# The choke-holds of pleasure

November 10, 2025

Turn your Bible, if you would, to Luke chapter number eight this morning, Luke chapter number eight. You say, “Pastor, you are getting up earlier than usual.” I am. So you said we are getting out earlier. One does not equal the other, friend. That is all I have to say. We will see what happens, but do not count on getting out early too much. I mean, do not cross your fingers on that for sure. We will try.

But Luke chapter number eight in God’s word this morning. By the way, I am so glad we have God’s word this morning. In Luke chapter number eight, once you find that, let me talk to you for just a minute about the passage we are going to read. In Luke chapter number eight, if you are there, would you say amen? Good. We are here where the Bible talks about the soul and the seed, or sometimes talking about the four different types of ground.

It is actually found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke in the Bible—the three synoptic Gospels, as they are often called. It is found there, and each time the wording is just a bit different. We are going to look at Luke. The four different grounds: the first ground is the wayside ground.

It is very clear from Scripture that the seed, which is the Word of God, is sown, and the devil comes and takes it away. They do not understand. They do not get it. By the way, I believe it is representative of people that do not get saved—lost people. I think that is why God listed it three different times. It is listed first because that is going to be the majority of the people in the world. Very sad. “Broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go therein.” That is the biggest of the four categories, which is why I think it is mentioned first.

Then there is thorny ground. Now, thorny ground—excuse me, stony ground. Let us look at stony ground next. They are not always listed the same in order in the three different Gospels. But stony ground is where they did not have much earth, and it sprouts up. In lean times or times of persecution, times of trials, they just quit. They do not have much earth, and they dry up. They are offended.

Now, this word we use in our day and time, “offend.” My wife was talking to someone in another church, and someone had said something to them. They said, “That offended me,” meaning you hurt my feelings and so on. In the Bible, “offend” means that which causes you to stumble or stop serving the Lord. This seed that fell on the stony ground, when trials and troubles come, they stop serving. They just quit. They stumble, they fall, they do not get back up.

Then there is the thorny ground—we will get to that in just a minute—and then there is the good ground. The good ground, the way the Bible describes it, is that it bears fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some one hundredfold. Now, I tend to believe that the stony ground represents someone, if we are talking about salvation, that got saved. They took it with joy, received the seed, and sprouted up. But in the lean times, they just fell by the wayside. A whole lot of people get saved, get involved in church, start with the Lord, and then the hard times come, and they are gone. They got saved, they are still saved, amen. Are you still out there with me? Stick with me here a little bit.

Then the thorny ground, I think, sometimes represents me. I think from time to time I kind of go from thorny to good ground. Now, good ground, you are bearing fruit—some thirty, some sixty, some one hundred. By the way, do not compare. If you are a thirty-fold Christian and you compare yourself with a sixty-fold Christian, you are going to be discouraged—pity party, woe is me. If you are a sixty-fold or one hundred-fold and you look at the thirty, you are going to get proud. Or you may only be producing fifty when you should be producing sixty or one hundred, and you are not where God wants you to be, yet you think you are pretty good because you are looking at the thirty. Do not compare. But that is good ground. When I am not producing like I should be, like God wants me to be, and that comes in seasons, typically I have kind of drifted over into the thorny area. The thorns grew up with the seed and choked it. See?

Now we are going to look for just a minute at thorny ground. We did this under the tent recently, but we are going to get a little bit more specific to one of the things that choke us. I just feel like the Lord has led me over the last couple weeks to focus on this one area that can choke the word in our life so we are not producing fruit like God wants us to produce fruit. Are you still with me out there? How many of you fell asleep already? I believe that. No doubt about it. As long as you do not snore, we will let you sleep a little bit. No snoring now. Asher, do not take me up on that. I am joking.

In Luke chapter number eight, we are in verse number seven. Luke 8, verse number seven. Would you please stand as we read God’s word together? Luke eight and verse number seven. We are focusing on the thorny ground, and we are going to get to one aspect of it. Verse number seven, Luke 8:7, the Bible says, “And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.” The seed sprang up, but thorns sprang up with it and choked it. By the way, that seed is the word of God.

Now look down, if you would please, in verse number 14, where he explains the thorny ground here in verse number 14 of Luke 8. “And that which fell among thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares and riches…” And what are the next four words? “…and pleasures of this life.” I believe the Lord has focused on that: the pleasures of this life. Watch the last part of the verse. It is sad here a little bit: “And bring no fruit to perfection.” That perfection has to do with maturity. But it says, sadly, “bring no fruit to perfection.” It is a sad thing, just for a bit.

