Truly many are watching at home.
I just looked at my phone and so many are watching and we're
glad that you're able to do that. This ministry is so important.
Actually, I get calls and letters from all over the country where
people have been with us by means of a computer. In a very unusual a couple of
weeks, you must know that even when I'm away, I'm still your
pastor and still in pastoral mode when I'm away and brings
great sorrow to my heart to hear of tremendous transgressions
being committed and also of young people dying from overdose. We're in a real war. But you know, I'm a competitor.
I believe that we ought to give hell more trouble than hell gives
us. I want you to know today that I'm here. I am not feeling
defeated. In fact, energized. convicted,
strengthened, determined, as some of you will find out, determined
that we will say no to the devil. And things will be done orderly
and properly. Joe read scripture today and
I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now, this
particular passage of scripture from Luke 2. Strange that parents
would be gone for two or three days and suddenly say, where's
Jesus? And then have to turn back around
and go back to where they came from and find him. Although I
can remember, I have four siblings, so there was five of us. I can
remember when we left my youngest brother, we were traveling somewhere
to Kentucky from up here in Michigan and left him at the gas station. And discovered, where's Phil?
And he's back at the gas station. So it does happen, but, You know,
I was thinking about Joseph and Mary, how comfortable they must
have been though in whatever community they had for it to
take them a few days to realize, hey, we've lost Junior. Thinking
maybe he was with auntie or part of the community. I would say
this right off to you. There's nothing more important
than you're being a part of and actively involved in this assembly,
this church, that this is your church, and I'm your pastor,
and you have other elders, people who are leading this congregation,
and you're active about helping to build this community, because
if God ever speaks, he's going to speak through a local church
and a preacher like myself and others who speak here. This week,
well, actually, last night, after I got home, I was thinking about,
you know, about the father's business. I must be about my
father's business and have kind of been saying that to myself.
And you know, the things that I've been telling you now for
almost 40 years as a church is not new to me. I'm going to
read just a few of my notes to you. this morning before we get
directly into, I must be about my father's business. This is
a message I spoke 50 years ago. I have a dream. And this is from Genesis 37,
where Joseph had a dream and he told it to his brothers and
they decided because of his dream, they would kill him. His dream
got him in trouble. I have a dream. This dream has
been my constant companion for nearly 21 years. I used to have
nightmares during my early days of ministry. It was my privilege
to speak across the country in many churches. only to find that
the Spirit of God had departed from them and that truly Ichabod
was written over the door. Many a time I returned to my
third story room when attending seminary, which I rented for
$25 a month, threw myself on the floor and cried out, oh God,
there must be more than this. More than this little ritualistic
exercise. More than our little flat messages
in meetings. More than our dead song service. More than this hapless, dry-eyed
religion. Lord, what is missing? I would cry out. And the answer
was always the same. I am. If God's not here, nothing's
going to happen. The worst form of judgment has
rested on this nation nigh onto a hundred years. It is that judgment
with God's sins on organized religion in which he refuses
to speak. Wouldn't it be something if somebody
today heard from God? Wouldn't that be something, that
if you heard from God, and that's what you ought to expect when
you come to God's house, to hear from God. God refuses to speak. He visits
the land by a period of stony silence, and no matter how earnestly
we preach the gospel and how with a broken heart we labor
under the burden of this ministry, yet our words fall on hardened
ground. Our land lies under the death
of God's silence. This nation as a whole has been
left unto us desolate, a nation left without God, groping in
darkness, a nation left to become the plaything of malignant forces,
demons, a nation left defenseless because of an absentee God. God
has been a stranger in most homes. Divorce is rampant. One out of
three 13-year-olds are having sexual intercourse.
Six out of 10 16-year-olds, the same. You say, well, pastor,
why would that trouble you? Because immorality is just that. God instituted marriage between
a man and a woman. And outside of marriage, sex
is an abomination in the sight of God. It's not right. It will ruin you. It will ruin
your life. Somebody ought to say, Amen. I have a dream of living a few
days when sinners are being converted. Every Sunday, we ought to see
men and women converted to Christ. You ought to come expecting that
somebody will come to know Christ today through the power of the
gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. I said back then, 50
some years ago, nobody much is listening to me. Oh, the absence
of conversion ought to frighten us. The fields are white unto
harvest. Let us stir ourselves and get
hold of God. This was another, some of my
notes 50 years ago to the Brinesville Church. Some of you folks, it
wouldn't make any difference to you if we met here once a
week or once a month. You don't care. Little bolder. My soul, I've got two daughters
lost. I'll tell you this, I will not
permit them to go to hell in a dead, lifeless atmosphere.
