The Values of Life

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 5.

Ecclesiastes 5 · chapter mention

The book of Ecclesiastes is a book written by Solomon.

We talked about that Solomon wrote three of the books in the Bible.

He wrote the Song of Solomon, which we looked at some in our marriage retreat a couple of weeks ago.

We call it the book of Romance.

And then he wrote the book of Proverbs.

And by the way, if you do not have an outline, raise your hand and we'll make sure we need some up here, one back there, that you have one to follow us.

And then he wrote the book of Proverbs, which is the book of wisdom.

In fact, we call it the rules book.

And I love Proverbs.

Every day I read a chapter in Proverbs and I look for those promises and those warnings and those things that keep me out of trouble and tell me how to think and tell me how to how to, even in business, in uh I'm talking about and how to handle my finances.

It's all there.

It's all there.

Every unbelievable.

What to do, what not to do.

And then he wrote in his last days.

He wrote Proverbs in his middle years.

He wrote Song of Solomon in his early years.

And then toward the end of his life, he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes.

And unfortunately, we call it the Book of Regrets, because he had really been turned away from the Lord because of his relationships with ungodly women and ungodly nations.

So he really was having a tough time.

But he never, God never let that heart that he had for God get away from him.

In fact, we see in chapters 3, he says, chapter 3, verse 11, that the reason a Christian cannot get away from God is because in our hearts we are designed, once we get saved, and the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and our lives, we have a yearning, an unbelievable desire to be with Him and to spend eternity with Him.

And so we can't get away from that.

And so, again, Solomon realized that and he does say thanks through everything under the sun.

And we said the word under the sun means a life without God.

And we said that he came up with the ultimate conclusion that everything apart from God, lived, hey, away from God is nothing but vanity of vanities.

Hopelessness, meaninglessness.

Hey, it's just all futile.

It's no, hey, there's no, should I say, satisfaction, there's no peace, there's no contentment.

So he came up with that conclusion.

By the time he gets to chapter, the end of chapter 4, and then chapter 5, he really starts dealing with issues and values of life.

In fact, I titled the message Values of Life.

Now he's starting to say, but now I really want you to understand what's most important in life.

What's most important in life?

It's not all those things that we've been talking about.

But yet he goes back, and even through the end of chapter 12, he still goes back and he hits some key things that are issues and values of life that we have to be aware of to keep us on track for God.

Because he says, these are some temptations, these are some snares, is the word he uses, and Psalms and Proverbs uses at all times.

And you know what a snare was?

You look up the word snare.

Boy, this is powerful.

A snare was something that in the Old Testament and back in Jesus' time, they would dig a hole, they'd dig a big hole, uh, probably about six, about four by four at least, and then they'd put stakes in it, sharp stakes.

You've seen some uh army movies with those kind of things in them where people fall in and the stakes run through their feet and things like that.

Well, but the awful, yeah.

But it was for the purpose, I know, but I've got to explain that.

I want you to get the picture here, because there's a reasoning.

So snares was this hole built with these stakes driven down in it, and it was for the purpose of animals to be what to be, you know, coming through the woods, and bam, they'd come in there, boom.

And that was the way they were to get their their uh prey.

Okay?

Or take care of their food sometimes, but or uh if it was dangerous animals.

Now, watch this.

Satan, Proverbs, uh, Solomon says that Satan is, hey, has holes dug, snares for us, so that he can destroy us, and when we're walking, we walk right in to those snares that ultimately can destroy us.

That's a pretty vivid picture, isn't it?

But that's exactly what Solomon is dealing with, and he's saying, I'm gonna give you these warnings.

The magazine cartoon.

In fact, there's there's I was saw this cartoon the other day as I was studying.

This whole chapter five is divided into basically three sections about values of life.

And the first section deals with uh the worship of God, and we're gonna look at that robbing God.

He says, uh, you know, first of all, he keeps dealing with money, and I kept saying, man, it's so powerful to see this thing of money run all the way through chapters 12 in the book of Ecclesiastes.

Because he said the love of money, basically what he sums up is what Timothy says, the love of money is the root of all evil and what it brings into your life, those snares, when you have a covetous attitude for things and materialism, he says, these are snares in your life.

They're going to bring destruction to your life.

Now he didn't say money was evil, he said what?

So Solomon, we see right here, he's not attacking the person who has money.

Okay, he's attacking the covetousness that people can have toward money.

I want you to understand that.

If you understand that, say amen, Pastor.

Okay?

All right, so we've got that clear.

So he really deals with this, and he says, There's so many, so many problems with money.

In fact, I was reading this cartoon, and it showed a dismal-looking man walking out of the banker's uh office, and the banker turned to his secretary and he says, This man's got back problems.

She says, Sir, yeah, he's got back problems.

Back rent, back taxes, and back alimony.

He's got back problems.

And so basically, that's what Solomon is talking about.

He's talking about the problems that money can bring into our lives.

So that's another value.

He said, in fact, don't rob the Lord of his worship, don't uh rob the Lord of others, and don't rob yourself.

Those are the three things we're going to look at.

So let's begin.

Number one, don't rob the Lord of his worship.

In verses one through seven, Solomon had visited the courtroom and he saw the injustice in the courtroom.

He had visited the marketplace and he saw how people lived and how they desired certain things and the normality of life.

He had visited the highways, he had seen the thieves and the robbers and what they did and the things that went on there through the routeways and the trade and all that.

And then he visited the palace.

He said, I even have problems in our palace.

And he had visited the courtroom and knew that there were injustice there.

And then he goes to the temple.

And the temple was the magnificent temple.

