I want to know who rode the bicycle
to church this morning. Where are you? Would you just
raise your hand? Where are you? You may be bashful. Where are
you? Back in the back? Was that you? Well, you blessed
me today by seeing that, but you had to want to be here mighty
bad. Amen. I couldn't believe I saw it.
Not only that, it didn't look like it had a lock on it, and
you're in Pontiac. Amen. Pontiac's changing. You
don't have to put locks on things. We're glad you're here. Anyone
here for the first time? Your very first time with us.
Glad to have you. Glad to have you here today. Most serious conversation today,
this first year of 2018. You may feel a little heat, which
you probably won't mind. A different kind of heat. Growing. Growing. Are you? Have you? I trust that you are. Well, here we are in 2018. What
a great year this is going to be. I believe that with all my
heart. All of the signs point to a fabulous year. This coming October, we will
be 39 years old. We're getting older. For 39 years,
the Lord, I believe, has been adding to this church. And for
much longer than that, for over 50 years, I've been longing to
see the great miracles of God take place in a local church,
to see God do the impossible things. I do know this, that the scripture
is clear about the importance of the local church. That's why
you hear me say things like, my great burden and desire is
not so much for Grace Centers of Hope as it is Grace Gospel
Fellowship. This is the most important organization
in your life, the local church. where you come into this family
knowing Jesus Christ, and you began to grow, and you grow,
and you grow, and you become a solid person, and you give
back, and you're used of God as an individual. Somebody has said to me on several
occasions, well, pastor, it kind of seems like a one-man show
over there. And if it is a one-man show, it's his. But the New Testament church
is made up of many members. And God brings into the local
church, according to scriptures, individuals who are gifted in
particular areas. It may be cleaning this building,
but you are a great cleaner. You have your reward too. God
honors that and blesses that. I don't know. I don't know. People come to me and say, what
do you think God's will is for me? I don't know. I don't know
that exactly, his particular will. I know it is his will that
we obey the word of God and that we live our lives in such a way
that people know there's been a change in our lives. We are
new creatures in Christ Jesus. And people thank God for us.
People thank God for us. because of the gifts and talents
and what's happened and is happening in our lives. Here we are, just
think about this. Here's the way I think as your
pastor. God gave over $2 million to that
ministry in 31 days. He must have something big in
mind. There must be something going on. Well, Pastor, you're
always talking about money. But behind the dollars, God is
enabling us to minister. Yeah, you see that new carpet
downstairs and that auditorium that'll seat over 300 people
downstairs. And we don't have a person one
to lead all that. Here we are. And people also say to me things
like, doesn't that trouble you? No, because I know God is going
to send people. I seriously believe they're already
here. And so this morning, perhaps
God will use the message as a call. This church is so postured in
such a way. You know, I read an article this
past week in Oakland Press, I believe it was, how that Pontiac is beginning
to blossom and bloom and all kinds of great things are happening. and neighborhoods are coming
back, and people are actually thinking about moving to Pontiac. And of course, when they talk
about neighborhoods coming back, I've been talking about that
for 31 years. And guess who owns the most houses
in the city of Pontiac? Grace Gospel Fellowship. All of those things are in the
plan and purpose of God. What an honor it is for you to
be a part of this church. How God is blessing you. And
he didn't bring you here to sit. He didn't bring you to be a part
of a Sunday morning pep rally. We are here to serve. We are here to proclaim the gospel.
