hand basket or going to hell in a hand bag or
going to hell in a hand cart. Any of those sayings?
So all of those are sayings that make reference
to things going poorly, getting worse. And when
you talk about going to hell in a hand cart,
that includes the intonation that it's getting
worse and worse and faster because a hand cart
will go downhill very quickly. You can let go
of it. Once you get it going, it'll go downhill
all by itself. No one has to make it go downhill.
Being in a handbasket or a handbag means being
carried there, so it implies it's getting there
without anyone's real effort. So I'm not carrying
the handbag, I'm riding the handbag, and things
are getting worse and worse and worse for me.
And interestingly enough, these phrases actually
come from a previously Christian phrase. So here
is a handbag. This is a handbag. It's got little
straps here. We have zippers. They didn't always
have zippers. They might have had pull strings.
And there is nothing in the handbag. Empty. Right?
I mean, on the scale of physical objects, perhaps,
but there is air in there. Right? There is air
in there. And then here is a basket. And the
basket is empty. And I don't have a hand cart.
Right? But if the handbag or the hand basket
or the hand cart are going to hell, then I don't
want to be in it. But the saying is usually that
the world is going to hell in a handbasket, a
handbag, or a handcart. And it means that as
you look around, you see things are decaying
rapidly. They're going in a worse and a worse
way pretty fast. Does anybody think maybe that's
the assessment you would give the world today?
Maybe. But the saying originally was a Christian
saying, and it was actually going to heaven in
a handbag or a handbasket. Now that's interesting,
isn't it? And along the way it became twisted.
Nobody knows where the saying was originally
invented at. Search the origins and there are
a few hypotheses, but no one really knows for
sure where the saying came from. But the saying
was originally going to heaven in a handbag or
a handbasket. Again, implying that you're not
getting there under your own power, but rather
being carried there. And if the basket or the
bag are going to heaven, then I want to be in
it. But if the basket or the bag are going to
hell, then I don't want to be in it. So we talked.
of the church should theoretically be going to
heaven in a handbag or a handbasket. The world
going to hell in a handbag or a handbasket really
doesn't surprise me all that much because the
world doesn't necessarily know God. I want you
to bear that concept in mind and then I'll reference
it again in the conclusion to bring that thought
home. Judges chapter 2 verse 6 says, When Joshua,
now Joshua was already the replacement leader
under Moses, did not get to go into the Promised
Land, Joshua, for the remainder of his life,
a long time, served the Israelites, led them
into the Promised Land on behalf of God. When
Joshua had dismissed the people, this is right
after the angel corrected them, for they were
wandering off course, and they had, theoretically,
godly sorrow. They certainly had sorrow. And
they praised God, and they had offerings, recognizing
that they had sinned. When Joshua had dismissed
the people, the sons of Israel, that's theoretically
God's people, went each to his inheritance to
possess the land. So they went out with the purpose
of doing what they were commanded by God to do.
So they go home to their homes and they go out
with the purpose of doing what God has commanded
them to do, which is to possess the land. Verse
7. The people served the Lord all the days of
Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived
Joshua. who had seen all the great work of the
Lord, which he had done for Israel. So in other
words, while Joshua was still alive, and the
people who were alive when Joshua brought them
out of the promised land, and when they had seen
the great works, remember that there were people
who came into the promised land, not just Joshua
and Caleb, but there were people who were alive
through the entire wanderings in the desert,
because it says that everybody who was over the
age of 20 died in the desert. But if they were
young enough, they were spared and they became
part of that group of people that came into the
promised land. Now that's if they didn't die
to a snake because some of them were bit by snakes
and refused to look up at the bronze serpent
and be healed and things like that or some other
means at that time. Bottom line is, many under
20 came out of the wilderness and now they are
alive and Joshua is alive and they're leading
God's people. Follow? And while they are there
and they are leading God's people, the work of
the people was the work of the Lord. They were
doing what they were supposed to be doing, simply
put. Verse 8. Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant
of the Lord, died at the age of 110. And they
buried him in the territory of his inheritance
in Timnath -Rois, in the hill country of Ephraim,
north of Mount Gaash. So they buried him in the
land that God had promised him and his people.
So that's a great honoring. So he was honored.
And then it says in verse 10, all that generation
also were gathered to their fathers. So in other
words, Joshua and Caleb and all of the others
who had seen all the great and miraculous things
that God had known God, they were gathered to
their fathers. That means they passed away. They
went on to heaven, if you will. And there arose
another generation after them. who did not know
the Lord, nor yet the work which he had done
for Israel. And that statement right there is
the bridge statement from what we have read so
far in the book of Judges to everything that
will come to pass. And it ain't good. They're
going to continually spiral down, do things that
God didn't want them to do. God sends a judge,
lifts them up, if you will, defends them against
the attackers that God was allowing to molest
his people and for a time under that judge they
will do better and then the judge will die or
no longer be a judge and then the people will
spiral down into sin again and then the judge
will rise up and call them to righteousness and
they will do better and then he'll die or be
gone and the people will spiral down again and
so basically throughout the book of Judges from
here from this moment at the moment it says all
the generation all that generation also were
gathered to their fathers, and there arose another
generation after them who did not know the Lord,
nor yet the work which he had done for Israel.
From that statement on, the people are only going
to spiral into sin and judgment. They will be
taken into slavery, ultimately. Men, women, women
will eat their babies to keep from starving to
death. You understand? It's only going to get
horrible from here on out. So immediately I'm
reading this text and I'm thinking to myself,
how does a person act or how do you act out being
a generation that knows the Lord and the work
he has done? Because Joshua and the generation
living in his day were that. And because they
were that, the people living in his day did right
by God. Well, here we are. I want to do whatever
is necessary for me to do, what I want to be,
whatever is necessary for me to be, so that the
people who live in my day will do the works of
the Lord. I'm not talking about just our church,
although that would be wonderful, not just my
family, although that would be wonderful, but
anybody that is in my influence, my courts, if
you will. So first of all, I realized in order
to do that, you have to do what Joshua regularly
did. And what the people of God did when Joshua
called them to righteousness while he was still
alive. And that is, you must repent. You've got
to repent and turn to God. And it's a repentance
that is present. That means right now, oops,
screwed up. I'm repenting. I'm turning to God.
