Ezekiel, chapter 33. I'm going to have you turn to all five or six different portions
of Scripture, and then we'll blail in a psalm. I want you to look at one verse
here in Ezekiel, first of all, my way of introduction. Ezekiel
33, verse 11. God says, through the
prophet, Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God,
I have no pleasure in the death. of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from
his way and live. Turn ye from your evil ways. Why will you die? Why will you die? Now, our generation, like so
many previous generations, or like every previous generation,
has a serious affliction that is directly connected to this
appendage or member called the ear. The scripture says, having
ears, they don't hear. Having ears, they hear not. I
know it's true because I have the same problem still, and much
to my amazement, it used to be much worse than it is. Now, I'm not talking about physical
hearing. I do have that problem, yes,
but I'm talking about hearing with the inner man, really hearing
the word of God. I still have that problem, and
it used to be worse. But by way of example, a man
can stand up here, I myself included, and give the plainest examples
from the scripture. The plainest examples can be
given, and the clearest, most sobering warnings from the scripture,
and people will have their eyes open and their ears apparently
listening. yet go on their merry way after
the message apparently unaffected, unmoved, completely. Especially young people. I still am very young to the
young people. I probably don't appear to be
so, but I know from experience what it is to sit and to listen
and yet not hear. I can stand up here and call
as a young person, I can speak in the plainest of terms, speak
in twentieth-century language so as young people can understand
what I'm saying. I know what is going on in this
party-crazed generation and the grubs and so forth. And I can
give the plainest of examples. to young people and have them
laugh at their own folly. I've done it. I've seen the young
people laugh at their apparent folly that they're going through,
yet continue right in it and not
turn. I remember as a young man, and
I hope as I endeavor to pray, I hope that I can that the Lord
will apply this message to some of the young people. There are
some here, particularly teenagers. But I remember as a young man
being told many, many things, yet refusing to hear them, only
to find out the hard way later on that what I heard was true,
and how I wish I had listened. Young people get tired of hearing
that. get tired of hearing what they
ought to hear. And I remember kicking myself
for not listening in the first place. Kicking myself, thinking,
why didn't I? I heard, you know, if I don't
listen. And sadder still was the fact
that I grew up in a church where the gospel was proclaimed like
it's being proclaimed here, such as some of these young people
are growing up under, Kevin and Paul and Anthony and others,
Shannon. I grew up in a gospel church
hearing the truth, and it's so very rare, so very rare. Most young people in our generation
are being taught nothing, are being instructed not in the gospel,
but in being entertained. But we're endeavoring to preach
the gospel, the truth, so that God might save, so that They
might know the scriptures that make them wise unto salvation. Perhaps that God might save their
eternal soul. But I remember blowing up in
such a situation and hearing the gospel and believing it in
my head. I remember being convinced, becoming
a young Calvinist, and yet it didn't touch me. It didn't move
me. It didn't change me. It didn't
turn me. And I ended up not showing any
interest at all in leaving. But, you know, so many things I didn't
have to go through. So many things I didn't have
to go through. And I hope these young people don't go through
some of the things I did. If I only would have listened.
Listen. Thank God that we finally opened
this old here. He didn't have to. I remember,
at about 21 years old, I brought my girlfriend to church. I was
in the habit of doing that. I'm not pointing to anybody.
