Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow | part 3 (Pastor Jeff Shipley)

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

It wasn't the type of people they were going to be. This is part 3 of our study in the book of Daniel.

We're going to be in Daniel chapter 5. And just want to let you know, we're looking at Daniel 5, we're looking about the year 539

B .C. Now I say about, it could be 540, 539, but the reason we're so specific about those dates is this.

We have other sources, Belisar and the Babylonian Chronicles, both which are in the

British Museum of History, that talk and correlate with this time frame, use the same names, use the same dates as the word of God.

Of course, some people say, well that validates God's word. Well, I look at it a little bit differently.

God's word validates it, but we'll get to that hopefully on our last week.

Let me tell you what's going on. Nebuchadnezzar II, the person we have been talking about, whoever's doing this, do this a little bit more, because I feel like I'm screaming at people.

Nebuchadnezzar, he died in about 562 A .D. He died after ruling for about 40 years.

And his rule is well documented and well sourced. We know a lot about him.

Once again, if you're struggling with the reality of God's word, it behooves you to actually struggle and not just doubt.

And that means you're actually going to have to think and study and put things to the test.

Either way, Nebuchadnezzar has died. His grandson, Belshazzar, is now a co -regent with his father.

We're going to call him Nabbo, because I don't want to try to keep pronouncing his name and sound like an idiot.

Nabbo is the king, but his son, Belshazzar, is the co -regent, the co -king, if you will, which never works out when your son tries to follow you in your footsteps.

Thank you, babe. So he's having a party, Belshazzar.

We know at this time the Persian Empire has gotten a lot bigger and a lot stronger, and the

Neo -Babylonian Empire has been weakened through political strife, plagues, and geopolitically,

I put a map on your paper, you'll see how the Persian Empire is actually surrounding, on three sides, the

Babylonian Empire. And so there are these constant skirmishes going on between the

Persians and the Babylonians. Well, we think old Nabbo, the main guy, the father of Belshazzar, has gone out and he is going to fight the

Persians. In fact, in my belief system, right before Daniel chapter 5 was written, about two weeks before that, if you want to study this, write this down, at the

Battle of Opus, yes, Opus, I didn't spell it or name it, that's just the name they gave him, at the

Battle of Opus, the Babylonians are fixing to be whooped. So the Persians are coming against the capital.

Belshazzar, this spoiled brat little boy, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, the son and co -regent of an empire, who for 70 years has kept

Israel captive, just like God said they would, is about to come to an end.

So he's sitting there, verses 1 through 4, and he's having a party. And while he's having this party, he decides in a moment of absolute arrogance, he says, go bring me the vessels of the

Temple of Jerusalem. Go bring me all those holy artifacts that my grandfather captured so many years ago.

Bring them and we're going to drink wine out of them to the Baal God, by the way, whose name was

Sin. So they're all sitting there, all the chicks and the consorts and the governors, they're having a big old time.

And they bring the vessels in and they pour wine into the vessels of God. And they all drink and they start worshipping other gods, mocking the god

Yahweh. About that time, Belshazzar takes a drink and he takes a swig and he looks over and everybody else sees it.

And a hand, don't know what size it was, don't know what it looked like, but a hand starting writing on the wall.

And it wrote three words on the wall. Now, I believe those words were actually old

Hebraic words, and that's why none of the folks in there recognize them. But they wrote on the wall and disappeared.

And it says old Belshazzar went from, I'm the baddest man on the planet, to actually losing control of his bowels.

Which is not an illogical course of events. And as he's sitting there, everybody's freaked out.

And he says, what do those words mean? What is that? And he's freaking out and he calls in all of the smartest, greatest peoples.

He wants to follow the science. And so he calls them all in and he says, what does it mean? And they go, we have no idea.

And the queen mother, his mother, comes in and says, oh I know a guy. You know him too.

His name is Daniel. He's been here for 70 years. He is one of the greatest, logical, intelligent, he has great power from his gods.

He helped your grandfather out in Nebuchadnezzar one time when he saw a vision of a statue.

And so he said, well bring Daniel to me. There are some of us in this room today that as we're praising

God, it's not, by the way, music today was freaking awesome.

We're not praising God because of the staccato, the tempo of a beat. We're not praising

God because we're here in a room on Sunday morning. We're praising

God because we have come face to face with a holy God who had every right and sovereignty in which to absolutely throw us out and consider us as nothing more than the kindle of hell.

