There is Life in God’s Word

00:00:00:18 – 00:00:26:25
Well, good morning. Good to see you all this morning on a beautiful, beautiful September Sunday morning. I don’t know about you, but I’m sure grateful for the cooler weather I’ve had. About all the heat that I want. There may be some more, but I’m praising God for good, good weather. Take your Bibles this morning. Open a second Timothy chapter four, second Timothy, chapter four.

00:00:26:28 – 00:00:46:05
I want to say to everybody visiting with us today, we’re glad that you’ve chosen to worship with us. Glad you’re here, and pray you receive a blessing. Want to say to those tuning in on Facebook, oh yeah, the kids can be dismissed. See him going back there? If you want to go to children’s church, do you have, kids who want to go to children’s church?

00:00:46:05 – 00:01:11:14
Please? You can go right now. There’s some. They’re heading to the back. I want to say to all those tuning in on Facebook this morning, we’re glad that you’ve chosen to be with us this morning to worship online. With this, I want to ask you, before I get started, to pray for a few people, Steven South, who normally sits right over here about where Cody anymore.

00:01:11:17 – 00:01:42:10
His father passed away this week, and we want to remember Steven and his family in prayer during this time of their loss. Because if you’ve ever lost a loved one, especially someone as close as a father, you know how difficult, the time that they may be having right now. We just want to lift him up in prayer and ask you to remember them through this week, in prayer, that God just give them a special dispensation of grace and mercy through this time.

00:01:42:13 – 00:02:07:06
And then, also, when I ask you to pray for Ryan Arnold, he sits in the back normally, and he and his wife, Arnold and I ride, and I, work out together at the gym. He normally can outwork me, but he’s a good friend. I love him very much, but his grandfather’s really, really bad. And so I think he was having to leave this morning to go to Illinois.

00:02:07:06 – 00:02:25:16
And he asked me to ask you to pray for he and his family, and I promised him I would. So he just remember them in prayer. And then I look around the room, I see a lot of folks here, and, we’ve got a lot of upcoming events. If you’ve been with us this weekend, it’s already been a busy weekend, but we’re not through.

00:02:25:18 – 00:02:42:18
We were to see what would be our last night. We took some bows there. There’s a couple more sitting in here today. I know that. Took a first and a second. I think they’re sitting back there next to each other, so they’re still friends. And I’m glad they are. They’re punching each other, but, man, we had a good time there.

00:02:42:20 – 00:03:14:13
Rick Hebner and Cody brought a a message and it was awesome. We were able to reach out. I want to say to our team that was there last night. Thank you for being there. You represented Jesus very, very well. Y’all give them a hand for that. I appreciate that this is a mission field for us, and there were a lot of families and people that we got to meet and make friends with, and some of them I know were in the service today, and I’m glad they are.

00:03:14:15 – 00:03:35:15
But it’s it’s a wide open mission field for us, and we’re just going to keep mashing the gas and reach them, for Jesus. And today is our first Sunday there. We’re going back to 230. I call it the spring or the fall, spring, fall, winter and spring schedule. We made it through the summer. Okay, y’all, we made it through the summer.

00:03:35:15 – 00:03:58:00
And that’s a hard thing to do during a bull run ministry in the heat. But we’re now going back to 230 on Sundays. If you’ve never stayed, you never been to our bread ministry. I want you to come back at 230 today and just pull up in a car, get on a bleacher, walk out by the arena, whatever, and join us because we’re going to have some baptisms there.

00:03:58:07 – 00:04:22:18
There’s a couple young men that are going to get baptized today in the horse trough up there, and it’s a really special day for them. And then we’re going to buck some bulls and it’ll be a really good day. And then, guys, I want to remind you tomorrow that Bull rider Bible study at 630. We had to because the holiday weekend last week, we postponed it or just delighted to this week, but bull rider Bible study at 630.

00:04:22:18 – 00:04:44:01
And then I want to invite all of you for our church led Bible study at 630 on Wednesday nights. We’re going through the book of Ephesians, and it’s been a really good study. And, hope you’ll come. It’s a little more laid back than a service like this. We meet in the back there and just sit around together and open God’s Word and go through it together.

00:04:44:03 – 00:05:07:02
Now, if you already want to learn the Word of God, it’s a great time to do that. And it’s a very, friendly atmosphere to which if you have questions or you have comments, you can make them. And, I don’t know about you, but I always learn most when I’m able to ask questions about something. And so that’s a great opportunity.

00:05:07:04 – 00:05:26:19
All right. If you open your Bible, a second Timothy chapter four, I want to give you the context I always believe, number one, you’re in a Bible preaching church. If you’re looking for something else, you should find another church. Amen. But if you, the Bible, I preach the Bible, we’re going to stick to the Bible.

00:05:26:25 – 00:05:49:23
And so I’m glad you’re here. I hope you brought your Bibles. If you didn’t pull out your cell phone and look up Second Timothy, chapter four, you’re going to want to follow me today because, what I’ve got to say, what we’re we’re going to look at in Scripture, I believe will be helpful. I believe it will be encouraging to you, no matter where you’re at in your walk of life or walk in Jesus.

00:05:49:25 – 00:06:17:02
I believe what I’m going to say today will be very helpful and very encouraging to you. In Second Timothy chapter four, you’ve got to get the context. And the context is this. The apostle Paul is the writer of this book. If you read through the New Testament, there’s 27 books in the New Testament, 14 of those if you include Hebrews, I believe it was written by the Apostle Paul.

00:06:17:04 – 00:06:39:09
And this guy had given his life to Jesus on the Damascus road. Jesus appeared to him, and there called him to faith and to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. And Paul spent the rest of his life from that moment preaching the gospel. I mean, he was kind of like the Energizer Bunny. No matter what they did, no matter what they said.

00:06:39:16 – 00:07:07:15
The guy just kept preaching the gospel everywhere he went. He said once he said, I don’t want to know anything among you except Christ crucified. The heartbeat of Paul’s ministry. Let me just fill you in on this. The heartbeat of the gospel was, or the heartbeat of the Gospels or the New Testament was the gospel message. You know, I want you to remember the gospel message, because I’m going to talk about that in just a minute.

00:07:07:22 – 00:07:39:16
That in a way, I don’t think you’ve ever heard it. And I’m going to make a declaration that you probably never understood what the gospel message is really about. But the apostle Paul had done this. He had served faithfully. He had preached, as we know of history, somewhere 30 to 33 years as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Before that, he had spent his time as a Pharisee, just a religious leader, a very prominent religious leader, but one who really abhorred.

00:07:39:16 – 00:08:08:10
He didn’t like he was against the gospel because he had such a religious spirit. But when God delivered him of that, when Jesus saved him on the Damascus road, he set him free to preach the gospel, and he literally wrote 14 of the 27 books that you and I call the New Testament today. But Paul, if you know, history was eventually beheaded, they cut his head off for preaching the gospel.

