Lazarus

Sovereignty, Faith, and the Call to Repentance

We're going to be in John chapter 11. John chapter 11. You know, I'll tell you what I saw. I saw trophies. I saw trophies that says, first place, Jesus Christ, sitting up here. Four guys, I know their testimonies.

And ain't none of you in this joint got a story that can't be matched by some one of these dudes. You know, Bill used to be an old blues player down on Beale Street, drinking whiskey, smoking weed, and being a godless womanizing heathen.

And if you look at his face when he sings, something changed in him. Matt used to be in a satanic cult, you know. And he's up here singing praises to Jesus. Ricky, man, he got two brain cells left. And both of them are praising God.

You know what I'm saying? Man. And then, you've got to understand, little baby Christian, I've watched that boy grow up. We've been praying for that boy for a long time. It appears, maybe, that God's finally answering a heartfelt prayer that about 20 of His brothers in Christ have been praying every week.

Man, God can still do miracles, can't He? Mmm. We're going to talk a little bit about that today in John 11. But what I want you to take away from this is sovereignty. Now, last night, Brother Parker got in the ring, and he was fighting 6 '4", Tennessee Highway Patrolman, you know, ninja army dude, whatever.

And when I saw the picture of the cat, I was like, Mmm, he looked a little flabby. I said, man, he looked like Elmer's glue. He needs to get out in the sun a little bit, you know? And I sat there, and we've coached Parker, and I've seen the sweat, the blood, the pain.

I've seen him work, and I knew, I just knew Parker was going to trash this guy. I just knew it in my head. But I'm going to be honest with you. While we're out at that deer camp, Brother Artie was sending, what do you call it, the face videos, whatever it's called, the video, the live thing.

Yeah, FaceTime. And I'll be honest, when Parker's walking into the ring, I knew he was going to win. But I'm going to be honest with you. And coaches, Evan, at the same time, there's just a little bit of nervousness, you know?

I mean, because Parker could, you know, be Parker, right? He could trip, he could fall, guy could get a lucky shot. And I knew, but I didn't know. I want to tell you something today. I promise you, I can look you in the eyeball and tell you this.

In my heart right now, there is not a single doubt that if I drop dead, I'm going home. And it has nothing to do with who I am. It has nothing to do with idiot preachers and stupid churches and idiotic religions that have never won one soul to Jesus Christ.

You see, I know that I know, not because I get a paycheck or because I've been doing this 30 years. I have seen this for the last 30 years. I have seen people healed of cancer. I have seen drug addicts and drunks come to know Jesus Christ.

I have seen marriages restored. I have seen God move in the lives and the hearts of people. And you know why? Because there is no doubt when God is involved, he is in sovereign. He is absolutely immutable.

And whatever he said will happen is going to happen. The question is, are you going to be on the boat? Question is, are you going to be more in love with your religious attitude or your own self and your narcissistic self-interest than you are in submitting something more powerful than you?

I always love, I have never met a militant atheist yet who has not had major daddy issues. Never met one yet. I've never met one yet that actually demonstrated the power of humility. And I know from which I speak because I was an arrogant, self-righteous pig back in the day.

Anything that was authority, I wanted nothing to do with. If you want to know what's best for your life, follow me around and I'll teach you. That's kind of how I rolled. Man, but God's in the business of humbling before he's in the business of saving.

And you'll never, ever understand the forgiveness of God without the repentance to God. Let's look with me, if you will, in John chapter 11. Now, I want to just point this out. And I wrote in your notes a subsequent Bible study for you this week.

But I want to point out in 11, chapter 11, verse 1, I want you to note the wording of that first verse. It says, now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany. Now, what does that mean? Now, we could sit here and do the little stupid Baptist Bible story and talk about Whittle-Wadsworth, you know, the little cartoons, curly hair, blonde hair, blue eyes.

Ain't a white man anywhere in the Bible, but you know. And he just sits there and he comes out a little stone and he's all shiny and little beams coming out of your head. But God's Word is written specifically for a specific thing.

These are the exact same words, the exact same Greek context that hermeneutically is used in Luke chapter 16. Now, you say to me, well, is that a big deal? Because in Luke chapter 16, it says this. There was a certain man named Lazarus, a different Lazarus, who was in hell.

And it doesn't mean that metaphorically. It doesn't mean that as a parable. This is not a parable. What it means is we, as God's people, are emboldened to see the depths of hell and that which awaits people who reject the exclusivity of Jesus Christ.

