Do You Know What's Important In Life Pastor Stephen F. Mason

[Music] [Music] so [Music] encourage my soul [Music] is [Music] [Music] passing over the storm is passing on [Music] [Applause] [Music] encourage my soul [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the storm is [Music] [Applause] walking home [Music] [Music] the star is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] stone [Music] the storm is passing over [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] man i'ma tell y'all y'all getting good and gooder mark chapter 8. uh this morning we were in matthew this afternoon let's go to mark chapter 8 beginning at verse 34 very familiar passage of scripture verse 34 through 38. y'all have that these words are recorded and when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also he said unto them whosoever will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospels the same shall save it for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his father with the holy angels and i want to ask the same question i asked at eight o'clock service do you know what's important in life do you know what's important in life 1991 there was a movie that came out called the doctor and i've watched that movie several times because i think that there's a whole lot uh that can be learned from it in this movie the character jack mckee is a doctor that has it all he's successful he's rich and he's extremely self-centered and he has no problems until he is diagnosed with throat cancer now that he has seen medicine hospitals and doctors from a patient perspective he realizes that there is more to being a doctor than surgery and prescriptions and more to life than serving only his own needs after spending his life his career as a physician physician who treated patients with less than the respect that they deserved he becomes a patient and suddenly understands what it is like to be treated like he treated so many other human beings whose feelings and emotions surrounding that illness he never took the time to stop and consider he now realizes that all his degrees all his money all his cars all his houses all his boats cannot save him from the frailties of his own humanity he comes to an abrupt awareness that he now needs to go back and re-evaluate what life really is he realizes that he needs to go back and check himself he realizes that he now needs to go back and reevaluate what it really means to have value what's really important in life and what things have become his distraction when you look at the movie you'll see that he even found out that some of his friends some of those that he thought were his friends were really not his friends it's amazing how things will change once you get down oh everybody around you as long as your health is good everybody around you loans your money good everybody's around you as long as you are there with them and they're with you but if you really want to know who if you really want to find out who folks are get sick [Applause] and you'll find out who your children are when you get sick you'll find out who really love mama it amazes me uh that uh inevitably it is when there's sickness in a family and especially when the children are grown and some of them have moved off to another state and then there's one or two that's left here to take care of mom and dad and the other ones play like hey man they act like it ain't even they mama act like it ain't even their daddy and they call to check see what's happening and they criticize the ones that's here talk about what they need to do for mama talk about what they don't like and how mama need to be treated but never will catch a plane and take my never will take about two or three weeks a day vacation time and come down here to take care of their own parents but criticize the very one that's here with them well you'll find out you'll find out about life when tragedy strikes that's one thing i've learned you'll find out about life when tragedy strikes when trouble hits you'll find out who is who you'll find out that there are some people that do a whole lot of talking and ain't gonna do nothing and then there's some people that never said nothing but with trouble here they'll kick in and most of the time it surprises you who the person is that will really do something and who you thought would do something because of all the talk they did we come to find out what life is really about this message this morning and all of its simplicity says and challenges and puts in front of my face the reality of what life is and what it is not and what is really important in life and what is not important in life and let me tell you something about god he got a way of showing us yes god got a way of showing us what's important god got a way of showing us who your friends are and who your friends are not this morning we look at the question do you do you know what's important in life do you know what's important or do you think you know what's important in life i know that was the time in my life especially in my 20s i thought that i knew what was important oh yes i did i got my degree got my car got my apartment and stuff teaching school and stuff i thought that was important but baby as you keep on living and as you keep on seeing things that is you keep on experiencing things and and then when my mother passed when my mother got sick and stuff oh i saw some stuff i saw some stuff i saw some stuff then my daddy got sick of my dad and that i saw some stuff i saw some stuff about life and i saw some stuff about people and i come to to to to to acquire a whole new attitude of what was important in life no you you you you'll find out see see see see help uh uh money don't mean too much without help [Applause] oh you have all the money in the world uh you said old folk pray at johnson they said lord and thank you for a reasonable potion and i ain't know why they said that a a a a reasonable portion in other words lord thank you for having a reason to give me a portion of my health and strength amen i i i don't feel like i did when i was 25 but thank you for a reasonable thank you for giving me a reason thank you thank you for for for having a reason to give me a portion of health and strength amen i might have to uh uh uh you know i i used to just wake up i used to just wake up and just hop out the bed y'all y'all remember that you wake up just hop out the bed amen like a gymnast i mean like a gym that just wake up just at the bed and