That's just what I did. I left home, and I was gone two
or three years, living on my own. A party hound. And I came back, had my fill,
like the prodigal son, you know. Got there in kind of a bad sort
of way and had to call on old mom and dad, you know, bail me
out again like most end up doing. And just came to church to make
them happy. Apparently it pleased mom and
dad to see Junior in church, you know. So I was there. And
I liked to show off my girlfriend, you know. I'd find me a girl
and bring her to church and show her off as my girlfriend. want to change my ways. I wasn't
interested in the gospel. I didn't want to be at church
to hear the word of the living God, and I wasn't interested
in Jesus Christ and salvation, but thank God he was interested
in me. And one day, sitting there just
to make Mom and Dad happy, he opened his ears. I wasn't planning
on it, but I sat up and paid attention
to what I was hearing, and came back Sunday night. I was just
usually a Sunday morning feller. Came back Sunday night, and then
one Wednesday night I showed up, and then from there on out
it was Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, and
then it was on Thursday night Bible class, and then I started
reading the scriptures at home. Started listening to the tapes,
reading every book, and the Lord saved me. I didn't want it, wasn't
looking for it, but he's looking for me. But it starts right here. Now,
let me show you a few Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 2. If you have
a Bible, particularly you young people, I hope you'll look at
this. Proverbs chapter 2. God called this man the wisest
man on the face of the earth, next to the Lord. This man knew
more than anybody will ever know, and he wrote these things down
in a book for our learning and our understanding. Revelation
2, verse 1, Solomon says this, "'My son, if thou wilt receive
my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that you incline
your ear I'd be willing to make me a happy man and some parents
a happy man if young people would just listen. Just for a little
while, just listen. Incline your ear unto wisdom
and plow your hearts to what is being said. Look at Proverbs
4, verse 1. Solomon says, Here, ye children,
instruction of a father. And attend to no understanding. I'm giving you something good,
he said. I give you good doctrine. Would
you listen? Forsake not my law. I was my
father's son. I was a boy just like you. A
girl. I was a young person, too. And my daddy, verse 4, he taught
me. He said to me, he said the same thing. Listen, would you
listen to me? And this applies to older people, too. We need
to listen. Look down at verse 10. He says, Here, O my son, receive
my sayings, and the years of your life shall be many. Verse
20. My son, attend to my words, incline
your ear to my saying. Proverbs 5, verse 1. My son,
attend to my words and bow your ear, bow your ear to my understanding. Look at chapter 7. My son, keep
my words, lay up my commandments with thee." Look at verse 24.
Would you listen up, hearken up unto me now, therefore, tend
to the words of my mouth? Look at Proverbs 8, verse 6. Here, I'll speak excellent things. I've got something good to say
here, an important thing. Would you listen? I'm speaking the truth, verse
7. I'm speaking the truth. I've got no other ulterior motive
here. I'm out there in righteousness.
Look at verse 32, Proverbs 8. Now, therefore, hearken unto
me. Would you listen, children? For blessed are they that keep
my way. Would you hear instruction? Be wise, refuse it not." Now,
we need to stop our ears. from the clamor of this world
and open our ears, how God needs to open our ears, to the word
of the living God. Would you give me your ear for
a moment, young people especially? Would you turn over to Psalm
78, and just for a little while we'll ponder what God Almighty
says, and then you can go do what you want to do. Psalm 78. Look at it here. Verse 1. He says the same thing that he
said to his son. Give ear. Would you give ear,
O my people, to my law and incline your ears to the words of my
mouth? Would you? Would you listen up? This isn't
This isn't a game. We're not playing games here.
I know there's a lot of people playing religious games around,
going through the motions of religion. I hope you young people
think better of us than that, that we're mom and dad and we're
just going to church for the sake of going to church. We're
not playing games here. We're not just being cruel tyrants
and forcing you to come. Not at all, gracious sakes. This
is life and death. Life and death. Life and death. This difference between heaven
and hell, what the things that we want so bad for God to teach
you and us, is the difference between eternal life and being
condemned forever. I know it's so far from us, from
you, that this thing of eternity and life. Young people don't
believe they're going to die. I just don't believe it. Death
is just so far removed from a young person who's so full of life. My 15-year-old brother, I pulled
him out of a basement. He was asphyxiated. My 21-year-old brother, you know,
was killed. But we just don't think it's going to happen to
us. But I wish we'd listen. This
is not a game we're playing here, not at all. If we can get the
sounds, now talk to the young people, if we can get the sounds
of this world, if we can get the sounds of Bon Jovi and whoever
you like, Madonna or whoever it may be, get those sounds,
Paula Abdul or whatever her name is. Get those sounds out of your
head just for a little bit. Just for a little bit. And listen
long enough. Maybe. Just maybe. Who can tell? God doesn't have
to. He doesn't have to, you know.
When I was 17, 18, I was the biggest rebel of the time. God didn't have to save me. If
he'd have given me what I deserved, my soul, I fell off a 60-foot
scaffolding. I landed flat on my back. I was
in several car wrecks with young men that totaled automobiles. He didn't have to spare me. He
didn't have to. If he'd have cut me off at 17
years old, I'd have liquidly split down And I've got just
what I deserve, just what I deserve. Here I am. Would you give ear,
O my people, to my words and incline your ears to the words
of my mouth? Verse 2, I'll open my mouth in prayer. I'm going
to tell you a story, he said. I'm going to tell you a story. I've got a story to tell you,
he said, and it ain't fiction. What we're talking about is not
just some dream. as Karl Marx calls it, the opening
of the masses. This is not some fictitious story,
this is fact. God lives, God reigns. He's got a son, he's named Jesus
Christ, and we're in his hands. We're
in his hands to do with his own people. He says, I'll utter dark sayings
of old. This is an old story. It's an old, old story, we call
it. An old, old story. Mysterious
things, dark sayings from the beginning of time, things that
the smartest people on the face of the earth can't figure out.
