Your "But" Is Too Big

I'm going to start off in prayer because it helps me, and y'all can just agree with me because I'm praying for me.

Holy Spirit, I thank you for being my helper tonight, lord.

I thank you that your words are in my mouth, that as I speak your words, it goes out and it accomplishes the thing that you intend for it.

It doesn't return void.

Lord.

I thank you that You're redeeming everything that I say, that if I misspeak or say something a little bit off, that people hear exactly what they need to know what they need to hear what you intend for them and that they're lifted up, that they're encouraged, that they're strengthened and edified and that it helps them to accomplish their purpose in this earth.

In Jesus' name, amen, amen.

So a little disclaimer Hebrews 10-24 says let us consider one another to provoke, which means to incite, to poke, to prod, to irritate and to love and to good works, and so that is what I'll be doing tonight.

I'm going to be poking and prodden and maybe even irritating whoever hears this to good works, but the motive behind it is love and it's to help, and so please forgive any irritation right up, front, off the bat.

We only irritate those that we love the most.

Just ask my family.

They can attest to that.

We're going to begin tonight in Romans, chapter 1, verse 16.

Romans 1:16

Romans 1-16 says for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

As it is written, the just shall live by faith.

And we're going to go on a little bit further in that same passage, so you can just hold that place there.

But I wanted to start by asking what it is you think.

Let me ask you the question, and if somebody wants to respond, you can.

How do you think our society ended up in the condition that it's in right now?

How did we get so far off from our beginnings?

Somebody throw out a, the church didn't pray, anybody else, complacency Took Bible out of school.

So all of that is true.

If we wanted to boil it down, it was because Christians weren't engaged all the way through.

The church somewhere became disengaged.

And so I'll ask another question what causes the church or believers to not do their job?

What would keep Christians from doing their job?

They become comfortable.

They took offense, they're intimidated or fearful, great answers.

So let's go back in the Old Testament and just I'm just going to run through some Old Testament examples right here.

Y'all remember the story of Jonah.

God gave Jonah a directive and what did Jonah do?

He left.

He got up.

It says he arose.

But Jonah arose to flee from the presence of God and he got on a boat headed for Tarshish.

God told him to do something, and it didn't end well right then for Jonah.

You know the story he got thrown overboard, he drowned, he lost his life, he went down into the pit.

The bars of earth closed around him.

His soul was crying out.

God raised him from the dead when that whale swallowed him up and he preserved his body for three nights and three days, and so that was a picture of what Jesus went through.

And then it spit Jonah up on the beach and Jonah was back where he needed to be.

God relocated him and put him back in there, and so then Jonah had to go in there and, reluctantly and grudgingly, he ministered what God gave him to minister, and then he went outside the city and patted some more, but that's what happened.

The end result was that city, repented and turned around.

And then Jonah got mad because he knew that God was gracious and merciful and he didn't think that they deserved grace and mercy.

Moses, god called Moses a deliverer and said You're going to deliver my people out of the hand of Pharaoh, out of Egypt.

And Moses' response was but who am I?

And what if they don't listen to me?

And what if they don't believe?

And God gave him a couple of signs right off the bat that would help people believe.

He said you know, you're going to take your hand out, you're going to put it in your cloak and pull it out and it's going to be white, full of leprosy.

And then you're going to put it back in and pull it out and it's going to be clear again.

You're going to be able to take water out of the river and pour it on dry ground and it's going to appear like blood.

So he gave him a couple of signs in case people didn't believe him.

And then Moses came up with another excuse.

He said but I'm not eloquent, I'm not good at speaking.

And God got mad at him.

He said All right, you've got a brother and he's going to be your voice.

So these are excuses right here, the ten spies that gave the bad report.

God told Israel that they're going to go in to this promised land.

He promised this land to them and the spies came back and they said but there are giants in the land and we be not able.

Gideon was hiding in a wine press threshing wheat, so the wine press had some sides on it.

He's threshing wheat, hiding from his enemy, hoping to not be noticed.

And God called him right then and there, while he's hiding and fearful, called him.

You, mighty man of valor.

And Gideon, be like who me?