Let us focus on this thing: pleasures of this life. Would you bow your head and ask God to speak very clearly about it as I pray this prayer? Father, Lord, help me to rightly divide. Lord, help me to portray the truth as you want it portrayed, as it is. And Lord, I pray that you would apply it. Lord, this thing can be so diverse in every person’s life, what they need. So, Father, I ask for you to send your Spirit speaking to their hearts as I speak to their ears. Guide me, Lord, I yield to you. And we ask for you to, oh, if you would, translate for each individual as they need, as I need, Lord. Grow us. Let us have fruit because of this morning for you. In Jesus’ name, we ask. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

There is nothing wrong with having pleasures of life. Nothing wrong with that. I like mint chocolate chip ice cream. That is a pleasure. Come on, you can say amen right there. How about chocolate chip cookie dough? Come on now. I can preach on that a while. A pleasure for me is to sit down and eat a medium-rare steak. Somebody say amen. That is not necessarily sinful. It is a pleasure of life. I like sports. My wife and I got to go to a Belmont college basketball game this way, I think Monday night. They played another team, and it got intense for a while. The coach of the other team pitched a fit, like I have never seen a coach pitch. He was jumping up and down, stomping his feet like a three-year-old. I thought, wow, it made the game interesting. I kind of liked it. He got a technical later in the game. That is a pleasure. It is not necessarily bad that I like a good game. There are all kinds of pleasures. God is not asking you to take away any pleasure you have in your life. If it is pleasurable to you and it is not sinful, that is not bad. It is human. No problem there. But here is the problem: when these pleasures begin to choke the word in our life. And they can, by the way.

Especially in America. I love America. I mean every word when I said it is the greatest nation on the face of the earth. But when my desire for pleasure becomes greater than my desire for the Lord, then that pleasure begins to choke the word in my life, and I will not produce fruit—no fruit to perfection. It is amazing how, in our day and time, with all the things we have, there are so many things available that are pleasurable. I am not talking about sinful things per se, but just pleasurable things. They are all over the place, like neon signs demanding your time, your attention, your heart, and your emotions. So if you are not careful, you do not have anything left for the Lord. We are in a society where the pleasures of life can very easily choke the word, and we are not good ground because we are not producing thirty, sixty, or one hundredfold fruit. Often, these are things that are not sinful per se, but they are pleasurable to us.

I was speaking with someone at another church, a relative of mine, who loved a pastor. God used that pastor to change their life and their spouse’s life. They were being a little bit honest with me one time and said, “Paul, to be honest with you, when it comes to hunting season, our pastor loves hunting.” Now, some of you are like, “I do not want to think about that,” but some of you are like, “Yeah, I like that stuff.” We are all unique, and the pleasures we have are unique. She said, “Paul, when it is hunting season, I know that the pastor is just not going to be quite as ‘on,’ if you will.” They have been in that church for years. Basically, she was saying our pastor would be kind of “knowing” during that season; there is a pleasure of his that chokes the word a little bit in his life. If we are not careful, it will hinder us from being Christians that produce fruit.

Look over in 2 Timothy. Let us see how the Word of God words it over in 2 Timothy chapter number three. Is it stuffy in here to anybody else, or just me? Can we just get some fans? You do not have to turn the air conditioning on, but just turn a little air so we can get air moving here a little bit. Thank you, Brother Mark, for that. Look over in 2 Timothy chapter number three and let us see how the Word of God describes that. We are talking about thorny ground. I have already said that sometimes I think I drift between good ground and thorny ground, and there are several things in thorny ground that can hinder me from being good ground. But this for sure can be one of those—the one I think God has us to deal with today: the pleasures of life. We have already read it over there in Luke. Now, let us look over here in 2 Timothy chapter number three. If you are there in 2 Timothy 3, would you say amen? Amen. Look at verse number one. He says, “This know also, that in the last days…” By the way, friend, we are living in the last days.

How many of you have studied up a little bit on the digital ID they are pushing in Europe? It is just another sign. We are getting closer all the time. By the way, it is not falling apart; it is all falling right into place. So do not get worried. Jesus said in Matthew 24 that we should not be troubled. It is all right. We are just getting closer to going home, maybe. That is all. But it is talking about these last days we are living in. I read in my devotions this week, Daniel 12:4: they will be traveling to and fro. Imagine, you can fly all over the place nowadays, as long as the air traffic controllers are there. Knowledge shall increase. Since the Internet and Lexus and all, we can look up anything about anything. It is amazing. You can ride down the road in your truck and say, “Hey, Google, who is winning such and such a ballgame?” and she will tell you, or he will tell you. Knowledge increased. All that is in the Bible. We are living in the last days, friend. Notice what it says: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come,” falling into place.