Certainly not a whip-stitched teenager who thinks they know
everything there is to know. Old sayings. We read that in
Proverbs 6, 16. It says, ask for the old paths,
where is the good way? Now, new is not always best. Is it, old folks? Joe? You old
folks. New is not always improved. It certainly isn't pertained
to this. New is not always improved. Sometimes
the old-fashioned way is the best. So this is 1990, man. 1990. We're in the computer generation. Who needs this old stuff? We've
got modern technology, and space travel, and scientific breakthroughs,
and medical breakthroughs, and cosmic consciousness, and man,
I've been enlightened, and I just know everything there is to know.
That's what I thought. I thought, man, I know things
that my old folks, that the old man, he don't know. If you think our society is better
and improved, you ask some of these old folks. Violent? Who
better off now than we were forty years ago? My soul. Goodness
gracious. This generation reminds me of
those Athenians of old who spent their time in nothing else but
either hearing or telling of some new thing, you know. Some
new thing. Not knowing or caring about their
old, old story. Got past that. I remember thinking
that very thing, you know. Boy, when I get old enough, when
I graduate from school, I'm going to hit the road. I don't need
that old stuff. Mom and Dad made me grow up under that stuff.
I'm past that. I know better than that. Hit
the road, Jack. Here I am, right back where I
started, trying to learn something now. But Mom and Dad made a lot
more than I gave them credit for. And this old, old story
has a whole lot more to it than I ever thought there was. Back
to the old, old. way, where is the good part?
Verse 3, we heard, verse 3, these are things we heard. Daddy told
me, and I didn't want to hear Daddy. Mama told me, and I didn't
want to hear Mama. We heard it, and now we know. He said we heard and we know.
You know, it's part of the Part of the problem, or what's the word
I'm looking for, part of the burden or the heartache of this
task, standing here and preaching God's Word, is trying to be as
sincere and trying from the heart to convince people. You know,
I get cold and dead and dull and dry, too, and don't necessarily
feel like coming to church, or even certainly don't feel like
preaching, but there's a burden here, and people need to hear
this word, and young people need to hear this, and I've got a
burden for them. I try to come across as being
sincere, not just being a religious entertainer or some kind of preacher,
you know. I try to preach for the sake
of preaching, because I'm a preacher. I'm trying to tell the truth.
Kind of get it across to some people, especially young people.
See in the eyes of some young people, see in their eyes, I
look, it's like looking in a mirror. It's like looking in here, like
looking, seeing Paul Mahan as a 17, 18, 19-year-old boy sitting
back there. All you got to do is get out
of here. It's like looking at me. And I think, and you, some
of you people do it too, too. I wish somebody would grab me
by the hair of the head when I had some hair, and just listen
to me. I'm telling the truth, Your Honor,
folks, older folks. Would you stop? God's got to
stop these wild careers. And this generation we're living
in, I thought mine was bad. I didn't mean to get off on so
many things. I thought my generation was bad. I grew up in the hippie
generation, you know, 60s and 70s, and I was a hippie freak,
you know, movie. I thought we were bad. Man, I'm
telling you, I don't think we've seen anything yet. We hear about
all this devil worship and all this stuff. Kids, I thought I
was ignorant. I thought I was, I mean, I thought
I was smart, but I was just plumb ignorant. They're worse today. David says, I've heard and I've
known. My father told me, verse 3, he
told me, this is not original, you know, kids think that daddy
and mommy just getting on me so they can just say, I know
best now. I know I'm dad. And I know best. And don't you forget it. That's
not the case at all. Oh, my daddy say these things
because they love you. Don't you, mom? Because you love
them. Not because you want to gloat
over them. See, you're just a dumb 16-year-old, aren't you? I'm
48. That's not the purpose at all. It's... I love you. I want you to understand some
things. Would you understand? Not just loitering over me. Just to be heard on you. I want
you to understand some things. I want you to have to bash your
brains out. That's what David said, my daddy
told me. I'm sure glad he did. Thank God for faithful fathers
that have their children in church. Much to their own, much to these
children, their hatred. Verse 4. We will not hide these
things from their children. We will not hide them. We will show to the generation
to come the praises Now, you need to look at this, Deuteronomy
11. Deuteronomy chapter 11. This is for parents. Deuteronomy
11, verse 18. Or, those that would be parents,
husbands and wives, anyone who has the charge of children. Deuteronomy
11, look at verse 18. He says, and keep your place
back there in Psalm 78. He said, lay up these words in
your heart and in your soul and bind them for a sign upon your
hand that there may be a thoughtless between your eyes. Verse 19,
and teach these things your children. What's he talking about? The
gospel. Speak of them when you sit down at the table in the
house, when you walk by the road, whenever you're with your child.