Luke 16 says this man is in torment. He is in absolute anguish. And there ain't no parole. There ain't no weekends. There ain't no heater in the van coming back home, man. You're in it every day for all eternity.

Guys, I want you, I did a little hermeneutical lesson for you. Read it later, maybe when you at home and you might get some Word of God other than just here. Look at verse four. It says this. But when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he said this.

This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God so that the Son of Man may be glorified through it. Now watch this. Now Jesus loved Martha, Mary, I'm sorry, loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer. Just a couple of things there. Number one, I love the individualism of God's love. You see, God loves us, but He loves me. You see, that relationship I have with God is not based on some silly church.

It is a personal relationship with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that I have with God every day. See, I don't come here and act like this on Sunday morning. I'm like this every day. You know why? Because I believe that I believe that I believe that I believe that I know and every day is a reaffirmation of that faith and belief and that's how you're sanctified and you get stronger.

The relationship and salvation that I have was bought to me by Jesus Christ on an individual level. God loves me, God found me, God saved me. Now you might say, isn't that self-centric? Well, when it comes to God's grace and God's love, let's praise His name for being self-centric to the individual.

To the individual who has been rejected, to the individual whose mind has been screwed up by religion and philosophy and humanism. To that individual who keeps going inside their selves to try to find the peace that always escapes them.

Thank God that He individually reached down and picked you out of the mire as an individual no matter how bad you were and He saved you for His glory. Guys, you understand what it means to be saved? I ain't talking about walking down an aisle and asking Jesus Christ in your heart, Lord and Savior.

I ain't talking about that Southern Baptist bull crap. I'm talking about where your life is radically changed because you have truly, individually, personally been touched by the Holy Spirit of God. But now notice this, Jesus has told Lazarus, a guy He loves, a guy He loves is sick.

So what's the Bible say He does? All right, well, I need to go dry cleaners and got to put gas in the camel. And I'm going to hang out for a couple of days. You know what sovereignty is? Sovereignty means over time.

Now, I have always preached that God is outside of time, but Kerry Stanley and I came up with maybe a different way to look at this. I was writing on my whiteboard, I was explaining, I think it was Katrina Cook, but I was explaining to somebody some theology and doctrine.

And as that pen moved across that whiteboard, that pen was dispensing, dispensing, I haven't told the pastors about this, dispensing ink. I don't think God is outside of time anymore. I think time is inside of God.

Now, I don't want to get too philosophical about this. I'm just doing this for the pastors and the MIT students. They still know I'm the superior pastor. But the idea is that time is irrelevant to God.

When Jesus said, I'm going to stay two more days, it wasn't a rush. Have you ever seen a family try to get ready for church on a Sunday morning, right? Justin tells me that he gets up, he gets Luke and Owen dressed, he gets them fed, he gets them ready to go, he reads their Bible, then he goes in and wakes up Candace, you know?

Makes her a cup of coffee and everything. Then they have to rush. Guys, with God, there ain't no rushing. You see, God's Word is sovereign enough. Now look at this, read with me in verse 7. Jesus says, well, we're going to go there, but not yet.

Verse 7 says, and after this, the disciples said to him, let us go to, or Jesus said, let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews are just seeking to stone you and you're going there again?

If you've been here the last two weeks, you know what we're talking about. Jesus, in that awesome declaration in John chapter 8, where he uses those Greek words, ego and me, with the same words when God was talking to Moses and Moses goes, who are you, God?

And God said, I am, I am Yahweh. I am that I am. Jesus is sitting there, 4 ,000 years later after that, all the Jews are around him, and Jesus makes this statement. When Abraham saw my glory, he was glad.

And they sit there and go, crackhead, you ain't even 50 years old yet. Crackhead's in the Greek, it's not in the English. You're not even 50 year old yet. How did you see Abraham? And Jesus said, before Abraham was, I am.

Then the very next time, they said, take up stones to kill Jesus. Jesus goes, not yet, boys. And he's walking, and the Jews are wanting to kill him. People are chasing him. And he's walking out of the temple, and there's a blind man sitting right there.

And what's Jesus do? He ain't worried about the power of men. He's not worried about vain threats. He stops, once again, to an individual, and he heals him, and the man can see. We see in John chapter 10, Jesus is trying to explain to the disciples, I am the good shepherd.

Now we get to John chapter 11, and Jesus is sitting there, and in the midst of this, after he's walked out of the city, he wants to go back to that region, and the disciples are freaking out, going, no, safety squirrel says, don't go there.

