May 5, 2024

00:00:04:29 – 00:00:26:15
All to the service this morning, and those of you all watching online would like to welcome you all as well. looks like it’s going to be a prettier day than it started out with. So we’re we’re looking forward to it. So, if you’ve got your bulletin this morning, just glance down through it and it kind of gives you an idea of everything that’s going to go on around here for the next day or so.

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a couple of things to point out is we still have the Wednesday night Bible study at 6:00 here at the church, and that’s developing into a really good program. So you might want to come and take part in that and just fellowship with everybody. Just get to know everybody. That’s a good deal. Then the next men’s breakfast, we had to put it off because of the conflict in the schedule.

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But it will be May 11th, on a Saturday morning, and it’ll be here at the church as well at 9:00. And that that’s turning into a really good time of fellowship for the guys. So y’all come in, we enjoy talking to everybody and just talking about the Lord and and talking about the word. we do have a book out this afternoon right after the church at 230.

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It’s there. Excuse me, it’s the buckle series. I’ll. I can’t see it. One and four. Bull riding. Jackpot. And then we have a regular book out immediately following that. So it’s going to be a good day of, of mud sliding and and riding bulls. So if you look on the back table back there, we have 2 or 3 things back there.

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One of them is a hospitality sheet. But if you haven’t filled one out before, if you would fill one out, we don’t use it to give your name out to anybody. It’s just stick. Strictly a form we use here in the church. It gives us an idea of, phone numbers and addresses in case we need to get a hold of somebody or cinema or get well card, or a happy birthday or happy anniversary card.

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And that’s that’s basically all it’s used for. Then we have a prayer request form back there that if you’re needing, prayer or you have a friend that’s in need of a prayer, just fill it out in the hospitality form and the prayer request form. Drop both of those in the milk can back there. And then. I don’t know if there’s any envelopes back there, but we did have some envelopes in case you’re feeling led to give to the church.

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But in any case, whether there is or not, that also would go on the milk can back there that, everything we do, I guess goes in the milk can back there. So whatever you want to do, just just tie it to that. You’ll be safe. if you’re watching online, just go to WW dot w, ask Dot church and it will guide you on how to, to give money through the internet to the church.

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It’s what I understand. It’s pretty easy, pretty clear. So, I haven’t tried it, so I’m just going by. Somebody will still be there.

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Okay. And with that, let’s go to the Lord in prayer before we start anything here. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for being with us, Lord. Thank you for everything you do for us. You’re just an amazing, amazing father. Lord, we just give you all our love and praise and thank you for always shining the light so we know where we’re at and where we’re going and who we belong to.

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Father, just be with us on this stage as we sing these songs. And make sure these are your words coming off the stage and not anything from the three of us. Be with Pastor Jeff as he delivers the message this morning and giving the power and strength the voice that he always has for his delivery. Just thank you for allowing us to sit in your presence in this service.

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Father. We give you all our love and praise and accept you as our Lord and Savior and Master. Amen, Amen. Good morning again, y’all.

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Now I gotta get myself set back up here.

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I heard an old story. I say you came from. I gave his life on Calvary to save a wretch like me. You, you. I heard about is really about his precious blood. You tell that I repented of my son and wanted it for all. Victory in Jesus, my Savior. For every sword me in, he got me is redeeming blood.

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He loved me. I knew my love is true. You feel the victory. I need the cleansing blood won. All I heard about a man to be is good for me.

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On the streets of gold. Beyond the crystal sea. About the angels singing. You can choose for so sweetly I’ll sing of the song of. Oh, victory in Jesus, oh my savior. Is on me. Be for me, for me as a TV for me. Love me and I am. Oh my love is to. You can’t you. You could be the things you want me to be.

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For me to be blood.

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If Jesus comes tomorrow to spend some time now. Would you answer all his questions are a lie to hide the truth. Would you welcome him with open arms? Or even the you be love you. Jesus comes to long through.

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With Jesus calls your number. Could you leave?

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And are you ready to lay down your worldly goods and walk away?

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Would it take him on to some days to tell you?

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If Jesus comes tomorrow, what does?

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If the sky turns black is midnight in the middle of the day? And somehow you knew that Jesus would soon be on his way. Would you have to beg forgiveness? Or could you reach out and take some? If Jesus comes tomorrow, what do?

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I. Know would you have to beg forgiveness? Or could you reach out and take the time? If Jesus comes tomorrow, what do? Oh, yeah. If Jesus comes, the long road walk. Then.

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Oh, no. Oh, no! A long black trade down the line. Then all the souls that are lost and crying trails of sin on. Remain. Watch out brother, go back to cry. Praise I know have come to the sky. You can find redemption. Staring back in. Open your eyes. There is protection. Things the same. Burning you. Digging for that love.

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Hoping that God calls us victory in the Lord I say victory is the Lord. Will cling to the Father and His holy. Don’t go right now forever.

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We. Long, I pray, making you wondering the right thing. He’s just waiting for you. All you say. Let me write my way. Take all the victory in the Lord I say victory. The Lord.

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I cling to the Father and His own. Road. For I know I.

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Will I can hear the whistle from. I’ll always sound so good. But I’ll stay away. The dream is beauty. Make everybody stay. It’s only destination. It’s the middle of the world. Oh, there’s victory in the Lord I say victory in the. Well, clean through the father and his holy and don’t. Oh, right. Let’s pray. Cleave to the father in his holy name I don’t know, for I’ve moment true.

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Yeah. Watch out, brother. Oh my God, why do. The devil is riding on that land. Black rain.

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Okay. Okay. We’re going to slow it back down. And thank you all, because I was going to ask you to stand. So I.

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Come. Amazing grace. How sweet the stuff. And it saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I see what has.

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Thank you. See?

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Twice. Place that touch my heart to see. And place my feet freely. How precious is that place. please. The our our first visit. The Lord has promised good to me. He is word my home secure. Otherwise he he will. My shield and door should be. And as long as my finger this when you read this letter 10,000 letters bright shining has passed us.

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We know our land stays to see God’s Spirit. Then when we first become house, he heard shouts. Soon diesel lights the sun. For that to shine. By God who called me here. Be sure you’ll be fulfilled. The my. Will be forever in my name. Know you are forever mine.

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Thank you father. We thank you, father, for the son. We thank you, Lord God. That is through your grace and your mercy that we can come before you. Lord. Father, I just ask this morning that you would awaken in us that first love, Lord God, that you would remind us who you are and who we are in you, Lord God, that you would touch our hearts, father, that you would break away every chain that holds us from you.

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Father, everything that we carry that is not of you. Lord God, I just pray, father, for your Holy Spirit to come in this place to touch us, Lord God, and to bring freedom to your children in Jesus name.

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We.

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Awaken by soul. Come. We.

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To hunger. To see. To let us awaken. This love. Come the way.

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To let this you. You and father just. Waking my soul. Come away.

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I’m. To see you. Let us loose a waking thirst. Love. Come away.

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To. You deep. For us speaking of the living God. Come. Fall afresh on me. Come wake me for my sleep. Now. Through the caverns of my soul. Pouring me to overflow up. To one. But now.

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Awake, you, my soul. Come away.

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To worship with all your strange spirit of the living God. Come on, the fresh on me. Come wake me from my sleep. No. Through the caverns of my soul. Pouring me to overflow up, to overflow.

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Jesus.

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Come and fill this place. Let your glory now they.

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Spirit, come and fill this place. This light, your glory. Now they. Come and fill this place. Sings. Let your glory now they spirit come and tell us. Hey, hey, hey, hey.

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Light your glory now they.

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Come and fill this place. Let your glory now be spirit. Come and fill this. Let me let your glory now this be the spirit of the living God. Come on, the fresh of me. Come wake me for my sleep. Go through the caverns of my soul. For me to overflow up till I feel.

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There’s nothing like his presence. Nothing, nothing, nothing like his presence.

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Come.

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I come.

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God.

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I just want to speak the name of Jesus Christ. Over every heart. Never mind.

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I know there is peace within you. Presence. I speak Jesus.