He said, but I'm the weakest in my father's house and our clan is the weakest in Manasseh, the weakest of the tribes.

We're the weakest.

And there's Abraham and Sarah.

God promised them not one child, but generations.

But God were old.

But God, you don't understand.

Ananias in the New Testament was charged to go deliver a message to Saul who had been persecuting and killing Christians, and he had to say but God, he's mean, but God, he's killing Christians.

Timothy was too young.

Pastors today aren't speaking out in a large form on the issues of today.

Can you imagine a pastor having to stand before God and God says why didn't you speak out on the issues of the day and that pastor is going to be saying but God, you don't understand.

We have a 501c3.

It's a letter from the IRS and it means we're not allowed to speak out on these issues.

We can't touch those things.

It's political, god you don't understand.

So the title of tonight's message is your Butt is Too Big.

That's one T Lee, one T B-U-T.

Your Butt is Too Big.

Don't let your butt grow so big.

You can't obey God.

So you all threw some things out there tonight.

Apathy is the absence of passion, it's the lack of concern that others find moving or exciting, and so the church has had apathy.

Christians have apathy about things.

So we've got this project called my God Votes and there was a lady who expressed interest in that for her church.

She was so excited to see what this church was doing in that arena and she wanted so much for her church to become active in the political world and to start using its voice and speaking out on these issues and being a part of the solution.

And she went to one of her pastors and the response was no, we can't do that.

We are laser focused on making sure that people have a real personal relationship with Jesus and nothing else.

Laser focused and nothing else.

Because there's a whole lot more to the gospel than having a personal relationship with Jesus.

That is a major part of the gospel, but there's a whole lot more.

There's so much more to salvation than that and they're missing out.

And so there's apathy.

It's not my problem, it's not happening here, it's not that bad.

Yet you see it happening to somebody else over here and this is something that this group of people really cares about.

But it's not happening over here in Harris County or in our church or our community, or it's not on my doorstep, so I don't care about it enough to do something about it.

That's apathy right there.

Bible says give no place to the devil.

Jesus saw people wandering about as though they were lost without a shepherd, and he was moved with compassion on them.

He was not apathetic.

Well, those people are not my problem.

He was moved with compassion and he responded passionately.

There's another term called syncretism.

It's a great college word I know because I looked it up so I could give you a definition.

That's not something I use in my normal language, but it certainly describes a lot of what we see going on.

Literally, it's the diluting of truth for unity's sake, so that we can all get along.

Syncritism S-Y-N-C-R-E-T-I-S-N.

For those taking notes S-Y-N-C-R-E-T-I-S-N.

Syncritism the diluting of truth for unity's sake, so that we can all get along.

Another way to look at that you might hear this one out in media is plurality, political correctness.

I think it probably came in stages and now we're in extreme form that acceptance, tolerance and inclusivity.

We want to be inclusive.

We want to include people, we want to include all groups and all religions and all faiths.

We want to include and not say anything to offend.

We have to water down truth until we get to a point where we're a half-inch deep and a mile wide.

We got room for anything and everything because our truth is about half an inch deep.

That's what that is.

We see a lot of that today.

Let's get back to the word, back to Romans 1.

We read I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.

And then it's in verse 17,.

For in the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

As it is written, the just to live by faith verse 18,.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

The wrath of God is revealed against all those who suppress the truth and water it down, and water it down, and water it down so that we can include so many.

We need a wider tent so that we can include so many.

We need to change what we believe in, what we say, so that we can include all groups and not be offensive to anyone but God.

This word says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against those who would suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

John 14,.

Jesus is talking to his disciples when he's about to leave and he's saying if you love me, you'll keep my commandments and I'll pray the Father and he's going to send you a helper and he, the helper, will abide with you forever.

And then he called him the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.

But you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

They had the promise of that time.

They had the promise of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit was with them, but after Jesus left, the Holy Spirit was going to dwell in us and he's called the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive.

There are people out there telling us what we can say, what we can call truth or not, what is offensive and what's not, and these people don't have the spirit of truth and they cannot have the spirit of truth.

They cannot receive them because they don't know them.

They haven't received salvation.

