Pastor Jeff Shipley - What Can Faith Give Me?

Now, I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel. It wasn't their military styles.

It wasn't the type of people... So, I'm going to talk to you a little bit about faith. I see the world.

I hear our government. Even the medical community now.

The culture. They're all telling us absolute lies. Absolute lies.

They're not even opinions. They're absolute lies. And as I go through this,

I want you to hear the concern, the power of God's Word.

But this is not for an entertainment level. It really...

It's breaking my heart. I had a little... I won't even say...

I had a person in my office last weekend.

And they are convinced that they are a boy.

They are biologically a girl. But they are convinced they're a little boy.

I know that this is a political and social issue. But it's not.

This is... And I know this is going to offend some folks. But this is a spiritual issue.

You see, Satan is the father of lies. And we've gotten to a point in our life where the righteousness of God is suppressed, as Romans 1 says.

And the lies of hell are being lifted up as absolute truth.

Christian, I know you are in an untenable situation. You are in a situation in which the

Word of God and its absolute truth have to be preached. Yet, if you're doing that, it will put you in direct opposition to the world.

Now, I'm here to tell you this. It's going to get worse.

I'm telling you. I make this prediction now. In less than a generation, being a

Christian will be considered a psychological disease.

Your children could be taken from you. All the freedoms that you now enjoy are going to be gone.

Guys, I have said this, especially to this side of the room.

Beware. Attending church on Sunday morning is not something to simply check a box off for the week.

It is a place where you develop trust, brotherhood, fellowship.

Because each other is all you people are going to have. I promise you that day is coming.

Now, you say to me, wow, pastor, sure glad I showed up this morning. It's all bright and cheery on this beautiful spring day.

But it is. It is, and I'm going to tell you why. Because Jesus Christ said this is exactly what would happen.

You see, you can look at this in two different ways. You can get despondent and discouraged.

Or you can say, my Lord, it is getting gloriously dark. And you are coming back to get us soon.

You see, there is a day coming where mankind will not only be a religious or atheist, he will be proactively applauding and finding even more devious ways to reject the reality of the holiness of God in self -debauchery.

Those days are coming even at faster pace than they are right now. But I'm here to tell you,

Christian, it's okay. You continue to speak the truth and you will hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Enter into the joy of thy kingdom. Now, how do we do that?

Because let's be honest, how many of y 'all in this room today did not read

Scripture and study as much as you should have last week? Okay.

How many of you did not pray as often as you should? Right.

And guys, if you continue to look at that, if you continue to look at your failures, you are never going to transpose from the weakling to the warrior.

You see, you've got to understand, we've got to come back to this, is that how

I live my life here on earth is not by the works of the flesh, because no works can save me, but by the faith that saved me, there's also the same faith that will strengthen you.

You see, you're going to need to be at a place of great spiritual faith to face what is coming.

What's right now? Guys, how is your faith?

Let's stop beating ourselves up for a moment, shall we? Let's stop looking at what we have done and what we have not done.

Let's go back. You see, you're not going to have the strength to do what's right. You're not going to have the strength to resist what's wrong.

It's not by self -discipline. The first order of business you must have is the faith that is given by the

Holy Spirit of God. So let us look at that, can we? Look at John 6.

Now, this is a very long chapter. Very long chapter. And I'm just going to give you highlights out of it.

But it's one of those chapters that I encourage you believers, along with Ephesians 1 and Pilgrim's Progress, that's not

Scripture, but these other things, read them. I promise you, they will help you.

What can faith give me? This morning in the United States of America, church buildings are dwindling.

Church buildings are dwindling. Did you all know that 30 % of the churches who closed down from COVID never reopened?

They're gone. Do you know that Southern Baptists here in the Mid -South are dropping like flies?

Do you realize that churches are falling left and right? Do you know that Witten is the only church that's considered an inside or on -the -loop church that is not dying?

Now you think about that. Inside the 240 loop, we are the only church, the only one that's not dying.

That breaks my heart. And people say, well, it's because the neighborhoods are changing. No, that ain't it.

They say, well, it's because pastors didn't do this, or pastors didn't do... No, that's not it.

The reason they're dying is not because of money or drugs or changing neighborhoods. It's because they were seeking something from Jesus in faith other than what we should be seeking.