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I just want to speak the name of Jesus. Till every dark addiction starts to bring. Hearing there is hope and there is freedom. I speak Jesus us. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is light. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shines. Burn like fire up.

00:26:40:12 – 00:27:38:16
I just wanna speak the name of Jesus over fear and goal anxiety. Me. To every soul held captive by the prince, I speak Jesus. Us. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is light. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows that light up. I. Shout Jesus from the mountains. Jesus in the streets. Jesus in the darkness.

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For every enemy. Jesus for my family I speak the Holy name. Jesus.

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Shout Jesus from the mountains. Jesus in the street. Jesus in the darkness over every enemy in Jesus. For my family I speak the Holy Name. Jesus us. Your name is power. Your name is your name. Your name is life. I break every stronghold, shine through the shadows, burn like fire.

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I just wanna speak the name of Jesus over every heart and every night. Because I know there is peace in your presence. I speak Jesus.

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Jesus praise.

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Him. So.

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You. Unravel me with a melody in you. Surround me. You with a song. Of deliverance from my enemies. Till all my fears are gone. And I’m no longer a slave. To being in. I am a child of God. And I’m no longer a slave to fear. No, I am a child of God.

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From my mother’s womb you have chosen me. God’s love has come upon me. I’ve been born again into your family. Your blood flows through my veins. And I’m no longer a slave to see you. I am a child of God. And I’m no longer a slave to feeling. I am a child of God.

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I am surrounded.

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By the arms of the father who. Knows I am surrounded by songs and deliverance. We’ve been liberated.

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From my foundation.

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We’re the sons and daughters. Let us sing I freed up. Oh! Whoa, whoa 000000. You split the seas. Oh I could walk right through my fears. And drown in perfect love.

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You rescued me. And now stand and sing I a child of God.

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You scraped the sea so I could walk right through it. My sin to drown in perfect love.

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You’re asking me. And I will stand and sing I, a child of God. I am a child of God. I am a child of God. Under.

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I pray that each and every one of you, each and every one of you, believe that with everything that’s in you, that you belong to him, that you are his. You were all his. Any fear or doubt or pain or sorrow or anything that you’re going through. He has his plan. For your life? Yeah, he has a plan for your life.

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If you say you believe in Jesus, that means you believe in His Word. And His word says that I have a plan and a purpose for you, that I have chosen you.

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If we’re not seeking for that plan in that purpose in our life, and what are we doing? What are we doing there? Those of you out there and I speak to myself to that, that have these little packages, these little gifts that are sitting right in front of you that he’s you’ve been holding and you haven’t up and up yet.

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There are gifts of prophecy and gifts of healing and all these, all these different things that he wants to use in this body. And I know that the Lord has told me the breakthrough is coming in this church, but we have to lay down all of our doubt and all of our fear, because not in what we can do.

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It’s in what he does and what he can do to through a willing son or daughter. And all of those things are needed in this church for the edification. I need it. We all need it. If somebody in here has healing, Lord help me there are people who need healing. So I just pray right now that each and every one of us would lay down all of our fears, all of our doubts, anything that is holding us back, just allowing him to do what he does.

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Here I am, down on my knees again, surrendering all, surrendering the.

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Fine. Be here, Lord, as you draw me near. Desperate for healing. Desperate for.

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I surrender. All of.

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Those.

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Strange. My soul, his mercy and grace unfold I hunger and move. Thirst, hunger and thirst.

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I’m stretched wide I know you hear my cry. Speak to me now. Speak to me.

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I surrender, I surrender. All I wanna know. You I wanna know you I surrender, I surrender. I wanna know you I wanna know you.

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I read something they said. Why do you hold your hands up when you worship what you say? Because that’s what a child does when it wants to help.

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Like a rushing through Jesus. Breathe with him, Lord, have you faith? Lord, have your way. Let me like a mighty storm still within my I touch. Lord, have your way, Lord, have your way. And may like the rushing way. Jesus, breathe with him. Lord, have your way. Lord, have your way. And say like a mighty storm. Stay with him.

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I ain’t so, Lord. Have your way, Lord, have your way. And they have surrender.

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And God bless you. You, I want you. Do you I surrender you.

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Thank y’all. Give them a hand. Did they not do a good job? Wow. I was about ready. Just say. Keep saying we’ll just give an invitation. We’ve already had some church this morning. Take your Bible open to second Corinthians chapter five. Before the Lord changes my mind. I’ve been going back and forth, back and forth. Old Testament, New Testament.

00:41:07:28 – 00:41:23:18
I may give you a little of both, but I really, really am going to try to get you out of here. So by noon, if I’m not done, y’all just stand up, okay? Because, we got a lot to do today. and and I want to I want to give you everything I can while you’re here in case you don’t come back.

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Okay? I want to make sure I get you loaded up so you got enough to change your mind. It’s good to see everybody. Y’all glad to be here, boy. All right. Amen. You could be somewhere else today. I went through sulfur, Oklahoma this past week. I assure you, you don’t want to be there. it was a disaster.

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You pray for those folks up there all over Oklahoma and pray for them. Tomorrow is supposed to be some pretty bad storms up there. And, when they say storms or tornadoes in Oklahoma, they ain’t joking. Ain’t not joking. And my mom and daddy would appear just last week. Ain’t joke. I told them y’all y’all hear them sirens.

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It ain’t police come look for you. It’s a tornado. Run, hide. Do something. But pray for those people up there for for sure they they’ve lost a lot of that. thankfully, some of the people I know. And I was able to talk to you last week, and this week, they’re doing good. I want to give you a few quick things next week.

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Some other thing. I hope you’ll come invite your mother if you come here. If you’re a mother, invite your kids. It’s a good time, most kids to come to church on Mother’s Day with their mama, and it’d be a good day to come next week. so we’ll we’ll have church. Yeah, I know people have asked me about bull, and we’re going to move that to 4:00.

00:42:39:24 – 00:43:00:28
All right, brothers, if you don’t buy your mom flour and lunch and all that good things, you can’t read bulls next week. No kidding. No. I’m kidding. but we will move it to 4:00 next week. I just just marked it on your phone or whatever you do. I was going to say calendar. I don’t think anybody uses calendars anymore, but please do that.

00:43:00:28 – 00:43:21:05
Mark it down. we’ll go to 4:00 next week so that everybody can spend, lunch and things with their mother, and then we’ll, get back. I want to say to visitors, we got a number of visiting families here today and visiting folks. Thank you for worshiping with us. If you’re tuning in on Facebook to watch us, we’re glad that you tuned in for that.

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Also, one final thing. If you drove up this morning and you saw how muddy it was, now, I usually don’t like to get up here and talk about money, but I got to today, as a church, we’re we’re running behind budget where we need to be. and we got enormous, enormous things that we’ve got to take care of.

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One of those being, we need to gravel this parking lot better. Y’all parking in mud out there, and, we need some. We need a good offering today. So if the Lord would speak to your heart about a good offer. We know past offering plate like that. We’re not trying to put you under pressure, but if the Lord would lead you to give an offering today, there’s a milk king in the back.

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Or you can look at the back of your bulletin. There’s a QR code on there. You can look at and you can give that way online. Also, if you’re watching on Facebook, there’s a link there to give. But, let me just say I appreciate your faithfulness to the Lord. Thank you for always being faithful. But, we’re entering some, some critical times right now.

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Just some very big needs. But I always believe God’s not broke. Amen. Someone who praise you told me a long time ago. He said, John, God’s not. His money’s just in all the other people’s pocket. Okay, you’ll get that in a minute. All right? But, you just. If you can give this morning, please do. We’ve got a lot of big needs, as a church.

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And that’s just that’s just a fraction we’ve got. We got to get some lunch service. Got to get the church grounds mowed. We don’t have a lawnmower here. those two goats, dumb and dumber. They help, but they don’t get it all done. All right, they trying, but it’s a lot of grass to eat. We got a lot of big things.