stuff nine ah nah nah now first of all now in my life i thank god for him waking me up that's the first time amen i don't know about y'all but when i wake up i say thank you amen you keep on living you learn how to say it you learn how to say thank you for your eyes coming open and then after i tell them thank you then i think about what i want to do now how i want to get out the bed i make preparation why because because because the body and the mind have got to get oh y'all know what i'm talking about hey man the body and the mind got together amen because because see you can move too quick and pull some and be down for about three weeks hey hey man some of y'all said see the young folk the young people i know they looking looking at me but some of y'all older looking at me like y'all know amen so you have to amen i have to take your time and amen so okay now is there anybody gonna cooperate here to the mind and the body okay everybody ready to move okay on the count of three [Laughter] hey amen and and and then even after the coordinating sometimes amen you can make a wrong move you can make it just an awkward just an awkward move just just an awkward move and pull a muscle like yeah you can say lord jesus i ain't know i had this muscle you begin to you begin to find out about life and you begin to find out what is important in life oh god i thank god for the stage of my life that i'm in now because i have the wisdom to be able to look at things accurately spiritually and physically the physically used to come first now i understand the spiritual come first so now i'm able to look at things uh from a kaleidoscope vision and to see all of how all of the pieces fit together in life and lord i thank him for that amen i'm able now to look at young people and be able to talk to them without judging me amen remember him when i was 18 19 20 21 22. can't be too hard on them y'all because y'all know we didn't know we thought we knew and we didn't know so now when they say mommy y'all don't understand you got to remember that was once you i was watching you that was watch you i used to my my my dad and then i'm gonna get on to work my my daddy used to uh uh be trying to thread a needle sometime and he tell me steve come a thread this knee for me and i said daddy you can't threaten and i'll take that freaking zip just zip it right through there just different right there and i couldn't i couldn't understand why he couldn't amen they think i can understand why he couldn't see how to put that little thread right now i know [Applause] [Laughter] hey hey amen y'all hey hey amen nah i don't know i know why he couldn't see because if i pull these off somebody's gonna have to preach before he glances i'm about to go by wrote i know the psalmist is in my head and in my heart but but when it comes to reading i'm about to get somebody y'all understand and so you come to understand what is important in life and that's all i want us to leave here with today is is with an understanding biblically of what's important in life i need us to understand what life is because what you see on tv ain't life amen what you see on tv it ain't life it ain't life i see you baby you came yeah you see what you see on tv ain't like that stuff talking about the real housewives that ain't no real like that uh oh all that all this so-called reality sure that ain't reality don't nobody walk around the house dressed up like that [Music] am i that ain't reality that ain't life but if you watch the tv if the tv is your point of reference then your vision your spiritual vision will be skewed you won't really know what life is life ain't how people look life is who people are on the inside life ain't biceps and triceps life ain't tattoos life that ain't life i looked at i've been looking at for the last few weeks mike tyson's career uh that boy was a heck of a boxer that boy looked at you and knocked you out but i looked at his career with his beginning with his trainer and how he came up 19 years old 20 years old heavyweight champ of the world uh the physical build that he had all of the people that were around him all the money that he had the women that came after him and all of that stuff and just how he went through life without any got it now watch this when you look at the life of mike tyson mike tyson's life began to unravel when he when he lost his trainer that old man huh yeah when he lost his trainer that's when his life began to unravel why because you cannot go through life without discipline greatest boxer the boy had speed he had strength he had all of that except for discipline and it was the lack of discipline where he began to unravel see you can't go through life without discipline and he went through he made all the money he made all the money stuff his life began to unravel leeches began to come after him in the skin of people king the biggest crook leads stone to light stone to him robin givens and her mama stayed with him eight months cleaned him out got that money and i think it was buster williams that douglas douglas the what's the name buster douglas knocked him out watch this because when you look at what mike had done he'd been sleeping with women the night before his life without he hadn't trained like he's supposed to he didn't have the discipline he had the body but he did not have the discipline he did not know and now when you listen to him he talks about god he talks about his family he talks about that he he he now has a better vision of what life is oh god this he now has a better vision of what life really is and the challenge for us for us for us as humans is to know what life is now watch this i said what life is but now i know it's who life is it's who life is it's who life is life is not cars life is not houses life is not money life is not all this stuff and so that's why i have this stuff up here because this stuff is a visualization of how easy we can become distracted by the things that are in life that are camouflaging themselves as being life did y'all get that these things are not life but they can camouflage themselves to be life and you'll find yourself running after these things and thinking you have life there's nothing wrong with these things in and of themselves if you understand where they fit in in life see see you just can't run after ain't nothing wrong with being a hunter a bojana but bow hunting can't be your life there's nothing wrong with this right here this is no real money so nobody amen there's nothing