Five of our men and women who
are serving in the armed forces were murdered this week by those
of the ISIS philosophy. ISIS is now here in the United
States. I told you they were coming.
They're here. We have a president who has admitted now on several
occasions that he is of the Muslim belief. We now are having a, a treaty that supposedly is going
to be approved, and I'm sure the bomb will be in the Middle
East. We have betrayed our friends
Israel. And all of this, if you read
your Bible, if you've studied your Bible, don't, I know some
folks walked out Sunday because they were offended. If you don't
believe the Bible, you will be offended here. You would just
be offended. And those of you who think this
world is going to go on forever need to read your Bible because
you can see that things are happening pretty fast. You know that when
we get closer and closer to the end, the two witnesses will be
murdered and killed in the street and be brought back to life.
Some of you, some of us, at least I am suspect that my grandkids
will probably be living when that is seen. Now, just so it's
not all gloom and doom, I want to say to you that this could
also be a time of great awakening. And I wrote this and it will
be put out there sometime this coming week. And I wrote it,
if you'd like to receive my emails with regard to some of these
things, if you'll just give me your email address, I'll put
you on the mailing address where I send these sorts of things
out. I wrote, dear whoever, wow, I have never been more excited
For 70 years, I've watched the church drift toward the falls.
I've seen her go to sleep in Delilah's lap. I have watched
as the disciples slept in the bottom of the boat. But all that
has suddenly changed. The new ruling, same-sex marriage,
the redefining of marriage, of our not-so-supreme court, has
awakened the sleeping giant. Never have I seen the church
so alive. I actually believe we could again
make it illegal to murder babies. We may again see prayer back
in the school room and even the Pledge of Allegiance. People
are beginning to acknowledge that there is a creator, that
they are not the accidental formation of gas and dust. Why some are
even saying that there is purpose in life, that when we die, we're
not like the dog Rover dead all over. Some of us old guys, baby
boomers, are feeling romantic again. The woman we've been married
to for 50 years we feel deep respect for and most tender toward. The mother of our children, the
love of our lives. We have a great desire to protect
from this culture of abuse and disrespect. For our children,
we want desperately the America back where children knew the
meaning of yes sir and no ma'am, where teachers in our schools
were respected and honored and police officers did not walk
the halls with submachine guns. An America where police officers
didn't go to prison for attempting to keep the peace and were the
good guys and kept the bad guys from burning down our homes.
I'm excited about so many others being excited. Are you excited? I hope so. Are you registered
to vote? Okay, let's roll. And I'm going
to be putting out those probably every week. I'm not going to
let you go to sleep. We are going to be an engaged
and active church. We're not going to sit back and
watch the devil win this one. I hope that you got a bulletin,
and if you did, I hope you will read, especially the little article
that I put in, the folks who are getting the free stuff don't
like the folks who are paying for the free stuff. I hope you'll
get that and read that, and then it'll make sense. You know, what's
happening in our world the Christless world, it doesn't even make good
common sense. It's so out there. Like this
week, selling baby parts. by Planned Parenthood. Somehow it's just hard for me
to get that in my head that they're very careful. And you say, Pastor,
I didn't come to church to hear all that. I don't want to hear
all that. It's happening. You can turn a blind eye if you
want. But I was reading about how Planned Parenthood delivers
aborted babies, and they're very careful with the head. in making
sure that the head is not damaged because they have to sell those
parts. I know that probably causes some of you who don't want to
look at that or just have your head buried in the sand to go,
ah, don't say that. But it's happening in the United
States of America. And not only that, but Planned
Parenthood is supported by this government and your tax dollars.
We got to have a great uprising to have a great revival. You
know, one thing people do still understand, especially politicians,
your vote. And I hope that all of us in
here get to the point where we're not Republicans and we're not
Democrats, we're Christians. We're Christians, and we vote
by the book, for the book, for the glory of God and the good
of our nation. So, get used to it. Now would be the time if you're
going to walk, now would be the time to walk because you won't
cause as much disturbance. We hope you don't walk, we hope
you stay and that you have an amen and a glory to God and you
have a smile on your face and you believe that things can change
in America for the better. But we are responsible creatures,
amen? All right, and I pray God will
bless America. Beauty for ashes. Beauty for
ashes, what a deal. You're robed in the righteousness
of Christ. You don't wear sackcloth and
ashes anymore. You've done everything in the
book. I'm telling you, the blood of Jesus goes deeper than the
stain has gone. He is a bigger savior than you
are a sinner. You have no mortgage. There is
no claim against you. You have no debt. Amen. God Almighty has imputed righteousness
to you. Now, just a word or two, again,
for believers, because I want believers to stop mourning, and
so does the Lord. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people.