00:45:06:22 – 00:45:26:18
I’m just sharing a few of those with you. Okay. But if you can help, please do. And today at 230, 230 we’re going to have our buckle series. And, next month I think it’d be the finals. So if you’ve never watched bull riding, you’ve never done bull riding. if you’ve ever thought of doing Bull Run, we can get you own one today.

00:45:26:18 – 00:45:44:21
All right? It’ll be, it’ll be, it’ll be, it’ll be an unforgettable experience if you never watch the bull riding. Stay around, watch it. it look like a bat out there. In about two hours, there’s going to be more kids. And you’ve ever seen your life show up here? And I’m thankful for the ones that are in church today.

00:45:44:24 – 00:46:07:10
but there be a bunch up there. We’ll give them a sermon up there. Short sermon. And, we’ve seen God do a lot of big and great things through that. I just did a wedding yesterday for when the kids come. And his parents, got married yesterday. So, it seems like every week I’m ministering to family and kids that come through that.

00:46:07:10 – 00:46:31:22
All right? And, I appreciate God blessing that. And you can be part of it. 230 and then to our immediate team, y’all hang around just right after. Right after. I have a quick meeting with you, and then we’re going to have another one at the arena with some of the rest of the team. We’re just trying to get logistic together because it is muddy and it’s dangerous up there.

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and we just want to try to make everything work the best we can today. And you pray, pray this evening because we know boyfriend’s dangerous, that we don’t ignore that. But we also walk in there by faith. I know some of you may not understand that, but just. Just trust me. Those boys, are in danger.

00:46:49:24 – 00:47:16:08
We’re all in danger up there. But just pray for safety. Pray for God’s safety. we’re not playing soccer. We’re not playing ballerina. We know that we’re we’re dumb enough to ride bull. So just pray for us, right? Okay, second Corinthians, second Corinthians chapter five. I often, when I’m preaching, especially any message that might have to do with salvation, I will reference this chapter.

00:47:16:11 – 00:47:43:02
The book of Romans, for example, is a very good chapter. If you’re speaking to somebody concerning salvation, it’s what we do. The book of Romans is what you call the Romans wrote. But when you come to Second Corinthians, most Bible scholars will tell you that second Corinthians is actually about the third book. It’s actually the third Corinthians, or the third letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians.

00:47:43:05 – 00:48:07:26
But we have in our Bible, first Corinthians and second Corinthians. And the whole purpose of First Corinthians is that they were nuts. Okay? I mean, if you ever want to meet a nerdy church, just read First Corinthians. Them people were wild West before the West was wow, it was crazy. They had all kinds of crazy stuff going on, and the Apostle Paul wrote to them to set some things straight.

00:48:07:27 – 00:48:34:01
Second Corinthians, he writes to them and he’s trying to, number one, encouraged him for correcting some things they were doing wrong, but also encourage them as believers in their walk, in their growth in the Lord Jesus and and learning what the Christian faith was all about. And so when you come to second Corinthians chapter five, it begins with Paul talking about the fact that we have this hope.

00:48:34:03 – 00:49:04:26
And when I say hope, hope is not a strategy. In this case, hope was a reality that there will be a resurrect. Okay, I don’t know about you, but if you go back and read first Corinthians 15, Paul’s teaching them about the resurrection, and you’ve got to understand, even in Paul’s day, even in the biblical days, that the days that we would considered the Bible was being written, there were people that were much like today that we just weren’t sure about the resurrection.

00:49:04:29 – 00:49:29:18
But I can assure you from God’s Word, the Bible teaches that because Christ rose from the dead, that every person will one day rise from the dead. You may not know that. Did you know there’s the resurrection of the just? That’s what we might read of in first Thessalonians chapter four, when the dead in Christ rise. But there’s also the resurrection of the unjust that you’ll read of in revelation 21.

00:49:29:18 – 00:49:51:11
The Bible tells us that held in the grave give up their dead, and body and soul and spirit stand before God as one as we are today. And they stand at the great white throne judgment of Jesus Christ. And there they are judged, because their name was not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. And even those who did not know Christ will be cast into the lake of fire forever.

00:49:51:11 – 00:50:20:05
And ever. The Bible says. But what Paul is writing about here, he’s talking about the resurrection and the just, the resurrection of believers. So I don’t know how many of you and I’m sure most of you, have gone through the experience of losing someone, a loved one, and hopefully they were a believer. And you’ve stood at that moment where you you were faced with death and mortality and the fact that I like to say, nobody gets out of this life alive.

00:50:20:07 – 00:50:44:02
You ever thought about that for a moment? Nobody’s going to get out of this life. But death is something that’s certain. But I want you to realize, as sure as death is, also is the resurrection. If for if we believe that Christ died, was buried, and rose again, then the Bible tells us, as Jesus told Mary and Martha, Lazarus brother and sister or lesser sisters, said, that he was the resurrection.

00:50:44:02 – 00:51:07:17
He was alive, and he who believes in him shall not die, but have everlasting life. So you understand this morning that the Bible’s teaching us that there’s going to be a resurrection. Death isn’t final. But this in this chapter goes on the teaches that while we are alive and we’re in this life, we should remember this life is not all there is.

00:51:07:22 – 00:51:28:15
This life will one day come to an end. This life is not, just all in all. In other words, there is life much after. Matter of fact, you will. You may live to be 100 years old in this life, and you’ve lived a long time, we would say someone who lives 100 years, man, what a what a blessing, what a long life.

00:51:28:22 – 00:51:52:04
But do you realize that’s not even a fraction to eternity? It isn’t even beginning with eternity. Eternity is forever. And you remember I’ve taught you, and I’ve told you that we were created in the image of God. Therefore we were created as an eternal being. Ecclesiastes tells me that God has put in the heart of every human. This is why I don’t believe.

00:51:52:08 – 00:52:19:05
Listen to me. I don’t believe there’s a such thing as a true atheist. They may say they don’t believe in God, but the word says that in their hearts God has placed eternity. Every human being knows that they are an eternal being. They might deny they might reject it, but that like a fat man going on a skydive adventure, he can say, I don’t believe in in gravity and jump out just because he don’t believe it doesn’t mean it’s not a reality.

00:52:19:05 – 00:52:43:04
In other words, you and I are created in the image of God as eternal beings, and we will live for eternity somewhere, somewhere. So I want you to look at verse number six. I’m going to preach as much of this chapter as I can, but I can’t preach it all this morning. So Paul has gone through the first five verses of Second Corinthians five, and he’s talked about the resurrection.

00:52:43:04 – 00:53:21:24
He ends that discussion with saying that we have the spirit capital. Is the spirit, the Holy Spirit as a guarantee. You realize this morning that when you get saved, the Holy Spirit converts your life to the Holy Spirit, takes you from death unto life, and you become a believer in that moment. The moment that you repent and believe the gospel and so when that happens, something also happens, and that is that you have the Holy Spirit within you, that is your seal, your guarantee that one day you will be resurrected.

00:53:21:27 – 00:53:45:18
you you want to know how sure God’s word is about that? He says, I have sealed your salvation with a guarantee in the Holy Spirit. So look at verse six. This is what I want you to get. It says so we are all we are always confident. Paul says, I never lose sight or I never am doubtful.

00:53:45:25 – 00:54:05:24
I am always confident in this thing. What he’s about to tell us, he’s saying, I, I, I am always confident about this, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. That doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit’s not in you, doesn’t mean you don’t have fellowship. The Holy Spirit doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit is an empowering you.

00:54:05:29 – 00:54:27:21
But in the direct, continual, every day, every second moment of the direct presence of God, he’s saying, When I’m in the body, I know I’m absent from the Lord. Seeing God the Father is in heaven, God the Holy, God the Son, right now is in heaven. But he sent it because His Spirit to indwell us and to empower in us and to comfort us, to guide us, to teach us.

00:54:27:27 – 00:54:46:25
And I could go on and on that Jesus talked about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in us. So you and I know that on this earth, while we have a helper, we are still not in the presence of the father. But he says, I’m confident I never lose confidence in this, that knowing well, we are at home in the body.

