I don't know how many of you
saw this in the news. A dad heard a strange noise coming
from his baby's room and went into the room to find a python
wrapped around the baby. And I thought to myself upon
hearing that, that's exactly what has happened in this nation
with our children. I hope you hear as a church,
I hope we hear together the cry of the children. What a mess. Someone has said I'm a doom preacher. Proclaiming doom. I just want
to tell you, if you were driving down the highway and I knew the
bridge was out, and I stood by and waved you
on, with a smile on my face. You're doing really good. That
would be insane. Well, I'm telling you the bridge
is out, and it's the church's fault. We've been playing church in
America for a long, long time. We do a lot of talking about
being saved, and we're very religious. Very religious. But something's
bad wrong in America. Something is bad wrong. Something
is seriously wrong. And something's wrong in the
church. So we've been talking about playing church. And what I hope that you've been
doing is simply confronting yourself as a committee of one. to see if that's what you're
doing, if you're playing church. You can really know whether you're
playing church. Sunday, popular Sunday morning religion. Is that
what you are? I mean, this is it. Sunday morning,
this is it. I'm more concerned about where
you are and what's happening in your life on Monday than I
am on Sunday morning. Really, Sunday morning doesn't
count. Monday morning does. Monday morning
truly counts. Thirty years ago when our church,
actually 34 years ago I guess now, 1979, I said on the night
that we were organized as a local church, if this church is not going to
be different than the rest of these churches, There's no need
to start another church. That was 34 years ago. I'm reading
from my notes. If we're going to play church,
it would be better to disband before we get started. To call
back the corporation papers. Dissolve the name. and go out
of here and join one of those half-hearted, dead Ichabod churches
and go on to hell with the rest of this religious world. And Ichabod is exactly what has
taken place. The glory has departed. The glory
of God out of the church. The question this morning is
not whether you're here. The question is whether God's
here. whether the Shekinah glory rests over this body. I mean,
if all we want is a little religion, if that's all you want, a little
religion on Sunday morning, let's at least make it easy on ourselves.
I mean, we could have a lot less bills if we just disband. I mean,
we live in the wealthiest county in the United States, nearly,
so we could join up with somewhere in Bloomfield Hills. and let
other people pay the bills. I mean, we can make it easy on
ourselves. Does anybody understand what I'm saying? I'm trying to
stimulate you a little bit here. I don't want to be the same old,
same old. I've been in church all my life. I don't need more
church. I need more Christ. I want to
experience God. That's what I want. I'm really
not a religious person. I told you last week that in
my very brief travels with Mr. Santorum, I got in trouble there
too. But when we were traveling around,
Good Morning America said that Americans are really not concerned
about social issues. I'm concerned about social issues.
Are you concerned about social issues? Several drug addicts
in here, that's a social issue. That's a social issue that needs
to be solved. And seemingly, the proof is and
the evidence is that in solving the drug problem, we're worse
off than we were in 1963 when government decided that it was
going to take care of all of that. Social issues. Divorce. Gay marriage. Social issues. I hope you get
this. I hope you take it home with
you. I hope you think about it. I hope it either makes you mad
or glad or does something on the inside of you. Social issues
will never be solved by big government. Never. Social issues cannot be solved
by money. Social issues are issues of the
heart. Am I right about that? Your social problems and mine
can only be solved by a new creation. You have to have a creator. Somebody
bigger than yourself. Somebody that's able to override
and is more powerful than your false god. Someone that can throw
your false god out and replace your false god with himself. That's how social issues are
solved. You know, you can run the drug addict down. And over
the past 25 years, I've tried that in the early days. We'd
go out and find you. If you disappeared, we'd go out
and find you and bring you back. But you know what would happen?
You would leave again because you weren't ready. Only God can
make you stick. Is that right? Only God can do
that. If you're determined to destroy
yourself, that you will do. Life is one big pain. Life is
painful. If you think you're going to
go through life without pain, you're wrong. You need the God of all comfort.
And that's the God of the Bible. Crack can't comfort you. Drugs
can't comfort you. Money can't comfort you. I know
men and women who are multi-millionaires without any comfort, without
any peace. Only Christ can do that. So, the Gospel is the answer
to social ills. It's the power of God under salvation
that sets the captive free and heals the wounds of sin and makes
new creatures. God has ordained two communities. for the stabilization of society. Let me just stop there and let
that sink in. I want to tell you why society
is not stable. Would you say you live in a stable
world? This place is about to blow up.