I love them too much. How about you? You love your
kids too much to let them go to hell, and therefore you come
to the house of God and bring them to the house of God to hear
the gospel of God, which is the power of God under their salvation. I wrote this, if they go to hell,
I want them not to say, I went to hell under daddy's lifeless
preaching. If they perish, let it be only
so in an atmosphere and climate of the Spirit in the presence
of a pleading preacher and a praying congregation. May it be so of this place. This
is a place where you can bring your children and know they're
going to hear the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. And the only hope that your little
demons, I mean angels, are going to be converted. I'm still saying this. The church's
responsibility is to figure out how to do ministry in a way that
enhances the life of a community. That's what the church is. It's
God's community on earth that you need to be a part of. The
church must reroute itself in the soul of neighborhoods so
that it becomes a neighborhood, not a hood. That's what Seneca
Street was. I used to say we're going to
buy houses on the hood. That was Seneca, code for Seneca
Street. This is the only way to make
redemptive impact on the community. This is parish theology. You
see, the church is the glue that holds the neighborhood together.
The church must not leave the community. Commuter churches
will not work in rebuilding neighborhoods. That's why we're right downtown
in the mess. Changing everything around us. That makes me so happy. You see,
when the devil causes folks to mess up and gets in the life
of people who attend this congregation, I don't get down because I can
see what God has done and is doing. But we need a healthy
reminder, community churches. Somebody said, we have to drive
50 miles to church, that's too far. in every neighborhood, in
every city across this land, there ought to be living vital
churches where people can say this, you know, I can live on
a little food and I can make a little money, but I can't live
without my church. where Jesus Christ is Lord and
Savior and people love me and are caring for me and are praying
for my kids when they're in the hospital. And when me and my
husband are having problems, the pastors there, the elders
there, the people are praying for our marriage. Amen. So what's going on here is very
biblical. On my list 20 years ago was the
obtaining of a building. This is what I said to some of
you. You might've been here when I said this. On my list 21 years
ago was the obtaining of a building to house a strong local church
community. You see, I am not a rescue mission
guy. How many times do I have to say,
I'm not a rescue mission guy. I'm not into rescue missions. I'm into a local church made
up of believers who have been baptized, empowered by the Holy
Spirit, who love one another, who are marrying and having children
and buying houses and changing a city. That's what I'm into.
That's what I'm into. You remember when I made this
statement, we found that building up the street here, it's now
our women and children's shelter. We raised a million forty thousand
quarters in 13 months and paid cash for that building. You see,
God was in that. On September the 11th, This year
we will go to two services on Sunday to accommodate the crowds
to attend. Some of you remember when I was
able to do two services up the street to accommodate our crowds. I soon saw the need for an educational
center. People who come here have no
education, they've been using drugs, they've wrecked their
life, they've wrecked their marriage, all kinds of things happening.
It's important that you have an education. We have an educational
building right next door here to the church where people are
getting their GEDs and going on to college, those sorts of
things. We needed employment places for
our people and we started the four thrift stores. And by the
way, it wasn't Grace Centers that started the thrift stores,
it was Grace Gospel Fellowship that started the thrift stores.
And then we gave the stores to Grace Centers of Hope. Some of
you didn't know that, but you're gonna find out all kinds of things
in the coming months and years. This church is first and foremost. God will use this church to change
this city through the gospel of Jesus Christ. More and more moms began to come
to us and bringing their kids and the courts were so messed
up. They didn't know how to have
places where moms could get their lives back and then at the same
time have their children with them. And so we needed a daycare
where the courts could put the kids who had the mother's children. And you know how God did that.
We got the daycare that we have now, $250,000 paid cash for that. And the very first day we were
in there, we had remodeled that and paid $250,000 for it and
didn't owe one penny. Isn't that something? Because
God is doing something through a local church. I can't tell you how many times
I've talked to the mission board about the need for community
development in downtown Pontiac. This past week, two weeks, Cliff
appeared before the planning and zoning here in Pontiac. The mayor was also there to get
our permit for our new daycare, which we got, by the way, a variance. And we got so much more than
what we had expected up there. Cliff said, I was just appalled.