And we'll get to that in a second. Look with me. What can faith give me? Think about that question for a second.

If you're here this morning, and you're looking to strengthen your faith from what you will receive, the question in and of itself is self -indicting.

You follow the same mantra as these people here. Jesus is out teaching.

And it says that he is healing people. And this massive crowd, we know over more than 5 ,000 people, are flocking.

They want to see. Look at verse 2. Chapter 6, verse 2. Let me start in verse 1.

After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is also called the

Sea of Tiberius. And a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

Now, some people sit there and go, well, of course. If I'm sick, I want to go...

That's not what it says. It doesn't say these people are following Christ to be healed.

What are they following? I was riding my motorcycle yesterday.

And I turned out. We were coming down 196. And turned on 70,

I think, or 64. But anyways, as I turned, there was a car that was slowing way down.

And the reason he was slowing down is because there was a Tennessee State Trooper on the side of the road who had pulled someone over.

Now, personally, if one of those cops have someone else pulled over, I'm like, sweet.

You know? It's the herd mentality. You can't get every gazelle lying. So I'm opening up the throttle and I'm born to ride.

Right? But that's not what people do. What do you do? Everybody slows down.

Why? They want to look and see. Guys, do you want faith for the value of simply entertainment?

Are you here this morning and you're equating your church attendance with a level of faith?

My friend, if you are, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Because on the outside, cannot impress on your inside the luxury of strengthening your faith.

You can't just stop and watch for the entertainment purposes. Let me give you the example.

How many of y 'all liked Hunter singing this morning? Okay. I found it a little vanilla.

I did, man. Where was my box? Where was Aiden? That's right,

Aiden's sick. Where was my drum? Where was Miss Carla? I mean, come on, Hunter. Can't you play the drums and the guitar at the same time?

You know? ZZ Top can do it. I mean, come on. Where are you at, bro? How many of y 'all liked the music last week?

It was all right. I'm not a big cantata kind of guy. You know what I mean?

Like, hey, we're going to have a cantata. I'm thinking food right away. I had to look up what cantata meant.

This ain't really a cantata kind of church. You know what I'm saying? But see, that's the problem right there.

You see, we come wanting our needs to be met, wanting the air conditioning to be...

You know, no one tells me about the temperature in the church anymore, in the sanctuary.

You know why? Because I yelled about it for years. If you're cold, put on a sweater. If you're hot, take off, well...

Whitten. Bring a fan. Yeah. You know? Guys, are you here to be entertained or are you here to grow in fellowship?

Look at this other one. Verse 14 and 15. Go down a few. So Jesus is doing all these miracles, right?

And the Jews who had been defeated by the Romans and were under oppression of the Romans, when

He started doing these things, look at verse 14. When the people saw the sign

He had done, they said, this is indeed the prophet. Notice they labeled

Him the prophet. Who is coming to the world, perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make

Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself. Do you realize that there are people who want to be free from oppression?

Their entire Christian life is because they're a victim or they're afraid of hell or they're afraid of damnation or judgment or something.

And they want to be free of guilt. They want to be free of oppression. They want to be free of that. And that's why they have such shallow faith.

Because as soon as that regenerative power of the Holy Spirit hits you, I'm not saying it's unreal, but I'm saying that your spiritual life must mature past the point where faith is nothing more than a get out of hell free card.

What are you doing in service for the kingdom? You know how you serve God? Watch this, you ready?

Look out among you and find someone to serve here. You don't serve God. I've had music ministers and their wives be angry at me about this.

Guys, I'm up here preaching a sermon. Am I serving God? Don't answer yes.

Because the answer is no. Every one of us should be preaching. Right? How I serve

God is how I go and minister to Tara. How I minister to Brother Jeremiah.

When Alina who has asked me repeatedly to please move in with me because her parents are so oppressive,

I can minister to her. Right? Guys, please listen to me. Ministry does not happen on a pulpit on a

Sunday morning. It happens every other waking moment of your life. How are you serving

God? Last thing, verse 26. Here's why some of the people had faith.

Verse 26 says this, and Jesus calls them out. Jesus answers them, truly, truly

I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate on a fill with loaves.

One of the most, in my opinion, damnable theologies that is out there today is prosperity preaching.

