to the book of Romans, chapter
15. I have been proclaiming the gospel
since 1963. That's a mighty long time. I'm very much aware that, humanly
speaking, I'm getting down to the wire. Very much aware of
that. I'm also very much aware that
the vision God has given to me has not as yet come to pass. I'm positive that it will in
my lifetime. I've been asking God for another
good ten years. Now that, probably to you young
folks, that seems like a mighty long time, but I'll be 75 in
ten years. It goes by very, very quick. I have things happening to my
body that's never happened before. And I see I have several witnesses. that things are happening to
you as well. I thought about whether I should mention this,
and oftentimes I don't mention this, but because I want 10 good
years, healthy years, I would just ask that you pray with me
about my headaches, continual headaches and face aches, actually, down into this side of my face. face. I don't know what that
is but it's with me every day now. So I just ask you to pray about
that. God is able and He can deliver
from that and either by means or sovereignly by just simply
telling it to go away. So many things that are yet to
be accomplished. Last, yesterday actually, I was
down in the hood. I love the hood. I truly love
the hood. I was, I got lost in the hood
yesterday and I just, I know it seems strange
maybe to you, but I was thanking God for giving me a love for
the hood and for the knowledge of knowing that the hood can
become a neighborhood. through the power of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. I was at the Detroit Bible Institute,
their third annual commencement at Evangel Ministries there in
Detroit. And they graduated 25 young people
from the Detroit Bible Institute. It was such an honor to be there
in that church that will seat about 900 sitting right in the
middle of mess. And to have a tremendous crowd,
tremendous praise and worship group there at Evangel, a great
pastor, Pastor Brooks. And my spirit was renewed. Several things have happened
to me here lately that I feel is God sending messages to me. You know, He does that providentially. One, while we were in Danville,
my sister gave me a book called, basically, Keeping the Main Thing
the Main Thing. You know, that's a hard job.
That's a hard job. Because everybody and their brother
has a different plan, a different idea, how to grow a church. The truth is, I can't grow a
church, but God can grow a church. God is in the church growing
business. The Apostle Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I'm determined. He had to be determined. And
it's very hard for all of us to keep the main thing, the main
thing in our life. The main thing is the gospel
of Christ, the glory of God. That's why you're alive, to give
God glory. Not to gain houses and lands
and silver and gold and so forth and so on, but to give God glory.
He saved you for His glory. Is that why you live every day? That's why you should live every
day, to give Him glory, to give Him praise. And in that you find
fulfillment. As you give Him glory and become
a servant like He's a servant, you serve other people, you find
life fulfilled. Many in this auditorium are disappointed
with life because you haven't learned the secret. First of
all, you get converted. Christ becomes everything to
you. And whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, you do
to the glory of God. Amen. So Donna gave me that book, Keeping
the Main Thing the Main Thing, which is the gospel of Jesus
Christ. I know you don't know to the
extent that I know. I've been in this 40 some years. I've been to all kinds of seminaries
and seminars about building a church. And I've come to the conclusion
that all of those things are dumb. That the only way to build
a church is preach the gospel. The only way people's lives are
going to be changed is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The only way to turn a hood into
a neighborhood is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Drive
down Seneca Street, you see a transformation going on there. The city has come to us and asked
for our help. The business people in this city
asked us to partner with them, even going to put their name
and our name together. That is an absolute miracle.
But I want to tell you, I want to tell you, we have been here
25 years and we have stayed the course. The course is Christ
is the answer. Christ is the answer. If any
man be in Christ, he's a new creature. He's a better citizen.
He becomes a taxpayer. He pays his bills. He works for
a living. He has joy in his heart. He wants
to serve other people. That's a Christian. Many of you
are absolutely wrong in wanting to leave this city. If you're
a child of God, stay put. Change the city. Let me say that one more time.
