Introduction to Hebrews

Park Meadows Church

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Good morning. Pardon me? What? Good morning.

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Thank you. It's all right to greet one another, is it not?

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You have a real problem, and that is you have to spend an eternity with me if you're a Christian.

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But I have a problem, do I not? I have to spend an eternity with you if you're a Christian, but it'll all be worked out.

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If you have your Bible, please turn with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 12. While you find that,

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I would take just a moment to kind of get acquainted with you, and I have been looking forward to being with your pastor and with you as a people, with your church.

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I was sharing with one of the Sunday school departments this morning, and I was sharing with your pastor that it was a blessing to me to find out how up -to -date they really are.

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They were tuned in to current events, looking at things in the scripture, and being, I like to be around churches that are biblically oriented.

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I like to be around churches that are into the Bible. Man's opinions really aren't worth very much, and this week

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I am much more concerned about you seeing what God has to say about it than what I have to say about it. So always bring a

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Bible to the house of the Lord with you. You and I are going to be held accountable not for what the pastor says or what a deacon says, but what

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God says in his word. That's what we're going to be accountable for, and so it's always a sure thing.

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If you ask me one day, my mind might be in another direction, and I wouldn't want to give you a different answer, but it's possible that you might get two answers.

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We Jewish people have a saying, you put three Jews together, you'll get four different answers, and it works out that way, but it's that way a lot of places, and so I want you to come this week, and and perhaps we'll find some things in the book of Hebrews that will encourage us, and will strengthen us, and maybe solve a difficulty or attention or two as we go through.

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I do hope that you'll be with us tonight at six o 'clock. We'll be sharing some thoughts about the Arab -Israeli situation, what's going on in in the

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Middle East, what is, what's the Bible say about what's about to occur, is there any indication that what we are seeing today, is that an indication that we are rapidly approaching that time when

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Jesus Christ will consummate all history and appear in the skies, could we look for him this week, can we look for him next week, or is he coming at all, or what have you, what happened at Operation Peace for Galilee, and what happens, what's going on now between Israel and Syria, what's going on between Israel and Jordan and Egypt, and what what about Muammar Gaddafi, and and some of those things, and I'll speak to you from the point of view simply that as I shared with a class this morning,

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I just finished my 17th trip to Israel, and we stay very close to the situation.

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We have friends in the Israeli government, we have friends who are rabbis, and they are not

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Christians, they're not believers in Jesus as the Messiah of Israel, but they are men who are concerned about things going on in the world, they are knowledgeable, and so we stay quite close to that situation, and through some of the groups in this country, and I believe that we might have some things to share with you that you have not perchance heard, that has not been released on the international press, and so what

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I thought we might do with your permission, pastor's approval, that we might just speak for about 30 minutes, and then throw it open for questions for about 15 minutes, if you would like to do that this evening, and so you come and be with us, and we'll have a good time together in the

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Lord. Aren't you glad you're a Christian? Well, this side is, and the choir is, let's check this one again over here, you know, yes, well good, all right, well, getting there.

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Yeah, I know it's rough, isn't it? It's rough out there in the world, but there's peace in the middle of the storm, and this is what it's all about, and so I want to share a word with you this morning, now please make a note, watches don't bother me, clocks don't bother me, they don't even interest me at these moments.

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Now if I was working on an 8 to 5 or 9 to 5, then a watch would interest me, but preacher's watches don't mean anything, and so we go by mine, not yours, so it doesn't matter if you look at yours or not, and mine only has one hand on it, and it always says a quarter till.

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God has to work between 11 and 12, or he can't work, but that isn't my philosophy, and you've heard it said, and I believe that it is true, at 12 o 'clock, if I'm not through,

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I will try my best to be through, but if I'm not, please leave if you like, and God hits those who move as those who excel, it doesn't matter to him, he can find you wherever you are, and so it'll be all right, but I am quite bold at times, and so I may ask you where you're going, especially if you leave during the invitation, that's when they start leaving, isn't that right ma 'am?

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They get up and ease out, but I promise you if you do, I will ask you where you're going, that's the most critical time of the entire service, and so we want to honor the

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Lord, I've driven further than you have for the meeting, and so I'm here to be with you, and I just enjoy being around Christians, don't you?

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Listen, I had all this, oh well, praise the Lord, Brother Rocky, I mean, Jesus is coming one day, and it'll all be over, thank

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God. Listen, that's the way they are out there, that's the way the world is, that's why we don't reach them.

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If what you and I have is not different, what difference does it make? If what you and I have is not worthy of their consideration, then you and I are most miserable, and we may still be in our sins.

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He makes a difference. Now, you know all of that, I know all that, we don't do a lot about it at times, but if I were to greet you this morning, if you were a bunch of Jewish Christians, I always like to greet people in our native tongue,

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I would simply say to you, Shalom Aleichem Yishua HaMashech Ben David Sar Shalom. Peace, God's blessings upon you, and Jesus the

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Messiah, Son of David, Prince of Peace, Prince of Peace, and He is that.

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There is no peace in this world, and there won't be any until He comes. Forget it. It is a wasted prayer to pray for world peace, because you are praying in direct opposition to the noted will of God.

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The Bible says there's not going to be any peace until Jesus comes. Now, you can have peace in America, we can have peace between America and Russia, but as far as this world living in perfect peace, it is never going to happen until He comes.

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You see, the Prince of the power of the air must be brought to naught before the

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Prince of Peace can be brought to pass. They both cannot rule at the same time in a world, and so I want to share with you, and that doesn't come from the

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King James version of the scripture, wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

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Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.

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You have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children, unto sons.