Now for those of you that don't know what that means, it means this. If you have enough faith,

God will bless you financially. Now, personally, that can happen.

That can happen. I mean, my wife and I were talking the other day. We were talking about we're going on a cruise in a little while.

And we were talking about, and I'm making leather stuff and selling it, and she's got a night job at the 7 -Eleven.

We're doing extra stuff. We're doing extra stuff because we pay for cash.

We don't do credit card, right? And she and I were talking, and we were like, we're almost there.

We're almost there. And we were sitting there saying, can you imagine 30 years ago us talking about a cruise and being able to pay for it?

I'm like, no, man. I can remember coming home and she had fixed pinto beans.

And I had to wait for the kids and her to eat before I ate to make sure there was enough. Now, God has blessed us.

God has blessed, maybe He's blessed you. But my coming to Christ in faith,

I don't want faith to get money. I don't, listen, if a preacher or church ever tells you, write a check in faith to this ministry, and God will bless it, get up and walk out the room.

Okay? Because they want your money. They don't want to care for your soul. Listen to me today.

Your reason for faith is because it is impossible to please God without faith.

It doesn't say anything about money. It says faith. Guys, why are you seeking God?

Now, let's go here just for a second. Look here in verse 7 and 8. I want you to understand that there are incorrect reasons to seek out faith.

But I want you to understand that it's not just simply saying, Jesus Christ, come unto my heart and save me.

It's more than that. You see, faith goes beyond human reason. So Jesus is sitting there.

These 5 ,000 people are following Him. Right? Jesus, He pulls one over on the boys.

He says, hey, ministers, come here. There's 5 ,000 people.

We know there was more than 5. There was 5 ,000 men, but there was a bunch of folk out there. Right? He looks up and He goes, how are y 'all going to feed these people?

And they're like, Jesus, it would take 200 days' wages.

A denarius was a wage. Your Bibles probably say 200 denarius. A denarius was a day's wage in the

Roman world. It would take 200 days' worth of wages to feed these people.

Just bread. Guys, do you sometimes try to reason with God about your faith?

Okay, I do. Okay? Here's where I used to be. I used to do this.

I'm going to confess this. Hi, my name is Jeff. I used to drive down the road and say, if the red car turns this way on that green light,

God, then You're talking to me. You ever done that? No, you haven't?

Oh, well, y 'all better than me. I remember sitting there saying, I remember making up stuff like, you know, if He says this at this time,

I'd call them fleeces. It ain't fleeces. You know what it is? It's doubt.

I'm trying to use human reason with a Spirit -led faith. How deep is that faith?

These guys, they're sitting there going, Jesus said, how do you feed this many people? They said, there's no reason.

There's no way. We can't do it. I want to explain something to you.

Do you want to get your faith strengthened today? Do this. Believe the impossible.

Not in the world, but in your own life.

Can God make you exactly what He wants you to, no matter what and ridiculous that is?

I believe that. I had to come to a point of crisis in my life where there was no human reason to explain the failings of where I was.

I had to come to a point in my life where I had to trust totally in God because I had lost my ever -loving mind.

But more than that in a second. Human reason tells us, logic tells us, culture tells us, everything tells us that we should not have faith.

That we should only believe in what we can see and feel that our five senses tell us.

Yet I promise you, I love Alina with all of my heart.

I mean, I just want to go over there and squeeze her until her little head just goes, you know?

But then I wouldn't be able to squeeze her no more, so I can't do it. Give me the mathematical formula for that feeling in my heart right now.

I love when people say, well, there's no such thing as a spirit. There's no scientific proof of it.

You ever lost someone dear to you? You know that physical pain you felt? What muscle was that?

Right. So scientists, go sit down, get out your Bill Nye coloring book, shut up and let the adults talk.

There is a reality of things that are true. What I love about science, nihilists and people always say, well, you can't explain anything without science.

Really? Well, it's interesting. You can't explain science with science. It's circular logic.

Never mind. That's too philosophical. My point is this. Human reason falls flat on its face.

Here's the second thing. Human resources. I remember when they called me here a senior pastor 17 years ago.

A lady by the name of Vicky Sneed was crying and she said this, Pastor, I don't know that we're going to be able to pay you.

