1 Corinthians 3, familiar passage, probably read it many times, starting verse number 11. says, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, for the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. Brother Matthew Honeyfield, would you pray for the message? Amen. As you're turning over to 1 Kings 5, let me start off by saying this. There in 1 Corinthians 3, can we agree that the foundation is Jesus Christ? Isn't that what it says in verse 11? And that there's no foundation outside of Jesus Christ. And that if you haven't trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, then you don't have a foundation. You're standing on unsure ground, and you've built a house upon the sand, and it's going to fall one day. The only foundation that you can build on is Jesus Christ, and that's the only one that matters. And so if we're here tonight and we're saved, we're building a building. Can we agree with that? That we're working on a building. So in 1 Kings chapter 5, we're going to look at a building. We're going to look at somebody who decided to build a building and what it takes to get a building built. This may not be exciting to you because you're not contractors, but to me as a contractor, building a building is exciting. There is nothing like seeing something go up and seeing something produced with the work of your hands. For me, that was one of the hardest transitions in being a contractor was going from being the guy that did the work to being the guy that oversaw the work. because I like having my hands in it. I like saying, I put the stud in that wall. I hung the window. I hung the door. I had a hand in that. And it's fun to have your hand in something like that. It's fun even if you're doing a DIY project at home and you build a, I remember in woodshop in seventh grade, I built a planter. It was four one by one pieces of wood and two octagonal pieces of wood. It took me an entire semester to build this planner because the guy that was our teacher Made you go through every step the right way to make it happen the right way now I had all the pieces cut within the first day of being in class But then you had to prepare the wood you had to sand the wood you had to season the wood you had to seal the wood and then you got to stain the wood and then you got to put the last coat of lacquer on it to finish it and 50 minutes a day apparently was not good enough because I didn't know how to sand very well I think I was stuck using like 80 grit when I was supposed to be using 240 so it took me a little while to figure it out and But we as Christians are all working to build a building. That's what he says in 1 Corinthians 3. And I got to looking at that and thinking about this idea that we were actually talking about it at youth camp about repairing the walls and preachers been dealing with that here with us in Nehemiah. And I got to thinking about it in 1 Corinthians 3 he talks about a foundation. And he talks about what we're building on the foundation, and he mentions gold, silver, and precious stones, and he mentions wood, hay, and stubble. And he says that one day he's going to put that work into the fire, and we're going to see what carries through the fire, right? And the wood, hay, and stubble will burn up in the fire, and the gold, silver, and precious stones will last through. Well, if we're building with wood, hay, and stubble, when we get to glory, do you know what you'll have in glory? You'll have a patio. I like a good patio. I mean, you need a good patio on the back of your house to have a barbecue grill. I don't want to walk out the house and step into the dirt and barbecue in the dirt. I mean, I want to barbecue on a patio. But when the storm comes and trouble comes, I want to go inside the house where I can find some comfort. And it's the same thing in your Christian life. If you're building your Christian life out of wood, hay, and stubble, and the storm comes, guess what? The building falls down. If you're building your Christian life on yourself, on your own works, and on your own desires, and not building it on what Jesus Christ would have you to do, you're not building the right kind of building He desires for you to build. You're building of your own purpose. You're building how you want to build it instead of how Jesus Christ wants you to build it. And listen, it's easy in the world we live in to build the building you want to build, and nobody realizes that you're building with the wrong materials. I mean, I can't tell you in the building industry, you can build two houses side by side of each other, and this guy used the right materials, and this guy used the wrong materials. And until the storm comes, they both look like great houses. But when the hurricane comes and blows on the house, and this one's standing and this one's not, you know who used the right materials. Do y'all remember, what was the hurricane that came over there through Mexico Beach a year, couple years ago? That real bad one that just leveled that entire town? Michael, was that it? Michael? That came through there and just leveled the whole town, and did you see? There was one building on the beach left standing. You know why that building was left standing? That guy used the right materials. He had concrete walls that were eight inches thick poured concrete. That building was standing the test of the storm because he used the right materials. Do you know why you and I fall in the storm? Because we've not used the right materials. We, we, listen, as a contractor, I, I take pride in using good materials. I like, you can't have a good product if you don't have good materials. The