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My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the

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Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourges every son whom he receiveth.

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I will direct your attention to the three words that begin verse three. You've heard many messages on this,

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I'm sure, studied many times. I want to add one to your repertoire, and that is simply, for consider him.

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These words have many reasons, obviously, for being in the scriptures, and I least of all would ever know them all, but I believe there are two basic reasons as to why

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God inserts in the book of Hebrews, which is the New Testament Leviticus, which is a book denoted to the holiness of the

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Lord, and the holiness of the believer's life. And he simply says, for consider him.

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There are no qualifications mentioned. It doesn't make any difference what kind of a background you come from. It makes no difference your educational standard or your financial position.

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It doesn't make any difference about your position in the church or out of the church. It just says consider him.

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They are words of challenge to every person that would know or hear the name of Jesus.

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To consider him, to pay close attention to him, to give a heed to him, to very carefully meditate upon him, to meticulously go over what he has said, what he has done, and what he will do, or what he wants to do in a life.

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It just simply means take all that he is, all that he has done, whatever that means, and the word of the

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Lord concerning him, and very carefully consider him. Because it will not make any difference whether you are a

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Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, Charismatic, anything else, you're going to be judged, and I'm going to be judged, according to what we have done with Jesus of Nazareth, the son of the living

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God, and his word that has been printed for us and written for us that reveals again to us the living word, who again is himself the

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Lord Jesus Christ. They are words of challenge, and they are words of indictment.

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What do you think this world would be like today if every person who had ever lived on the earth had considered

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God, had considered his Messiah? It was printed in Genesis 3 15, wasn't it?

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Genesis 3 15 gives us the first promise of the Redeemer. You can't pick up the first book of the Bible without reading about Jesus.

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Did not Jesus himself say Moses and the prophets they wrote of me? When we go witness to my people, the

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Jews, we don't go to the Old Testament. We show them time and again Jesus in the

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Old Testament. He's in Deuteronomy. He's in Leviticus. He's in Exodus. He's in Genesis.

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He's in the Psalms. He's in the prophets. You can't go anywhere. This whole book was written about him, and it was caused to have been written by him.

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All things consist, all things cohere, all things adhere together in the

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Lord Jesus Christ. What do you think would have occurred, let's say the pharaoh of Egypt, when he confronted Moses, what do you think would have happened if he had paid attention to what

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God was saying for him and he had followed God's plan? What a difference it would have made. You wouldn't have had those dreaded plagues upon the nation of Israel.

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You would not have had the moccasins, you wouldn't have had the death of the firstborn on that dreaded night when all the firstborn of all the nation of Israel, I mean

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Egypt, were killed throughout all the land, all the animals the firstborn, as the death angel came. You would not have had that.

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You wouldn't have had one of the greatest dynasties in all of history, that Egyptian dynasty erased from the planet earth and never again really being that much of a problem.

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The greatest army ever amassed in human history to that time, the Egyptian army, with all that tremendous culture, erased simply because of their refusal to follow the word of the

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Lord and to listen to the spokesman of the Lord. What do you think would have occurred when that great athlete, that great champion of the

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Philistines, Goliath, met a teenager, David? David, a little teenager, small boy.

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I know what people say all the time to me about teenagers. Well yeah, can't I? Listen, I hear this, I hear it in my heart.

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When I see David coming up on that scene and he had some bread and cheese that his father Jesse said, you go take it to your brothers, they're fighting the

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Philistines. Now he didn't take pork chops or anything, he took bread and cheese. The scripture is very clear about that.

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And so he went down and he met them and what happened? Here they are, the Philistines over here, the Israelis over here, Israelites, and there this guy comes out and he was such a man by his physical prowess, by his athletic ability, he had attained a position so high that that whole nation, that entire nation, was willing to place their destiny in his hands.

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And they said, you go fight for us, if you win, we win. If you lose, we lose.

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We'll put our destiny and our faith in your hand. That's how accomplished this man was and he had hurled curse after curse after curse, challenge upon challenge to the

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Israelites and no one moved. And here come a teenager. Young boy, you read it for yourself, he wasn't an old man, he was a young fellow.

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He came walking up and he heard this and he makes an astounding statement. He said, is not

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God the God of Israel? What are you guys standing around doing nothing for? The king's hiding in his tent.

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And he said, listen, I'll take care of that, couldn't you just hear, oh listen, if they'd had a deacon in the day, excuse me deacon, couldn't you just heard it?

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You know how those teenagers are, you can't tell them nothing. Let him go on over and get it brother, he'll get his and he'll come back with his tail between his legs.

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Let him go through those school of hard knocks like me and you did. He doesn't know anything about the depression, you know, and so we'll let him go.

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And David said, is not God the God of Israel? David said, I'll go and smite this unclean

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Philistine for you. The king heard that, he come running out of his tent. He said, what did I hear? Did somebody accept the challenge?

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Here's a teenager, he said, he did. He said, what? He did, he said to this kid. He's a little shepherd, musical inclined, probably humming, you know, humming to himself.

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What, he gonna do this for him? He said, where's your weapon? He got him a slingshot. The king, you eat it for yourself.

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The king says, here, take my armor. Take mine, I won't go with you. No, no, he'd say, I'll get the armor, you go

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David. No, you take my armor. And the Bible says it was not fitted for him. David almost fell to the ground. He couldn't hardly hold himself.

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It was too heavy. David said, I don't need that. What are you gonna do? He goes and picks him a bunch of rocks up. And that teenage boy, in the power of God, because he just believed

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God and was willing to trust God, did that what the entire nation of Israelite adults couldn't get done.