Speak of them. Who can tell? When you lie down, when you put
them to bed, talk about it. When you rise up, talk about
it. See, who can tell you? God has placed these children
in your care. Why? Just so you can enjoy them
as your children? No. They're eternal souls. And humanly speaking, you're
responsible. Well, look back at the text. Daddy told me, he said, and we
ought to tell ours. We ought not to hide these things
from our children. We need to show them. Show them what? Verse
4. Show them the praises of the
Lord. Tell them who God is. Show them
the praises of the Lord and his strength. Tell them that God
is God, and they're in his hands. Tell them that God is the absolute
sovereign ruler, controller, and creator. Evolution is an
absurdity, that God created the world and all things in it. He's
the sustainer and restrainer and constrainer of every particle
of matter in the universe. He's the one. He's the one. No
one, no thing, nobody thinks, moves, or acts apart from God
Almighty. Tell them that. Tell him that. Tell him Satan isn't God. He's
a loser. He's on a chain. What do I worship
him for? He's burned. What do I worship
a loser for? He lives with him. Satan isn't
God. God is God. You're going to match
that guy someday, and you're with him if you worship him.
God is God. He's all-powerful. He's all-wise.
He's everywhere at the same time. He knows where you are. He knows
who you are. He knows what you're thinking
right now. He made you. He controls you. He knows where
you've been, where you're going, what you're thinking. He's God
over you. And He's God over all. He is your God. Yes, a 16-year-old
is your God. And he's to be feared and worshipped. and thanked for
everything you have, and praised. He says, you tell them that,
that the Lord is God, and you tell them about his wonderful
works that he hath done. God has, and I could try so feebly
to explain last Sunday how parents care for children year in and
year out, you know. Gets up early every morning,
even in the dead of summer, while the kid sleeps in bed, you know.
Goes out to earn a living, pay the bills, so that house can
be warm so he can stay warm in bed, so he can have something
to eat, or she can have something to eat, have some new clothes,
the latest fashions. Mama gets up and slays at the
stove, even though she feels bad. Because she loves him, loves
her. But God Almighty does the same
thing for every person in here, every human being. God Almighty
does the same thing. God Almighty gives everything
necessary for life. He gives us the air we breathe,
the water we drink, the sunlight that's necessary for life, food,
raw materials for clothing, metals, woods, everything that we need. Our glorious God is created for
our uses. He's worth praising. Thank you. You young people, Wendy, Kevin,
Anthony, you ever said that? I mean, really, Paul? Thank you, God. Thank you. We ought to. He's given you everything. Don't
be a fool and say, no, God, everything necessary for happiness
and enjoyment, the things that we indulge ourselves in so much,
especially young people, indulge ourselves in physical gratification,
you know, sights and sounds, music, smells, physical sensations,
fleshly pleasures, and so forth. God gives us those things to
enjoy, not to abuse, not to abuse. All of it is for his glory and
for our pleasure. It needs to be praised. It needs
to be praised. But the most wonderful, look
here, the most wonderful thing of all that God is deserving
to be praised for, and you can't understand this unless the Holy
Spirit describes it to you. The most wonderful thing of all
is verse 5, He established a testimony. A testimony in Jacob. A law in Israel. So what's that
talking about? What's testimony? Here it is.
Let me read it to you. Here's the testimony. This is
the record that God has given unto us His Son. God has given
to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He had the
Son, that's life. He didn't have the Son. I'm talking
about an eighteen-year-old. Don't have the Son if you don't
know Jesus Christ. That's not life. I don't know what your accountability
is. I don't even know if there is one. I just know that if you're responsible
enough to sin of your own volition, you're responsible for those
sins. You're responsible for your actions.