We are here to glorify God. And he's going to call you particular. I remember this week, I was reading
a note from an eight year old. about her loving the Lord and
loving Jesus and coming to know that he died for her on the cross. And I recall my early days as
a child, how I know God spoke to me. I know God spoke to me
at a very early age. We have so many children here
that have been so messed up by their parents. being out there
in the world. What do you think God's going
to do with your children here? As our classes grow, as our Sunday
school classes grow, we have an auditorium downstairs that'll
seat 300 young people as they hear the gospel. We're going
to use this building to its furthest extent, but, but, God's going
to use you. And I say to the chief of sinners
here, God has brought you to Jesus Christ for getting those
things which are behind your drug use, your idolatry, your
whoremongering, I don't know, your abortions, your churchanity,
your self-righteousness, whoever you are, God has converted you
and brought you to faith in Christ for a purpose. And you have wonderful
opportunities here. And I'm going to try to keep
pushing and presenting. You know, I thought Wednesday
night, I took a Bible out from under one of the chairs over
here, and it was just filled with dust. And I thought, wow,
nobody's used this Bible for a while. I want this church to be a living
church. That's what it ought to be. There's
nothing worse than going to a dead church. A dead church is where
God's not there. And he's not actively doing things
where we have to say, that was a God thing. That absolutely
was a God thing. You think about God giving us,
and I think about this a lot, because to some degree as CEO,
I'm responsible for a $7 million budget across the street. I think
about it a lot, a whole lot. And I know this, God has directly
sent us people who do not come to this church, really have no
active part in what goes on here, and continues to give us money. They continue to... And honestly,
I scratched my head like this past week, person brought a check
for $160,000. You know, I just go, pretty soon
this person's got to run out of money. But what I'm saying is Jehovah-Jireh. that God is a God of plenty.
These things are not accidental things. The balcony filling up,
the sides of this place, people coming, hungering and thirsting. What an awesome thing it is.
I hope you're growing. Ephesians chapter four says that
God gives some. In other words, he gives to the
church for the perfecting of the saints. It means the maturing
of the saints. How mature are you? Are you a
mature saint? Well, you probably wouldn't know
it because you wouldn't confess it because that has a little
sense of self-righteousness. But are you growing? Did you
come to know Christ last year? Were you an addict three years
ago? Were you in a mess a few years ago and you were converted? And now you look back over the
past few years, and you have had your ups and downs, but here
you are in the house of God. You haven't used in a year, or
you haven't used in three months. Praise God! He's working in you. God has brought you here to make
this church stronger. You know, we have to be a strong
church, because we have really strong enemies. The devil is
strong. Addiction is strong. What's going
on in people's lives is strong. Depression, all kinds of things
going on. You're not unique in the sense
of, you know, we just have so many problems. Yes, we have about
400 people sitting in here. That's how many problems there
are in here. There's not a person in here that doesn't have problems,
but God uses our problems and turn those to his glory and honor. If you've had a messed up life,
there's somebody in here today that also has a messed up life
and needs your testimony and needs to be encouraged that Jesus
Christ, he brought me out of it, he can bring you out of it
too and will. So whatever your walk in life,
God has brought you here to make this church stronger. I'm positive
that the Lord is sending me helpers. I'm talking about me as pastor.
I need helpers. I'm positive God is sending me
helpers. I know that I'm not left to myself. I know that God's
got people here and people who are coming to help me. Amen. I know that's true. People who
are gifted in different areas than I. I am so limited in my
gifts. I know God's called me to pastor
this church. I know I'm probably gonna be here till I die. I know
that. I know you're gonna probably
have to carry me out here feet first. I know that. But I know
that with everything going on and everything that needs to
happen here, You know, my dream has been to see inner-city children
attending this church, where we have an inner-city program,
where kids are finding Christ and life, and this church ought
to be Such a lighthouse. In fact, in the end of January,
we're gonna turn the lights on here, let there be light. And
this whole building, you'll be able to see for a mile away because
of the lights that are going on. The same person that did
Ford Field is putting the lights around this building to shine
on it, the same company. I wanna be able to say that night
when we turn on the lights, let there be light. This church is to be a lighthouse
and to see the great... You know, I lived for years without
seeing miracles. I'll tell you this, the last
10 years, I've become a real believer in miracles. People used to ask me, do you
believe in signs and wonders? And I used to kind of like, oh
no, that's not Baptistic. I mean, that's not, what are
you talking about? And now I say, I is one. I am a miracle of the grace of
God. This church, everything about
us here is just absolutely something God has done and is doing that
couldn't be done. We're going to have seven classrooms
in the basement, an auditorium seating all those kids and being
used for so many things. You know, in the future, I want
to see more gospel concerts here. I want to see this place packed
out. People singing the praises of our God. You know, we just
sang, our God is an awesome God and that He is. I wanna see more
of Him and the demonstration of His power. I want our music
to be great, our praise to be great. I want everything here
to be great. Amen? I hope you do too. There's
never been a greater time for you to be used of God than right
now. And I know some of you battle with what you once was and what
you once did. Let's forget that. Let's talk
about what God has done in your life now. The miracle that once
you was lost, but now you're saved. Once you was blind, but
now you see that you are a new creature in Christ Jesus. And he has not called you to
be 11 o'clock Sunday morning sitter. You are here to help
and to strengthen this assembly. Not only that, but the world
is at the gate of this church, I believe, in this sense. What
are we going to do about the heroin epidemic? You can't turn
on the news, you can't turn on TV without somebody asking, what
are we going to do? I'll tell you what we're going
to do. We're going to preach the gospel, believe the gospel,
and believe that men and women can be changed from the inside
out, and that nothing is impossible with God. Growing. Now, I'll tell you what
I'm going to be interested in. from this day forward, really
interested in. You're going to hear me keep
emphasizing this. What's God called you to do?