Jesus said, I ain't studying no squirrel. I ain't worried about them Jews. I ain't worried about any of that. You see, because I am. Verse 14, as they were going there, as they're walking, the disciples are like, why are we going out of our busy church schedule, going all the way to Bethany?

There's a map on the front of your notes. It's right near Jerusalem, about two miles east. Why are we going back to Jerusalem? And why are we going to Bethany? They're sick. He's sick. He'll get over it.

He'll take some Tamiflu. He's good to go. Jesus said, boys, y 'all aren't understanding. Verse 14, then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus has died, and for your sake, I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe.

Let us go to him. So Thomas the twin said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. First of all, Jesus just said, you know, smile, Jesus loves you, little hippie, soft, emasculated man that so many churches put out there.

He just said Jesus is dead, or Jesus just said he's dead, and they said he's dead. Jesus goes, yeah, man, I'm so glad that dude's dead. He just said, I love Lazarus, but I'm glad he's dead. And so the disciples are like, what?

But I want you to notice one disciple in particular. He's called Thomas. In the Greek, he's also known as Didymus. The word Didymus means twin. Now, we're not sure what kind of twin. This is the same doubting Thomas, you know, put my hand to my side, you know, all that stuff.

For you non-church people, just hang with me. We don't know why he was called the twin. Some think he had a twin brother, but others believe that he had a lot of the same resemblance as Jesus himself.

So he was in a higher level, you know, because they didn't have bolos back then that had, you know, DNA and fingerprints. Like, I think that's that Jesus guy. He kind of looks like him. Let's kill him.

We're not really sure why he called the twin, but he is the perfect example of the church today. Oh, I see this so many times. Let me ask you a question. What ministry are you involved in? Pastor Josiah just got up here and so perfectly said it.

You are here today not to sing songs. You're not here to learn. You know what you're here to do? You're here to get sharpened up. The boys, where are them heathens? Are y 'all spread out all over the place?

Y 'all's hair still looks good, boys. I'm proud of you. We cut down a tree with a chainsaw and then they had to section and limb it out with axes. And, you know, Liam Romo, God bless his little heart, had this log sitting down there and he had a pretty sharp axe when he started.

I think he hit the dirt about as many times as he hit the log. And when we pulled the axe head up, it was bent and the edge would look like this. And so I got out a sharpening puck and I told the boys, hey, let me teach you a secret.

If every 25, 30 strokes with an axe or a knife or a hatchet, if you'll just take that honing stone, just hit it a couple of times on both sides, you'll actually be more efficient by taking the time to sharpening your saw.

Here we see Jesus sitting there. Thomas is sitting there and he's into a place where in his mind, there ain't no need to get sharpened because it's all over. Church members, you're here to serve each other.

You're here this morning to get honed a little bit. You're here to get sharpened up, not to go save the world for the name of Jesus, but to love each other sitting right here. You know, how are you doing?

Tricia, you doing good? You doing good? You know Tricia? Oh, that's right, you work with her. Yeah, Tricia, how did you come to know the pleasantry of my theological teaching? You've only been here a couple of three months.

So the Sandwich Maker Club went on a women's retreat and you, and then you're, huh, huh. Isn't it amazing that you don't have to have the theological depth of a scholar to simply share the love and the invitation of Jesus Christ?

And you know what? Your act of kindness and grace to a lost and disenfranchised person is worth 2 ,000 sermons. Let me tell you, me preaching up here is not ministry. I know a lot of pastors think it is.

This is not ministry. Singing in the stupid choir is not ministry. You minister by sacrificing something of yourself and then planning and giving and discipling to somebody else. Thomas didn't get all that.

Jesus said, we're going back. Here's what Thomas did. Well, let's go with him and die. Oh man, life's so hard. Oh, you ever know Christians like that? You know, you just, every time you come up and talk to them, it's a sad story, you know?

Oh man, you know, so-and-so isn't happy. My dog died, my boss fired me, you know? My cat's sleeping with my dog. It's some sort of country story or country song about how life is always horrible. Christian, how can you be more victorious and an overcomer in the world?

It isn't that necessarily God needs to give you more. You need to start recognizing and thanking God for what you already got. And when you start doing that, you show a little maturity in a sanctification process, maybe you will have the basis for God to bless you more.

And it ain't about some idiot preacher going sow and seed, give money to the church. I ain't talking about that garbage. I don't care about your money. What I'm talking about is faith. You want to grow in your faith, exercise your faith.