We are not qualified to tell us what we can say, what we can't say, what and lie right and wrong.

They're not qualified.

So back to Romans.

So God is against those who suppress truth and unrighteousness, because in verse 19, what may be known of God is manifest to them, for God has shown it to them.

They're not without excuse, for, since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.

So that they are without excuse.

Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify God, nor were they thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.

They had an opportunity to recognize God simply by creation.

If you look at creation, you cannot deny that there is a loving, creative deity that created all of this, that loves them, and that you, just you can't deny it.

So in verse 22,.

Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the image made like the corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Therefore, god also gave them up to uncleanliness, in lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever, amen.

For this reason, god gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged their natural use for what was against nature.

Likewise, men leaving their natural use of the woman and burned in the lust for one another, men having men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error, which is due.

Is there any question what we're talking about here?

And even as this day did not like to retain God and their knowledge, god gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil mindedness.

They are whispers, backbiders, haters of God, violent, proud boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.

Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only to the same, but also of those who approve and practice them.

There are plenty who are approving of all of those things.

We have to be accepting of someone's behavior because that's what they identify with, that's who they are, and so we accept them.

That's what the world says.

These people have a reprobate mind.

They are not privy to the truth and can't recognize the truth because they are completely defiled.

So the church doesn't act.

Christians don't act because they're fearful.

Somebody mentioned that one here.

They have a fear of what people think.

Parents have a fear of what their kids might think of, what people might think of your kids.

There's a fear of being labeled things you know.

Now they're starting to label us radical or Christian nationalists.

So there's a couple of candidates, I think one of the candidates that's running for a Tombaul ASD school board.

Their critics labeled her a Christian nationalist having moral, godly values and wanting to uphold the Constitution and having a Christian worldview, and they said all of those things as if that's a bad thing.

I believe we're supposed to have a Christian worldview.

What kind of view do you think God has of the world?

I'm the Lord, god.

I change not.

I believe God wants us to have a Christian worldview, otherwise he wouldn't have sent his son into the world to die on the cross to his son, jesus Christ.

That's a Christian worldview.

It was for all the world.

Romans 12, 1 says I beseech you or I plead with you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

We ought to present our bodies, the entirety of our body, to God for service.

In other words, god, I'm clocking in for duty today.

You have the whole of me.

You can use me from head to toe.

Here is my mouth.

Use it, here are my hands and my feet.

Put me to work.

I am not my own, I'm bought with a price.

We don't get to decide what we're not going to do and what we are going to do and say, by God, I'm going to go out there and do the.

Go out there and do this.

We're not our own, we belong to God.

And on the school issue, while I mentioned that you know there are some that are critical of homeschool because and I know we've got parents in here that homeschool their kids Listen, you have to hear from God as to how to educate your kids.

I'm not going to stand up here and tell you that everybody needs to homeschool their kids, or all kids need to be in private Christian school, or all kids need to be in public school, or all kids need to be out of public school.

I'm not your Holy Ghost and I can't do that, and you're going to have to hear from God to know what is right for your kids.

But when people are concerned about you know, oh, if you homeschool your kids, they're not going to fit in with society.

Exactly, that's right, that's a good thing.

We don't want them to fit in with that society, because Romans 12, 2 says and be not conformed to this world.

Don't fit in, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We ought not be working to conform.

What if my kids don't fit in?

Look, I know public school has lots of problems, but they are not the source of the problem when parents aren't being parents anymore.

When parents give their kids a cell phone and then don't monitor that.

When parents are letting kids raise themselves.

When parents are letting kids make life-altering decisions about what gender they want to be and then affirming that, with puberty blockers and a follow-up surgery or two, that's evil.

Parents are not being parents the way God designed parents to be.

Parents need to be watching over their kids' shoulders all the time.

You need to know what your kids are looking at.

If they have this phone, you need to at least be monitoring in some form or fashion.

You need to be having conversations with your kids so that you know what's going on between your kids and their friends and what's going on at school and what they're hearing from their school, the teachers, the kids, whoever you got to know.

Kids can't raise themselves.

A parent isn't here to just let kids go off willy-nilly.

We're here to train up a child in the way they should go.