How are you going to make this church stronger? I like the dedication
of riding your bicycle to church in seven degree weather. I'm so impressed with you back
there. Now, when you become a Christian,
You're a baby. You're a baby Christian. But
you know what about a baby Christian? Baby Christians desire the sincere
milk of the word. Baby Christians will say this
to other people. Boy, that was powerful. Boy,
that was a powerful service. My, the Lord was certainly there. And it wasn't so much a state
message as it was milk. But that baby Christian has just
been converted and they so desire the Word of God. If you're here
and you've just been converted a few weeks, you love to hear
the Word of God. You love to hear it. And the
milk comes to you. But what also begins to happen
is you begin to grow. You begin to grow. I remember
several years ago in our church, I had been preaching the doctrine
of election forever, since the beginning of this congregation. And a person in the congregation
came, called me on the phone one day, and he said, I'm gonna
tell you something, I bet you, this is a young convert. Or he
wouldn't have said this to me. I bet you've never seen this.
Do you know that God actually chose people to salvation? I
said, you don't mean it. He said, yeah, I was reading
over here in 2 Thessalonians 2.13, but we're bound to give
thanks for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
chosen you from the beginning. And he was so excited. And I
got excited too. Here was a baby that came to
find out that God, he wasn't an accident child. He was a non-purpose
child. And he would begin to grow in
that awesome truth. You know why Jesus hasn't come
back? And that's what the apostle Peter was dealing with. because
all the elect have not been converted yet. 2 Peter talks about the forbearance
of God. Let me give you one of the most
missed used scripture in the Bible, especially if you began
to talk about the doctrine of grace, which I am going to eventually
get there. Here's one of the most twisted
passages. I can't tell you how many times
in 50 years people have quoted this passage to me. 2 Peter 3,
9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises. Some men count
slackness, but is long suffering to us. We're not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's
exactly why I don't believe in the doctrine of election. God
wants everybody to be converted. God is trying to save everybody
and folks won't let them. That's not what that verse says
at all. How would you like a God who's not willing that anybody
perish, but because of the will of man, he can't save anybody? In other words, he's weaker than
the will of man. God is not willing that any of
his elect perish. Let me tell you, if God's not
willing that something happen, it won't happen. Because God
is sovereign. Now that's what the apostle Peter
begins to talk about here. It's talking about some people
that have come in and said that the second coming is untrue,
that Jesus Christ is not coming again, that there is no second
coming. And what the apostle Peter says
this, God is long suffering. Some of you sitting in the back
and maybe in the balcony, have never confessed Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior. Maybe you were using last week,
or maybe you're here and you're a parent, but you've never been
converted. You just came over here to find
out what's happening to your kid. We're glad you're here,
but in the providence of God, God was bringing you here. And
even this morning, I want you to know this. The reason Jesus
Christ has not returned is because all his elect have not been converted. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Am I right about that or not?
Absolutely, I'm right about that. Think about this. The goodness
of God ought to bring you to repentance. Way back there, hiding
behind somebody, God is long-suffering. Look how
long you've been using. Look how long you've been wandering
around doing your own thing, and yet Jesus hasn't come back. Because you haven't been converted.