wrong with this right here nothing wrong with money nothing wrong with making money is it we need to make money she said give me that money right there we need to make money to pay bills and all of this stuff but this is not life but if you don't have the word of god you'll start running after this thinking that this will make you happy and i know a whole bunch of folks that have found out this right here won't make you happy i i i i was reading an article about uh that was last week about this lady that won uh the uh the lottery and she was in a church and a pastor had been praying for and he'd been counseling with and everything and she told him she won like oh she won a hundred and some million dollars and uh and she told him that she was gonna that she was gonna give the church some money and then that joker turned around and sued huh did y'all see that he turned around and sued her and said that she owed him for the counseling and for the things he done for her y'all didn't see that yeah yeah yeah the pastor sued her saying that she owed him for the time and for the counseling and for the uh all the effort that he had put in with her i'm gonna sue some of y'all [Applause] up and win something let me find out about it some of y'all know y'all meet someone all the time we've been in some of y'all owed me all the money but y'all understand what he's saying what i'm saying shoot her see money will bring out who you really are and so a lot of people find themselves running after money and they lose their families they lose their spouses they lose their children they lose everything running after running after money running after mine the bible says the love of money it's the root of all leaders i need to qualify something the bible said money was evil the bible didn't say that now the bible says the love of money is the root of the beginning of evil when you fall in love with it when you start making excuses for why you can't come to church i got to work i got the word i got the word i got the word i got the word i got the word and a whole lot of people ain't got to work but work has become an excuse and a lot of people said they can't come to church because they got to go to work but i shared at eight o'clock service i don't know of many employers that if you went to them in the spirit of humility that will tell you and you say look i really need to go to church because i just have one sunday off just one sunday or so i can go to church and if you ask them respectfully i don't know many employees that would not consider your request that's what happened to you ain't it yeah that's what happened to her yeah that's what happened to her yeah she she finally got a sunday out and she in church you see you you see you see and a lot of times people don't and a lot of times people don't ask to be off because they want to keep that excuse i'm working i got to work they got me down to work grab i would come but they got to be down to work they got working every sunday they got me work and they really don't want to come to work you can't you can't melt church and pull on some folks that's of course they really don't want to come here they want to keep that excuse money is not life and y'all please listen to me y'all this is one of the tricks one of the tricks of the devil is to get you running after this you know what i found out my life that when you put god first money will come amen i'm telling y'all what i know now when you put god first money'll come and when i said money i'm not talking about you being rich but i mean all that you need to take care of your lifestyle all that you need uh he'll sinner he'll say that through people he'll have the devil blessing you you see you see you see position a lot of people a lot of people think that position and influence is important position do you know who i am yes i'm the head of this department yes i'm the head of this year i'm the director of this and i'm this and i'm that and i'm over uh 50 people and and i'm a position positioned and influenced a lot of people think that this is life position and they'll tell you about their title tell you who they are i've talked to a young lady uh today and she uh defended her dissertation and she said pastor got to make one change on it and i said you got to go before she said no she said all i got gotta do is make the change and she said i'm gonna get my doctorate she said i'll be stepping in december uh uh uh from delta state i said i didn't hold that against her but yeah but uh uh but she said i'm gonna be getting my doctorate and and uh uh she said i just got to make one change and and then i'm a march in december and uh and i told her i said baby i said stay humble and don't go around calling yourself doctor amen don't go around calling yourself doctor my daddy used to tell me that he said let other people say stuff about you if you got a doctor you ain't got to call yourself that let other people they know who you are and and in the right environment i give people their their due respect in the right environment and in the right time but i don't meet people in the grocery store and tell my doctor amen i ain't doing it because the lord gonna call you servant servant well done that's all i want to hear him say he know being held until my doctor and sometimes we can get so hung up on titles titles i met a man once i met a man once in another state he had he had uh he had a medical degree and a phd and he called this fgm he said jim yeah that's what he got jim yeah just call me jim jim had a medical degree and a phd gym humble humble humble humble is the way uncle is the way if you got some folks i know you got it when you open your mouth they'll know it so the message this morning says that position and influence does not uh is not like if you want to see an indicator of what's going on with these two words turn on the tv and look at cnn you'll see these two words right here position this this what it is see they don't forgot about the constituency and now they find over power in washington it's about position it's about power it's about position it's about influence most of those people up there a lot of them are millionaires it ain't about the money they want the influence they want to be able to say i'm a congressman i'm senator and i'll call me senator and and i sit on this committee and i sit on the waves and means command i'm the head of the wave to me it's about position and power and they have forgotten about the people that