He gives a list of about seventeen or eighteen different ways it will be in the last days. Look at this list here: “For men shall be lovers of their own selves.” Extremely selfish. In our day and time, we use the term narcissistic, narcissism. The Bible tells us it will get more of that as you get closer, and you can look around and see it. That is what we are talking about. “Lovers of their own self, covetous, never satisfied—a little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more. Boasters.” Wow, we have those. They just brag about anything and everything they have done, or supposedly done. By the way, all of us older men were great in high school basketball or football, right? Boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. You never ever see that in the grocery store, do you? Unthankful, unholy. Whatever happened to holiness in our day? Without natural affection—how on earth can they murder their babies? Without natural affection. Truth breakers. Nowadays, it is not a handshake; you sign a form and everything else, and still they break it. That is what we are talking about. False accusers. With AI, you do not know what to believe anymore, do you? Are you still out there? Is that video AI, or is that real? Who knows, man, nowadays, false accusers. Incontinent—that means they have no control, no self-control. Fierce. Just to hear people talk, man, they are just talking fierce now. Despisers of those that are good. Well, that is going on in our day and time. Watch this; we are getting where we are trying to get to. Verse number four. We are in verse number four. “Traitors.” There is no loyalty nowadays. Somebody has been good to you for years, and they will turn on you like that. No loyalty. Sad thing. “Traitors, heady.” That means they think they are better than everybody else. High-minded. Have you ever heard the phrase “a legend in their own mind”? That is what it is—high-minded right there. Here is what we are trying to get to. Are you ready? Here it is, the seventeenth thing he is listing. Here it is. Help me out loud with me, if you would, please. If you are there, here we go: “Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.”

As we get closer to Jesus coming back, that is going to be a greater problem, taking us from being good ground to thorny ground because we are loving pleasure more than loving God. The Bible says then you bring forth no fruit to perfection. As we get closer, it is going to be more and more prevalent, by the way, in the end times. One reason for that is because the devil has every form of pleasure you can ever think of out there. It is there—sinful pleasure, yes, but even non-sinful pleasure. I remember—how many of you know where Hurricane Creek boat ramp is there in LaVergne? You know what I am told about? The fullest I have ever seen that park—I am talking about every parking stall, on the grass, all the way down the road out of Stones River—all the way, was full on a Sunday. I am just saying, is it wrong to boat? No, we had a boat; we had great family vacations on the boat. But I am saying there is every pleasure available in the world to you, and so we must be aware: if I become a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God, it is going to choke the word in my life, and I cannot bring forth fruit to perfection. I am scarred against that because it is prevalent in our day and time. The Bible told us it would be.

Look at the rest of this saying. What happens then? Verse number five: “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” These aren’t atheists and god-haters; they have a form of godliness. What is it? Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. It kind of reminds me of Luke 8:17, “bring forth no fruit to perfection.” A form of godliness. I have a chainsaw at the house, and it has a case that the chainsaw comes in—a black case. You put the chainsaw in there and you fold it up, and you can see the chain coming out. If you are not looking closely, you know—and I think you used to have a guard for that; we do not have that anymore. But anyway, you can go over there and pick that black case up, think it is the chainsaw, and you are ready for it to be heavy. And like, “Whoa,” nothing is inside of there; it is just a form. If I am not careful, if I let pleasure take over in my life, whatever it may be, I have a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. I would hate to have to cut a tree down with just that form of a chainsaw. It is plastic. That would be hard to do. Denying the power—what does it say? Then it goes on: “from such turn away.” Wow.

Here is what I am getting at: If I am not careful in 2025 in America, the Christian life can become all fun and games, and I have no fruit to perfection because my life is wrapped up in fun and games, and I fall in love with the pleasures of life. Pleasure can be a lot of different things, by the way. A lot of different things. It is not bad. When I fall in love with it, it takes over. Pleasure is found in the Bible 61 times—that exact word, not “pleasures,” but just “pleasure” 61 times. Most of the time it is positive. Many times it refers to God. But when it begins to get dominant in my life, where my heart is turning, I am becoming a lover, and I love those pleasures more than I love God.