This is a time of the long-suffering of God. You know, I imagine a
lot of stuff in my head. One of the things I imagine is
that we're meeting here one Sunday, and some no-good-for-nothing
sorry drug addict comes to faith in Jesus Christ. And then the
trumpet blows, and we're all out of here in a moment, in a
twinkling of an eye. Say, well, I don't know about
that, pastor. I know this, when that last elect
is brought in by the Spirit of God to repentance and faith in
Jesus Christ, there's going to be a great time for us. a great
time. Jesus is coming again. Here's
what I would say to those of you who have been quickened by
the Spirit of God. I know that there are people
here that the Lord has quickened you. He has given you life, but
you haven't been converted yet in a public way. You haven't
come forward and said, I do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is my Lord and Savior. So you've been troubled about
your sins for a long time, but you don't understand that God
is holding off. Why didn't God kill you a long
time ago? Most of us should have been dead, sleeping in our grave
a long time before we were converted. It's the long suffering of God. The long suffering of God. You
know why I keep preaching? You know why I'm missionary in
my outlook? Because I know God has some people
out there that need to hear the good news, the glad tidings,
and the Spirit of God uses that. I endure all things for the elect's
sake. that they might come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The doctrine of grace is not
anti-missionary. Think about this. I don't know
how many children we have, 85 over there in aftercare and,
you know, about that. You know, I think about every
one of them in this way. I am the pastor here. They need
to hear the gospel. I'm wanting to see kids draw
pictures of Jesus on the cross. I think those are all signs.
Signs that God is doing something in little people's lives. You
know, there are some very mature little people. Boy, I do know
this. I can say this. I didn't know
the extent that I was a sinner, but at five years old, I knew
I was a sinner. I already knew there was something
wrong with me. And over those years up until
eight years old when I trusted Christ, that sense did not decrease. Somebody asked me this past week,
do you preach for results? I thought you were a Calvinist.
A Calvinist that doesn't preach for results is not much of a
Calvinist. And I'm not trying to make Calvinist
here. I'm preaching the gospel, the
good news of Jesus Christ to show that salvation is by grace
from first to last. And when you find that out, it's
a wonder and it's glorious. God has converted you. You know,
I don't know how to witness to people. That's just not true.
The greatest preaching in the world is telling other people,
you know, Six years ago, I was in the Cass corridor and I was shooting drugs into
my body. Or I was in Birmingham and drinking myself to death. And then he came to me. He came
to me when I could not come to him. He came to me. I can't get over that bicycle
thing. I thought, This is how my mind
works up here. You don't see a lot of stuff
that goes through. I thought this morning walking
in, what if that bicycle guy gets converted today? But he's
already converted, that's why he's here. Now, what the apostle Peter says
is this, and what the scripture says is this, and I say this
to you, and you know who I'm talking to, those of you who
have not confessed faith in Christ. Today's the day of salvation.
And look at it this way. With all of your mess and all
of the things that are happening in your life, God is long suffering. Your time has not come yet. God is holding off. This is the
hour of salvation today. Today. He said, well, pastor,
salvation's of the Lord. Don't be giving me all that.
I know that, and you ought to know that, but that's no excuse
for us not going and witnessing and digging in and start to tell
people. And you know what? I pray for
my two young grandchildren every day that God will save them,
that God will do a work in them at eight and six years old. Amen,
I do that. Spurgeon tells the story of a
little boy that sat on the front row of the Metropolitan Tabernacle,
and he sat there like this, like this. Finally, Spurgeon said,
I'm going to ask his mother, why does he sit there Sunday
after Sunday with his ears cupped like this? So he did, Spurgeon
said to his mom, and his mom said, Johnny, come over here
and tell the pastor why you cup your ears. And Johnny said this,
well, Mr. Spurgeon says, in order to be
converted, I must hear from God. So I'm listening. I thought that
was a great answer. I'm listening. Do you want to
hear from God today? You say, oh pastor, you're talking
to me. Some of you sitting back there
are only here because you have to be here. because we take attendance. You're here because in order
to get a bed and some food and a warm place to say, you could
care less about what I'm saying. That's why you have your phone.