You are absolutely wrong in wanting to leave the city. I've seen churches do that all
my life. The neighborhood gets bad, they
take off. You don't take off, you change the neighborhood through
the power of the gospel. First Baptist Church of Highland
Park in Birmingham. You're the first Baptist of Pontiac
in Birmingham? What are you doing in Birmingham? Are you following me here? Do
you believe in the power of the gospel? Do you believe that God
is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask to think? And then mysteriously, I got
this magazine. I don't know who sent it to me.
I don't know how I got it. It's called Outreach. I took
it with me on the Danville trip and I was reading it. And there's
an article in there called Starting Over. And this is a pastor who
wrote this article and he pastors Cornerstone Church. I don't know
exactly where that is. Cornerstone Community Church.
And he said this, I keep coming back to the truth that we need
to be planting churches of boldness. Churches of boldness. Churches
that boldly trust in the power of the Holy Spirit. Boldly foster
authentic 24-7 community. and churches that pray boldly. Most of us pray this way. Lord,
save somebody one of these days somewhere in this world. That isn't praying. Praying is
this. Johnny, my friend, is lost and
without you, living at 244 Seneca Street. Holy Spirit, You're his
only hope. Go over there and quicken Him.
Regenerate Him. Give Him life. Born Him again.
If I read only Scripture, what would I believe about the Holy
Spirit? At a recent elder meeting, we read Acts 4.13. When they
saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they
were common men, ordinary guys, They were astonished and knew
that they had been with Jesus. That's what I'm talking about.
A boldness where people say, He's been with Jesus. She's been
with Jesus. That's what will turn this city
upside down. They've been with, not you mouthing
words, not you pigeonholing somebody, getting them in the corner, And
talking to them, you don't want to go to hell, do you? Well,
who wants to go to hell? Shut up. Quit talking. Let people see Jesus in you. Let people want what you have.
Don't try to sell people verbally on Christianity. Somebody that's
around you, ought to be wanting to have what you have because
of your joy, because of your peace, because you know you've
been forgiven, because you know where you came from, you know
what you're doing here, and you know where you're going. People
want what you have. At Cornerstone, we're trying
to restructure our church, putting leadership back in the hands
of lay people. and getting them to reach their
neighbors, disciple and counsel the people around them. We've
got lay people doing weddings and marriage counseling. Lord,
this church has more marital problems than all three of the
elders can solve. And all of you folks who are
having marital problems who are a member of this congregation,
you need to get it right. so you can counsel others who
are having problems. You can't pay me to do your job. You don't need to be a paying
church. Paying somebody else to do your
preaching, your witnessing, your testifying. This must be a church
that's alive. You ought to be doing things. And every man in here who has
a Great Mary, We ought to give you the authority to conduct
marriages and counsel people. Well, how come you all are looking
at me that way? No, you've been trained to sit
and put a little money in the plate. That won't cut it. That's
not New Testament Christianity. New Testament Christianity is
being filled with the Holy Spirit and going out into the world.
and becoming a little Christ right in the corner where you
live. It's true. As we're doing this, though I
see that people are just so scared, they have plenty of knowledge,
yet they lack boldness and confidence that the Holy Spirit is really
in them. When you ask them to leave, they
say, I don't know if I could talk to my next door neighbor
about Jesus all by myself. The church as a whole is raising
up some terrified people who just want to leave evangelism
to their pastor. That's not New Testament Christianity.
That's not New Testament Christianity. In the next ten years, there's
going to be tremendous change here. There's going to be change
over at 35 East Huron Street, because I am convinced that the
gospel is the power of God unto salvation. I am convinced that
we've got to get back to narrowing our classes down over there, back to teaching the Word of
God, back to centering on the gospel. God is going to bless
the gospel, not a program. Programs don't work. And this
church is hurting to some degree because we feed this church to
some degree with folks coming out of there. Really, what ought to happen
over there at 35 East Huron Street is the Holy Ghost ought to be
all over that building over there where you hear the Gospel and
you get saved over there. You get saved over there. And
when you come over here, you hear it again from this pulpit
and from these elders. And you begin to grow in grace
and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when the suburbanite comes
in, and we hope hundreds will come, amen. This is not a crack addict church.