Here is sometimes what we think. Are you out there? Serving God is over here. Pleasing God is here—I will serve Him. And then over here is my pleasure. No, no, that is what Satan wants. No, you bring your pleasures up underneath God. Do not keep them separate. By the way, if you want pleasures forevermore and a much higher level of pleasures, bring your pleasures up underneath God. When you do that, God… Look over in Psalm 37, if you would please. Psalm 37. Let me show you what happens when you bring your pleasures up underneath God. Not always, but often.

I want you to see Psalm 37, and look in verse number four, Psalm 37, verse number four, of God’s word this morning. Look at it, would you please? What does he say there? Are you there? Amen? He says, “Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” That does not mean that when you delight in the Lord He will give you whatever you desire. It means when you delight in the Lord, He gives you your actual—He gives you what to desire. He actually gives you the desires of your heart. He changes your water. I have seen a lot of people who have come to church, maybe they are saved or not, and their desire is about getting rich and living for the weekend, and living for the Bible, and all these good times. As God begins to grow them, their desires, their pleasures begin to change. Now it is more like family, God using me, the peace of God. The desires of their heart change and get more like God’s desires. He says there, “You delight in God, and he gives you the actual, the very desires of your heart.” Now the next verse: “Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.” He changes your desires, and you keep serving Him, and over the years God gives you what you desire. But do not keep your desires—your pleasure, excuse me—separated from the Lord. Psalm 111:2: “The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.” The pleasures therein are in the works of God. He will change your heart.

Now, we are going to try to move on here a little bit. Are you still out there this morning? Good deal. Let us look at three sad things, or three warnings, three dangers when pleasure—you love pleasure more than you love God. Three things happen. Very sad, very sad things. This first one—just a couple weeks ago I read this and I thought, wow. I can see it true in our lives and in people’s lives.

Look over in Proverbs 21, Proverbs 21, verse number 17. What happens when it becomes just a lover of pleasure? It is all about pleasure. Here are some warnings from God’s word. I want you to see this. By the way, young people, I want you to notice this verse specifically, especially if you want to have good finances as you get older. I want you to see this. It is very interesting. I want you to see what God says, because God is always right. Proverbs 21, verse number 17, if you are there, would you say, amen? Look what God says about this. “He that loveth…” What is the next word? “…pleasure shall be a…” Wow, “…poor.” “He that loveth wine and oil,” which represents just luxuries. He that loveth wine and oil—I am a Southern boy. That black stuff, amen, you know, or that cooking stuff, whatever. “He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.” Now, I am conscious of how I say it. It says, “shall not be rich.” Do you love luxury? If you are a lover of pleasure, be careful. If you just let that take over, you are going to be poor. If you fall in love with luxuries, he said you are not going to be rich. Wow.

Let me just say a couple things here. Someone said this, and I think there is a lot of truth in it, though this is not Bible: Thomas Aquinas, a guy from years gone by, had some good things and bad things. But he said this: Everybody is tempted to make one of these four things an idol in their life. He said one of these things has the greatest potential to become an idol in your life. One is honor. You want people to look up to you. You might need some honor sometimes because maybe you were put down all your life, and you just have a desire; you want to be looked up to, and you have a strong desire for honor. If you are not careful, that can become an idol in your life. Another one is power. You like to have influence and power over people. You are always giving advice. You just want to influence someone; you like to network. By the way, it is interesting: typically, the power people do not like it if you know something they do not know because they did not have the power there. There are power people. There are money people. Here is something about the money person: They spend their life seeking more money if it becomes an idol. They are typically very hard workers. They are typically very thrifty. They keep close track of their balances and how much money they have. Just having it does something for them. The last thing he said could be honor, power, money, or pleasure. Now, here is something: I think sometimes we mix up money and pleasure. Often the pleasure person wants to make money, and they are hardworking and after money, but the end result is not to have more money in the bank. It is because they want to take that trip—I know what I am saying—because it is going to be pleasurable to ride that thing. They want this house because it is going to be pleasure with the house, and this car, and these clothes, and all the rest of that. It kind of makes sense when you realize the Bible says if you have this great, strong love of pleasure and it takes over, you are going to be poor. You are working hard to make money, but the end result is not to have money; it is to have money to have pleasure. Sometimes they are a money person, and sometimes they are a pleasure person. When they are making that money, their mind is going to something they are going to buy or do or purchase. Sometimes just purchasing is a pleasure for some people. Often they are living for the weekend. Now the sad thing is…

