Sunday A.M.
Found Abounding
Did you know that most vitamin D3 supplements come from sheepswell? I'm Kat, founder of Ritual. We're making traceability the new standard for the supplement industry. When I was pregnant, I couldn't find a multivitamin I could trust, so it created my own. Ours is made traceable, third party tested, and clean label projects certified. Oh, and our vitamin D3, it comes from sustainably harvested lichen from England, not cheap. Trace for yourself with 25% off at ritual.com/podcast. Praise the Lord. We're going to continue talking about commitment this morning. As far as I know, this will be the last message and upon this thought is the same thing. I thought the last two weeks, but we'll see where the Lord leads us next Sunday. But each week is just added to this thought for us. And we're looking at one of my-- was become one of my favorite verses over the years. First Corinthians chapter 15, verse number 58, for a text this morning. Have you ever read-- we studied the letter in first Corinthians and second Corinthians, chapter 15 has 58 verses. And there's a lot of things that we refer to and we talk about. We may not realize it comes from first Corinthians 15. I began to listen to that on the way to church this morning. Seven minutes and 20 seconds is how long it takes max on the U version Bible app to read that. And so I was-- it's 15 minutes for me to get to church. I was able to listen to it twice because I got done when I said, wait a minute, I want to hear that again. So I went back and listened to that chapter again. And so much, so much Paul puts in this chapter. He's talking in this chapter about the resurrection. He's talking in this chapter about his calling. We've been talking about our calling over the last few weeks. He's talking in this chapter about the sacrifice that has been made for you and I to be able to take the stand that we stand. But how willing are we to take that stance? He talks about how if we do not believe that Jesus rolls from the dead, then everything that we do is in vain. He talks about all of those things. And then he gets here to this final verses, concluding verse of what we break it down. See, this is a letter. We, someone along the lines when they pinned it, they broke it down into chapters and the verses. We love Bible verses, don't we? We like to put them in different places. We like to memorize them. We like to do all of these things. But this was a letter and the breaking down of this chapter that we know is 1 Corinthians 15, 58. Paul concluded with these words. After all he said, he put this word there, therefore, meaning all of this is therefore. All of this that I just stated to you up to this point is therefore you and me. Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, say these two words with me, always abounding. You didn't say them together with me. Say these two words together with me, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. How many would agree with me this morning life is tough? That's only about half of you. The rest of you don't think life is tough. How many would agree life is tough? It is tough. Life is tough, but we are reminded in this text that we still have to be steadfast. We still have to be unmovable, and we still have to always be abounding in the work of the Lord. Meaning, as we look back over the last couple of weeks of our messages, we have to draw from them, we must allow the power of commitment. Remember week one? If you don't, I'll just start over next week. We'll go through them again. The power of commitment to ignite faithful commitment, which was last week's title, inside of us, why that we will drive us to be powerful ambassadors of the kingdom of God. So I ask you a question this morning. We'll ask you a question this morning. Will you be found abounding? Jesus said, when I come, will I find faith? Will he find commitment? Will he find the power of commitment was so powerful that it drew us into a relationship that took and catapulted us into an effort to be found abounding? Father, we love you today. Thank you for your word today. I sure do need your anointing to preach this morning. And I pray that you'd anoint hearts to receive it. We'll be careful to praise you for it in Jesus' name. Touch our brothers and sisters. They're not able to be here today for sickness, travel, circumstances beyond their control. Pray that they were able to listen in and get received from this word on the online platform. First needed by all of us, those that are here and those that are not here. Thank you for all in Jesus' name, amen. I want to back up to the Old Testament, to the Book of Ruth. I love the story of Ruth. And the Book of Ruth, many have said it should have been called the Book of Naomi. Because it's about Naomi, it's about her family. And when you begin to read the Book of Ruth in the first chapter, you don't see any mention of Ruth because Ruth comes later. Ruth comes after Naomi and her husband. Husband makes the decision, and Naomi followed the decision of her husband, and they went to have a time of