First temple built.

God had given Solomon the instructions, and Solomon was the foreman, or should I say, the architect over building the unbelievable, magnificent temple there in Jerusalem.

So he decided, now I've built this temple.

People are going in, they're praying, they're sacrificing, they're they're worshiping the Lord.

So I'm going to go in and they're praising God, they're praying, they're offering sacrifices.

He says, they're making vows.

So I'm going to go in and see if this is really making any difference in their life.

So the first really eight verses is his evaluation of what you and I should be doing in real biblical worship.

It is beautiful.

It's unbelievable.

So let's look at it.

First of all, he said in verse 1, Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil.

In other words, he noted that many of these people were coming in and they were worshiping God, but when they left and went back to their neighborhood and their villages, that they were worse than what they were when they came in.

He's saying something's not right.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me share something with you.

You can come to church regularly and still walk out of here and go back into the marketplace Monday through Saturday and live like the devil.

Or you can be deceitful inwardly.

You can put on your church face on Sunday, but have a, hey, a wicked heart Monday through Saturday.

You can.

You can have evil thoughts.

And this was what Solomon was seeing as he's evaluating.

And he said, he, you know, he said, what was their sin?

They were robbing God of reverence, they were robbing God of honor, and they were robbing God, hey, of that majestic honor that he so rightly deserved.

So he said, they were robbing God of their reverence and honor.

The acts of their worship was nothing more than insincere, hypocritical, and I think the word is perfunctory.

Did I say it right, honey?

I was asking her what it means.

They're going through the motions, but the heart's far from the Lord.

In fact, listen to what Jesus said.

Jesus said in Mark 7, 6, people honor me with their mouth, but their heart is far from me.

Now we just had a great worship service.

We were all singing the words.

But the question is, was your heart clear and pure and ready?

Were you ready?

Are you ready to hear from God this morning?

That's the key.

Because every time you come into the worship service of God, God's got a message for each and every one of us, directly as a cooperative group, also individually.

Amen.

Or did you come into this worship service thinking about, well, I'll be glad.

You know, a lot of people, we're the only Baptists are really the world's worst of this.

They they they spend two hours getting ready to go to church, and when they get to church, they can't wait to leave.

Jesus.

I got so sick and tired of that.

I said, God, if we if you ever let me start a church, I said, we're gonna do it right.

We're gonna we're gonna get here early and we're gonna stay till we get through and we're gonna eat together and then go home.

Guess what?

That's exactly what we do.

You don't have to sit there and say, Well, I gotta beat the Methodist to the lunch line.

No, we're gonna feed you right here.

You're gonna get through, you're gonna go right there and eat, then go home and take a nap.

That's what I do.

Amen.

Take a nap and get ready for the Super Bowl.

I'm not gonna pray.

No, I'm not going there.

Let's stick with the subject, preacher.

But really, do we come in church ready?

We've got a little saying here about the word of God.

We love it, let's say it together.

We love it, we learn it, we live it.

That's why we come to church.

We come to hear what God, and we're gonna see that, has to say to us.

In today's language, look at the phrase, keep thy foot, or watch your step.

That's what it means.

The worship of God is the highest ministry of the church and must come from devoted hearts and yielded wills.

It means what you worship.

And I put myself, I gave myself a few notes here.

Those who worship simply from custom and rituals.

In other words, a lot of people come to church because they know they're supposed to.

Hello?

I mean, if I don't go to church, hey, hey, there's some denominations, I won't call any names, they live like the devil, but as long as they go to confession time, they're okay.

Gotta make it to confession.

I mean, they may be drunk all night, but they're going to confession.

They need to go.

They need to confess what they did the night before.

But hey, true confession is you change.

You don't go back and do it again.

Hello.

True repentance.

You change.

It's a hundred and eighty-degree turnaround.

It's the changing of the mind.

When you change your thinking, you change your living.

When you change your attitude, you change the way you act.

Amen.

And only the Holy Spirit can do that.

Amen.

So we see that's what He's talking about here.

And then there's those who worship with a preoccupied mind.

Some of you come because you're coming, but your mind is what you're going to be doing this afternoon.

Just hurry up.

Let's get this church thing out of the way.

So I can go do what I want to do.

And then there's a group that comes in, those who worship without a purpose.

You're just here.

You're here to have a good time.

Woo! I'm here to see my friends.

I'm here to see my buddies.

I'm here to make business contacts.

Hello.

By the way, that's okay.

If it's done in the right, hey, right setting.

Can I get it?

I think church people ought to support church people.

Amen.

I've always believed that.

I've been burned some.

Yep.

And I've had people tell me, and I every once in a while, I'm I'll do business, but not with church people.

That is the most hurtful.

Mmm.

That breaks my heart.

They'll stab you in the back.

They'll take advantage of.

Well, can I tell you something?

The people that that have taken advantage of me, and if they do, if I do bit and you take advantage of me, that's really not my problem.

I'm going to tell you what, God's going to get you.

You just go ahead and take advantage of me.

You wait until God gets through with you.

You'll be given back tenfold.

Hello.

Or you'll lose everything.

That's what he says.

He's going to tell you that right here in these verses.

So we see that.

And that's what he's talking about.

In fact, one of the uh John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

Listen to what Jesus said about worship.

There's an hour coming, and now is when people shall worship me, worship God in spirit and in truth.

For the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Can I get an amen?

Isn't that great?

That's what he desires.

He desires for us to come in with an open heart, open eyes, and an open mind to say, God, I am here to hear from you.

Look at verse 1 again.

Keep thy foot, watch your worship.