This is not a black church, white church, Filipino church. This
is a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a church where
the president of the bank and the pimp sit down together, the
former pimp, and serve the Lord Jesus Christ and honor and glorify
Him. And I know the devil doesn't like that. I know that there
is a war going on. I even sense the battle to shut
up. You know, calm it down. Slow
down. Lose your determination. I'm
going to tell you this. This place will become a ghost
house without the gospel. Without the gospel, eventually,
This place will turn to government for funding. Do you understand almost four
million dollars must come in here? And nobody in this building,
including me, knows where it comes from. It doesn't come from
government. This place is a miracle place
wrought through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We
must never lose sight of that. Back to the gospel! Back to the
gospel! The bloody gospel! The substitutionary
gospel! The sacrifice of Christ gospel! That gospel! Where Christ died
and the sinners stayed in room and took His place! That gospel! Not the how-to gospel. The gospel
that can take a self-righteous Pharisee out of the church, turn
him or her inside out, and say to him or her, look at your ugly
self. You're looking down on all the
addicts, but you yourself are hell-bound. You know, the devil
doesn't care whether you go to hell sitting on the bar stool
singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall, or in the choir loft
singing, Oh, How I Love Jesus. The devil doesn't care. Our churches
are the greatest mission field in this world. Something ought
to happen when we meet on Sunday morning. Somebody ought to get
saved. Somebody ought to repent. Somebody
ought to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody ought
to give Him glory. That's what ought to happen in
this place. I had people run up to me yesterday. and say this to me, thank you,
Pastor, for quoting the old hymns. I thought that most unusual. Thank you for quoting the old
hymns that are filled with gospel truth. I know in many areas I'm outdated. Ms. Pam often says, you need
to give that shirt to the thrift store. It's not in. I'll tell you something, I'm
in, completely in. The Gospel is revelant for today. The Gospel has not changed and
the Gospel has not lost its power. I was on sermon video last night
looking at people's comments about hip-hop, gospel hip-hop. And I was appalled at the self-righteous
views of many in the church. I don't care whether you hip-hop
the gospel, you rock the gospel, or you southern the gospel. The
gospel is the gospel, whether you scream it, quiet, chat it,
talk it, teach it, preach it, yell it, scream it. Okay, I feel
better. We are going to stay hooked up
to the Gospel. My greatest fear is to grieve
the Holy Spirit of God. Do you know how you grieve the
Holy Spirit of God? Do not exalt Jesus Christ. You want the Spirit of God to
put the fire out? You want the Spirit of God to
be quenched? Do not exalt Jesus Christ. When
I call you a worm and say Jesus Christ is the only Savior for
worms, that's a good thing. When I say we are all depraved,
wretched sinners, ungodly, and that God must come to us, that
glorifies Jesus Christ. This is the message of the Bible.
Constantly I'm being pulled. to lead the gospel. I'm going
to go out of here screaming it by the help and grace of God.
I'm going to fight like hell. You know, hell fights. You know
we're at war? This is not a Sunday school picnic
we're going through here. Man, there's mess every day.
I was praying for the men of grace yesterday. And sometimes I pray about them
and sometimes I pray for them. And I was thinking, you know,
humanly speaking, we could be better named the misfits and
the poverty pimp. That's what we could be called.
You ought to listen to the way we talk sometimes. We're so screwed
up. We yell at one another and fuss.
And we get up and sing. The urgent need of the church
is the Holy Spirit. This church needs the Holy Spirit.