00:08:08:12 – 00:08:29:04
Let me let me just interject something right here. Paul was not a preacher of the American gospel. Let me just say that real clear. The American gospel says you can believe Jesus any way you want him. He’s kind of like a Chinese buffet. Take what you want. Leave what you don’t. But I’m here to tell you, you either got to take Jesus for the whole thing or nothing.

00:08:29:10 – 00:08:56:21
And Paul preach Christ everywhere. He went. And Paul was this guy that everywhere he went, he faced persecution for preaching the gospel. I hear American preachers today that’ll get up and they’ll preach some warm, fuzzy gospel, something just to make you feel good inside. And you can leave the same way you came. But that wasn’t the message that the Apostle Paul or any of the apostles preach.

00:08:56:28 – 00:09:28:23
They preach the gospel message that called people to repentance. They called people to change that call people to faith in Jesus. And when they had an encounter with Jesus, their life was forever changed. They they didn’t know anything about the American gospel that you and I have heard so many times where you just pray a prayer sign, a card, become a church member, get baptized, and go out and live the same way you came in and expect to make heaven.

00:09:28:23 – 00:09:51:25
That was never the message of the gospel, or the gospel was you’ll meet Jesus and he’ll change, radically change your life. I love it. I love it when people call me a radical and I’d rather be called a radical than lukewarm, because I’ve already heard the words of Jesus concerning a lukewarm Christian, and he said, it makes me sick.

00:09:51:25 – 00:10:16:09
I just as soon vomit you out of my mouth. Read revelation chapter three. He said, I’d rather you be hot, or rather, you be cold. But if you’re a lukewarm, pansy waisted Christian, he said, that’s going to make me sick. And we’ve lost that message today. We forgot that I post posted things on Facebook, and I used to do a deal that called Just a Thought.

00:10:16:12 – 00:10:33:07
And now I just begin posting some one liners like, I’ve got some one liners, I say, and it’s just I don’t even know if they’re original with me. But when you get as old as me, you’ve heard a lot of stuff. I’ve been around a lot of good men and women of the faith that have smoked things into my life.

00:10:33:07 – 00:10:56:10
And and I think of things that I got maybe a little country twist and a little bit of, you know, a little bit of fire. And what I’m saying, because I really do believe it, because I’m at the age now that it’s not so much about what I’m building, it’s about what I’m leaving. I look at my age today and I’m saying, man, I got more years behind me probably than I do ahead of me, and that’s okay.

00:10:56:14 – 00:11:13:08
And speaking earthly years, of course, because I’ve got it. I’ve got a reward. I’ve got heaven awaiting me. I’ve got eternity with me. But I think about those things and I think, you know, above all things that I want to do, I want to leave a legacy. And so if you’re my age or older, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

00:11:13:15 – 00:11:47:09
I’m looking at the hourglass of life and I’m going it’s starting to run out pretty fast in me. It’s going a lot faster than I thought. So I want to leave some things. And one of the things I posted about a week ago, that of man. At first I got some pushback from some brothers and sisters in Christ, and it was something to the effect of like, if if you say you’re a Christian, and you never go to church, it’s like saying that I’m a, I’m a, I’m a married and I never go home to my spouse.

00:11:47:11 – 00:12:15:16
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe he said that. I can’t believe he posted to that. So hateful. And it hurt my feelings. Well, guess what, Sparky, if you never read a Bible, you’ll understand the Bible says in Hebrews, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together insomuch as you see the day approaching. What does that mean? It means we’re running out of time.

00:12:15:19 – 00:12:37:17
It means Jesus is coming. It means if you trust, listen to me. I’m not going to apologize for this. If you trust in a salvation that can never get you to church, but you’re expecting it to get you to heaven, you are deceived. Deceived? Let me tell you what your Bible says. Jesus in the four Gospels established the church.

00:12:37:23 – 00:12:58:07
He said he was coming back for the church. Not only that, when you read the epistles, the one we’re in today that the apostle Paul wrote, Ephesians, Philippians, you can just go on down to one Corinthians. You know who Paul was writing to? He was writing to churches just like this. He was writing, say, the called out believers assemblies.

00:12:58:11 – 00:13:15:17
Hey, when you get saved, there’s something going to happen to you when you read it really radically. Come to Jesus. You’re going to want to be around Christians. Someone told me one time to, I don’t want to go to church because there’s all the hypocrites out here that often. I’m sure you’ve heard that. Maybe you’ve even made that.

00:13:15:20 – 00:13:31:06
But I always say, I’d rather go to church with some of them than to hell with all of them, because the Bible tells me that one of the things that’s going to help first one being cowards. All right, number one is I’m not a Democrat. I’m not a coward. I’m I’m not going. Oh, I lost you there. I’m sorry.

00:13:31:08 – 00:13:53:06
I’m not going there. I’m going to be a radical, sold out believer of Jesus, and I’m going to follow him. And secondly, I don’t want to be a hypocrite in my life. I get it. Nobody’s perfect. I’m not perfect, you’re not perfect. And I’m not asking you to follow me. And you’re not asking me to follow you. But we’re following the one who is perfect, and he ain’t a hypocrite.

00:13:53:12 – 00:14:11:04
I didn’t come here for you. You didn’t come here for me. We came here for Jesus today. So you can sit anybody down beside me. And I’m still going to raise my hands whenever the Lord tells me do. I’m still going to worship when I feel like it. I came to worship Jesus today. I don’t care who said around me.

00:14:11:10 – 00:14:33:09
I tried to bring as many people as I could with me. I hope you did too, but I didn’t come for people I learned a long time ago. Don’t get the disease to please it. It kill you. You, the same people that will pat you on the back today will stab you in the back tomorrow. But I live for the applause of nail scarred hands.

00:14:33:11 – 00:15:01:26
That’s here. And if you can ever get that free, you’ll learn what it is to walk in liberty and freedom in Jesus. When you don’t care what anybody else says about you. In the Apostle Paul was that way. And so when you read in Second Timothy chapter two for the Apostle Paul is in jail, as a matter of fact, he wrote most of the books that he wrote from a jail cell.

00:15:01:29 – 00:15:23:00
Now it was in a place where you get to report to the court. Okay. He was writing from jail. That was like a dungeon. I ain’t saying jails. This is land. But I’m here to tell you I’ve heard about prison. I did some prison ministry, and I’m going to tell you jail is Disneyland compared to prison. But both of them are Disneyland compared to what he was in.

00:15:23:02 – 00:15:45:09
And he’s sitting in his jail cell as he’s writing second Timothy, this is the second book that he wrote to Timothy. You can read first Timothy. And Timothy was a young preacher boy that Paul had mentored. Disciple and encouraged. And by the way, he was a guy. And when I say he was a mentor and a disciple, you know what he did?

00:15:45:11 – 00:16:21:24
He followed Paul. I mean, everywhere Paul went and did ministry, Timothy was there beside him. You can’t share, you can’t get fed. If you don’t show up. You you understand me? He Timothy said, hey, I’m here to learn ministry. And Paul was getting ready to hand over the mantle to Timothy from jail. And here it is as he’s looking out the window, watching them sharpen the guillotine that was about to take his head.