When they're old they will not depart from it.

We got to love our kids enough to say no to them.

Quite frankly.

We've got to love the hell out of our kids, love the bad stuff out of them by saying no, you can't do that, but all my friends have one.

What will my friends think of me if I'm not allowed to go to this movie or go with this group or go to the.

I don't care what those people will think of you.

Your kids are not the missionaries that we're launching into the school system to change everything out there.

They're not equipped for that.

They're in the period of time where they're to be trained up in the way they should go, not the tip of the spear, and so we can't put them out there into a war where they're at tip of the spear.

We've got to provide some level of protection and I'm not saying we got to be helicopters and put your kids in a bubble and shield them from knowing what's out there.

No, they need to know what's out there, but they need to know it from you, the parent, and they need to have the answer, the truth that comes from God's Word.

They need to have an answer for what they're going to run into.

Out there there's a nonprofit organization, the National Committee for Religious Freedom, and they opened up a bank account with Chase Bank.

Three weeks later, chase closed their account with no explanation and there was a lot of effort to get the explanation and they couldn't get it for quite some time out of Chase Bank.

Eventually this came from their higher up level management.

Chase wanted to know specifically their donor list, their list of political candidates that they intended to support, or in a full explanation of the criteria by which they would endorse or support those candidates.

And this wasn't a nonprofit, a 501C3, this was a 501C4 organization, and so they had every right to do what they were doing.

And Chase shut them down, shut down their bank account, and so now there's a fear of retaliation.

You know, at that level, that's just one example of one organization that has suffered a real retaliation from woke corporations out there.

And so I get it.

People go to work, you work for a woke corporation, and so now you've got a potential fear of I might lose my job if I say the wrong thing, I might have my bank account closed if I am doing the wrong thing.

Paypal how many heard about this one?

Paypal changed part of their policies recently such that if they determined you were putting out misinformation or disinformation, they could charge your account $2,500.

Well, there was a sudden exodus from PayPal and people started closing those accounts on PayPal and PayPal had to walk that one backwards and re-explain and redevelop that policy.

And so when we push back, we have an effect, is what I'm saying.

We cannot be afraid to push back.

We cannot be afraid to answer with truth.

Truth is not universal.

It is not something that you can have your truth, and you can have your truth and I can have mine, and we can all get along.

Truth is truth.

It's independent of what you believe.

There's a truth out there that's independent.

You can believe a lie and there's still a truth, and God's truth remains and doesn't change.

How many have seen the Matt Walsh movie what is a Woman?

Okay, for the rest of you, I think you oughta it's worthy of watching what is a Woman, matt Walsh, and you gotta figure out how to go find it and look it up and pay for it and watch it.

Watch it at home.

But he goes out on a venture seeking to find out what is a Woman.

And when you go to these woke people and ask them what's a Woman, they can't tell you.

It is hilarious.

You've got men trying to be a woman, so you've got a man trying to be a woman and they're a transgender woman, and so they happily acknowledge that yeah, I'm a transgender woman.

I wasn't a man and now I'm a woman.

Well, what is a Woman?

They can't answer what it is.

They're trying to be Because a woman is a biological female, adult female.

That's what God made.

He made them male and female, he made them man and woman and they won't dare answer because as soon as they answer what a woman is, it undermines the rest of their argument and it falls apart.

And so the whole thing is just, is eye-opening.

But they want to have their truth and it's well, what are you?

You can be whatever you want, and that's the truth.

And so there is no truth.

If everybody has their own truth, there is no truth.

You're entitled to your opinion, but not your own truth.

They're at war.

They're at war with God.

They're at war with families.

They're trying to undo families and break down families.

They're at war with parents, trying to separate kids from parents and not letting parents be parents.

They're at war with children.

They're trying to groom children and make them into something that they're not.

And they're at war with women, letting men into women's sports and calling that a fair competition.

And they want everybody to pretend that the language that they speak is the truth.

And if you don't pretend along with them, then there's retaliation.

But we don't pretend.

In Virginia, there are some legislators right now that want parents to face criminal charges if they don't affirm their child's sexual orientation and gender identity.