problem is most people don't want to pay the price for good materials. They just want the cheapest job, the cheapest way, as fast as you can get it done. They don't want to be inconvenienced. They want you to get in their house and get back out of their house as quickly as you can and leave it looking like a million bucks, but it doesn't really matter whether you used a $2 paint or you used a $200 paint. They just want it painted. They don't know the difference in the quality of paints. They don't know what it takes to put a quality product together. It's the same way in your Christian life. You want to succeed and get to this level in your Christian life, but you want to build it on insufficient materials. You want to build it on stuff that's not going to last. You want to build it on things that are not going to survive the test of a storm. And when the storm comes, and you fall by the wayside, and you fall out, all of a sudden people go, well, maybe their Christian life wasn't built on the right things. Maybe things weren't built the way they were supposed to be built. Maybe that storm was not the right storm because a building that's built the right way will stand the storm. and one that's not will eventually fall. It may weather a storm here and weather a storm there, but sooner or later the building is going to fall. So I am making an assumption tonight that we all desire to build the right kind of building when it comes to our Christian life and our fellowship with Jesus Christ. And so that's what I want to look at tonight in 1 Kings 5 is what it takes to build the right kind of building. What's it going to take for you and I to have the Christian life that Jesus Christ desires for us to have? And here in 1 Kings 5, we find Solomon getting ready to build the temple. And look in verse 5, he says, The first thing I want to say is that Solomon purposed to build a house. Solomon intended to do something about what he had been given. When you go back and look at the end of 2 Samuel, David talks to Solomon about the preparations that have been made to build the temple. David talks to Solomon about the location of the temple. He talks about what's needed to build the temple. And Solomon says, you know what, my dad's gone and I'm going to do what my father asked. I'm going to do what my dad asked me to do, and I'm going to build the temple. Now, when you purpose something, you know, in your life, I mean, that's such a, you know, it's such a generic thing, it seems to me today. Because people purpose to do things, or they say they purpose to do things, and they never really go about to get it done. I mean, I love the idea or the thought of climbing Mount Everest one day. I mean how cool would that to be to be one of a few thousand people to say I climbed the highest mountain in the entire world. I climbed all the way up as high as you could possibly get and I couldn't go any higher. But you know the truth of the matter is I'm not going to do what it takes to go climb that mountain because you don't just go climb Mount Everest because you want to go climb Mount Everest. You've got to climb a few hundred other mountains before you get to tackle the biggest mountain. And so, as much as I love the idea of it, I'm not really in love with the idea of it. I mean, if I was in love with it, I would do what it takes to get my body in shape, to train my lungs, to learn how to breathe properly, to learn how to help myself get up there. But the truth of the matter is, I don't really want to do that. I mean, I would much rather go fishing. You know, I mean, I can catch a redfish, and I get as much pleasure in catching a redfish in the moment as I can in saying I climbed Mount Everest. I mean, what am I going to do, get up here and give you preaching illustrations about what it took to climb Mount Everest for the rest of my life? You'll lose interest, I'll lose interest, so there's no eternal benefit to it whatsoever. But in our Christian lives, how often do we think about what we purpose to do in our Christian lives? How often do you think about what it is God wants you to do in your Christian life? How often do you think about, Lord, am I doing what you would have me to do? Lord, is what I'm doing pleasing to you? What's my purpose in this life? Is my purpose simply to go to work, take care of my family, raise a good family, raise them in church, and is that my entire purpose? And maybe that is, and praise God if that's all he's given you to do. If that's your purpose, stick to your purpose. I'm not telling you you need to seek something else. because what I've learned in finding a purpose in Jesus Christ is you don't get to let go of something just because he gives you another purpose. You still have all the responsibilities you previously had as you progress in your Christian life. I don't get to stop being an employee until God says, I want you to stop being an employee. I don't get to stop being a dad or a husband until God says, I want you to stop being those things. I don't get to stop being whatever it is God wants me to be until God tells me to stop doing it. When God, and I believe, I mean, I was sitting right there, Brother Elliot was preaching, and as much as Brother Elliot was preaching, I heard the Lord tell me, Woodard, I want you to build the building. Now, In the excitement of that, I realized I signed up for more than what I could probably handle. I mean, let's just be honest about it. That thing's massive over there. And thank God that he has broken it down piece by piece. And thank God he is taking it one step at a time. Because if we had eight steps going at one time, I