Do you know if my poor voice is the only voice you hear today,
you will leave here none the better. Did you know that? You
will leave here none the better. But if in the providence of God,
through my voice, you hear the voice of God, you will leave
here born again. Wouldn't it be a great thing
if somebody heard the voice of God today? In the book of Romans,
I want to read two passages of Scripture to you. Romans 15. Let's read verse 13. Now the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through
the power of the Holy Ghost. Verse 16 says that we are sanctified
by the Holy Ghost. Verse 19 says that through mighty
signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God. The Spirit
of God is not here today. Nothing is going to happen. This
is a hopeless bunch unless God is here. in the person of the
Holy Spirit. Do you really believe that? I
hope you do. I want you to go with me to the
book of Acts now. In the book of Acts, let's just start with
the first chapter and verse 8 of chapter 1. But ye shall receive power after... after... After. Not before, after. This little bunch of ignorant
fishermen are going to turn the world upside down. But you're
not going to turn the world upside down without power. You need
power. You think about, we talk about
here, we're going to turn Pontiac upside down. We're going to fill
Pontiac with our doctrine, as it is said in the book of Acts,
about the first church. They filled Jerusalem with their
doctrine. They didn't want to say, with
the person of Christ. They said doctrine. If you're going to do that, you
need power. Where is power found? In the
Holy Spirit. What is the power of God under
salvation? Then if we're going to have power,
if sinners are going to be converted, we've got to preach the gospel.
Because the Holy Spirit is going to use the gospel. The Holy Spirit
is the one who wrote the Bible. Scriptures were breathed out
by the Holy Ghost. By the Holy Spirit, men of old
were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the author
of the Bible. What is the Bible all about?
Jesus Christ. Old Testament says somebody's
coming. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John says somebody's here. The
Epistles say somebody went away. The Revelation says He's coming
back again as King of kings and Lord of lords. That's what the
Bible is all about. I'm not nearly so much Concerned
about crack recovery. Divorce classes. You already know how to do that. I see the church doing so much,
so many nice things, but there's no power. Because the power is
in the gospel. The gospel. These mega churches,
they do so many nice things. So do the Knights of Columbus.
So does Kiwanis. So does Rotary. But nobody gets
saved. The gospel is the power of God. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
Why? Look what it's done. Look what
it's done. Ken Clark didn't do this. I remember
when five to fifteen people sat here in this dirty, filthy building.
What's happened here? Sixteen thousand dollars a day.
Four million dollars a year budget. But what's happened here? Power. Power. I cannot explain what's
going on here outside of the power of God Almighty. Eight years ago, Pontiac police
raided Pontiac Rescue Mission like it was a den of iniquity.
5 a.m. in the morning, under dark, all
dressed in black, sneaking up on Pontiac Rescue Mission. Moved
the bus stop in front of us to make us look bad. Every time
we'd go for a permit, they turned us down. We couldn't build a
house. We couldn't fix up a house. We
couldn't breathe, except they were against us. And then God
let them be what they wanted to be. And now they're $10 million
in debt. The state has taken over the
city. And now they're reaching out to guess who? A bunch of
former self-righteous Pharisees, pimps and prostitutes who have
been saved by the grace of God. I'm telling you, that takes power.
The power of God. I'll go through the entire book
of Acts, so I've got to keep going. "...Ye shall receive power
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And you shall
be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and
Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the world." Witnesses
unto Me. That's why He saved you, to be
a witness. Jesus is not a fire escape. He's not a fire escape.
He didn't just save you to keep you out of hell. He saved you
to the praise of the glory of His grace and to spread the Word
about Him, to tell folks about Him. Look at Acts chapter 2. The Apostle is preaching in verse
23 and he says, "...Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by wicked
hands and have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up."
That was the message. That was the message. Oh, you
thought you could get rid of Him. You thought you could kill
Him. You did take Him by wicked hands. God used your depravity
to take Him and slay Him to bring about His purpose to save the
elect. God will often use wicked men
to get His purpose fulfilled and done. And God raised Christ
from the dead. Look at verse 47 of chapter 2
of Acts. It says, they continued praising God and having favor
with all the people. And the Lord added to the church
daily, such as should be saved. If you look at verse 41, there
were 3,000 people saved in one service. Isn't that something? That takes some power. Wouldn't
it be a horrible thing if we left here today and no one was
saved? What would that be a testimony to? The Spirit of God is not
in this place. I'm pretty sure we've got some
sinners in here. I've never found a better fishing
hole for sinners. And they're not little ones either.