they supposed to be taken care of which is us another thing y'all we got to be we got to be watchful of or you or you or you'll think it's life it's jobs jobs a lot of people think jobs jobs yeah i got to go to work i got to go to work i got to go to work i got to work go to work i got to be aware i got to i'm on my way i got to go to work i got to go to work i got to go to work got to go to work and so now their work has become their god that work has become their god now we know everybody got to work but don't let your work become your what your small g your god a lot of people pride themselves on their work have you ever seen somebody all they can do is talk about work you have met people like that they can't they can't talk about they can't talk about the sun in the sky they can't talk about grass how grass feels in between their toes they can't talk about how sand feels under the bottom of their feet when they walk on a beach they can't talk about the simplicities of life all they can do is talk about work work work why because their work is their job their work is their validation they validated by their job and that's a sad way to live all you can do is talk about your job a marriage is in trouble all y'all got in common is your job job and children children and job job and children children and job can't talk about each other can't tell her how pretty her hair looked because she ain't looking at her you can't notice the fact that she got her eyebrows arched and that's why i she up in your face with her eyes all up she wants you to see that she don't got her eyebrows off amen she wants you to see look at some of these women saying all right now she wants you to see that she got her makeup done and that she put a little extra time and getting her makeup done she wants you to see that her hairstyle is different she wants you to see this she don't put a little color amen amen amen but all you got is job and children children and jobs she wants you to see he wants you to see that he done lost about two inches off his belly [Applause] amen he wants you to see that's why that's why he's tucking it in like this he wants you to see he wants you to see that he's trying to get in shape he wants you to see that's the but we don't pay attention to those things and then we find ourselves growing further and father apart from each other because all we got is job and children children and job did you pay that bill i'm going to pay that you got your half i get i give you my hat did the bill come that that's all we can talk god job children bills god uh jobs children bills and can't talk to each other can't see that her that her fingernail polish has changed has changed she changed her fingernail polish and now her fingernails are matching her toes i'm trying to help you brother you got to watch that kind of stuff if you want any kind of piece in your house you better wash them toes amen you better wash them toes amen amen because because they want you to notice that and noticing that is validation or noticing them i want you to see that they want you to see that they want you to notice that you see it but you don't say nothing about it you suck she fixed the meal and you didn't say anything and then she asked you how'd you like you how'd you like your meal how did you like your meal in other words she's saying you craved the thing you ain't saying nothing about it you don't gobble up this food and and i'm enslaved all this and you ain't saying nothing about how the meal was it's the small things y'all i'm telling you you can you you can make fun of me all you want to but it's the small things that are the big things and the big things all the small things and if you're not ready for stuff like this you're not ready for marriage don't play with it cause it's for grown folks it's for full foreground folks for full-grown folks and these are the things that are life god just let me talk about some of some of the reality these are the things that do you really know do you know what life is do you know what life is life is reaching over brothers hugging her at night pulling up close to you and he and her say [Applause] oh don't y'all mess with me [Applause] don't y'all mess with me amen how many brothers know what i'm talking about how many husbands know what i'm talking about baby get in the bed and pull up close to you get her behind and pull up a whole clothesline and she sleeper you thought she would sleep but she hears that oh boy you got it now [Applause] oh she'll fix you biscuits and bacon and your eggs and everything now look at that amen amen we talking we talking life now we talking life now reaching over hug and holding a hand while she sleep and then the natural reflex of her hand is for her hand to enclose on your hand but she sleeps [Applause] i can write some stuff for you for you i'll put it in a book for you you'll be a bestseller amen when the little things are the small things and the small things are the large thing that'll be the title of that book amen amen amen amen we got to talk about life life life seeing children grow up do you know what's important in life seeing your children grow up in front of your face and seeing them start to look more and more like you and hearing them say something that you didn't think they were listening to you but hearing it because be regurgitated out of their mouth in a common conversation with somebody and getting the the the validation of the parent that says they've been listening to me they've been listening to me they've been listening to me oh i'm talking about life do you know what's important in life that's what this message is about this message is about do you know what's important in life ain't nothing wrong with delta amen is this delta yeah ain't nothing wrong with it you know just saw some red up here hey man you're a dalton you're not okay with well you sure be ready for it because you got this here yeah ain't nothing wrong with delta but when you know more about delta then you do jesus when you go to more of the delta means or the sorority means then you do bible study when you know more about the history of delta than you do about the history of jesus there's something wrong with that when you uh keep up your dues in delta play what pay whatever what y'all have to pay in these sororities and stuff huh a lot somebody said a lot amen when you when you pay that up when you keep that up but don't bring tithes an offering amen amen then there's a problem there's