Yet, for some reason, in his magnificent love, grace, and mercy, he chose to save an old sinner like me.

I can't explain it to you, but I'm grateful for it. But there are others in this room who in their own self -important megalomania, covered in insecurities, and the veneer of I got it under control, and the veneer of I am in control of my own destiny.

I'll do it my way. Yada, yada, yada. They've come to a place where there is no

God except self. And I just want to give you two points this morning. The fallacies of that logic.

Number one, you are assuming the patience of God. You in this room who refuse not to just accept

Jesus Christ into your heart, but refuse to repent at God's word coming at you, are assuming a mercy and patience of God that I promise you will one day go away.

You see, there is a heaven. There is a place of glory. This is not Jeff Shipley.

I can cut this arm off and still be me. This is the vehicle Jeff Shipley is traveling in.

Yeah, it's got a dually, and it's a double wide, but it's still a vehicle.

Okay? There is a soul in me, a trichotomy of my nature, mind, body, and soul, that reflect the triune nature of God.

I was created in His image, and one day my body will give up, but my soul will live eternally.

Now, the question I have for you is, where is your soul going? Are you assuming a level of God's patience?

I knew a young man in high school who said, I believe that there is a God, but I'm going to party and enjoy myself now, and I'll get with God later on.

He was killed four years later in a car accident. You're basing your eternal soul on the patience and mercy of God.

Well, how do we do this? Well, we do a lot like Belshazzar did. We assume

God's patience because, number one, we want to suppress the truth. Look at verse 22.

Daniel interprets the dream to him. Daniel is sitting there talking to this king, and he says in verse 22,

And you, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all of this.

Daniel had just recalled to the king about his grandfather and his father, about how they went against the god

Yahweh, and God had humbled him. And he said to them, You know this, but you still suppress the truth.

I want you just to put your finger here and run over Romans chapter 1 just for a second.

Romans chapter 1. Let's talk about suppressing the truth. Romans chapter 1, verses 18 through 20.

And it says this. All you what -would -Jesus -do -precious -moments kind of people,

I want you to listen. For there is a God of grace that reigns down on me, but by default, if there is grace, there must be wrath, for one cannot exist without the other.

Listen. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all, ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse. Well, Pastor Jeff, I'm not

Baptist. Well, neither am I. Well, Pastor Jeff, I don't believe like you. You don't have to. I'm not asking you to believe like me.

I'm a loser just like you are. I am the same sinner today as you are today.

The difference is, I know the truth, and the truth has set me free. The drugs and all the crud in my past life were not me overcoming them.

There are things God will give you that you cannot overcome except by him.

And I'm telling you here today, there is a truth that is self -evident among you.

You say, Pastor, what is that truth? I, for 35 years, have been a Christian. And I have been waiting for somebody, somebody to explain the origin of the universe without God being in it.

I've been waiting. You said, oh, what about Richard Dawkins? I read his book. Not only is it a rag of literary homiletics, but it is absolutely devoid of absolute proof.

You proved to me there is no God. And today, I will hand you $1 ,000 in cash.

You proved to me there is no God today. I will hand you $1 ,000 in cash, and I will burn this

Bible and spit on it and walk away. That's not a shock value.

I'll really do it. You know why I can say it? Because you ain't going to do it. For 6 ,000 years, man has said, as the

Proverbs say, the fool says in his heart, there is no God. All of creation points to Jesus Christ.

I remember as a high school dropout asking a guy, hey, how does water get up a tree without a pump, without muscles, without anything?

How does it get up the tree? Transpiration. Okay, what's that? Well, that means the water evaporates from the leaves, and the pressure draws the water up the tree like a straw.

I said, that makes sense. How many thousands of years did that have to exist in status before a tree evolved to be able to do that?

Before that evolution took place, how did a tree get water? Professing themselves to be wise, men have became fools.

You are so focused, some of you, on Baptist and Presbyterian and black and white and all this other garbage that has nothing to do with the fundamental self -evident truth that there is a

God and you are not Him. Yes? Am I doing bad?

Is that better? No? No? You know what?

Turn this off, turn this on. Guys, the reality is this.

There is a God, and you're going to stand before Him one day, not in a dream or a

Casper the Ghost kind of moment, not in some make -believe churchy picture of like little people with harps and wings.

By the way, when you die, you don't turn into an angel. Please stop smoking crack, okay? It doesn't happen.

I don't care how many times you write on the back of your window in memory of someone else, it don't happen.