They're those big ones. Look at chapter 3, a crippled
man. Verse 6, Then Peter said, Silver
and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee in the
name of Jesus of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. Verse 8 says,
"...and he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered with them
into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. And
all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they knew
that it was he which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of
the temple. And they were filled with wonder
and amazement, at that which had happened to him. And it's
not talking about the church people. It's talking about those
outside the church. They saw him and they were amazed. They were amazed. Do you know
why I like hardy board painted bright colors, beautiful colors,
and grass mowed on Seneca Street? I want people to point and be
amazed and say, that's a miracle street. That's a miracle of Almighty
God. I want this church to be a dangerous
church. I want people to be afraid. You
better not get near that church if you don't want to get saved.
Because God's over there. God's in there preaching. God's
in there praying. God's in there singing. I'm telling you, miraculous
things are happening over there. Why Mark Guillory hasn't relapsed
in four years or something. I mean, isn't that good? And
their preacher over there, he hasn't run off with any women
or men. Any more, you have to throw that
in too. You know the world's disappointed at the church. Look
at that mess, a bunch of homosexuals over there in the church, a bunch
of adulterers, a bunch of people that can't stay married over
there, a bunch of fornicating folks over there. I'll tell you,
if I was a lost sinner, I'd go to Joe's Bar, too, before I came
to most churches. I'd go have me a stiff drink.
There needs to be a New Testament church somewhere on the face
of this earth where the power of Almighty God engulfs that
church. And people are amazed why, when
I was growing up, you had to have the sheriff and six deputies
at business meeting night in most Baptist churches. That's
a disgrace to God Almighty. God's people aren't to be fussing
and fighting. They're to be giving Him glory
and telling about the Christ who's able to save poor sinners.
Look at verse 15 of Acts 3. You killed the Prince of Life,
but God hath raised Him from the dead, and we're witnesses,
and you better repent. That's the message. That's where
the power is. There are some of you sitting
in here, your life is a total disaster. A total disaster. Your closet is filled with mess
and secrets. What ought to happen when you
come into Grace Gospel Fellowship and I begin to preach? You ought
to think, I've been reading your mail. I've been in your closet. And because the power of the
Holy Spirit is in here in such power, you fall down on your
face and confess of a truth. The secrets of your heart are
revealed and you confess of a truth. God is in this place and you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and confess Him as Lord and Savior.
That's what ought to happen. And it shouldn't happen next
Sunday and skip eight Sundays. It ought to be happening in here
every Lord's Day. I just suspect we've got some
messed up people here. How sad that lost men and women
come and go in their confusion and mess into the house of God. That's a testimony of condemnation. And that Ichabod is written over
the door of this church, the glory has departed from us. Do you remember this? I have
told you this so many times. The gospel of Jesus Christ is
the gospel of the glory. It's the gospel of the glory.
Nobody ought to be bored in here. No saved person ought to be sitting
there thinking about where you're going to dinner. Your mind shouldn't
be wandering in here today. Your hands ought to be up in
the air. Oh, what a wonder that Jesus found me! Out in the darkness
no light could I see. He put His great arm under, and
wonder of wonders, He saved even me. Alas, and did my Savior bleed,
and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? Oh, at the cross, at the cross!
