All right. Let's turn in our
Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 4, verse 28. Let him that stole, steal no
more. In the past, you have stolen. Now that you're converted, Steal
no more, rather let him labor, working
with his hands the thing which is good. And let him work for
this reason, that he may have to give to him that needeth."
And then let's go to 2 Thessalonians, one of my favorite passages. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, beginning with verse 10. For even when we were with you,
this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should
he eat. Let me read that one more time.
For even when we were with you, This we commanded you that if
any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some
which walk among you disorderly, working not at all." These are astonishing words.
Paul said, I hear that there are some among you who won't
work at all. But our busy bodies, they're
on Facebook all the time. Now them that are such, we command
and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they
work and eat their own bread. We command that all Christians
work and earn their own living, eat their own bread. I seldom
get on Facebook, but I got on there last night because Dwayne,
I think, had put a message, one of the messages here lately on
Facebook. And so I got on there to listen
to it and make sure he wasn't going to get me put in jail.
And to my amazement, I found all kinds of comments about,
Grace Centers of Hope, Grace Gospel Fellowship. Things like,
just because I'm not living in one of your houses doesn't mean
I can't get my life back. And then someone else wrote something
like this. You are a hundred times better than those lifers
at Grace Centers of Hope. I got on there and I wrote, well,
God bless you. I'm glad you're ten times better
or a hundred times better. But I just want you to know I
am a lifer at Grace Centers of Hope. It's I'm Pastor Clark.
See, I believe serving Christ is a lifelong thing. I don't
believe you're in and out. And I want you to know that Grace
Gospel Fellowship, our church, our message is all about liberty. Grace Centers of Hope is not
a prison For drug addicts, the only people that are going to
heaven are lifers. People who have been saved and
saved for eternity by the grace of God. They are people that God continually
works on and works in, conforming them to the image of His Son.
The freest people in the world are Christian people. I'll give
you a saying of the Master. This is what we proclaim here
at this church and over at Grace Centers. I am come that you might
have life. More abundantly. Abundant life. I want to just speak to those
of you who are Christians. Those of you who are not Christians,
you will hate everything I say. We're not ashamed of the Gospel
here. We are not. And I want to tell you what this
church wants and what Grace Centers of Hope is all about. is proclaiming
the gospel so people can have a life. There is no life outside
Christ. I mean, just read your newspaper.
This has been heavily on my mind. These two young suburbanite kids,
two boys that went to Detroit, thought they were something on
the end of a stick. Suburbanite drug users went to
Detroit and were shot multiple times and killed. or say we're
in places they shouldn't have been. This world is wicked. Men are depraved. Men and women
are depraved. As I get older and study the
Word of God and come to know people more, I've always wondered
what the Apostle Paul meant. And I kind of felt this frustration
when he said in the book of Romans, all the exceeding sinfulness
of sin, all the exceeding sinfulness of sin. This country, this world
has to be burned up. It is just such a wicked, depraved
mess. It's going to have to be purged.
It is so tainted. It is past repair. It is worse
than in the days of the deluge when God sent water. The horse
isn't walking anymore. The horse is galloping. We are
headed toward the end. Everything's a mess. Everything
is a mess. Now, I think probably from what
I have heard, the feedback I've got, it seems that since beginning
this series on Playing Church and Talking Saved, the most opposition
feedback that I have gotten, by the way, in a roundabout way,
I never get it direct. But in a roundabout way, when
I've tried to take taxpayer dollars away from some of you. Now, again,
I'm not talking to you folks who don't know the Lord. I'm
talking to you folks who know the Lord. Because you're the
only one I can reason with. Because the rest of you are unreasonable.
You're depraved. Your mind is totally wicked.