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And you know the truth that leaps to me out of that has nothing do with this sermon, but a teenager has as much access to God as an adult has if he knows him.

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But we don't treat them like that. We treat them as if, listen, do you know something in a Baptist business meeting? We are noted for these things.

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In a Baptist business meeting, you may be chairman of the deacon. Excuse me, I love deacons if they deac, but I don't have patience with deacons who don't deac.

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Most deacons don't deac because they don't know how to deac and wouldn't deac if you told them deac. I lived the first five years of my

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Christian life when I was thrown out of my home by being a Christian in the home of a dear godly deacon. I was taught how to read the

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Bible by a deacon. I was taught how to pray by a deacon. I love Baptist deacons if they deac. But you may be chairman of the deacon, brethren.

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I don't know who the chairman is, but if you vote yes in a Baptist business meeting and a 12 -year -old boy who is a baptized believer and who knows the

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Lord votes no, your votes cancel. Do you know that? Well, I'll tell you what, brother, it'll be all right.

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That's the way it is. We just don't look at it that way. But what would have happened if Goliath had listened?

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What if Goliath had not confronted the spokesman of the Lord? What if Goliath had said, wait a minute, we're wrong.

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These are the people of the Lord. We ought to follow their God, not all these gods we got. Things would have been different.

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Marx, Lenin, and Stalin, every single one of those three men sat in a

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Bible class at one time in their life. What would have happened? No godless atheism on this earth.

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No godless communism on the planet earth. And most of this earth sits under the control of communism, and communism has conquered more people in two generations than Christianity has in 2 ,000 years.

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Why is it such? Because they refuse to listen to the word of the Lord. And in our civilized, cultured

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America, the crime rate climbs to the skies. Divorce rate devastates the home.

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10 ,000 preachers a year get out of the ministry in our country.

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Divorce is rampant amongst the ministry, as your pastor could give testimony of those even that he would know.

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Precious brothers and wives just throwing it to the wind. Greed has gripped the hearts, not only of godless people, but Christians.

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We talk about sacrificial living and know nothing of it. Have you ever seen a U -Haul behind a hearse in a funeral procession?

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Well, we think we're gonna haul it down there with us, don't we? The Bible says, naked you came in, brother, and that's the way you're gonna go out.

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I wish every godly man and woman could go see an embalming. It'll make you realize the futility of the flesh.

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You are worth $4 .75 chemically with inflation. If you know

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Jesus, it increases the value. But dear people, we are tuned in to the things of this earth, and there's nothing wrong with earthly things if God gives them to you.

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But if you're going out and getting ulcers and beating your head against the wall to get them, that's wrong. You and I know that, we just don't act upon it.

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Greed has gripped the hearts of people, and lawlessness is loosed in the streets of the world.

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And every one minute, there is a violent crime committed in this country. One -fourth of all property crime committed by teenagers.

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Every one minute, there's a murder, a rape, a robbery, an assault to kill. Every 18 seconds, there's an automobile stolen in this country.

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Venereal disease will go up 255 % this year. One out of every four women, when they get married, is already expecting a child when she stands at the altar.

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One out of every six teenagers before 16 years of age will stand before a criminal judge in this country.

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Lawlessness is rampant. Why? Because this country has had more opportunity to hear the gospel preached than any nation that has ever existed, including where it started in Palestine.

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It is on the television, it's on the radio, where we agree with them doctrinally. We have problems with doctrine with a lot of people, and I believe rightly so.

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But ladies and gentlemen, when salvation, Paul says, if Jesus is even preached in contention,

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I'll rejoice in that and leave it with God. Now, I stand on doctrine, don't misunderstand me, and I'll stand where I am on my belief about biblical doctrine.

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But this country has had greater opportunity sometimes than it even deserves to hear the gospel, and your town has had the gospel.

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You got churches around your city. I saw four signs just driving in, and yet this city sits more lost right now than it has any time in its history.

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You say, listen, I've been all over this area down here. I don't come. Listen, your pastor checked me out before he asked me to come.

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Well, you think I'm gonna come down here with a bunch of Gentiles and not check you out? You don't travel where I travel, huh?

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Sure. What am I saying? Well, the Bible, listen, multiplied thousands of people never, never consider him who is the answer to life.

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They want to come and take up the pastor's time. We have a family counseling center that we've been operating for quite some years now, and it's amazing.

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People come in with all kinds of problems, and I understand and appreciate the problems, and I don't minimize the problems. But you know, there is no problem ever existed in human history.

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You will never face a problem if there's not an answer. In God's word, if you just want to go to trouble and find it. Listen, you don't have to read the whole

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Bible. I mean, read it. Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. But if you and I just live in Ephesians chapter 4, you have it made. That's all you need is

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Ephesians 4. One chapter. If you and I live successfully in that chapter, we'll be successful Christians. What we want to do, we want to wait until we die to have that material life.

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Well, I'll wait till I get over yonder to enjoy my Christianity. That isn't what the Bible says, and it's because we don't consider him.

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You got churches everywhere that they preach everything under the sun except the cross of Jesus Christ. When was the last time you heard on the radio and television somebody preaching about the cross and the blood of Jesus Christ?

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You just don't hear it. I believe in social involvement. I believe in civic betterment. I believe that community pride is a godly thing,

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Christian citizenship, and all of those things. But Paul said it is the preaching of the cross that is the power of God.

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It is when you and I come back to the cross and come back to the blood and come back to the death and atonement of a crucified

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Savior risen and giving us life, then that is when we're going to have what we ought to have in our communities and in our homes and in our churches.