famine, went to another land, and they ended up there. Their two sons were young at a time, and they grew up, and they married, and as they married, they were two daughters-in-law. But in the 10-year space and the 10-year time that they were gone, Naomi not only lost her husband, but she lost those two sons. But Ruth came into the picture there. She was a blessed part of the family. She was a mobitis. She was a foreigner. She did not know the, didn't serve the same gods, didn't have the same understanding. But she loved her mother-in-law. She gleaned from her, and Ruth decided now that her sons were gone, her husband was gone. It was time for her to go home. Probably didn't want to leave to start with, if we're totally honest. She probably didn't think it was a good decision, but her husband made the decision, and she followed just as she was supposed to. So we don't know that for sure, but we would think that that's the case. And Naomi says, "I'm going home." And she tells her daughters-in-law's, "Go back to your families. "There's nothing more that I can do for you." She said, "If I had a son today, "are you gonna wait for him to be grown?" I've always found that verse to be very interesting. Then you're gonna hang around for him, time for him to become an adult, that you can marry him. "I am no use to you." And Orph had pretty much weighed that and said, "Well, you're pretty much right. "You're no good to me. "Love ya. "Know it. "Duces." She was gone. She went home. She kissed her mother-in-law, meaning she loved her and respect her, but she said, "You're right. "There's not much." But Ruth, there was something to Ruth's heart. Ruth was, "You're so much more than my deceased husband's mother. "You're so much more than providing me with a husband. "You've given me so much more than your son. "You've given me so much more than that." She said, "And it's where the verses come in "that many have used in weddings for couples. "This was actually Ruth's words to her mother-in-law." She said, "Wherever you lodge, I lodge. "Wherever you go, I'm going. "You eat there, I'm eating there. "You live there, I live." And she went as far as to say, "You die there, "I'm dying there." She said, "Your God's gonna be my God." That's an impact. That was an impact. We would think why in the world would they own me and her husband go into that foreign land and how would they end up there and how do they face that? And I've already looked ahead to Wednesday night Bible study, so I'm trying not to get ahead and to get into that. But sometimes great things happen from bad situations. Maybe some would say they weren't even supposed to be there. But God works all things together for His good. And out of that horrible 10 years of Naomi's life, matter of fact, Naomi was so put away in that season of her life that when she came back and they began to call her Naomi, she said, "Don't call me Naomi. " Naomi meant pleasant. "I'm not pleasant." She said, "Call me Mara." Which means bitter. I want to go by Mara from now on. Nobody ever called her that, but that's how she felt. So in that bitter season of her life that she thought that nothing has come good of that, I've lost my husband, I've lost my sons, I've lost my livelihood, I don't know what to do and I go home, I don't have nothing waiting for me at home. What did she have? It was not something that she lost, but she gained something. She gained somebody. She gained somebody who said, "I'm gonna stay with you and I'm gonna stick with you." And that's where the name of the book come from. So it was her daughter. There's a book in the Bible named after Moabitis Woman by the name of Ruth. And in this story, we find this beautiful story of redemption and dedication. Ruth left everything to go with Naomi. She went back with Naomi to her homeland and when she arrived there, she immediately went to work. And that's what we're talking about. She was committed to Naomi and she was committed to do everything that she had to do to be a support system for her mother-in-law and to make what needed to be made, to do what needed to be done, to accomplish what needed to be accomplished. And she knew, believe me, she knew Naomi was feeling bitter. She was standing there when their talents, people gathered around it and said, " Naomi's home." She said, "No, don't call me that. Call me more. Ruth heard that." And she said, "Oh no, mother, you're still beautiful. You're still pleasant. You're still Naomi to me. You're still Naomi to them." And I'm gonna do everything that I possibly can to help you never forget that you're Naomi and you're not more. And that is our position. That is our place to do everything that we can to help those that think. I'm not pleasant. I don't feel pleasant. I feel bitter. Let them realize. It does not matter how you feel what life is. Tell to you how things may be going. I know there's power in commitment and I'm gonna be faithfully committed to serve and to be a help for you to get to that place that you realize you're still pleasant. You're still who God called you to be. Maybe you're sitting here