Let's start putting the Bibles together. The book of Numbers, chapter number 32. Numbers, chapter number 32. I have not forgotten that we have not finished the book of Jude yet. It boggles my mind, it's only one little tiny chapter. We'll, Lord willing, get back to it next Sunday. Numbers, chapter 32. Would you stand with me as we read Numbers, chapter 32? We'll start reading at verse number one. Numbers, chapter number 32 and verse number one. if you're taking notes, the title of the message is The Sin of Sitting. Numbers 32, verse number one. Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle. And when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that behold, the place was a place for cattle. The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses and Eleazar, the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying, Adirath and Diban and Jazer and Nimra and Heshban and Elali and Shebam and Nabo and beyond, even the country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle. Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for possession, and bring us not over Jordan. And Moses said unto the children of Gad and the children of Reuben, shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them? Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea, to see the land. And when they went up unto the valley of Eschol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the Lord had given them. Look now at verse number 16. And they came near unto him and said, we will build cheap foals here for our cattle and cities for our little ones. But we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel until we have brought them unto their place. And our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return unto our houses until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on yonder side of Jordan or forward, because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side. of Jordan eastward. And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the Lord to war, and will go all of your armed over Jordan before the Lord until he hath driven out his enemies from before him, and the land be subdued before the Lord, then afterward ye shall return and be guiltless before the Lord and before Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. Verse 23. But If you will not do so, behold, ye have, what, sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. Father, I pray that you bless the time of the Scriptures this evening. Thank you so much for, Lord, the word of testimony of your goodness and what you've been doing. Thank you, Lord, for this opportunity we have this first day of the week. to set this day aside as a first fruits of this week and the rest of the time that you allow us to be here. And Lord, may we do the best that we can for your honor and glory as you give us, Lord, our breath to breathe and the will and ability to move. I pray that we'd serve you with all that we have. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. You may be seated. If you're familiar at all with the Old Testament, you understand that it's dominated with the exodus of Israel out of Egypt land. They were down there in slavery for over 400 years and God brought them up out of the mighty hand. You're familiar with the 10 plagues and how they were expelled out after they spoiled the Egyptians. And they began to make that journey. Now the Bible says that that journey should have been an 11-day journey. And you know it took them more than 11 days. It took them over 40 years. 11 day trip took them over 40 years. And God was very clear in how he directed them when they came up out of that land. They didn't go straight north. They went underneath the Dead Sea. The Bible says that they did not go the way of the Philistines because the Lord knew that if they saw war, they were returned to Egypt. Exodus 13 verse number 17. And so they're on their way to this promised land and now they're on the east side of Jordan and they're going to have to cross Jordan into Canaan land, the promised land, to cross Jordan to get there. It's in this time when Gad and Reuben have a conversation with Moses. But before we talk about that conversation, let's get it in context. We're reading here in the book of Numbers. What an interesting book the book of Numbers is. It starts off with the Lord having Moses number the people that are able to go to war. In chapter number 1, verse number 1, let's turn there very quickly. Numbers chapter 1, verse number 1. He has them number the people, and that's why it's called the Book of Numbers. He numbers them here, and then he has them numbered again in chapter number 26. Numbers 1, verse number 1. The Lord's speaking to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, take ye the psalm of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, With the number of their names, every man by their polls. Polls are the registered heads. It's people. It's the heads of the people. It's a head count. We even say today that people are going to the polls. So he says, I want you to number the people before you go into that land. Even after they're disqualified in chapter 27 or chapter 26, he has them number the people again. God's concerned about the number of people that are available to serve. Now, before we dive deep into chapter number 32, let me say this. Why would God have Moses number the people? And I would suggest to you for this very reason that every single person mattered. If I could put it this way, that every single person was needed. And so they were numbered. Is everyone here? Is everyone available? Is everybody on board? I also find it interesting that in chapter one and chapter number 32, verse number two, that this group of people that have been numbered are referred to as the congregation. They are called the congregation in the wilderness. In Exodus chapter 17, verse 1, and all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord. The word congregation literally means the bringing together or the assembly of people. Now, do you know the New Testament? Do you know that we are called the church, that we are the ecclesia, that we are the assembly, we are the congregation? I'll go one step farther, that even in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter number 7 and verse number 37, the Bible says this, This is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me. Him shall you hear. Listen to this, verse number 38. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness. The angel would speak to him in Mount Sinai. This congregation that we're greeting right now is referred to as the church in the wilderness. Now I have to be very doctrinally clear right now. The church today does not replace the nation of Israel. All right, it's very clear. There's a lot of replacement theology going on out there. When we get later on in the book of Romans, chapter number 11, Paul makes it very clear that God is not done with a nation of Israel, not at all. And so the church does not replace Israel. But what we see here is that there are very important similarities between this congregation and that church in the wilderness and the local assembly today. You say, well, Pastor, are there things that we should learn from there? Absolutely. Romans chapter 15, verse 4, for whatsoever things are written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. So there's things that we ought to learn. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 11, now all these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition, but whom the ends of the world are come. So the things that happen in this congregation, the things that happen in this church, there are things that happen that we need to learn from and there's things that happen that we should be admonished. Now it's one thing to learn and it's another thing to be admonished. Admonished is a little bit more stern. Admonished is you learned it but you didn't do it. And that's a totally different thing. It's a warning. And so as we go back to the Old Testament in this very text of this congregation and this church, I think there's some things that we need to learn and maybe even some things that we need to be admonished by. Well, what might they be? Well, we find out that they're gonna cross this Jordan River. That was the intent, that was the plan. But Gad and Reuben, these two tribes, they were cattlemen. The Bible says at the end of verse number one, behold, the place was a place for cattle, this land on the other side of the Jordan. And then verse number four, even the country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel is a land for cattle, and thy servants, Have cattle. What a coincidence. They said, no, we've noticed that this is a place for cattle. Now, I don't know if you know this or not, but I'm a cattleman myself. Big hat, no cattle. I have four cows. Yeah, I do. And as little as they are, and as small as they are, and as small as the herd is, I can't believe how hard it is to find hay. This is a rough summer. The field is full of weeds, no grass. You're buying hay. And then I bought five round bales of hay, and it wasn't cheap. And my daughter steals my hay and gives it to her horses at the camp. Where's my hay? She's stealing hay. It's just amazing. I'm not saying I know how they feel, but I'm saying this. They said, you know, we have cattle. And they had much cattle. And they said, we have cattle. And you know, this is a great place for cattle. So you know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking there's no need for us to go over there. We can have our inheritance here. We can have our inheritance now. And we don't even have to cross the Jordan River. This would be good. Now, they're going to run this by Pastor Moses. Verse number six, and Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, I'm sorry, they said this to Moses in verse number two, the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses and Eliezer the priest and the prince of the congregation saying, hey, we can go, verse number four, even the country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel is a land for cattle and we have a lot of cattle. Verse five, wherefore said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for our possession, and bring us not over Jordan. Hey, why don't we just stay here? Your servants, I'm trying to get out of service, your servants have much cattle, so let's just, can we just stay here, Moses? Would that be okay, Pastor Moses? Would that be all right, and you guys get yours, and we already have ours? Won't that be good? Now, do you understand that Moses was not happy with this at all? Moses, I'm sure in his mind, by what he says, he goes back and says, listen, I've seen this play out before. I've seen this same problem before. And he asked them this, verse number six, Moses said unto the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? They're gonna cross the Jordan River, your brethren are, and they're gonna go to war, And they're going to work on the other side of Jordan, and you're going to be OK with sitting here getting your cattle fat while they're over there fighting. You all right with that? I want you to think about what you're asking. Are you OK with that? I think that's a great question. If I could apply it to the Church of the New Testament, the local assembly, I want to remind you that we are in a war. I want to remind you that there is ground to