00:16:21:26 – 00:16:48:14
Think about it. So in that context, remember I started talking about context for for I got sidetracked. Y’all sidetracked me a while ago. So you say, man, you shout, you talk back to me. That’s like saying sic him to a dog. Yeah, right. I like that. That’s old school to me. All right. So look what he says in verse one, second Timothy chapter four, verse one.

00:16:48:16 – 00:17:20:04
And we’re going to read through about verse number 7 or 8, but let’s see how far we get. He says, I charge you. Therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead. And in the. Listen, I’m here today to preach to you a Savior. I’m here to preach Jesus the Savior. But I would be amiss if I didn’t tell you that one day he’s going to be Jesus the judge.

00:17:20:09 – 00:17:42:23
When the trumpet sounds and the dead in Christ rise. I promise you, from that moment it matter of fact, the Bible calls that moment and forward about seven years, the tribulation period. When that moment happens, it won’t be life as usual on earth. Okay? That’s what we call the tribulation. I hear these quacks today say, I think we’re in the tribulation period.

00:17:42:23 – 00:18:04:08
I’m not. You’re still alive. No, we’re not, no, we’re not the judge that the tribulation is a time and a period of life on earth. Jesus said like no other before and he said, by the way, if it wasn’t shortened, if they did, if he didn’t limit to this seven years, no flesh will survive. You think you’re living in some tough times now?

00:18:04:12 – 00:18:28:15
I’m telling you, those seven years are going to be hell on earth. God is going to release his wrath, his wrath on sin, and men are going to Revere. I’m calling you to repent today because of grace. But in those seven years when a man repents, it’ll be repent because of the wrath of God. And so he’s he says he’s going to judge the living and the dead.

00:18:28:15 – 00:18:50:28
What’s he saying? He’s saying that there’s coming a day that we’re all caught in. Second Corinthians chapter five, we will all stand before God, and we will all give an account for everything we did in this life. You need to understand something real quick, and I need to make this distinction for the believer. I know what Romans eight verse one says.

00:18:51:00 – 00:19:11:06
Romans eight verse one tells me, there is therefore now no condemnation in those who are in Christ Jesus. In other words, I know that when I stand before him, yes, he’s going to be judged, but he’s not going to judge me by my sin because I have been redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ, because I repented of my sin and believe the gospel, but me.

00:19:11:07 – 00:19:38:19
But because of that, I will stand before him. And I’m going to give you an account for the things I’ve done, and I will be rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ for the things that I did in the name of Jesus. All of the things that I didn’t do. Can you imagine standing for Jesus, the one who saved you, the one who died for you, the one who gave his all for you, and saying, I have nothing to offer you?

00:19:38:19 – 00:19:59:20
God, I did nothing on earth with my life. What a shameful moment that would be. But then, for the unbeliever, the Bible tells us after that seven years that I talked about that seven year tribulation and that that moment where Jesus then comes back, what we know is the battle of Armageddon. He rules and reigns on earth for a thousand years.

00:19:59:26 – 00:20:33:20
We who are saved will rule and reign with him. But then it ended a thousand years. There’s going to be what in revelation 20 is called the Great White Throne Judgment. Read your Bible. I know there’s not a lot of preachers tell you this, but I’m going to tell it to you anyway. When you read revelation 20, the Bible says that everybody’s gathered at that meeting, and the dead, those who died without Jesus, a resurrected body, and they stand body and soul and spirit.

00:20:33:23 – 00:20:51:26
Did you know you are three part B? You were created in the image of Almighty God is a triune God. He is God the Father, God the son, God the Holy Spirit. You have a body. That’s the part we’re looking at today. You have a soul that your mind, your will, your intellect, you have a spirit. This is what separates you from the animals.

00:20:51:26 – 00:21:14:00
We say, well, an animal has a spirit in us. Animals don’t have spirits. They have souls. We get that backwards. Because when God created Adam, what did he say he did? He made Adam from the dust of the earth. He spoke all of all of other God’s creation. God, when he created animals, God spoke them into existence. But he took dust and dirt and he formed a man.

00:21:14:02 – 00:21:40:12
And then when he had this body laid out, God himself breathe the breath of life, the breath of God, into that man. What did that mean? It meant now he had a spirit. So you and I are a living body, soul and spirit. When you die, your body goes to the ground. But listen to me. Your soul and your spirit does not linger around to say goodbye to your grandma or or the rocking a rocking chair with your aunt.

00:21:40:14 – 00:21:59:27
There’s no such thing as ghost. You and you found me. You track on me. You say, well, I saw a ghost. No, you saw a demon. You saw what’s called a familiar spirit. Read your Bible. You saw demons. What you need to understand is when a person dies, you’re not going to hang around the hospital to tell everybody goodbye.

00:21:59:29 – 00:22:21:27
You know, boo boo boo. You’re not going to do that when you die. Listen to this, preacher. When you die, it’s heaven or hell. You’re going up or down, smoking or nonsmoking. Okay, we’ll just get that out. You’re going, you’re going. And by the way, when you get there, there ain’t no coming back is final. We live in a world today that will.

00:22:21:27 – 00:22:37:26
And somebody we just going to smooth over it. We teach our kids well I said three. No I said no three times. And you know, maybe I’ll say it a fourth time if you’re a parent that does that. By the way, let me just say I love you. But let me just say this. You’re hurting your children. You need to know God says no.

00:22:37:26 – 00:23:05:21
What’s when you reject him and you die in your sin, there’s no second chance. Wow, wow. Who took that preacher off today? I’m just telling you what the Bible says. So he says, I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus. Go back to verse one. He will judge the living and the dead. And at the appearing and his kingdom.

00:23:05:23 – 00:23:31:27
And then he says to Timothy, he says, Timothy, preach the word. Let me stop right there. First thing, guys. And I got a lot of young men and women in here that are, are evangelizing, preaching, declaring, can I just say to you as a preacher, as a Christian, your job is to proclaim the word. I love giving my opinion.

00:23:31:27 – 00:23:54:03
I’m just like you. But, you know, opinions are like elbows. Most people’s got two, right. Y’all gonna say something else? Y’all heard that saying? I know that saying. Do you know? You keeping it real up in here? But hey, my opinion has never changed anybody. Matter of fact, I learned a long time ago, if I can talk you into something, somebody else will talk you out of it.

00:23:54:08 – 00:24:18:17
But what the Holy Spirit taught you into, nobody will ever talk you out of it, man. When the Holy Spirit convicts you. And by the way, he’ll convict you of sin and convince you of righteousness. What? Through his word. So Paul tells Timothy. He says, Timothy, preach the word, preach the word. I love giving illustrations. I love bringing the story together.

00:24:18:22 – 00:24:37:03
I love helping make application. But you know what? If I had nothing else to say today, I would have just got up, read the scripture, shut up and sit down. And I believe it would have been sufficient. God’s word, there’s power in it. Say, how do you know there’s power in unto you? I know there’s power in. I was 16 years old.