this morning. You don't feel pleasant. You feel bitter. If I will stay faithfully committed by the Paul. If I let the power of commitment to help me to continue to do what God has called me to do, just maybe, just maybe after a process of time that you will realize, I'm not what I thought I was. I am still who God says I am. That's the power of commitment. But Ruth gets there. She doesn't just get there and move in and Naomi's basement and hook up her gaming system. No, she did not follow Naomi to leech off Naomi. Naomi already told her I have nothing to give you. I have nothing to offer you. How many of us are willing to be committed and faithful to those who have nothing to give us in return? That was Ruth. She was committed to Naomi. Could not understand that. We cannot understand that. We can, maybe we would work for a company for years and they've been good to us for years. But then that company gets in a tough place and everybody is leaving. Everybody is gone. You know, I've stood there before. I worked for a company, man, we were thriving. I was a young manager. Matter of fact, I started out as a driver. By the time I left there, I was the fixed operations manager of that company. You know, I was the fixed operations manager because everybody else bailed. Everybody else left. When our company got into a hard place and the owners sold out to one of our main vendors and the main vendors in Mississippi owned our company. Those who they did not lay off, they left. And I'm there just a young man. I am there and I'm committed to being the best employee that I could be because that company was good to me, good to my wife, good to our family. And it would have been very easy for me to jump ship and to go to another company that I stayed faithful in that. Was it because of the company? No, it was because God had used that company to provide for me. So I did what I can to help them through those tough seasons. And you know what my reward was when the owners finally took and somebody finally bought that? They got rid of me. But that's not all me. I left there knowing that I did everything that I could to take the right path and to take the right road. How many is willing to have that Ruth mentality? St. Naomi, I know I can't get anything from you. I know there's no bonuses and there's no raises and there's none of that coming down the line. This is what it says of Ruth in Ruth chapter two. When she gets there in verse 15 and 16, and when she was risen up to gleaned and she was risen up to gleaned, Ruth got up. She walks out to her, she gets dressed, she's going out the door, maybe Naomi is saying Ruth, where you going? Got to go find work, mom. She didn't say one of us has got to do it. No, so I'm going to go find work. I am going to go to do what I can to provide for us. You know, she did this and it says they're just in the first few words and so when she had risen up, first chapter two leading up to this verse tells us about her desire and her preparation to go. But then it tells us that when she was risen up to go, it was noticed. Boaz commanded a young man saying, let her glean even among the sheaves, reproach or not, verse 16. And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose. Some translations of this call it handfuls on purpose. Hands fools of purpose for her and leave them that she may glean them and rebuke her not. Ruth was willing to do whatever she could to go out into that field and to sweat. Men's work really of that time. And what she was allowed to do and what the servants were allowed to do, there was this allowance for them to glean on the corners of the field. Meaning that's the remnants, that is what's left over. That's basically what we would call it. In my line of work, what I do, the company that I work for, there's a palette of food that's picked up every Tuesday morning. It's not what we use, it was what was left over. It was things that we said, yeah, we don't want to send that to our members or what was left after we sent out everything. It was the leftovers, but they took. That would be like our packer saying, hey, I know that's a good apple, but I'm gonna throw it in there. I'm gonna take and throw a handful of this corn. I know that's some good looking corn. And if it's good enough for members, it's good enough for us to put in the donate bin. That's basically what Boaz was telling them to do. But they were allowed to glean from the corners of the field. And he said on those corners of the field, that where she would just find some remnants, just go ahead and drop some handfuls on purpose. Just go ahead and put hands full of purpose there. Meaning give her something that she can be rewarded with. And so Ruth is there, she's gleaming. And no doubt she's filling it up, she comes home. And Naomi knows enough about the customs of her land to say, there's no way you should have brought that much home. Whose field was you in? Whose field, whose attention did you get? Listen, if you'll stay faithfully committed, there's power in that commitment. God will give you favor, God will give you everything. He