take, that God needs to get more glory and souls need to be saved. I want to remind you that we have generations of young people in our church that need Sunday school classes and need a camp to go to and need a bigger sanctuary to meet together. I'm saying there's things to do. And in this congregation, is it acceptable for anyone that's part of the church, and by the way, just like them, they're all needed in the New Testament church, and every single person is needed. That there's no, well, I'm just kind of a filler and nobody really needs me. We covered in Corinthians extensively that every single member is needed. Even the ones that you might think they are not the more comely parts. You think, well, I'm not the hand, and I'm not the eye, and I'm not the foot, therefore I'm not needed. You know one of the ugliest parts is your heart? I used to think a heart looked like this. Remember that? Oh, look at the heart. The first time you saw a real heart. I saw there was a necklace. I saw a necklace, and it was a heart necklace, but it looked like a real heart. Like, ew. But can I say how much needed that heart is? That's a pretty important member. And he makes it very clear that every single member, every single person is needed. And that there is no room for anybody to sit. That there's no time, there's no reason, it's not right for anyone to sit. And let everyone else bear the burden of the task that God has that congregation to do. This is gonna be a good one, folks. You're gonna be so excited about this. Here's a problem. When people sit, when you sit, number one, you don't exercise your faith. When we sit, we do not exercise our faith. They said, you know, everything we have is right here. We don't need anything else. We're going to sit here and take care of our own little cattle and our own little families, and you guys go over there. So that means this. That means there's no putting your feet in the Jordan River. That means there's no seeing the water's parts. Are we right? There's no seeing God tear down and destroy the walls of Jericho. There's no step of faith whatsoever, because everything I have and everything I need is right here. And if I sit here, I don't have to exercise faith, because I have everything I need. But I'm going to tell you that when you decide to stand up and not sit, when you decide to cross the Jordan River, then your faith will be exercised. that your faith will be required to do what God's called you to do. I was reading this when they finally get to go there over the Jordan River, finally. Let's go to Joshua chapter number three. Keep your finger there, number is 32. But Joshua chapter number three. I believe that there's a lot of people sit because they are faithless, because they don't trust the Lord. They're not willing to step up by faith. But in Joshua chapter three, look at verse number 11. Joshua three, verse number 11. The Bible says, Behold, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you in Jordan. Now, therefore, take you 12 men of the tribes of Israel out of every tribe of man, and it shall come to pass as soon as the souls of the feet of the priests that bear the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall cut off from waters that come down from above, and they shall stand up in heaps. Now, can I tell you, this is an amazing thing. This is an incredible thing. Could you imagine being there? Could you imagine being there, and the ark's going before you, and here come the priests, and there's a man from every tribe? Now listen, if Gad got its way, if Reuben got their way, there wouldn't be 12, there would be 10. But could you imagine being there? I love putting myself in this situation. Here we go. Hey, I wasn't there. I'm with a different generation. I didn't see the parting of the Red Sea. But I want to see this. And they come up there, and the priests put their feet in that water. And you watch that river roll back. And you see the water, apparently the water's still building up. I'd love to cast the line right sideways in the heaps of water, see if you'd catch anything. That's something. I believe this, I believe that the reason we don't see God do more is because we are unwilling to step out by faith. And I know this from the first run they had, the problem was a lack of faith. The problem was, well, we can't do it, we're grasshoppers in their sight. And there's not three men. Moses, Caleb, and Joshua did not have enough faith for the rest of the congregation. And you know the pastor doesn't have enough faith for the whole congregation. He could say, I think this is what the Lord wants us to do, let's step up by faith, and you take a vote, and the answer is no. So we wind her around for 40 years. Let's get really personal. When we first talked about the camp, how many of you really, be honest, you won't hurt my feelings, how many of you thought, I was out of my mind? Go ahead, raise your hand, go ahead. Oh yeah, everybody's on board now. Where were you guys four years ago? Oh, yeah, we thought we had as much faith as you. Come on now. We can't, but I'm gonna tell you this, as a church, did we not step out by faith? And have we not seen some amazing things that we would have never seen if we just sat down, that we would have never seen if we didn't step out by faith, if we never saw it? And I'm just telling you that I believe that our God's a great God. And if he has something for us to do, he will provide. And if you just sit, you're never gonna see God work. You're never gonna see God move. If you just sit and you're content with where you're at, you got your cattle, you got your hay, you got your grass, We have to exercise our faith. And sitting doesn't cut it. Look at chapter number four. Joshua