a problem ain't nothing wrong with delta ain't nothing wrong with sorority don't nobody leave out here lying on me ain't nothing wrong with sororities ain't nothing wrong with fraternities but they don't come before jesus christ there's some folks that go to all the sorority meetings there are some guys that go to all of the fraternity i mean the alphas the alpha means and the delta there's some people that go to all of these me they don't miss nothing they pay their dues they do the community service they are involved in their sororities and their fraternity there's nothing wrong with that but these two things don't come before christ [Applause] there are some people that come to church sporadically but they go to their sorority meetings consistently that's where the problem is that's what the problem is nothing wrong with these things in the end of themselves but they don't come before jesus christ and they don't come before your church membership they don't come before your service in church you ought to be able to tell death oh i'm i'm not going to be able to make that mean this because we having some at church and i supposed to be doing see every night then you ought to be able to tell dale to that every now and then you ought to be be able to tell the alpha that i won't be able to go out of town with y'all this time because we're having something in our church and i'm supposed to be doing this and i'm not going to be able to get out of that so i got so i'll check y'all next time but there are some people when they come to their sorority and their fraternity the church always come last do you really know what life do you know what life is what i throwed it up that then i can [Applause] chalk it up there chunk it ain't nothing but a piece of wood y'all don't freak out it ain't about a piece of wood amen amen amen it's not i wasn't sacrilegious you tried to do it up there try he threw it up you see see that's the stuff for look at amen but they your savior on the cross hey man they threw him they slung him down on the cross and nailed his hands and then placed him on the vertical bar the crossbar was placed on the vertical bar oh you ought to look at how they did our savior they did worse than that to him basketball ain't none need some air in this amen and then ain't nothing wrong with basketball but when you know more about the steps of the player when you can name every basketball player's name when you can say how much money he make when you know how many score how many rebounds he made and all that stuff and don't know about jesus and don't come to bible study and don't do it's out of order it's out of order it's our order it's our order it's our order it's out all the football season coming football season coming when you can tell the church when you can tell for if football see the church got understand cause i'm gonna come back we're gonna be gone hey man football said we're going to be gone we got tailgate uh i took all my vacations i got all my vacation lined up around the games that's a shame and i'd be scared to tell somebody that there's nothing wrong with football don't nobody leave out here lying on me now ain't nothing wrong with football but there ought to be some games that you ought to be able to miss amen they ought to be some game that you say man that's going to be a good game but i ain't going to be able to make that one i ain't going to be able to make that game because we're having something at church or because i got to serve that or because i got to do that i need to be able to make that game i hope somebody tape it and football and basketball has become the competition for the cross and let me go let me show you how old i am let me just show you i can remember i can remember when everything centered around what was going on at the church society didn't schedule nothing that was going to conflict with church you didn't have no no no sunday wasn't nothing going on on sunday that was church old church and the world used to call us church folks y'all remember that that them church folks is let them church folk but they knew nothing mess with them church folks they knew not to schedule nothing on no sunday because was nobody coming and now folks cutting you out on sunday uh putting roofs on houses on sunday everything happened on sunday night and nobody looks and say hey wait a minute you can't find no other day to do you have monday tuesday wednesday and you can wait till sunday to do this you see it's become common now and we become desensitized to it just certain things certain things he ain't doing on no sunday amen when i finish preaching hey amen i'm going to eat somewhere amen just certain things ain't no dude on sunday amen y'all remember the sabbath day to keep it holy six days sunday is sanctified set aside set aside and it's still set aside it's sunday is a day like no other day see so so so so these things these things can easily get in the way dating can get in the way dating can become important to you how many women have i seen that were faithful in my 22 years here in 29 pastoring how many women have i seen that were faithful faithful and then met a joker i mean they were coming to church they were serving they were giving they were telling other people to come they were when the doors opened you knew you were going to see them and then they met somebody and that joker pulled them behind a bush and told them something i don't know what he told them but then they start changing after that now i don't see them much they come to church sporadically come about once a month twice a month when they used to be here every sunday used to be over ministries used to be doing stuff and now done got a joker and now the whole attitude don't change now they come when they feel like it they didn't can mess you up dating can help you or dating can pull you down my daddy used to tell my sisters uh uh if you mess with trash it'll get in your eye amen y'all remember hearing that if you mess with trash it'll get in your eyes and i found that out in life associations can help you or association can mess you up can mess you up can mess you up if you're dating a man who loves jesus christ both of y'all gonna be in church you don't have no problem you ain't gonna have no problem but if you dating a joke or that well would you go to church for oh crap all the preacher wanted your money if you dating somebody like that then if you weak enough you'll start listening to that well well maybe i can't