Right now, someone hurt me. I'm turning to God.
Right now, I'm going through something I never
would have wanted to go through. I'm turning
to God. Repentance is not just turning from sin.
It is turning to God. Now, ideally, it results
in the absence of sin because you focus on God
and God gets your heart right and now you don't
want or drift into all of these other things.
But we turn from all of our sin and turn to God,
present and future tense. And we follow Jesus.
We follow him in all of the examples that he
has set for us and all of the teachings that
he has given us and all of the commands that
he has given us and whatever we know to do, we
do. That includes baptism. It includes being
part of the church. It includes giving. It includes
working in your family, working in your church,
working in your community to push, if you will,
the agenda of the Lord Jesus Christ. It includes
serving, loving, witnessing, forgiving others
who do not deserve forgiveness, but you forgive
them immediately upon the time of their transgression
because that's what Jesus does. And we are part.
of His body. It includes reconciling people to
the Lord, which means you have to share the truth
of the Gospel. You have to share the truth that
is contained in Scripture. You have to share
what you know, just as much as you have seen
and heard. You don't have to make things up.
You don't have to know better. When some atheist
comes to you and quotes some strange philosopher
that you've never heard of and says, well, what
do you think about that? You say, well, Jesus
Christ lived, died on the cross for my sins,
was buried and rose again, and I intend to live
eternally with God, and I'm going to do it through
Jesus, and I know my sins were covered by the
blood. What about you? Well, there was a philosopher
who lived, and he said this. He had to face the
same question that you have to face. What are
you going to do with a Jesus that lives, dies,
and raises again? What are you going to do with
a Jesus through whom nothing was created except
that which was created through him? All things
created through Jesus. What are you going to
do with that? The guy who then comes to earth
and dies for all sin. What are you going to do
with that? I don't care how many philosophers
you can quote or ideas you have or how much smarter
than me you think you are. I'm asking you, what
are you going to do with it? If they say, well,
I'm not going to believe, then you can quote
John 3 .17. You remember John 3 .16, right? For
God so loved the world. Well, John 3 .17 says,
For he did not come to condemn the world, but
they are condemned already by what they have
done with the Son of God. And all that matters
is not how smart a person is, but what they do
with the Son of God. And so I want to be a generation
that knows the Lord. I want to be part of a people
that knows the Lord and the work that he has
done. I'm still here. I still have things to
say and do to make a difference in this world.
And I may have to tell the stories. Because if
I don't, who will? You may have to tell the stories
because if you don't, who will? Don't ever get
saved. Start living for Jesus and all of your
sin, all the bad things you ever did are washed
away and put behind you and you forget the stories
of what God has done. When you survived what
you did when you were lost and stupid, that was
a miracle of God. That was an example of His
good grace. And you should tell the story. You
should represent. You should share what you know
to be true. I'm still here. Do you know God?
I hope so. The Bible says that we will know Him
through His Son, Jesus Christ. Do you know the
work that God has done? I hope so. If you accepted
Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, there should
now be the presence of His Holy Spirit in your
heart, testifying with your spirit that you are
saved. you should know that you are saved. You
should know that you are serving a risen Savior,
living for Him, not for you. You're still here.
You and the courts that you've been giving must
serve the Lord. We have a responsibility to ensure
that anyone and everything, that it comes within
our auspices. In other words, your phone, your
money, Your time, your house, your children.
I've had people say to me, well, I don't want
to make my children go to church. Is it right
to go to church? Absolutely, it's right to go
to church. Therefore, you make your children
go to church. If they grow up hating church because
you made them go to church, that's on them. Because
it's the right thing to do. You don't want to
say to your children, well, you've got to be
monogamous. Or you've got to be heterosexual.
Or you've got to tithe. You've got to give financially.
You've got to read your Bible. You don't want
to tell them to do right. These are right things,
commands of God, because they're right things.
We tell them to do right. It's not like they
have an option. If they don't do right, what's
the result? You say, well, I want to let them
choose on their own. Even as a saved believer,
saved or not saved, either way, they don't get
to choose on their own. The rules have already
been laid out. The conduct of the kingdom has
already been laid out. We have a responsibility
to make sure that everything within our courts
works to serve the Lord. You don't clean your
house because it's nice to live in a clean house.
You clean your house because it is a gift from
God. You don't cook your meals because you like
to eat food. You cook your meals because in cooking
your meals you serve the engine that serves God.
You feed your body so that your body can serve
God. And the list goes on. All that we do, we
do to ensure that all that we have access to,
all that we have auspices over, serve the Lord.
That is the example that we set. And so anyone
that comes into your presence, you're sitting
down having coffee with someone, you can tell
them, it's not right. What you're doing, it's
not right. Not because they're Christians. Yes,
I understand. That you cannot convict a person
of sin, nor can you lead them to God without
Jesus. They will not get saved, nor will they
have the authority to long -lasting follow Jesus.
And there are people who say, well, in fact,
I think of the man right behind Billy Graham,
his second -in -command after they preached to
hundreds of thousands of millions of people and
saw tens of thousands of folks except Jesus Christ.
That man right behind him said, you know what,
actually, I think I'm an atheist. After he shared
the gospel over and over and over again. No one
comes to Jesus except, number one, he be called,
and number two, he be willing. I can cast a demon
out of an unwilling man, but a split second later,
he'll come back, if that man is willing. You've
got to decide this day whom you will serve, Joshua
said. And having decided to serve the Lord, you
have a responsibility to act accordingly. If
it's inside your auspices, if it's inside your
control, if it's within the sound of your voice,
if it's within the reach of your arm, right?