Your heart is wicked. So you don't believe anything
I say. But if you've been regenerated,
born again, enlightened by the Spirit of God, when I take the
Word of God and show you something, the Holy Spirit inside of you
says, Amen. Oh, there's a part of you, your
flesh, won't like it. But the new man likes it. The
new man never, never fights the Word of God. Now, I think I want
to do this. I have a $100 bill because I
know one of the kids Or maybe a few of the kids are going to
get straight A's. I got this inkling since several
have come up to me and said, you know, Pastor, I got straight
A's. What they were doing is putting me on notice. But if
Darren were government, let's say Darren is government. Now,
I know you don't, but I got to play this out. And I trust you
with the $100 bill. All right. Now, Don is a drug
addict. Not right now. All right. Okay. Just checking because I'm
going to get the hundred back in a minute. All right. Don,
now government is about to give my hundred dollars that I have
worked and sweated for to Don, who will not work. Let him have
it. Government. Government is not hesitant. Thank
you, Don. How many of you realize that's
exactly what happens? How many of you? I want to see
your hands. That's exactly what happens in our country. Sixty-one
percent of the American people's budget goes to entitlement dollars. We're $16 trillion in debt. We're
passing out bridge cards and giving away hundreds of dollars
to people who can work and won't. And a few years ago, this is
documented stuff, a few years ago, drug addicts were considered
disabled and were put on disability roles. Even in New Jersey, there's
one account where this alcoholic had his welfare check sent directly
to the liquor store next to his house. And so when he went in,
it was put it on my account. Those are all true stories. I
can feel the burn in here. I can feel the burn. Because you saw what just happened.
You saw what just happened. And I'm a taxpayer. I just say
this from, you know, it kind of kills my incentive to work
hard. When about 50 cents of every dollar I make goes to Washington
and they give it to fools. I work hard for my money. I do
not agree with the President of the United States that we
ought to distribute the wealth. I think this, if you work hard,
you live in the United States of America, you can make some
money. I was thinking about coming over here when I was a kid. This
is the way my dad and my grandparents taught me. I used to spend the
summer with my grandmother in Kylar County, Kentucky. And they
had cattle auctions down there. But for $5, you could buy a calf,
your own calf. And then you'd feed it out of
a bottle every morning. So Tutty, my grandmother, told
me, you know, boy, if you save your money all year, when you
come down in June, if you save $5, we'll buy a calf. And it could be your very own
calf. We'll put it in a barn and feed it all summer long.
And that'll be your calf. You can name it and everything.
You know what? I worked all year long getting
my little allowance and this and that and doing little jobs.
I could not wait until about the 20th of June to take my $5
down to Carlisle County, Kentucky, go to the auction, and buy my
calf. I'll tell you this, and I think
Darren and our instructors over at Grace Centers are always teaching
this. You men, there is no way that you can feel good about
yourself if you don't earn your keep. No wonder you're so down
on yourself. I want you to be up. I want you
to have a good life. I want you to have a little heaven
on the way to heaven. But there is no way you can feel
good about yourself if you're a man, because God has made you. And inside of you, there is this
work ethic. And when that is turned around,
and you're lazy and no good, and not earning your keep, you
don't feel good about yourself. You just, you can't. No man who
is able-bodied ought to be on welfare. There's just no, there
is no excuse for that. There is just no excuse for an
able-bodied man being on welfare. No way. You know what? All right. Thank you. I'm glad some of you
see that and know that. You know, there are people who
attend this congregation, I know, because who feel that this free
money, they call it free money. There's no such thing as free
money. It costs somebody. Really and truly, I said to myself
last night, this is going to make a lot of people mad. And
then I said to myself, you know what? I don't want to make anybody
mad. Not really. I want to help somebody today.
If you're a child of God here and you're using government as
a crutch. You can't be very happy. You
just can't. You've got to be free from the
handouts. In fact, you're not supposed
to have your hand out. You're supposed to be giving
back. You're supposed to be working so you can help somebody else. One of the greatest fears that
I have for this congregation is that we get people off track,
but we don't get them on Christ and they don't become As Darren
says, they don't get out of the bleachers and into the game.
God didn't save you to stay in the bleachers. When He saves
you, He saved you to get in the game. You start giving back.
You start becoming a little Christ. The greatest servant ever lived
was Jesus Christ. Jesus didn't go around with His
hand out. He was a giver. Amen. I hope you see that. Let me just ask you this. Those
of you that have been saved from addiction. I don't mean you never
relapse. I understand all that. I'm just
talking that you have the Spirit of God. I'm not talking to perfect
people. I'm talking to people who've been born again. I'm not
a perfect person. You're not a perfect person.