When you come in the house of God and be ready, what does it say?

Ready to what?

Ready to hear, then to give sacrifice.

Oh, you can come in and give your sacrifice, you can give you money, you can give you time, you can do that.

But if you're not here with an open heart to allow the Holy Spirit through the word of God to speak to you, you've missed the truth.

Amen.

Worship God in spirit.

And in truth.

The Spirit's the teacher, the word's the truth.

And you shall know the truth.

And the truth, what?

What?

Set you free.

You got problems, let the word of God set you free.

It'll set you free from drinking, it'll set you free from drugs, it'll set you free from sex, it'll set you free from bitterness, it'll set you free from confidence, it'll set you free.

Amen.

But you gotta hear.

And the word here literally means with the purpose of applying the truth.

You hear it, you do it.

Be ye doers of the word, not hearers only deceiving your own selves.

You deceive yourselves what?

Now, watch this.

This is good.

You deceive yourselves of the presence and the power and the protection and the preservation of an awesome God.

Amen.

Man, that's good.

So we see that's what he's talking about.

Psalms chapter 7, 70.

Psalms 7 · chapter mention

Well, 1 Chronicles 16, 29.

You got that, Jeremy?

Again, that's another part of the worship.

And he talks about in 1 Chronicles 16, 29, listen, give unto the Lord the glory, do his name, bring an offering and come before him, worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness.

Then uh go, no, go to did you did we get in Psalm 70?

We didn't get it in.

Well, I'm gonna get I'm gonna give it to you anyway.

Listen this.

Psalms, uh not Psalm 70, I'm sorry, Psalms 50.

I want to give you one verse, well, three verse.

Hear.

Psalms 50, verse 7.

Psalms 50:7

Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against thee.

I am God even thy God.

Now watch.

Powerful, that Hebrew construction there is unbelievable.

He says right there, hear, O my people, and I will speak.

Now watch.

O Israel, he is rebuking Israel of their false worship, this whole chapter.

And then he says, O Israel, and I will testify against thee.

In other words, what he's talking about, I will reveal to you through my truth what you are doing wrong.

Can I get an amen?

That's exactly what he means.

I am God, even the God.

In other words, I'm the God of truth.

I will show to you what you need to do.

And then look at verse 14 and 15 in that same chapter.

Here he says, offer unto God thanksgiving, pay thy vows unto the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

Five commands God gives right here to his people.

One, hear me, I'm gonna speak to you in the house of God.

Man, that's great.

Here, and I'm gonna show you what you've done wrong and what you need to change.

I will testify against thee.

Hey, then give thanksgiving to me for what I've given you, but more than that, what I've shown you, so that you can purify your heart and you can then get your heart cleansed and make a vow to me, and then you fulfill that vow and you live the way I tell you to live, and then you are really worshiping me.

Listen, man, if you don't get anything else, true worship ought to motivate you to walk out of here and live obediently for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Man, that's good.

That's what worship really is.

It's not coming in and getting, whoo, the goosebumps.

I people say, Man, the goosebumps from hey, guess what?

I like goosebumps and I get them every once in a while.

Papa, you my granddaddy was Pentecostal.

I get it honestly.

And he used to say, Danny boy, the goosebumps going up one leg and down the other.

And every once in a while, I understand that now more.

But but the key is when the goosebumps go up one side and down the other, when you walk out of here, you ought to walk straight and you ought to live straight and you ought to be more like Christ.

Amen.

It's not how high you jump and how high you shout, it's how straight you walk when you land.

Amen.

Isn't that good?

Hey, I'm all for excitement now.

Hey, hey, listen, I I've already watched y'all at your ball games.

I'm telling you, you go with Christian David, you better watch out.

And Benji, man, they have a spell.

Auburn's winning, they win, they have a spell.

I'm sitting there, man, look at this.

Wouldn't it be exciting to see 102,000 excited on Sunday as they are on Saturday?

If we did, we'd have revival in America overnight.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

Is that not true?

So listen to what he says.

Then he says, hey, pray, hey, pay your vows to God.

Look, he says, offer unto God thanksgiving, verse 14, pay thy vows unto the Most High.

Then he says, and call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

He says, You listen.

If you follow me, you worship me in spirit and in truth.

And as my Holy Spirit reveals in your heart what you're not doing, what you need to do, and you make a vow to do it, I'm gonna be there to deliver you in time of trouble.

If you're willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

If you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword.

Isaiah 1:19 and 20.

Isaiah 1:19

And again, Isaiah chapter 1, verses 1 through 20 is God rebuking the nation of Israel for their faults and worship.

Isaiah 1:1–20

Don't have time to go to all those, but trust me, I'm summing it up, and this is what Solomon, all he was bringing to conclusion.

Now quickly, look at what we talk about.

Don't rob God, number one, of worshiping in his house.

Can I get an amen?

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some are, but exhorting one another so much more as you see the day approaching.

Do not rob God of worship in his house.

Psalms 26, verse uh eight.

And what does he say?

Next verse.

He says, Lord, I have loved the habitation of the house and the place where the honor dwelleth.

Now we know in the Old Testament God dwelt in the temple.

And I understand that.

I understand that He doesn't, we don't, God's not in Serpro Training Center.

I understand that.

By the way, I thank God for Serpro Training Center.

Amen.

What a beautiful place we have to worship every Sunday.

Hey, I understand that.

But guess what?

He's dwelling in us.

We're the Ecclesia.

We're the church.

But listen, we are to come together, not forsaking the assemblings ourselves together.

We are to come together as a body.

Why?

So that we, we ought to love coming to church on Sundays and small groups to whenever we can to be together with our church family so that we can worship Him together and what?