You can't imagine. Those of you who live your life
in the crack house and just live from day to day have really no
understanding about how the world could blow up by five or six
men pushing the right button. And this world, as we know it,
would be no more. Blown to bits, burned to ashes,
annihilated. It's not a stable world. You
look at what's going on with Israel and in the Middle East.
At any moment, you listen to the declaration of the Ishmaelites
of their hatred for Israel and how they have their missiles
pointed at Jerusalem. And if you think Jerusalem is
just setting by passively as Abraham's seed, if you think
Israel doesn't have bombs and missiles and nuclear devices
and the first one that hits Jerusalem, there'll be 80 more hit the Arab
nations. And then we're in it. It could
happen any time. I hope you understand that. You
know, Pastor, the people you talk to, they don't understand
those kind of things. You know, drug addicts understand
death much better than most people. Because it just takes one OD,
you know. And just about everybody in this
9 o'clock service has had a friend that is with us no longer. This
is not a stable world. But God has given us these two
communities. And I tell you, they are so important. I hope that this is not just
another series, but it gets inside of you and that you begin to
grasp I'm going to tell you why many of you in here are not happy.
Because you're coming from a broken home. Broken family. Now just let it sink in a little
bit. Dad ran off with another woman
or another lover. Mom cheated. Whatever. Divorce
is rampant. The breakup of the family. I
just tell you right now. The family is one of the building
blocks of a solid society. And if you notice what we're
doing here and what we've been doing here for close to 25 years
is we're building two communities. One is family and the other is
the church. And without those two structures
and without you having those two communities in your life,
You are not a stable person. You are not. Say, well, I don't
see how you could say that. I didn't say that. God said that.
Because God established these two communities for the good
of his people and for the stabilization of society. And when those two
crumble, the world crumbles. And in case you noticed it, I
don't know of a nation that's getting better. Do you? Can you
point to any nation and say, you know what? That is such a
great nation. And they are so godly. And the
way they behave themselves is so righteous. And how they bow
down and acknowledge the Creator. I don't know of a nation in the
world like that. I do know this. And when folks try to overthrow
God, God eventually runs out of patience and overthrows them. God can't be treated the way
this nation has treated Him. And the reason we have treated
God that way and the reason we do as a nation is because gradually
the breakup of the family, respect for God has gone out of the window.
By the way, why does a family break up? Because somebody breaks
God's commandments. If you're married, you're not
supposed to be messing around with somebody else. Be dedicated
and consecrated and separated to the person you married. That's
what God says. So we talked about family last
week. We didn't talk about it enough. I'm going to talk about
it more. Because this church will never be a strong church
until we have solid families. Solid families. That's what we're
doing here. Twenty-five years ago at Grace Centers of Hope,
everybody was shacking. And people laughed at Pam and
I when we talked about marriage. I've seen a real turn here. People
falling in love and getting married and committing to one another.
That's right. Getting married and staying married. Every couple that gets married,
Here at Grace Gospel Fellowship, you need this church more than
you ever needed it before. Every married couple needs this
church. I'm talking about that comes
here. You're married. You need this church. Because
you need backup. Because you're not going to be
on your honeymoon forever. The day will come when the honeymoon's
over. When the hair begins to fall
out and the teeth come out and the underwear is left on the
floor and the socks aren't putting the hamper in. And she has emotional
needs and you don't have a clue. You need backup. You need the
church. We'll find out this morning.
You need pastors. You need elders. You need coaching. Let's talk about the church a
little bit. Darren read from Matthew 16 today. He read about
the Lord starting His church. And I want to tell you, my friend,
again, the Lord did this for His people. The church is so
important to God's people. The Lord loves His people. That's
why He says, now you two get married. You don't have sex with
anybody else. You raise your children in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord, and you love one another
and stay faithful to one another come hell or high water. And,
just so you know, both of you are sinners who have been saved
by the grace of God. Don't think that either one of
you don't have any warts, because you do. That's what God says.