miss this sunday i went last sunday so no sense of me going this i'm gonna miss another i'm gonna miss a sunday and i'll go back so you start missing and missing and missing and then pretty soon you get comfortable missing whereas there was a time when when when if you missed one sunday it would tear you up it would bother you so bad if you missed one sunday it would bother you so bad you'd be like uh i got to go to church i go look i miss church at my trip but i'm finding a church to go to before before the night come it can mess you up dating the wrong person and satan can put people in your life to distract you and then there's some folks that like to play god ain't nothing wrong with god and then wrong with god but god don't come before christ amen god don't come before jesus christ does that make sense there are some people on the golf course that need to be in church if you're on the golf course on a sunday morning when you used to be in church there's something wrong with you don't worry about the baby y'all just stay focused on this golf club amen amen i'm holding it up to get you all the attention amen i'm holding higher than the baby i'm holding high amen amen you you see if you're on the golf course if you're on the golf course on a sunday morning when you used to be in church there's something wrong there's something wrong you distracted and you listen to the ball oh man come over there a couple of holes and they ain't saved but now you're listening to them do you know what's important in life let me run through these scriptures uh because i'm hungry and just saying okay eight verse 34 and 34 on 35 yeah amen hey seriously jesus jesus jesus jesus tells jesus test and when you read the jesus tales of his upcoming death when you look at verse 31 on down to verse 38 he he tells that he was going to have to go before uh the uh sanhedrin he tells that he was going to have to suffer many things in verse 31 and he began to teach them uh that son of man must suffer y'all see that must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and scribes and be killed after three days rise again he told them about the negative things that was getting ready to happen to him why because the negative things that was getting ready to happen to him was going to affect them why because they were hanging with him because they were hanging with him the people that you hang with you receive what they receive young people don't you know you can be riding in a car with somebody and you didn't do nothing but they doing something wrong you ride in the car police pull you all over that dope hills and stuff you going down too why because you hang with the wrong people you say well i didn't do that i was he was in the car he was in the car he was in the car so he tells them about the things that are going to happen to him because he's trying to get them prepared for what was going to happen to them now contrary to what we believe being a christian if you are truly living the life for christ is some stuff going to happen to you i mean every day ain't going to be pleasant that's what i'm trying to say look to be talked about look to be misunderstood look to be ridiculed look to be that's that's that's par for the course you ought to expect that until like a preacher time well every time i preach the fool look at me wrong see that's just a little fool they supposed to look at you wrong because you're preaching about stuff they doing and they're gonna look at you and try to shut you up with a look you see and so and so who you hang with who you hang with will determine what happens in your life god association association he spoke to them openly and peter took him and began to rebuke him and when he said turn about and looked on his disciples he rebuked peter saying get thee behind me satan for thy savior is not the things that be of god but the things that be of men so peter thinks he knows more than everybody else and peter took the savior takes the savior god in flesh and pulls him aside from everybody else and said jesus quit saying that that ain't no happening to you jesus i told him i got to die i got to go before the sanhedrin i got photo i got to go before the chief priest i got to go and peter in his immaturity thinking he knows something that he doesn't know you know what i've learned about life if you don't know nothing nobody ever know it how long you shut up but as soon as you open your mouth look at that's wrong what's she talking about that ain't right but all you had to do was just sit there and be quiet and look intelligent and people would never know so peter showed his immaturity by pulling the savior aside and telling him that these things were not going to happen look at verse 34 and then jesus takes this opportunity of what peter did not know to teach the disciples and the people what they needed to know i'm going to tell you something jesus christ when he was in the flesh was a masterful teacher and what made jesus such a masterful teacher was that he knew how to capitalize on opportunities for instruction he knew how to capitalize peter had just said something stupid and jesus said okay now let me use this to teach the rest of them he called the people unto him with his disciples and he said unto them whosoever will do what will come after me let him do what deny himself in other words relinquish ownership of himself now you want you want to know why a lot of people don't accept jesus christ it's because they're not willing to give up ownership of themselves they still holding on to themselves they're still saying i know what's best for me i know more than jesus no i know what i need you ever heard children say that that's the difficulty in raising children they think they know what they need and they don't know what they don't know and that's the same thing with jesus you got to deny yourself you got to turn over the ownership of it you know why it's difficult for some people to have a car repossessed there's some people that are that are shot at the guy or girl that was coming to repossess their own their car you know why because they did not want to turn over their ownership although they knew they had missed seven notes they had missed a lot of those y'all know i just decided they had missed the required amount of notes the repossession company has every right to come and get that car out of their driveway to get that car from their job but they act a fool knowing they're wrong because they don't want to turn over