But you've been quickened by the Spirit of God. Let's just
talk about this a little bit. I want to ask you just this question. Why do you feel that you deserve
an entitlement check. Now I'm only asking, I'm just
asking you who are converted. Why do you feel that you deserve
an entitlement check from the government? Which really doesn't
come from the government. It comes from us who pay our
taxes and then it goes back to you. Why do you think you deserve
an entitlement check? Don't answer out loud. Just think
about it. Think about it. Think about those of you who
have got these entitlement checks. All your life, or most of your
life, you've been using drugs. You've been getting entitlement
checks for years and years and years while you used drugs. Or
if you didn't get entitlement checks, you used your mother
and dad, who had enough money and who just couldn't stand to
see you suffer. And so you went to them with
your pity party, and they enabled you. You know, our kids, the
girls used to say, we're bored. I used to say, Oh, you are? I'll
give you something to do. Sometimes they would say something
like this. Why do you think mom and dad, I would say, should
do that? And they'd go, because you're our parents. We deserve
this because you have us. That's kind of the mentality
of folks. The Bible is very clear that
Christians are to work and earn so they can give back. And the
person who doesn't work doesn't eat. We've got to get back to
that in this country. I just want you to ask yourself
and go home today asking yourself this question, why do I deserve
Pastor Clark's money that he gave to government in the form
of taxes who gave to Don who wouldn't work? Why do you deserve? What makes you think you deserve?
Because you're an American? Why is it that you think that? I can feel the heat. On what basis? What have you
done that is worthy of $340 a month? Or let's just say that I give
Darren, government, $100 and he gives it to one of you ladies
who can work and won't. By the way, just so you know,
old rescue missions were called the workhouse. They were called
the workhouse or the poorhouse. And not only did the men work,
they chopped wood. And clothes were bought in, and
the women worked and sewed clothes. It's historical. But there were
no flophouses in the 1800s. There was only poor houses and
workhouses. And a person who didn't work
was just looked down on. I can remember when my grandparents,
when I was a little boy, were offered cheese, and it came in
a wooden box. And the government was passing
out cheese in the wooden box. Some of you are not that old.
What was that called? Bonetta? Anybody remember? Anyway. My grandmother, I can
remember her distinctly saying to me, I'm not taking that cheese. That's government handouts. There
was a time when there was a basic, especially in the church, a basic
thankfulness and pride about working. We've lost work ethic. Even work ethic has gone out
the window. Let me ask you this too. Has
entitlement or the writing of checks, the reception of checks
solved your problem? Has the welfare check solved
your problem? Are you no longer lonely? Has
it stopped your drug abuse? Has it brought your husband back? Have you got your kids back?
What has money done for you? You say, well, the bridge card
has filled my belly. So you got your belly full. Don't
you have other needs? Aren't there greater needs than
filling the belly? I wonder how many lonely people
there are in here. I wonder how many people there
are on entitlement that get that money, squander it, use it. You know, some of you ladies
who get welfare, you know you spent your money on your nails
and your hair and your cigarettes. Oh, we're getting real today
now. We're just getting real. It wasn't filling your belly.
It was getting your nails done with those sparkly things on
them. You didn't buy your kids school clothes. I just want you to think about
this. It's okay you got your check. What's it done for you?
What's it done for you? That's why government can't fix
social ills. A broken heart government can't
fix. Only Jesus can do that. Only Jesus can do that. The joy,
the emptiness, the peace that you long for, that grand canyon
of needs that you have deep down inside of you. A cold check from
Washington cannot solve those problems. Only Jesus can in the
power of the gospel. That's the truth. It is absolutely
wrong to think that writing checks will end the problems of the
addict or anyone else. The reason money can't solve
your problems is because the lack of money is not your problem.
Let me say that again. The lack of money is not your
problem. You get drunk whether you have
money or not. In fact, your problem goes much deeper than alcohol
or crack cocaine or heroin. It goes much deeper than that.
There's only one physician that can get down to the real problem. You know this is true. You used
to sedate the pain. What pain? I don't know. I don't
know what your pain is. We all sedate pain. with the
false gods. Gods that can't cure us. Gods
that can't help us. Gods that can't solve the problem.