And I went, let her rip. Let's find out. Let's find out.

You know what's really cool? Is I've never got the money bug. I never have.

I've never been one of those people that are like all up into money. I just don't care.

Like, obviously. You know? I don't care about the $5 ,000 suits or the gold fixtures in the bathroom or even being the nicest stuff.

I'd rather have, you know, a good steak as a treat, you know?

A brand new gun. That's nice. I mean, that's godly right there.

But I ain't worried about having a Corvette. You know, that's just not me. And I'm not saying if that's you, you're wrong.

I'm just saying human resources just don't mean a whole lot to me. Do y 'all trust the government?

I don't either. Very good. Unsolicited, but very true.

Guys, here's the reality. Here's the reality. Listen, human resources are not the answer to our problems.

I know this is going to freak some of y 'all out, but watch this. Y 'all want to stop the racial violence in Memphis?

Personally, I don't know a whole lot about it, but y 'all want to stop the drugs in Memphis? Y 'all want to stop the guns and crimes in Memphis?

If you will just elect a Republican politician next year, oh, it'll all be over.

Get you a conservative, white, right, godly, you know, UT, and everything will be fine.

Oh, we've tried that. And then the next season, we try a Democrat. Oh, and then the next time, we try another

Republican. And then you listen to the pundits on the radio, Joe Rogan. Oh, they're both wrong.

Let's get a Libertarian. He'll fix everything. Human resources are not the answer to spiritual problems.

You want to fix things? Really put God's Word back into homes, put

God's Word back into schools, and I guarantee you, things would change.

You know why there's so much crime? Because there ain't no more daddies no more. Because the experts said you don't need a father to raise a son.

You don't need a father to raise a family. Okay. Okie dokie.

And the government of the United States has subsidized single moms by cutting them paychecks for, wait a minute, four generations now.

And then we have the arrogance and audacity to step back and go, huh, well,

American taxpayer, the problem is we just need more money. Guys, if you come to a place where faith, reason, or resources aren't adding up,

I encourage you as a child of God, dismiss these two as the answer, and swing totally for faith.

Next point. Nothing but faith. Verse 29. So we've looked at why people want faith.

We've looked at the faith and the juxtaposition to the human realm or the physical realm. But now here's the question for some of us in this room today.

How do I get this faith? How do I get this faith? I'm going to read to you what

Jesus said. You ready? Verse 29. Look up here in verse 29.

That made no sense. Look at your Scripture at verse 29. Jesus answered them, this is the work of God that you join your local

Southern Baptist church, you be baptized, wear a suit and tie, tithe your money to the church, and then you'll have faith.

That's what people will tell you though. Dina wasn't saved because she got in that water.

Grace got in that water because she was saved by the blood of Christ. Guys, listen to me for a second.

Do you know from Genesis with Noah believing God, Genesis 6, verse 8, all the way through Revelation 22, there is one criterion for receiving salvation.

Believe. Look at verse 29. Now some of you who beat yourself up because you don't do enough or you don't do this, look at verse 29.

Here is the standard for God. This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom

He sent. You ready? Believe in Jesus. Believe in Jesus.

Aren't you glad? But I'm kind of an alpha personality.

I'll be honest with you. I think it would have been a lot easier if God had said, you know, go punch

Pastor Josiah in the head or walk 40 steps every day or, you know, do a half jumping jack or something.

That would have been easier. Man, that faith thing gets elusive, doesn't it? It's the easiest answer, but the hardest thing to keep doing.

Because I'll be honest with you, I had a lot of faith, but I'm telling you, on at least a monthly basis, on a monthly basis, something comes at me and my faith goes, hold up there,

Shipley. God's Spirit is saying, now go to charge that hill. But that old flesh and doubt inside of me wants to hold back the faith of God.

Guys, welcome to the family. That's why God invented the church. Listen, guys, nothing but faith.

It is one continual standard throughout all of it. Now here's what Jesus said.

They are sitting there, the people are sitting there, and they're following Jesus because they're receiving food.

They're receiving the entertainment. And they're sitting there saying, give us more.

I want you to read with me verse 35. Read verse 34 so it will be in context.

"...sus this bread always." Jesus responds to the crowd and says, Jesus said to them,

I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me shall not hunger and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.