That's how it goes. Now, Thomas is sitting here and he's doubting a little bit, but you got to give the boy credit. He thought he was going to die following Jesus. And he may have been whining about it, but he went.

He went, good Lord, talking about whining. Y 'all should have been with them boys talking about how cold it was. Anyways, go to verse 21. I'm almost done, kids. Verse 21. So Jesus goes on, sorry, he gets there.

Martha comes running up to him. Now watch what she says in verse 21. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give to you, praise Him.

Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Lord, Lord, I know that. I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus says, baby, I am the resurrection and the life. He though, if he dies and believes in me, even though he's dead, he will live again.

Now watch this. And then he asked, do you believe this? Verse 27. She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who is coming into this world. Just as I, you can hear it, man.

You can hear it. Skip to verse 32. Now, when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had also come with her weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.

And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Verse 35, Jesus wept. Jesus is sovereign over time. He's sovereign over man's power. But let me tell some of y 'all in here today, he's also sovereign over your discouragement.

He's also sovereign over the problems that you're facing. Whether it is you've got a nagging wife or a lazy husband, rebellious kids, job issues, car issues, or whatever issues you got, God is sovereign over all of them.

I know in your mind, a starter for a 94 Nissan Sentra might be the biggest crisis you got in your world right now. But I promise you, God is not worried about your Nissan Sentra starter. If he wants that car to run, it gonna run, no matter what else happens in this world.

Now, this is not something simple. I'm not equating these two chicks brothers dying with a Nissan Sentra starter. That's a little bit rougher. But I want you to understand that the Nissan Sentra starter ain't about to get raised from the dead, but the dead brother is.

Okay, watch this. Christians, I want you to lighten up on yourself just a little bit. If you have heard a preacher tell you, or another Christian tell you this, you're going through a hard time. And some idiot Christian or preacher comes up to you and says, you just need more faith.

And they don't say faith, they say faith. I want you to just sit there, say thank you very much and walk away. Guys, discouragement in God's children does not delete the fact that they're still God's children.

If you're struggling with something in here, I got good news for you. There are 200 people in this room that are also struggling. And it ain't just misery that loves company, it's also rejoicing at trials that love company.

The Word of God tells us that if any of you are sick or hurting, go and tell it to the church. Confess your faults one to another that you may be healed. Y 'all want to look for healing? It ain't in a sermon or a fatball preacher.

It ain't in fancy music. I promise you where it's going to be found is through the gift of the Holy Spirit tabernacling in the hearts and minds of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. There is nothing more encouraging than a brother coming up to me, putting his arm around me and going, hey man, I know this stinks.

You got it. We can do this. We can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Go FCA. Alright, so watch this. Confusion is not a lack of commitment. Discouragement does not have to be doubt. By the way, if having discouragement means you have no faith, then Jesus had no faith in the Garden of Gethsemane.

He knew that cross was coming. What does it say? He was praying, man. He was... Has anything ever bad happened to you? Some of you guys wishing for a negative test. You know, some of you other peoples in here got some stress going and you're like, oh dear Jesus, please.

Think about taking on the sin of the entire world and suffering crucifixion. Jesus Christ sweating the drops of blood praying. Your discouragement is not necessarily a lack of faith. Remember that. Quit beating yourself up.

Pull your shoulders back. Stick your chin out. Grab a brother and sister of Christ. Come down here and pray. And I promise you this, things will start to look up and change. Now, I want you to know this.

I am, don't miss that. This and that verse, don't miss that. I am the resurrection. Verse 25, I am. Let me say it one more time. I am the resurrection life. Understand this. Jesus didn't have the needs or the powers or the skills for resurrection.

He was the resurrection. Some people think, well, you know, Jesus had a lot of power. Jesus is the power. Jesus had a direct line to God. He didn't have a direct line to God. He was God. And when He says, I am the resurrection life, He ain't talking about the Baptist church, Mormon church, Hindu church, Pentecostal, or anything else.

The exclusivity of the name of Jesus Christ is how you can be set free. And if you don't know that or you never experienced it, it's because you've been looking in churches, you've been looking in religion or your own vain philosophies instead of humbling yourself and seeing in the word of God, the truth of Jesus Christ.

Last thing. Lazarus died. It was very sad. Everybody was sad. Except, I want you to notice this. Verse 36, so the Jews said, Jesus is weeping. So the Jews said, see how He loved him? But some of them said, could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?