Fellowship together, grow together, help each other.

We've helped people with the light.

They had no electricity, no heat.

That's all we've done all week.

We've helped people.

Can I get an amen?

I got the power company number memorized.

Amen.

Amen.

That's what it's all about.

And then he says in Psalms 84, oh, there's been several praise songs written.

I know you know them.

For a day in thy courts.

Oh, what a song.

It's better than a thousand.

I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.

I just want to be a doorkeeper.

Y'all wonder why I'm outside when you come in and when I'm outside when you go out.

I'm a doorkeeper.

I'm a doorkeeper at the house of God.

Amen.

Oh, that's it.

One day.

Isn't that the name of one day, Eric?

One day.

Better.

Oh.

Learn that one.

Oh, whoo.

Better than one day.

Oh.

We sing that in Liberty all the time.

I'm telling you, it's awesome.

All these songs just start coming to me.

Better than one day.

Woo! I know I can't sing, but I can preach.

Bless God.

All right.

Worship.

Notice the second thing.

Don't rob God of the offering of sacrifices.

Now you say, wait a minute, we don't come with lambs and doves.

Absolutely not.

But let me tell you what we do come with.

Hey, we come ready.

And by the way, we don't have to come with animal sacrifices because of Hebrews 10:14.

Hebrews 10:14

For by one offering, the offering, the Lord Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago on a place called Calvary, gave his ultimate sacrifice.

He gave his life and he took our sins.

He took our place on Calvary.

And he says right there, for by one offering, he has perfected forever them that are sanctified.

We don't have to bring offerings because he was the ultimate offering.

All we have to do is accept him.

Amen.

Enter into his righteousness.

Boy, that's good.

But when we do, then we have some sacrifices.

Romans 12, 1 and 2.

We're the sacrifice.

Our body is a living sacrifice.

I beseech you, I beg you, I urge you.

Therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Be not conformed to this world.

But now watch, be metamorphosis.

Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.

We hear it.

We learn it.

We love it.

And we live it.

Amen.

Transformed by the renewing of your mind.

The word of God.

Remember, God's in through the word, He's revealing what we're not like Him, so we can confess it to sin and become like Him.

And we're not conformed to this world, but we're transformed by the renewing of the mind.

Now here it is.

That we may prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

Notice the second sacrifice we do.

Not only do we sacrifice our bodies, but we, and now boy, this is beautiful.

But hey, winning people to Christ, Romans 15, 16.

People one to the Savior is part of our sacrifice.

That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, Paul said, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

When we share the gospel, we are sacrificing.

We're giving them the good news.

Can I get an amen?

It was sweet.

It was sweet.

Jared and his wife last Monday night in their house bowed their head and received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Can we give Jesus the flap offer?

Amen, Jared.

I've already fallen in love with Jared because he's got a 66, 396, 375 muscle car.

That's what I'm talking about.

We got to get it fixed, though.

And I'm not going to talk about his daddy there, but you know, by keeping that Nicevale outside.

I'm going to come get it.

But really, offering a sacrifice.

And then third sacrifice we do.

Watch this.

It's our money.

We're going to talk more about that.

Philippians 4.18.

So I'm not going to go there because I'm going to deal with that in a few minutes.

And then, you know, giving is of our monies and our materialisms are part of sacrificing.

And then our praise and good works.

Look at what he says in Hebrews 13, 15, 16.

By him, therefore, let us offer communication.

Forget not, for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased.

By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.

That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name, and then doing good to people.

Doing good, that's sacrificing.

We ought to go out of here looking for opportunities to help people.

Amen.

That wasn't good enough.

We ought to walk out of here with the opportunities to help people, looking for opportunities.

Now, can I get a better amen than that?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Amen.

Boy, that's good, folks.

I'm telling you, that's good.

And that's what he said.

And then a broken heart, Psalms 51, 17 is a sacrifice.

Oh, oh, it's so beautiful.

The sacrifice of God, a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.

Oh, God would not despise.

What does a broken heart mean?

That you've allowed the Holy Spirit through the power of the Word of God.

By the way, the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged, so we're piercing even to the dividing of the soul and the spirit and the joints and the marrow, and is a discernment of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

You know what the Word of God does every Sunday to us if we come in here with the right heart attitude?

It's a surgical knife that comes in there and it opens our heart and it lets us see how much we're not like Jesus.

Come on.

Amen.

But it also lets us see how much we are like Jesus.

It's not always negative.

That's why you can praise him.

When you say amen, you agree with it.

When you say oh me, that means I ain't doing it.

That's why y'all don't like me when I say oh me, right?

Amen.

Amen.

I agree with that.

You know why you agree with it?

And you know why they so vibrantly would say amen?

Because it was so real in their lives.

And then, not just a broken heart.

The last thing, our prayers of faith.

We pray by faith.

Psalms 141, verse 2.

Psalms 141:2

Look, let my prayer be set forth before thee as an incense.

Woo! And the lifting of my hands.

Uh-oh.

Y'all thought that was just for crazy people like me, lifting up my hands.

No.

No.

It's lifting up our hands as an evening sacrifice.

In other words, we're lifting up our hands saying, Thank you, Lord.

Remember presenting your body, a living.

You're giving your whole self to him.

Lord, here I.

Use me.

Send me.

It wasn't until Isaiah came into his presence and was cleansed.

Remember?

Before he came into God's presence, he was saying, Woe is you, woe is you.

Five different times in Isaiah 5.

He comes in the presence of an awesome God.

And oh, he says, Then, oh, I'm a sinful man.

