Salvation and It's Deadly Deceptions — Al Whittinghill

A Train Stop and the Danger of Wrong Information

Well, I want to tell you a true story to begin, about a young woman and her baby that were traveling by train across Canada one cold winter night across the Canadian prairies. It was bitter cold and snowing, and it was an area where there's very little light, especially between stops, there's almost none, and it was driving snow, and very anxious to arrive at her stop, this person, this woman was new on the train line, so she asked the conductor several times about her stop, she was concerned, and he assured her that he had traveled this line, this trip for many years, and wouldn't let her miss that stop, no matter what.

She should wait for him. You wait here, I will come, and I will tell you when to get off. Well, so outside the wind was roaring against the window, and the snow was hitting and bursting, and it was just pitch black, and the train rolled on into the prairies.

Well, a nice-looking, helpful salesman across the aisle, after he heard this conversation with the conductor, said, Lady, I've also traveled this line for years, and I know your stop very well, so rest easy, and if the conductor forgets to tell you, I'll tell you where your stop is.

You don't have to worry. Well, soon the train stopped, and there was a commotion as some people were getting up, and it was too dark to see, and the salesman said, Don't worry, this stop is not yours, yours is the next one, don't worry.

Well, off into the night, the train went again, and as the train slowed down, the salesman said, Well, this is it. He helped the woman with her bags. He said, That conductor must have forgotten to help you, and tell you, so he helped the woman with her bags, and while she was bundling up her child, he helped her down the stairs very courteously into the cold air, and nothing could be seen, for it was so dark, but the woman assured him that someone was going to meet her there, and so she thanked him, and he said goodbye, and so she watched the train chug off into the distance.

Well, not long after that, the conductor came through the coach, and alarmed, he said, Where's that woman that was here, and her baby? Oh, she got off a while ago. You forgot her stop. You must have been busy.

You fool, that wasn't her stop, it was a temporary signal between stops, and we just stopped to take on a little supply. Well, quickly, they backed up the train, and when they got back to the place where they had let the girl out, they had people get off the train, and they searched, and they found the woman and the child frozen to death.

You see, she'd gotten off in the wilderness. There was nothing there except snow, and she was a victim of wrong information. See, wrong information can kill you. It's life or death. You know, you come to a gospel meeting, and sometimes people don't come to life in a gospel meeting.

If it's not really a gospel meeting, a lot of people die there, too. Wrong information can kill you, and it's deadly serious, and even worse than killing you, it might deceive you, and in no matter is true information more important than when it comes to the things of my eternal destiny, and truly knowing God.

Scripture as the Final Authority

Now, in our day, there seem to be a thousand voices and a million vices competing for our attention, for our ear, and they all claim to be the truth. I mean, everybody has their own brand to bring us to our final destination, to give meaning to us, and so we tend to be lured away from that one infallible source, the Word of God.

This is the it. This is what you've got to go by. And the only answer for the devil's lie is God's truth. It's not man's reasonings. Scripture must be the final authority, and a person's testimony must be consistent with the Bible or their dead men, and so in our day, when truth and error often travel the same roads, and we don't know the difference, we need to be locked in what the Bible really says.

Otherwise, you'll find yourself ending up a victim of false information. You see, the broad and wide way that promises to get you to the right destination ends in destruction. Now, it's a characteristic of the end times that many false prophets would go out into the world, and that they were deceived, and they would be deceived.

The Bible says that very clearly, and I want to run some references. 1 Timothy, chapter 4. If you don't have time, then you jot these down. If you don't have time to get to them, by the time I do it, read them, jot them down and look at them later, because I want this to rivet itself in your conscience.

1 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 1 and 2. Now, the Holy Spirit speaks specifically, expressly, that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving or seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.

See, doctrines of devils are not just mistakes, they're well-thought-out systems. And it says that these who give heed will speak lies in hypocrisy. What they say won't be the same as who they are. They will have their conscience seared with a hot iron.