Then Jesus deeply moved again, came to the tomb, and it was a cave and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha the sister of the dead man said to Him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor.

I love the King James Version. It actually says this, Lord, he stinketh. An odor for he's been dead four days. Verse 40, Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?

So then they took away the stone and Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, now I want you to watch the camera check up in Him. Father, I thank you that you have heard me. Verse 42, but I know you always hear me.

But I say this on the account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me. In other words, God, I've got the special education folks here. Everybody around me rides a short bus.

God, I am so thankful you hear me. And I know that you know that I know that you know that you know that I know that you always hear me. But I'm just saying this so everyone else around here will know that you and I are one.

He went through all that. Isn't it awesome, the disciples? Now these guys had done miracles. These guys had followed Jesus all these many months and years, but they still needed education, Christians.

Jesus sit there and said this. When He had said these things, verse 43, He cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth.

And Jesus said to him, unbind him and let it go. Now I want you to understand two things about this. Number one, back then there was a Jewish tradition. That's not the right word I'm looking for. Like a superstition.

A superstition. In the Jewish life there was a superstition that if somebody died, if you waited three days, they might come back to life. But on the fourth day, it's all over. So there was this palpable expectation up until the third day.

Are y 'all catching this? Okay? He might rise again. But on the fourth day, nah, he dead. He dead, Jim. They ain't no bringing him back. Right? Jesus said, I'm going to wait two more days so that everybody knows this man is dead.

Then Jesus walked into that cemetery. That hole in the rock. Man bound by linen. Bound up. Some of y 'all are bound up in here. Every time I go camping, I get bound up. But I'm talking about another bound up.

Some of y 'all got bound up in your sins. Some of you men in here, your pornography. Your WWWs. Yeah. Some of you are bound up with drugs or alcoholism. Some of y 'all are bound up with your insecurities and fears.

Some of you Christians are bound up with your pride and self-righteousness. See, there's a lot of binding going on in here. Jesus walked in that cemetery and He said, Lazarus. And He says He used a loud voice.

That wasn't for Lazarus to hear. That was for everyone else to hear. Right? Lazarus, come forth. And He had to say, Lazarus. Because if Jesus, the Son of God, the resurrection, the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end, He that has life over death, if He had said, come forth, every grave in that cemetery would have opened up and every soul would have walked out.

Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth. And the next thing, Lazarus comes out. And Jesus says this to the church. Church, listen to me. I ain't talking about you ain't got tattoos, you don't smoke and drink, therefore you're good to go.

I'm talking about the real Christians. Okay? See, when Jesus saves someone, I've never led anybody to Jesus. That's the most idiotic thing I ever heard. I led three people. You ain't led Jack, dude. If you led them, they ain't saved.

Okay? But Jesus Christ, when He saves someone, then it becomes our job, church, to unwrap the things that have been binding them up. God gives us the power. They give us the permission and their humility and their asking, but church, your hands will get dirty and let me tell you this, it will stink us.

You don't believe me? Go on a camping trip with 14 teenage boys and there ain't no running water. It be a stinking up in there. But they ain't the only ones. Guys, where are you this morning? Listen, where are you?

After this, and you can keep reading verses 45 through the rest of the chapter, I'm just gonna give you a synopsis. After this, people are going buck wild. This isn't a Bible story and what's harmonetically beautiful about this is the reaction and the narration of what's going on in the lives of other people in response to what Jesus Christ did.

In other words, if this was just some literary story, Jesus raised this dude from the dead, oh wow, but that's not what happens. And it is the diversity of responses that gives validity logically to the story.

Here's what I mean. Some of the people it says believed. Guys, I know everybody's about to have to go potty. Just hang on one second. Listen, you just heard the Word of God. Not because of me. I'm just one idiot showing other idiots where to find grace, okay?

But you heard the Word of God. And if any time when you hear the Word of God, there's something in your heart saying, oh crap, that's me. Or that's what I need. That is the Holy Spirit of God, not some idiot pastor.

That's the Holy Spirit of God going, hey, I'm talking to you. And when you hear that, you have a couple of choices. Number one, you can be like that first verse. Some people believed in Him, in Jesus.

But then it says this. Others, with their self-righteous, suburban little preppy skepticism, I've got a great education, so I'm gonna show off how smart I am by defying all truth and absolutes, and I'm gonna build my own, and your life stinks, but it's okay.