Oh, my lips are filled with uh with just ungodliness and wickedness, and but not just mine.

I like I'm glad he didn't stop there because that would mean the preacher's in trouble.

But he said, and also dwell in the midst of a people that are ungodly too.

Ha ha.

All of us.

Can I get an amen?

Or oh me.

That'd be a good o me.

But when he came into his presence, he said, Woe is me.

Woe is me.

It's not my brother nor my sister.

It's not my brother nor my sister.

But it's me, O Lord.

Standing in the need of prayer.

Amen.

Amen.

Isn't that good?

Isn't that good?

And then B, I meant C, excuse me.

By the way, he goes on in Proverbs 15:8 and says, the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord.

Proverbs 15:8

Ooh, ooh.

That's pretty bad.

King Saul did that.

Remember King Saul?

God said, Go kill the Amalachites, kill everything, don't take anything, kill the king, kill everything, don't take a thing.

He went, killed everybody but the king, and took all the spoils for them.

And then when God confronts him with the prophet, he said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you don't understand.

I was doing this for God.

Oh, don't you know the king?

I'm showing this, you know, the king is going to be an example to my God.

All these spoils are going to be an offering for my God.

Why do you think he said you can take your sacrifices and throw them in the lake?

I want your heart.

Then sacrifice.

That's correct.

So, do you understand that how important that is?

That's so good.

That's so good.

And that's what he's saying there.

So, we see that.

Then, see, Solomon says, don't rob God of your praying.

In other words, don't pray carelessly.

Don't come in here and pray like you're a supernatural or super Christian.

You know, now I understand right now prayers.

I've only done that one time.

And that was because I was on a time limit.

But you know, your prayers ought to come from your heart.

Now, let me tell you what that means.

You need to think through what you say.

Careless and vain words and repetitions.

Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 6, 7.

But when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathens do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

In other words, their eloquence.

And their chanting.

That's what he said.

Don't do that.

I'm not interested in that.

I'm interested in your heart.

Psalms 141, verse 1.

Psalms 141:1

Oh Lord, he says, Lord, I cry unto thee.

Make haste unto me.

Give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee.

That's what you want.

You come with that broken heart saying, Lord, I need you.

Lord, God's revealed to you and you pray and you got problems.

Remember what he said?

If you're doing what I ask you to do and you're following me when you're in trouble, I want you to come and cry out.

I want you to cry.

That's why I love this altar.

Well, I tell you what, I don't understand why churches, some churches, don't do altar calls.

Because let me tell you, altar calls are so important.

They are part of worship.

It's a time for you to just come and kneel and pray or stand and pray out.

Present your, by the way, it can be a positive thing.

You just come in, present in your body a living saying, Lord, I love you.

Thank you for how you've you know what?

If God's blessed you, I think you ought to come to the altar sometimes on Sunday and just say, thank you for blessing me this week.

Thank you for I was standing, but the angel came by and I ended up in somebody's house I never knew, but they took me in.

Whoa, thank you.

Amen.

What are people gonna think if I go wrong?

Can I tell you something?

Whoopee-doo.

Who cares?

And by the way, if if they're here for the right reason, they ain't thinking about you.

They're dealing with their own problems.

Amen.

Amen.

If they're really here, God's nailed them too.

In the time I preach, if I ever preached when God hadn't revealed to me some things I need to change in my life and do right that I wasn't doing, I haven't been to I hadn't been in the presence of God.

There's always a rebuking and a reproving, but then there's an exhortation.

It's all there.

The word of God builds you up, tears you down, builds you back again.

And when he builds you back again, he builds you better.

Amen.

Oh, that's good.

Rehabilitate?

No, I call it rebuild, Darren.

I've tried to rehabilitate, and it doesn't work sometimes.

He has to rebuild me.

Put on the new.

Amen.

So we see that.

How powerful that is.

Matthew 12, 34 through 37.

You got to see this.

You got to see this.

Jesus said, those things which come out of the mouth.

O generation of vipers, how can you be evil and speak good things?

Now watch what he says, verse 35.

A good man out of the goodness or out of good treasure, that means his heart's pure, of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

But I say unto you, let me just stop.

Well, go back to verse 35.

I want to say something right here.

Lord just impressed me to say that.

If you can't speak but say in four-letter words or or or any kind of garbage, something's wrong with your heart.

You really need to examine your heart whether you be in the faith.

1 Corinthians 13, 5.

Because what if you take, by the way, these words are written in red.

That's what Jesus said.

Okay.

If your mouth is filthy, you need a new heart.

You need a new heart.

Amen.

And I really believe that.

In fact, listen to what Paul said about that in Romans 3.14.

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness is an abomination to God.

Hello.

You can't control your tongue.

James 1.26 says your religion's vain and you're not real.

Hello?

Well, you say, Well, I don't curse.

Go to the next verse.

Verse 36.

But I say unto you that for every what does that next word say?

You know what a idle word is?

That's right.

Useless.

It's for no good.

Here's the verse.

Write it down, memorize it, it'll change your life about your speaking.

Ephesians 4 29.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of, that it may minister grace unto its hears.

If it's not good, if it's not building up, if it's not necessary, and if it's not spoken graciously, don't say it.

Well, Brother Danny, that cut out 90% of my conversation.

Well, just shut up.

Excuse me.

Be quiet.

I ain't see mama.

Don't say that word.

Every time I use that word, I can see mama.

I'm sorry, mama.

Dandy boy?

That's an ugly word.

Shut up.

Don't ever use that word.

Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am.

You hear me, church?

You hear me?

Now.