would probably be bald-headed and gray-headed or something else. And it would be a catastrophe over there. So thank God he knows what he's dealing with and he's working at it one piece at a time. But when I believe God called me to build that building over there, he didn't go, I want you to build a building and stop preaching. He said, no, you still need to be ready to preach when I want you to preach. He didn't say, Woodard, you get to stop being a dad, you get to stop being a husband because you're building a building now. He didn't say, you get to stop working the job you're working every single day because you're building a building. No, he said, I want you to add that on top of what you're already doing. And so in the Christian life, sometimes we think that, well, if we can get to here, it'll negate everything else behind us. No, it doesn't. It just adds to it. It adds more responsibility to it. See, the Christian life is about building upon what God's already building upon in your life. But if you're not purposed in your heart, you know, it says in Daniel 1 that Daniel purposed not to defile himself with the king's meat. Now, I don't know about you, but that's a teenager, roughly, based on the timeline of that. That's a teenager in a foreign place, and he's taking a stand against the king. He's not just some bigwig from Jerusalem that's taking a stand. He is a nobody. He is a child who's saying, I'm not going to eat the food you're giving me. Now, in my house, If you tell me you're not eating the food my wife puts on the table, we're going to have a come to Jesus meeting. She might not remember it, but Emma, when she was about three, said she wasn't going to eat some macaroni and cheese. Now what child doesn't like macaroni and cheese? I have no idea. But we stayed, I missed church on a Wednesday night because my three-year-old would not eat macaroni and cheese. We sat at the table until 9.30 when she finally took her first bite. And you know what she said? Dad, this isn't that bad. So I can't imagine some punk 16, 17, 18 year old coming to me as the king of a kingdom and going, I don't like your food. That's what he said. He said, I don't like your food. Those other three guys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they said, we're not going to bow to you. That takes guts to take a stand. They purposed in their heart what they were going to do. They said, you know what? No matter what happens, we're going to do what God wants us to do. How's your commitment towards that? How's your commitment towards that purpose? Turn over to Acts chapter 11 and let me show you something. In Acts chapter 11. Do you know the first time that purpose shows up in your Bible? The first time the word purpose shows up in your Bible, you know what it is? It's Boaz and Ruth. He says, Boaz says leave handfuls on purpose. No, handfuls of purpose, excuse me. Handfuls of purpose because she needs something to do. Do you realize what that's saying? That's a master giving an undeserving servant a task to do. Do you know what you and I are? We're undeserving servants. We don't deserve anything God's given us to do whatsoever. We don't deserve to be a part of whatever he's doing. And he goes, you know what? I like you. I'm going to give you something to do. And he didn't even know her when he left the handfuls of purpose. He didn't even know who she was. He just said, I like her. I'm going to drop something off. And then he got to know her and he decided to marry her. That's what God's doing to you and I. He's leaving handfuls of purposes. He's leaving you and I something to do so that we can have a part in what He's doing. So that we can have something to offer back to Him that we don't deserve to offer back. God has a whole lot better equipped people out there to do what He's getting done. And He could use a whole lot better people than you and I. And He goes, you know what, I like that crew down there on Hartley Road. I'm going to give you something to do. What a blessing that is. But look there in Acts chapter 11 and look in verse number 23. Now this is Barnabas coming to preach to a church in Antioch. And he says, That's the right purpose in you and I's life. The right purpose is to cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ. If there's anything in your life that's preventing you from cleaving to Him, it needs to be cast aside. It's a bad material. It's a bad object to put in a building if it's keeping you from the purpose that God's called you to. And that purpose is to know Him more than you could ever know anybody else. It's to be so familiar with Him that when He calls you, you immediately recognize His voice. You're familiar with his voice. It's not an unknown voice to you. It's not a strange voice to you. It's you go, oh, I know that. That's God talking. You're not Samuel, who the first time God called he didn't recognize. No, you're supposed to be Paul that when God says you go, you go. That you're that close to him. You're cleaving to him. You're John. Your head is on His chest and you can hear His heartbeat. That's the purpose that you and I are supposed to have in our Christian lives. That's how important that purpose is to you and I. Do you know the verse we quote all the time in Romans 8, 28? It says, All things work together for good to them who are called according to God, who are called according to His purpose. Our purpose is His purpose. If your purpose is not His purpose, you've got the wrong purpose. That's a lot of purpose, but if your purpose is not His purpose, you've got the wrong purpose. Those two things should line up and walk together in the same