If you were walking down the street with a small
child next to you, you completely don't know
them. And their adult has fallen 20, 30 feet
behind. And they suddenly go to rush out into
the road in front of an oncoming semi. You're
not going to go, hey, your kid. because they're
20 feet behind and they can't stop their kid.
You're going to grab that kid. Now, if you grab
that kid and keep them from running out in front
of the semi, you might get in trouble. You might
get sued for assault. You might get sued for
bodily handling someone else's child, for an
abuse of civil rights. If it's a person of another
race or another culture, they'll say, oh, you
only grabbed him like that. You hurt him. You
only did that because he's from another race.
He would never have run out in front of the truck.
You made that up. But you know in your heart
he's going to run out from his stomach. You stop
him. And this is what we are called to as being
a generation that knows the work of the Lord.
Our ambassadorship includes telling the history,
ancient and modern, of the kingdom. I'm going
to share just a few stories with you for a second
here about the establishment of this church and
this church building and this church in this
church building. When our church wanted to come
into this building, it was run down. It was deserted.
The roof was leaking in several places and we
could not use it. And so we came in and began
to fix it up. Miraculously, the school system
said they would give it to the city if the city
would earmark it for us, which is unheard of.
And they were not at peace at the time. They
were mortal enemies. For over 10 years, I sat
at a board meeting of the Board of Education
where they argued. The city and the board argued
for an hour over a $500 playground repair because
the playground belonged to the school system.
I'm sorry, belonged to the city, and the school
had been using it, and they argued who was going
to pay the $500. $500! Tens of millions of dollars
budget, $100 million budget, and they were arguing
for an hour over $500. And then yet, they agreed
in unity to give us this building. So we come
in here, we're trying to start fixing it up.
We had a few thousand dollars in the bag. We
thought it was going to be $26 ,000 to get the
electricity on. And I mentioned it to Ron. And
Ron said, you know, funny thing is, I just saw
Joe Crist yesterday. He said, if I need anything,
He gave me his number. Let me see if I got it.
He gave me the number. I called him. He put people
together. We got with the electric company and
$26 ,000 got done for $2 ,600. That we could
afford. When the water could not be turned on,
we're cleaning the building with 50 gallon drums
of water that we're bringing over from our building
on Main Street and the water couldn't be turned
on because when they were going to tear down
the building, they crushed the water main that
ran from out here at the street over. They crushed
it instead of just cutting it off. They crushed
it. And so a new one had to be installed from
the road all the way to the building and a new
water meter inside the building and the new connection
and everything. And we're struggling, struggling,
struggling to get that done. We're drawing the
drawing and then finally they said, well, you
know you've got to have an engineer do this,
right? And I'm like, well, no, I didn't know
that. If I had known that, I wouldn't have spent
13 times coming here to try to get you to approve
it. I've been here 13 times. And she said, well,
it looks perfect. The drawing looks great, but
you need an engineer stamp. I'm like, oh, crud.
Start looking for an engineer. And the engineer
said, well, they would have to draw it from the
get -go. Then it was going to be thousands of
dollars. And I'd already spent so much time.
So I go to the inspection department. I said,
can you get the water on? Can you tell me what's
wrong? And he said, well, why do you need this
water that you're drawing on this plane? I said,
well, that's what they told us we needed. He
said, no, you only need two inches. Water line
two inches, not four. Why was it four before?
I had no idea. He said, well, does it have fire
extinguishers in the building? I said, well,
no, it had fire hoses. He said, well, that's
why it had four before, was to drive the fire
hoses. You don't need that. You only need two
inches. We'll schedule it today. A couple hundred
bucks. I'm like, for crying out loud? Thank you,
God. That's awesome. I was praying all the way
there. Then they said, well, turn it on. Then
it didn't get turned on. Six weeks, it didn't
get turned on. Six more weeks, it didn't get
turned on. I called the water department. I said,
why is our water not turned on? It's been 12
weeks. And he said, well, it's going to be six
more weeks. I said, you know, if it was going
to be six more weeks, that would be one thing.
But you already said six, and it wasn't. And
then it was six, and it wasn't. And now you're
saying six more? What's going to happen in 18
weeks when it's not on? We need water. And he
said, well, that's all I can tell you. There's
nothing else I can do. That's how it works. So
I called, at the time, the building was still
owned by TPS. I called Jim Gant. I said, we don't
have water. He said, what? I said, we don't have
water. And the water department's supposed to
turn it on, but it's been 12 weeks already. It's
not turned on, and they keep saying six more
weeks, and I don't know what's going to happen.
He said, you know, the funny thing is, the director
of the water, the new director of the water department,
just called me yesterday, and he said, if I need
anything, give him a call. And I said, well,
give him a call. I said, what's his name, by
the way? He said, Tom Carruthers. I said, I recognize
that name. Deputy Mayor Tom Carruthers was the
guy in the mayor's office who set up the deal
for the city to give us this building. That was
Friday afternoon at 4 o 'clock. I get off the
phone with him. He calls Tom Carruthers. 8 a
.m. Saturday morning, the next day, 16 hours
later, they're out front installing the water
line. Now, if we don't tell those stories, we
forget that God does miracles. We had a woman
with 13 spots of cancer all over her torso with
a PET scan. Not x -rays, right? With a PET scan.
That means they do a cellular level scan of your
body to find exactly where they're located so
they can go in and do a biopsy. She comes. We
huddle together in the doorway between the kitchen
and the sanctuary where now the assembly room
is over there at the life station. We pray, tears
in our eyes, begging God. The next day she goes
in, they go to biopsy the first spot, and they're
like, there's nothing here. We can't biopsy.