I gotta continue in this arrogance so I can still understand how important I am. Now some of you didn't get that, but I promise you the people who we're talking to understood exactly what I just said.

Sitting there and they said, hey, come here guys, we gotta have a meeting. We can't have this. And look at what he says. The high priests, the super pastors. We can't have this. Why? Because Rome will come in and take our positions away.

Now what's really cool historically in hermeneutics is this guy Caiaphas, you can go to extra apocryphal writings in history and find out there was a guy named Caiaphas who had been appointed by the Roman emperor to be the chief priest there.

But I don't wanna freak you out with facts. I'll let you keep living your skepticism and denial. But anyways, they said, we got to kill this man. But also I want you to know this. If you go to John chapter 12, you know they were planning to kill Jesus, but you know who else they wanted to kill?

Lazarus. We got to make that dude go away. It was like the Sopranos, man. This guy knows too much. He was dead, he's alive. He's walking around giving Jesus validity that Jesus Christ has power over life and death.

We got to go. Now I wanted to thank you for how arrogant that's gotta be. If Pastor Josiah dropped dead right now, oh, I would get him back so much before I pray for his resurrection. I would have everybody come tell a dad joke and nobody laugh and go, hi, you're not funny.

But let's say Pastor Josiah dropped dead right here. Mickey Hall gets up and goes, I got this one. In the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. Josiah popped back up. Do you know how arrogant it would be for someone in this room to go, yeah, I have the power to go back and kill him?

Are you on crack? A man just walked up to a grave and said, rise again, and your first response was try to kill him and the guy he resurrected? Personally, I'm going, I ain't messing with that dude, okay?

I ain't messing with him. But here's what you don't understand. Arrogance will take you deeper into sin than you wanted to go, keep you longer to stay, and destroy people around you at a rate exponentially greater than anything you've experienced yourself.

You're in rebellion towards God, your children will be in rebellion towards you, and the psychological world keeps throwing drugs and philosophy at them, and then nothing changes where men and women are trying to cut stuff off because they're not happy.

With everything in the world given to them, they're still not happy, and we have entered an age where psychology, where philosophy, the medical community says, cut your breast off, ladies. The reason you're not happy is because you're really a man.

And everybody's like, well, that makes sense. Are you that stupid? Have you lost your mind? And yes, because our arrogance and rejecting God and the truth of his world will bring us to a place where we have to accept foolishness.

The word of God says that he became wise in their own minds and then became fools. Where are you today? Where are you today? I don't care about your stupid church membership or when you pray to ask Jesus in your heart or some other crap that's not found written in the Bible.

I'm asking you this. If you died right now, would you be raised again to life by the power of Jesus Christ? Or would you go to hell forever? Well, pastor, I feel there is no hell. I'm not talking to you.

You're one of them special need idiots that Pastor Josiah will talk to. I'm talking about the people who actually heard the word of God and felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit today. Are you a Christian?

Are you a Christian and bound up? Are you a Christian and tied down? You need to pray and you need to do it publicly. Sitting here in that awkward uncomfortability, that's why I hate that whole thing, awkwardness.

Whoever came up with that phrase, you're an idiot. Be awkward. Embrace because you're relying on your feelings and your feelings are lying to you. The word of God says, if you confess me before men, I will confess you before the Father.

Public understanding and declaration of Jesus Christ as my Lord is a part of that salvation process. Are you scared? Be scared. If you ain't scared, then it don't mean nothing to you. Right? Listen, if you're not a home, sure you're saved.

Come up here and talk. If you are a Christian, you're bound up in sin, find you another Christian and you can't swing a dead cat in here without finding one. I don't care that you know them or not. If they're a believer, hey man, I need a believer to come pray with me.

They will snatch you up quick. They look like Mako sharks on a dead piece of tuna. Okay? Come up here and pray. Come up right here and pray. If you need to join a church and look, I'm not interested in a mega church.

I got too many of you people already. Okay? It's stressing me out. It's cutting into my John Wayne movie time. Okay? I don't care about all that. I ain't looking for a new jet. I obviously ain't looking for $1 ,200 suits.

I ain't interested in any of that garbage. Okay? I don't want to be one of them prosperity idiots. All right? I've turned down three raises. I don't need the money anymore. I'm good. I got guns. Artie gave me a place to hunt.

I'm good to go. Okay? Here's what I want. And it's going to sound selfish. I hope you don't go to hell, but I want to stand before my God and Him go, good job, boy. You did what I sent you to do. That's my motivation.