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I'm in churches. I go in and speak and they invite me in. Why? I have not the slightest idea. They don't even believe the

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Bible is the word of God. Now, if you want to know where I am, you probably don't, but I must tell you anyway, I believe in the infallible, inerrant word of God.

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That means Genesis, Revelation. The more I study it, the less problem I have with it. My problem is not the Bible. My problem is me.

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I'm a strange breed. I'm a pre -tribulation, pre -millennial dispensationalist. You say, what is that?

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I believe men like Dr. Criswell and Adrian Rogers and Bailey Smith and Peter James and John and Paul.

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I follow people like that. Well, now,

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Brother Rocky, you don't believe when I was in seminary and said, now all of John isn't history. I said, what? He said, all of John is not history.

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I said, well, which part is and which part isn't? They never did pin anything down for me.

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Why? Just listen, that's anarchy. Just believe whatever you want, whatever fits. And the tragedy is, we say we believe the

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Bible is God's word, but practically we don't. And we are refusing to preach.

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I'm not just talking about the pastor. I'm talking about you and I are to proclaim the word of the Lord. You and I are as much responsible as a pastor is or as a minister of music is.

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We are all mutually responsible to proclaim the gospel. But you won't be president of Civitan Road and Lines if you do.

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And if you are, you probably aren't. Excuse me, I got a full tank of gas.

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I'm ready to roll. Don't worry. I don't roll in town unprepared. It never bothers me till I hear chickens and smell tar, then it bothers me.

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It excited my heart when I went into your Sunday school class and the pastor said one of the departments and to sense, although I don't know them, but to sense because of the questions about the

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Bible. And to talk with your pastor on the phone and to sense here's a church that believes the Bible. A pastor that believes the

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Bible. Now he doesn't know this. I never want to embarrass anyone, but one way you can find out about preachers is when you go in their study, look at their bookshelves.

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See the books and you can tell where they are biblically and theologically by the books they've read. Now you,

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I think we need to read a lot of things that I don't believe sometimes, but you see, I look and see which ones he has the most of and I'll say that's where his interest is.

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And I was delighted to see that I got some of those same books brother. That doesn't mean we're going to agree on everything.

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Listen, I wouldn't agree, you and I wouldn't agree on everything, but once you get light on the scripture you'll agree with me.

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You understand that. You can disagree with me anytime you like as long as you just please remember one thing,

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I'm always right. In our churches we teach everything under the sun except Christ.

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I was a member of a church in Fort Worth, Dr. James Coggin, pastor, was my pastor.

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And we sent across, we had the 10th largest church in the Southern Baptist Convention, sent two men, teams of men, two at a time, all across the

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United States to find out how these great churches, sent them to the 10 largest Sunday schools in America. What are you doing in your church to grow?

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Went to a church up in Ohio and went in and a church running 7 ,000 in Sunday school.

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Said what's the secret of your Sunday school growth? They had a Sunday school superintendent, high school education, he wasn't a college graduate or seminary graduate.

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High school education, upper middle -aged gentleman came in with overalls on. We went in with our suits and ties and all kinds of notepads and tape recorders and going to get all this wealth of wisdom.

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I'll never forget him, that gentleman handed us out and he says, brethren preach and teach that book and God bless your

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Sunday school. I went into a church some time ago and man said to me, he said would you come into my

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Sunday school class and just kind of visit with us and maybe a question on this passage of scripture and so I went in and had a good time enjoyed it somewhat and after he said could you give me an observation as to why you think my

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Sunday school class isn't growing? I said sure if you want me to. I've learned better to answer those kind of questions in later years but I said yeah and what he did is he had him a little book, we call it a quarterly.

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He had it laying up there and his Bible laying over to the side and then that quarterly had an underline all kinds of things and that's what he read and I said why should

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I get up 30 minutes early and come and give you an hour of my life to read me from a book that I got the same book and I can read it at home just like you do.

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You and I are supposed to teach the Bible from what God gives us out of the Bible, that overflow of our heart we share that with people.

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I don't want a quarter of anything, I want it all if you're going to teach me, teach me. The quarterly was never meant to be taught, it is only a suggested guide.

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We've got a lot of Sunday school teachers, we just don't have many Bible teachers. There is a difference ladies and gentlemen, we need to come back to the book and teach the book.

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Use the quarterly, use whatever you want but study the word of God and we are failing to preach the word of God, we are failing to teach the word of God and we are failing to reach people with a gospel.

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We are baptizing fewer people every year. Do you know that two out of every ten people who come to the average

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Baptist church in this country are brought by the pastor? Two out of ten, I mean eight out of ten, it means two out of ten is brought by the entire congregation.

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Most of the people are brought into the average church are brought by one man and that's the pastor. The same is true in my church, we have a church running about 1300 people and most of the people who join that church are brought by my pastor.

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95 out of every, now hear me carefully sweet people, 95 out of every 100 church members in the

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United States of America never in their life as a Christian ever lead one person to Jesus Christ.

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That is according to the statistics given to us by the executive board of the Southern Baptist Convention. 95 out of every 100, if that statement is true, excuse me, that means that most of you people in the choir and the congregation have never led one person to Jesus Christ in your entire life of being a

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Christian and yet Jesus the first thing he said was go and proclaim the gospel to every creature.

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I'm a Christian because somebody witnessed to me. I'm a Christian because a Baptist church prayed for me.