They are going to be poor. We are just getting real quickly here. Three dangers if pleasure takes over your life, according to God, and God is always right: you are going to be poor. Are you still out there? Let us look at the second danger here. Let us look at another danger. Look over in Ecclesiastes. You are in Proverbs; the next book of the Bible is Ecclesiastes. Let me explain a couple things about Ecclesiastes while you are turning there. God used this man Solomon to pen the book of Ecclesiastes. He was the richest man of that day and time. Who is the richest man today? If you know who the richest man is today, say his name out loud on the count of three. Here we go: one, two, three. I heard Elon Musk. Is it Elon Musk? Okay, all right, Elon Musk. Whoever it is, this was Solomon, the one who penned this. He was the richest—the Elon Musk of that day and time. He had the most money. He was a king. He had honor. He had 700 wives. Could you imagine trying to get ready for church on Sunday morning, trying to get in the bathroom? Three hundred concubines, a thousand wives. Can you imagine the shopping bills? Goodness Christ, I would hate to have to pay those bills. Wow. He had money. He had wealth. He had honor. In his kingdom, other countries would pay their—we will use this term, though it is not actually correct—their tariffs, if you will, or their taxes. He had gardens. He had anything he wanted pretty much; he had it. Watch what God uses him to say here in Ecclesiastes. Look in chapter number two, if you would. Ecclesiastes chapter two, and look in verse number one. Ecclesiastes 2:1. He says, “I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth.” That mirth is like laughter; it is like parties. I am happy all the time. I am going to have every pleasure I want. “Therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is…” What is the next word? “…vanity.”

If I spend my life living for pleasure, at the end, it never fulfills; it never satisfies, and it causes disillusionment at the end. You are like, “What is it all about anyway?” because I have been trying to give myself any pleasure I want, and it never has filled that hole in my heart. It is sad. It is always the next weekend and the next pleasure and the next, and it cannot give you what you are looking for. By the way, the theme of the book of Ecclesiastes is “Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.” The theme, if I remember correctly, is found 27 times in these 12 chapters: “under the sun.” It is talking about if you take God and eternity out of it, under the sun, it is all vanity. It is all like, “What is the use?” I used to read the book before I understood it, and I had to get disillusioned reading it until I found out the meaning: you take God out of the picture, and it is just all empty. Pleasure is the same thing. You live your life for pleasure, and it does not give you what you want. At the end, you are like, “Well, what is the use?” It is all just vanity, and it is sad. You will find that they live their life for pleasure, and usually their health is ruined. They have no money, and they are disillusioned.

So number one, just some dangers: If I let pleasure take over my life, I am going to be poor. Number two, I am not going to get what I want—just empty, vanity. Number three, the dangers of pleasure. Back over in Luke chapter number eight—we have already read it, we have already mentioned it—but going to Luke chapter 8, verse number 14. He is describing, he is explaining the thorny ground. What does he say there, Luke 8:14? Are you there this morning? Luke 8:14: “And that which fell among thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life.” And what are the last five words? “…and bring no fruit to perfection.” They never mature as a Christian. All that God had made them and wanted to do in their life, they never see fulfilled—the things that God wanted them to influence others with, the things He wanted to accomplish through their life—they bring forth no fruit to perfection. They are never a mature Christian. They are not producing fruit like God wants. Someone asks, “What is wrong with America?” Sometimes the things wrong with America are that we have let pleasure take over the Christian’s life, and we are bringing forth no fruit to perfection. We do not have mature Christians dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ, all because of pleasure. Amen. And it is sad. Why are we not producing more? They are not going to get the reward God wants them to have in heaven one day. Again, I am not saying pleasure is bad, but oh, be so careful when it becomes the love of your life, and you have nothing left for the Lord.

Real quickly here, how do I love God more than I love pleasure? Number one: Choose God before your pleasures. You are going to have to do it on purpose because that is pleasurable. You like it, and that is not bad. I like chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. I like a good ballgame. Those pleasures are not bad, but I must every single time choose God first. I bring my pleasures underneath God. “God, do you want me to go to the ballgame?” Yes. “Do you want me to eat that?” “Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do it all to the glory of God.” Every single time you choose God, but you keep your priorities right. What does it say over there? Matthew 6:33. If you know it, say it with me: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Seek Him first. When you keep God first, He begins to change your desires. Now, you still like a good steak. I still like a good ball game. Nothing wrong with that. But God gives me things. You know what? There are some things I like even more than that. God gives you the desire, but you allow it. Keep your priorities right. That is so very important. We have a couple in our church. They love to ride motorcycles. I am like, “Yeah, go for it.” I like that too. As far as I know, maybe they have deceived me, but they have never missed church by riding motorcycles. They have never missed a church activity because they seem very regulated at keeping their priorities right. They love it. I know they do because they know all about it, and I talk to them. They know everything about it. But they work very hard to keep the Lord as their priority. Number one: Keep God your priority. Choose God above your pleasures. Number two: Allow God to change your pleasures. We talked about that. “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” What does the Bible say? “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Keep your priorities right, and you put your treasure there, then your heart follows.