We'll just go to the next one. It's fine. There's
13. We'll find. We just need like four today.
So we'll find one. By the time they were done,
they checked all 13 spots, which had showed up
in the PET scan as cancer, and they couldn't
biopsy because there were no spots. All 13 gone.
God has been doing miracles. Twice we prayed,
anointed Judy Bolton's head with oil and prayed,
and twice she was miraculously healed of cancer.
The second time, Ron and I sat there. We did
a surgery. And the surgeon said, well, you know,
neck cancer, it's in multiple regions. It's always
in multiple regions, right? And so we were just
clearing the main right near her air pipe today.
We know that we're going to have to do several
more surgeries. And as the surgeon came out,
he said, you know what? I can't explain this
at all, but we got it all. There won't be any
more surgeries. We did one region. All the cancer
is gone. We're sure we got it all. Remember that?
God. did miracles, does miracles. In our midst,
all the time, we need to be faithful, we need
to be praying, we need to be a generation that
does right. Years ago when we were on Main Street,
we had a man violently interrupt our services.
He had decided that we preached the gospel to
his girlfriend, she got saved, and she wanted
to get apart. They didn't want to live together
anymore. And he lost it. bipolar or something
and he was off his medicines and he lost it.
And then he got arrested and then he got unarrested
and then he came, showed up at the church building
in the morning and he went off on me for leading
his girlfriend to Christ. And I said, and he
threatened violence. I said, you're not welcome
on property. You need to leave right now and
don't come back. And sure enough, middle of service,
one of our teenage girls, 13, 14 years old, up
here singing a song, a solo by herself. He disrupts
the service. Visible violence going on. He comes
up and he's going to break up the instruments.
Right? And he tried to choke out Deacon Tony.
Put his hands around Deacon Tony's... We have
video of... We've got a camera videoing the service
and here comes, from the left side to the right
side, Deacon Tony's got him by the waist and
he's got it picked up in the air and he's carrying
him toward the front door and the guy's trying
to choke him out the whole time. And a number
of the men that are in the room right now are
there protecting the women and children. And
three people called the 911 because we had already
talked about the possibility of something like
this, persecution, and it could happen any day.
And if we have persecution, you know what happens
in our church? If you're new, you probably don't.
Here's what happens. The women get the children
out of the way and the men take care of the problem.
Men do not retreat from trouble in our church.
You understand? You go toward the problem. Guy
comes in shooting. The eight of us, ten of us,
twelve of us who are courageous enough to do
what we're supposed to do, we'll take him down.
I guarantee it. I don't care if he's got an AK
-47. It doesn't matter. He comes in this church
with an AK -47, he'll be lucky to survive. Because
we go toward the problem while the women protect
the children. That's the rule. That's biblical
to the beginning. And that's what we did that
day. The police showed up in four minutes. He
went to jail. Is that a miracle? No, none of
that is a miracle. Not one bit of it. We had
guys with bruises. Not one bit of it. Here's
the miracle. Six months later, he's got a restraining
order. He's not allowed to be in church. A couple
of the guys pressed charges. He was not allowed
to be there. Six months later, one of our guys
who was there that day who helped fend him off
is riding a city bus. And that guy, way out across
town, where he's legally allowed to be, gets
on the bus. They recognize each other. Five minutes
in, he gets up and he moves over to sit right
across from our guy. And he says, can I talk
to you? Am I allowed to talk to you? He says,
you can talk to me. Just stay over there. And
he says, I just want to beg your forgiveness.
I realized what I had done. I have since repented
and turned my life over to the Lord and I'm on
my medications and I'll never do anything like
that ever again. That's a miracle. And the list
goes on. We must be a people that proclaims.
You know that three seats over from you right
there in that seat, the one that's sitting there
empty today? There was a woman who came in. I
know her personally. I will not name her because
I've not asked. And she sat there. She's a practicing
lesbian. Had been for a decade. And she sat right
there on the end of that chair. And I preached,
without knowing, I didn't know that about her
at the time. I preached a sermon about righteousness
and godliness. And I mentioned homosexuality
in my sermon. And instead of getting up and getting
out, instead of getting angry, she sat right
there and listened to the sermon. Comes time
for the invitation. She gave her life to the
Lord. Repented of her homosexuality. Turned her
life over to the Lord. That woman is married
now. has three kids, and her and her husband
have written several books about raising a Christian
family, and they travel around the southeastern
United States. They live in North Carolina, traveling
around the southeastern United States, talking
about how repentance and turning to the Lord
is the solution to family strife. She came in
and sat down, homosexual, practicing. She might
have even claimed that she was a Christian, but
she got up and walked out a member of the kingdom
of God. a member of the family. You can say,
there's not enough people here today. You can
say, we're not reaching enough people here today.
By the time we're done, about 300 people will
watch our services online. Our podcast, by this
podcast, in a couple years, will have been listened
to by about 1 ,500 people. That's not very many
people compared to the world's population. And
yet, God is doing miracles. I'm asking you. Are
you an ambassador for Christ? Are you willing
to tell the ancient history and the modern history
of the kingdom of God? Are you delivering the
truth? We, Sherry and I, usually go out to eat
on date night. And I started reviewing restaurants
and I comically became kind of like important
as a restaurant reviewer, which is kind of ironic
because I don't actually like to eat out at all,
right? And so people are reading my reviews online
and stuff. The first question they ask you after,
was it good or not, is what did you buy? What
did you get? Because maybe they want to buy the
same thing you bought to get good food or to
make sure that it wasn't a customary dish and
they want to order something else. So they ask
you, what did you get? And so I just put in what
I got. I'm asking you, when you became a follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ, what did you get? If
you think you got just grace, and goodness, and
oh, it's going to be fun, and this is going to
be awesome, I'm going to soar high above all
the world, and people will maybe look up to me,
or maybe they won't, but it's always going to...