will supply all of our need, according to his riches and glory. There'll be something, there'll be a meeting that's taking place over here on this corner of the field. While you're over on that corner of the field, just trying to glean over here, the owner is talking to his workers, and said, who is that young lady? I don't know who she is, but when you get back out there, when you get done with your break, you go ahead and give her hands full of purpose. Do you know he went home to say, if she needs a water break, you let her drink of your water. If she needs anything, you just ask her. If she needs it, this is a serving girl. This is a Moabitis, this is somebody, this is a foreigner from another land. Is she been coming to that land? We don't know if she got a passport, but she got a green card. We don't know how she, it was able to get there. If it was enough, if she was good, they didn't have all that back then. She was a foreigner in that land. And Boaz said, I see her commitment. And he later told her, everybody recognizes your commitment to your mother-in-law. It's been seen. What was he saying? Others have noticed your commitment. I have noticed your commitment. And Boaz was saying commitment never looks so good, honey. 'Cause he fell in love with a Moabitis woman. And he fell in love. When we read this, we don't look like most men would, man, she's pretty. What did he see first? Her commitment. She fell in love with the devotion and the commitment. How in the world is she so devoted? Why in the world would she come? Why would she follow bitter Naomi back to this land? And why would she do what she was doing? Well, it's just like you and I. We also come from our homeland. And we've stepped into a new land. But you know what? When we step into this new land that we've committed to, just as Ruth did to Naomi, we said to the Lord, wherever you lead, I'm gonna follow. Maybe someone led us to the Lord and we say, whatever path you're walking, I wanna walk that path. I want to be, I'm going to look up to you. Do you have any mentors in the faith? Do you have any of those that you've followed faithfully and say, as you're serving God, I wanna serve God. I'm gonna, have you found anybody worthy enough, found somebody abounding and committed, so committed to the gospel, that you say, I'm gonna listen. They're words, is there anybody that their words hold weight to you? That we did when you hear, when they speak, you tell others, hush, I need to hear this. When you see maybe a pulse from them on social media, you say, let me, I'll get right with you. I need to see what they wrote. This is important. When you begin to hang on those words and understand that. And that's where Ruth was at. And that's where we have come from our homeland of the world. And we're walking in this new Christian life. Brother Paul will tell you when he came in that he didn't know anything about it. Sister, I didn't know anything about it. So what did they do? They found some to say, I'm gonna follow after them. I'm going to listen to them. I'm gonna learn from them. I'm gonna grow from them. That's what Ruth was saying today, homie. They owe me, teach me, teach me. Just, I don't know, I don't know how kind of nervous about coming into this new life. Kind of nervous about walking in a way that's different than what I used to walk. We've been there, right? We need to be found abounding in the work of the Lord. Why? Because we know our labor's not in vain, just as Ruth's labor was not in vain. The Psalmist said in Psalm 95 and two, let us come before his presence with thanks, giving him a joyful noise under him with Psalms. So we find it all throughout history. God has looked for someone to be found abounding. He found it in Ruth, Ruth's not the only one, but we know the context of our message just when he found it in Ruth. But many times, just as the prophecy of Ezekiel has told us this is wrong true in Ezekiel 22 and 30. I saw for a man among them that should make up the hedge, standing the gap before me, before the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. What if God looked down on America and said, give me a reason not to destroy that country? Would he find you in me abounding? Or would he find you in me? As we said Wednesday night, conforming. Conforming to the world's system. And it's seen that that is a better way. That's what Ezekiel said. God looked for somebody to make up the hedge. God looked for some prayer wars. Would he find prayer wars? Jesus said, when I come, I find faith. Will he find faith? Well, according to Ezekiel and throughout time, that has been the thing that there was no one found that was there making up the hedge and standing in the gap. But it's up to us individually. It's up to you and me individually to determine. I am going to be found abounding. Ruth couldn't make her decision on what decision her sister-in-law made, or if it turned back. Ruth could have said, sounds like a good idea to me. But no, her decision was not based on somebody else's decision. Stop making your decisions based on somebody else's