where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled
away. And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's love? Died He for me who caused His
pain. And when I think that God, His
Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
that on the cross my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to
take away my sin. Oh, my sin not in part, But the
hole is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more. Hallelujah! It is well, it is well with my
soul. That's where we ought to be in
this place. It's the gospel of the glory. People ought to be
saying, glory, glory, glory to God, He saved me. Oh, He saved
me. Something ought to be happening
in this place. I'm tired of preaching the gospel of Paul without the
results of Paul. I'm tired of being a five-point
Calvinist. I'm tired of talking about doctrine. I want to see Jesus manifest
Himself in the lives of men and women, boys and girls. I want
to see Luke become a new creature. I want to see old things pass
away and behold, all things become new. I want our children to know
the Lord Jesus Christ, and that comes through the gospel. And
you got to be determined with me. If it gets out that God's
over here, somebody said, well, you know, well, you know, the
suburbanite, and I know this, I understand this. suburbanite
people afraid to come to Pontiac, then let's change Pontiac. Let's
change Pontiac. Let's make it a safe place. Let's
beautify our building. Let's have a children's program
second to none where our kids are taught the gospel. Let's
have a nursery that's all cleaned up and bright and professional
people taking care of our kids while Church is going on in the
nursery changing diapers to the glory of God. Hallelujah. And
people say, we can go over there. It's safe right around in that
little Perry, Woodward neighborhood. And besides that, they have good
food over there at 210 North Perry. It's gospel bread. It's gospel food. The glory of
God's people will drive over here. The Lord added to the church
daily, such as should be added. We need some bankers added to
this church. Amen. I need to borrow some money.
We need somebody that'll give some of you folks a loan to have
a house. You know, I just suspect there's some saved bankers somewhere.
And I'm weary, too, of us being the cracked church house. We
shouldn't be noted for that. We're noted for the gospel. First,
I was going to name this church the Prince Pauper Church. In
fact, we even had the papers drawn up, the Prince Pauper Church.
25 years, my ideas, my vision hasn't changed. at all. Hasn't
changed at all. Somebody said, you'll never have
a black white church. Look at us. Pastors told me it
can't be done. Say, well, well, is everything
cozy? No, it's a mess here. But you
know what? I got some news for you. First
Baptist in Birmingham is a mess too. Because when you put a bunch
of messed up people in the same building, you've got a mess.
I don't care how you spell it. Amen. Mess. People who need to
be saved, washed in the blood, cleansed by the power of Almighty
God in that fountain. The great necessity of the church
is a continual manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit. If multitudes are to be gathered
to the Lord Jesus, we must have the great paraclete. The reason
you're not comforted is because you've probably put the fire
out. You've quenched the Spirit of God. Do you know He's the
Comforter? Do you need comfort? Have you?
I mean, everybody in here has relapsed. Well, I'm not an addict.
No, but you've relapsed. And you're addicted to something.
Some of you use backer, but you don't use crack. How many of
you know that tobacco is addictive? and the rest of you lying. How
many of you know that legal alcohol is legal? Yeah, it's legal. You
have to buy a license to serve it. How many of you know that
it's a drug? Hallelujah. How many of you from
the suburbanite neighborhood have tranquilizers in your medicine? Don't do it. A bunch of liars. How we pretend and play like
we're better than other folks. Some of you are just as much
an addict as the crack addict in here. Your drug is just legal. So don't be talking about the
crack addict being past redemption. Yes, he is. You know, you can't
get out of church what's not in it. You know, I just don't
feel like I'm getting out of what you're bringing in. Some
of you grasshopper church people just hop from church to church.