00:24:37:03 – 00:24:59:16
You can with me in my office in a little bit. I can show you a picture. You hadn’t seen a human being looked like I looked bull stepped in my face. Day 216 1989. My face was marred beyond what a human being should look like. Life support teams coming out of me. And I remember in the third day he overhearing, while I was in a coma, hearing doctors tell my parents he probably won’t live.

00:24:59:20 – 00:25:24:14
And I remember coming in and out of consciousness during that time, and our pastor laid his hands on my chest and prayed. But then over through that night, I would hear this familiar voice, a sweet voice, the voice that I’ve known since before I was born. And it was my mama’s voice. And I would hear her reading. And because I grew up in a Christian home, I recognized where she was reading from.

00:25:24:18 – 00:25:45:05
It was from the Psalms. In the Proverbs, it was the Word of God. Our pastor told her when she said, what can I do? I don’t want my son to die. Our pastor said, there’s healing in God’s word. My mama took that to heart, but she said them my my bedside opened her Bible and she began to read the word of God.

00:25:45:06 – 00:26:04:11
And that doctor came in and said, I don’t know what you’re doing, miss. Tag it, but keep doing it. That boy has turned it around, and she sat there all night and she read, and by the next morning it was if God had spoke life into me. Listen to me. There is life in God’s Word. There’s not life in TikTok.

00:26:04:11 – 00:26:25:12
There’s not life in Facebook. There’s not love in the drama that you and I get caught up. But there is life in God’s Word. So I encourage you, open your Bibles. Be a person that speaks the word, learns the word, memorizes the word, walks in the word believes the word. And when you do, God will speak life into you.

00:26:25:14 – 00:26:47:05
So then he says, preach the word. Be ready or be instant in season and out of season. What does he mean? He’s saying you preach it when you feel like it, and when you hear you hear is catch me, catch me, catch me when you don’t feel like it. How many y’all wake up some mornings and you just don’t feel like it.

00:26:47:08 – 00:27:03:15
We all do, right? I was sitting in the front row a while ago, and I was praying about late last night. You know, I’m old, so I go to sleep when the chickens go to sleep. And I get up when the chickens get up right. And I got up before the chickens got up yesterday morning, and it was way after they went to bed last night when I got in bed.

00:27:03:21 – 00:27:27:18
And I’m thinking, Lord, you’re going to have to give me a Holy Ghost boost today because I am not feeling it. I get up most days, like seven days a week. Normally, and I go to the gym here in Decatur with my workout buddies, Ron sitting back here in the back. He’s Ron and I met at the gym and he does the same.

00:27:27:20 – 00:27:55:24
Now, I got to be honest with you, there are some days, a lot of days I don’t feel like going. There’s a lot of mornings, especially Monday mornings after I’ve done, you know, Sunday preaching and inflating Lunchables and been out there ministering and pouring out, pouring out, pouring. And by Monday mornings, I’m just going to be realizing, like you, I’m tired and my Monday mornings are just like yours.

00:27:55:26 – 00:28:16:23
Man, I don’t feel like going. But you know what? I and I decided a while back, no matter what, no matter if I feel it or I don’t feel it, I’m going to get up and go to the gym. I determined in 1993, when I bowed money to Jesus and said, I give you my life and I surrender it to you to preach.

00:28:17:01 – 00:28:35:26
I decided then I’m going to preach. Whether I feel like it or whether I don’t feel like it, whether it’s received or it’s not received. I’m going to preach whether there’s a crowd or there’s not a crowd, I’m going to be faithful whether I want to be faithful or whether I don’t want to be faithful. And that’s what Paul.

00:28:35:26 – 00:28:58:29
And that was the heartbeat of Paul by the way, and that’s what he’s encouraging Timothy to do. He’s saying preach the word, be used in in season or be ready in season and out of season. And then he says, convince, rebuke, exhort then. Now think about what he’s saying right here. Convince you ever notice has preachers we preach salvation.

00:28:59:00 – 00:29:29:11
We preach and we plead with people to come to Jesus. Why? Because we’re to be preaching. And preaching the word convinces people of the righteousness of God, and he says, rebuke or exhort to rebuke mean. Sometimes the preacher ain’t really the preacher, by the way. But people say it this way. The preacher stepped on my toes today. I didn’t step on your toes.

00:29:29:11 – 00:29:50:19
That was a Holy Ghost stomping on your toes. By the way, if I go to church and I hear a preacher and I walk out of there and my toes hadn’t been stepped on, he didn’t preach. I don’t care what you say, I know me, I know the messed up me. And I know when the Word of God comes out, it’s going to do is dance right on me.

00:29:50:21 – 00:30:08:26
It’s going to be I’m going to walk out of there, maybe feel a little sore, but I’m going to leave out of there being real thankful. I don’t let you, but I’m thankful when somebody loves me enough to tell me the truth. Just just give it to me real. Don’t sugarcoat it. I’m all for sugar anyway. I want it right.

00:30:08:26 – 00:30:35:14
I want to hear his convince, rebuke and exhort. Exhort means to lift up. And then he says, with all longsuffering and teaching, for the time will come, when they will not endure, they will not endure. They won’t be able to tolerate it. They won’t be able to handle sound doctrine. Sound doctrine is sound teaching. Can I just tell y’all we are living in that day?

00:30:35:17 – 00:30:57:18
Everybody’s got an opinion, but nobody wants to hear the truth. And so, he says they won’t endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires and their words, their own agendas. Their own what? Their own messed up self. They don’t want to change. They want somebody to condone what they’re doing. Let me give you another word.

00:30:57:18 – 00:31:21:16
It might be familiar in our culture, tolerance. Why you should tolerate me and my sin. I can’t tolerate you and your sin, and you can’t tolerate me and my sin. Well. You must hate me. I don’t hate you. And you shouldn’t hate me. As a matter of fact, my faith as a follower of Jesus tells me I can’t condone your sin.

00:31:21:21 – 00:31:38:28
Neither can I hate you for that sin. See, that’s where the world was. The pain is you. If you’re not paying attention politically and culturally, you need to wake up because that’s what the whole world says. If you don’t agree with me, you must hate me. Or if you don’t condone what I’m doing, then you’ve got to hate me.

00:31:38:29 – 00:31:55:12
So they’re paying to. Cause you got to be right or left. Now let me tell you what the Bible teaches. I can’t condone your sin. You can’t condone mercy. I can’t hate you for your sin, and you can’t hate me for my sin. But we can love each other. We’re commanded to love each other. So I can love somebody in sin.

00:31:55:19 – 00:32:19:01
I can love somebody I disagree with and yet still tell them the truth. And that’s what Paul is saying. He’s saying, listen, there’s going to come a time people want their own desires because they’re having itchy years. They hear what they want to hear what they want to hear. How many of you figured out by now? I love every one of you, but my job is not to show up here on Sunday morning and tell you what you want to hear.