And I know there's warts. And you have to make a covenant
agreement that you're going to be faithful to one another. And
God says, stay together. How many of you have bought a
used car in your lifetime? How many have had your used car
break down? What makes you think you get
another woman, another man, that things are going to be different? Same old, same old. And why do
you think you getting a new car wouldn't make any difference
anyway? You're the same old you. As if you had no part in the
mess-up. Amen? Alright, I've quit preaching
and gone to meddling now. I want you to go to Ephesians
3. Jesus said, Upon this rock I'll build my church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He established His
church for the good of His people. Church is good. His church. Ephesians chapter 3. Verse 14,
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to
be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.
That's so important. That you be strengthened. Any
Christians in here need strength? Lord, give me strength. Lord,
he's getting on my nerves. Give me strength. Strength in the inner man. Couples
need strength in the inner man. You know where you need strength?
In the inner man. I tell you, if the inner man
is not stronger than the outer man, you're going to have some
problems. See, husbands and wives ought
to pray for one another. And they ought to pray together.
Pray this way, God strengthen my husband in the inner man. You know, if he's strong in the
inner man, he'll be a better husband. Do you know that? You
want a good husband? Have a spiritual husband, one
that's strengthened in the inner man. I know that's true. And the same for the wife. Otherwise,
you get very critical of one another because you know why?
You're not fulfilling one another's needs. In fact, you don't even
know one another's needs. That's why you need enlightenment. That's why you need the Holy
Spirit. That's why you need strength in the inner man. That's why
you need to be a spiritual person. Because life together is spiritual. You can't make it. 58% now of the people who get
married in America don't make it. It's always amazing to me,
people go, especially when these movie stars get married and then
they don't see each other for a year. And the next thing you
know, Mr. Hollywood is having an affair
with his leading woman. You know what the Bible says
that Christian people are to do when they get married? Dwell
together. Dwell together. That means shack.
That means live together. Dwell together. And study each
other. And pray for each other. Verse
16. that He would grant you, according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ
which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God." Anybody come close? Filled with the fullness
of God. You want to have a great, great
marriage? Let two people be filled with
the fullness of God. How am I talking today? I came determined today to take
this microphone and beat you over the head until you wake
up and you really think about it. We are in the last days. We're in a mess. And I don't
want you to go away from here and just forget what has been
said here today. Be filled with the fullness of
God. Look at verse 20. Now unto him that is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according
to the power that worketh in us. There's a power that works
in us. Now, verse 21. Unto him be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Unto him be glory in the church.
That's what ought to happen this morning. I just want you to think
about why the church? Why is marriage and the church
the building block of a solid society? And then, you know,
over and against that, you can think a little bit, okay, it
doesn't look like the government is really being successful. My welfare check and my food
stamps and all of that have really not stopped me from using. Well, even more than that. You
know, even though I can kind of count on that welfare check,
I really don't have any peace. I live in turmoil every day.
Life sucks. So the government isn't getting
it. I'm telling you this, to every sad, lonely, and desperate,
and unhappy person in here, I'm saying this, there is a way. If you do it God's way, life
will get better. And these two areas are so important. The family and the church. Government won't cut it. I hope
that you become a believer. If you are a third generation
welfare person in here, I hope that you will contemplate. My
grandmother was a welfare person. My mother and father were welfare
people. And now I'm a welfare person.
They were miserable. Grandpa cheated and messed up.
Dad left mom. You know, on and on and on and
on it goes. I want to tell you this. Mr.
Romney doesn't have the answers. Mr. Obama doesn't have the answers.
God has the answers. I just want to make that real
clear. The church. This is the second
of God's building blocks for a solid life and for the good
of society. Some of you are always saying
going to church Well, no more make you a Christian than walking
in your garage makes you an automobile. You don't believe a person has
to go to church to go to heaven. Almost. If God started His church
and you're a Christian, why wouldn't you want to be in it? If the Lord Jesus Christ has
an assembly here on earth, why don't you want to come and be
a part? Why don't you want to join up
and be a member of His church? Why wouldn't you want to be edified
and have backup and be involved? I think there's something desperately
wrong with somebody who doesn't want to come to the house of
God, be in the presence of God, and hear the Word of God concerning
the Son of God. I think there's something wrong.
I don't have that kind of salvation. I look forward to Sunday mornings
and Wednesday evenings more than any other day of the week. Because I get to be with you.
We get to talk. We get to hug. We get to cry.
I tell you, over Steve's leaving, my heart is bleeding. I'm thinking
about that boy. I'm thinking about that boy.