God has given a testimony, though. He's given a testimony. A testimony. Paul said, when I came to you,
I came not with excellency of speech. I didn't come up here
to try to impress anybody. I couldn't do it if I wanted
to. I didn't come with excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. He said, I'm determined to know
one thing among you. And where is that if I don't
preach that? Jesus Christ, in Him crucified. And I'm determined
for you young people to know Him. And your parents, I too.
To know this person called Jesus Christ, and His testimony concerns
you, this story, to know Him, to feel Him, to know Him. The gospel is the testimony of
God. I know we get tired of hearing the word, even, gospel, gospel,
gospel, gospel, gospel, gospel. Well, it's sweet to my ears.
There wasn't one then. There is now. Gospel, gospel,
gospel. Some people get tired of hearing,
but the gospel is a testimony of God. God used to speak from
heaven. He used to speak audibly. But
now, in these last days, he's spoken unto us through this story,
through his Son. This is God's testimony, as simply
as I can explain it. You and I, old, young people,
all of us, this God has made us and cared for us, and we've
gone our own way. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We've gone our own way, and we haven't paid any attention
to this God who cares for us, who takes care of us, who bestows
things upon us, who made us, who gives us all things, bestows
these things on us, and we go our own way, go on our merry
way. So we're condemned by God. condemned. Not only do we not
pay attention to God, but we go headlong into sin and iniquity
and evil. The scripture says, our feet
are sweat to shed blood. What are we going to do today,
man? Let's get in trouble. Yeah! And we go our merry way of sin
and not acknowledging God, but sinning against Him. I'll do
anything I want to. Oh, the scripture says, thou
shalt not, thou shalt not. How shall you, I'm God, I'm going
to do what I want to do. So we're under condemnation.
God says, OK, you're going to suffer. We've broken God's law. Broken
God's law. And the scripture says the wages
of sin is death. I'm going to let you go on. You're
seventeen now, you're sixteen, fifteen, whatever. I'm going
to let you live twenty-one, maybe thirty, thirty-five, forty, who
knows? Maybe a full lifetime. Then I'm
going to kill you. And send your eternal son to
hell. Have it your own way. God help us. The wages of sin is death. We're
experiencing those wages. The old folks are getting old.
Everything's going from us, and our faculties and all so forth. The young people don't see it,
but it's coming. It's coming. So one of you young boys might
lose your hair like me. I don't like it. You don't like
it either. It's sin. It's the wages you're going to
suffer. And someday you're going to be
just bent over and just dying and what? Then where? Then who? That's the question. Then what
was important? But God, in mercy, he said, now
these people have rebelled against me and they deserve hell. But
I'm merciful, I'm gracious. And he says, send a son down
here as a man to live a life. that you haven't lived, and I
haven't lived, and you cannot live, to live this life perfectly. And God looked at that young
man, 12 years old, 15, 16, 17-year-old man, young man, 18-year-old boy,
perfect. 18, you think about that, ain't possible. An 18-year-old boy to be without
spotting blemishes. Yes, it is. He was perfect! Oh, God! God said, oh, I like
this young man. I love this young man. And he
grew up. He kept growing up perfect, spotless,
pure, holy, until one day, thirty-three and a half years old, God transferred. They said, okay. I'm well pleased
for your righteousness. And he took that life that that
young man lived, and he said it on some people. I don't know
if it was you. I hope it was you. He said it
on these people and said, now, because of what he did, I'm going
to accept you. I'm pleased with you for Christ's
sake, and took your sin and that rebellion that you rebelled against
God, took it off of you and placed it on him, and sent him to the
cross and killed him, what you were supposed to get. Good against
him, what you were supposed to have. Like I said, I don't know if
he did that for you or not, but that's your only hope. That's
the gospel. That's the testimony. That if what Christ came and
did on this earth to some people, that he did it for you, if he
did it for you, I hope he'll cause you to see it. I hope he'll
show you that he did it for you. Well, look at verse 5 again. I don't know how to wrap this
thing up. It says he established this testimony. Established it.
He wrote it with a pin of iron and a rock, and he said, I'm
talking fifteen-year-olds, twelve-year-olds, if they had the faculties. Calls
upon the name of that Lord. See what they are. See how they're
rebellious, this holy God. See what they are by nature,
whoever it is. Young man, young woman, old person. There's some old people that
haven't done this yet. Calls upon the name of this Lord. Lord,
I'm sorry. Help me! He'll show you Christ. Shall
be saved. Saved from this untoward generation
that's headed into the pit of hell. Saved from that overflowing
scourge of God's wrath when it passes through. It's coming.