In other words, if their child wants to identify as something else, the parent is to then affirm that and then also pursue gender-affirming care for that child.

And so you've got legislators battling this out in Virginia right now and you can say, well, well, that's not in Texas.

Texas is very conservative, we don't have that problem here, it's Virginia.

That would be apathy.

If that battle is happening in Virginia right now, it's going to be on our doorstep very soon, and it kind of already is, but not at the level that they're seeing.

And so if you don't want that here, we have to fight that there.

We have to fight it wherever it is.

And we cannot succumb to this.

We cannot use the language of the left.

We have to use God's language of truth and not water it down.

I am not ashamed of the gospel.

Y'all say that.

Say I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

We've got to love people enough to not affirm their mental illness, but to affirm that there is a way of escape from mental illness, that there is a way of escape from the sin that they're caught up in, that there's a way of escape from whatever they're in the middle of.

We've got to love them enough to let them know here's the escape route and you've got to get on it.

Jesus said this is Matthew 10.32,.

Therefore, whoever confesses me before men, I will also confess before my Father, who is in heaven.

And so we cannot be afraid or apathetic to confess Jesus.

Wherever we go, we have got to carry that message, the gospel of truth.

We carry the spirit of truth and we've got to be a voice for the spirit of truth.

Wherever we go, for workplace, whatever entity, wherever you are, whoever's in front of you, we have got to be that voice carrying that truth, and not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

Second Corinthians 4, verse 1,.

2 Corinthians 4:1

I'm going to read a few of these verses here.

You can turn there.

Second Corinthians 4, verse 1,.

2 Corinthians 4:1

Therefore, seeing that we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things dishonestly, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

But if our gospel be hid, it is him to hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

The God of this world you've heard pastor give this definition.

The God of this world is all that floating mass of thoughts, speculations, opinions, maxims, hopes, impulses, aims and aspirations that are at any time current in the world.

So it's whatever.

The God of this world, little G, the God of this world is pushing at any point in time.

He says the God of this world.

And they have blinded the minds of them which don't believe.

There are people out there that are blind and they cannot see the truth.

Some of them have gone so far, they're turned over to a reprobate mind.

I say go after the low hanging fruit.

There are people that are hungry for truth.

There are people on the edge of life, altering decisions that need to know the truth, but they're all without excuse because of the creation of our Creator constantly shouts who he is and that he loves them, and they can't get away from it.

They'll be without excuse Verse five for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants.

For Jesus' sake, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We are to shine the knowledge of the glory of God and His Son Jesus.

We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power of God, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

But we're troubled on every side, yet not distressed.

We're perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.

We are not promised to live a life without people fighting against us and we ought to live peaceably with others in so much as we can from our side.

But if they're going to attack my family, if they're going to attack my kids, they've got a fight on their hands and they are going to lose.

We won't back down on this.

So we don't have to be a doormat, but we do have to present truth in love.

We ought to fear God and not man.

Jesus said it this way don't fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear Him, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

We fear God, not man.

Remember Peter and John.

After they had violated everything that they weren't supposed to do and they were being reprimanded by the religious leaders of the day, they said In your eyes whether it's better to listen to God more than you.

You decide, but as for us, we can't help but testify of what we've both seen and heard.

How many of y'all have seen and heard the goodness of God?

Then you ought to be somebody who's saying I can't help but testify of what I have seen and heard.

I will testify of God.

I will testify of Jesus, I will not be shut up.

In Jude, chapter 1, he starts out by writing in verse 3.

Jude 1 · chapter mention

He said beloved, while I was very diligent to you to write concerning salvation in other words, I wanted to.

I had the salvation message and I wanted to.

I had it all set and ready and I wanted to present this to you he said I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend with every fiber of your being, to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for these condemnations, ungodly men who turned the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord, our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are men that have crept in, there are people that have crept into our churches and our societies at every level, top to bottom, and they're turning this thing upside down.

And so Jude recognized this way, but way back.

That's the chapter, the book right before Revelation, and he's writing here and says I found it necessary to write to you to exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith.

Don't let go of that.

We've got to fight with everything that we've got for the faith.