That's kind of a letdown, ain't it? I mean, let's be honest. I'm walking around, guys giving out free rib eye tomahawk steaks.

Right? I hear about it, I'm like, I'm sorry, forgot what church it is.

Guys giving out brand new Glocks. Okay? Giving out new

ARs, right? Giving out new Corvettes or new pair of black flats or something.

Whatever you chicks like, right? Guns, yeah. Whatever. I'm sorry.

New spreading knives for making sandwiches. Whatever. And you rush over there.

And you go, I'll have some more, please. And Jesus says,

I am the AR -15. Just keep with my analogy.

I'm not crazy. I am the bread of life. What? Where's the cha -ching moment here?

Where's that moment? Jesus said, I am the bread of life. Now, before I leave this section and we finish the last part, listen to me.

I want you to understand when Jesus throughout all of John, there are seven times that Jesus makes what

I say, ego of me. Now, these other MIT people pronounce it wrong. But ego of me.

It literally is I am statements. Here, He calls Himself, I am the bread of life.

Before, He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Or that's actually after. He's also said,

I am the living water. He said, I am this, I am that. And He makes this statement, I am, all the time.

What's really cool about that is it's not just simply a grammatical construct of a sentence because it doesn't make sense the way

He's saying it. Because He's saying it more like this, I am. Right? Go over two chapters.

And I'll just tell you, but look for this in John chapter 8. Jesus is sitting there and the

Jews, these same Jews, they didn't get what they want, so now they're all salty.

They're all salty with Jesus. Right? And Jesus goes, A1 yellow, that's all right, come on up here, let me tell you about this.

And Jesus sits there and goes, you guys, you don't understand. They go, what do you mean we don't understand?

We are Jews, dude. We are children of Abraham. And that was 2 ,000 years ago.

We belong to 1st Baptist. Right? What do you mean telling us we don't understand the

Bible? What are you talking about? Now Jesus sits there and goes, that's cute.

Listen, when Abraham saw me, he was absolutely amazed.

That would be like me saying, when

Julius Caesar saw me, he was like, that's a stud.

Right? He'd be like George Washington. And the Jews are sitting there going, Jesus, you smoketh the cracketh.

You're on crack, dude. You're not even 50 years old. How in God's name did

Abraham ever see you? This dude's crazy. This is how Jesus answered. Before Abraham was even born,

I am. Jesus was not a prophet.

Jesus was not a preacher. Jesus was God incarnate.

You see, just like if your child or children were in danger, you wouldn't just simply send somebody else.

You would go yourself. And the stain of sin was crushing out. That which

God loved with all of His heart that He sent to die in our place.

Jesus continually, throughout Scripture, people always say,

I wish He would just flat out say it. Dummy, I wish He would actually read instead of listening to the Internet. Because it says it all over.

Guys, do you have that kind of faith? Do you have your faith that what

Jesus said 2 ,000 years ago is still relevant to you today and you're willing to lose your life today for that level of faith?

Listen, I'm going to skip to the last part. Verse 37.

We've looked at why people want faith. We've looked at faith as a resource.

Faith as reason. And those two things aren't logical. They're not compatible. We've also then looked, therefore, that faith only comes by belief, not by works.

This last thing is this. How many of you truly, truly are

Christians in here? Okay. So how many of you all are kind of questioning it?

Okay, cool, cool. Yeah, okay, alright, cool. How many of you all are just flat out atheists and you don't care?

Anybody? Y 'all start bringing some atheists here. I really want to start preaching to some

Satanists or something. I don't know. But anyways, how many of you people who are truly

Christians, you truly believe you've doubted before? Believed in Christ.

You truly are a Christian, but you've doubted. Sorry, I didn't say it good. Okay, doubted, doubted.

Okay, alright, alright, alright. You messed it up. Forget it. I've got people doing this or something over there, okay?

Guys, you've had doubts. Let me tell you something. I was a pastor.

I was a minister director. I was a keynote speaker. I was on the radio.

I was the main apologist for the churches in an entire city against Mormonism.

I was it, dude. God. I was it, man.

My ministry was bigger than any church in the city of Casper, Wyoming.

Man, people would call me up. Hey, baby, just one more second. She's telling me to come over and talk to her.