Listen to Jesus' words in Matthew 24. Again, in that Olivet Discourse, talking about the last days in which I happen to believe we live, Matthew 24, verse 24. There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Behold, I've told you before. Jesus is warning that there will be very convincing people to come and deceive many, because just because something is supernatural does not mean it's of God if it doesn't match the Bible.

And so, truth and error can manage to walk the same streets. Listen to 2 Timothy, chapter 3. 2 Timothy, chapter 3. And we see again the word about deception and false prophets. 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 13.

But evil men and seducers shall get, or proceed, or wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. The answer? But you continue in the things that you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them.

The answer to the devil's lie is God's truth. Romans also warns us, chapter 16, about certain individuals that would deceive many. Listen to Romans 16, verse 17 and 18. Now, I beseech you, emphatically in the Greek it says, brothers, mark those which cause divisions and offenses that are contrary to the doctrine that you've learned, and avoid them, shun them.

For they that are such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple. And then the next verse talks about obedience, what our brother mentioned.

Well, all around us it's happening. 2 Thessalonians, it tells us again, chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians, listen to this one. I'm going to wear you out in Scripture tonight, but you just write them down if you can't turn.

2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 9, talking about the Antichrist and the latter age men of sin. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those that are perishing.

And it says why people perish. Because they did not receive the love and the truth. Maybe they were casual about their Bible. They didn't love the truth. And the only alternative to the truth is the devil's lie.

If you don't obey Jesus, you're by default destined to serve the devil. So because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. For this cause God gave them what they wanted and sent them a strong delusion so they could believe the lie.

What's the lie? The old same lie he's always said. You can be a man without God. You can run your own business. Adam, you can eat this tree if you feel like it. God loves you. God knows if you eat this, you'll be on a par with him.

Well, the real faith will grow less and less in evidence. Will the Son of Man find faith when he comes upon the earth? Many people have itching ears. The Bible says there will be a form of godliness like in real power.

There will be people always learning but not experiencing truth. There will be, in James 1 .22, it says that there are become hearer, become doers of the word, not hearers only deceiving your own selves.

You see, a lot of people deceive themselves because they come to a conference like this and they really get into it, but they don't ever let it pervade down to, I'm going to act on it, love it. And so, many things seek to lure us away from the bedrock of God's scripture.

The Counterfeit Church and the Need to Examine Salvation

I want to ask you, have you ever wondered this? How is it possible that the evangelical church in America could appear so popular but yet be so powerless when it comes to the New Testament church? To compare the church of our day to the church in the New Testament is like comparing your best friend to their corpse after they're dead.

They're totally different because the life has gone. The church in our day is like that compared to the first century church. Is it possible that vast numbers of people who sit in our church pews have settled for a challenging counterfeit of biblical truth?

Oh, not on purpose. But they sit in the congregation as tares among wheat and it's hard to tell who's who because you see the church is worldly and the world is churchy and they travel the same roads.

Desperate days. Well, we've got to recover the biblical base for what real salvation is. And tonight, my goal is to make you doubt your salvation. You say, that's horrible. Let me tell you what. If God's word can make you doubt your salvation, you're in trouble.

We're going to look at the word of God clearly and see what the Bible says about what is salvation, what is not salvation, and God's going to unravel some that don't really have real salvation that are in this room.

The Bible says, very scriptural, 2 Corinthians 13 15, it says 13 5, I'm sorry. Examine yourselves whether you are in the faith. Prove your own selves. Look closely at your own life, compare it to the scriptures.

Don't you know that Christ is in you unless you be a reprobate or actually a counterfeit. So there's never been more right talk and never less right living in our day. And the tragedy is that so many that are in that condition don't even see their true state.

Just because they feel right, they think they are right. You know, there's a lot of people looking and identifying groups with the tragedy that's going on in the media. And people are rejecting Christianity.

But they haven't rejected the real Christianity, they've rejected a phony Christianity. And the real Christianity, if it's rejected, hasn't been weighed in the balances and found wanting. It's been weighed in the balances and found too costly and rejected for an alternative that will not save.