direction because you're doing exactly as He would have you to do. He got down, as the preacher talked about, and washed your feet when you don't have any right for Him to have washed your feet. When you knew you should be the one washing His feet, He's the one who washed yours. When you knew that you don't deserve to be called a child of God and He says you're a child of God. That when Jesus Christ laid down His life and died and suffered the death that He suffered and He goes, I'm doing this for you. And you and I are the ones that nailed His hands to the cross and put Him there and He goes, you know what, I love you anyway. My granddad used to tell the story about the crucifixion and he would talk about the Roman soldier who thrust the spear through the side of the Lord. And he said that he, in his mind, he always imagined the Lord looking over to the soldier as he began to thrust the spear and said, there's a closer way to my heart than through my side. There's a closer way to Jesus Christ than doing it your own way. The only way to Jesus Christ is to do it His way. He says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man come to the Father but by me. That's the only way to Jesus Christ. That's the only way to eternity is through Jesus Christ. And you know, the problem is in our Christian lives is that sometimes our purposes don't line up with His purpose. And we get the wrong purpose. And listen, it's easy. I don't make light of it at all. It is easy to get distracted in the Christian life. It is easy to get your mind on physical things and fleshly things and just daily mundane tasks that we have to deal with every single day. I mean, it is easy to let your mind think about all the things that I've got to get to tomorrow. To sit there and go, you know what, I've got to call this person, I've got to think about this person, I need to see about this job. It's easy for your mind to be consumed with those things because that's what's in front of you right now. It's easy to let go of eternity because you can't physically see it. But what you don't realize is, is what you and I are doing each and every moment of every day is laying up materials for an eternal home. Let me ask you this question. If God put $1,000 into your bank account every time you won somebody to the Lord, would you be more active in soul winning? I mean, if you knew I led this guy to the Lord and he got saved, would it drive you to go more soul winning? And yet every person you and I lead to the Lord, you're getting a jewel in heaven that's worth way more than a thousand dollars. But we don't ever think about that jewel that's up there in heaven. We think about what's going on right now and how am I going to fix the tire on the truck that's flat, and I need to get so-and-so over here to do this, and so-and-so to do this, and I need to take care of these things, and all the meanwhile, lost souls are passing us by day in and day out. And listen, I'm not telling you you've got to stop and speak to every single person, but when's the last time that you were prepared to speak to somebody when the Holy Spirit said, hey, talk to that guy? When's the last time that it occurred to you to go, you know what, I wonder if that guy needs Jesus? When's the last time it occurred to you to go, you know what, there's something more important than me right now. And you know what, sometimes that something more important is just bowing your head and praying for somebody else. When preacher talks about people being prayed for, that Don Green guy praying for him for twenty something years, man, what a blessing. To know that somebody out there is praying for you, it will help you keep going on because you know they're praying for you. I mean, I've said it once and I'll continue to say it. It encourages me to get a text message going, hey, I'm praying for you. Somebody sent me one today. Hey, I'm praying for you. I just want you to know I'm praying for you and your family. Man, what a blessing to know that somebody cares and to know that somebody else, you know what, that gives you purpose in your life as an individual to think about other people besides yourself. See, the devil is the most self-absorbed person in the entire world, self-absorbed being in the entire world. All he thinks about is him and what he wants and his own personal desires. He doesn't think about anything else but what his personal goals are for himself and conquering the whole entire universe. Now, can you imagine, he's been around for millennia and he's yet to figure out he's not going to beat God. I mean, he's read the entire Bible, he knows he loses, and he still will not repent even though he knows he loses, because he thinks he's going to change God's Word. How is that any different than you and I doing what we want to do when we want to do it instead of what God asked for us to do? God wrote that book millennia ago. We got the King James Bible 400 years ago. It hasn't changed in 400 years, and yet somehow we think we're going to have a different ending than what it tells us we're going to have. You can't build a building with the wrong materials and have a quality building. But you've got a purpose in your heart if you're going to do it. And you know what? And as a Christian, what you have to realize is you can't build a building by yourself. It's going to take some help from some other people. Look there in verse number one. It says, And in verse two, Verse 2, it says, Not only are you going to have the purpose in your heart, you're going to have to petition some other people for help. You're going to have to humble yourself, and you're going to