it. But if you say so, but
Speaker 2: I tell you. You know, when you don't remember things as good.
Speaker 2: It's great for movies because I can watch a movie
Speaker 2: and not see it for two months and go back
Speaker 2: watch it again, just like a brand new movie. You
Speaker 2: know what, You're gonna get old, and you better make
Speaker 2: your mind up now. I just made up my mind.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be a funny old person. I'm I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna be cranky and crabby and hard to get along with.
Speaker 2: I just I just want to be funny, and my
Speaker 2: kids think I'm hilarious. So I don't know what I
Speaker 2: was saying before I got off on that. See there
Speaker 2: you go, mm hmm, it's in there. It comes back.
Speaker 2: So how can you be a light in a dark world?
Speaker 2: You know? I think a lot of people they get
Speaker 2: they get real can when somebody says you need to witness,
Speaker 2: because we automatically think that means we got to back
Speaker 2: somebody into a corner and preach to him. When I
Speaker 2: wanted to be used of God, I didn't know yet
Speaker 2: that God wanted me to preach, and so I just
Speaker 2: anything they asked us to do at church. I tried it.
Speaker 2: And one of the first things I did was it
Speaker 2: was in a season when passing out tracks was a
Speaker 2: big thing, and so our church would take a group
Speaker 2: of people on Saturday morning to downtown Saint Louis and
Speaker 2: pass out tracks. So I tried street preaching.
Speaker 3: I hated it, did not like it, And that doesn't
Speaker 3: make God mad for me to say that.
Speaker 2: That didn't fit. You know, if you don't know what
Speaker 2: you believe, God wants you to do. Act like a
Speaker 2: woman buying a new outfit. You just keep trying on
Speaker 2: stuff till something fits, and then we're too afraid of
Speaker 2: being wrong, and it just paralyzes us. It doesn't matter
Speaker 2: if you try something and it's not the right thing
Speaker 2: for you. Your heart's right. You're just trying to find
Speaker 2: out what God wants you to do. And it's not
Speaker 2: that hard. You find something you're good at. Everybody's good
Speaker 2: at something. You just keep trying on stuff till it fits.
Speaker 2: So I tried street ministry and didn't like that. I
Speaker 2: tried working in the nursery and me and are the
Speaker 2: kids like that? I got over that in two weeks.
Speaker 2: But when I finally got around to try to teach,
Speaker 2: I had led a girl to the Lord in the
Speaker 2: bathroom at work, and when we started to go back
Speaker 2: to our desks, the Lord simply said to me, what
Speaker 2: are you going to do with her? And I said, well,
Speaker 2: what do you want me to do with her? He said,
Speaker 2: teach her. I don't know how to do that, he said,
Speaker 2: I do. Whoever says God's going to call you to
Speaker 2: do something, you know how to do. That's the fun
Speaker 2: part is stepping out blindly and watching God work through you.
Speaker 2: Why is He called the weak and the foolish things
Speaker 2: of the world to confound the wise, so we can't
Speaker 2: take the credit. I mean, I am the least likeliest
Speaker 2: person on the earth to be doing what I'm doing.
Speaker 2: I mean, right, this message that I'm preaching here today
Speaker 2: will go around the world in one hundred and seven
Speaker 2: different languages. And that's that's amazing. It's amazing. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know how I've written one
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty books. I thought one day, how did
Speaker 2: I do that? I don't know how I did that?
Speaker 2: And people say to me, how have you done all this?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know. If you're willing, God
Speaker 2: will use you. But don't don't get all torn up
Speaker 2: if the first thing you try doesn't work or the
Speaker 2: second thing doesn't work. You're not a failure until you
Speaker 2: quit trying. A man, be happy in your faith and
Speaker 2: rejoice and be glad hearted continually. One of the things
Speaker 2: we can do to be enlighten in a dark world
Speaker 2: is just smile. Seriously, just don't get out in the
Speaker 2: world and be a crank, be friendly. High How are
Speaker 2: you today, smile and be one of the very unusual
Speaker 2: people that don't complain. You're complaining everywhere you go. Next
Speaker 2: time you feel like complaining about waiting in traffic, just
Speaker 2: be glad you're not one of the people that have
Speaker 2: no legs and can't even walk. The next time, you
Speaker 2: just for the ladies. The next time you want to
Speaker 2: complain about your husband, there's a lot of lonely people
Speaker 2: that will take him off your hands. Well, that's going
Speaker 2: over better than my thoughts. Maybe I better say something
Speaker 2: to the men too. Own you. I mean, really, once
Speaker 2: your eyes are open to it, you see how ridiculous
Speaker 2: it is to complain. God does so much for us.