This can't last. And God's going to correct it. Like that day, I tell you, brother, you couldn't have given a more perfect word about loving Jesus and about the day that we're going to stand before him.

There's a day of correction coming and I'd rather be corrected now than then. Listen to this other day, I'm going to describe it to you and then we're going to read about it. It's going to be one of the most awesome moments in all of history.

He had talked about a crowd that's going to meet Jesus in the air, be translated and be with him forever. Well, the Bible says there's a day when there's another crowd and God's going to bring them before him.

It's going to be from horizon to horizon. As far as you can see, faces of every creed and color. And as far as you see, there's going to be every profession of person, businessmen and beggars and commoners and kings.

There's going to be every different group, whether it's Baptist, Methodist or Presbyterian. There's going to be every great and small and every size of every tribe, every trade, every territory and every tongue.

People will be in this crowd. And you've seen this kind of crowd. It's just a pressing crowd. As far as you can see are faces and they're all filled with a tremendous expectancy because they're all watching this marvelous, amazing, glorious throne and they're looking at the one sitting on the throne and they're thinking, this is it, at last, at last, the day that we're going to enter heaven and we're going to be reunited with our loved ones who've gone before.

And emotions begin to be stirred and down in the front someone cries out, Lord, we've preached in your name. Praise God. And over on another side in this massive crowd someone says, in your name we've done wonderful works, mighty deeds.

And another one, a little lady says, and Lord, you've taught in our churches and we've eaten and drunk your supper on a regular basis. And another one over here says, praise God, we've cast out demons in your name.

And there's a general commotion going on. This ocean of faces is stirred and expectancy is mounting. Praise the Lord. Glory. And suddenly there's silence, just sheer silence. Not even a whisper because the Son of God is rising to His feet and there is an amazing hush, that supernatural silence that sometimes we experience that is astonishing.

It's very loud, this supernatural silence. And the righteous judge, the infinite wise one, rises to His feet and on His face is amazing compassion and love. But there's something there that doesn't look like it belongs there.

It's a line of anguish. And He opens His mouth and they're like this. And He utters these words. Depart from Me. Practice iniquity. And it's just like that. People begin to fall like you've been running through with sabers and slicing them and shooting them with cannons and artillery.

They begin to fall and they weep and they grind their teeth, the Bible says. There's horror and shock and anguish. Look at Luke, chapter 13, and you'll see this true account. Luke, chapter 13, verse 23.

And it says, Then said one of them, Lord, are there few that be saved? And Jesus replied to them, Strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say to you, will seek to enter in and will not be able.

When once the master of the house has risen up and has shut the door and you begin to stand with Adam and knock, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. He will answer and say, I don't know where you are. Then you'll begin to say, We've eaten and we've drunk in your presence and you have taught in our streets.

And he will say, I tell you, I don't know where you are. Depart from me, all workers of iniquity. And there shall be weeping and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourself thrust out.

The Narrow Gate and the Two Foundations

It's amplified and I think clearer in Matthew 7, the great sermon on the mountain. If you'll turn there, that's our text. Matthew 7, verse 13 and following. I want to read with you, and I pray that this word will get down to some of your hearts, to all of our hearts, but especially those that are standing in that place that no man can endure too long.

Right on the edge of life. Verse 13. Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is this way that leads to destruction. And many there be that go in there at. You see, here's two ways and two gates.

And it's not the crowd going one side, the lost, the unreligious crowd, and then the religious crowd over here. This is in the religious crowd. This is, if you consider those who aren't religious, this is two ways within what we call religion.

And he says, verse 14, straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. Now, we've changed that, or we want to in our day, to say, few there be that miss it.

But Jesus said, few there be that find it. Then he says, beware of false prophets. That's where you see the issues really develop. Wrong information. They come to you in chic clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

You will know them by their fruits, the results of their life. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree brings forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.

A good tree, get this, bring forth evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, you have a right to know them by their fruits.

That's what it's saying. Now, not everyone that says to me shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but, and the sense in the language is, but only, but only he that is doing the will of my Father, which is in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, the day we're talking about, Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied or preached in your name? And in your name, haven't we cast out demons? And in your name, we've done many wonderful works.