Verse 37, for by the words you'll be justified, by your words you'll be condemned.

That's pretty strong, isn't it?

Hello?

Is that pretty strong, church?

Jesus said that.

You're gonna stand before me.

I'm gonna justify you by your words.

2 Timothy 2.16 says, Shun profane and vain fabulance, for they will increase into more ungodliness.

So how we pray and what we say is very important.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

And then D, Solomon's fourth admonition, make vows to the Lord.

Now, look at what he says.

Look at what he says.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools.

You know what he just says there?

God says, if you make a vow to me and you don't fulfill it, you're fool.

Hello.

Look up the word fool.

Or use the word, take your legal pad when you're going through the Proverbs.

Everybody needs a legal pad when you're reading a chapter a day.

And have the good side and the bad side.

Draw a line down the middle.

And all the good things he tells you to do, write them down.

All the bad things not to do, write them down.

But you're going to see throughout the book of 31 chapters of Proverbs the word fool used to everyone that rejects God, doesn't listen to God, does not apply what he tells you to do, you're a fool.

And he also goes on to say, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God.

So really, you're living your life under the sun without God.

He says, You're a fool.

Deuteronomy 23, all those verses.

But let's go on because I want you to see what the preacher said right here.

The preacher warned about two sins here.

Here's what he said.

Look at what Solomon said.

First was that of making a vow with no intention of keeping it.

He said, You're better off not to make a vow if you're not going to intend on keeping it.

Not, let me ask you something.

Let me tell you what God told me.

God told me not, it's, you know why I'm a fool?

Because when I make a vow to God and I know I'm not going to keep it, I'm lying to God.

Have you ever thought about that?

You are lying to God.

I want to be guilty for a lot of things, but I don't want to be guilty for lying to God.

Amen?

You with me?

Owe me?

And then the other thing, the second sin, was making the vow by delaying to keep it.

Notice the word angel and messenger there.

Oh, this is pretty good.

When I did that word study, he says, better is, let me go back.

Verse 4.

When thou vowst a vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools.

Pay that which they vow.

Verse 5, better if it's that thou should not vow, then thou should make a vow and not pay it.

The word here for messenger in this passage deals with the angel, but also the preacher.

Basically, when you go back and see sacrifices, the preachers or the priests would come because people and churches would make vows to God that they would give money or give to support a church or a work.

So they would be coming to collect it.

And so when they would come to collect it, here's what they say.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, uh, uh, I we don't have it.

And I really didn't mean that.

Be very cautious when you come down to this altar and make a vow to God.

Young people, listen to me.

That's why vows in a marriage relationship are so important.

Amen.

You're making a covenant with God.

You're making a covenant with God.

Now, he's not saying that vows is what makes you obedient to God.

He's saying, Hey, vows are your opportunity to give your heart and make a commitment to.

To him.

He says, I'm not looking for everybody to make vows.

But he says, I'm looking for you to give your heart to me.

And when I speak to you, and God, hey, and I make a cut, hey, I speak to you, and yes, you say, Yes, that's what I need to do, I want to do, God, I will do it.

Then that's serious business.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

That's serious business.

You better fulfill it.

Amen.

Now don't get scared and don't make a vow.

If God speaks to your heart, make the vow, but just do it.

Can I get an amen?

And by the way, he wouldn't be speaking to your heart to make that vow if he was not going to enable you to do it.

Can I get an amen?

And that's what's best.

That's what's best for you.

That's what he's talking about.

Be doers of the word.

In fact, I wrote to myself right here: be conscientious in paying your vows.

And be cautious in making your vows.

That's it.

Be cautious in making your vows, but once you make them, be very conscientious to do it.

Can I get an amen?

Ain't that good?

Number two, don't rob others.

Verses eight and nine, I'm not going to spend a lot of time there because I already have.

But verses eight and nine, look at what it says.

If thou seest the oppression of the poor, remember we dealt with that in chapters two and three.

The government being corrupt and the cover government putting oppression, the rich taking advantage of the poor.

So I'm not even going to go there.

We preached that last week.

But here's what those two verses really mean.

They mean, hey, when God's blessed us, let us be a blessing to others.

Can I get an amen?

If God has blessed you, and by the way, you say, well, how do you know when God's blessed you?

Do I even have to ask that question?

Huh?

If I have to answer that, we're all in trouble.

God's blessed you to bless others.

He didn't bless you to just bless you.

What makes you so special?

He blessed you so you can be mindful of others.

Amen.

That's what he says throughout the book of Psalms.

He says, I have been, listen to what he says, Psalms 115, verse 10.

Psalms 115:10

Thank you, Lord.

I have been mindful of you to bless you.

Well, guess what?

He's mindful of us to bless us, and we ought to be like him, so we ought to be mindful of others to bless others.

Hey, Clay's gonna bless me, I'm gonna bless Terry.

I'm gonna bless Melvin.

I got your door up and couldn't get it back down.

I had to climb the fence.

Hurt my back.

Hey, hey, listen, listen.

Mindful of you to bless us.

God's, I want to say this to God.

Man, this is so good.

God's been mindful of Danny Lovett to bless me.

I want all of us to say this.

God has been mindful of me.

This is one time I'm gonna let you use me and it's acceptable.

God has been mindful of me to bless me.

Come on.

God has been mindful of me to bless me.

Now, why has God been mindful, mindful of me to bless me so that I can bless others?

Now here's what I'm gonna say.

God has been mindful of me to bless.

God has been mindful, mindful of me to bless me so that I can bless others.

God has been mindful of me to bless me so I can bless others.

Are you ready?