00:54:46:25 – 00:55:12:19
We are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. So he says, but we are also confident. Yes, well pleased, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. He said, look, I want you to remember this truth. If you are here, yes, you may be absent from the father, but if when you leave this world, you will be present with the Lord, you will be in his presence.

00:55:12:19 – 00:55:29:21
That’s why I tell you that, hey, there’s no such thing. I know, I know, I come from some family. I got some family that will tell you that. Grandma, they got up in the middle of night, had heartburn and and they walked in the living room. And grandma, who passed away ten years ago, was rocking in the rocking chair.

00:55:29:23 – 00:55:49:12
They ain’t seen a ghost. I seen a demon. Art number one, because the demon is a familiar spirit. They know how to. They know how to change forms. But I want you to understand that when you die, you’re not going to have time, you know. Well, I’m going to die. I’m going to go visit Aunt or Uncle So-and-so and, stop by and talk to my cousin for a minute.

00:55:49:15 – 00:56:16:13
That don’t happen when you die, you are immediately absent from this body. You’re going to be present with the Lord. Or are you going to be spending an eternity in hell? Just. Just read the Bible. Take the whole Bible. You’ll understand that. And so Paul was Paul saying, look, I want y’all to understand matter of fact, what he was confronting was some believers or so-called believers who were running around teaching soul sleep.

00:56:16:13 – 00:56:36:28
Well, when you die, you’re just going to sleep until Jesus resurrects you. No, no no no. There is a very real reality when you die and you’re a believer that you’re immediately into the presence of God. You say, how do you get there? Well, read about Lazarus died. It says, when he died, the rich man in Lazarus. When the rich man died, he went to hell.

00:56:36:28 – 00:56:59:24
But Lazarus was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. I’ve sit and talk to people who were dying. I’ve held many people’s hands in that last moment, and I cannot tell you how many times over and over I have seen believers that would not speak, did not open their eyes for the last week of their life until that final moment in.

00:56:59:24 – 00:57:27:29
They open their eyes and they see. Do you see or do you see them? They’re here to take me in the in that moment of transitioning from this life to heaven, they see the glory of the angels or or maybe Jesus standing. I don’t know what they’re seeing, but they’re all seeing something glorious because they know in that moment there are to make that great transition from this life that was temporal to the eternal life that’s awaiting them.

00:57:28:01 – 00:57:47:28
Amen. When you see that, it’ll make the hair on your head stand up. It’ll make you want to spit nails, but it’ll make it’ll make you want to do a jig. And if you don’t know how to dance, it’s awesome when you see it. And and there’s no doubt in my, my mind that when I’ve seen those things, I have witnessed somebody who knew Jesus.

00:57:47:28 – 00:58:11:01
And I just didn’t mean it in every case. But I’ve seen it, and it’s a reality in that moment. Well, so I want you to look at the next verse, verse nine. So Paul says, look, if we’re absent from the body, we’re present with the Lord. He says, therefore we make it our aim. In other words, here’s here’s what every Christian’s aim ought to be.

00:58:11:05 – 00:58:42:02
It wasn’t just the Apostle Paul, but it was. It was all of our aim. What should our aim as a Christian be? Or let me rephrase it, what should our purpose be as a Christian and what I’m about to give? What Paul writes here is powerful, and I hope you never forget it. He says this. He says, therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, whether we’re on this earth or we’re absent from this, or whether we’re present with the Lord or absent from wherever we are, he says.

00:58:42:07 – 00:59:03:10
We we want to be well pleasing to him. In other words, the aim of our lives should always be to please the Lord. And in other words, I want to ask you something. Ask yourself the next time you’re doing something, ask yourself tomorrow, Monday, tomorrow morning. On a Monday morning when you wake up, you don’t feel like going to work.

00:59:03:11 – 00:59:30:10
You feel like kicking the dogs and cursing the cows. Ask yourself, what am I going to do today to please the Lord? The next time you find yourself in a situation, ask yourself is where I’m at? Is what I’m doing, the people I’m hanging out with, the things I’m saying? Is it pleasing to the Lord? And here’s the reason why he says, verse ten, for we must all y’all say that when we say, Lord, all, all.

00:59:30:12 – 00:59:53:17
What does it all mean? All it wrote okay, you got it. For we must all appear. And this is talking to believers. This is talking to believers. I’m going to I’m going to explain this verse ten, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each 1st May receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

00:59:53:20 – 01:00:21:04
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. I hope you all underline that phrase right there, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. This is what, the some preachers don’t tell you about this, and I wish they would, because it’s in the Bible. And just because it doesn’t sound good, it’s still true. Knowing, therefore, that terror of the Lord.

01:00:21:04 – 01:00:44:01
Wait a minute. I thought God was love. He is. But he’s also holy. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. We do what we persuade men, but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciousness. Let me give you a couple of things real quick. first of all, notice that Paul says to be absent from the bodies, be present with the Lord.

01:00:44:04 – 01:01:11:13
If I’m on this earth, I’m not in God’s presence, not in the presence of the father. I can go there. The Bible tells me I can come boldly before the throne of grace and obtain mercy in my time of need. How do I do that? I did it through the power of the Holy Spirit, and I do that because the access that I have as a believer, as a child, as a son of God or daughter of God, and I have that privilege to come boldly before the throne of grace.

01:01:11:16 – 01:01:30:23
How does that happen? I was reading a story not long ago during the Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln, of course, was president. How many of you know who Abraham Lincoln was? All right, most of you, if you don’t, you need to study more in school. you you learn about Abraham Lincoln. And so he’s he’s presiding over the nation during this great Civil war.

01:01:31:00 – 01:01:54:27
And it’s a really terrible time in sitting outside the white House was a man who had fought for the for the northern side, the the, the, not the Confederacy, but the Union. And he’s he’s been fighting, but he’s in Washington, DC. He’s been injured, and he really wants the chance to see the president of the United States.

01:01:54:29 – 01:02:12:23
The problem is, and they didn’t have near as much security back then as we do now. But can you imagine a guy sitting out there wanting an audience with the president of the United States, but obviously unable to get it? I mean, he’s a soldier, but he doesn’t. He’s not high up. He’s not one of those guys that can be welcomed in.

01:02:13:00 – 01:02:34:00
And one and while he’s sitting there, he’s crying because he’s been injured and he’s made this long trip to Washington, DC, and he wants to come in and see the president and and share some things about the battles that he’s seen, maybe share some things, some ideas he has about winning the war, maybe share some ideas about taking better care of the guys that have been injured.

01:02:34:07 – 01:02:49:17
And so he’s sitting on this park bench outside the white House, and he’s crying. And this little boy comes walking by and a little boy sees him and he says, sir, what’s wrong? He says, I’ve come all this way. And I wanted to see the president, but I can’t get in. That little boy says, oh, I can take care of that.

01:02:49:17 – 01:03:08:08
Come on. And he grabs him by the hand, and they walk right in the big gates that are right outside the white House, and they walk right up the middle out and go right in the front door. Guards standing there, guards watching, never say a word. They walk down the halls of the white House and into the the Oval Office there where he would.

01:03:08:08 – 01:03:26:26
The president would be seated behind his desk and walks. Right. And there’s a meeting going, and there’s people in them in, in that president President Lincoln’s office at that moment. And the little boy who has the old soldier’s hand walks, he literally through the gates, past the guards in the white House, all the way down the hall into the Oval Office.

01:03:27:00 – 01:03:55:23
Right there behind the desk sits Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln stops the meeting is his son. What do you need? That boy was none other than Todd Lincoln, President Lincoln son. And when he took that man’s hand, he was able to take him directly to what his father. Let me tell you something. When you pray. This is why we teach you to pray in Jesus name.

01:03:55:29 – 01:04:17:07
Because when you pray in Jesus name, here’s what happens. The son, the son of God, takes your hand as a child of God, and he can usher you right into the throne room of God, right into the presence of God. And you’re there, and you have you have the father’s attention not because of who you are, but because of who the son is.

01:04:17:07 – 01:04:33:08
You follow me. I have access to the throne of God today. The very throne. You say, man, are you that important? No. I just know the son. And I’m no different than you are. You may think, well, you’re a pastor. You must have something. No, I think God probably looks at me and goes, man, this one is wearing me out.