That's why you're in and out and in and out of service because
you don't care. But there are people here who
are listening with both ears. And right now you're going, he
read my mail. The pastor knows what's going
on in my life. You desire the sincere milk of
the word and God is doing something miraculous. If you get converted
today, you come to know Christ today, you openly confess Christ
today, it's just the beginning. It gets better. It gets better
because now you're a new creation and you hate drugs. You hate
every evil way. You become a striver to know
more and to learn more about the grace of God. Growing. I just want you to I don't know,
maybe you've been in church all your life. Maybe you confess
Christ at four years old and you've been from church to church
to church and been in church splits and all kinds of mess. But what I wanna ask you, are
you growing? Are you happy? Do you have joy
unspeakable and full of glory? Is that in your life? Now, here's
what Peter says. One of the reasons we have Bibles
under every seat here until somebody steals them and takes them home.
We have to replenish them. And that's okay if you need a
Bible. Misrepresentation of scripture. Remember, you're supposed to
grow. You're to know the word of God.
It's important that you know the word of God. Now you read
the word of God. And that the Word of God jumps
from the pages into your heart and is thrilling to you, like
the young man found out that God elected him. Joy unspeakable
and full of glory. So, the Apostle Peter, just go
back there one more time, to 2 Peter. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promises. In other words, why hasn't the
Lord come? Because all of the elect have not been brought in
yet. It's been 2000 years, we're still waiting. But there is a
time period between his first coming and going away and when
he's gonna come again. What happens in between there?
The elect are brought to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Now,
here's what it says. Verse 15 says that the long suffering
of our Lord is salvation. That's why he hasn't come back
yet. Everyone's not been brought in by the Spirit of God. And
then he talks about this, that we are to grow. As also in all
his epistles, speaking in them of these things, this is verse
16, which are some things hard to understand. You know, all
truth is revealed truth. Maybe you just found out this
morning as you grow that God elected you. because you have
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's evident that God chose
you before the foundation of the world. So go ahead and get
happy about it. You know, this is really what
ought to happen. When God, as you grow and God
takes the scales off your eyes, that's why I believe church ought
to be a happy place. I believe people have become,
thank you, Lord. Oh, I see it. I see that you
loved me when I was in Lodibar. When I was crippled and couldn't
come to you, you came to me and you put up with so much of my
stuff in grace and mercy. And here I am just finding out
that you have loved me with an everlasting love and you have
drawn me to yourself. I thought the craziest thing
in the world was me ever going to a homeless shelter. And all
the time now I see that was you bringing me to the end of my
own way for me to see my craziness. Listen, People, including me,
in this auditorium, ought to be the most grateful, appreciative
people in the world. Amen. Now, I wonder what God has called
you to do as you grow in scriptures. Here's what I want taught in
our Sunday school and in our Bible studies. I don't want you
to be a dumb Christian. I want you to know how God is
just and justified. How did God save a wretch like
you? How could God be just and yet
call you not guilty? Well, you are guilty. You know
you did it. You know you've done it. Your
nature is wicked. You had to be born again. How
does God do that and still be just? I want you to know how
he did that. I mean, really get into it. Where you see that God
made him to be sin for you. And as you began to grow in this
grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, life becomes happier. You think about all the stuff
we deal with all week. And most of it is self-condemning
stuff. You know, what if everyone was deaf and blind? How would
you live? Never mind, you didn't get that.
Life would be different. Here's what Hebrews 5.13 says,
Everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness,
for he's a child. In other words, you are to move
beyond childhood in Christ to becoming a young adult. In 1
John, John addresses I write unto you little children." And
then he says, I write unto you young men. And then he says,
I write unto you fathers in the faith. There's to be a growing
process, a growing process. One of the things I worry about
or concerns myself as your pastor is that we don't become a Sunday
morning church. We are a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday church. So, you know, people
often say, have said this to me, you know, pastor expects
me to totally be giving up my life. Yes. Pastor expects me
to be dedicated to that church. Yes. Yes. That's not what I expect. That's what the word of God says.