have to say, you know what? I can't do it on my own. You can't build the building by yourself. As much as I'd like to take credit and say I've hung every single piece of product on that entire building, if you've seen what happened with the slab, you would know you can't do that by yourself. Now, if Jesus Christ was here, certainly he could do it by himself, but we ain't God, and we need his help. And what does Solomon do? Solomon finds somebody who is older. Hiram was David's friend. Solomon goes to a guy who's older, who's wiser, and has more experience than he does in building a building. Because you know what he knows about Hiram? Hiram's got the logs to build the temple with. Solomon doesn't have the materials. He's going to have to go to somebody else to build the temple. Do you know what church is for you and I? It's appealing to somebody, not me, it's appealing to our preacher and going, you know what? You're older, you're wiser, and you know more than I do. Tell me how to build the right building. Tell me how to build a building that will last and will stand up the judgment seat of Christ. How do I build something so that I'm not ashamed when I stand before my Savior? You're going to have to humble yourself. We are going to have to humble ourselves and go, you know what? I don't know how to do this on my own. We're going to have to ask for help. You know what I'm having to learn in that building over there? Is that there's parts of that process I've never seen before. And I can fake it. I mean, I know enough about it to use the lingo to talk my way through it. But if I really want the right product, I've got to make some phone calls and go, hey, listen, I'm an idiot. I know this, this, and this. Can you help me fill in the gaps? Can you help me decide, is this the right material or is this the right material? I've been looking at plumbing pipe for the building over there. And you go, Brother Woodard, you're a licensed plumber. Why do you need to look at plumbing? Because I've never built that building before. That's one of a kind. There's no other building like it. That's the only one of its kind. Kind of like your temple that you're building for eternity, there's no other one like it. There's only one of a kind. And you know what I had to do? I had to call another plumber who's got probably about 20 more years experience than me and go, hey, I'm looking at this pipe. It's a really cool pipe. It's a great pipe. It'll last. It's got a 25-year warranty on it. What do you think about it? He goes, well, you can use that. But he goes, this works just as good and costs half as much. And you can still get the 25-year warranty with it. And you'll be the same place you were to start out with. And he goes, and you'll like working with this a whole lot better than working with this. You know what I'd do? I'd go, hey, Randy, I'm an idiot. I haven't done this. What would you recommend? You've built some hospitals. You've built some schools. You've built some pretty large buildings. What would you recommend? I'd recommend this. You know what you and I have to do? We have to humble ourselves and go, God, I ain't never built a building like this. This is clearly your building. I don't know how to build this building. What would make this temple the best temple possible? What would you have me to put in this building? And not only do you have to talk to God, because you're going to have to spend some time in the Word and prayer, but you need to find some older Christians that you can talk to to go, hey, you know what? I've been down that path before. I see the road you're going down, and here's where it led out for me. It may not lead out the same place for you, but that road, this is what it led out for me. Because a lot of times, the same road leads out of the same place. Whether you want it to or not, whether you want to wind up at Disney World, but you wind up going north on I-95, no matter what you do, if you keep going north, you're never going to get south. Well, same thing in your Christian life. If you keep going the wrong direction, you're never going to wind up where God wants you to wind up. You're never going to wind up because you have to stop and ask for directions. You have to stop and go, you know what? I need a hand. I need some help and I don't know where else to get it. And you know what, the other thing you see that he has to get help from, not only does he have to get help from Hiram, he has to get help from the people around him. Look there in verse number 13. It says, and King Solomon raised a levy out of all of Israel and the levy was 30,000 men. Now a levy, you would think that's like automatically a draft, but it doesn't necessarily mean a draft. Sometimes it means enlistment. It means you get people to sign up because they want to participate. You know what we have in this church? Some people who want to participate in the Christian life. They weren't drafted, they weren't forced into service. You weren't forced to be here tonight. Nobody said, God's gonna break your water heater if you don't show up at church on Wednesday night. You didn't deal with any, you're not held here in bondage. You're folks who wanna participate in the Christian life. And you know what we're gonna need? We're gonna need to lean on each other. Because you have skills that I don't have, and I have skills that you don't have, and we're gonna have to learn to lean on each other and call each other for help when we need help. And I don't know what that help is. And you don't know what that help is. You don't know what the help you need is until it's time for help. You go, you know what? I'm