What are you bringing in here? It's not about what you're taking
out of here. What are you bringing in? Did you bring the Holy Spirit
with you today? Well, then if you didn't, don't
expect to get anything out of us. You're just a hobo on your
way to heaven, that's all. You're trying to eat our food
and get our stuff over here. Bring some stuff with you. This
is potluck. Do you know that the sinner is
dead in sins and trespasses? Now, let's just say, I've learned
this over many, many years. Man is dead in sins and trespasses. That means he's inactive toward
God. That means if God doesn't come
to him, there's no hope. Are our children going to be
turned around or are they going to children's village? I'll tell
you what's going to happen. Unless the Holy Spirit quickens
them, they have your nature. Can a clean thing come out of
an unclean? Nope. Some of you moms in here,
you have those little babies in you. Oh, precious little angel. Wait until she gets about three
and sticks her tongue out at you, spits on you, tells you
no. You'll soon find out she's just
like you. She got that sinful nature from
you. She must or he must be born again. I'm worried about our
kids here. I'm worried about our kids here. There's a real
devil out there. Some of our children haven't
lived in the same place for over six months, their entire life,
and come in here and we kind of act like they're going to
sprout wings by telling them what they have issues. Anybody
in here have issues? Lord, I have issues. See, I want
you to know this. I am a mess. Just so you know,
I'm not shooting at you. Your pastor is a disaster. The only thing I know for sure
is Jesus saved, keeps and satisfies. I know that. I know that. And
that's why I huddle so close. Often I think to myself, what
a mess. What a mess. I see more mess
than probably anybody in here. I see and hear more mess. I know
you probably think I don't, but I've probably seen more. See
and hear more mess. Sometimes I think my ears are
garbage cans. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning
in mess. And then I have my own mess.
I have my own mess. I watch people come and go here. Come and go. And they go and
then they come back one step below where they were before
they left. And I think, oh God, we need
the Holy Spirit here. We're in a battle for the souls
of men. And we cannot win that battle
without the Spirit of God blessing the gospel. of Jesus Christ. You know what I long for? I watch
this almost every Sunday. As soon as I get through, about
quarter to one, everybody and their sister heads out of here.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What's your rush?
What's the rush here? It looks like some of you are
addicted. If somebody was trying to make their way forward, to
tell me they needed the Savior, they would run smack dab into
you as you exit. Some of you sat in the back so
you can get out. Church isn't over till we say amen. And what if somebody got saved
while you were running out and you didn't even know it? Nothing
happened over there this morning. Oh yeah, five people got saved
while you were going out for a smoke break. I'll tell you
this. The truth is this. Here's the
real truth. The real truth. If the Spirit
of God were here, no Christian would want to go home. I got
tickled yesterday, just before I got up. He said, Pastor, just
so you know, the clock is running back there. and it'll run down. We've set it for 25 minutes and
it'll run down. You know, it'll run down 25 minutes
and it'll come up zero when you're through. I thought to myself,
it won't come up zero when I'm through. That thing was just
ticking, ticking, ticking, ticking. I kept watching that thing, watching
that thing. Finally, my 25 minutes were over and it just went berserk.
It started. And I said to the folks, somebody needs to fix
that clock. It's gone crazy back there. The truth is, in most
of our churches, we have those little menus. And if you're not
out by 12 o'clock, We were down in Danville this past week and
there was some guy in the church there. I hope he doesn't hear
this on tape. My sister said, now, you know,
he has this thing about getting out at 12 o'clock. And I said,
what's his name? So I wrote his name down. So
the first thing I did was let him know he should have brought
his lunch today. You know, this thing of getting out of church
in a hurry says something about us. You ever been somewhere you
didn't want to leave? Why, sometimes you've been watching
a program on TV And dinner was ready. We'll just have to wait
on dinner. I want to see the rest of this
program. We get in God's house? 20 after 12. He's already gone
over 20 minutes. The roast is already burnt. Shouldn't
be that way. Don't put your roast in the oven
when you come over here to church. Because the Holy Spirit might
break out here one of these days. And when you get home, the fire
department will be there. The Holy Spirit must make people
alive. See, I'm preaching today to a
valley of dry bones. Dry bones. And they are very
dry. See, I don't know whether you
nice people in here know this, but we've got some real Far out. Oh, here. Dead. Dead to God. Inactive toward God. Totally
messed up. Even dead to themselves. Hopeless.