And I'm going to be honest with you. I was the most depressed on the inside.

Vacant. Could not feel, hear

God at all. At all.

I was as far gone removed almost as I was before I became a

Christian. Now, I had all the cultural stuff, right? I didn't smoke weed.

I wasn't doing anything like that. But in here, when I read the Bible, it was like chewing on dry toast.

Nothing for me. But here's my problem. When you saw me,

I was a lion. I was a lion. I had people actually tell me,

I wish my faith was as strong as yours. And I was like, absolutely. Right. You got no idea, man.

I feel like an empty jar in the middle of the Sahara Desert in August.

And I kept playing the game. Maybe none of y 'all have ever done this, but I kept playing the game.

It got to the point where I was biblically convincing myself that I had lost my salvation.

In fact, if you turn in John 6, verse 66. 666, huh?

Yeah. It actually says this, And from this time on, many of His disciples followed

Him no more. I thought that was me. I thought that God had given me this much grace, and I had squandered it all away.

That God in His love had finally come to His place like the human understanding that I had heard in my past of, get away from me, you disgust me.

You ever had your dad tell you that one? Tell you what, that's an old kick in the gut right there. The rejection and abandonment of my youth was screaming out of the mouth of God.

Wait a minute, it gets better. I ended up in the loony bin. I ended up in the hospital, and they were pumping me full of amepramine and Xanax because I had had panic attacks.

Do I look like a dude that has panic attacks? I will jack your fate. Man, I don't have panic attacks.

I'm a man. I'm a man of God. I am testosterone and titanium walking.

As I'm in the fetal position, hiding under my coat in my closet, crying my eyes out because God has left me.

And I've somehow just jacked it all up. I'll stop there because I want the note to be on what

Jesus says, starting here. Just look with me. Let's just read verse 37 together.

Guys, by the way, back in 1995, this is the passage that kept me from eating a bullet.

John 6, verse 37. All that the

Father gives to me will come to me, and whoever comes to me

I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of Him who sent me.

And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but will raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of the Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes, faith, believes on Him should have eternal life.

And I will raise Him up on the last day. For 70 years,

Southern Baptists have eschewed the doctrine of election. They have walked away from teaching about predestination because in their infantile minds, it was not seeker friendly.

Let me tell you something, Christian. You want to know the doctrine of election. You want to know predestination.

Look at verse 37. It says this, All that the Father has given me,

I will lose none. Let me ask you, where are you in that verse?

You are the object of God's work. You are the object of God's grace.

You are the object of Jesus' sacrifice. You are the object of God's promise.

Like little Alina sitting right there. She has no concept of love.

She is a sin -riddled individual. And yet with the tenderest of care, those two parents nurture her.

She is simply the object of love. She brings nothing to the table.

Some of you in this room, you struggle with where your faith is because you keep...

Listen to me, I'm almost done. You keep looking to your successes or your works as a measurement of God's love for you.

I have failed God, therefore God will fail me. I have not done this so God could not possibly accept me.

What you have to understand is this, everything that you have done, are doing, and will ever do,

God already knew when He called you to be His. You see, grace is never more powerful than in the face of failure.

Love, forgiveness is never more powerful than in the face of the person who wronged you.

Listen to me for a second. I want you to know that faith is this last thing. It is secure.

It is secure in God's chosen, sovereign will.

People say, I don't understand that. You know why you don't understand it? Because you keep trying to put you and find out where you fit in the equation.

You're the equal sign, buddy. You ain't got nothing to do with this side of the equation. Nothing. Nothing.

Oh, but pastor, the minute you put the word, I did, in anything, you are no longer talking about grace, you're talking about works.

And people say, well, amen. I just don't believe in that predestination stuff. Yes, you do, dummy.

Are you sure you're going home? Yes. Does anybody not understand predestination?

Because I have the most perfect example in the whole world. Okay, watch this. I'm old.

This is predestination right here. Who filled it up this morning?

Deacons. Who did? Richard. Where are you, Richard? Richard took this garden hose, hooked it up to that hot water heater, and that water ended up in that baptismal.

Now watch this. When he hooked it up there and turned it on, where was the water going to go?

But the water didn't want to go and get in that nasty pool. Guess where it was going to go?