00:32:19:05 – 00:32:40:27
My job before God is to tell you what you got to hear, and it’s to work. And so I don’t know about you, but that’s that’s where I want to be. I want to hear what God’s Word has to say, he says. So they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables or false doctrines, he says.

00:32:40:27 – 00:33:11:21
But verse five he says, but you, Timothy, be watchful in all things. Endure afflictions. How many of you know the Christian life is a blessed life, but it’s a life of afflictions. In other words, you in a fight, you are in a fight. As a believer, if you signed up to be a penny wasted Christian, you signed up in the wrong army friend to be a follower of Jesus.

00:33:11:21 – 00:33:43:12
Jesus said, all who live godly so that we may all who live godly shall that same mind in secret shall suffer persecution. In other words, the devil is not going to like you. He’s going to unleash against you a fight. He says, but you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, and then do the work of an evangelist and fulfill your ministry to him.

00:33:43:13 – 00:34:10:27
I my office is that I am called to be a pastor. And by the way, if you read about the fivefold ministry of the Gospels, you’ll find that there’s there’s prophets, there’s apostles, there’s teachers, there’s preachers. You’re an evangelist. You’ll find the Avengers actually is the middle one new you? You’ll understand that every one of those offices Paul is declaring do the work as evangelists.

00:34:10:27 – 00:34:35:05
In other words, be one who proclaims the good news of the gospel. Hang on to that, because I’m fixing to get to it. What is the gospel message? So look with me. Verse number six. This is where it gets real and I’m almost done. He says, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering. In other words, he’s saying, I’ve already suffered for Jesus.

00:34:35:07 – 00:34:58:28
I’ve been beaten and left for dead multiple times. I’ve been shipwrecked and had to float in the middle of a sea for three days, holding on to a board. Not a surfboard, just a regular board. I’ve been snake bit. I’ve been cursed. I’ve had people beat me and now I’m sitting in prison. So I’ve already been poured out as a drink offering in the time of my departure.

00:34:58:28 – 00:35:22:02
Is what at hand. What is he saying? He’s saying as he pens these words, looking out his jail cell, watching them sharpen the guillotine, about to take his life. He’s not talking about. He’s about to get just out of jail on bail. He’s about to get out of jail because they’re fixing to execute him. Cut his head off.

00:35:22:06 – 00:35:42:01
This will be the last thing he ever wrote in history. And Paul is about to go to the gallows to lose his head for Jesus. But he says he. He’s saying, woe is me. I’m the victim. He’s saying my time of departures in hand. In other words, my plane leaves at five. I’m about to get on the plane and I’m.

00:35:42:01 – 00:36:03:01
I’m flying out of here. I’m on my way to heaven. I’ve got a reward awaiting me. Paul isn’t saying woe is me. He says, your watch me. I’m about to go up. I’m. I’m not going to be trapped in this sin cursed world anymore. My my departure is in hand and didn’t notice what he says. This part I want you get more seven.

00:36:03:03 – 00:36:29:11
He says 3 or 4 things right here. I want you to really grab on to number one. He says in verse seven. I have fought a good fight. Paul, when he’s talking about this, is referencing boxing. See, we think boxing is something new to our culture. But no, it was actually something the Romans did. And Paul was very astute and very knowledgeable in it.

00:36:29:13 – 00:36:51:00
And Paul is saying, look, I have fought a good fight. But by the way, he often throughout Scripture references and go to Ephesians six. For example, he references the Christian life like to that of warfare, like you are in war, you’re in a battle. And so he he says, he says, hey, listen, I fought a good fight.

00:36:51:02 – 00:37:22:25
I have, I have stayed in the fight. I didn’t quit, I didn’t lose, I didn’t whip out, I didn’t give up. I fought a good fight. And then he says, I have finished the race. How many of you remember last week I preached in Hebrews chapter 12 where Paul encouraged us believers to run a good race, set aside every sin that besets us and keep our eyes focused on Jesus.

00:37:22:25 – 00:37:44:01
Whoo whoo! He Jesus ran a good race looking unto him, the author and the finisher of our faith. Who? Who, having the cross set before him, despised the shame because of the glory that was waiting for him. And he set down to right hand of the father. When Paul talks about a fight here, let me just go back for saying I want to.

00:37:44:01 – 00:38:07:22
I want to give you something. When he’s talking about a fight, he’s talking about us as believers, having this spiritual battle. And in fact, you can read Romans chapter seven. He talks about the internal fight, the internal war between the flesh and the spirit. That’s the spirit man always wanting to do something crazy, the, you know, or the flesh man wanting to do something crazy, the spirit men wanting to follow God.

00:38:07:24 – 00:38:37:23
But but one of the things you have to look at when you study the life of the Apostle Paul is you have to look at this man did not ever retreat. This man didn’t lose ground. This man didn’t give up. I my dad, has told me stories of his dad and my grandpa and my grandpa’s brothers. And there were many of them, like seven of them or something, I think, if I’m not mistaken.

00:38:37:23 – 00:39:04:14
Right. And I come from my last name is Tackett. Like, if you want to know where we come from, there’s some if you can say redneck. And then to the right of redneck. Okay. That’s that’s that’s part of our family. All right. Like, we we backwoods, redneck, coon hunting, rooster fighting, moonshine and kind of people. That’s where I come from.

00:39:04:14 – 00:39:33:23
All right. That was my ancestry mixed with a little Cherokee and Blackfeet Indian. And he just throw all of that mixture there. And then he got it. Some are Irish on my mom and stuff. So I am a I’m what you call a Heinz 57. I don’t know what that is. Look it up. But my family, my grandfather and his brothers were from large county and they loved to fight.

00:39:33:26 – 00:39:56:11
They they loved to gamble. They love to bet that bet on a dog. They bet on the roost. Fat rooster did. Did bet you over anything. And one of the things he did was one of my grandfather’s brothers. My great uncle was named Rob. And I remember when I was a kid, my dad telling me about his uncle Rob.

00:39:56:13 – 00:40:15:15
And one of the things that they, all the brothers would do is they’d go to the bar on a Friday or Saturday night and they’d get to drinking beer and playing pool, whatever they were doing. And then they’d get get a little scuffle going and they’d get the bet. And that that Rob could open up some more. They picked the biggest guy in their.

00:40:15:17 – 00:40:37:21
And Rob was going to whoop and everybody get their bets on the table, and then Rob would get fired and purposely he’d start losing his little guy like me. I mean, I don’t know, any big tickets were all kind of short, but dynamite comes in small packages, you understand? So where he gets in the fight, you need to start letting him superintendent start the fight and say, wait a minute, we’ll put some more money arrival.

00:40:37:21 – 00:40:54:08
Then everybody’s like, oh yeah, this guy’s open here. We got and everybody emptied their pockets. Well, what they didn’t know was Rob was so dang tough that he take a open, open, open loop of net getting plumb down on the ground, the fact fat he could get. And then Rob would say, all right, y’all get all the money candidate.