chapter number four, look with me at verse number five. Joshua chapter four and verse number five. Joshua four, verse number five. And Joshua said unto them, pass over before the ark of the Lord your God in the midst of Jordan and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel. How many is that class? Verse six, that this may be a sign among you, when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, what mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, when it passed over Jordan, and the waters of Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be a memorial unto the children of Israel for how long? Ever. You imagine this, if they sat down, they didn't exercise their faith, there'd only be 10 stones. and because they didn't exercise their faith in the next generation and the memorial. What does Reuben tell his kids? Well, you know, yeah, that's when they went over. That's when God did that for them. That's when God crossed that river over there. That's when they stepped out by faith. That's what they did. Listen, I've never been content with talking about they. I've never been content about talking about them. When I played sports, I did not want to ride the bench. I wanted to be part of it. I wanted to be involved in it. I just didn't want to sit. I wanted to get in. And by the way, when I first started playing basketball, I was horrible. I'd tackle people. But I wanted to be in the game, not sit. Maybe you're here and you're just sitting. I'm here to tell you, you're needed. And if you just sit, you'll never exercise your faith, you'll never please God, you'll never grow, and never be where God wants you to be. Are you with me? All right, maybe I'll lose you on number two. When you sit, you don't exercise your faith. Number two, when you sit, you don't encourage your fellows. Go back to our text in Numbers chapter number 32 and verse number seven. Numbers chapter 32 and verse number seven. The Bible says, Moses looks at them and says, and wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them? Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. If you don't go over, then you're not gonna exercise faith in God and you're not gonna be where God wants you to be and do what God calls you to do, but number two, you're not gonna encourage your fellows. As a matter of fact, you're going to discourage them. Discourage. To extinguish the courage of, to dishearten, to depress the spirits, Discourage now we understand that this way, you know into the promised land was already discouraging The Bible says the numbers chapter 21 verse 4 and they journeyed from our or by the way of the red seed It can pass the land of Edom and a soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way So it's already hard. It's already difficult But we can handle that I feel like we can handle any opposition. We can handle tax bills and permits, and we can handle government restrictions, and we can handle bad doctrine and the corruption of the world. We can handle all those things, and some of those things are extremely discouraging. But I'm going to tell you the most discouraging thing that gets most people out of the fight is while they're in it and engaged, and they're trying to get after it, and look, and someone that should be by their side, someone that should have their back, are doing nothing but sitting. I don't know why I thought of this, but I'm going to tell a story on Kevin for a minute. We were having junior camp, and I was a director at a junior camp in Connecticut, and he was the assistant director there, and it was, we were having our first Western theme. And so I, Kevin and I went to a store, and we both bought cowboy hats. Remember this? We both got cowboy hats. Now, I lived in the inner city of Hartford. Now, when I say inner city, it's worse than you're thinking right now. I promise you it's worse than you are thinking. Is that an overstatement? It's worse than you're thinking right now. And so we come back from the store, got our new cowboy hats on. I'm driving home, and I see there's like three or four guys, and they're slapping and punching this woman, like in the middle of the circle. They're just slapping her and punching her. And I said, I said, let's go. Jumped out of the truck, and I started running down the road. Didn't even drive. I started running down the road. As I'm running down the road, I could see the sun behind me. I could see my shadow. And I could see my cowboy hat on my head as I'm running through the inner city. And all I could hear was, in the eyes of a ranger, the unsuspecting stranger, you better know the truth. I said, hey! I said, hey, you want to hit somebody? Hit me. Let's go. And they all scattered like cockroaches that they were. And a lady sat on the curb. Some other lady came up to help her. And I said, well, Kevin, at least we didn't have. And Kevin was still back in the truck. He goes, you had it. You had it. What? I was the Lone Ranger is what I was. He would have jumped in. He says, you got something over there all by themselves? You can discourage them. Now, we have a lot of folks in the church that are active and are serving. And honestly, a church our size, we have a lot that aren't. And I know this, I know that two are better than one in their labor. I know this, I know that it's very easy for us to see the things that we have to do. We're on this side of Jordan and this is my property and this is my responsibilities, this is my little ones, this is my cattle, this is what I have to do. Not realizing that you have brothers that are discouraged because you should be with them. You should be by their side, taking ground for the glory of God. And now there's 12 tribes and there's a whole lot of