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Now I believe you can be saved in a Methodist church, don't misunderstand me, you probably got a better shot at the Baptist church, but I mean you may say you know

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I believe in heaven there'll be some Methodists and Presbyterians and some Pentecostals if they don't get excited and run by the gate in the process, but I believe that there'll be some people from each denomination but I know this, we blame the pastor or we blame the church without realizing we are the church and we're not getting the job done and there are people you meet every single day of your life and you never saying to them anything to them about Jesus, but if I would ask you this morning do you love

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Jesus, you'd say yes. Are you committed to Jesus? Yes, and I wouldn't doubt that because I've been exactly like that in my life.

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Know the facts, say the words, and not do it, and not do it.

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Well what's he say here? Look at it, verse 3, 4, consider Him, why?

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Very quickly, He is the eternal Savior, there is no other.

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Matthew 1 21, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

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Acts 4 12, neither is there any other for there's none other name unto heaven given amongst men, whereby we must be saved.

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Romans 10 9 and 10 13, for if thou should confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

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For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Whosoever shall call on the name of the

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Lord shall be saved. There is no other, Isaiah 53, that great portrayal of the crucifixion of Christ, it says he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, it says all we like sheep have gone astray, we've turned everyone to his own way, and God has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

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John 1 12, but as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe upon, commit themselves to, put their trust in, place their confidence in, by an act of their will surrender themselves to him.

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Let me ask you a simple question this morning ladies and gentlemen please, do you know beyond all doubt that you're saved?

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Now I don't believe in preaching doubts, I believe in preaching God, but do you know, do you know that I met a lady not too long ago that I asked her she came up and met me after the service and I said are you a member of this church ma 'am because I don't know who he is you know and I said are you a member of this church she said yes

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I am I'm a charter member I said well how long you been a member here she says 42 years

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I said ma 'am could I ask you a personal question she said yes I said are you saved she said you didn't hear a thing

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I said boy she said I said to you I've been a minister before I said I understand that she began to tell me when she got baptized when she joined the church

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I said that's not what I'm asking you what I want to know is when did you yourself in your own words and personality when did you ask

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Jesus to save you come into your heart whatever words you want to use when did you commit your life to Jesus personally personally

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I was preaching a meeting not too long ago and had a 64 year old deacon who came down the aisle and said pastor

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I'm not saved I was at First Baptist Church they'll not mind me a minute First Baptist Church in Sinton a year ago and a young deacon's wife came down the aisle and said

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I'm not saved why she had to be saved why look at all she's done she's taught such good that salvation by works sometimes the most active

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Christians I know are the most defeated Christians I meet activity is not spirituality but spirituality will cause activity if Jesus is the only savior that means my family the

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Jews are lost that means your family is lost that means the Buddhist the

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Islamic the Shintoist the Taoist that means all other religions are lost unless they have had a personal experience with Jesus Christ he is the eternal savior and you and I must reconsider that particular fact if it is true the man you trade with in a store maybe the person you buy gas from I don't know the lady does your hair if they die today they will spend that eternity separated from God my question ladies and gentlemen is do you really care excuse me do we care well

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I'll call the church and the pastor will go visit him that's not his job that's not his job if they're your friend that's your responsibility don't give him your monkeys to feed feed your own he has enough of his own they are your and my responsibility we ought to consider him as the eternal savior and the eternal shepherd

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Bible says seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness get saved and become an obedient disciple of Christian Christ I am

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I am is a diminutive suffix that means lesser than but like unto when people see us they ought to see a little

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Jesus they ought to see Christ in our lives as we move about Psalm 23 the

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Lord is my shepherd I shall not want oh how we know that Jesus said in John 10 I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd gives his life for his sheep you go to an

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American shepherd and you'll see one thing you go to a Palestinian shepherd and you'll see another you go to the shepherds in Palestine in Israel you'll see that they do something different in America you go to the where they got sheep they have sheep dogs and they stick a dog on the sheep and the dog chases the sheep run around barking nipping scaring them running them in now you go over into the

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Middle East how many of you have been to Israel anybody have been to Israel wonderful all of you ought to go every

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Christian man I ain't traveling you crazy come with me and it'd be all right depends on who you go with if you go to Israel you won't go with a

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Jew not a Gentile if I came to Texas I want somebody in Texas to show me around I don't want somebody from Minnesota well if you go to Israel go with a

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Jew see Israel through Jewish eyes makes a difference but you know a

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Palestinian shepherd leads the sheep they just walk and the sheep follow them that's why

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Jesus said my sheep know my voice I'm a graduate of about three or four different seminaries

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I have three earned doctor's degrees I have a d -man thd and a phd and all that other stuff but I learned more in 15 minutes from a sheepherder in Weatherford Texas about what the

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New Testament means about a relationship that a person has with Jesus and I learned in all of your seminaries I mean that sincerely his name is

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A .W. Clark called him awful because he never bathed I mean he must not have ever bathed he always came to church with rubber boots and a rubber jacket on when he walked in the church everyone knew he was present he never had to sign anything or check in they just knew he was there he never sat down he stood in the back he's gone on to be with the

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Lord now Reverend Jim McElroy was pastor at the time he's now pastor of the First Baptist Church in Las Vegas Nevada he called me and the pastor out one day he said

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I want y 'all to come out we went out here 300 sheep and all these sheep there they are beautiful balmy days little cumulus clouds or some kind little fluffy ones up there floating around little rolling hills he said

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Brother Rocky he said call those sheep I said what he said call them I said hey sheep what you gonna do you know

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I'm raising the city I don't know that sheep whistled hum hollered all that stuff he said pastor call sheep you know when you holler a dog will look up a cat look up sheep won't you can scream your lungs out no sheep is going green this pastor now he was raised in Colorado and his father was a farmer you know he kind of whistled and hummed a little bit there and I thought man if I was a sheep you know at least

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I'd pay attention they didn't even look this old man had an old bible it was held together with rubber bands went through it year after year

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I mean just digested that book witnessed everywhere he went he said watch this grinning from ear to ear my soul are something here come the clang and he clang clang he come this old ram just running and all 300 sheep coming over those hills and he just turned and grinned and says, my sheep know my voice.