Not only did every one of them vote to give us the variance
and approve the plans for the daycare, but they talked about
what a vital force Grace Gospel Fellowship was in this city,
changing neighborhoods, lives being reclaimed and restored. I think sometimes we don't really
realize what God is doing. So much happening here. that
we really don't get it, but we're going to do better at getting
the news out. Well, I just wanted to remind
you, nothing's changed here. The message is the same. I think what's got to happen
is We're going to have to tighten
up a little bit, and we're going to do that. We are accountable
and responsible. Do you wanna see people converted?
What about your kids? Some of you have three or four
kids that attend here. They're getting up there, seven,
eight. My granddaughter, Hayden, just turns nine tomorrow, nine
years old tomorrow. You know, I was converted when
I was eight. I came to know Christ at eight years old. I was thinking
about while on vacation and rest. As yet, she has not professed
faith in Christ. So I'm praying, God, go get her.
Bring her to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And then that
little guy, Caleb, who's such a wild thing. Sorry, Caleb, if
you see this. God save him, call him to preach. God's going to speak again. And
we could be, in spite, some of you know some things that others
don't know about what's been going on and you're a little
discouraged. This is a messed up world. You ought to go on vacation sometime.
You will really find out how messed up the world really is.
And you might find out something about yourself too, about how
your flesh is crazy and depraved and sinful. In the coming months,
things will tighten up. You will see the effects of the
tightening up and not in a legalistic way, but in a good way. We are a $10 million business. And I'm telling you, this is
the biggest business in the world. Seeing people come to know Christ
and their lives changed. It really is. Spurgeon said,
life is too short, hell is too real, and eternity is too long
not to live with a relentless passion for God's global mission. I'm concerned about people being
converted every single service when we meet. I'm concerned about
you being excited about being here. I can't wait to get to
God's house. The message is the same whether
Joe's preaching it or Dr. Christopher's preaching it. or
my friend from Cincinnati is preaching it, or Bill Sasse is
preaching it, or one of you lay folks here deliver the Wednesday
night message. The gospel is the gospel, it's
the power of God unto salvation. We may talk different, you may
like different people's delivery, a little different, but it's
not the delivery that's the power of God, it's the gospel which
is the power of God. So, Jesus said, I must be about
my father's business. That was his answer to his mother.
Don't you know? I must be about my father's business. He was only 12 years old. These
are the first recorded words in scripture of Jesus speaking.
I must be about my father's business. Well, you say, pastor, what does
that mean? I thought about, Well, that means let other kids play
Nintendo and read comic books. I've got a world to change. Something
like that. I must be about my father's business. You know, God's into changing
business. I know some of you are discouraged
with yourself. Let me tell you this, you're
not what you used to be before God got a hold of you. Thank
God for that. Oh, I really messed up this week.
Yeah, you may have, but you're not what you were. In fact, before God got a hold
of you, you were so stupid, you didn't even know when you messed
up. I've been thinking a lot. I've
been thinking a lot about you and I, us, our church. I've been into this church stuff
a long time. I've watched churches slowly
die. I've often said, if I ever pastor a church that is slowly
dying, I'm going to blow it up. I'm going to shoot it. I'm going
to take it out of its miserable existence. Because for many,
many years in my young ministry, the only churches I spoke into,
I thought to myself, this is a cemetery. This is a dead place
and when I went back next year, it was getting smaller, not bigger.
There was not more life, there was less life. I'll soon be 74
years old. I've been preaching now for 55
years, December 1963. I hope that adds up, Maryland. That's a mighty long time. I've made about every mistake
a person could make in this God business, and a few people still
come and hear me. They figure one of these days
he's going to get it right and say it right, and I want to be
there when he dies. But I'll tell you this, there's
one mess up I have not made, and that is being satisfied with
the status quo of dead, dry religion. To me, it's get excited or get
out. I'm not gonna go to church where
I don't enjoy it. I'm not going to be there where there's not
a shout, hallelujah, where there's glory to God, where there's an
excitement, where the singing is great and awesome and Jesus
Christ is lifted up and I say this. Some of you've heard me often
say this, I mean, just between us girls, aren't we a mess? We're
a mess, but Jesus is not a mess. He is Lord and Savior. I think every week somebody says
to me, how about retirement, Pastor? You think about retirement,
when are you going to retire? When I'm not able to preach the
gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, I'm going to
quit. And I think what I'll do is, by the way, that means never. And I wrote this last night and
kind of laughed at myself. And when I do, I'm going to go
to Naples. and fish every other day and
play bocce ball with those old 80-year-olds who have no idea
what they're talking about. People ask me every day, are
you about ready to retire, Pastor? And what's going to happen when
you retire? I now ask, why would I retire? How do I retire? from something
that's my everything, my purpose for living. I haven't seen Pontiac turned
upside down yet. I'm waiting for that. I wanna
be a part of turning upside down. I got so excited when Cliff was
telling me about the city hall meeting. Because I remember,
see, when they said to us, no, you're not going to put a women
and children's North Perry, in fact, we're gonna
run you out of town, and they raided the mission. I remember
that. And now here, approximately 15
years later, the mayor makes a 15-minute speech about how
great Grace Gospel Fellowship is, and the majority vote. I'm thankful for our mayor, by
the way. God's calling this church to
turn this city upside down with the gospel. Every day when I drive through
Pontiac and see a house that's on its last legs, I say that
ought not to be. Who can change that? God can.