And to those many, I will profess to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity. And then he goes to the Word of God, comparing two groups. They look alike. You see, the houses look alike.

They've built a house, but the difference is the foundation, what they're resting on, what they're trusting. One of them might even have shabby gutters, but he's built a rock. Here's this palatial mansion on sand.

And they never know till the crisis comes, till they get hit. And you see, we can cruise right along and look at other people. We think we're fine. He talks about a wise man that builds upon a rock. That's the Word of God.

And a foolish man that builds upon the shifting sands of man's thought. And when he got through teaching, they were astonished. Now, who are these people that he says, depart from me, I never knew you?

You see, as they're surprised, as this description comes of weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth, these people aren't intending to be shocked. Here is a vast company of people expecting to enter into heaven forever, and instead of hearing enter in, they, here, depart.

Why are there so many? What went wrong? I wonder how many of you in this room will be in that crowd. Well, these people are what the Bible calls good warning about, from people that don't preach the Word as it is, but as they would like it to be.

They were deceived, that horrible Word. You see, in the earliest part of Genesis, Satan is known as the deceiver. All the way through the Bible, he's a deceiver. In the book of Revelation, verse 9, he's called that serpent who deceives the nations.

But we talk about him as the tempter. The devil made me do it. Or we talk about him as the accuser. Oh, the devil's been giving me a hard time today. Or we talk about him as the destroyer. The devil wrecked our equipment.

But how often do you hear the devil spoken of in his main role, which is to keep a man from truth and to deceive him and to keep him in a state where he is going to be in this crowd? You see, many deceivers are in the world.

See, deception is believing something that is not the truth. It doesn't mean that you have unbelief, according to you. It simply means that you believe something that is not the truth. You may believe it very strongly, but you see, it's not unbelief, it's wrong belief.

Wrong belief. And it's not based on God's Word. And you know, the thing that really frightens me, or many, is that no one is ever deceived on purpose. How many people do you know that raise their hand and say, here am I, deceive me.

These people weren't deceived on purpose. They were deceived because they were foolish. They didn't go about what God said. They were not liking what they heard. Imagine the horror of having felt good for years about what you believed, which these people apparently did.

They felt great. But then in one moment, realizing that everything you've built upon is falling beneath your feet. It's too late. I've been wrong. I've been fooled. But it's forever too late to correct it.

Imagine that. I mean, that's why they're grinding their teeth. That's why they're weeping and moaning. Because they've said the right things all these years or days, but their hearts weren't right with God.

True Surrender and the Lordship of Christ

You see, the Proverbs says, though a man has fervent lips, he could have sin in his heart. Verbal respect and historic belief in Jesus is not enough. You can be an awakened sinner or you can be a sleeping sinner.

You're lost all the same. You can be concerned for yourself or unconcerned. If you don't know the Lord, you're in the same boat. Well, Titus 1 .16 describes these people. They profess. Titus 1 .16, they profess to know God.

But in works, they deny him. They are being abominable and disobedient. And unto every good work, a stranger. Now, these people are deceived about the most important thing in time or eternity. About their salvation.

And I want to look at how they're deceived, because I think it's going to affect many in this room. And many that we love will be affected by this. So I would listen and take notes so that you might take this home.

The first way that this group of people were deceived, and this is common, common, common, in verse 21, they were deceived about the nature of true surrender. Or what it meant to really be committed. And in verse 21, he says, Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, that's the right words, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who's doing the will of my Father, which is in heaven.

Now, obviously, they had some verbal attachment to God. They knew what to say. But you see, these people here thought that they could own Jesus Christ as Savior while rejecting him as Lord. And, of course, they didn't want to go to hell.

Who does? They wanted to be protected from hell. But it says here that they weren't doing the will of the Father, apparently. They had retained control of their life all along, down the inside. Now, they had an outer commitment, and they were in the right place at certain times.

But they had a comfort zone belief that they'd never get down to affecting their will. See, the key truth is, on this point, is that you and I cannot receive what Jesus Christ gives, which is salvation, until we believe and receive who He is, and He is Lord.