01:04:33:08 – 01:05:05:12
Sometimes. Who I know. I have retired at least nine of ten guardian angels in my life. When I get to heaven, they’re like, oh, I’m so glad this these of. But I have no more greater access than you do, except that we both have access to the father into his throne room to obtain mercy and help in our time of need, because of who the son is, and because I know the son like that soldier, it had nothing to do with me.

01:05:05:12 – 01:05:27:07
But it had everything to do with him. That’s called grace. Grace. So when you’re talking, when we sing a song about amazing Grace, what am I? What are we talking about? We’re talking about grace. I didn’t deserve it. I wasn’t I was a nobody headed nowhere. Well, I was hidden somewhere, but it wasn’t good. And but yet, in grace, God’s grace, his goodness.

01:05:27:10 – 01:05:51:14
So the Bible tells us that we know this. That one day after this life, one day we’re going to stand before God. And it’s called the judgment seat of Christ. Now, before you I you say, is that where people are casting? No, no, no, there’s two things, two moments that two different groups of people are going to stand before Jesus.

01:05:51:16 – 01:06:15:13
Jesus, the judge today, he’s a savior. Okay. But then he’s going to be judged. Me no mistake about that. Pilate, who had Jesus standing before him, judging the group that hollered Crucify Jesus and let Barabbas go. They’re going to be standing one that. Here’s the difference for a believer, it’s called the judgment seat of Christ, the judgment seat of Christ.

01:06:15:17 – 01:06:35:27
We’re we’re going to stand one day. And the judgment seat is a Greek word called bema. How many of you ever watch the Olympics? If anybody wants the Olympics, when they’re at the end of each event and they’re awarded, they usually stand on some steps or something like that. And their position different from bronze, silver to the gold medalist.

01:06:35:29 – 01:07:02:25
And there that that goes back to Paul’s day where they would they would award them the gold, the bonds, the silver, according to how they finished in competition. And obviously the one who was who won the competition is getting the gold. And they’re rewarded that the judgment seat of Christ is the place where we will stand one day as believers, and we’re going to be rewarded for the things we did on this earth, good or bad.

01:07:02:27 – 01:07:24:28
Do you realize every thing you do carries consequences, good or bad? I was saying about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. How many of y’all know who they are? That’s it Daniel. I was going to preach that too, but I can only get one sermon at a time in today. So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they’re in Daniel chapter three. They’re the guys who Nebuchadnezzar said, I’m building a golden image.

01:07:24:28 – 01:07:45:18
It’s the sound of music. You bow down and worship him. The whole kingdom supposed to do it. The whole kingdom does shed, right? But you check the video just to enter. They’re not protesting. They’re not holding up fliers. They’re not yelling, are not screaming. Nobody not burning flags. They’re just standing in civil protest. No, we can’t bow down to a false god and King Nebuchadnezzar.

01:07:45:19 – 01:08:01:21
Some of his men call them, and they go before King Nebuchadnezzar. He says, hey, what is this, guys? I hear when I made my golden image and in the sound of the music took place, you guys didn’t bow down like everybody else was supposed to. They said, no, no, King, we can’t do that. We’re Hebrews. We believe in the one true God.

01:08:01:22 – 01:08:20:19
I’m paraphrasing and he says, we we can’t do it. He says, oh no, no, no, if you don’t do it, I’m going to have you cast into the fiery furnace and I’ll have you burned alive. And you know what their answer was? Okay. Navigation. Oh, you know, it the sound of your music, whatever happens, we cannot bel and let it be known unto you.

01:08:20:19 – 01:08:42:24
Our God is able to deliver us. But if he chooses not to deliver us, be it known unto thee, O King Nebuchadnezzar, we will not bel you know why they they knew saying that meant certainly they were going to be cast into the lake and into the fiery furnace, almost like like a fire pit in bad. They knew saying that.

01:08:42:27 – 01:09:02:16
Why would they do that? I’ll tell you why they did that. Because they knew the consequences. Either way, there were going to be consequences either way. Had they bowed to the culture, had they bowed down like everybody else, they would have been like everybody else. They would have been lost as everybody knows that have been condemned like everybody else.

01:09:02:19 – 01:09:26:09
They could go along with the culture, or they could stand against it in simple protest and say, we will not bow. And by doing so, the consequences for them was they were cast into that fiery furnace. But if you’ve never read the rest of that story, is that when they were cast in there, it was so hot, the guys that threw me and burned up immediately, and they didn’t even get in the fire.

01:09:26:11 – 01:09:45:13
And they’re sitting there. King Nebuchadnezzar, you know, he’s a coward. He’s way over here and he’s watching from a distance. And he turns one of his men. He goes, say, did we not cast three men bound, chained up, or tied up into that fire? And he said, we are sticking him. Never. We cast three. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

01:09:45:13 – 01:10:15:05
They were all Hebrews. He goes up. Funny thing is, I’m looking into that fire. I see four guys in there. They’re loose. The thing that bound them up burned off and, and, and I see four guys. He said, by the way, that fourth one in there and Vermont King Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan until this moment. He said that fourth one, he looks like the Son of God.

01:10:15:07 – 01:10:32:10
It looks like Jesus. That’s one of those moments in the Bible that there were several moments in the Old Testament where Jesus appeared on earth before he came as a baby, and he’s going that forth. One looks like that one looks like the Son of God. And let me tell you something, from that moment on, King Nebuchadnezzar’s life changed.

01:10:32:10 – 01:11:01:15
The whole kingdom changed. Those men knew the consequences. We could bow and be like everybody else, or we could stand. And the consequences were better because through it, God will be glorified, would say, you’ve got to be willing to go through those consequences and those moments where you can allow God to get the glory. Anytime you’re in a place that your back is against the wall and it looks like there’s no other options, that is the perfect set up for a miracle in your life.

01:11:01:21 – 01:11:23:06
If you can do it or I can do it, there’s no miracle involved. But when you bound and you’ve been cast into this fiery furnace and and you, you’re standing there thinking it’s about over. And then Jesus shows up. That’s what happens in a miracle situation in your life. That’s when God shows up, is whenever your backs against the wall and you’ve got nothing else to do.

01:11:23:09 – 01:11:42:23
So I encourage you, like Paul is in Second Corinthians five, that you realize one day we’re gonna stand at the judgment seat of Christ. We’re gonna give an account. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to stand there and God say, I’ve got this gold for you. This gold crown I wanted to give to you.

01:11:42:25 – 01:12:01:29
But you just wouldn’t trust me. You were too fearful. You were too doubtful. You were too sinful, whatever it may be, I wanted to. I wanted to show up and show out in your life, but you just wouldn’t do it. And that’s a consequence. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to face. I don’t want to look.

01:12:02:00 – 01:12:14:21
Jesus. Who gave his all for me in the eye one day and have to tell him his grace wasn’t sufficient for me in this little playground called Earth.

01:12:14:23 – 01:12:34:09
I want to be able to stand there knowing. So Paul says, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, giving account for the things we’ve done in the body, good or bad. And then he goes on the next verse, he says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Remember, we’re talking about his aim, his purpose.

01:12:34:11 – 01:12:56:06
What? What is a Christian’s aim and purpose? To be well pleasing to God? How do you do that? Number one, you do that by living a pure life. You do that by living a faith filled life. Because if you’re not faith field, your fear field and the two cannot coexist. You will either respond in life one of two ways every single time you will respond out of faith, or you will respond out of fear.

01:12:56:06 – 01:13:22:22
Most time the fear comes from doubting God’s Word. Well, I’m not sure if God can or will show up in this matter. Let me tell you something. I’m reminded that there is a thing the Bible says. There’s nothing. Say nothing. We mean nothing impossible for God. If he can put Jesus in the belly of a virgin girl and let her be, give birth to him, and then he can walk on this earth 33 years and never sin.