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I looked at him momentarily, you know, all those sheep came up, he said, get you one brother Rocky. I said, what? He said, any one you have, if you can get it, you'd have it.

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Well, I like a little lamb here and there, you know, so I thought, yeah, I'll get me one. I picked out a little spindly leg lamb, you know, anybody catch a lamb?

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I didn't know that sheep can jump straight up and they can go backwards and sideways as well as they can go forward. I did everything in my power trying to catch a sheep.

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You know what those sheep did? Every time I moved, they shifted. 300 sheep would move just like that and they always kept him between me and them and he said, my sheep know that I care for them and I'm their protector.

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He said, watch this. He just put his hands out and said, off he goes and 300 sheep began to follow him.

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He said, I feed my sheep too and I said, what is this old man saying to me? And I, that night, just sat and thought and thought and thought and I began to run my

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Bible, everything I could find in the New Testament about sheep, everything I could find about a relationship, sheep, what

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Jesus said and I learned more from that dear old man about what he meant. Listen, dear people, when you know

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Jesus, the world's voice doesn't communicate to you. It doesn't mean anything to you and what the people say or think about you is immaterial.

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What difference does it make if they like you or don't like you? You are on this earth to glorify God and to witness for Jesus Christ and if we don't, what difference does it make what people like you or accept you or not?

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If they do, fine. If they don't, that's their problem, not yours. Why accept it is your problem.

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Some must be wrong with me, they don't like me. No, if you live for Jesus, they won't like you most of the time and if you're like everybody in town, you're not walking with God, excuse me.

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If everybody likes you, you're not living for Jesus because he says the world hated me and it'll hate you. Oh, but he's a good guy, wonderful, hell be full of him.

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She's a wonderful sweet lady, hell be full of him. Harsh but true. He is our eternal shepherd.

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Every trial of humanity, storms of life, every crisis that comes into your life, he is the only one that you can have complete confidence in.

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When I became a believer, a 21 -year -old young Jewish boy who came to know Jesus as his

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Messiah, immediately the rabbi was called, a funeral service was held and I no longer exist.

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I was at the First Baptist Church in Carnegie, Oklahoma in a Bible conference when the pastor, bless his dear heart, a good brother, came to the motel and said,

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Rocky, I must tell you, your father's passed away. The word trickled down to my office and finally got up to me and I knew

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I was not even allowed to go to the funeral service. I've not seen my mother in over 20 years of being a

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Christian. I don't say that to evoke your sympathy. I'm happier than I've ever been, but don't talk to me about crises in life.

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Jesus is the only thing that matters to you and me. Amen? Yes, yes.

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Sure your heart will hurt. You'll shed many tears. Your boss may fire you. You may lose your home.

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Any number of things. God understands that and knows it. And David said, I have never seen the righteous begging bread and you haven't either.

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You haven't either. You didn't have all you wanted, but you haven't been without. He always takes care.

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Somehow, he is the eternal shepherd and then very quickly, in closing, he is the eternal sovereign.

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One of the most difficult things I shared with the class, a verse of Scripture. For me, as a young Christian, never having been to church in my life, when

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I went on that Wednesday night and then the first Sunday night I was ever in church, I became a believer. And they began to sit down and I went home to talk to my parents and they said no, out, and all this.

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And from that moment on, it was closed. This dear deacon, Mr. Claude Rawlinson, built a room on the back of his home, cleared it out and rearranged it that I might have a place to live.

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And that pastor and his family, wife and daughter, and this man, his daughter and son, began to nurture my ignorant life.

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And I struggled for so long with Deuteronomy 6 .4, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, which all

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Jews know. And I couldn't understand how it could be three and yet one. How it could be one and three.

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And I was even preaching 40 and 50 revivals a year and couldn't understand it.

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Didn't even, I mean, sometimes I didn't even know I believed it. They just said, whatever you read in the book, you can trust.

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And I did. I said, Lord, I don't know if I believe that or not. But I'm going to work with it.

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And I still today can't explain it to you. I just know it's true. But I had an 11 -year -old little girl told me one time.

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I was in a meeting and we were talking and I heard her talking. We got into conversation and this little 11 -year -old girl asked me, she said, what do you have in the

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Bible that is a problem? And I looked at her and I said, what did you say? And it just seemed like God just sent a little 11 -year -old girl into my path.

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Now I had professor friends. I'm an adjunct professor of two seminaries. They didn't know any more about it than I did.

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Don't misunderstand me, I'm not that critical of seminary, but sometimes it's good you don't go. Excuse me,

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Pastor. Sometimes it's good to go. But you know, I told her. I said, well,

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I think a lot about God being one and one and three. And she said to me, and you've heard this, but it was such an enlightening thing to me.

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Here I was, a doctor, theology. And this 11 -year -old girl said to me, she said, when

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I look up and I see the sun, that's God. When I look out and I see the light, that's

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Jesus. When I put my hand out, I get warm, that's the Holy Spirit. Boy, I got to thinking about that all that day and all that night.

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I began to get me books on science. I began to contact Henry Morse, who's become a good brother. I began to contact all these people,

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Clifford Wilson and all these guys, the scientists. I began to get all these Lambert Dolphin research assistants at Stanford, all these names, all these guys.