No man makes Him Lord. God the Father made Him Lord, it says, when He raised Him from the dead. And His crown is on the Lord's head, and nobody's going to take it off. I have set my King on my holy hill, and He is there.

And so, you see, I must acknowledge Him as who He is, and He is Lord. Well, He's Savior for some and Lord for others. The Bible says, is Christ divided? Absolutely not, is the answer, in an indignant tone in the original language.

You see, it's not scriptural, and we're going to have to stake our lives on this. It's not scriptural to believe in a Savior who is not also Lord. And you say, well, Al, I don't know about that. I know a lot of people.

But what does the Scripture say? You see, what I'm saying, if you're looking at what you think, you're a candidate for this group. What does the Scripture say? Well, I'll tell you what the Scripture says.

Anybody who doubts it, you look for yourself. In the New Testament, the word Savior is used 24 times only. And eight of those times is a descriptive term referring to Father in Heaven. And every time that word Savior is used, it's used as a descriptive term about a group of people that are already right and related to God.

Only once is it in the singular. And I think the Holy Ghost did that for a reason. It's Mary, the mother of Jesus. And it's showing that she needed to be saved because she was a sinner saved by grace as well.

The signal of the Holy Ghost. Well, 24 times is important. I mean, the Virgin Verse only mentions a couple. Well, how many times on the way of Scripture is the Lordship mentioned? 522 times the word Lord is in the New Testament.

And we are never told one time in the New Testament to receive Christ as Savior. Not once. Not once. You're looking vain. We talk about it in our day, and I'm not disparaging these expressions. All I'm saying is they are not scriptural expressions.

They may be adequate, and they may be based upon scriptural truth. But to say, I'm going to invite Jesus Christ into my life, that's not really said in the New Testament. These are newer terms that came around in the last 200 years.

To say, I'm going to make a decision for Christ. That's a new term since Mass Evangelism has come in Finney's day. And to say, I'm going to ask Jesus into my heart, that's not even a term that's in the Bible either.

Well, what is the term that's in the New Testament? Well, that term to accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior is not in there. But instead of that, we do read about how to receive Him. It says in Colossians 2 .6.

It says, As you have therefore received Christ Jesus as the Lord, so walk in Him. Walk in Him. And so, the message of the early church was consistent with this in the book of Acts. Two times the word Savior is used.

117 times the word Lord is used. They preached Jesus Christ the Lord. Paul, what was his message? Well, he says in 2 Corinthians 4 .5 We preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. And ourselves your servant for His sake.

Not once are we told to receive Him as personal Savior. Now, I believe He is Savior. But you come to Him in repentance. And humbly. We don't come to the feet of a chummy sky-sitter. We come to the feet of a monarch, not to bargain, but to bow.

We come to Him. And it says, We confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it says in Romans 10 .9 on the Roman road. And Romans 10 .13 Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. It means Master.

No question about what the word means. Acts 16 .31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you'll be saved. And your house. So it's always the Lord that we must deal with. And I believe tonight that you'll have a tough time.

One man said to me once after a message like this. Son, you're going to have a hard time getting that out of the Bible. And I said, you're right, brother. It's in there to stay. It's there to stay. It's always the Lord that you've got to deal with.

Jesus said to some who were outwardly one way. In Luke 6 .46 He says, Why do you call me Lord, Lord? And don't do the things I say. The key issue in the evangelical church today is precisely here. I asked Stephen Holford as we had a meal what he thought the most important area of preaching was in America.

He said without batting an eye. The Lordship of Christ. You translate that down to the cross. Repentance. So that's exactly where it hits the road in a practical way. So we must not just realize. We must not just recognize the Lordship.

We must realize the Lordship of Christ. It must be realized in our life. Jesus said of some, These people draw near to me with their lips. But their heart is far from me. Well, Hebrews 5 .9 says it as clear as I know how to say it.

So I'll just read it. Hebrews 5 .9. Remember, we read that earlier. It says he became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey him. Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him.