I mean, I sat right there and saw he's missing. I couldn't
sit there. I had to find out, where is he? That's what ought to happen.
Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. We're going
to talk about that. But what is the church? Is it some kind
of magical, religious organization? What is the church? All the word
church means is assembly. You know, we have the Kiwanis
assembly. On Thursday, I have the Bloomfield Hills Rotary Club
assembly. Ecclesia. It's just assembly.
That's all. You know, when you say church,
religious people... We get all churchy. You go to
a Kiwanis club or a Rotary club and they have their little clichés.
Same thing when you go to an assembly called a church. In
fact, it's a lot easier to get in most churches than it is Rotary
clubs. It really is. The church is a
gathering. You know God is for gatherings?
The church is community. That's what it is. The church
is the body of Christ, the Scripture says. And you know, if you're a member of the church
and you're not here, You're like the little finger who says, you
know what? I'm not going to go with the rest of the body today.
Am I right about that? Let me tell you this. Don't take
the classes if you don't mean business. Don't join up here. I'd rather have 28 people who
mean business, who know the Lord, than 128 who don't. That 128 who don't mean business,
come on, we'll let you hobo your way to heaven. You can eat our
food. Drink our water, and we'll be nice to you. But don't join
this church unless you want to be part of the body. Because
you're dead weight. We have to pull, push, and take
a step. No, no, no. Just don't put your
name on the church roll. You know the truth is, any pastor
who has 25 church members, you've got more than you can handle.
Because counting 25 church members and yourself, that's 26. It's hard to pastor people. It's a
job to pastor people. Now, Sunday morning stuff, that's
easy. Several years ago, I mentioned
somebody had relapsed from the pulpit, and the person came back
and said, I'm firing you. You're no longer my pastor. And
I said, you can't fire me. I quit. Just remember this. The church
is an assembly. That's all it is. It's an assembly.
But if we ask the question, well, who's its founder? Oh, Jesus
Christ. Oh, now we've got something different going. You know, we've
got Bill in the big book. We've got the founder of Rotary
and the founder of Kiwanis. Now we have the founder of this
assembly called the church in King James language, but Ekklesia,
assembly. Now, Jesus Christ is the founder
of His own church. Jesus said in John 16, I'm going
to build my church. This is a church of Jesus Christ.
What we mean by that, in this church, Christ is all. In His
church, He's the main guy. And you see, if baptism is the
main thing to you, or speaking in tongues is the main thing
to you, or prophesying is the main thing to you, Or prosperity
is the main thing? I can recommend you some assemblies,
but you're in the wrong place. In this place, Christ is A-double-L. He's the founder. He's the Founder. We don't want to talk about anything
else besides Christ. He is the Lord. He's the Savior.
He's the Bread of Heaven. He's the Water of Life. He's
the Alpha. He's the Omega. He's the Beginning. He's the
End. He's the Rose of Sharon. He's the Lily of the Valley.
He's the Fairest of Ten Thousand. His name is Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father. He's the
Founder. And the Apostle Paul said this
to the church at Corinth. You folks are acting crazy. I've
engaged you to Jesus Christ. And now you're being unfaithful
to Jesus Christ. Some are saying, I'm a Paul.
I'm of Apollos. I follow Peter. You know, that
sort of thing. The Apostle said, Did one of
those guys die for you? We're followers of Jesus Christ. We are the assembly of Jesus
Christ. That's why, you know, people
say, if you've heard Clark, you've heard him. He just preaches Christ,
Christ, grace, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. I'm so tired
of hearing about Christ. Isn't there more than Christ?
No! The Apostle said, all of you
Christians at Corinth, you ought to be single-minded. You shouldn't be looking at some
other church, some other organization, some other way of being saved.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. That's
the way you look. If you're going to go church
hunting and you're a child of God, find you one that hammers
Christ. It's really that simple. Now who are the members of this
church that Jesus started? Well, they're guys like Simon
Peter. What a loud mouth! Always, they'll
all forsake you. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. Always going to defend the Lord. Drew his sword and cut
off this guy's ear when they came to arrest Christ. Christ
had to go to all the trouble, pick up the ear and put it back
on. Told Simon, put up your sword. We got some like that. There's
some Simon Peters who are members of this church. They're always
going to do something for Jesus. Thomas, bipolar, always depressed. I'm talking
about the membership of the Lord's church. I'm not going to church. He's
dead. Except I put my hand in his side
and in his hands. I won't believe. Yeah, manic
depressive. Philip had trouble with the Trinity. He said to Jesus, show us the
Father. Jesus said, have I been so long with you? If you've seen
me, you've seen the Father. I am God. And what about that woman that
was taken in adultery? I'm talking about the membership
of Jesus' church. Surely we don't have anybody
that's committed adultery here. What about Ananias and Sapphira?