But there is a time coming. In a reality that's going to be even more clear than you sitting right here, you are going to stand before the creator of this universe.

Have you ever been just sitting there thinking one time and you have a self -awareness that you're actually alive?

Does that ever happen to anyone besides me? I mean, it's like, God, I'm alive.

Like, this is weird. You know what happens? We get going through the motions of this make -believe world that this is the reality, this is the finality.

Baby, this is coming to an end. And all you got to do is look at human history to understand that.

Where are the nations of Greece and Rome? Where are the empires that made the world tremble?

They are nothing more than tourist attractions because God said, look unto me and be ye saved.

For I am God and there is no other. And every empire and philosophy, every nation that dared to approach the greatness of God, he as a puppet master made them to be nothing more than dust and hollow shells of history.

Where are you this morning? Are you suppressing the truth? Are you assuming God's mercy by suppressing the truth?

Well, here's something else old Belshazzar did. He suppressed the truth, but he also suppressed the message from God's messengers.

Listen to verse 14. The king, when Daniel shows up, he says this,

I have heard of you that the spirit of the gods is in you.

In verse 16, it says, but I have heard that you... How many of y 'all base your eternal destiny on something you have heard?

I remember when I was a kid, I used to lay in the pew and they'd be singing that old gospel music, you know, that good music.

And my mother would be stroking my head. And the pastor, oh, I loved that pastor.

He didn't ever cause any conviction. It was always a message of hope.

By the way, guys, conviction is hope, okay? But anyways, you see what you put your faith in is in nostalgia.

You have not put it in the Word of God. There is a message from God that is spoken out to all the world, that there is salvation and no other except the name of Jesus Christ.

Do you have that? Well, pastor, I don't understand all this religion. I ain't talking about religion.

Every religion in the world is going straight to hell, including Baptists, okay? It ain't the religion that saved you.

That original creator had an original plan that before the foundations of the world were built,

Jesus Christ was coming to die for a creation that rebelled against God.

You see, God loved us so much that not only did He provide us life, He provided us a way to escape the rebellion

He knew that was coming. And we reject those messengers. Jesus said,

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.

Well, pastor, I walked down the aisle and joined Witten Baptist Church when I was, who cares?

You're really going to heaven based on walking down an aisle? And you're a member of some stupid church? You see, you're ignoring the message of God.

The message of God, the whole Old Testament, points to the cross of Jesus Christ.

And the whole New Testament points back to it. Jesus is the centrality and the only hope you have.

But you see, arrogance in assuming God's patience is mercy is putting your hope and faith in something else other than Him.

And then lastly is this. You're missing out on other people's experiences.

You are assuming a level of arrogance by suppressing the truth.

You're suppressing the truth by not listening to God's word and God's messengers.

You're not listening to the facts of other people's experiences. How many of you in here have a testimony about how

God has saved you? How many of y 'all got one? Okay. Now Gwen, you really don't have one.

You see, no you don't, baby. You see, when Gwen was born, her mama's sitting right back there.

When Gwen was born, eight days after she was born, she was in a Baptist church.

She immediately became a GA and every other A, Lottie Moon, Annie Armstrong, Chris, I mean, the whole nine yards.

Went to a private Baptist school, went to a Baptist church, pretty much the same one her entire life.

When were you saved? What's the date? You don't know the date of your salvation?

Oh, you are going to hell. Guys, some of you in this room, like me, have a testimony that has a lot more scar tissue.

And some of you who don't have that scar tissue say, well,

I didn't go through all that and so I don't know that I'm really saved. Are you listening to the message or are you listening to the scar tissue?

You see, listen to me. You're assuming a level of God's grace is greater for someone who is involved in drugs and whatever.

You're assuming that they have more grace. Listen to me, that is not true. You see, because as we read this morning in Scripture, by one man all mankind has failed.

Understand that the depths of depravity in which I reach, my wife is as guilty as I am.

There is no one in this room, I don't care if you're a dancer, an alcoholic, a drug addict, a wife beater,

I don't care if you've been divorced 32 times, I don't care if you've been a Satanist, Matt.

Where's Matt? Where's Matt? There he is. He was a Satanist. There ain't no way he can get saved.

God can save you, the most vilest of sinners. Wait. And God can also save the one who has believed in their heart that religion has made you whole.

Are you sitting in here today? Are you listening to the testimonies of the greatness of individuals?