You're in a local church. It's like, it's your family.
You're growing. You love to be here. You would
ride a bicycle here. No one has to make you. And I
do know this too. You know, I read this a couple
of weeks ago that in 1971, the average adult watched 23 hours
of television. I'm sure it's more than that
now, but lengthy television watching Someone has said, led us to physical
laziness, intellectual flabbiness, emotional exhaustion, psychological
confusion, and more disorientation. What if you were in the Word
of God every day? What if you started your morning with devotion
time? Say, pastor, you know, I think
your sermon this morning is, you know, it's so unlike you.
I understand that, but you see, what I'm looking at is this.
I'm looking at how God is blessing us, and I'm saying this to myself. I, as your pastor, must improve
my ability to communicate effectively and hold your attention with
no showmanship or addicts. And that God and the power of
the Holy Spirit speaks through you and in you and uses you. There's a lot to be done here.
We haven't even got started yet. We haven't even got started yet.
It's absolutely, you know, I think, okay, this is why I'm praying
now. Okay, Lord, at 85, I'm going to see if I can slow down a little
bit. So I'm thinking, okay, 12 more years. 12 more years. Well, 12 years from now, do I
want to be speaking to 400 people? Do I want our church to be just
sitting here as the saloon church and talking about what happened
15 years ago? No. No, I want this place to
be alive for the glory of God, for the good of men, and for
the conversion of boys and girls. That's what I want to see here. You know, the most demanding
thing is this, and I'm gonna get tougher about this, is for
you to sit for an hour and hear the Word of God. It can be tough.
Give all diligence to hearing the Word of God. What is the
pastor saying? What does the Word of God say?
And grow, and grow, and grow. I would ask each of you this
morning, will you make this your goal to grow in grace and in
the knowledge of Jesus Christ? Well, what do you mean by it?
Here's what I mean by that. Grow in grace. Do you know grace
doesn't grow? Nobody in here, including me,
really understands grace. I don't understand grace. It's
too far above me. Unmerited favor. Just think about
this week, all the things you've thought that God should have
killed you for. Just think about that. You're not dead. You're
alive and in the house of God. You're here. Just think about
how God has surrounded you and protected you, works in you. What an awesome thing that is.
Grace doesn't grow. You grow in grace. I believe
this, that outside of the word Jesus, there is no greater word
in all our vocabulary than grace. It's so amazing. I mean, when
you really get into it, let me say this to you too. If you can
sit through an hour service where a man is talking about the goodness
of God and the grace of God and the mercy of God and the everlasting
love of God and not get a smile on your face, there's something
bad wrong. There's something bad wrong. The Apostle Peter
says this, and I close with this. I've wandered around all over
the place, but go back to, go back to 2 Peter 1. I want you to show how, I want
to show you just real quickly how this works. In the second
epistle, chapter one, verse two, right off the bat, grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Now just hold your hand there.
And now let's go over to the last chapter of 1 Peter and watch
him close the second epistle, watch him close the second epistle
the same way he opened the second epistle. Verse 18, but grow in
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's the way he opened and
that's the way he closed. Now there's a lot of stuff in
between. Grow in grace. That's what I want to happen
here. Grow in grace. and in the knowledge of Jesus
Christ. The Apostle Paul said, Oh, that
I might know Him and be found in Him. And then the last thing
is this, to Him be glory both now and
forever. That's the way he ended the second
Peter, unto Him be glory. What I hope God does is sets
me on fire and lets me preach to you And then you go home and
he sets you on fire. And you go, I thought about what
the pastor said today. What an amazing God we have.
What a wonderful God we have. Lord, thank you for saving me.