decision or somebody else's opinion. Not in my notes, but that was free. Stop making your decisions based on somebody else's opinion or somebody else's decision. We have to be individual. Listen, it's not them that's going to stand before the Lord in your stead. You will have to give an account to God for what you did or what you did not do. How you served or how you refused to serve. How you walked or how you didn't walk. Not by how they treated you or how they made you feel or anything else. We will be held accountable as individuals. So it's up to us individually to determine. I will run. I will fight. I will be steadfast. I will be unmovable. I will be found abounding. Why, because I want him to look down and say, "Behold my servant in whom I'm well pleased and to understand and order for us to do that, we must understand why we do it." Why do you serve the Lord? Why are you committed to the service of the Lord? Why do you want to be found faithful? Well, we back up a few chapters in this letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians. What we call chapter nine. He wrote this in verse 26, 27. He said, "I, Paul wouldn't speak it for anybody else." He made reference to the leadership of the church. He made reference to his ministry colleagues. He made reference to the people that he was serving with and the people that he was serving. But when he got to this verse, he said, "I," he said, "I'm speaking for me, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly." I'm running not as uncertainly. He said, "So fight I, not as one that beat at the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest it by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." Did you notice the emphasis that I put there? I, I, he said, "I run, I fight, I keep this body understood." I have a responsibility and I take it seriously. I have a responsibility and I am going to hold to it. He said, "I don't want to preach to others and find myself a castaway." Can I tell you every time that I fail, I think about this verse. Every time that I come up short, I think about this verse. So I don't want to preach to others and find myself a castaway. I don't want to tell them one thing and find myself doing another. But Paul said it didn't in Romans chapter seven every time and I want to do good, evil is present. When it's always there, it's always trying to get our attention. It's always rearing up. It's that civil war that he's been talking about on Sunday night. It's that battle that's going on inside of us. But we have to put it on notice and say, "I will run. I will fight. I will be found about it. I will be faithful. I will be committed. And maybe, maybe, maybe we even look at ourselves and as Paul didn't say, "Oh, this wretch that I am." Oh, I feel wretched. Listen, when we fail God, when we fall short, when we come up short, we should feel like the bottom of the barrel. The problem is when we fall short and when we sin and carnality is in our lives and we don't have an issue with it, then we should be concerned. If we feel like dirt, we feel like junk. I know the devil will chime in and say, "You might as well give up." But Paul didn't give the devil any place here. He said, "I do not want to preach to others and find myself a castaway. Mitch means deserter. I do not want to desert the truths that I'm preaching. I do not want to desert that gospel that I'm laying out in these letters to you." He said, "I don't want to share with you two thirds of the New Testament, only for them to say he didn't hold to it. He didn't hold to what he preached. He didn't hold to what he taught to too many, too many preachers, kids." You could say, "My dad preaches one thing in church and lives another thing at home. I would hate to know that you could interview my kids and say, "That man that you see on church on Sunday ain't the same man I see all week. I would fall across that altar and say, "Lord, have mercy upon me. I've had to fall across that altar and say, "I'm not that man that I say that I am." All that song is sung said, "I know what others think of me. I know their opinion of me. I know that they think that I've got it together." It's basically what that songwriter's saying. He said, "But Lord, I know how often I've failed you. I know how much I need your grace." Paul goes on to this chapter. He says, "I am the least of all." In chapter 15, he said, "I am the least of all of his apostles. But nevertheless, here I am. I am what I am because of God's grace. What's sufficient in God's grace? Put me here and place me here. And now I've got to be faithfully committed to it. I've got to be found abounding. I was on my way that way. And God turned me that way. And so now I've got to stay in the way that God has called me to." He said, "I've got to be found faithful." I don't want to be found to cast away. This world's darker than the world that's ever been. I believe that. I've not lived in all of history. But I've studied it. Some would say, "I don't know. I was just reading the book the other day and I talked about the '80s." Remember how awful