Are you watching preachers on TV and you're stirred by their message but the

Holy Spirit of God does not stir you? Listen to me. If your emotions have to be stirred for you to know

God, you are suppressing the truth because I tell you what, you can be sitting in your truck driving on Germantown Road and that place will get you a cousin but you can praise

God in the middle of it. Do you have those moments where you and God, it's just you and God? Do you have those moments where I can remember as a young man being saved,

I can remember losing three jobs in one week, I can remember walking around on the sidewalk going,

God must have something better for me. I didn't even know who Adam and Eve were but there was something inside of my life, something that changed me totally.

Quit listening to the silliness of the world and start listening to the experiences of your life and the heart and the people

God has put in you and then this, notice this, it says in verse 23, read with me in verse 23.

Oh gosh, this is scary. Daniel says, but you have lifted up yourself against the

Lord of heaven. Right there guys, not a good idea. Just want to let you know that.

It says, and the vessels of his house have been brought in before you and you and your lords, your wives, your concubines have drunk wine from them and you have praised the gods of silver and gold.

Aren't you glad we've matured past that? Of bronze, iron, wood and stone which do not see, hear or know but the

God in whose hand is your breath and whose are all your ways you have not honored.

You know, he suppressed the truth but you know what else he did? He defiled holiness.

You know how he defiled holiness? Well, number one, it says you have lifted up yourself.

See, immediately most people go ooh and ah about the vessels. Guys, the vessels were holy because they were separated for one specific purpose.

They weren't like, ooh, you know, holy water and all that other garbage. They were given over to God as holiness like our bodies are holy.

They should be holy to God. Romans 12, 1 and 2, present yourself a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto

God. But the defiling of holiness was this, is that I lift myself up on equal status with God.

Let me tell you how you do that. I was talking with two people. They're this close to getting saved.

I mean, this close to being converted rather. They're this close. They were in my office last

Tuesday. And three weeks ago when I started counseling with them, I asked them, are you

Christians? Oh, yeah. I went to a church right down the street.

I always love it when people say, yeah, are you a Christian? And I would say, yeah, I'm a member of Bellevue. Oh, well, I forgot.

Yeah, right. You know why they said they were saved?

I asked them and they said this, because we're good people. You know what you just did?

Here's God and his perfection and you just went. You think you're good works?

You think your moral good philosophy can bring you on equal par with the standard that God said that no one will come to me unless they are totally holy and righteous?

Do you really think helping an old lady across the street equals the sin of Adam and the thousands of years that have equaled up to that?

Do you think you're totally depraved nature can be erased because you gave money to some idiot preacher on TV?

Do you really think that you can put yourself on equal footing with God?

Well, pastor, I'm not doing that. When you reject Jesus Christ, but still expect heaven, that's exactly what you're doing.

That's exactly what you're doing. You're putting your works and taking

Jesus off the cross. Look at my righteousness, God. Listen to me this morning.

Please do not lift yourself up in the place of God. But here's the other one.

Not only did he desecrate by lifting himself up, it says this, verse 23, the last part of it, you have not honored

God. How do we not honor God at Witten Baptist Church?

How do we not honor God? Come on, Farley, you can answer.

Gossip. Gossip. Now, we don't do that here. But in other

Baptist churches, oh, they're bad about it. By the way, did y 'all hear about Rachel Shipley? Let me share a prayer request with you.

Guys, if you do that, that comes out of your mouth. It's called gossip. It's a sin, and it's just as sinful as being a cross -dressing prostitute.

Why did that analogy come to my mind? I have no idea. God help me.

That's a big one. Reject showing hospitality. I'll never forget this.

This was about 15 years ago. I had this stupid idea to put up a basketball goal out here and let the peoples of the neighborhoods come and play, you know.

Then I could sashay out there, you know, throw down my game. Actually, I just usually talked, but I could tell them about Jesus.

I'll never forget this. I had a lady, and I can mimic exactly what...

She came into my office and went, Pastor, we don't need neighborhood people hanging out up here.

My children come here. And I remember sitting there going,

Oh, my God. I don't need to pray for them. I need to pray for your children because they're going to be screwed with a mother like you.

You see, she was worried about not just black folk, the Mexicans, and basically anyone who wasn't white, you know, because white people are very godly.

Yeah, I wish you'd have been running around with me 30 years ago. Yeah. Yeah.

Guys, we don't honor God because we don't honor that which he loves.