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I began to read everything I could read about this problem. And I thought, well, that's it. They come from the same essence, but they are three personalities.

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God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And the

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Holy Spirit is as much God as God. And Jesus is God in the flesh. And this is old hat to you, but I was reading in Yochanan, and I was reading in chapter 8, that's

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John. And I read over there in John where Jesus talked to that woman who was caught in a sin.

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You remember? Caught in a desperate sin of the community. How did he deal with her? Very tenderly, very lovingly, and very compassionately.

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Here he was, God in the flesh, dealing with a human being.

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And then, I call that the Milk of Magnesia approach. It had just no problems.

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Then right in the middle of John the 8th chapter, he changes. He begins to deal with religious people. Traditionalists.

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Well, this is what we've always believed, Jesus. He called them a liar. He called them murderers.

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He called them adulterers. And he said, you are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you do.

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You do just like him. Now, you and I, we wouldn't call anybody a liar, and we wouldn't tell them their father's

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Satan, but your Lord did. And you know they didn't do anything to him?

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Until he made one statement in John 8, 58. And he said, before Abraham was,

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I am. And he used the same identical Hebrew words that Moses heard coming from that burning bush.

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You tell Pharaoh, I am, that I am sent you. And immediately, my people took up stones to kill him.

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Because he was claiming to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do you believe that?

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If you believe that, that will motivate you to get busy in your city about Jesus.

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Because most of the people in your good town don't believe that. If they do believe it, they believe it in their mind, and it does nothing for their life.

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And that leads me to ask you to turn to our last verse of scripture. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1.

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2 Thessalonians chapter 1. He is the eternal Savior, there is no other way to get saved.

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He is the eternal Shepherd, he will supply all your needs. Self says satisfy self, Jesus says crucify self.

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He is the eternal sovereign God, he is God in the flesh, and he is the eternal judge.

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And in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 1. Would you look at me please at verse 7?

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And to you who are troubled, rest with us. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, watch it, with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not

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God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the

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Lord, and the glory of his power. When Jesus comes back, he will not say, well ma 'am, you did as best you could, no he won't.

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He will only say well done where a well done is deserved. The song says he will understand and say well done, no he won't.

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He'll say well done thy good and faithful servant if it's deserving. And the hypocrisy and the facade and the sham and the faker and all of it, it will be seen for what it is.

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The secret things will be cast from the housetops. We'll know then who's just a

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Baptist, and who's really saved. We'll know then who teaches Sunday school to minister the word, or someone who likes the position.

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We'll know then about those who preach the word of God to be seen of men, and have the praise and applause of people, rather than ministering the word of the

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Lord in the name of Jesus. We'll know then who really belongs to the blessed

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Savior, the Lord Jesus. This morning I have no doubt in my mind that most of you people would be saved people.

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I wouldn't have any reason to doubt that choir or congregation that you know you were born again. If I were to ask you individually, if you love the

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Lord, you would say yes. And I wouldn't have any reason to disbelieve that. I believe that everyone here who claims to know the

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Lord, loves the Lord. You're here because you love the Lord. But then if I begin to say, could

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I be personal? And do you do the ABCs, just ABC of Christianity? One is, do you read your

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Bible every day? If you don't, it's sin, because the Bible says, feed on the word, period.

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Period means it's imperative, it's a command. You don't have a choice about it. He doesn't say if you can squeeze a chapter of the Bible in your schedule, he says do it.

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The same one says love one another, it says feed on the word. Now listen to me carefully ladies and gentlemen. We are here for an entire week together and we're not here to play games are we?

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We're here to let God minister to our hearts and this is where we are. But you let the high school have a basketball game and you can forget revival,

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God or anything else. Oh I've been reading the newspapers. You let them do something with football, oh I know.

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How many of those kids have you witnessed to for Jesus? How many of them if they're killed in a car accident will spend an eternity separating from God?

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Where is our allegiance? I love sports. And I keep up with all of them, anything.

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Handball, volleyball, any of it, I read it all. Everything from Miss Woodward with the go -carters, I read it all. And I like some of you,

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I can go. But it's amazing to me, you can sit down and watch a ball game for two or three hours and can't take 15 minutes to talk to your son or daughter about Jesus.

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That's what amazes me. But you see the reason I know about it is because I've been exactly that way. Because I don't take advantage of all my opportunities.

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And that's what bothers me. Why don't I? So I don't come to you preaching to you in a condescending attitude.

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I face the same problems you do. Read your

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Bible every day, pray. Be in an attitude of prayer, pray without ceasing. What does that mean? For God's sake don't drive down the highway and close your eyes and start praying.

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It doesn't mean that. It just means that you stay so close to the Lord that you can talk to Him at any moment at any time and you also can listen to Him at any moment at any time.

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Tune in to Him. And then, how many people would stand this morning if I went individually?

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How many people have come down the aisles of this dear church? Beautiful auditorium. Magnificent facilities.

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Sense of warm fellowship. You love each other. How many people have come down this aisle and said, Pastor, last night in my home,

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Brother So -and -so or Sister So -and -so or called the name of someone in your church and said, led me to Jesus last night.

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Showed me how to get saved and they left and I just got in my room by myself and asked Jesus to come into my heart.

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Let me close. I shared in Sunday School again, if you'll permit me to say that again, about a young man.

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He's been a Christian for one year. He's a Jewish young man. He has a multinational corporation.

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He has access to some of the leaders of the world. What he does, he's the leader of the field.