If that's what you got, that's not the customary
dish. That's not what people get. What people
get is an ambassadorship. What people get is
a service to the living God. What people get
is a right and a responsibility to speak out
about what's going on in your presence. Philippians
2 talks this way about Christ. It says, Philippians
2, verse 1, if therefore there is any encouragement
in Christ, I believe there is, if there is any
consolation of love, there surely is, if there
is any fellowship of the Spirit, that's the Spirit
of God, which surely there is, if any affection
and compassion, he says, make my joy complete
by being of the same mind, maintaining the same
love, united in spirit intent on one purpose.
Do nothing from selfish or empty conceit, but
with humility of mind, let each of you regard
one another as more important than himself. This
is what the kingdom looks like. Do not merely
look out for your own personal interests, but
also for the interests of others. Have this attitude
in yourself, which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, listen to what Jesus did, although he existed
in the form of God, did not regard equality with
God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself.
taking the form of a bondservant, and being made
in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance
as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore also God highly exalted him and bestowed
on him the name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of
those who are in heaven and on earth and under
the earth, and that every tongue should confess.
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God
the Father. Are you following Jesus? I think
you should be like -minded with Him. I think
you should be willing to sacrifice like He did.
I think you should stop thinking there is another
way. Do you not know this God I'm talking about?
Or maybe you think you know God, but do you not
know the works of this God I'm talking about?
Then listen. Listen to his word. Listen to your
pastor, to your deacon, to godly parents and
godly grandparents, godly elders of the church.
Willingly seek His will for your life. Abandon
yourself. Stop thinking, I want. You should cut
the words, I want, right out of your vocabulary.
Because your wants have one exact purpose. They're
supposed to be aligned with His wants. And if
you want what He wants, you're going to get what
you want. And if you want something other than
what He wants, you're not going to get what you
want. And you cannot act that way. As if you
will get what you want outside His will. Abandon
self. Become willing to suffer. Follow Jesus'
example and teaching and ultimately his presence.
Oh my goodness. If Pastor Dan preached that,
if I stood up here and said that to you, that
you needed to deny your own desire, you need
to abandon what you want, that you need to be
willing to suffer on a daily basis. And just
follow him and that's it. And if I preach that
to you without being able to back it up, you'd
say, Pastor Dan is some kind of dude just kind
of trying to warp our minds. That's just too
much to ask for. But then Matthew wrote in chapter
16, verse 24, beginning, he said, Then Jesus
said to his disciples, If anyone wishes to come
after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross,
and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his
life will lose it. But whoever loses his life
for my sake will find it. For what will it profit
a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits
his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange
for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to
come in the glory of his Father and his angels,
and he will then repay every man according to
his deeds. To keep it just. Let's stop playing
games with what we are commanded to do and be.
We are that generation. Churches that don't know
should listen to those that do. In COVID, churches
were scrambling, scrambling to make sure that
they were handling COVID correctly. And at one
point in time, a former mentor of mine lectured
me for an hour and 40 minutes. Lectured me nonstop.
I barely got a word in edgewise. Lectured me
on the phone. While I was supposed to be working
at the life station, I'm sitting in my van, listening
for an hour and 40 minutes. He lectured me that
we should have canceled our services, that we
should have stopped worshiping God, that we should
have stopped coming together to serve God. He
said, don't you see that all the churches are
not worshiping, that all the churches are not
serving God, that all the churches are not coming
together because that's what's respectful, because
that's a good witness to Christ. You should stop
coming together for worship like everybody else.
At the end of an hour and 40 minutes, I said,
well, I want you to understand, we're going to
have to disagree on this topic. I said, but secondly,
I want you to understand that my church has already
decided. I had three men in the church come to
me and say, I'm stricken right now in this moment.
Give me a second. I had three men in the church
come to me and say, even if the church does not
gather on Tuesday or Sunday, even if you don't
come to preach, even if there would be no one
to lead worship, we will still be here. Not for
the world, not for anything that the world has
to offer, not for law or government or fines
or fees or punishment or persecution will we
abandon the worship of our God at the appointed
hour. And I said, the church will not stop. They're
not going to stop. And even if I wanted to stop,
which I don't, I don't believe in it, it wouldn't
stop. Now, after it was all said and done, that
sounds bad. It really does. After it was all
said and done, here's what hurt me more. That
hurt. That whole conversation really hurt. In
fact, I lost my mentor over that conversation.
He's never been my mentor since. Not because
I didn't forgive him. I did. But because he just
could not mentor me when I disagreed with him
under those circumstances. And he said, well,
you're done. Either you're right and you've graduated,
or you're wrong and I can't deal with you. That's
what he said. But after all was said and done,
it came out that churches, quite a few, not enough,
but quite a few churches refused to stop worshiping.
One of my good friends, who's a very strong supporter
of the ministry and the Life Station especially,
said, we never stopped worshiping. And we made
arrangements. People wore masks if they needed
to. People stayed six foot apart, sanitized everything.
They broadcasted their service onto the parking
lot so older seniors who were fearful that they
might get contaminated could sit in their cars
and listen, things like that. So we made arrangements.
Well, we never stopped worshiping. And I said,
man, I wish you'd have said something. See, If
we're a church that knows what God wants, then
it is our job to deliver that message to anyone
who will listen. You've got friends that go to
church and they say, well, our church closed
down because of this. You know what happened
to a lot of churches that closed down because
of COVID? They never reopened. Dozens of them
in Toledo alone. Let alone the world. Because
they weren't supposed to close down in the first
place. But we also did not go out. But there
was one victory, and that is that I have another
dear friend of mine who's on the Voluntary Advisory
Board for the Life Station, and he and I go way
back. And after they lectured me for an hour
and 40 minutes, like the next week, it started
with a phone call. We were on a Teams call or
whatever, Zoom, right, a Zoom call. And they
had been talking bad about churches that were
staying open. And at the end of that, after they
got done talking bad about them for about 15
minutes, I said, well, I'm going to leave this
call now. And FYI, my church is still open. So
you just talk to Adam for 15 minutes about me,
and I forgive you all. It's inappropriate. I
forgive you all. These are all pastors, right?