You know, they sold a piece of land and lied to the Holy Spirit
and God had to kill them both. They died in church. Might have
a few liars in here and non-tithers too. And the church at Corinth, they
met to take the Lord's Supper, and they all got drunk. Man, the Lord has a wonderful
group of people, doesn't He? What about those ignorant fishermen?
All I'm trying to do is show you this. The church, what is
the church? Well, it's made up of a bunch
of mess-ups. All of us mess-ups, we get together
every once in a while, hopefully consistently on Sunday mornings
and Wednesday evenings. And what we do is we put our
eyes upon Jesus and say, praise the Lord. That's what we do. What is the purpose of this church?
To give God glory. That's the purpose. Give Him
glory. Give Him all the glory and all the praise and all the
honor. The church is for the good of God's family, and I've
already touched on this. The purpose is to give God glory,
and it's for the good of God's family. You know, I'm not angry
when someone is not here simply because their seat is empty.
In fact, I don't get angry when people don't attend who are members.
I get concerned. Because Sunday morning, 9 o'clock
and 11 o'clock is for your good. Don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together and so much more as you see things getting
worse. You get up one morning and you
know somebody's run off or something's happened bad that week. You go,
I just can't go to church today. That's where you ought to go.
You need help. You need us. You know where all the blood
rushes? It's when a place is cut, something happens to the
body, the blood rushes there. And that great army goes to work
to heal, heal, heal, heal. So, you know what? If you used
last night, make sure you're at church on Sunday morning.
You need us. When you fall down, you get up.
When somebody hurts you, come to God's house. The devil gets
you to stay home and sulk and hurt It's not good for you to be by
yourself. Because there's just you there. And you know what
a mess you are. Let me tell you this too. The
Lord has His church not only to give Him glory for the good
of the membership, for the good of His people, but to go after
other elect. When this service is over, we're
to go out there hunting. Every Christian who's a member
of this church ought to be a hunter. Who are you hunting for? I'm
hunting for God's elect. I'm enduring all things. That
story that Darren told, there's two little girls, Lori and Nancy,
ran their father's liquor store, party store. And I went in there
just one time, and those two sisters were there, and they
were about 17 years old. And they were so friendly with
me. They sold pizza there, by the way. Pizza by the slice. But the first time I went in
there, they were so nice to me and so friendly. They were Chaldean
Catholics. We just hit it off. And so I
kept going in, kept going. I went in there for three or
four years. It really makes me glad that Amber noticed that.
I just kept going in there. And every time I went in there
after a few times in there, they'd go, you with the FBI? I said, I can't tell you everything. But I work for somebody who's
about as high as you can go. I fed them that for years. So finally I told them I'm a
pastor. And they attended church and still get to see them every
once in a while. Sheep hunting. You know, somebody
out there needs to hear your testimony. You think you're the
only one that has hurt through life? You think you're the only
one that's been sexually abused? You think you're the only one
your father deserted you? Do you think you are the only
one? You are not unique. And somebody
loved you. And somebody cared for you enough
to bring the gospel to you. You need to take it to somebody
else. You do indeed. Do you know that this church
is good for the stability of the world? Do you know that when
Don got sick, we had a better world? Because he was a sorry,
no good rascal. That's right. When somebody gets
saved, we got a better world. Because Don keeps messing up.
But greater is he that's in Don than he that's in the world. You know, our God's bigger than
heroin. Our God's bigger than crack.