Hopeless. No hope. That's why we named
that place over there Grace Centers of Hope. We named this place
Grace Gospel Fellowship. We fellowship around this marvelous,
infinite, matchless grace of God. I really thought about preaching
on Hosea and Gomer today again. Gomer is the type of us in our
sins. God told Hosea to marry a whore. So you'll know how I feel about
my people. They're whorish. They go after
other lovers. They go after other lovers. There's
no good in them. And you know, Gomer, she ran
off three times. Every time she'd have a baby,
she'd run off again. And Hosea said to his servant,
follow her. Make sure that she gets food
when she's hungry, that she gets clothes when she's naked. Take
care of her, and I'll foot the bill. And you remember the end
of that story, and it's the beautiful picture of the grace of God.
Finally, she got old, and she was down on Whore Row in downtown,
in the hood. And the servants said to Hosea,
Hosea, the pimp has her down there on Main Street. pimping
her out. Hosea got on his clothes, went
with the servant downtown. There was the pimp. And in those
days, they put the young, most beautiful harlot girls at the
front. And the pimp began to try to
sell Hosea. Here she is, 18 years old, Mr. Hosea, beautiful young woman. No, no. Well, how about this
25-year-old, beautiful young lady? Went on down, on down,
on down. till they got to this wrinkled
piece of humanity. In her fill, all drawn up and
messed up, Hosea said, I want her. Oh, no, says the pimp. Let's go back up to the front.
No, I want her. How much do you want for her?
I will spend anything for her. I want her. Yeah, but she's ugly,
Hosea. She's old, Hosea. She's wallowed
in the stables of sin, Hosea. Hosea said, I will love her freely. I will love her without a cost.
There is no merit in her. The merit is in me. The heavenly
Hosea has loved us without a cost. That is the glory of the Gospel. If you're here today and maybe
you're thinking, is he saying I don't have to be good enough?
Is he saying that someone like me could be accepted by God? Is He saying that someone like
me could be free from condemnation? Is He saying that I don't have
to be good enough by keeping the commandments because I've
broken them all? Is He saying that God will just
love me without any merit in me? That I don't have to offer
God something? You know, Pastor, I haven't gone
to church for years and years and years. In fact, really, I
don't like church. God's on your side. God doesn't
like most churches either. God loves His people freely.
There is nothing in you that would cause God to love you.
There is nothing in me that would cause God to love me. God wasn't
looking for something in me. God loves us freely, without
a cause. The message of the gospel is
that he loves you before you loved him and that you love him
because he first loved you. The message is when you were
in the cemetery of your sins, he came to your grave. He came
where you were. and did for you what you could
not do for yourself. I want to say this to you. Some
of you here, I have probably met, and you thought it was an
accident to meet new people. Because when I meet new people,
I have a plot. I have a plan. I have a scheme. You see, I'm sheep hunting. I'm
after God's people. Maybe you're here today, and
you just kind of came over. You're not churchy at all. Maybe
you and I met at a fundraiser somewhere. I don't know. But
you're here today. I don't know, something kind
of sparks your interest. Why would you come over to an
inner city church anyway? And here you find yourself in
downtown Pontiac with only two police officers on the streets.
Not a safe place for you, but you came anyway. Isn't that something?
Behind the scenes, there's an almighty God who's moving the
checkers. unbeknownst to you. He has a
plan for you. He brought you here to hear the
gospel today. He brought you here on purpose.
You were predestinated to be here. You thought it was you,
but it wasn't you. It was God. And you've come here
for such an hour. as this. And somehow or another,
as you sat in this service, maybe you've never heard a screaming
preacher. Maybe you've been in formal religion
where everybody was quiet. Everybody had on spooky robes
and spooky Halloween music. You never saw joy in church.
While I was preaching today, Something deep down inside of
you. Something way down deep where nobody's ever been. Where
I have never seen. Your spirit was stirred. You
said, I like it. You haven't got it all figured
out yet. Maybe somebody come with you, you go get out in the
car and they go, you like that screaming mess? And you go like
this, well, yeah. I enjoyed church today. That's
a God thing going on with you. That's a God thing. And I want
to tell you this in closing. He who hath begun a good work
in you, He's going to bring you all the way, all the way. Let's
stand together and praise our God all the way. Don't run into
anybody trying to get saved now.