I forgive you all, but I'm done. I'm not going
to be on the call no more. Oh, wait, wait, wait,
wait, wait. And I push the button. I'm done.
So then my mentor called me, lectured me for
an hour and 40 minutes. Then later that day,
my friend, who's a pastor out in Bryan, Ohio,
called me up, and he said, dude. He said everybody
in the church wanted to stay open. Everybody
in the church. We all thought God wanted us to
keep worshiping. But my mentor, he didn't say
his name, but I knew who he was talking about.
My mentor called me and told me we had to stop.
So I went to the church. I told them that my
mentor told me we had to stop. And they said,
okay, well, we better stop. And then we stopped.
We stopped two weeks ago. But I spent the last
hour getting a hold of all my deacons and church
members and we'll be worshiping in public this
Sunday. You see? I didn't mean to. I didn't know
better, but we led. New Heights led. I had a
friend of mine, this is the last illustration
I'll give on this topic because I've gone too
long on it already, a friend of mine out of Charlotte,
South Carolina, whatever one it is, Charlotte,
North Carolina, whichever one it is, out of Charlotte,
and he did a survey right after COVID. In the
end, he surveyed 1 ,565 churches. He found 1
,565 churches that did not close for COVID. And
of those churches, 1 ,565 churches. One church
had a case of breakout of COVID in their church
that could be attributed to public worship. Now,
we had COVID spread amongst family members and
stuff. We had COVID at other times that were
being passed around, right? I got it from my
son because I ate off his plate, and he had it,
and we didn't know he had it. Ron got it from,
I think, Art. We think he got it from Art, but
it wasn't here. It wasn't in the worship. One
out of 1 ,565 churches had it, and it was in
the choir. And it broke out during choir practice.
Now we know. But many don't. Many don't know.
They don't know about God, and they don't know
the amazing things that God gave. I'm going to
give you really quick, this is going to go by
very fast, four reasons why that's true. The
first reason, Proverbs says, is there is a way
that seems right unto a man, and yet leads to
death. So in other words, there are people out
there, and some folks in here, who will stumble
on a path that seems like the right way to go,
and they will take that path. They will try to
do right. They will think they are doing right.
And I don't think that my friends who are Christian
pastors who told their churches that they need
to stop me, I don't think that they thought they
were doing wrong, and don't hear me slamming
them at all, and I've named no names, I'm not
telling you who did and who didn't, or anything
like that. That was their choice. And if their
choice, they might have been saving somebody's
life. If God told them to close their doors,
one of their 90 -year -old members might have
died from COVID because they stayed open. God
could do that, right? That's fine. God could
do that. So I'm not saying they did wrong. What
I'm saying is people are trying to do right on
a pathway that looks right that actually leads
to death. Then there are those who are responding
to their unending desire. The truth is, if you
begin to go down a road going after what you
want, you will never get done. If you go after
somebody else's boyfriend or girlfriend and you
manage to draw them away and fall madly in love
with them, we all know where that road ends,
right? If you can steal them away from somebody
else, somebody else can steal them away from
you. And the list goes on. There is no limit
to how much you can want. Do you like steak?
Do you eat four ounces of steak? Would you like
to eat four and a half or five? Ever notice how
the steaks you get in a restaurant are like three
quarters of a pound? By the way, nobody ever
anywhere needs to eat three quarters of a pound
of meat at any time. Ever. You never need that.
Your body doesn't need it. You're just going
to be digesting it for 36 hours. And you're eventually
going to poop most of it out. I'm just being
plain. Right? Nobody needs it. And yet, every
restaurant you go to wants to charge 25 bucks
for a 12 -ounce steak. And you don't need it.
Tastes really good. And you'd buy it, eat it.
And a few weeks later, if you had the money,
you'd buy it again. There is no limit to our
desire. If you look at good -looking women or
women in bikinis or underwear or naked, that
road never ends. Until you die, it will never
end. Ask somebody who's been in it, who's been
stuck in it, who can't get out of it. Unending
desire is a natural, fallen human condition.
And it doesn't just magically go away because
you got saved. It just gets triumphed. Right?
You get victory and freedom over it. And if you
go back and embrace it, that road never ends.
And there are Christians and non -Christians
alike who are caught up in their unending desire.
Check Philippians 3. Outside their understanding.
The wisdom of God, the thing that they're being
told to do is outside their understanding. In
fact, the cross is foolishness. Faithful following.
You know how many times I've had people tell
me in my life? That giving 10 % or more of your
funds to the church tithing seems foolish? I
can just chuckle all the way to the bank. Because
I once believed that, finally overcame it, and
have never regretted it. Ever. God always takes
care of it. Now, but I can think of the times
before I started being faithful, doing what was
right, that lack was abounding. Times where we
didn't know where we were going to get a gallon
of milk. I woke up one morning when Alicia was
about a year old, and I was very young, saved
Christian at the time, and I'm praying, God help
us, because Alicia's going to want milk. And
we don't have any. We have very little food in
the house. Food stamps were gone for the month.
Bills are paid, roofs over our head, but we have
nothing. And I get up and I go open the door
as I would want to do to let some sunshine in.