God has been mindful of me to bless me so I could bless others.

Let's give Jesus a hand.

Amen.

That's it.

That's it.

And can I say something?

The more He blesses you, the more you ought to bless others.

Because if you ever stop, he stops.

He said, Well, I still get my money.

You're not getting blessings though.

Hey, by the way, you can be rich and not be blessed.

But you can be poor and be blessed.

Huh?

Why do you say, Harry?

It's not about money.

It's not about money.

Which brings me to the third thing.

Don't rob yourself.

Verses 10 through 20.

Mm-mm.

What he did in this section was demolish several of the myths that people hold about wealth.

Because they hold to these illusions.

They rob themselves of blessings.

And here's what he says.

Watch this.

Illusion number one, that wealth, look at verse 10, can bring satisfaction.

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor now watch, he that loveth abundance with increase, this also is vanity.

Wow.

He says you can have all the money and keep getting money, keep getting money, and you're still not satisfied.

We almost saw the corruption of the whole America because of our financial system, the covetousness and the greed.

They had enough, but they wanted more and more and more, and it almost caused the country to go under.

They weren't happy.

Billions of dollars, million-dollar bonuses.

I know what you think, man.

If I got a million-dollar bonus, I'd be the happiest person in the world.

No, you wouldn't if you don't have Jesus.

And by the way, if if if you have Jesus and living for Jesus and He wants you to have a million dollars, you're gonna get it.

But I'm gonna tell you something.

He's gonna give this is gonna hurt and be good all at the same time.

He is gonna give you, he's gonna give you all that He will give to you that He can trust you with.

Amen.

The reason you may not be getting anymore, hey, you're not doing with what you got, what you need to be, so He can't trust you.

Jesus, teach us giving.

Much is required.

That's it.

What it says.

Is that not good?

Somebody says, hey, I want to be a millionaire.

Well, does God, that's not the question.

The question is, does God want you to be a millionaire?

And let me tell you something, you start with being, hey, you start with the$10 before you get the million dollars.

And if you can't handle the$10, you're not gonna get a million dollars.

Not from God.

Now, you may get it deceitfully, you may get it from Satan, but he's got one person who's giving it to you to kill you, to destroy you.

Amen.

You with me?

So, wealth brings satisfaction.

No way.

Why?

Let me tell you why it doesn't.

Again, look at verse 11, chapter 3.

God has put eternity in our hearts.

It's not about materialism, it's not about money.

Luke 12, 15, take heed and beware of covetousness.

Warn Jesus for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possessed.

Says, You brought nothing into this world.

Say it with me.

You'll take nothing out.

Notice the second thing.

That money solves every problem.

Look at verse 11.

When goods increase, they are increased that eat them.

What good is there to the owner thereof, saving the beholding of them when they're not?

He says, What in the world's good when you're getting money and as much money you're getting, you're spending it, you're losing it.

More taxes, more this, more that, more upkeep, more.

He says, You're worrying about getting more money, and the more you get, the more you spend, the more somebody robs from you, takes from you, taxes from you.

Boy, that's good.

That's what he said.

Here's what John Wesley said, founder of the Methodist Church.

John Wesley, co-founder of the Methodist Church, told his people make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.

That's pretty good wisdom right there.

By the way, that's Proverbs.

That's what it says.

That's what Solomon said.

And then see, wealth brings peace of mind.

Look at verse 12.

The sleep of a laboring man is sweat, whether he eat little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

He says, hey, the guy that doesn't have that's not rich, hey, he goes to bed and goes to sleep.

The man that's rich, he's got insomnia.

He can't go to bed, he can't sleep.

He's worried about somebody stealing it.

Or he's worried about how to take care of it.

Now let me show you how I know that.

And this is so good.

In um, I think this is where I wanted to use it, the whole thing.

Go to go to can we go back to Luke 12?

That's all right.

It's in the next one.

It's the next one.

So wealth brings peace.

No way it brings peace.

Now, all right.

Every pastor, how many of you remember John D.

Rockefeller?

All the guns 50 and older do.

We do.

James does.

If you study history, you do.

He was the first billionaire in America.

First billionaire.

Made a million dollars a week.

Think you can live on that?

You know what?

He had ulcers.

All he could eat was milk and crackers.

Stayed in his study, secluded himself, fifty-three years old, about to die.

Miserable.

A lot of theologians believe he got saved.

His whole life changed.

He started giving and giving and giving and giving and giving and giving and giving.

Lived to be 94 years old.

His life radically changed.

Tells you something, doesn't it?

And then wealth provides security, verses 13 through 17.

No, it doesn't provide security because in Luke 12, verses 15 through 21, the rich man decided he had so much he was going to have to build more barns to put his wealth in.

Luke 12:15–21

And the, hey, the Lord came to him and said, Why are you doing this?

Why aren't you using the money the way I told you to use it?

Help people.

He says, Because tonight you are going to die.

It's pretty strong.

Luke 12, read it.

15 through 21.

You're going to die tonight.

Then here's what he says.

Who's going to have it then?

You don't even know who's going to have it.

And we talked about that.

That happened with Solomon.

Rehaboam came behind Solomon and just wrecked the kingdom.

His own son came and wrecked the kingdom after Solomon.

Solomon knew what he's talking about, didn't he?

And it literally happened.

So I close.

Here's the conclusion.

Truths about money.

Number one, your ability to earn money is a gift from God.

Can I get an amen?

Look at what he says in verse 18.

Look at what he says in verse 18.

Behold, that which I have seen, it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor that taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him, for it is his portion.