In fact, you know this to be true. Entitlement money may increase
your problems. You know a guaranteed income
definitely produces a reduction in work effort. If you know the
check's coming, you're not going to look for a job. Why do you
need a job? The check's on its way. More
money doesn't bring fathers back to their children. As soon as
you got on welfare, did you run back to your family and start
buying your kids clothes for school and giving your wife that
you deserted? Did you say, you know what, I
need to give my honey and my kids all of this money. I deserted
them and they can't pay the rent and the kids don't have shoes
on their feet, so you know what, I'm going to give it all. Oh
no, you don't. You take it and buy drugs and
sedate the pain because you left your wife. You deserted your
children. So your problem is not solved.
Amen. It's getting quiet in here. Entitlement money has not reduced
your abuse of drugs or alcohol. Entitlement money doesn't make
a more competent mother. When you got your welfare check,
did you just instantaneous become this great mom? who quit using
and just cared for her kids. You say, Pastor, you seem so
intense. You almost seem angry. Let me
tell you a story. I hear stories like this all
the time. A mother, this is several years ago, so you won't know
who she is. A mother told me this story in my office. She'd
just come into the mission. She said this to me, weeping,
Pastor, I've told no one else this. No one in the world knows this. A month before I came to Grace
Centers of Hope, I had a baby. I took the baby home from the
hospital. I went out to get a loaf of bread Some peanut butter,
I think she said. I left the baby in the apartment. I met up with a heroin dealer
and I didn't come back for two weeks. What do you think happened
to the baby? The baby died. You see, I am
intense because I know the devil's plan doesn't work. You must be
born again. It's the only answer. I had a judge come up to me yesterday.
She's going to call you, Darren. She said to me in Rochester,
a judge in Rochester, she said to me, and I've seen this judge
many, many times, but this is the first time she's ever approached
me in this manner. She said to me, You know, I've
been hearing a lot about Grace Centers of Hope. And she said,
you know, the judges are put in such a
predicament. She said, we have these little
two-week things we can sentence people to. We can put them in
there. And she looked right at me and
she said, you know what that is, Pastor. That's nothing but
a sham. She said, if I referred people,
if I sent people over to Grace Centers, can you tell me a little
bit about that? She said, you know, we have jurisdiction
over addicts for two years. I said, well, we have a one-year
in-house and a two-year aftercare, but we'll take two years. We
can work with two years. The judicial system is looking
for an answer. How would you like eight hours
a day to hear stories just like I've told? Judges hear that all
day long. Their ears must feel like garbage
cans. They must go home depressed. Sometimes I sit in court and
listen to case after case Failure after failure after failure after
failure. Some of you have been in drug
treatment 16 times before you come to Grace Centers. In fact,
many people who come to Grace Centers of Hope have been in
all of those places and as we say around here, we do
our work the yard from hell. You know why? Because Grace Centers
is usually the last stop. Because mom and dad will pay
some money to get you in some kind of, you know, government
rehab. And you go in there and they'll
give you some more drugs to get you off drugs. And, you know,
you'll stay a few weeks. Mom and dad will spend $16,000
trying to get you off. And you're no better when you
come out than you were when you went in. Maybe a little more
confused. How am I talking today? Am I
talking all right? You know this is true. The truth is the social welfare
state programs gives you no way out. I'll just say this to you
flat out. There is no way out for you in
government programs. There's no way out. They do not
have the answer. They are not going to help you.
They're going to send you a check and you know that doesn't help
you. Human needs are only answered
by other human beings. God has fixed it that way. Going
to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Bureaucracies
do not solve social ills. That's a big word. Government
does not solve social ills. You know how social ills are
solved? By, let me tell you this. You know what you need? You need
a neighbor to be a neighbor. The truth is we need each other. Washington is a long way off
from Pontiac, Michigan. And sending a cold check down
here does nothing for my heart problems. I've got issues. I've got problems. I'm lonely. I'm sick. I'm scared. I'm depressed. Some of you are not bipolar. You're lonely. You're depressed. I often say to people when they
tell me, you know, I'm bipolar, I go, me too. Sometimes I'm sad. Sometimes I'm glad. Sometimes
I'm up. Sometimes I'm down. Now we come
up with this word, bipolar. You're not bipolar. You need
Jesus. That's right. That's right. You don't need another pill.