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You know how he became a Christian? He had a Christian attorney. And the guy just kept saying, why don't

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I come by your office sometime and pray with you? He just gave me his testimony about three days ago. Why don't

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I come by your office and praise Him? I didn't want Him around me. So finally, after just months, every time I talked to him on the phone, he said, why don't

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I just come by and we'll pray about this? He said, no. So finally, he says, come on. And the attorney came to his office, shared the gospel with him, and said, now

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I'd like to pray. And he said, well, go ahead and pray. And he said, I just sat back in the chair and listened to him pray. He said, but all that day,

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I couldn't get it out of my mind. What he's saying seems right. And he said, I went home early that afternoon and I got my

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Bible out and I went over every scripture he showed me. And he says, and God spoke to my heart by myself.

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In the darkness of my bedroom, I knelt and gave my heart to Jesus as the Messiah of Israel and the

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Savior of the world. A world leader who came to know Jesus because a

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Christian businessman just showed him he cared because he wanted to pray about his business. See, there are all kinds of little ways to do it.

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And they're not always the same, but the thing is to do it. To do it. What would you do with Jesus?

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You can't be neutral. You cannot be. And one of these days, your heart's going to be asking, now what will he do with me?

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And I'll close with this thought. You've been so patient. I try to observe time, but you know, you and I may never meet again.

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We may never meet again. Oh, I know what we're planning, but we may never meet again. Sir, when was the last time your wife saw you on your knees talking to God?

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If you went home and didn't get on your knees, you should have a coronary. Your children struggle in life because you don't lead them spiritually.

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Oh, you may be a Baptist and a member of the church. You may come on Sunday morning. You may trickle in on Sunday night.

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Do you come on prayer meeting? Do you come kneel and pray? Do you like to pray? Do you pray with your children over their problems?

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Do you sit down and listen to them, what's going on in their life? Do you find out what's troubling them? Do they contribute to your family? Wives, do you encourage them or nag?

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Do you encourage them or complain? Do you encourage them or gripe? Do you take time out during your day to pray for your husband, pray for your children?

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Young people, are you takers or givers? Do you think your parents owe you everything in the world, spending over $125 ,000 to get you through four years of college?

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From the time you're born to the time you get out, $125 ,000? That's if you don't even get sick. They owe it to you, do they?

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Or do you go to them and say, Mom, Dad, I know we don't understand each other all the time, we don't get along all the time, but I want you to know I love you and I'm grateful.

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Why don't we do those things? Brothers, search your heart this morning, and ma 'am, search your heart and consider him who is the author and finisher of our faith, because he's the one you and I shall stand before to give an account of our lives as Christian people.

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Father, I thank you for the preciousness of these moments. I thank you for the patience of these people.

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I thank you for their personalities. And Lord, realizing so many different personalities, there's so many different needs that we have.

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And each of us has a particular need. Some of us have more than one need. And Father, in our heart of hearts, we love you.

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And we really want to be what you want us to be. We don't mean to be wayward. We don't mean to be rebellious.

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We don't mean to be on the sidelines. We don't mean to be in the background. We don't mean to retire on Jesus.

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It's just that sometimes we get so caught up in the program of living we forget. But Lord, would you stir our pure minds to remembrance this morning about who

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Jesus is and our relationship to him and that the only purpose we have on earth is to witness for Jesus Christ.

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Making a living, raising a family, all those are byproducts. But our main concern is to be a witness for our

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Savior and our Lord. Lord Jesus, we love thee and adore thee. What thou hast done on the cross, we cannot grasp.

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What you accomplished in the resurrection is beyond our mind. We read about it, know a little of it, but cannot fathom or plumb its depth.

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What went on behind Calvary when the Father turned his back and thou cried out to my God, my

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God, why hast thou forsaken me, we cannot understand. But what you accomplished for us, we are grateful.

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And I just pray this morning for these sweet people and precious families that as the pastor comes and our minister of music comes and leads us softly and tenderly,

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Jesus is calling, may that truly be what it is. And may Christian men and women, families, couples come and just say,

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Pastor, we just believe we want to commit our homes back to the place where we want it to be. We want to draw closer to the

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Lord. If there's a person here who's already a Christian, they've already been born again, but they've never followed the Lord in believer's baptism, which comes after salvation.

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Even though they may have been a Christian for a long time, they need to do that this morning. They could come and speak to the pastor,

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Lord, and we know that the church will take care of all those little details for them. They could just come and say, I am a

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Christian, I know the Lord, but I've never followed him in believer's baptism. I want to do that this morning. Maybe you'd raise up someone who'd be concerned about winning souls.

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Father, in these brief few moments that we have, I pray that, Father, the time would not be a factor.

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I pray that my personality would not be a barrier. And I just pray that you'd let people see Jesus and bless their hearts and lives because of their coming into the house of the

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Lord. And have your pleasure this morning because of this service, and we'll praise you in Jesus' name.

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With your heads bowed, let's stand together, please. Everyone stand. No one leaving now. Bow your heads. I'm going to ask the choir to begin singing.

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As soon as they're ready, they'll just start singing. And the pastor will meet you here at the front. This is your church. It's your community.

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You love it. This is your pastor. He's here not as an intermediate, but as a guide, a counselor, an encourager.

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Sir, would you come? Granddad, would you come? Don't be embarrassed. Why be embarrassed? Would you come, ma 'am?

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Mom and Dad, would you come together and say, we just want to dedicate our home, our lives back to the Lord? We love Him. We're committed to Him, but we want to be what

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He wants us to be. Would you? Young man, young lady, would you commit your date life? Would you commit your home life?

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Whatever it is, would you surrender to the Lord? Would you? Would you leave unchanged?