in a jam. I need help. Who do I call now? I mean, listen. I am the world's worst to ask for help. I mean, I will wait until everything is completely falling apart, and I am at wit's end, and I'm ready to just go buy a new one, which I will typically weigh the cost of, is it easier to buy a new one, or should I call somebody and go, hey, how do I fix this? Because, you know, I'm a guy, and I'm a contractor. So if I tell you I can't fix something, that's kind of embarrassing, and my pride kind of gets a hold of me, and I'm like, ah, it's $100. Throw the $100 out the window. Let's just go get a new one. Well, same thing in your Christian life. Sometimes we hide stuff that we don't know what we're dealing with, and we go, you know what? I'll just go buy a new one. And the Lord goes, no, I want you to fix the one you got. And that's tough. Because sometimes it's easier just to go buy a new one. I mean, there's not a whole lot of work in buying a new one. I mean, it's just going down the store and picking one up and coming home with it. I mean, broke the lid on the back of the tank. I mean, why? Just go get a new one. When there's a way to fix that lid and take the crack out of it so you never see it again. But just go buy a new one. It's OK. but that's our Christian life. You're gonna have to learn to ask other people for help. You can't do it on your own. You can't get through the Christian life, Romans 14, seven says, no man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself. You cannot do it on your own. We need each other in the Christian life. We need somebody to lead us, thank God for our preacher, but we need each other to encourage one another when we're unencourageable. And there's times when we're unencourageable. I mean, let's just be honest, there's times when It just gets downright miserable. I mean, I, I know you're not supposed to use personal illustration. Let's give you a personal illustration. Yesterday morning I was resolved. I had resolved the night before I'm going to get up at five 45 and I'm going to go to work. I'm going to be at my office at a set time. It'll give me a solid hour to study before anybody else shows up at my office. And so I got up, my alarm went off, 545, I'm up, showered, got ready, got ready to walk out the door, and all of a sudden this little voice says, I'm a third of the way down my driveway. Now, when I say a third of the way down my driveway, for most of you that's like 25 feet. For me, a third of the way is a third of a mile. because that's how long my driveway is. It's a mile from the road to my house, and it's not the smoothest road. I'm working on it, but it is not there yet. It's full of potholes and mud holes and everything else. If you look at my truck and you go, brother Woodard's been in the mud, that's my driveway. I haven't been off road, and that's just my driveway. I'm a third of the way down the driveway. Well, my driveway, because we're in the woods, is kind of narrow and there's nowhere for me really to turn around. So I now have to go two-thirds of the driveway to make a U-turn to come back because this little voice in my head of my wife goes, Woodard, I need you to check the tire pressure in my tire. Because I think it's low. Now, I'm like, surely she doesn't know what she's talking about. I mean, it's a tire. What could my wife know about tire pressure? I mean, I'm the guy in the family. I'm the man. I know about tire pressure. But this little voice goes, Woodard, you need to go back home and check your tire. So I made a U-turn somewhere in the driveway. I found a spot. And I got back to the house. go inside my truck where my tire gauge is, and guess what? The tire gauge is not in my truck. And I'm going, Lord, I'm praying, I'm asking you to help me, because I really want to get to my office and study this morning, and I need you to help me. And the tire gauge isn't there. And I'm like, OK. I know there's one in my shop. I'll go into the shop and find a tire gauge. Sure enough, I go into the shop. There's three tire gauges. Somehow it wound up from my truck to the shop. No idea, but we'll get it. We'll go back. Surely I don't need this compressor and air hose. She doesn't know what she's talking about. Now, it's been raining out of our place a little bit, so it's a little bit wet. So there's a little bit of water between me and the shop. One time's not a big deal. Get through it. Get over there. Sure enough, tire has 15 pounds of air in it. She's on the grass. Surely if I move the car, get on harder ground, it'll be fine. move the car, have to go get my keys out of my truck, go back in the house, get her keys, back her car up, pull it over to where I know the plug is because it looks like I may have to put air in the tire now. And sure enough, get it over there on hard ground, sure enough it's got 15 pounds of air. Now I have to go back across the yard, get the air hose and the air compressor, and come back and plug it in. I know I'm telling you this long story, I apologize, but just making a point. Go over there, get it, realize that Somebody has put the wrong end on the air hose, so it's not for the tire. It's for blowing up stuff. So now I have to go back into the shop in the dark with my cell phone light and try to find the end in the drawer of the craftsman toolbox that I have it in. And sure enough, it's right where I left it. Pull it out, walk back across the wet yard, put it in. All the while I'm praying, Lord, I'm trying to get to my office to study. I'm trying to get to my office to study. I'm trying to get to my office to study. and get over there, plug the air compressor in, it's taking forever, I