00:40:54:12 – 00:41:12:20
Yep. And Rob would stand up and just whooped the bejesus out of a guy like you couldn’t whoop him. And my daddy would tell me your stories. And I remember me when I got sick. Rob. In his last years of life, the first thing I wanted to look at, I’m just a boy, you know? Looked at his knuckles and his knuckles were smooth.

00:41:12:22 – 00:41:30:20
You could tell the man had been in a lot of ways by the time I knew him, he wasn’t a fighter no more. He was not. He was, you know, I was his great nephew. But. And I’d ask him, Rob, you ever fought before? And he tell me about some of them. Fight. But I remember those stories and I.

00:41:30:21 – 00:41:46:29
And it makes me think of us as Christians. Listen, the devil’s going to open you. How many have been moved on this week? Just raise you. Yeah, I figured everybody the devil’s going to whoop on you. He’s going to whoop on you and he’s going to whoop on you. But let me tell you what, God trying to say to you this morning.

00:41:47:04 – 00:42:07:25
Get up. The fight’s not over. Don’t quit. Don’t throw in the towel. This is not a time. You’re not a victim. You’re a victor. Get up and finish the fight. That’s what the Apostle Paul was about. He never retreated and never surrendered. So he says, I have fought a good fight. I’ve kept it. I finished my course, I finished the race.

00:42:08:02 – 00:42:31:18
And then he says, I’ve, I’ve done all that, but I’ve kept the faith. What does he mean? I’ve kept the faith? He’s like, I never lost my faith in God. Do you know why Satan attacks you? Do you know why he brings hardship into your life? Do you know why he does everything he can to defeat you?

00:42:31:21 – 00:42:51:14
Because ultimately, if you’re a believer, he wants you to at some point just get so hooked down. So be. Did you know one of the things that revelation says that Satan is going to do in the end times? By the way, we’re living there. We’re not approaching there. We’re there, all right. We’re we’re living in the end time.

00:42:51:20 – 00:43:14:20
And one of the things, well, the hallmark characteristics of this of Satan, our enemy, is that he intends to wear down the saints. How many of you feel like Satan is trying to wear you out? Oh come on. Hey, he he just trying to wear you down. He. Would you to fight, but he just wants to wear you down.

00:43:14:25 – 00:43:37:05
So you begin to lose some faith. You begin to doubt God’s goodness. You begin to doubt God’s promises. You begin to doubt the victory. God called you to walk in. You begin to doubt God’s calling and his purpose for your life. And before long, you’re just so beat up you think, I’m just going to sit on the sideline and and sulk, or quit, or give up or just take a break, whatever you want to add in there.

00:43:37:08 – 00:43:58:06
But let me tell you something. That’s not who God called you to be. God saying to you, get back up, finish the fight, finish the fight. You remember I talked about the race last week? It’s not how you start the race, it’s how you finish the race. Everybody is going to stumble in the race. Everybody’s going to fall somewhere along the way.

00:43:58:14 – 00:44:16:18
It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. It ain’t how many licks you took during the fight. It’s whether or not you do finish the fight. My daddy used to tell me because I’m a little guy. He’s. Tell me, son, don’t you ever start a fight because you start a fight at school, you’re going to get in trouble, he said.

00:44:16:18 – 00:44:31:19
But if you find yourself in one, don’t you lose one. And then he would say, fighting ain’t fair. Don’t you fight fair. He knew I was little. I was going to kick up some kid, but he told me I said, I don’t care if you got to pick up some, you got to throw some metal. Don’t you lose a fight.

00:44:31:21 – 00:44:52:11
I had a bit of more trouble when I got home for losing the fight and getting in the fight, by the way, always ain’t going to be popular. Maybe some of you parents need to teach your children that. Stand up, be men. Especially. I’m not talking about advocating violence, and I get that on, but I’m not talking about advocating violence.

00:44:52:11 – 00:45:14:17
I’m not talking about using weapons against me. I’m talking about just stand up and stand up and no back down. Don’t be a pushover. You know, the only way to stop bully is punch that sucker in the nose. Most of when you punch them in the nose, they’ll quit. They’ll quit. And they told me one time, tell me, tell me one time.

00:45:14:17 – 00:45:39:17
If you can’t breathe, you can’t see. And you can’t speak. You can’t fight. Hit them. Stop them. Stand up to them. I can’t believe you just said that. I can’t believe you don’t believe that. We got such a woke culture today. So many lambie pamby kids in our culture today. Hey, let me let me say something.

00:45:39:21 – 00:46:02:09
Moms. Many of you, I know there’s some single moms, and you’re doing wonderful. But let me say to you, men in here who have fathered a child, God called you as men to make young men out of those boys. He called it. We don’t have a female problem in this country. We got a lack of man problems in this country.

00:46:02:16 – 00:46:37:20
Call it toxic masculinity. I call it cowboy. I don’t care what you say. I still say ma’am. I say, sir, if you ain’t into that, I don’t give up. You heard of Hank Williams junior song? All right. I’m just mad, man. I got to get back preaching. So look at verse 18. I’m done. He says finally, finally there’s laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not to me only put to all those who love his appearing and I mean, let me tell you, let me just break it down real quick and I’m going to be done.

00:46:37:20 – 00:47:08:17
I got again, just one more point here. Two points. When you read that I’m circling air. I’m circling the runway, y’all. We’re going to crash land here in a minute. When you read that verse, the one thing you got to remember is Paul kept perspective throughout his life. He kept an eternal perspective. He recognized that everything this world had to offer would one day burn up.

00:47:08:20 – 00:47:28:08
I want to say to some in people I hear today talking about a Green New Deal, no, you’re going to have a burnt up deal one day. According to God’s Word. God getting you talking about climate change, I can tell you there is climate change. It ain’t brought in by cows farting in your gasoline in your car. It’s brought on by greed and sin and the corruption.

00:47:28:08 – 00:48:00:08
The Bible says the whole earth is groaning, anticipating the return and the redemption of its creator. But the Bible tells us, Paul said, look, I know there is a crown of righteousness being on the version of the Bible. You may see a crown of faithfulness that’s later talking about what that decision. When I think of a crown, I don’t know about you, but I think of a king that we don’t live in a monarchy.

00:48:00:11 – 00:48:24:10
We keep Britain a long time ago, or England or whoever. The Queen, the King of France and whoever else they are. And far as I can say, they stay over there, across that pond just mentioned pedophiles. Anyway, I didn’t say that, but you. Oh, I’m just said you might like it when I think of a king, I think of someone wearing a crown.

00:48:24:12 – 00:48:43:06
I think of Jesus, the King of kings. I think of him being the one or only him. The worthy, only one worthy of any crown. But if I’m says that he, Jesus, the King of Kings, is one day going to give us a crown.

00:48:43:08 – 00:49:01:24
By the way, there’s about five different crowns mentioned in Scripture that you and I can can obtain when we get to heaven. And I remember as a little boy at hearing that, hearing that when I was in children’s church, that Jesus going to give me a crumb, what am I going to do? A crown in heaven? What would I do with a crown?