That's the commission the pastor has. You say, well, pastor, I
don't understand all that. You know, when I sin and I do
this and I do that, I feel so bad. Repent, get over it, know
it's paid for, know it's not gonna damn you, move out. The Apostle Paul, no sooner had
he said in Romans 7, O wretched man that I am, real quick, he
said, but there is therefore now no condemnation to those
that are in Christ Jesus. Don't spend too long thinking
about what you've done. Old slew foot scheme is to get
you to go from this to this. You know what you've done. And
then there's your conscience who also says, yeah, you do know
what you've done. When the black dog barks, start
quoting Romans 8 to yourself and to Sloughfoot. I am persuaded. And what will happen is that
smile will come back. I am persuaded that neither life
nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor what I'm going to do tomorrow shall separate me from the love
of God. Some of you are worrying about what you're going to do
tomorrow. I did this today and I think probably I'll do that
tomorrow. And you're mournful. It's not
the spirit of the gospel. It is amazing though. Some of you are looking at me
like I don't get what he's saying. It is amazing, isn't it? That
you're going to heaven. Isn't it amazing you're going
to heaven? I mean, just think about it. Isn't it amazing? You who sometimes feel more dead
than alive. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Every day and every Sunday, I
preach the gospel to you because I need it. I preach the gospel to you because
I need it and I know you need it. You need to hear it over
and over. Jesus paid it all. That grace that breaks through
our mourning and is our consolation. See, this was the mission of
Christ. This is why he came. from the cross to the crown,
from the thorn to the throne, from misery to majesty. And you
know what? It doesn't take long. You'd be
surprised how quick you can get happy. You drug in here with a long
chain of stuff, probably this morning, with all kinds of stuff. And then we begin to sing, our
God is an awesome God. And then before you knew it,
there was joy unspeakable and full of glory. You had both your
hands in the air. We got to singing, oh happy day,
oh happy day. And you got to saying in the
inside, it is a happy day. What am I doing down? Glory to
God. A robe of praise. Isn't praise
awesome? Praise is awesome. It's just
so awesome. He said, I'll put the garment
of praise on you. The oil of joy for mourning.
You need something to get those ashes off. This joy comes from Christ. The
Bible talks about joy unspeakable and full of glory. Well, you
know, he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Yeah,
but the gospel is good news, glad tidings. He's touched with
the feelings of your infirmities. You think about that. He knows
how you feel when you're down. And it even moves him. Paul said, we joy in God. In the Philippian, he said, again,
I say rejoice. And then, in case they didn't
get it, he said, and again, I say, rejoice. The joy of the Lord is unspeakable.
Years ago, I preached from Romans 5.5, and it's amazing to me how
God brings thoughts back to me. But it says this, Romans 5.5
says, and hope make us not ashamed because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
And hope make us not ashamed. Boy, it's a sad thing when you're
without hope. Hope doesn't make us ashamed.
This hope, and the hope that God gives is not a hope, a hope,
a hope. It's a sure and a steadfast hope. It's not like a rolling
of the dice. It's a sure hope. It's a sure
hope because the love of God is poured into us and fills every
crack and crevice. Isn't it amazing when the love
of God is poured into you and there's constant praise in your
heart how fast time goes? See, some of you don't even know
it's 14 after 12. Some of you do because you want
to get out of here. When I was a kid at our church,
we used to sing, I got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Sing it. Down in my heart to what? Down
in my heart to stay. What about this? I got the peace
that passes understanding. I got the peace. Oh, you're good. How about this? I got the love of Jesus, love
of Jesus down in my heart. Down in my heart to stay. Or how about this? I know the
devil doesn't like it, but it's down in my heart. All right, we got to go home.
Let's stand together. Praise our God. Praise be to
our God. Don't spend your days in mourning.
The joy of the Lord is our strength. Amen. Some of you got that heaviness
today. I hope it was lifted. Some of
you say, I'm depressed. I hope you're not. I hope that
God and the power of the Spirit has lifted that heaviness from
you today. And you got that joy, joy, joy
down in your heart. I want to say to those of you
who are in deep mourning with regard to your sin and without
Christ, trust Him. Trust Him. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Amen. Thank you, Lord.