put some air in the tire, it's not enough, I have to let the air compressor fill back up with more air, put some more air in the tire, it's still not enough, the air compressor runs for another five minutes, fills back up, put air in the tire, finally get it set, she's got 35 pounds of air in that tire, we're good to go, she can drive. So now, do you just leave it all in the yard, or do you go put it all back up? Because now it's like 6.30, 6.45-ish, and I know my study time is waning, and a little voice goes, I gave it to you, put it all away. Yes, sir, Lord, go put it all away, and I ain't gonna lie, I was like, the children in the wilderness, I was griping and complaining the whole time. I'm like, God, you know what I'm trying to do, why is this happening to me right now? And so I get in my truck, finally get down the driveway. I'm going, and my wife still hasn't woken up. I've been out there beating and framing and she's fast asleep in the house and it ain't bothering her at all. And I'm praising God that she's in there asleep and that she thought about this tire and she made this a part of my day. You know, that's the truth. And I get back in my truck and a song comes on my truck as I'm getting to the end of my driveway and it's, I just wanted you to know. And by the time I get from my driveway to Lanny Road, I'm bawling, crying as the sun's rising and I can see the Lord's face in the clouds. And I'm going, okay, God, I don't know why this all happened to me, but clearly I needed this to happen this morning. So I would appreciate you and let you know I appreciate you. And that's how life happens sometimes. And you know what got me through that? Continuing to talk to him about it. He understood that I was frustrated, that I wasn't going the way I wanted it to go. But he was OK with it, because at the end of the day, you know what I said? Lord, you're right. I'm wrong. I'm thankful that you made this happen this morning. I don't know why it had to happen. I don't know why I didn't get to get my office and study. But I'm thankful it happened this way. And you know what you have to learn to do in the Christian life? Keep asking him for help. When it doesn't go your way, don't stop asking Him for help. Don't stop going, Lord, I don't know what to do. What do I do? Lord, help me. Why is this happening to me? Lord, I'm tired of it being this way. Just keep going through it with Him. He's a great listener. He's the best listener. He likes to hear all of those crazy little things in your life. But you know what? It doesn't just stop there. At some point in time, you actually have to get to work and do something about it. At some point in time, you can't only purpose and petition. It goes beyond preparation. There has to be some production. You've got to put water to the wheel and you've got to make something happen. You have to apply yourself. If you don't apply yourself in your Christian life, you can come here Get all the help you can get, but if you don't actually do something with it, it doesn't ever do you any good. Listen, I know that eating Oreos is not good for me. All the time. I mean, every once in a while you need to double stuff. But if I eat Oreos all day long, every day, and don't eat anything but Oreos, guess what? Sooner or later I'm going to get bound up. And sooner or later, I'm going to have a stomach ache. And sooner or later, I'm not going to feel as well as I do. And sooner or later, I can't perform the way I need to perform and do the things I need to do because I've been consuming the wrong thing all the time. Sooner or later, I've got to go, you know what? It's time to put that down and put the right thing in. Well, it's the same way in your Christian life. You've got to apply yourself and put the right things in. Listen, you have to go to work. I don't know if anybody in here, maybe if you are, please see Brother Brad afterwards and make a donation, but I don't know of anybody in here that is able to just not work ever again. I mean, maybe you're old enough and retired that you've saved up, wonderful, praise the Lord, but I don't know anybody that's in my age class that's wealthy enough to never work ever again. We have to work every single day. You have to go to a job. Well, do that job like Jesus Christ is your boss. Because God's always watching. He's always paying attention. And you want to know, He's as pleased when you're doing your job to use the best of your ability as He is with the preacher when he's preaching to the best of his ability. It's the same thing. You being a great painter, plumber, whatever, is as good as... If you do it exactly the way God wants you to do it, you're the same as the preacher doing exactly what God wants him to do. If God called you to be a ditch digger, you have to step down to be President of the United States. Because anything below what God's called you to do is a step down. But you and I are going to have to apply ourselves. Solomon realizes that. Solomon realizes he can't build a temple for free. He says there in verse number 10 and 11, he says he paid Hiram 20,000 measures of wheat for food for a household and 20 measures of pure oil. He realized it cost something. It's going to cost you and I something if we're going to walk with Jesus Christ. It's going to cost us something, and it may be something more than you're willing to pay. But I'm telling you it's worth it. Whatever the cost is, it's worth the price of admission. Whatever the difficulty is, it's worth the price of admission. There is nothing greater than working for him and seeing him work in you. but it's required of us to work. Do you realize that in