In Colossians, chapter 2, verse 6, it says as you therefore have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with Thanksgiving.

Colossians 2:6

And then comes the warning.

So you've been built up, you're these mature Christians, you've received this message, you're full of God's word.

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit.

Why would you have to tell Christians, who have heard so much word and good things and been filled up and they're rooted and grounded and solid, to beware, because there's a devil out there and there's a lie out there and we could all be susceptible to the lie if we start listening to the lie more than the truth.

And so then comes the warning beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit.

According to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of this world, you listen to the basic principles of the world and you're going to fall prey to this.

There's a fear of failure, a fear of missing out that keeps part of the church silent.

So I'll give this quick version of a testimony in my life, and that was when I was going through a hard time in college and coming up on finals, and I was in debt and broke and broken, and just I could see the end and I wasn't sure I was going to make it to the end.

That is a graduation from college, and I didn't have enough money to eat or really get through, and I had just finished up an odd job and I'd just been paid $500 for this job, and so I had 535 in the bank and instead of going to my finals two of them on a Wednesday night I decided I needed to be in church more than I needed to be in school, and so I went to church.

I skipped two finals you don't get to pass college by skipping your finals.

And on top of that I gave just almost everything that I had in that offering $500.

I left $35 in the bank and the next morning I showed up at school because there were still more finals.

I don't know why I showed up, why bother when you missed two, what you're not going to get a degree.

But I came to school the next day as a Thursday morning and my professor caught me in the hallway and asked me what had happened.

I said I needed to be in church and he said, okay, would you like to take the finals?

I said yes, sir, and he took me in the office and I got to take those finals.

God made a way.

When you put God first and honor him, he'll make a way.

Katie Coontz she's an athlete.

She's a committed and very focused athlete and she's pressing towards her mark with everything she's got.

She's got a training schedule.

She is sharp on that.

She doesn't give it up for nothing.

But she did go to camp and that cost her her training schedule.

That would have set any other athlete behind in their progress and their conditioning and you start to lose what you have and she'd have had to play catch up.

Well, she never got to play catch up, but she honored God and she put God first.

When you put God first, when you honor God and put him first, he'll make you first.

And he made Katie first.

She's a district champion because she honored God and she got a personal best record in that race.

She honored God and so God honored.

That, honored her.

What profit of the man if he should gain the whole world and gain every degree, gain the best education, but lose your own soul?

There's no gain in that.

And I can't say that I put God first in thinking about these things.

I just didn't see any other way out on my own and I just I knew I couldn't run from God, so I had to run to him.

And so that's what I did.

And God gave me a way of escape.

I did graduate, I did get that degree, I did get out of debt.

God set me up for success because I put him first.

When you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all the things that you have need of will be added to you.

If it concerns you, it concerns God.

If you're concerned about it, whatever it is in your life, god's concerned about it.

He's not apathetic towards you at all.

He's touched with the feelings of your infirmities, whatever they are.

If it concerns you, he's concerned about it.

I can't do it, but, god, you don't understand.

I'm not big enough, I'm not strong enough, I'm not skilled enough, I'm not trained, I don't have the education.

Philippians 4 13 says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

There is no but in that I can do all things.

But God didn't put a but in there.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

God, you don't understand.

I can't say these things at my workplace.

I can't do this at my work.

But, god, you don't understand.

I'm going to get fired.

If I, if I don't affirm this person, if I don't agree with their policy, I'm going to get fired.

God, you don't understand.

Hebrews 13, 5 and 6 says God said I will never leave you nor forsake you.

I will not.

I will not.

I will not leave you nor forsake you.

And he said that so that we can boldly say I will not fear.

The Lord is my helper.

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

So when you start getting the fear in the right place, I fear God.

I do not fear man.

The Lord is my helper.

I am His mouthpiece.

These are God's hands, these are God's feet.

I carry the Holy Ghost with me wherever I go.

He is the Spirit of truth, and I cannot help but testify of the things of which I have both seen and heard.

Don't let your but get so big that you disobey God.

God is bigger than your butt.

No excuses, let's just go to work.

We're not our own.

Amen, all right, that's what I got tonight.

I hope that's a blessing for you.