You'll never be the same. Yeah. Better world. Like I said, don't
put your name on the church roll if you're not going to attend
church. Just hobo your way. You ever been around somebody
that goes, you go out to dinner with them and they go, you know
what? I forgot. I left my wallet at home. That's the way everybody is who
comes and eats our gospel food and drinks our living water here
and won't get involved. That's the way you are a hobo,
maybe, on your way to heaven. I'd make a good sermon. Hobos
on their way to heaven. How does it function? It calls
its members to remember. Don't forget. How do we call
the members to remember? by the Lord's table. I keep reminding
you, remember, He died in your room, stand in place. Remember,
don't forget, we observe the ordinance, baptism in the Lord's
Supper. And in a way, we observe the washing of feet. The washing
of feet is just servanthood. We serve one another. Listen,
if you're not serving somebody, you're not very happy. You've
got to help somebody. How is it governed? First of
all, the church is governed by this, the Bible. We're governed
by the Holy Spirit who indwells our services. And then this one. Listen to this. Now, remember
this. You have imperfect elders. But here's what Hebrews 13, 17
says. Obey them that have the rule
over you, for they watch for your souls. Obey. That's right. God gives His elders
discernment. And when you miss church, I can
tell by your facial expressions. You have that look. Obey them that have the rule
over you. Let me tell you, if I come to you and say, I need
to see you, You need to make sure you get to me. Because I'm
not just talking. I feel something. I sense something. That's what elders do. They get
involved deep into the mix of daily life. And they shepherd
their flock. And they watch for your soul.
Doesn't mean they're perfect. But when an elder says something
to you in warning or exhortation, you need to listen. When you
become a member of Grace Gospel Fellowship, you come under the
authority of this church. And that means
if you're out getting drunk, we come to you and we say, you
either stop it or we're going to put you out. I said, well, how horrible is
that? No, that's Bible. You shouldn't be getting drunk.
You're a child of God. That's all self-centeredness.
You came into the local church. You willingly put yourself under
the authority of this church. You have no right to come here
to hear what you already believe. You come here to hear the Word
of God. and to listen and to be open to the Word of God as
the man of God preaches the Word of God. If you're a rebel still,
don't take the classes. And if you don't believe what
this church believes, don't join up, why would you? I'm just shooting straight today.
The only hope of America In the hope of Pontiac, I had a judge
here in Oakland County call me this week and he said, you know
I have a TV program. I'd like for you to come and
speak and be my guest on my TV program. But I'd like for you
to talk about church and state. Isn't that something? A judge. I said, well what are you talking
about Pastor? People are talking about this
church turning this city upside down. People are talking about
that. People who don't know the Lord are talking about that.
Things are happening through this church that you wouldn't
believe. I'm going to tell you, I've prayed
for nearly 50 years. Lord, put me somewhere where
there's a church that gives hell more trouble than hell gives
us. Send a church that's not on the
defense but on the offense, that's carrying the ball. Lord, I want to pastor a dangerous
church. A dangerous church. I just want
you to think about it. Those of you who are living on
the outer fringes, Maybe you don't have relationship in marriage
or you don't have a sweetheart. You know, God is for you having
a sweetheart. God ordained that. I understand
all of you who are single. You say, Pastor, I'm lonely.
I understand that. You know what I pray? I pray
that God will send every man and every woman who's a part
of this church a sweetheart. Sit here under the Gospel. Say,
well, I've already blown that. No, you haven't. No, you haven't. It's not too late. In Christ,
you can have those things. This sounds so crazy for me to
say this. After 50 years of preaching,
it sounds crazy for me to say this. Church members must be
involved. I mean, that sounds insane for
me to say that. But this is important. You know,
I haven't been to a Rotary meeting in almost a year because I'm
busy. They ought to throw me out, but
I paid the dues. This church is a different thing.
You ought to know what's going on here. Every member of this
church ought to know who the Campbellsville folks were. That's
right. You ought to some way touch base
with them. I'm a member of this church.
We're so glad to have you here. Thank you for being here. You
ought to know what's going on over at Grace Centers of Hope
because you're a member of the Mother Church. That's your baby
over there. You ought to know one another.
Did you hear Darren talk about having dinner here? Listen, on
Wednesday evenings, I don't need another dinner. I'm trying to
lose weight too, but all-time high, 240. All-time high. Don't
praise the Lord. You know what that dinner's about?
So you get to know one another. I guarantee you, half the people
on this side don't know the people on this side. I was so embarrassed
a few Sundays ago, I said, I am so glad to have you here. And
that person said, I've been coming for six months. We got to find
out some way to get to know one another. That makes life so much
better, doesn't it?