We had a screen door with... Plexiglass in it
and I opened the door and there inside the screen
door was two gallons of milk, two blocks of cheese
and two dozen eggs. Which probably somebody got
from WIC or whatever and couldn't use and they
dropped them off at our house. But where was
it going to come from? We were so short and God
took care of us and God will take care of you
while you are mistakenly following wrong roads,
while you are... feeding your endless desire,
and while you are not understanding what it means
to faithfully follow him, but do understand this,
that's not his expectation. You don't get to
stay there long term. His expectation is that
you will behave as an ambassador, that you will
turn everything within your control for your
good and his. There's one left. Radical following,
like what I'm talking about, making your decisions
based on Christ, radical following. with radical
lack of compromise, and we think radical means
rational. Or means not rational, rather. So we
think it doesn't make any sense. You're like
a zealot. You're like a cult member. Isn't it
funny that zealots and cult members are more
committed to their false demon god than we are
to ours? That they'll blow themselves up to have
a chance at going to their version of Valhalla?
But Christians won't step up and say something
because they're afraid of what somebody will
say back or the way somebody will act? Come on.
Let's get bold. When it comes to Christ, you
should be like a cult member. You follow him
no matter what. What do we say? Deny yourself.
Take up your cross. That means be willing to
die and follow him daily. That's what Jesus said
it means to be one of his. So people rationalize
their way to worldly behavior, even Christians.
I'm following the Lord, I'm following the Lord.
But here's this thing over here, and it's not
specifically spoken against in Scripture. It's
not a sin. So I'm going to add that to my life,
and pretty soon the things that we add to our
life detract from the things that we're faithfully
following God. I mean, ambassadors eat the food
of the kingdom in which they serve, right? Well,
yes, they do. But they don't eat poison, just
because the locals do. And they don't partake
of destructive behavior just to fit in or even
to build bridges because they know that there
is a long -term price to pay and they're eventually
going to go home and answer to the sending nation
for the way they behaved while they were an ambassador.
And ambassadors have been withdrawn by nations.
Ambassadors have been found guilty of treason.
Ambassadors have been removed from their position
and jailed or even killed. If you're an ambassador
for Christ, you live under the values of your
kingdom, not under the values of the kingdom
in which we reside physically. Proverbs 13 says
this, a wicked messenger falls into adversity.
A messenger and an ambassador are a very similar
thing, right? A wicked messenger falls into adversity,
but a faithful envoy brings healing. Poverty
and shame will come to him who neglects discipline,
but he who regards reproof, that means pays attention
to correction, will be honored. Desire realized
is sweet to the soul, but it is an abomination
to fools to turn away from evil. In other words,
if you're stupid, you think it's not good to
turn away from evil because you're going to miss
out on something. But if you're smart in the
Lord, you realize turning away from evil is exactly
who we are. And then 20 says, he who walks with
wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools
will suffer harm. We've come to our conclusion.
Let me tell you what we're not. We are not a
collection of free agents. We are a body of Christ
and a family of God. Sometimes we are huddled
together against the storm when God sees fit.
Think of them in the upper room begging God after
Jesus was crucified. And many times after, we're
praying for Peter when he was arrested. But together
we are a church that will invade and transform
anywhere that God gives us influence. And doing
that as a family? And as we are still heirs and
joint heirs with Christ, is exactly what we're
called to. We are not enjoying the benefits of
freedom in Christ while awaiting Jesus' return.
Let me say that again. We are not enjoying the
benefits of freedom in Christ while awaiting
His return. While freedom to not sin could be
considered a great treasure, and freedom to still
go to heaven, having been found fallen short
of the glory of God, is everything essential.
That we lacked before we got saved? All of that
has now been given that we may live for the one
who died for us. We are not absorbing the best
wisdom the world has to offer, including the
Bible. The Bible is the only God -breathed library
of life -changing truth. There isn't another,
even if it's based on the Bible. This is it.
This is all you get. Every word in it is useful
for correction, rebuke, and direction to take
us where we want to go. Hebrews 4 .12 says, For
the word of God is living and active and sharper
than any two -edged sword, piercing as far as
the division of soul and spirit, both joints
and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart. Paul said to Timothy,
And that from the childhood you have known the
sacred writings which are able to give you the
wisdom that leads to salvation. Through faith,
which is in Christ Jesus, all scripture is inspired
by God and profitable for teaching, reproof,
correction, training in righteousness for this
purpose. so that the man of God may be adequately
equipped for every good work. Did you catch that?
It's about what you do and what is done in your
presence. Not, we are not loving most those who
love me or who are like me or who seem to need
it most. Love is the fruit of the Spirit. And
to lack that love is to lack the impact of God's
presence. It is to fail to represent him. It
is to give place to darkness that his absence
allows. We bring love into every situation. We
become his agents of love, real biblical love
learned and trained directly from his example
and his filling, including our desire to do what
is right in every situation, to force that correctness
when necessary, when it's within our power to
do so. To enforce when necessary and to maintain
our own self -control under Christ no matter
what we do. What we are. We serve the Lord and
we lead others to do so. And in so doing, we
forestall the inevitable. Listen, this is it.
This is where the rubber meets the road. This
is everything right here. So those of you who
are tired, those of you who are distracted, focus.
And if somebody left the room and you know it,
get them to listen to this later. We serve the
Lord and lead others to do so. And in so doing,
we forestall the inevitable. Did you catch that?
We are meant to be the former generation. We're
like Joshua and the old guys that died out in
this story. We're meant to be the former generation
that secures our families, our friends, our churches,
our city, our state, and frankly, this world
against the outpouring of the wrath of God. Of
course, in time, God will remove his people out
of the line of fire and proceed as he has promised.
This is all over the Bible. The Levites walked
nearest the temple. God said, you will walk surrounding
the tabernacle as we walk. Walk surrounding the
tabernacle because otherwise my wrath will pour
out and destroy the entire nation. The Levites
were his priests. In that line of priests, we
have a single high priest, Jesus, and we are
the priesthood of his people. We stand in the
way of the wrath of God. When Abraham was negotiating
with God about Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot lived,
he got it down to if just one righteous man lived
there, he would not destroy the cities for virtue
of that one righteous man. I'll spare them if
there's just one. And then he pulled Lot out
and destroyed them both with raining fire from
heaven. I can go on. The bottom line is we are
meant to be that preserving generation, stopping
the inevitable. Logically, you can't know how
to get from where you are to where you are going
without knowing where you are and where you are
going. At least upon learning how to get where
you are going, you will know where you are. We
are children of God. We live in a foreign nation.