Number three: When God is your priority, He gives you pleasures forever. Look over in Psalm 16. This is not just the pastor trying to put a good finishing to the message; this is what God says. Look over in Psalm 16, look at verse number 11, Psalm 16, real quickly here, because we are going to try to get out of here quickly, or early. I do not know if it is going to happen or not. Psalm 16:11: “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is the fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are what?” “…pleasures for evermore.” In heaven, you are going to have pleasures forevermore. Look in Psalm 36. You are in 16; look over in Psalm 36. Look in verse number eight, Psalm 36, verse number eight. Psalm 36, looking at verse number eight: “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.” We are going to skip a couple because we are going to try to get out of here. When God becomes your priority, here is the amazing part—this last one makes you think he is pulling our leg, but it is biblical. When God becomes your priority, you keep putting Him first, you choose Him every time over pleasures, it is amazing how life becomes pleasurable in every part of life. Even, listen, even the bad things in life become pleasurable.

Remember Paul over there? Three times, “Lord, take away the thorn in my flesh.” He had called him. He said that is the messenger of Satan. Satan is coming over and he is buffeting me. He is just pounding him in the face. He is beating the snot out of me. He prayed, and God said, “No, I am not taking it away.” God said, “My grace is sufficient for thee: my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Then you know what he said? I am going to read it. He says, “Therefore I take pleasure.” Wow. “Therefore take I pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” Even bad things, when you are submitting to God, you bring everything—all your pleasures—under God. God can make it so that even the horrible things in your life become pleasurable because God is in it.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? What is your priority in your life? Is it pleasure, or is it God?

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? You are there this morning and you say, “Lord, would you help me at making you my priority?” That is your heart, that is your prayer. Right there you said, would you pray that to him? Right there you said, “Lord, help me to make you the priority in my life above pleasures.” I am going to ask you to raise your hand on this. Give your heart there and you say, “Lord, I want to put you, you and your will, I want to put that above pleasures in my life.” God is working in my heart about that. And God, I believe you are speaking to me about that. And I am not going to be perfect, but Lord, I want to, and I am asking for your help. Help me to put you in front of pleasure, certain pleasures. I am not saying they are sinful wrong. I am not saying you can never do those things. But you do those things under God’s direction. Lord, help me. Help me to put you—I am going to do my best to put you in front of these pleasures in my life. God spoke to my heart about that. If that is you, you just slip your hand up. I am going to ask, “Lord, help me to put you in front of these certain pleasures in my life.” That is so important. That is not going to make your life less pleasurable. It will magnify it, multiplied by a million times over. Much more pleasurable. Thank you so very, very much.

It was not a salvation message, but if you are not saved this morning, can I just say this? You do not get saved by making Him a priority. You get saved by receiving a gift. Jesus paid for that gift on the cross of Calvary. You receive the gift of God. He purchased it for you. He paid for your sin debt. They like to give it to you. It would be a great day to receive that gift. If you are with us this morning, you have never received the gift that Jesus purchased for you on the cross of Calvary for your salvation, going from hell to heaven because of our sin right there in your heart. You mean it. You understand it. Would you pray to Him something like this? “Dear Lord, I believe He died for me on the cross. By faith, I receive that gift. Would you come in my heart? Would you be my personal Savior? I want to accept to receive that gift by faith right now. Thank you, Jesus.” If you prayed that and you meant that…

And pleasure can be like that if it takes over. It will not give you what you want. But if you give it all to the Lord, even tough times become pleasurable. Wow, that is what God will give you. Glad you are in church on a Sunday morning, thrilled to see every single person here today in God’s house. Praise the Lord for that. And good to see you. We will be going out in some sunshiny, 80-degree weather here in just a minute. God bless you. Thank you for being in church on Sunday morning. Thank you. Thank you, veterans. Thank you, veterans. All of our veterans. God bless you. Thank you so very much.

Original File: 2025-11-10 - Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂The choke-holds of pleasure＂ - Sunday AM 11⧸9⧸2025