01:13:22:28 – 01:13:45:04
Go to the cross, willfully lay down his life. And then here’s the best part of all praise his whole life from the great you. You know I saw the other day, I’m a squirrel for a minute. I saw the other day I knew symbol. Y’all know me about tattoos, I like tattoos. How do you think? God, none. And the reason I don’t have any is because I’m scared of needles.

01:13:45:07 – 01:14:06:20
So if I ever get up the option. I had some ideas, but I saw this symbol. And it’s a circle. Two circles, ones darkened out, ones like new one was kind of like a hole in it. And I found out that is the new symbol for the empty tomb. It means it’s empty. And I’m like, if I got if I were to get me a tattoo, I’d get that one right there.

01:14:06:20 – 01:14:20:28
I don’t know where I put it, you know, just I’d had to get drunk to do it, and I’m not going to get drunk, so we’re just. I’m out of luck, I guess. I’m not. I’m scared to death and needles. It’s not. It’s not even the pain. It’s just the needle. I know, I know, y’all got tattoos. You say I don’t hurt.

01:14:20:28 – 01:14:44:05
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I love the empty tomb. And I want to remind you. The reason the stone was rolled away was not to let Jesus out of the tomb. It was to let everybody else in to see that it was already empty. It was empty. If God can do that, what problem do you or I face that he can’t resolve?

01:14:44:07 – 01:15:02:13
And by the way, if he doesn’t resolve it and just takes us to heaven, we still we. And that’s what Paul said. Look, it don’t matter if I’m here or there. I still went whether I’m here or there. I just want to live my life and be well pleasing to the Lord. Why? Because I know one day, one day, as sure as life is, I’m going to die.

01:15:02:13 – 01:15:21:23
And when I die, I’m going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ. And I know I’m going to stand before my Savior. And I don’t want to stand there ashamed. I want to stand there saying, Lord, I trusted you in every situation in my life. I went fear knocked on my heart’s door. I let faith answer it.

01:15:21:25 – 01:15:38:14
That’s what Paul, that’s how he lived. And so then I want you to know something else. He says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. This is the part I said, most preachers won’t tell you. And that is this. When we’re when we’re when we’re talking to other people. Have you ever wondered why when you got saved, God left you here on earth?

01:15:38:14 – 01:15:57:25
Didn’t just translate you to heaven? The older I get now, no, stick with me. When I was younger, I used to hear about the rapture. Jesus coming. I used to hear about dying, you know, and. And I still hear about dying and think about it a little more often now because older you get, you begin to look back, look forward and go.

01:15:57:25 – 01:16:19:26
I got more years behind me than ahead of me. Probably. And the older I get, the more the idea of heaven is appealing to me. When you wake up in the morning and you face all kinds of junk and you’re going through life, you’re thinking, I don’t know. When you get about my age, you’re not going. This whole life is wonderful.

01:16:19:28 – 01:16:42:14
No, it didn’t. Y’all saw my new bumper sticker. oh, oh. So after work, I go, you know, it’s like, yeah, that gets old, right? It’s a the thought of heaven gets better. And the more of your friends and family that have gone there, you begin to long for heaven. And that’s okay. You say, well, I’m young, I want to go, but just not today.

01:16:42:14 – 01:17:02:00
I’m kind of with y’all. I’m looking forward to going just Lord, let me stay here a little longer, get more things to do. But the more I think of heaven. But I also realize that God left me here as a Christian. So the my aim is to share and be a witness of him. And what should motivate us to do that?

01:17:02:00 – 01:17:29:23
Number one, knowing, therefore the terror of the Lord, the terror of the Lord is that today God is gracious. Today his love is abounding. Today he calls, he knocks. He stands at the door and knocks. If any man will let him in, he will come in and sup with them, and they can know him. But you realize there’s coming a day that he no longer will be Savior, but he’s going to be judge and market down.

01:17:29:26 – 01:17:50:25
There’s coming a day at the Great White Throne judgment that those whose names were not found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are bound and cast into the lake of fire, where the devil, the Antichrist, the beast, the false prophet are, and there they will be forever. There is a reality to this life. There’s heaven to gain, but there’s hell to shun.

01:17:50:29 – 01:18:15:18
You realize that you say, well, would God send anybody to hell? God is holy. Our sin separates us from him. It isn’t necessarily God sending you to hell. It’s your unbelief that would send you to hell. And and the terror of the Lord is that one day he’s going to judge according to whose name has been written in the Lamb’s book.

01:18:15:20 – 01:18:50:03
So my question to you today is, is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? Oh, I don’t know, Jeff. How do I know that? I can tell you how, you know, it’s just simple. When you get saved, when you come to faith in Jesus Christ, when that moment that you believe his death, his burial and resurrection was for you, and you believe that you believe it so much that you’re asking him to change you.

01:18:50:05 – 01:19:06:21
It’s a change of mind of will. The actions, the motive, the the heart, the mind, the moment you believe that, then you passed from death to life. And so he says, that’s the reason we persuade men.

01:19:06:23 – 01:19:31:25
Why do we do ministry? Why would I stand up this morning and say, hey, we need a good offering. We got things to do and stuff like that. Is it because we want to build something bigger, better and just look prettier? No. Do you realize? Do you realize that in the last year? Listen to me carefully. In the last year, let me give you something real, real, real.

01:19:31:27 – 01:20:04:04
In the last one year, I’ve watched one man, one young man almost die in our arena. That close? He’s sitting right back there looking at me. Two young men that have come on Sunday afternoons and rode bulls or fought bulls here. I’ve been to their funeral, then their funeral. One I saw him literally the week before, one week to the day today.

01:20:04:04 – 01:20:29:19
The last time he was standing in our arena had a conversation with him literally that next Tuesday we were in on Tuesdays, I got a call that he had passed away in an accident. One young man that was here on a Sunday by Saturday had stepped over into eternity. By the next Monday, I was standing at his graveside with his parents doing his funeral.

01:20:29:21 – 01:20:57:07
Now, I’m thankful to report both of those young men here had trusted Jesus as their Savior. But do you realize how close that was? Because had they not, and they stepped off into eternity, I would have had to look their family in the eye with great sorrow there in hell. But they’re not. That’s why we do this. We preach.

01:20:57:12 – 01:21:18:16
Why do I get up every day and preach? Why do I get up every Sunday morning and preach you? I preach to help train you and Christians, but I also preach that the Gospels proclaim that there is anybody here that’s lost. They’ll hear the gospel, believe it, turn to Jesus and be saved. Why? Because I know there’s a heaven to gain, but there’s also a hell to shun.

01:21:18:22 – 01:21:39:08
So what are you? Do you remember this? When you’re witnessing to somebody, the first thing you’ve got to do is you got to get them lost before they can be found. Because this culture says I’m a victim. This culture says, oh, it’s everybody else’s fault. But the Bible says, you’re not the victim. You are the perpetrator. You are the criminal.

01:21:39:08 – 01:22:01:27
You are the one who broke God’s law. Most of the world says, oh, but he did tell me that. Did I hurt my feelings? Well, buddy, suck it up, buttercup, because hell will hurt your feelings. Somebody say amen. I’m telling you the truth. Our culture needs to be confronted. The world’s not the problem. We are the problem. God’s not going to hold me accountable for your sin.

01:22:02:03 – 01:22:22:07
And he’s not going to hold you accountable for my sin. When I stand before God, when you stand before God, you can’t make excuses. You won’t get on TikTok, Twitter or Twitter, whatever that’s called. And x, I don’t care. You’re not going to get on there and tell anybody that it’s somebody else’s fault. When you stand before God, it’s mano a mano, sir.

01:22:22:10 – 01:22:46:06
You before God, you will be responsible for your sin. And I will tell you, when I look at my sin, I’m in trouble. I’m in trouble. That’s why I have to turn to the cross. That’s why I trusted Jesus as my Savior. Because I was lost. And if I get what I deserve, it is hell. And let me tell you, I said, let me be clear.

