I am what I am by the grace of
God. I should have been dead sleeping in my grave. He should
have snuffed me out a long time ago. I was an enemy of God. My heart was enmity against God. Not at enmity, it was enmity
itself. An enemy of God. I hear people say this all the
time. You know, I've been saved all my life. That's too long.
That's way too long. You were born at enmity with
God. That's why I talk about our babies,
our little rattlesnakes. They're precious to us, but when
they get three years old, they're going to tell you to shut up
and stick out their tongue and make excuses for what they are.
You know why? Because they came out of you
and I and were born in sin. They have a sinful nature. Amen. You don't ever sit your
kids down and say, now today, daddy and mommy are going to
teach you how to lie. We're going to teach you how
to say no and sass us. No. Those little demons, they're
going to come to all of that naturally. And you know what? The only hope for your kids and
my kids and our kids is the grace of God. Amen. Amber, when she was little, I
think the Lord was probably dealing with her then, but she would
say to me, I'm a good girl, aren't I, Daddy? No, honey, you're a
sinner, like mommy and daddy. and need a Savior. Whether you're
8 or 80, that's the message. You are a sinner and need Jesus
Christ to take away your sins and the grace of God to experience
that in your life, to make you a new creature. Why do you love
heroin? Why do you love crack? Why do
you love sin? Because you're crazy. You're
a crazy sinner. You're wicked. I mean, isn't
that the bottom line? All of you who are Christians
who have been born of the Spirit of God can say, that's exactly
right, Pastor. That's exactly what I was. You
know, I just used and used and used and used. It was all about
me. And many, many of us, you know,
stepped on our mothers and fathers and our addictions, you know,
just crazy. You know, it's something you
ought to be thankful for, and I hope you are. If you had a
mother or daddy that's prayed for you, and they've seen the
reality of you coming to Christ, that's an awesome thing. And
you ought to go back and put your arms around them and thank
them for praying for you and never giving up on you, right?
And asking God to change you from the inside out. Amen. Amen.