ownership and in their mind they says that's my car but you ain't paid the note so it ain't your cop it's the bank's car but the human flesh says it's mine and that's why a lot of people don't receive jesus christ because they think they belong to themselves and jesus says if you're going to be a follower of me you got to deny yourself take up your cross and do what and follow me take up your cross take up your cross and follow me look at verse 35 y'all for whosoever will do what save or try to rescue this thing called life shall do what but whosoever shall do what lose his life for what for my sake in the gospels the same shall do what now saint mark makes an observation or inserts a truth that is not found in saint matthew chapter 16. he says but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake okay that's generic that's in there and the gospels so why did he say that because he's talking to two two different groups of people he's talking to the general masses that are there so he says if you're willing to lose your life for my sake then he's also talking to his disciples out of there and he said and the gospels so he's talking to two different groups of people and he addresses the masses one of the things about preaching is that you got to be able to address the people that are that are in the congregation i can't speak i can't do a sermon that you would need a dictionary to understand i could but i can't i have to preach a sermon that will address the intellectuals as well as those that can't read i have to preach a sermon that will address those that just came out the club last night as as well as those who have never been in a club have to preach a message that that that everybody can reach put it on the shelf where everybody can get it and so a lot of times in my doing that my vocabulary has to change and a lot of times people think it's about oh did he use that word did he say but did he say and a lot of times people think it's about them it ain't about you it's about the person that can identify with a lot of time when i talk about nightclub it ain't about you you may have never been in a nightclub but it's somebody in here that frequent them often amen there's some people in here that know where every club in town is some people here gonna hit them tonight you see and so that's what the gospel is and jesus was so effective in his preaching of the gospel because he could talk about a soul uh through some seed out a farmer he could talk about he could talk about anything that could reach people and everybody understood it and the religious community was standing back saying oh did he just say that oh my goodness jesus could talk to prostitutes as a matter of fact prostitutes hung with him followed him it didn't mean he was sleeping with him they followed him because they heard something that they never heard before and as a result it brought them out of that lifestyle that they win my god i wish the church would quit being so holy and start dealing with people where they really are and let this gospel do its work whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel the same shall do what and if you want to see the epitome if you want to see the personification of this verse all you have to do is look at the cross and look at what jesus did he did he he lost his life so that he could gain his life on the cross now that was physically but he tells us he said now if you're going to be a follower of me you can't think so much of yourself until you can't relinquish your life over to me and let me have it lose it so you can gain it does that make sense lose it so you can gain it and a lot of people say no hold on to my life hold on he said you'll never have me if you're not willing to lose your life so that you can gain eternal life look at verse 36 he says he says for what shall it profit a man aim the whole world and lose his own what nobody use the word prophet i share with them at eight o'clock service it's because that's what people are trying to do now in our humanity everybody's trying to what profit trying to profit there's a show on tv called what the prophet the prophet and he steps in he takes businesses and he he buys the business or he invests money in the business and he tries to help those people make a profit a business that was in the red he brings it back into the back into the black so he says now what would it profit a man in other words you think you get in the head by gaining the things the material things of the world he said but what would it really what is it really profiting you if you gain the whole world and lose your soul what would it profit you if you gain all of the material things in the world and lose the eternal part of yourself which is your soul and spirit he said now what have you profited now oh you got all the houses and you got all the cars and you got all the money and you got all the 401k and you got all the land and you got all that stuff but you lose the eternal part of you you die and go to hell what would it profit if you gain the whole world and lose your soul y'all want to know how i live i live thanking god for every day and if i got food on the table thank you that's enough if i got clothes on my back that's enough i don't run after stuff i don't run i i i don't do i preach to the church now and i'm just trying to show y'all that these scriptures are real and i try to tell younger men when you preach at a church if god got something for you you're gonna get it you're gonna get you ain't got to never hang around don't never preach don't never preach at a church and stand around and wait for a check don't ever do that don't never do that i have left churches and folks had to run me down and i have priests at some churches and never got a thing and then god sent me somebody to send me somewhere else and bless me more are you listen at me i'm trying to show y'all that what god got for you you ain't got to you ain't got what would prophet gain the whole world and then mess around and lose the soul and then the next part of that verse say oh what or what shall a man do what give in what in exchange for his what what is he saying he's saying that there's nothing comparable to your soul there's no amount of money that's comparable to your soul and the devil is always offering you something for your soul let me tell y'all some young people and i know some of y'all may not be able to get it but just keep on living you'll get it hollywood is the devil's nest the