This sermon by Joshua Daniel emphasizes the importance of living a life free from selfishness and worldly desires, focusing on the warning in 2 Timothy 3 about the perils of the last days. It addresses the dangers of pride, disobedience, and unthankfulness, urging listeners to embrace humility, obedience, and gratitude in their lives as followers of Christ.

Welcome to the Lord's Challenge with Joshua Daniel. The Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International is a ministry reaching people from all walks of life since 1935. After a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ at the age of 16, Joshua Daniel has been declaring the marvellous deliverance from sin, which is freely given to all those who turn to the loving Saviour. Wherever this message has gone out, broken relationships have been restored, sickness healed, ill-gotten money returned, and thieves turned into givers. We now invite you to watch and receive the invaluable blessing that God has for you. You know, as a great contrast to what we were, have been studying during these days, a church free from selfishness, we have this very cryptic warning, clear warning in scripture, 2nd Timothy 3rd chapter, 2nd Timothy 3rd chapter. This now also, that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, bolsters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Now, all these are surrounding us today. A covetous spirit can't see your neighbour prosper. What's that? That's the devil's way. That's not Christ's way. No, covetous bolsters. You know, the tendency to display something which we reckon as a glorious trait of ours, or some possession of ours. You see, what is your greatest status? What is it? What manner of love is this, that we should be called the sons of God? Is there any status greater than that? No, but today we find the spirit of compromise. It is so strong that preachers are succumbing to it. You know, we'd better not offend. All right, then what do you preach? The gospel? Jesus is a rock of offense, and when you declare Jesus, you are in effect saying all other gods are frauds. Now, history has proved that, the resurrection has proved that, and why should I be ashamed of Jesus? Am I to boast of some great talent of mine? As I have told you already, I was never brilliant or talented, as some of you are, but what little I have, I have put into those nail-pierced hands. My dear friends, what shall I boast of? Men shall be boasters. What shall I boast of? God forbid that I should glory in anything but the cross. Yes, we'll boast of the cross. Don't you boast about your jobs or your promotions. Praise God if you have a secure job in these tough days. All right, the next thing is proud. Proud. Well, Jesus lists pride and foolishness in the list of the sins of the heart. Pride. Today, one can be proud for various reasons. One reason is high education. People are proud. You know, there used to be three little girls who would be in most of our retreats in England, but I don't see them there anymore. Why? Because they have seats in Cambridge or something, and the education from 1620 to 1837 was under the church here in the United States for 200 years. And how many were the illiterate? 0.4 percent. 0.04 percent. You know, today, what so many people can't even read. Illiterate. All right, a godless system has taken over with the intention of eliminating God from education. So, what kind of people do you produce then? You produce people who are a stereotype of Satan. Satan fell by pride. And you and I, if we allow pride and stubbornness, you know, one of the qualities that go with pride is, oh, you're obstinate. What you have said is final. You think so highly of yourself, you will not receive the compellment counsel of wiser people. Pride. You know, folks, it's so devastating. Now, the more I grow in the Lord, what am I learning? Come on, let me get humbler. Let me get humbler. I am nothing. Let me get humbler. Where's the problem? I have every cause to be humble about. If you search your heart, you will say the same. You will say, I have every cause. My inward nature is so ugly. I have every cause to be humble. But you see, it eludes people, that kind of brokenness. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. What? Meekness? Involving or begetting might or all mightiness? Yes, meekness does. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Now, my dear friends, the other factors are before us in your workplace. I don't know if you meet with blasphemers. You know, it's amazing. You see, when we talk about freedom, is it only the freedom as I define it? Today, you know, America has played a great role in the battle for independence of many nations. As a matter of fact, America was very excited about the French Revolution, 1789. But when they saw the rivers of blood coming out of the revolution, they said, no, we cannot go with this kind of stuff. You know, you see, friends, but today, look at the way America is trying to ram down the throats of other nations, except you toe the line in this homosexual business. You will not receive a penny from us. What is that? That's a form of blackmail. That's a form of bullying people. Are not people more righteous to demand? Is that the spreading of freedom? No, it's the spreading of barbarity. How dreadful. That means decimate your nation. Teach the elementary children that this is the way to go. Let there be an end to your family. No possibility of a grandchild being born. You know, folks, I do not know how Einstein is classified in secular circles. But generally, these great scientists are classified as nonbelievers, you see. But a Bible turned up for auction, which Einstein and his wife had presented to somebody, in which was Einstein's writing. Here is an inexhaustible treasure of wisdom, and so on. And he signed it. Oh, I was delighted to see that because of the reputation that great scientists receive as those that don't care. Charles Darwin said, I was a young man at that time. But the origin of the species and some of Charles Darwin's writings undermined the faith of so many. Whatever his regrets were in old age, it had a devastating effect upon places like Britain and so on. You see, folks, blasphemous. And I can never forget a man coming down the escalator in O'Hare Airport, Chicago, while I was waiting for my baggage. He came down swearing, blaspheming. And I looked at him this way. I said nothing. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You see, my dear friends, when you are afraid to even dissent, express your dissent. Hey, fellow, you have no right to be blaspheming my savior. You see, people don't seem to have that guts. The Lord Jesus Christ is not that important to them. They can stomach any amount of blasphemy around them. You see, now we see this all around us. Unthanked, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. In the home, a parent should have the courage to draw the line. It was not regarded as being a decent thing to do in any refined society. To take a girl, if you have a boy, into his bedroom. Well, the common place of meeting was the parlor, was the drawing room. But today, anything goes. What a tragedy. You know, thou shalt honor your parents is a command. And disobedience, you know, one of the things that my mother taught me was implicit obedience. She would say, hey, you need to obey implicitly, not at your own time. My dear people, how much one loses in life by delayed obedience, deferred obedience. You see, after the loss of so many years, coming to yourself and saying, hey, had I only listened, had I only obeyed. Today, I find that parents are remiss. And I say to people, now, when you find that your parents are choosing that which is contrary to the word of God, be sure to tell your very humbly to tell them. You see, when a parent has suddenly become berserk or something, and begins to say all manner of things, you know, a girl, a grown up boy, she'd say, this is contrary to the word of God, mom. This is contrary to the word of God, dad. Gently, lovingly, you will save your father, you will save your family from a great deal of trouble. I find with all their good intentions, many parents today are just a worldly set of people. All that they want in their children is worldly advancement. That's all they want. Bring in the money. What rubbish. Is that what you teach your child? Bring in the money. Make sure you come out on top. Hardworkingness, of course, is a great blessing. I believe in hard work. But what is the motivation behind the hard work? If the motivation is wrong, then everything is wrong. Motivation. You know, my dear friends, therefore, I say, the disciple's heart. What does Jesus require of the disciple? Follow me. Take up your cross daily and follow me. Now, we are blessed with the word of God that can free us from the curses of our day. It's a glorious liberty and freedom which you and I should not only enjoy, but pass it on to many others. Let's pray. Holy Father, we want to be people with clear motives. Love, love, love, love. Love as the overwhelming motive, even as the love of Jesus took him to the cross. Let us be truly motivated with love, Lord Jesus. Not selfishness, not greed, not pride, nor covetousness. We just want to walk in your footsteps. So help us, Lord Jesus. In Jesus' name. Amen. to become God's ally in changing his or her corner of the world. Please write, and if you have a prayer request or concern you would like to share, please do let us know. You can email us at post at lefi.org or visit our website at lefi.org. Our mailing address is lefi PO Box 1072 Armidale WA 6992. Until we meet again next week, may God bless you.