the '80s were? I'd forgot. This man began to recap how many murders in the '80s into the early '90s. How many stupid murders? The one man killed 26 people, I think it was. And he said, "I would have killed more than I ran out of bullets." No remorse. We find that it was somewhere in there that two young men, what we remember is Columbine. We remember those two young boys. Do you know that there was so many incidences worse than that? It took place in the '80s and the '90s, college campuses that were taking place and the things that were going on, the deaths and people that were killed for no reason. That man that killed 26 people, he did it in a McDonald's restaurant. Imagine sitting there eating your chicken nuggets and your life is gone. And he said the only reason I didn't kill more is because there wasn't more. It blew me for a little. There was more than 26 people in a McDonald's. But he said, "I'd have killed more than I ran out of bullets." And he just went going on and on and on. And as a writer of this book, Charles Wendell believed it is. He said, "There was so much more, but to tell you the truth, I got sick of researching it." He said, "It didn't run out of material. There was plenty more that I heard about enough." He said, "I think that's enough to get my point across in this book." The '80s were horrible. So that's a big statement to say that we're living in a darker time than we've ever lived before. But I believe it. I believe that this world is darker than it's ever been. Remember when we heard when we were younger and scripture tells us that good will be called bad and bad will call good, good will be called evil, evil will be called good. We're there. We're there. We can't say anything. You can't make any kind of stance. We're living there in that dark hour that we're living in. And the problem is the lamp of God is not shining bright in our churches anymore. But more importantly, that is not shining this bright as it should through professing Christians. Me and you. Can I be honest with you? I don't shine bright enough. If you're honest, you'd say me either pasture. We have a responsibility. We are the light of the world. If we said that's the light of this room, we look up there and it's blown. What good is it? He said, "You're the soul of the earth." But if you've lost your saltiness, what good are you? He said, "Nothing but to be trampled under the feet of man." Think about that. Think about that to know that our message is being trampled. Why is the gospel? Why is the good news? Why is the message of love? Why is the message of the clear message of biblical living in good Christian morals? It used to be a staple even in the homes of those that did not even profess to be Christians in America. The very thing that we were founded upon. Why is the very thought of virtuous living now trotted under the feet of man? Because scripture said it would be because we've lost our saltiness. We've lost our willingness and our commitment to the Word of God. Too many are committed, more committed to their job than they are to God. Too committed to their family and the needs of their family and they are the needs of the ministry, the kingdom more importantly, the kingdom of God. And so we find it is no different in the time than when God called young Samuel. Remember that? We covered that a couple of weeks ago. We got to hear the call of God like he did. That call of God is going to do the same thing for us. It's going to wake us from our slumber and we got to respond to a willingness to say, "Use me for your glory." Remember that? 1 Samuel 3, 3, and 4. Near the lap of God went out in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was and Samuel was laid down to sleep. The Lord called Samuel and he answered, "Here am I." Here am I was Samuel's response. In a time when it seems like the light is going out, when it seems like I hear it and see it in statistics, especially since 2020, that church attendant has plummeted. People say, "I don't need church." People have said, "I can have church at home." Or people said, "I don't need that Christian walk. All roads will lead me to heaven anyway. I'm fine. I'm okay. We hear all of these things going on. There's a plummet that's going on in it. And meaning that we're the lap of God should be shining. We're the ark of the covenant. You know what, the ark of the covenant represented? The Spirit of God and the presence of God. And it was a dangerous place because that lamp that God said would never should go out was about to go out. If we could see the day that we're living in, it's no different than when God called his first prophet. Could it be that God orchestrated that it would work the same way? And in his last days, his last prophets, his last ministers, his last ones to send out that cry would be under the same situation. It weren't a dark hour. The lamp is about to go out. If men of God are not being men of God, if servants of God are not being servants of God, if God's going to raise up a young person, if God's going to raise up a young man, a young woman, a young boy, a