Speaker 2: And you know, part of the reason why there's so
Speaker 2: many divorces is people forget about the good stuff, and
Speaker 2: they laser in on the one or two things that
Speaker 2: aggravates them, and that's all they think about. One time,
Speaker 2: I was having a hard time with Dave over something,
Speaker 2: and God put on my heart to make two lists,
Speaker 2: one everything I liked about him and everything I didn't
Speaker 2: like about him. And the list of stuff I liked
Speaker 2: was so much longer than the list of stuff that
Speaker 2: I didn't like. And that's usually what it comes down to,
Speaker 2: people will get divorced over a couple of little things
Speaker 2: that they don't like and forget about all the things
Speaker 2: that you love about them. The Bible says that love
Speaker 2: covers a multitude of sins. And I'll tell you something
Speaker 2: that will help you in your homes. Stop every time
Speaker 2: somebody makes a mistake, telling them they did. We have
Speaker 2: lived in our home for twenty years, and for at
Speaker 2: least eighteen of those twenty years sometimes I'm slow. Eighteen
Speaker 2: of those twenty years. Every time Dave left his closet
Speaker 2: light on, which is all the time, I would say
Speaker 2: you left your closet light on? Again, I finally decided
Speaker 2: to shut up and just turn it off, because if
Speaker 2: I tell him you left your closet light on, you
Speaker 2: know what he says. Do you know what he says?
Speaker 2: He says, I didn't leave it on. You must have
Speaker 2: turned it on. Now, why would I go to his
Speaker 2: closet and turn on the light. The man has three
Speaker 2: different kinds of hearing aids, and he won't wear any
Speaker 2: of them. He won't wear any of them, and he
Speaker 2: says that he's not hard at hearing that I'm mumble. Now,
Speaker 2: let me ask have you heard me mumble one time
Speaker 2: here today? But you know what, you know what I
Speaker 2: really love about Dave. He lets me do anything I
Speaker 2: want to just anything I want to do, he lets
Speaker 2: me do it. Well, that's worth turning off a closet
Speaker 2: light and keeping your mouth shut. If I went home
Speaker 2: and said, you know, honey, I feel like I need
Speaker 2: to spend some time alone, I'm gonna I'm gonna just
Speaker 2: leave for a couple of weeks and spend some time
Speaker 2: with the Lord, he said, okay, okay, So see, look
Speaker 2: at the good things in people. Look at the good
Speaker 2: things about your job. Instead of complaining about your job,
Speaker 2: be glad you've got it. There's so many people that
Speaker 2: don't even have a job. Amen. Let's appreciate everything good
Speaker 2: that God does for us, and let's just not complain
Speaker 2: about anything. Amen. How many of you if we pray
Speaker 2: together today, how many of you We'll just make a
Speaker 2: commitment to just try to tighten your belt just a
Speaker 2: little bit and then let's all stand up together. I
Speaker 2: really forgot to ask how they like to close services here,
Speaker 2: But I'm going to pray for you and then give
Speaker 2: it back to Stephens. Now this has been very serious
Speaker 2: to me today. I never go anywhere and preach without
Speaker 2: feeling like I've got the word of the Lord. And
Speaker 2: so this is very simple. You're not going to forget it,
Speaker 2: but at the same time very profound. Don't it's just
Speaker 2: a little bit now, And don't do it because everybody
Speaker 2: else is doing it. You're only going to have to
Speaker 2: answer for yourself. You do what's right if everybody else
Speaker 2: in the world wants to do it wrong. Amen, Father,
Speaker 2: we love you so very much, and we're so appreciative
Speaker 2: that you love us. And I want to thank you
Speaker 2: for reminding us that we need to pay attention to
Speaker 2: little things, because it is the little foxes that spoiled
Speaker 2: the vine. So we're all making a fresh commitment today
Speaker 2: to always be sure that we do what we say
Speaker 2: we're going to do, not harbor things like jealousy and
Speaker 2: petty things, a little hang on, little anger issues, but
Speaker 2: to just let that stuff go. Let it go and
Speaker 2: help us to appreciate everything you do for us. And God,
Speaker 2: put a watch over our mouth lest we sin against
Speaker 2: you with our tongue by complaining. And let the words
Speaker 2: of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be
Speaker 2: acceptable in your sight in Jesus's name, Amen, thank you
Speaker 2: for having me today.
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