01:22:46:06 – 01:23:18:17
If you hear nothing else I say today, if you get what you deserve, it will be hell. You got that? That’s main preaching. That’s truthful preaching. Don’t mistake being mean and being truthful. I love you enough to tell you that. Imagine me being a doctor. Imagine me being a doctor. But imagine if I was a doctor and you came into my office and you said, I got this.

01:23:18:18 – 01:23:38:23
I got to I got something in my chest, you know, my something going on. And we do some x rays. I look at your x rays or whatever they do, and I find out as a doctor that you you have lung cancer or brain cancer and the kind of doctor I just go, yep, you got one. You got a brain.

01:23:38:23 – 01:23:56:26
That’s good, I see that. No. but if I saw that and I thought, well, you know, it got me. I been like this person. I don’t want to offend them. So I come back out after reviewing all your tests and say, look, man, I think you got a little touch of pneumonia. Let me give you some antibiotics.

01:23:56:26 – 01:24:24:17
Go home and get well. But you got stage four lung cancer. How many of you would look at me and say you are a bad doctor? You are sorry, doctor. You’re sorry person. Why? Because I can tell you the truth. Because had I told you the truth, it might be that we could have treated you. Understand my position as a pastor, or better, that as a Christian.

01:24:24:19 – 01:24:51:08
At the risk of offending you, I have to tell you what the eternal Word of God says. It ain’t good news. The good news, they tell me, is so good because the bad news is so bad. That’s what Paul’s saying knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. We do what we persuade men. We persuade men, we tell others about Christ.

01:24:51:10 – 01:25:07:17
And you know why? It’s called the good news? It’s called the good news because it’s really good when you consider the bad news. But you got to get people to understand the bad news first. All right? I need to be saved for you Christians. I mean, y’all go through the same times we unsaved people do in the right.

01:25:07:17 – 01:25:16:22
We do. Life is fair. It’s cruel to everybody. Remember that.

01:25:16:24 – 01:25:45:19
You Christians, you go through loss just like we do as unbelievers. You’re right. The difference is I understand the bad news. And because of that, I’ve cried out for mercy before a holy God. And he gave me grace. And that, by the way, is the message. That’s what God wants us to do. So our our. Okay, I don’t have much time left, so I want you just to skip over two verses.

01:25:45:19 – 01:26:05:10
Three verses I’m going to share with you next week. I’ll pick up. I want you to go over to verse number 13, for the Bible says this in verse 13, for if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. In other words, if you think we’re crazy, we’re crazy for Jesus. So what you saying? People always thought the apostle Paul was crazy?

01:26:05:12 – 01:26:44:07
By the way, people in this world don’t think you’re crazy. You’re probably out living for Jesus. If you fit in with the rest of the crowd, you’re probably not following Jesus. You are on the crazy side. It’s just they don’t know it. You don’t believe me? Most don’t even know what a woman is anymore. What? Most are so confused about gender they don’t even know I see kids, Lord help me, I see kids this week on university campuses protest in Israel flying Palestinian flags supporting Hamas.

01:26:44:09 – 01:26:57:05
And them fools don’t even understand. If they went to Hamas, them jerks who throw them off a building and burn them on the spot. I’m not riding with nobody like that.

01:26:57:07 – 01:27:14:02
I’m not. So I want to live for Jesus. I want to think like Jesus. I want to have the mind of Christ. And that’s going to be contrary to this world. That’s what Paul’s saying. He says, for if we are not ourselves, it is for God, or if we are sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us.

01:27:14:04 – 01:27:52:20
What? What, Paul say what? We persuade men because we know the terror of the Lord. He says, the love of Christ compels us. We know the love of God. I know the love of God. I have preached. I have stood in a jail cell and looked a guy in the eye that a week before was riding around with some of his skinhead buddies and for gang initiation, took a shotgun and shot a black man sitting on his tailgate for the simple reason that he was black, murdered him, cold blooded in his own front yard.

01:27:52:22 – 01:28:08:18
And now look, this guy. Yeah, this is back in the 90s. I looked this kid in the eye the same age I was at the time. And I saw something I’d never seen before. I saw no conscience in that person. You want to look at it? Look people in the eye. The Bible says the eyes, the window to the soul that look familiar.

01:28:08:23 – 01:28:32:01
And you can see when you see someone with no conscience. And there I shared with that God the same as I would you. The love of God. Could God forgive a man that did something so bad? Yes, he can, yes I can. And I know that the love of God compels us. And then verse 17, and I’m done, verse 17, I’m done.

01:28:32:03 – 01:29:02:27
Paul says this, therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. I often have shared that verse with you about salvation, and that’s where I’m going to land the plane today. You and I, as believers, our aim should be to please God. How do we please him?

01:29:02:29 – 01:29:24:14
We please him on this earth by witnessing of him and for him. You got to get a person lost before you get him saved. But even those who may reject what you have to say or how you live, or may they put you down because you are a Christian, know that it is the love of Christ that compels us.

01:29:24:17 – 01:29:55:11
Okay, but listen to this. Therefore, if any person, any man, will be in Christ, they are. What a new creation I’ve often told you. What that means is they have a new nature. See, when I got saved, they won’t be very clear about when I got saved. I didn’t quit sinning. I hope I sin less. But here’s something that happened when I got saved.

01:29:55:14 – 01:30:19:00
Or maybe if you’re a believer here today, this happened in your life. When I got saved, something changed in me. I no longer liked sin. Show me an unbeliever who does not know Christ and they love to go to the bar. They love to do everything people do at the bar and after the bar. And I’m only using an example.

01:30:19:00 – 01:30:49:10
There’s a whole lot of things I could throw in here. They love to go and do things that are totally contrary to God’s Word. They love it. It’s a matter of fact, they can’t live without it. Can a Christian go do those same things yet? But here’s one problem a Christian’s going to have. They going to go home and there’s going to be this, this thing called conviction of the Holy Spirit saying that was wrong.

01:30:49:12 – 01:31:11:05
Let me be even more real with you, y’all. Y’all realize that you don’t have a perfect pastor. You got that right. I hope you do. I was gathering cows this morning. Matter of fact, while we were there. Listen, Dennis and Brant with their singing, I was standing right here like, Lord, please forgive me for what I said to them both this morning.

01:31:11:05 – 01:31:35:01
Please forgive me. I. I’m pretty sure if my tractor hadn’t been run, the neighbors would have heard me. I think my wife did it because I was cussing them. Just did. When they duck off and go somewhere else and the dogs won’t work in the mud flying, I said some things to them. Cows and I’m like him. So when you get up here and you’re like, I got to preach.

01:31:35:01 – 01:31:57:10
But Lord, I know you heard me. See, I’m not perfect. No person’s perfect except Jesus. The difference is, if I weren’t a believer, I’m sure none of that would have bothered me at all. But because I am a Christian and I do have the Holy Spirit, the conviction came is like, you know what you said to them dogs and cows?

01:31:57:12 – 01:32:39:27
You said in the presence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Wow, that hurt. And you know what happened? It brought me to the place to say, Lord, I was wrong. I’m sorry. I repent. Please forgive me. That’s the difference of nature, the nature of my heart as a Christian versus being an unbeliever and not knowing Christ. So I’m going to leave you with this question.

01:32:40:00 – 01:33:09:09
Is to anyone be in Christ? In Christ they are new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. Someone will come to me often. You probably are. Never a week go by if someone doesn’t come or call me or send me a text and say, pastor, I’m really struggling about salvation. I don’t really know if I really am.

01:33:09:11 – 01:33:45:01
I prayed a prayer when I was whatever, I even got baptized. But it’s like something in here. There’s something. And here’s how I always answer that question. Can you sin and not bother you? Number two has there ever been a day or a time in your life that you can go back to and say, I’ve been different since that moment, so you can pray a thousand prayers?

01:33:45:03 – 01:34:21:21
And it could be meaningless. I’ll leave it like this. If the God of this Bible hasn’t changed, you, then the God of this Bible hasn’t saved you. That’s according to the Bible. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he’s what a new creation. So let me ask it that way. Has the God of this Bible changed you, changed your heart?