people, and what's two out of 12? It's a lot. And it's not even the fact that they have less numbers, they would have less numbers going over Jordan. The fact is is that the ones that were going over, not only are they fewer in number, but they are now discouraged in their endeavor. One of the dangers of a church our size, I got a call yesterday from a pulpit committee, and they were asking me about a pastor that I know that they're considering to be the senior pastor. They were asking me questions about this man and about ministry and different things. And they said, well, brothers, how big of a church do you pastor? And I told them a little bit about our church. And what all are you guys trying to do? And I went, well, you got a minute? Well, that's a lot. He said, but you have the size. I mean, your congregation is bigger than any church we know in our area. So you're trying to do a lot, but he says, that means the church that big, that means you have a lot of help. And I said to that man on the phone last night, I said, not enough. Not enough. It's not enough. And what happens is when there's not enough, then the ones that are involved, the ones that are crossing the Jordan River, the ones that are trying to take ground, end up looking back and then now they're discouraged. So they want to retreat and they want to give up and they want to sit down And so then the work never gets done. I'll be honest with you at the we're at the point right now I think in our church that either that we either we have More people get off the sidelines and get involved to do the things that they can do Some of you are might be elderly and all you can do is is pray and give and then pray and give and some of you could teach Sunday school some of you can knock on doors some of you can knock some of you can run buses some of you can swing a hammer and Some of you can do plumbing and electrical work. Some of you are great at cleaning and organizing and cooking. With what we're trying to do, if there's not enough, we're trying to start churches in the mid-Atlantic area. We're trying to train pastors. We're trying to have a camp. We're trying to help troubled teens and troubled youth. We're trying to build a new sanctuary. We're trying to remodel a building. We're trying to run a bus. I mean, we're trying. But we're at the point that if there's people that are content with sitting and they're not willing to stand up and get involved, then we're gonna have to stop doing some of the things that we're trying to accomplish. Now that's a problem. Because I believe, listen, I believe I'm the steward of this church and I'm gonna give an account to the Lord and I'm not trying to get ahead of God. So the things that we're trying to do, I believe with all my heart, God has for us to do. So the idea of having to try to cut back so that the ones that are crossing the Jordan River are discouraged and run down, talking about stepping back from some of those things would be a tragedy. And I think I would have to give an account of why we didn't accomplish those things. We all right? Philippians 2, verse 4, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Well, this is what I have to do, this is my responsibility. Yeah, but that kid down on Laurel Drive needs Christ as his savior. That kid from, I talked to a pastor in DC, he says, listen, he said, I'll take whatever, he said to me, he said, I will take whatever scholarships you can give me, I'm in the heart of DC, I will send as many kids as I can. If you give us scholarships, we will send those kids. Hey, you know what? Those kids need to be fed. And you might not be able to teach a Sunday school class, but you can cook. Hey, those kids need a cabin to stay in. You can give. You can swing a hammer. We voted on starting a new church down in Chesapeake Way, and he's in a special area down there. He needs help. He needs support. It's Romans 15 verse one, we then that are strong ought to bear the affirmatives of the weak, not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good edification, for even Christ pleased not himself. So if we're just pleasing ourself and we're just working our job and worried about our little ones and ourself, and we're not looking at the needs of others, he says this, he says at the end of chapter 15 verse number two, let every one of us please his neighbor for his edification. I don't wanna discourage them, I wanna build them up. So I have to help. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter four, verse nine, two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. What am I saying? I'm saying that if the congregation, if part of the congregation decides to sit, then they'll never exercise their faith. If you decide to sit, then you'll never encourage your fellows. As a matter of fact, you'll discourage them. Number three. Not only will we not encourage, our fellows, number three, will not engage in the fight. Will not engage in the fight. Chapter number 32, verse number 21. Verse number 20, Moses said unto them, if you will do this thing, if you will go armed before the Lord to war, it will go all of your armed over Jordan before the Lord until he hath driven out his enemies from before him. He said, hey, you need to get engaged in the fight. You need to get engaged in the fight. I was talking to a pastor's wife at that ladies' fellowship yesterday or the day before, I don't remember what day it was, and she said this, she says, you know, I don't know about you, but I know my husband and our church, we're having a really hard time getting men engaged. Engaged. You know why I believe that is? I believe this. I believe that sometimes our churches are geared more towards women than men. We all right with