00:49:01:26 – 00:49:29:21
And then I heard a guy say, one day he said, you know, when we get them crowns, here’s the only thing we’re going to want to do with him. We’re going to want to lay them at the feet of Jesus. Paul. Paul had run for a crown. He lived, he fought, he ran, he lived with the perspective that one day I’m going to stand before God, and he will reward me for the good things that I’ve done in the name of Jesus.

00:49:29:23 – 00:49:49:23
And he knew Paul’s heartbeat was that he’d be found faithful to Jesus to the end. Yeah, I told you about the gospel message, right? I kept saying it to the sermon. Remember I said, remember the gospel message. Remember the gospel message.

00:49:49:25 – 00:50:14:17
In today’s culture, in our world today. And you’d have to agree with me if you think long and hard about this, every time you turn on the news, you read some feed on Facebook or watch some TikTok video. Me over and over. It’s like it’s so popular to hear some person whining about being the victim of something. And I want to be very clear.

00:50:14:23 – 00:50:43:01
I realize people are victims of domestic abuse. I realize people are victims of of crimes. I realize people even sitting in here have been victims of some really bad things, and I’m not diminishing that at all, nor the pain or hurt that you’ve ever walked through going through that. As a matter of fact, my job as a pastor is to help you get past your past and you help find healing in Jesus through those things that have traumatized you or hurt you, or have brought great pain in your life.

00:50:43:03 – 00:51:17:15
But part of that is, is I’m going to be scriptural and that is the Bible never calls any of us to remain the victim, but to call upon the Apostle Paul in Romans was, I thank God in Jesus Christ, who has always caused me to triumph, to give me the victory. God is not calling you to remain the victim of anything, but rather to rise up through the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, and become and become victorious over that.

00:51:17:19 – 00:51:35:19
Whatever the world wants to define you by your past, God wants to call you into the present, and he has given you a new name. You heard my wife say that a few weeks ago. He’s given you a new name written down in heaven, and it is a new calling. It is the purpose that he’s had for you.

00:51:35:19 – 00:52:11:21
Oh, God. Never intended for your past. Whatever hurt, whatever failure, whatever experience to define who you are, he’s called you to walk in victory until he’s not called you to be. So I see that you see all these people always on top. I mean, their victory over victory. But here’s here’s what I talked about in the beginning, that a person like the apostle Paul, a person like myself, a person maybe like some of you, whenever you when you come to faith in Jesus Christ through the gospel message, what is that?

00:52:11:23 – 00:52:45:11
The death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That I hear people all the time complicating the gospel? Look, I suppose it’s because new the gospel is the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus. It’s simple to say, but what I hear that I often think if people only understood what the gospel message means, if they only understood what that word good news means.

00:52:45:14 – 00:53:30:26
In Jesus day, Paul’s day, the time they were living biblical days when it was written. If you have to understand that the New Testament was written in in Greek, one of the most complex languages of human history, you and I, most of us speak English, and English is a very simplistic language. So often when you translate from the original text, which is written in Greek, by the way, when you translate that to English, we sort of lose some the meaning in Scripture unless you really become a student of the word and you begin to study it, and you and I encourage you when you go through the Bible, hang on every word, and maybe even

00:53:30:26 – 00:54:19:26
doing a word search on some of those words and you’ll be like, wow, that’s deep. But what did it mean? What was the gospel? We get the word gospel good news. Where do we get it comes from a Greek word that was used in Roman days. That was this. If you had a village or a tribe of people and they had to send men out to fight a a oncoming threat of another army or another invading force, often times they would try to the men of that tribe or village or or nation would go out to meet them so that the battle didn’t come right amongst their home, because that’s where the women and children,

00:54:19:26 – 00:54:45:11
the defenseless in that case, would have been. And they would go out to fight and and the whole village would obviously know what’s going on. They would support the people going out to fight and maybe even pray for them and wish them well, send them things, hope they would return. But as those men would go out to fight, they would meet the opposition and they would they would engage in that fight, that battle.

00:54:45:13 – 00:55:09:26
They would be fighting for their home, fighting for the ones they loved, fighting for the things that were most valuable and most important to them. And if they won the battle, the victory, they would come back and they would say the gospel. It was actually the the Greek word that we get the gospel, the word gospel from. And it was they would declare that word to the village.

00:55:09:26 – 00:55:37:07
And that word literally meant this. It meant the battle is won, the war is over. Think about what I just said. And so when the apostle Paul, when, when the apostle John, when those men use the term gospel, they’re using that very Greek word that those men would have went out and won the battle and came back and declared to the village, all is won, the battle is over.

00:55:37:14 – 00:56:09:18
You’re safe. The war is done. So when you and I, as the Apostle Paul declared to Timothy, he says, do the work of an evangelist. What was he saying? Go out and declare the good news of the gospel to people. Declare to them that the battle has been won. The war is over. What war? The war between heaven and hell.

00:56:09:20 – 00:56:42:09
The war between good and evil. The war between sinful man and a holy God. It’s been won. And so you can start in faith, not as a victim, but from a place of victory. That’s what he meant. That’s why the apostle Paul could write in those final moments of his life, hey, Timothy, preach the word, boy, be inserted in season and say, it don’t matter if they want to hear you.

00:56:42:09 – 00:57:10:22
You just preach the word. Be faithful. Endure, endure. Hardness. You. You endure the afflictions that come your way. Don’t give up. I fought a good fight. I ran the race. I kept the faith. I’ve done all that because I knew in the end the war was over and won the battle. They don’t win. I win because Jesus won everything for me at the cross.

00:57:10:24 – 00:57:43:02
And when you know that, when you know that, then you can live your life as a believer from a place of victory and not defeat, from victory and defeat, nothing that Satan can ever throw at you can ultimately defeat you. I don’t know what you’re going through today, no doubt. And crowd this size and people listening online.

00:57:43:05 – 00:58:18:00
There’s someone listening to me. You have struggled and struggled and struggled through depression. I’m just going to tell you what the Holy Spirit’s putting on my heart right here. There’s there’s there’s there’s some in here. You had a battle with depression. Satan has pummeled you silently because nobody else knows about it, but he just keeps pummeling you with it.

00:58:18:02 – 00:58:49:09
Some of you in here, you have battled with addiction before. You think for a moment that addiction is just drugs or alcohol. Oh, no. There’s a lot of things right here on this thing. You can get addicted to a lot worse, and it’ll rob you, but it’s Satan’s tool if you let it be. It can be Satan’s tool to destroy you.

00:58:49:12 – 00:59:24:18
Some of you in here because of some past hurt, you’ve dealt with the anger. Anger is eating you up. So much so that it’s become bitterness and you whenever it comes. Bitterness. The Bible says it springs up in you like a root that defiles many in bitterness is never contained. It begins to affect everybody around you. As a matter of fact, all sin does that.