We live in a place that, frankly, a lot of days
I get out of bed and I really would rather not
be there. Let's be realistic. You're dealing
with illness, you're dealing with cancer, you're
dealing with health struggles, you're dealing
with job struggles, relationship struggles. I've
been bad -mouthed so many times. I've had a contract
taken out on my life. This is not easy work,
being in the kingdom of God. Do you want to be
here serving? Yes, you do, because you're part
of the kingdom of God and that's what we are,
ambassadors. Feeling unknown, a past unrevealed,
but God knows all and wants you. He wants you
to be born again and to have that sinful nature
put in check. He's calling worshipers in spirit
and truth and empowering them to become a part
of the generation that he already put in place
to prevent the inevitable. You will not partake
of the pleasures of this world, but definitely
realize you play a part in sustaining them. Do
you understand that everybody who got out of
bed today that doesn't know Jesus and chose not
to be in a church, chose not to live for God,
they're only getting a little while longer. To
come to God? Because people like you, assuming
you love Jesus and are actually doing what you're
supposed to be doing, are standing in the way
between the outpouring of God's wrath and their
destruction? Based on this text, we make it possible
for women to get abortions. Not because we support
abortions. We make every murder possible. We
make every theft possible. Every bad thing that
happens. It is only allowed to happen as sin
because we are still standing in the way. But
also, every salvation that happens because we
stand up for what we do, because we know God
and we testify about the good things that God
has done and wants to do, there is a chance.
In 2 Peter 3, it says, God is not slow as some
men count slowness, but he is patient that all
men might come to repentance. And that's how
most people quote it. But actually, what it says
is, He is patient with you and with me. His patience
is not directed at lost people that they might
come to repentance. They're subject to wrath.
We were too. Objects of wrath before we came
to repentance and met Christ. He's patient with
us. He's giving us a chance to be that generation.
To stand up in the gap. Illustration and then
I'm through. When I was about 13 years old, we
played a lot of sports in my side yard. I don't
have a very big side yard anymore, but I did
then. We played wiffle ball. We played tron.
Tron's where you stand like in a diamond and
you throw frisbees at each other. You can block
with your frisbee, and if you get hit with the
frisbee in any way, you're out. Kind of painful,
but we did it anyway. So we were on a wiffle
ball kick. We were playing wiffle ball, but we
were playing it like baseball, not like wiffle
ball. We were playing baseball with a wiffle
ball bat and ball. But I got hurt and I couldn't
play, which was a problem because I owned the
bat and the ball. Understand? So one of the kids
comes knocking on my door. You want to play wiffle
ball? Nah, I can't. I'm hurt. Doctor said I got
to take it easy, but let my ankle heal and stuff
like that. And he looked really sad. He goes,
oh, man. But we really wanted to play. We got
like eight guys, four on four plus you. If we
get one more, it'd be five on five. It'd be great.
We really wanted to play. I said, oh, you can
use the bat and the ball and play. I'll even
come out and watch. That's where we live. And
they played. And you know what happened? While
they were playing, they had a dispute between
them. They couldn't decide whether somebody was
safe or out. I think that was the first dispute.
And guess who they asked? Pretty soon I was the
umpire, the referee. I was the one determining
what was right and what was wrong. That's the
role of the church. That's who we are in the
kingdom of God. To do it, you've got to love
God more than anything else. You've got to abandon
your ideas, yourself, your want, and follow Him.
And then watch. Over time, I get it, right? Over
time, they begin to realize. That's somebody
I can ask. Is this right? Is it wrong? I'm sure
you've probably had people, what do you think
about this? They're not really asking you. In
fact, the next time somebody asks you, what do
you think about this? Don't you dare reach in
your treasure trove of wisdom. Don't you dare
give your opinion. The next time somebody asks
you what you think, you reach into your new wineskin.
You pull out the teaching and the truth of Jesus
Christ our Lord. And even if you wouldn't normally,
even if your opinion is slightly different than
Jesus's and you're still adjusting to it, you
tell them not what you think, but what God thinks.
And in end, you'll be an arbiter. You'll be a
mediator. You'll be an ambassador. I hope that
I won't die and the church and the family and
the city and the country in which I live will
drift down and spiral down into sin and face
God's judgment. But I'll tell you one thing for
sure. As long as I'm alive, if I have anything
to say about it, that's not going to happen.
And I would ask you, as men and women of Christ,
to feel exactly the same way. When you are present
and a wrong takes place, sacrifice yourself as
Jesus did. risk persecution and trials, stand
up for what's right. And some of us may die,
but all of us will live. I'm asking you to be
the generation that made sure, as much as was
under their power, that what went, went right.
And when it's like that, that doesn't have to
be a handbag. or a hand basket, or a hand cart,
there will still be journeys to hell. Because
there will still be stubborn people, still stiff
-necked, still unwilling to accept the gospel,
still unwilling to be saved. They're still on
the journey to hell. But then we can actually
say, yeah, the world may be going to hell in
a hand basket, but whatever I've got under control,
this here, this is on a different journey. This
is me making it right. Will you join me? I ask
the praise team to come forward at this time
and lead us in our final hymn. We're going to
sing together. As we sing, if the Lord has spoken
to your heart today and you realize that either
as a Christian or not, either one, you've been
buying into a different method than what I've
just asked you to, and you realize that God wants
you to be a man or a woman who will stand up
for what's right, will do right. And impress
upon your auspices, your courts, everything that
you can touch to be right. God's calling you
to be that. And I ask you to repent today. Turn
to Him and say, I want that to be me. And it'll
cost you everything. But you'll gain more.