that statement? I believe this, I believe that the average guy that sits in church thinks that Christianity is nothing more than showing up on Sunday with your Bible, hearing a message, hear the pastor yell at you for an hour, and then go home. Not realizing, listen, that we are literally engaged in a battle. That we are, listen, that we are fighting for the glory of God. That we are striving and engaged in this battle for the souls of men. That our little ones and our children are at risk. We're trying to see young people saved. We're trying to see churches started. We're trying to see our young people escape the pollution and corruption of this world. I'm saying that we are in a battle. And if you look around and you watch politics and you see the news and you see what's going on in this world, then you better wake up and realize it's not time to sit, it's time to fight. All right, am I talking about this? I'm not talking about this. You know what I'm talking about. There's some that are here, you're busy. The word busy, it's a pretty commonly used word. And it's almost a badge of honor. If you have someone that owns a business, oh, how's it going? Oh, I'm really busy. Right? Oh, I'm really busy. We have more things in our lives to try to keep us from being busy. There's so many things in our life that are time savers. Right? Busy. You know, being busy does not mean you're productive. I had a pastor tell me, well, you know, we're really busy, aren't we? Woo, we have Vacation Bible School this week, and you know that's the busiest week of the year. Really? Really? We put the word vacation in Vacation Bible School. Busy? I told somebody the other day, if the devil can't make a man bad, he'll make a man busy. Just keep him out of the fight. Keep that strong man tied up in things that do not profit so he doesn't get engaged. Isn't it funny that In Egypt land, when Pharaoh, who's a picture of the devil, who Pharaoh, he says, you know what, I'm a little bit worried about these Israelites going to war, so we need to distract the men. Give them some stubble to chase. Hey guys, go chase stubble. Right? And if that doesn't work, then we're just gonna have to kill them. Kill those baby boys. The devil doesn't want men engaged. The key to any strong church is having men that are engaged in the gospel, engaged in God's word, engaged in the ministry, not sitting, serving. I know you're busy. Did you ever get burned out? Have you ever been burned out? Someone would say, well, I've never been asked. If someone would ask me to do something, I would do it. I'm asking you right now. Will you stop sitting? Will you find something to do in this ministry for the glory of God? Something? Well, I'm already doing something. Some of you, praise the Lord. I'm not coming down hard on you. I'm not saying there's nobody here that serves. Some of us could do more. Some of us need to do something. Something for the glory of God in this local assembly. Something. Now, you started off pretty good and I know you feel like, I hope you don't feel like I'm beating up on you. I'm really not, I promise I'm not. But I know this, I know that our church is a very special church. I've probably been in more churches than most of you around the country, and this is a very special church. And I'm not saying it's a special church because I'm the pastor, I'm saying it's a special church because we have a special group of people. And we have so many things and so many opportunities and so many ways to glorify God, but every single one of them, requires somebody to stop sitting and start serving. We have a nursery, yeah, well that means you gotta stop sitting and you have to start serving. There's a bus, yeah, that means somebody's gotta stop sitting and start serving. It means somebody's gotta knock on doors and check up on them. It means somebody's gotta start building and somebody's gotta start praying and somebody's gotta start giving and somebody's gotta start organizing and somebody's gotta start I've never heard a pastor say, we just have too many people to serve. I just don't know what to do with them all. I just don't know what to do with them all. No, the fields are white on the harvest. The problem is the laborers are few. Let me make one more point. And if I didn't lose you yet, I'll lose you here. In chapter number 32, verse number 23, and let me just say this, listen. And honestly, I'm not, I don't want anybody to leave, but I will say this. If you just wanna sit, the best way to do that is to find a larger church doing less. Okay? Because there's plenty of churches you can go to, and I guarantee you they preach the gospel. I mean, they're probably not as good a preacher as I am, Okay, they're probably better, but preach the gospel, for sure, but as far as requiring members or church folks to do anything, you'll be required to do nothing. As a matter of fact, you can come in five minutes before the service and sit down, nobody even knows you're there, finally, man, you're out the door, first one at Cracker Barrel. You could sit, sneak in, sneak out, nobody misses you, nobody calls on you, you'll never be asked to serve, you'll never be asked to pray, but it's not that way here. We're small enough that we see you. And we're trying to do enough that we need you. Moses says this in verse number 23, and I've seen this verse taken out of context and preached all different ways. Verse 23, but if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. I've seen that verse used in all kinds of sin, all kinds of things. Moses, are you saying that if we don't do what we're supposed to do, that if we don't stand up and stop sitting and get over there and help them, make a commitment to be engaged, are you saying