00:59:24:20 – 00:59:45:20
But I came by to tell you today, and whatever the issue you’re dealing with here today, and I may not have mentioned it, but I think the Holy Spirit speaking, I know he’ll speak to your heart with whatever issue you’re dealing with. I need you to know what the Apostle Paul saying. You you don’t have to be a victim to it.

00:59:45:23 – 00:59:53:02
The battle was won at the cross.

00:59:53:04 – 01:00:29:06
The preacher came to tell you good news today. The victory is yours because he paid it all. His blood was shed for your victory. And it? His name in his name. At the name of Jesus. Depression has to bow at his name. Addiction has to be broken in his name. Demons have to come out and flee in his name.

01:00:29:09 – 01:00:53:01
Disease, cancer. You fill in the blank, has to bow the choices. Do you believe the good news? Do you believe the good news? Because if you do, then find freedom today that freedom is in Jesus. Dennis, would you come? Goodness. And would you come? I’m going to ask this prayer team. Guys and girls, y’all come up here instead of the front did.

01:00:53:02 – 01:01:07:14
It’s just y’all come quickly if you can and play something an invitation of some kind. But I’m going to ask all of you just about your heads for just a moment.

01:01:07:16 – 01:01:34:26
Sometimes we become overwhelmed. By the things of life. We become overwhelmed by the the battles of life. And it’s just Satan’s attacks. And it’s just relentless. Sometimes with some to the point that you become overwhelmed by them.

01:01:34:28 – 01:01:59:05
If he could convince you to quit, just quit on God. Just. Just go live your life the way everybody else lives. It seems like they’re getting along fine. I thought that before. Maybe you have to. Just. Just be real with you, for. I’ve thought that.

01:01:59:07 – 01:02:03:20
Years ago.

01:02:03:23 – 01:02:23:13
I was a young pastor, been pastoring now for 22 and 23 years. As a pastor, I’ve been preaching 37 years. But I was young pastor and has gone through some really tough things in my life, tough things in ministry. And I really was at one of those places. I’m just thinking, I want to quit. I want to give up.

01:02:23:13 – 01:02:39:28
I’ve had enough. This is not what I signed up for. And someone gave me this plaque and I’m going to read you this. It’s just a little short poem and read it to you. And then I’m going to ask you, just you just respond as the Holy Spirit leads you. And it’s just a simple plaque that I keep in my office.

01:02:40:00 – 01:02:59:09
There’s not a Sunday that I go in there to pick up my preaching Bible that I don’t I don’t look at that plaque and read it and remember. Matter of fact, this week I had two different people visit my office and, our church, and I was visiting with them office, and I read this to them. It means that much to me.

01:02:59:11 – 01:03:22:05
And it simply says, don’t quit when things go wrong, as they sometimes will when the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, when you’re feeling low and the stress is high and you want to smile. But you have to sigh when worries are getting you down a bit. By all means, I pray that you don’t quit. Success is failure turned inside out.

01:03:22:11 – 01:03:45:00
God’s hidden gift is in clouds of doubt. You never can tell how close you are. It may be near when it seems so far. So trusting the Lord when you’re hardest hit. It’s when things go wrong that you must not quit.

01:03:45:02 – 01:04:09:26
You must not. Have any poem. And I’ve got a lot of things people give me. All the years. That one has meant the most to me. And I want to encourage you today before we leave. Dear Christian, don’t quit here, here today. And you’ve never come to faith in Jesus Christ. I’m not just saying here, know who he is.

01:04:09:26 – 01:04:37:05
I mean real, saving, life changing, radically make you different. Faith in Jesus that I invite you to do that today. There’s some people right here to front that are pray with you. They’ll lift you up in prayer. You got something you’re struggling through, whether it be depression. Maybe you’ve gone through a divorce. Maybe you’re you experienced some hurt in your life that you just can’t get.

01:04:37:05 – 01:05:02:19
No. Maybe it’s anger. Maybe it’s addiction with me. Maybe it’s just demonic attacks against you. Don’t leave here today carrying that burden. Dennis, would you begin place or. I’m going to give you a few minutes if you want to. If you want prayer this morning. These are all standing here at the front. You come. You need prayer this morning.

01:05:02:21 – 01:05:23:00
You come. Heads are bowed for a moment. I don’t want to be embarrassing to anybody. Let’s just let the Lord speak. You say, well, I don’t have any issues going on. That’s fine. You pray for others in this building to do, because I promise you, the amount of issues that walked into this room today would overwhelm any one of us if we fully understood that.

01:05:23:02 – 01:05:44:24
If there’s people here at the front, I promise you that love you, that pray for you if you need prayer. Father, by the way, I’m going to pray when I’m done. If you want to leave, you’re dismissed. But if you need prayer, don’t leave here today. They’re going to stay up here at the front, and they’re available for you to come and you to talk to, and they’ll pray with, you know, lift you up.

01:05:44:24 – 01:06:04:27
Cody, come up here. I want you to pray this out of here. But there’s there’s there’s people here this morning. Don’t leave this building today. They’ll leave this church today carrying that burden. Come and lay it down. Let some other brothers and sisters in Christ help lift that burden with you. We don’t pass it off from play here today.

01:06:04:28 – 01:06:22:01
I know people always at work where we give an offering. We got a milk and right back there in the back, if you want to give an offering to the Lord on your way out, you’re welcome to do so. Don’t forget to bow riding this afternoon. Don’t forget read a Bible study more. Don’t forget, this coming Wednesday, Bible Study 630.

01:06:22:04 – 01:06:39:22
But when Cody’s done praying, you’re dismissed. But if you need prayer, don’t make your way to the back door. Make your way right up here to the front. Let these pray for you. Okay, Cody. You pray now. Bless. Father, we come to you this this morning. Lord is thanking you for this powerful message that Brother Jeff brought to us this morning.

01:06:39:22 – 01:07:01:10
Father God, and thank you for allowing him to be a conduit for this, this house. Father God and Father God, right now, I just ask that you just open up the souls of the spirits of the most inner man inside of us this morning, Father God, and shut off our ears to the enemy to tell you, you know, you don’t have to go up there.

01:07:01:13 – 01:07:28:08
You don’t need to go up there. You know, you got issues, you know you got problems going on. But don’t go up there. You might be embarrassed. You might make a fool of yourself. But what that is, that’s lies from the enemy. To keep you trapped and bound down in heavy burdens. So right now, I release the Holy Spirit to flow within our most inner beings this morning and block out the sound of the enemy to be brought forth.

01:07:28:08 – 01:07:47:17
Father God, to deal with the issues, deal with the problems, the trials, the tribulations. Father God and I ask that you put a hedge of protection around each and every one of us under the sound of my voice. And on the live stream this morning, Father God. That the flaming darts just does not hit us, does not interest, does not hit our homes.

01:07:47:20 – 01:08:19:11
But we can go throughout the week without a struggle, without burden, one without worries of my good enough. Will I ever be good enough? But through the Calvary, through Jesus, we are good enough. We are saved and set free and delivered in Jesus mighty name. I pray. Amen, amen and amen. Amen.