the New Testament, in the Pauline epistles, Paul uses the word work or some form of the word work almost a hundred times. As if to think we should, as Christians, should be working. As if for you and I to go, you know what, maybe I should be doing something about my Christian life besides just being in church. Maybe there's a little bit more to it than just getting saved. Maybe there's a little bit more to it than just reading my Bible. Maybe there's a little bit more to it than just praying. But if you don't work, you never find out what that is. If you never apply yourself, you never find out what that is. You and I have to commit to work in our Christian lives if we're going to be what God wants us to be. There's a product that's going to show up when it's all said and done. I'll close with this. Turn over to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation 21, I'm going to read a few verses and skip around here. Verse number 2 says, And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Look over in verse 9, it says, And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither. I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife.' And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light was like unto the stone most precious, like a jasper stone clear as crystal." Skip down to verse 22, he says, And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of sun, neither of moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it. And the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. And the kings of the earth who bring their glory and honor unto it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall no wise man or anything defile it, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. The Lord's gone to build you and I a city. What are you building for him? He says, no man, a foundation no man can lay. And he tells it says you and I are building with wood, hay and stubble or gold, silver and precious stones. What kind of building are you building tonight? What is it? What's your purpose in serving Jesus Christ? Is it strictly a fire insurance policy? You just want to be saved and that's all you're going to get out of it? I don't believe that's the case in this church. I don't believe you come to a church like this and that's all you're interested in is just having an insurance policy. I believe you desire to know Jesus Christ more. But knowing him more means applying yourself more than just sitting in the pew. It requires you to do the work at home yourself. It requires you to stay in fellowship on your own if you want to be what God wants you to be. Nobody can make that decision for you. Nobody can make you serve Jesus Christ. Nobody can make you know Jesus Christ. You have to commit yourself whether you're going to follow him or not. If you want to have the right kind of building, if you want to be able to enjoy the building that he and I, that he's, he and I, Lord have mercy. If you want to be able, I ain't building that city. If you want to be, and thank God I'm not, but if you want to be able to enjoy that city that he's building for you and I, you need to be building one of your own here. You need to be building yourself up so that you're ready for that city when he gets there. What are you doing in your Christian life? Where are you at in your Christian life? What's your purpose on a daily basis? Is your purpose to go to work and come home and see your family and go through the motions and get up tomorrow and do it another day? Are you trying to build some earthly kingdom down here that's going to rot and fall away? What's your purpose? Are you trying to build something that's going to last forever? What are you hanging your hat on right now? What is it that matters to you in your life and matters in period? What is it that you want to achieve in this life? When you die, do you want to say, I did good? Or do you want God to say you did good? See, y'all are nice people. If I drop dead right now, I have no doubt you'll say nice things about me. Because you're nice people. But it really doesn't matter what you say about me. It only matters what he says about me. And that's all that should matter to any of us. It shouldn't matter what we think of each other. It should only matter what he thinks of us and where we're at with him. And are we pleasing to him? Are you pleasing to him tonight? I hope you'll take that with you and I hope you'll think about that this next week and get ready for Sunday as preachers come in. And I hope you'll be prepared that when he brings the message, you're ready to hear the message on Sunday. And that you've purposed to do something with it when he gives it to you. Let's close with a word of prayer. Dear Lord, I just thank you for this night, God. I just thank you for these folks, for them coming out and hearing your word preached. God, I thank you for watching over us, for, Lord, allowing this place to continue to go and to grow and to thrive. Lord, I thank you for our preacher and what he means to this place. God, I pray you'd give him some rest while he's away right now. God, I pray you'd watch over he and his wife and continue to set a hedge of protection around them. Lord, I pray you'd put a hedge of protection around this place, Lord, that you'd protect the people in it, Lord, and you'd protect the folks that continue to have a desire to serve you and to love you and want to seek you, God. Lord, I pray that you'd watch over us now. I pray you'd get us home safely. Lord, I pray you'd bring us back safely on Sunday. We just pray and ask all these things in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.