young girl, listen, God has not exempted the fact that he can call an old man or an old woman to do the same thing. God does not care. Here it was a young Samuel, but it could be an old man or an old woman. It will shape themselves. It says, I'm tired of the darkness. I'm tired. I'm going back. It could be a Naomi to say, I'm not bitter because I see what God can do. I see what God did in Ruth's. Do you realize that Naomi looked at what God did in Ruth's life and her and Boas married, Ruth and Boas married, and there was a worshiper born? Why? Because even when Naomi felt bitter, oh, but Naomi at the end of that book said, God has given me a child. God has risen up a worshiper. God's not dead. All my situation was bleak. Our circumstance was horrible. Oh, but because we were found about and God was faithful and we've got to be willing. How does that happen? It comes with a here and I. Here am I. I'm not just showing up. Here am I to worship. Amen. I'm not here to bless me if you can. I came to be a blessing. I'm not just showing up. I'm here to worship here. Am I to serve? Here am I the work, the works of him who have called me out of darkness into the marvelous light. I'm no longer a child of a darkness. I know what it was like to grow up in darkness and I can feel darkness as it's trying to overtake me and I don't want nothing to do with that because I've cast off that garment of darkness and I've put on the armor of light. I'm going to shine for him and we can feel darkness slipping in, can't we? Here I am to do the works of him that call me out of darkness into his marvelous light. So I was praying around the holders this morning before service. I don't know if I'll preach this. I just have this this thought came to my mind. Clickbait. I was just walking or turning that corner right there. Those two words clickbait. Clickbait. Okay, Lord, I don't know clickbait. Said the devil's using clickbait. You ever come across clickbait on social media? They put something there trying to get your attention to do what? To get you to click on it. And when you click on it, you go into this abyss and you just go into this deep hole of a bunch of nonsense and they've got you. As soon as you click on it, they got your email, they got everything. There's a Trojan virus that takes over your computer sometimes. It's clickbait. How many times are we falling for the devil's clickbait? How many times does he put it there? See, he can't make us do anything. See, nobody tells that fish to grab that worm, but he can't resist the worm. He knows he's been taught. There's going to be a hook underneath that worm. But in that moment, he forgets about the hook. How many times do we forget about the hook? I'm speaking to myself. Clickbait. The devil's putting clickbait there to try to do what? To try to get the here am I? No, I know what I'm supposed to be doing, and that's not a part of it. I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm supposed to stay away from that. People don't want to preach about those things. We don't want to talk about those things. We don't want to admit to those things that we did. What we were not supposed to do. And now here I am. And now what do I do with it? The devil says, "It'd be a good time for you to give up. It'd be a good time for you to throw in the towel. You're done now. You're finished." Oh, but no. And all that God said, "There's going to be times that the lamp of God is going to go out. There's going to be times when you feel like you can't go on." But he said, "Be steadfast. The unmoved will be found abounding. And to know here you are." And maybe you just feel like I did everything I can, Pastor, just to show up. Ever been there? It took everything that I had to look as good as I can. It's best I could do. I'm sorry. It took everything I could do just to show up. Ever been there? Maybe you're there right now. Took everything. But I am going to do more than just show up. I love this thing on the radio early in the morning. They would come on the radio and it says, "Has somebody gone?" And then the alarm clock going off said, "You've already did the hard part of this getting up thing." This early morning thing. The hard part is done. I get to work sometimes and I'm in there and I'm just booming, zooming around. Somebody asked me one day, they were complaining about what route they had. They said, "What do you got?" I said, "I got a job. I got a job. I got an opportunity to come to work today." And they looked at me like, "What is wrong with you?" And I just told us. I said, "I've already did the hard part. The hard part for me is to get these feet on the floor and to get up in them. Once I do that, I'm ready to go. You've already did the hard part. The showing up, you've done that. So your miles will just go ahead and worship. Your miles will just go ahead and say, "God, I don't want to leave here like I came. I don't want to drag out like I drug in. It took everything I had to show up and let me have a willingness to say, "Here I am. Here I am to worship. Here I am to serve." Psalms put it best in