It is a gift from God that you have what you have, whether you're rich or poor or not rich, not poor.

And what he's saying, it's a gift of God wherever you are in life.

Be excited, be content where you are, and thank God for it.

Can I get an amen?

Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights.

James 117.

And that's good.

That is so, so good.

The love of money is the root of all evil.

Don't go there.

Don't let it.

Earning money.

Listen, listen.

In fact, I thought about this.

If you got a good job, you ought to be thankful.

Amen.

If you got a good job, you ought to be thankful.

If you don't have a job, you ought to be thankful.

Hello?

But be praying God to give you a job.

Amen.

You ought to be thankful, folks.

God gave you a job.

Hey, we all need to live.

We all need necessities.

But He blesses us so we can bless others.

Amen.

Stingy people are greedy people.

Greedy people, stingy people are miserable people.

Are mean people.

Your ability to enjoy money, verses 19 and 20, is a gift.

You only enjoy what you got.

Look at what he says.

This is so good.

Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, look, it's not, it's okay.

And has given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor.

This is a gift of God.

Thank God God has allowed you to be rich.

But notice what he said there that was so so important.

What did he say right there?

He said, your portion.

In other words, you take what you need, what you hey need and even enjoy.

But God's given you so much, then use it to bless others.

If we listen to me, if every church was doing that, like we're trying to do in this little church that's just started, God is blessing it so much because we take care of people, help people.

If every church did that, we would not need the government.

When I tell people how we help people, they look at me like I'm a new calf looking at a fence post.

Amen.

I said, yes, liberating.

So the first time I've ever been in a part of church that, hey, somebody calls me, and we take care of our family here first.

I want you to know that.

That's another reason why y'all be part of your own family.

Amen.

We take care of our family.

And then if we can help others, we try to help them too.

But with the purpose, though, of getting them to the family.

Amen.

You know, we'll help you, but if you, you know, if you're just trying to scam me, you can scam me once, you won't scam me twice.

Because if you don't show up and let us love you, love on you, help you, nurture you, disciple you, you hear the word of God and be faithful, well then I don't understand.

I don't understand why you're not here if we're helping you.

See anything wrong with that?

Anything wrong with that picture?

We want to help you physically first.

Absolutely.

We don't want you to freeze and we don't want you to go hungry.

Can I get an amen?

We're gonna take care of those issues.

You get to one of the best meals in the city right here in a few minutes.

So if you're hungry, you ought to come to church for no other reason just to eat.

You may not like me, but we got some good cooks.

Amen.

Somebody said, Well, you're just feeding the people to get them there.

Any way I can.

Amen.

Amen.

But they're gonna hear the word, and they're gonna go out of here, and some of that's gonna stick.

Amen.

Then we're gonna feed you, then we're gonna love you.

I'm gonna love on you, I'm gonna keep up with you, and just any way we can help, help.

That's what we're here for.

That's the church.

You know what Solomon said?

He said, when you're doing that, when you're doing that, he said, you're gonna be the happiest you can ever be.

Thank God for your job.

Thank God for what he's doing in your life.

And take what you're rightfully your portion, what you need, and even some of your wants.

Can I say something?

I'm 60 years old, and I know I don't look it.

Thank you very much.

I work out four days a week, kill myself to hopefully not look 60, but I don't know if it's working.

And upon this rock, I'll build my church, and the gates of hell will not stand against it.

We got God's protection.

Amen.

You wanna mess with us?

Go ahead.

Because we don't offend, we don't avenge ourselves.

He takes care of us.

So if you're looking for something like that, you're at the right place.

If you're looking here to come in here and do your duty, you're not gonna feel comfortable.

Because the truth hurts sometimes.

But if you're looking to be more like Jesus, you're gonna love it.

You know the best compliments I get is not, man, that's a great sermon, Pastor.

You know the when I really say thank you, Lord.

When somebody walks out and says, Preacher, you stepped on my toes.

I did my job.

Now wait, don't take that wrong.

I'm not no, you know that.

That's not in my heart.

I love you.

I love you more than you ever know.

That's why I preach the truth, the whole truth.

There's times that we have to go to the woodshed, but it makes us better.

You come out of the woodshed, you know when I used to whip Eric, it's amazing how better he was the next week.

Hey, when Papa took me to the woodshed, it was amazing how Danny Boy was better for a while, a pretty good while.

Amen.

Anybody that was I the only one raised where spoil spare rod spoiled a child.

My granddaddy knew what that meant.

Amen.

It worked.

I turned out okay.

I wasn't abused.

My granddaddy loved me.

And he'd always he'd always say this.

Ah, this is gonna hurt me more than it's gonna hurt you.

I never understood that till I became a dad.

And it does.

When God takes our heart and opens it up with a word, and it's the hard time.

Not there's both, yeah, the good and the bad.

But that hard time's sitting up there.

Please listen to me.

You need to change that.

This is hurting me.

This is what I wanna do.

I'm gonna bless you so much.

But you're settling for the disguise of Satan.

You're not listening to me.

Listen to me.

Please listen to me.

I've got such a blessing for you.

And this really does hurt me more than it.

It's gonna hurt you.

Because I see such a blessing.

God waiting for you.

You're missing.

Young people, listen to me.

Listen to me.

Listen to me.

If you will dedicate your life and live for him right now, young, you're you don't have a clue what God's gonna do for you.

It's gonna be so fantastic.

You'll never turn back.

Don't let's don't swallow the lies of Satan.

Don't do it.

Don't do it.

Be a shed rack, a Meshach, and a Benin God.

Father, we love you this morning.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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Send us an email at office at the church at cw.com.

We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.