Say, I don't see any signs of that. It's coming. If our eyes
and our ears were open right now, we could see signs of it.
You can see signs of the judgment of God against this generation.
AIDS and what have you. Judgment of God against wickedness.
Promiscuous sex and all that. Young people, you get into it,
you might suffer AIDS. It's the judgment of God. Why will you die when God's appointed
this testimony? Well, verse 6, the generation
needs to know The generation to come knows what needs to know.
The children that should be born, we need to declare it to them. We've got a responsibility, parents,
as long as they're under our roof, as long as they're under
our care and our protection. John, we've got a responsibility.
My soul. Right now, while they're in our
care, God's holding us accountable. Yes, He is. Yes, He is. Verse 7, Oh, that they might
sit, sit. This is a prayer you parents
can pray. Oh, that they might sit there
hoping, God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. It might not be as their fathers,
a stubborn generation, rebellious generation. setting up their
heart to right, would to God. You know, there's a way that
seems right to a man, but the way in a young man, a young lady,
is a way that seems right. Everything's right in our own
eyes, isn't it? Even still, old folks, older folks, everything's
right. Christ said, except you be converted
and become as little children. He's not even going to get there.
Little babies willing to listen to learn. That's what he's saying.
There's a way that seems so right to a man, a young man, a young
girl, but the ways thereof, the scriptures clear, the ways thereof,
the ways of death and destruction. You kill your body and you kill
your soul. That's what we're going to reap.
My soul, I don't like to Make people feel uncomfortable. Boy,
if it avails something, eternal. I can make you real uncomfortable
right now with yourself. God, so be it. So be it. Who read that scripture? No, I didn't read that. I didn't
read that. It says, yeah, I did too. Zechariah 33, 11. God takes no
pleasure in the death of the wicked. One time, when we lived in Ashland,
we still had one of the cats we have now, and we had another
cat, and they were two loving little cats. And we really were
crazy about them, and they were so gentle, and they weren't really
tomcats, and we deep tomcatted them. So they just kind of roamed
around, not particularly looking to get in a fight or whatever,
but there was an old cat in our neighborhood. An old black cat.
His jaw, you know, you've seen tomcats that have been in fight
after fight after fight, the jaw about this big and round.
Hell, he was awful, wasn't he? His gowns, he had cuts, his ear
hanging about half down, and he just roamed around looking
for trouble. Roamed around. I'm tougher than
you, man. And he'd come in our yard and
he'd pick on our cats. He'd pick on our cats, our precious
little cats. And, you know, I tried to get
that cat. He was wily. I mean, he wouldn't
have lived as long as he had if he hadn't been a wily, tough
cat. I tried to get that cat. I laid
up traps for him. Tried to kill him. I was going
to kill him at first. I was going to take him and remove
him out of the neighborhood. Put him in a box and gave him
in my car and take him as far as I could and dump him. Get
him out of my hair. Out of my way. I tried everything
to get that old cat and couldn't get it. One day, I was swooping
the back porch and I heard this meow, meow. And I knew what it
was. It was that cat after mine. And
here come my cat through my backyard running by me and here came that
other one, that tomcat after him. He didn't see me. I had
that broom in my hand and I thought I'm going to knock a home run.
And he came by me, and I, what the heck? And he jumped about
that high off the ground, you know, and flew out across the
front yard. And we lived on a busy street.
Flew out across that front yard, and here came a car. He ran into the side of that
car. The car didn't hit him. He ran right in. He ran headlong
into that car. And I thought, finally, I've
got rid of that old cat, finally. And I went over to check on her. I looked at her, and the thing
was laying there writhing on the ground, you know, wasn't dead
yet. And I thought to myself, poor
old cat. Now the thing was nothing but
a nuisance, trouble. It ran headlong into its own
death. Finally, I've gotten rid of this
troublemaker, but I thought... I didn't take any pleasure in
it, you see. He wasn't dead yet, so I took
the shovel and killed him and buried him. And you know, we ain't a whit
better than that old cat. None of us. Particularly some
young buck who's running out in this world just full tilt. I hope God shows mercy to you
someday. It says he takes no pleasure
in the death of the weak. But we're nothing but troublemakers. And he doesn't have to. And one
of the means he's appointed to keep from destroying you is for
you to call on call on him. That's about as clear as I can
make it. Call on him. Ask him. I know it's not popular,
I know it's not cool. Get home in your closet at your
own, by yourself, when nobody can see you, and call on him. Let's pray.