devil's nest hollywood contaminates so many people because here's the thing about hollywood the more you do you got to do even more to keep the people's attention you know why hollywood is dominated by sex because that's what sales and a lot of women didn't start out that way i could name a whole lot of them that started out very dignified always closed down and stuff and then hollywood said you got to show more than that if your ratings are going to go up you got to show more you got to deal with some topics you got to have some folks on there and you got to and you got to agree with their lifestyle if your ratings are going to go up and if people going to keep watching you and if you're going to uh keep and if your salary gonna keep and so when i see some movie stars that maintain their integrity that will only take certain roles that will only take certain roles i know some women in hollywood there's some women in hollywood they won't take roles where they got to be in a bed with a man they'll only take certain roles they maintain their integrity they have they maintained their class they said no no i read this script here can't do that you see but hollywood says you got to take everything we give you if you gonna make some money and not too many people are willing to resist this right here and so then they compromise and they say you know what it's just a job it's just a job just a job you laying in the bed kissing another man you you gonna justify that by your job and that's what happened to a lot of people in hollywood that's how they get caught up although they didn't start out that way and then now the next thing you know they can't distinguish right from wrong now because that money got them and the children in the private school and any big old houses and stuff now and they can't let that stuff go now so now they got to take any script that is given any script that is given now they got to take it that's the allure of hollywood satan's playground what shall a man give in exchange for so last verse some people said thank god whosoever therefore shall be what ashamed of me oh lord okay y'all now we finna get down to the nitty-gritty now whosoever shall be what ashamed of me and my watch this y'all in this and generation stop right there that's where the challenge is y'all 2017 y'all here we are whosoever shall be ashamed of me ashamed of jesus christ ashamed to own jesus christ and my what and my words okay now jesus and his words now what's the big deal about it in this what adulterous what generation that's where the challenge is jesus his words standing up for jesus and his words in a generation that is adulterous and a generation that wrong looked like right and right look like wrong to be able to stand and say no that's sin no i'm not doing that no that's wrong i don't care if everybody else is doing it i'm not doing that to be able to stand in this adulterous what generation and satan put stuff out there and if you're not rooted in this word you'll find yourself confused and not even know what's wrong and what's right he puts shows on tv like green leaf amen y'all don't come here if you don't want the truth and because it's a black show don't think i'm not going to preach about it it ain't about black and white it's about right and wrong you got green leaf and you got folks in bed and now you got the so-called the preacher the pastor's daughter and now she in bed with him and the more you show that stuff the more common it becomes the more common it becomes and now you find yourself saying well what's wrong with that what's wrong with that what's wrong with that you become imprinted in your mind so whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the son of man be what a shame when he cometh in what glory in of his father with what with the holy angels in other words jesus said i'm coming back and y'all can be ashamed of me if you want to when i come back i'm gonna be ashamed of y'all yeah yeah i'm gonna be ashamed of y'all my daddy's telling me this my daddy said don't embarrass me i won't embarrass you amen don't embarrass me i won't embarrass you now let me give y'all one last thing do not fool yourself like these times that we're living in are not adulterous and sinful i never thought i see time like this these are sinful and adulterous times now let me show you just how real this is how many y'all remember that before uh god was going to destroy uh sodom and gomorrh uh what what did he say to uh who would that lot yeah so it said a lot he said he said get everybody out amen because i'ma tab this whole thing and lot said please lord don't do it if there are 50 righteous people the law says okay if they're 50 righteous people i won't destroy and lot knowing what what what type general he said wait a minute what about 45 okay lord i want the straw for 45. wait a minute 40 35 30. got on down to what 10 okay lot if there's 10 in this whole generation if you find 10 i won't destroy it and still he went on in the sword because there were not 10 righteous men we're not 10 righteous men and don't y'all fool yourself everybody in church ain't saved and everybody on tv ain't safe and everybody that said reverend doctor ain't saved and everybody that said bishop ain't saved and everybody that said apostle ain't saved amen you don't give us clap like this because you know why because people are impressed by titles and so somebody called themselves apostle of reverend or whatever they said god call them god ain't calling everybody baby but we're so enamored by titles and we don't look at lifestyle we don't look at what they're doing all we do is look at that they title bishop got two folks taught my bishop two folks in the whole congregation my bishop you see do you know what's important come on musicians do you know what's important man they all over to that boom i'm telling y'all boy y'all man i'm telling you [Laughter] do you know what's important in life that's all i want y'all to be listen you can be mad you can do with it but as long as you leave here with a question on your mind saying do i really know what's him what's important am i really is my right life really in life am i really spending the time with the things that are important with the people that are important or are my priorities a little bit screwed up am i have fishing become my god

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Id: e1Kt0VfhsjE

Length: 75min 43sec (4543 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021