Let me ask you a question. How do you serve God? There's only one answer. Serve your neighbor.

Serve your people. If you're not serving God's people, I don't care how much time you sing.

I don't care how many times you preach. By the way, this is not ministry. This is not ministry.

That up there is not ministry. Ministry is sacrificing your time and serving your brother and sister in Christ.

That is how you actually serve God. You want to honor him? Serve him.

Old Belshazzar didn't do it. Last thing. You know, besides suppressing truth and assuming

God's grace, you want to know what old Belshazzar did? He played with God's sovereignty.

Mm. Mm -mm -mm. Verse 23. Now, listen to this. And I'm going to do it in the middle of the verse.

But it says, Against the Lord of heaven, but the God in whose hand is your breath and whose are all your ways you have not honored.

I'm 55. I weigh about 200 pounds.

I know that I'm rounding third base. I know I am. My children keep telling me,

Oh, Dad, you're going to live another 25 years. No, I'm not. No, I'm not.

Oh, well, Dad, if you start... Jeremiah always tells me, Dad, start using those rubber bands and stretch and, you know, start jogging.

Okay. That means I'm just going to die quicker. I'm rounding third base, guys.

I'm halfway there. I'm done. I have way more days behind me than I do in front of me.

And I ain't going to lie. There are times when I'm driving my truck or working out in the shop and I feel that,

Oh, Elizabeth, I'm coming to see you, you know. Younger kids, you don't get that. But I'm done.

The other day I was forging, left the gas on, forge was...

and something fell and I reached down and right, my head went right past that flame and thank

God it wasn't right in front of it or I'd been a crispy critter, right? The other day

I was using boiled linseed oil and making knife sheets and it was all down the front of my britches and then

I decided, Hey, let's fire up the welder. So I fired up the welder and as I'm sitting there welding, my leg gets hot and I look down and my leg's on fire.

You know? That's why we have an associate pastor, four of them.

Hey, guys. Yeah. Hey, guys.

You know when I'm going to die? Exactly when God says I'm going to. Exactly.

Yeah, and I'm not saying don't take care of yourself and exercise. Be like Paul Lewis, you know? He's 73 years old and still built like a brick outhouse, you know?

I'm not saying don't take care of yourself. I'm not saying don't be healthy, but I am saying this.

I'm going to die exactly when God decides I'm going to die and not a minute sooner and not a minute later.

You know why? Because I trust in His sovereignty. Now, my trust is irrelevant to the fact, but I've done something really cool these past 20 years.

I began to believe in it and trust in it, and it's given me something that I fear that a lot of Christians don't have today, and that's called peace.

What about Israel? Oh, man, when Iran launched that attack, you remember that? My phone blew up.

Oh, my gosh! Pastor on there had red heifer, and it had 666 on it. Oh, my gosh!

Load the guns up! It's going to happen. It's going to happen, and I'm going home.

I mean, what do you want me to do? Omnia Deus Spiritus Sancti, go in peace, love, and serve the

Lord? One Catholic in the whole room. Anyway, it was the Baptist.

Guys, understand that I can trust in God's sovereignty, but the other side of that is this.

Some of you folks are playing with God's sovereignty, or you think you are. Your life is like a vapor of smoke.

It is here today, gone tomorrow. You want to understand how little we are and how

America, America, we are a baby on the world stage of time.

This country is going down. It's only been around for a couple hundred years.

That's a minuscule part of human history. They come and they go, but the

Word of God has stood forever. Now, look at this. I love this part, verse 13. Then Daniel was brought in before the king.

The king answered and said to Daniel, You are that Daniel, the one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king, my father, brought from Judah.

Now, why is this so cool about sovereignty? If you remember, all the way back in chapter 1,

Nebuchadnezzar rode into Jerusalem, whooped it, took all of the noble kids, shipped them off to Babylon, and changed their names.

Yet, 70 years later, the same name that God gave

Daniel is the same name that this heathen king and his descendants decided to change it.

They are going back to the old Daniel. Let me tell you something. I don't care what the world and your sin and your failures, what scar tissue has been put on you.

Understand this. You have been adopted by the grace of God. You have been called throughout eternity to be

His son. And there is nothing, no name, no sin, that is going to keep you from going home if you are a child of God.

You see, the sovereignty of God is not something to fear of the child of God.

It's something to bask and rest in when everybody else is going absolute crazy.