Psalms 100, "Make a joyful noise on the Lord all your lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord, He is God, is He that made us and not we ourselves. We are His people, the sheep of His pastor, enter into His gates with thanksgiving. Enter into His court and to His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name. For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting in His truth and dearth to all generations." I'm not just showing up. But I also didn't come to show out. I just come to surrender. I just want Him to know He's found about you. If somebody's looking for you this morning, they know where to find you. They're looking for you tonight. They know where to find you. Wednesday, camp meeting week. I know where to find you. They're not answering their phone. Well, there's a reason for it. It always blows my mind when my phone rings at church time. I look at it and if it's the number that I don't recognize, well they're ignorant. They just don't know, meaning they don't know. I don't know them well enough to know if they're ignorant or not. They must be if they're not in church. Somebody I know and I'm like, their clock must be broke. They must have forgot that we start earlier on Sunday. I give them the benefit of the doubt. Why? Because we should live in such a way that people know where we're going to be serving and worshiping. And I'm not just here to be seen, not here to feel a spot, not here to feel a place on a pew, not here to feel a place on a calendar in the pulpit. Not here to feel an occupation. This is not my job. It's my calling. I don't want to be found a bounty. And if I ever get to the place that I'm not found a bounty in doing it, it's pleasing unto the Lord. You won't find me a bounty on this platform. You won't find my name on that sign anymore. Paul said, I don't want to find myself. I cannot allow myself to get to that place. But can I tell you, the devil throws out some clickbait. Pastors aren't exempt. Spiritual leaders are not exempt. You're not exempt. If you're a born-again believer here this morning, I want you to stand to your feet. I'm closing. I'm going to get ready to enter into these orders. I'm fixing to read some verses. The verses that I've already read Psalms 100, I want you to take that to heart. Our text, I want you to take that to heart. But these closing verses, I want you to take the heart as well as you get ready to approach this order. It's our responsibility, bless you. It's our responsibility to be faithfully committed to work in the kingdom of God. Amen? I can't believe I had to buy an amen on that one. It is our responsibility to be faithfully committed to work in the kingdom of God. For the kingdom of God is power. Therefore, there is power in our commitment. That power that is in our commitment will bring change that is needed in the world today. Jesus is the answer, right? Jesus is the answer to the world today. Jesus Christ. And if we're born again, you know what is at the very start of that title that we hold? Christ, Christian, Christ, likeness, or ambassador. Representative, Paul put it this way. You are the body of Christ, members in particular. Would we agree with that? The change that the world is needing today is Jesus. But you and I, you and I have a responsibility to make sure that they see Jesus in us. They don't need our two cents worth. They don't need our bad attitude. They don't need our bitterness. They need our reflection of the image of God. We must be found abounding. Paul writes in another letter in Colossians chapter two, verse six and seven. Everybody that's standing this morning confessing morning and believers, this is what he's writing to you and writing to me. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Rooted and built up in him, established in the faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving. Not just, Paul's not saying just to be found abounding, he's saying but being thankful for the opportunity that I have to be found abounding. Father, I delivered my heart this morning. I prayed in the suffice to minister to the needs of the president in this house. I pray, Father, God, that it would be a desire, fresh fire that would burn within our soul. Show us your glory. Shine in me. God burn out every draw, every impurity, every imperfection, remove every hindrance that stops you from being able to shine through me. Let that be our prayers as we surround these holders. This one helped me to be steadfast, unmovable, always, always abounding in the work of a Lord. Priority number one is to be found abounding. Meet with us around these orders. We ask in Jesus' name. Did you know a 2018 study showed half of prenatal vitamins tested had unacceptable levels of heavy metals? I'm Kat, mother of three and founder of ritual. When I was four months pregnant, I couldn't find a prenatal I could trust. So I created my own. Ours is matraceable, third-party tested for heavy metals and recently earned the purity award from the clean label project. But don't just take my word for it. Get 25% off at virtual.com/preneal.