that that's sin? Well, go to James chapter four and we'll end here. James four. James four, verse number 13. James 4 verse 13. The Bible says in James 4 verse 13, go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year, buy and sell and get gain. So these people are involved with buying and selling and getting gain. Now there's nothing wrong with buying, there's nothing wrong with selling, and there's nothing wrong with getting gain, nothing wrong with those things, but that's what their life is centered around. right, that we are gonna buy and sell and get gain. That's why we're here, that's why we operate, that's where our heart is. Verse 14, whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. For that you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. Look up here, verse 15 is saying this. More important than buying and selling and getting gain is the Lord's will. So instead of saying, I'm gonna go by, wait a minute, if the Lord wills, we will go by. Well, I'm gonna go get, wait, wait, if the Lord wills. So that puts God's will over our own will. That puts God's will over our own wants. Is that right? Verse number 15, for that you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. Verse 16, but now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is a problem. To him it is what? it is sin. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Well, can I ask you a question? Are you sitting? Some are sitting because they're resting on their laurels because of what they used to do. I don't I would never criticize someone that served in the military, but all of us have met a guy in our past that served in Vietnam, and they still, in their minds, are in Vietnam. The bumper stickers all over the car. I served Vietnam. Their clothes, their hats, All their friends, if they're still alive, it's all about what they did in Vietnam. And some of them served valiantly with no honor whatsoever while they fought or when they came home. Is that right? But they are stuck in what they did 50 years ago. That's all past. The question is, what are we doing now? See, it's not enough to say, well, I served then, and I did that. This is what I did. If you're still breathing, you shouldn't be sitting. Somebody says, well, I'm older. Listen, we do what we can do. One of my favorite meetings, we were sitting down. We were going to knock on doors, and Dick Cooley's sitting there, and Paul Wakeman's sitting there. And Paul says, well, Pastor, I'm going to do what I can do. I can't do stairs, and so I'm going to have to send the young man up the stairs. And he points to Dick Cooley. I can't do stairs fast when you get up there and knock on those doors, so I'm gonna send the young whippersnapper up there. But Paul could do the first floor. And that's what he did. So my question for you is this. Are you engaged? Or are you sitting? Let me say a word to those that are engaged. and are not sitting, and that perhaps you're discouraged. Would you imagine if you, remember one time my wife came to me when I was pastor in Hartford, she came to me, she's crying. I said, what's wrong? She said, you know, one of the reasons I married you is because you're such a good preacher. She said, we've been married now for three years and I've hardly ever heard you preach because I'm in the nursery every service. Do you know how discouraging it would be if you were in the nursery every service? Would that be discouraging? Yeah, because I can hear them. We spent all that money on that real fancy soundproof insulation. I want my money back. You'd be discouraged if you were in there, you got crying babies, and smelly babies, and puking babies, and screaming babies. And you're looking through that window, and you see all these ladies here sitting. And now, one of them's willing to sign up and give you relief for one service. That'd be discouraging, wouldn't it? That's not our only ministry, folks. We have a lot to do. That's what I'm asking. Are you just sitting? I'm asking, is the Holy Spirit saying, listen, there's more for you to do. You could be doing more for the kingdom, more for the cause of Christ, more for the souls of men. You could be doing more. And you're sitting on the wrong side of Jordan. To finish the story, when they did get back over there and Joshua, Reuben, and Gad pick up their arms, crossed the Jordan River, stepped out, exercised their faith, encouraged their fellows, and engaged in fight. But it wasn't until Pastor Moses said, hey, you can't just sit. You can't just sit here and let them do all the work. Can't do that. You can't do that. Father, thank you so much for this example in the scriptures, Lord. And I do believe that there are so many parallels between that congregation, our congregation, that church in the wilderness, and our church. Lord, I don't want to come across this evening as unthankful for the people that do serve. I am so thankful because, Lord, we couldn't do all the things we're doing without the people that stood up and became engaged in the ministry. But Lord, I do know this. I know that there are some that are not engaged at all. Lord, you've given me the task to know the state of the flock. And I know that there's some that used to be engaged, but for one reason or another, they've backed off. Lord, I pray that you convict us and show us. Lord, not that we are doing it for ourselves or for pride, but Lord, we need to get busy. We need to occupy until you come. And Lord, you have blessed and honored and called us to serve in local churches. And so I pray that each one of us could prayerfully seek your will and seek your work and be committed to do it for your honor and glory. We love you. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.