01:34:21:24 – 01:34:47:03
I didn’t say make you perfect. You get perfect. You get to heaven. But you a long way. I like to, people said, I tell people say, if you don’t like who I am right now, just wait a minute. God is still working on me. He’s changing me. And that it’s called sanctification, is that process in which you and I walk to every day as a believer that God is God is making us to be more and more like Jesus.

01:34:47:03 – 01:35:15:08
I’m not there yet, but I’m a lot closer than when I started. But the one thing I can tell you about me is that I see him, I mess up, I blow it every day. To be honest with you. But the difference is I don’t enjoy it. It grieves me to go places I shouldn’t go. It grieves me to talk the way I shouldn’t talk, or to think the way I shouldn’t think, or to look at something I shouldn’t look.

01:35:15:14 – 01:35:39:07
You follow me. And so that’s how I know I’ve got the Holy Spirit in me saying, don’t do that. That’s not Christlike. Because what does it mean to be a Christian? It means to be a Christ follower. I follow Jesus, I believe in him. If I believe in him, I follow him. And by the way, you what you believe in will always dictate your behavior.

01:35:39:09 – 01:35:49:28
Get that what you truly believe in will always dictate your behavior.

01:35:50:00 – 01:36:15:23
And so Paul says this and I’m done, I really am. He says, verse number 18. Now all things are of God. Who has done what, reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us this. I hope you go home, read the rest. His chapter given us this. What? What’s it next? Few words say ministry of reconciliation.

01:36:15:25 – 01:36:29:23
Well, everybody look at me real quick. You’re a believer in Jesus Christ. Look at me. Did you know that God called you into ministry?

01:36:29:26 – 01:36:48:20
Take a deep breath. Breathe. Better. Now, if you are a believer in this room or you’re a believer, are watching me right now. You have been called into ministry.

01:36:48:23 – 01:37:11:28
Welcome to the ministry. What? I didn’t say you’ve been called to the ministry of a pastor. I didn’t say you’ve been called to the ministry of an apostle and say you’ve been called to the ministry of an evangelist or whatever. Whatever. What is the Bible say? You’ve been called to the Ministry of Reconciliation. That’s every one of our men.

01:37:12:04 – 01:37:34:03
My, my, my, my, my ministry is not a pastor, by the way. My my role is a pastor. My ministry is no different than the same ministry every one of you here are called to, and it’s the ministry of reconciliation. What does that look like? It means we go to the world and say, I know the terror of the Lord.

01:37:34:05 – 01:37:56:23
I know that there’s, hell to shun and a heaven to gain. I know that a holy God cannot let sinful man into heaven. But I also know the one who fixed all that. He hung on the cross with his hands reached high across the heavens. And when he did, one hand reaching to God, one hand reaching to man.

01:37:56:29 – 01:38:29:15
And it was Jesus at the cross who brought the sinful hand of man and the holy hand of God together in reconciliation, and made it right. I couldn’t reach up. But he reached down, and he, by his mercy and his grace, reconciled me to the father. Remember, that’s where I started about going into the throne room of God, having access to come boldly before the throne of God.

01:38:29:16 – 01:39:01:19
How do I have that? How do you have that? Because of the risk conciliation between me and God. And that came through his Son Jesus. That’s why you heard Melissa get up a while ago. And and she was seeking, I speak the name of Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. He’s the one hope we all need. He’s the hope this world needs.

01:39:01:26 – 01:39:10:24
I know we’re in a political year and I’m very political. Just ask me. I think you’re so bad now and get somebody else in. But come.

01:39:10:26 – 01:39:30:02
You. You could put whoever you want in there, but let me let me just explain something to you. There isn’t a politician that’s ever lived or ever will live that can fix this world. There just isn’t. There’s only one hope for this world. Only one hope for this country. Only one hope for you, for me and for our family.

01:39:30:02 – 01:39:51:15
And that’s Jesus. And guess what? If you go on and read the last verse of that chapter, it says, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. You’ve been called to ministry, and I hope you were. I know you weren’t expecting that when you came in this morning, but next week I’m going to call all your minister. Next week.

01:39:51:15 – 01:40:05:28
I’ll call you Reverend, by the way, call me Jeff. Don’t call me Reverend. Makes you feel stiff and nervous.

01:40:06:00 – 01:40:26:06
How many of you here today? And I’m closing online into play. How many of you here today? You have to raise your hand just to answer this in your heart. How many of you here today and say yes, Jeff, I can testify that Jesus is my Savior and my life has been changed. I know that you hear me.

01:40:26:06 – 01:40:56:12
Get up here and say, I know Jesus is alive. How I know he’s alive because he changed my life. That’s evident. The evidence is not my baptismal certificate. It’s not my ordination certificate. It’s not that somebody calls me my my evidence that I know Jesus and he knows me is that I have been changed by him. So if I’ve been changed by him, and I really I know the bad news and it’s bad, but I also have the good news because I’ve been the recipient of it.

01:40:56:15 – 01:41:16:11
Yeah. Why would I not share that with others? Why would I not want to walk in even to a hostile situation where I know people don’t believe in him and may not like me for my faith in him, but be willing out of love, because the love of God compels me to share the good news with them. Because I’ve been called.

01:41:16:11 – 01:41:42:15
You’ve been called to a ministry of reconciliation through Jesus, the sinful hand of man joining the holy hand of God. How did that happen? It happened through the sinless Son of God. Let’s bow our heads and pray. If you’re here today and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, I pray before you leave here today, you’ll come talk to me.

01:41:42:22 – 01:42:05:02
Judge. Judge, wearing a white shirt. I’m gonna have him stand up. You’re different. Melissa, come, Dennis. Come. It’s going to be a couple people standing here at the front. I’m going to dismiss here in just a second. But if you need prayer today, or maybe you need to know more about Jesus, I want you to come visit with these three that are standing across the front this morning.

01:42:05:04 – 01:42:23:22
Chair, meet you in the back. Come on up here. Would you come to share me? I should ask these. I get two ladies, two men that I know and trust very, very much, that they know Jesus. They know the Holy Spirit. And they’d be welcome to counsel with you. Pray with you. All you got to do when we dismiss, come up here and visit with them.

01:42:23:25 – 01:42:45:23
I promise you, if I trust them, you can trust them. They know Jesus. So when we’re done, you need prayer. It just may be something you’re struggling with today. You came here to get something. Don’t leave empty. Let them pray for you, okay? Lord, we love you. We thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your word.

01:42:45:25 – 01:43:06:25
Thank you God that you’ve called us as believers into a ministry greater than anything that we could do ourselves. It’s a ministry of reconciliation. And we do that by sharing the love of God with through Jesus, with others, the the death, the burial, the resurrection. We show that because our lives have been changed, and for that we’re grateful.

01:43:06:25 – 01:43:26:20
We’re humbled, and we want to serve you, live for you, and be well pleasing to you. Lord, if someone here today is struggling through something in their life, Lord, let them come today. Give them the courage just to walk forward and ask these to pray for them. And Lord, they can do so in confidence. But Lord, let them get help today before they leave.

01:43:26:22 – 01:43:45:07
I pray for those this week that have lost loved ones, father, that you would bless them, comfort them, give them your grace. I pray for those in this building that this week are facing difficulties. It may be the loss of a job, it could be health issues. It could be a number of things, marital issues. Lord, just just touch them.

01:43:45:07 – 01:44:06:01
Today. Let every person, as they leave this building today have been touched by your love, your grace and your mercy and Holy Spirit. Go with everybody here today. Bless them. Keep them. Bring us back together to worship you next week. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Thank you. You’re dismissed. Hey, don’t forget if you need prayer, come up.

01:44:06:03 – 01:44:21:19
All right. You can come play with these that are standing here in confidence. They’ll be here for a few minutes and be glad to pray with your visitors. We love you. Thank you for worshiping with us today, guys. 230 bull riding bull riding team for you. Give me just a minute. Will meet my office real quick. Just real short.

01:44:21:27 – 01:44:32:16
We love y’all. God bless you again. We don’t pass an offering plate. There’s a milk can at the back if you want to give an offering to the Lord today. We love you. Have a good week.