You need the gospel. And you can be happy. You know
where you came from, what you're doing here, and where you're
going when you die if you know Jesus Christ. Providing food cures nothing
but hunger. I wonder how many of you had
parents, some of you I know, not everybody in here, but some
of you had parents who bought you everything you wanted, but
gave you no time. You know what I tell to many,
many dads and moms? Junior doesn't want necessarily,
or he wants it, but it's not the basic need. He doesn't necessarily
want polo. He'd like to have a mom and dad. You know, I was thinking this
yesterday, and I think about this a lot, about I want to be
the best papa I can be. And I think about this, I think
about, and I'm sure Darren and Amber would appreciate this,
I could save for their college education, my grandkids, which
to some degree I am doing that, but But right now, when Hayden
comes over, you know what we play? I'm the baby. She's the mommy. And we've got a mouse up in our
attic that leaves evidence that the mouse is in the house. And
she calls it Teenie. She calls the mouse teeny. But
yesterday, she came into the garage, and I heard her screaming,
paw, paw, paw, paw. We got to get that mouse. So yesterday, twice, we went
upstairs into the attic, where she swings open the door suddenly
and sees the evidence and goes, we got to get that mouse. We go down into the basement
where she has a, we have a little closet down there called her
playhouse, her clubhouse. And we play down there. When
she leaves, I'm wore out. But, but, but you know what? We spend time together. We spend time together. I want to ask those of you, instead
of writing on Facebook derogatory things about Grace Centers of
Hope, I want to ask you this. Those of you who have been at
Grace Centers of Hope and Grace Gospel Fellowship, where would
you be if Grace Gospel Fellowship were
not here and Grace Centers of Hope were not here? Where would
you go? Nobody ever asks you to write
a check to Grace Centers of Hope or Grace Gospel Fellowship. Nobody
ever asks you to pay for your dinner, your lunch, your breakfast. It's all paid, not by government,
but by people out there who pay their taxes and then send $5.3
million to Grace Centers of Hope to take care of people they don't
even know. They don't even know you. And then you go out there and
slam Grace Centers of Hope. They're trying to control our
lives. No. I have no desire to control your
life. I desire for you to come to know
Jesus Christ and get off that stinking drug problem you have,
leave the alcohol alone, and get a life. That's all. I just want you to be happy.
That's all. You know, withholding charity,
and this is what angers a lot of people, withholding charity
at times is a good thing. You know, it's a good thing for
a mom and dad to say, no. Isn't that a good thing? The
greatest way you can love your children is through loving discipline. Hayden wouldn't, Hayden wouldn't
eat dinner last night when Amber came to pick her up. So, Amber
said, it was killing me, but Amber said, that's the one good
thing about being her grandpa. Amber said, okay, now when you
go to the softball tournament, you're not getting any ice cream
because you didn't eat your dinner. And you know what? That was good
for Hayden. She's got to learn to eat her
dinner. She needs the nourishment. Not candy all the time. Parents
who give their candy all the time to their kids. Their kids
grow up with rotten teeth, hyper, messed up. You know, withholding
charity is sometimes a good thing. Say, well, you know, my child
is in the pit. It's good to be in the pit sometimes.
You know, some folks have to hit rock bottom. Don't pick them green. I often
say to people, or used to say to people, I don't so much now
because I'm not one-on-one as much as I used to be, but I used
to say to people, go on out there and if you don't die, come on
back. When you're ready, when you're ready. Because you're
not ready yet. You can't help somebody who doesn't
want help. You know, if you're not through
with crack, you need to stay on out there. Because no use
coming in. People come in to Grace Centers
all the time just to get their belly full. Going to make another
run. They have no intentions of quitting.
No intentions at all. It's good when an old raggedy
drug addict comes into the center. Wasted, blistered lips and tongues
and messed up and just comes in and says, I'm through. I'm
through. That's a good thing. Well, let
me tell you real quick. Let me tell you real quick. Just four little things here,
and I'm through. Let me tell you how to have a
life. First of all, come to Jesus. Come right now. Come to Jesus
Christ. How should I come? Dirty, filthy,
knowing you're a sinner? Come to Jesus Christ. Come to
Him just as you are without one plea. Come to Him. Trust Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's number one. Number two, this is what God
has done. So we can have a little heaven
on the way to Him. Number two, get married. You know, God ordained marriage.