Lord, thank you for protecting me from all of the crazy thoughts
all week. Thank you for working in me,
both the will and to do of your good pleasure. Thank you for
loving me with an everlasting love, and thank you for never
taking your hand off of me. Thank you for giving me eternal
life. And I know that I'll never perish because you have paid
my sin debt in full, and there's no condemnation to those that
are in Christ Jesus. Just want to give you glory,
Lord. I just want to Praise you for
this so great salvation. Unto him be glory forever and
ever. That's the one thing. That's
the top thing at my list. I want to preach to the glory
of God. And in order to give him all the glory, I say it to
you without blinking, you have to be a grace person. Because,
you see, the grace way is the fixed way. It's the only way
he gets all the glory. If you say salvation in a baptismal
pool, that you've been confirmed by a church, that you've done
this or that, or your works, or your will, there's only one
way. It's the grace way. And God has
shut us up, that throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity, we
praise Him. Now, Between here and heaven,
he's not only going to convert you, he's going to use you. And
you need to grow in grace. You know what happens most of
the time? And I see this, and I've seen
this for years. What happens is, in most church
situations, Sunday morning is kind of a pep rally. The preacher
is supposed to, you know, kind of pump us up. And then you go out the door
and you go home and throw the cat out of the house and kick
the dog and tell the kids to shut up. And then everything
begins to, the wind goes out of your sails. And then you come back on Sunday
morning. And I'm supposed to, you know, puff you up again. Get you going. No, this afternoon, sometime
before you go to bed, read the word of God and find out how
good he's been to you. And then all by yourself. You
know, some of the best services I've ever had have been in my
study with me in the Lord. Man, can I preach when I'm by
myself and happy in the Lord. And just, you know, not be intimidated You ever seen people in their
car playing rock music or oldies or whatever? And you know, they're
just, you know, they're oblivious to everybody else. That's the
way I am in my study. Hallelujah. Sometimes I get out
of my chair and I start walking. Praise God! All by myself. Say, the man has lost his mind.
No, I'm just telling you. I'm just telling you. That ought
to be happening all by, while I'm bashful. Well, get by yourself
and read the word of God. Amen. I'll pass through. That sounds
like emotionalism. Let me tell you this. God coming
down to earth and dying in my room and stead and place, when
I really enter into that, I do get emotional. It's all right. This thing is, the love of God
is real. And you know what? Our children
need to see that. You know, we've lived through
an age here. I can remember the headlines of Time Magazine. Is
Time Magazine still around? Time Magazine, God is dead. I remember that being on the
front page. God is dead. And oh, I had such a fit about
it. And then I realized, to many people, God is dead. But my God's
alive. And I want to show him off. That's
why I talk about some of these material things, because we absolutely
could not raise $2 million. We could not own this bar. It was a bar and people jumping
off the roof several times and police here and ambulances here
and green hairs and red hairs lined all the way around the
place and all kinds of stuff going on. And then all of a sudden,
somebody buys it for us and gives it to us. Say, well, why is he
always talking about money and this and that? I'm amazed. I'm absolutely amazed. I'm a
little country boy born in Lowe's, Kentucky. It absolutely blows
my mind that I'm in a building like this preaching to 400 people
and we'll be in a few years, a thousand people here every
Sunday. Wouldn't it be great to have to go to four services
and we had, you know, five more pastors to help. growing, growing
because he's worthy of praise and honor. Grow in grace and
in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Don't become a theologian, grow
in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. You know what
I mean? I'm not talking about this. Are you doing pastor? I used
to see that over at the center all the time. Did you just get here yesterday
about half high and all of a sudden you've seen everybody share the
Bible? How you doing? Not to impress people. Find out
how much God has loved you. and what he's done for you. This
is his love letter. This is not a legalistic thing. This is a love letter. Are you
insecure? Did your mother and dad not love
you? I don't know what happened to you. We're all insecure. You
want to become secure? Find out about this God who's
always loved you, and that your name is written in the Lamb's
book of life from the foundation of the world, and that he's working.
Ooh, I'm getting happy. That he is working everything
out every single day for your good. I got rebuked kind of last night.
I hope Ms. Pam doesn't kill me for saying
this. I said, how you doing, Pam? She
said, how you doing? I'm not doing good. I don't feel
good. She said to me, do you ever feel good? I sat there a while and got mad.
And then I thought, what do you have to complain about? And then I apologized before
we went to bed. What do you have to complain about? This week,
grow through life thanking God. Well, he knows that that just
happened. You know, he knows, he knows all about it, but he'll
never leave you nor forsake you. Amen. Let's stand and praise
our God.