And Jesus said in John 8 .12 that whoever follows me shall not walk in darkness. He said it. They shall have the light of life. And remember in 1 John 1 .5 it says God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

So if you're walking with Jesus, you're walking in the light. An inner change of mind. That repentance word we've been talking about. Who controls your life or what? That's the issue. Who or what? You see, a lot of people want Jesus' help.

I don't blame them. But they don't want his interference. Let me tell you, you can't have one without the other. Not forever, anyway. He'll help you to get your attention, sure. But if you don't morally come to him as well as physically, soon his help will turn to interference of his own.

He will interfere with you. A lot of people want to be free from guilt. They're coming apart from guilt. That's all they want, though. You see, they don't want to be cleansed from filth. They act like a spoiled child who wants his way.

But it doesn't want to spank him. I've got a lot of kids. You see, that mental effort, painful trying, Bible knowledge, sacrificial service to be saved, it takes Jesus Christ living in my life as King.

Now, I'm not saying that you come to the Lord and you're perfectly submitted to the Lordship of Christ. I am saying that Lordship is an ever-increasing awareness of more and more who he is. And it doesn't take much of a man to come to Christ, but it takes all of him.

You can't say no to him and come. You can't say no, Lord. You can say no, Jesus, but you can't say no, Lord. It's only yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. So they were deceived by the issue of, when admitted to surrender, they took a Savior who wouldn't, while rejecting him as Lord.

They took him health-wise, but rejected him moral-wise, and they were ultimately deceived. That's the horrible part. And they went right on with their theological debate, all through life, I'm sure.

The Will of God Is Worship and Faith, Not Religious Performance

Well, the second way they were deceived is that they were mistaken, deceived, about the very will of God. They didn't know what God's will was. That's obvious in the text. In Matthew chapter 7, we see them speaking about the will of God.

Again, verse 22, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, haven't we preached? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't we done many wonderful works? You see, they thought, perhaps, that it was all to be found in preaching, and in the supernatural acts, mighty works, or in casting out demons, or in eating the supper, or having the Mass, or whatever.

They were busy people, busy working for God, but they thought it was performance. God wanted it. You've heard people say, save to serve, save to serve. Brother, you're safe to serve. No, you're not safe to serve, you're safe to worship.

Part of worship is service, of course. I'm not minimizing service, but the Lord doesn't have children just for servants any more than you do. Well, darling, I think you need a little more help around the house.

Let's have some kids. I mean, that's absurd, especially after you have three, and then you have four and five. You have to have five kids to be with AFC. I mean, Ian has five, I have five, and then Vince has five, and then there's other people like Bill Morgan who has seven and adopted four.

So, I mean, it's crazy. We're going to have reunions someday. Anybody else have five with AFC? Does no one? But we have a lot of kids around anyway. We're going to have a massive reunion. Busy people.

It's not just good works, Jesus wants you to just worship. It's worship. It's not my ability that I offer Him. It's my availability. It's not attaining something. It's containing someone. That's the whole bottom line.

My availability to Him, a yielded heart to walk by faith. Good Master, what shall we do that we might work the works of Christ? Work the works of God? John 6, he says, this is the work of God that you believe on Him who He hath sent.

So, you see, in reality, we have to respond to God by yielding ourselves so that He might work. It's not me living for Him, doing for Him. It's Christ Himself living in me. The just shall live by faith.

What's that mean? It's a response to the Word of God based upon His power. And, you see, when God speaks to you this weekend, and if you just evaluate and don't embrace, if it just becomes information and not transformation, then suddenly you are an unbeliever.

Because, you see, unbelief is failure to act on truth. It becomes faith when you act. Until you act, you're standing in unbelief. You're trying to evaluate. So, God is not looking for sponsors. He's looking for vessels that He can live in and move in.

And a lot of people in the church situation cover a lack of true surrender to Jesus by business. They serve on this committee and on that committee, and they're deacon here and elder in there, and they're doing all these things to cover a lack, a nagging lack that the Holy Spirit says, but you don't know Me.