God ordained a man and a woman. By the way, a man and a woman
who know Christ. Now, all you believers need to marry another
believer. Don't marry a heathen. Because it'll be tough for you
to live with a heathen if you're a child of God. Don't marry somebody that's heathen.
It won't be long until you'll be heathen too. So, get married. Because everybody in here is
lonely. Everybody in here, there is a natural in you. God has ordained marriage. God
has ordained man and wife. God saw it wasn't good for man
to dwell alone. Get married. Love each other.
Live sacrificially toward each other. There's not a person in
here who is not lonely if you're by yourself. You know, one of
my greatest fears when I was 25, I got to be 25 and not married,
is that I wasn't going to find anybody. I was going to live
my entire life by myself. I didn't want to live by myself.
I wanted a woman. And believe you me, I got a woman. Have some babies. Raise those
children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Find you a church. Get in that church and be a part
of that church and don't miss services and do your part. If it's clean the restrooms or
clean the auditorium or whatever, or serve coffee before service,
get involved in that church. Get in a good neighborhood. There is no place in this world
like right here for you to get in a good neighborhood. Well,
I hear people say this all the time. By the way, we've got about
four families that are homeowners now that we've got to present
keys to here on Sunday. They bought their own house. I hear people say this all the
time. You know what? We're going to buy a house, but
we're out of Pontiac. I mean, that's OK. I mean, it's
a free country, and that's OK. But I'm going to tell you this.
There's not many places you can buy a house for $160 a month
payment. You hear what I said? And a good
house that's appraised for $20,000 that will probably, within five
to 10 years, you know, double in price if things keep going
well and the economy gets better, which I doubt. But anyway. You have a wonderful, listen,
you have wonderful opportunity here to have a life. I mean a
good life. To live the American dream. To
raise your family. To find wholeness in your heart. To find fulfillment. All I'm
saying is this. You've tried government. Now
try God. How about that? You've tried
the welfare check. Now do it God's way. And see
if that emptiness isn't filled. I hope we've reasoned just a
little bit together. I hope I've just caused you,
stimulated you at least to think, if I've made you mad, at least
you have thought about it. And then as you leave here, just
ask yourself, why am I mad? I think he told the truth. Just
face the truth. I'm no better off than when I
started receiving a welfare check. It's the same old me. It's the
same old vicious cycle. It's the same old drugs. It's
the same old alcohol. It's the same old, same old.
I'm still broke. One of the great things this
morning is we're going to have Report Card Sunday. You know,
that's a thrill for me. To see our kids on honor roll.
to see them moving forward. Everyone in here who's had a
horrible life with drugs and that sort of thing, you ought
to be saying, I don't want my kids going there. And I'll tell
you how to assure your kids don't go there. Bring them up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord. Bring them to God's house
and put God first in your own life. Amen. Let's stand together. All right. Hey. I'm in love, you see. Oh, I'm in love. Oh, I'm in love. Oh, I'm in love. Oh, I'm in love. Alright, let's bow our heads
in prayer. Father God in heaven, Father we come before you this
morning in thankfulness and gratefulness that you're a God that could
have just passed us by. That we deserved for you to pass
us by. Out of Your grace and Your mercy,
You've stopped by so many of our cell doors and have set us
free. That You have the keys to death
and hell swinging at Your thigh. And that as we've screamed out,
do not pass us by, Lord. You have come to us and done
for us what we could not do for ourselves. Father, I pray that
those here with us this morning who don't know You, are still
lost and bound up and don't know where they're going or what they're
going to do, that You come to them, Lord, in the power of Your
Spirit to quicken them to life and to give them a peace that
passes all understanding, that they don't have to figure out
everything right now, that they can just rest. be given rest
in Your Gospel, knowing that You're bigger than us, that Your
thoughts are greater than ours, Your ways are greater than ours,
and that we can truly sit back and just trust You. That by faith
we can walk with You And look to You, Lord, to do
what we can't do. Father, I just know that there's
people in here who are struggling with that right now, and I pray
that You give them that faith right now. Be with us, Lord,
as we move forward. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.