It was going to go right down. Guys, please understand this, that God loves you so much.

Not only did He save you, not only does He sustain you, but He's going to make sure you get home.

Because it's just like me handing Nyland. Yo, man, here's the keys to my $30 ,000 truck.

Go have fun. Give me my keys. You think

Jesus loves you enough that He's going to hand your salvation to you and say, keep this safe?

Because heaven would be empty, dude. Because we are that stupid. So God came up with this idea.

He said, I'm going to love them, I'm going to choose them, I'm going to save them, I'm going to seal them, and I'm going to make sure they get home.

If you don't believe me, go read Ephesians 1 and find you anywhere in there except until he gets to verse 13.

It's always in Christ, in Him, by Him, for Him, through Him. It's all about Jesus.

Okay? Listen, God is not going to cast you out.

God did not make people to simply be matchsticks in the fires of hell or any of the other crap you hear today.

God chose you to be His child. Now the question for you is, don't sit there and go, yeah, but I'm not worthy.

I'll never live up to that. That's why He invented grace. Okay? Go ahead and just accept it.

Wrap your head around it. You're not going to understand it, but you're going to have to live by faith to just accept that God loves you no matter how stupid you've been in the past.

But I keep letting the Lord down. Yeah, He knows that too. That's why it's called grace.

Now here's the deal. Last thing. You are never going to be a powerful Christian if you keep looking at your failures instead of the faith that God gave you.

It's never going to happen. But here's the last truth. Listen. Here's the last thing.

Little baby Alina. I ain't picking her up. Little baby Alina. Look there.

That is the epitome of cuteness. Right? She's changed me.

Look at that. Listen. Listen. She's going to have to learn to walk one day.

And this is how it's going to happen. Jeremiah and Aisha are just going to carry her everywhere she goes.

Is she ever going to learn to walk? Nope. Never going to do it. Christians, some of the things you're facing are not

God's rejection of you. They're opportunities for you to learn to walk by faith and not by sight.

So quit looking at all of your failures as simply God with some fat kid with a magnifying glass burning ant.

You know, he's not going... Right? Now, sometimes he will do that.

But a lot of times it's for you to learn how to flex a little faith. I can't flex no more, but...

Here, yeah, I can. Flex a little faith. Flex that faith. So if you're in this room today, music dude...

Oh, you're already up there. Listen. If you're in this room today and you sat there and said, man,

I'm just not feeling... Please don't go on your feelings. Oh, I don't feel convicted enough to make this decision.

Oh, I feel it. Stop. I don't want you to do any more emotional decisions. Because your emotional decisions are jacking you up.

What I want you to do is do faith decisions. Here's what changed me back in 1995.

When I was absolute in the loony bin, right, of my mind.

I came to this point right here. God, if I never feel your presence.

God, if I have lost my salvation. God, if I'm going to spend an eternity in hell.

Until that time that I die, I'm going to serve you for the rest of my life.

Things turned around real quick. Where are you this morning? Are you 100 % sure of your salvation?

If you're not, come talk to someone down here. Listen. Is your faith a little weak?

Guys, keeping your spiritual life private and personal, you will continue to be weak.

You see, iron sharpens iron. Right? Christians, you need other

Christians all up in your business. Okay? If you don't have a fellow believer all up in your business, your faith is going to falter.

It just will. Last thing. If you need to join a church to do that, that's great.

But here's the last thing. If you're a believer today and your faith is strong, do me a favor. Let's be the church.

Go find someone in here during this invitation time. And let's not just sit here and just as I am and wait till the restaurant opens up.

Let's actually live by faith and be the church right here and right now. Well, pastor, I'm kind of an introvert.

Pastor, I'm kind of embarrassed. No, you're being arrogant and more concerned about your feelings than what other people think than what

Christ has commanded you to do. So exercise a little faith. If you can't have that much faith to minister to someone in a church sanctuary, then what are you gonna do out there?

You're gonna fold like a Walmart lawn chair and just simply be the same idiot you were yesterday. So let's buck up a little bit, huh?

If you need about salvation, if you need prayer, if you need accountability, you need, I'm gonna ask you to stand with me.

If you don't, go find someone who does and let's worship God in spirit and in truth right now by faith.