And then, lastly, this. Back in verse 16, back in verse 16, old

Belshazzar told Daniel, told everybody, if anybody can tell me what the words on this wall are,

I'm going to give them gold, money, and I'm going to make them the third most powerful person.

By the way, old Nabo was first, Belshazzar was second, so whoever figures this out is going to be third.

Now, you've got to give it to old Belshazzar. When Daniel interpreted the dream, and guys, to help you out, you can read, but it just says, hey, you're done.

Your kingdom's done. You're done. It's over. When he said that,

Belshazzar said, okay, you're third in command. He kept his word. And if you read the very next verse, it's really cool.

Verse 30. That very night, Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed, and Darius the

Mede received the kingdom about being 62 years old. You know what he gave

Daniel? A third of nothing. What about your house?

Your job? Work, work, work. Husbands? Wives? Keep striving to be a full wife, to live a full life.

This world's going to give you nothing, because everything they give you is nothing but burnt over ash.

The only thing that really matters in this world is what eternally will last, and that is what you do for God.

You want to play with God's sovereignty by chasing money? Guys, you're going to waste your life.

Absolute waste. I remember someone telling me, they're retiring.

I said, what are you going to do with your retirement? And he's a church folk. Not here, but another place. And by the way, he's a pastor.

He said, oh, I'm going to do wood carvings. What else?

Well, nothing. My wife and I are going to travel. We're going to do wood carvings. Okay. You've been called by God, and you're going to spend the rest of your days on this earth carving wood and traveling with your wife.

That's it. Yeah. You are a pathetic loser.

You really are. You're going to sculpt a horse or something?

I mean, there's nothing wrong with doing that stuff, as long as those are hobbies with a continuing vocation of what

God has called you to do. Preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, I've got one last question for you, and this is it.

If you remember old Nebuchadnezzar, if you remember old Nebuchadnezzar, for 40 years, rebelled against God, repented, came back, rebelled against God, God sent punishment, he came back.

Belshazzar had been on the throne a year. God showed up and said, you're done.

Is that fair? No. Yeah, no. It's not fair.

It's not fair, is it? I mean, think about it. Old Nebuchadnezzar got 42 years of correction.

Belshazzar got one. That's not fair. It's not fair how that happens, right?

I want you to understand this, and I'll close with this, music people, come do your thing. But I want to close with this something.

Just please, and you've heard me say this before, but especially for you visitors here, I want you to hear me say this.

The only thing that's not fair is that any of us are saved.

That's not fair. Pastor Josiah calls it the worst deal in the history of the universe, that Jesus Christ traded his righteousness for our sins so that we could benefit.

The question, when you start asking about fairness, you have immediately put your standards in place of God's.

The only fairness is that I have a hope. Listen, do you have that hope this morning?

Do you understand what it is to be a believer? Do you have any idea of what I'm talking about?

Or if you suppress the truth, and some of y 'all are doing it right now, you're being convicted right now by the

Holy Spirit that you need Jesus as your Savior, and you are stuffing it down like you've done so many other times before.

Well, I'm a deacon, or I've sang in a choir, or I gave my heart at 7 years old when

I was in VBS, but I know I'm not a Christian, and you keep suppressing the conviction of God because you're listening to the world and religion.

If you are not 100 % sure where you are, I'm not asking you to come to me or this silly church.

I'm asking you to come and know God's Word, and if you need some help finding it, I'll help you out. Are you 100 % sure you're a

Christian? Number two, if you are a Christian, where are you in the level of repentance?

When's the last time you repented of your sin? When's the last time you've been to the altar? When's the last time you prayed, we're about to have this invitation time?

And Christians, you want to love God this morning? You can sing, we can have great music and all that.

You want to love Him? Don't sit in your chair staring at a screen waiting for it to be over so you can go home.

Why don't you do something unique? Why don't you go find somebody in here and pray with them and minister to them?

In fact, why don't you be the church here right now? Well, pastor, I don't know anybody. You ain't got to, that's not a prerequisite of service.

Go and humble yourself. Say, I don't know you, I know this might be awkward and weird. By the way, awkward and weird's a really good strategy here at Witten.

But I know this might be awkward and weird, but can I pray for you? And if they say no, sit there and go later and go find someone else.

I'm gonna ask you today, don't suppress the truth. Don't assume upon God's mercy.

If you need to join a church, you need to get baptized like Axel, come this morning, let's get it done.

I'm gonna ask you to stand with me and if God has spoken to you today, you come as God leads.