God can do that. In fact, throughout the Old Testament,
the Bible talks about houses being built and cities being
restored and new streets. It even talks about, and the
children and old folks shall be out on the street. You know,
old folks sitting on the porch in a rocking chair and the kids
playing throughout the community. I have such great stories. This
happened years ago. Some of you may have not heard
me tell this, but there were two volunteers up on ladders
at the birdhouse and they were painting the birdhouse. That's
the yellow house on Seneca. Some of you live in that house.
And it must've been 90 degrees. And I heard the Good Humor truck
coming down the street. And so I stopped where the guys
were volunteering painting, up on the ladders, and I said, hey,
would you guys like, you know, told them who I was, I said,
would you guys like an ice cream? And they said, yes, pastor. And
they started down the ladder. And a little kid came from the
Yakey house, the house that Rich and Pat Yakey bought for us there
on Seneca Street and looked out the door and saw me at the Good
Humor truck and said, pastor's buying, pastor's buying. I spent
$120 on the Good Humor truck. This is how God works. I was
telling Scott Gillespie that story, he was vice president
at the time, and he said to me, if you had a good humor truck,
would you do that every Saturday? I said, well, yeah, I would drive
it. He goes, I'll tell you what, Pepsi's going to give you $10,000,
and every Saturday during the week, Just take your own truck
and ride up and down Seneca Street, the kids will know you're coming.
They gave us 10 grand to buy Good Humor ice cream. And for,
I don't know, two years maybe, we had the Good Humor truck up
and down Seneca Street. Isn't that a great story? Those
are things that literally thrill me. Those are God things. Those are community things. Those
are church things. And those are things that I'm
sure those kids who are now probably 20 years old still remember. The Good Humor truck, which was
red. It was a Chrysler. I want to see an Acts 2 church.
You read Acts 2, it was a prevailing church. It was a prevailing,
a church that was turning the city upside down, biblically
functioning community. The local church empowered by
the spirit of God is the hope of the world. I've said to myself
now forever, what's going to stop these kids from dying of
crack overdose? What's going to stop these kids
from heroin? What's gonna stop? And then every
year there's a new drug. that comes up, the devil's constantly
producing. Jesus said, upon this rock I'll
build my church, my church, a church that's centered on me, a church
that's all about me, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. You know, I'll tell you what's
going to stop the heroin OD, people getting saved and coming
to Christ. It's the only answer. There is no other answer. It's
not going to stop. It's not going to slow down.
You say, well, Pastor, some people who've died came to know Christ.
Yes, but when they died, they went to heaven. Far different. Far different. There's hope for
those of you who are on crack. cocaine or heroin or whatever
drug you're on, or maybe it's pornography and whatever, whatever's
destroyed. Jesus said, I'm come that you
might have life and have it more abundantly. Strong families,
solid church, good marriages, Christ at the heart of it. I wanna ask you this, those of
you who are here and a part of this church. Do you want to do
something important with your one and only life? You only have
one. You'll be surprised, you will
wake up one day and say, in October I'm gonna be 74 years old. How
long do I have left? I don't know. But what are you doing with your
life now? Does it matter? I have said over and over to
the mission board, I am not interested in a program. I'm interested
in a local church. I said this 40 years ago. I'm going to see God raise up
a church that's going to put the rescue mission out of business. And I'll tell you what I meant
by that. People are going to come and get converted. When
they come to know Jesus Christ as the power of God, their lives
are going to change. They're going to get good jobs.
They're going to start working for a living rather than entitlement
dollars from the federal government. They're going to be looking to
God and they're going to become givers. When the offering is
taken, they're gonna give. Because they believe in what
the local church is doing. They believe that God has ordained
them to be givers. The greatest servant ever lived
was Jesus Christ. Let me tell you, if you're not
a servant, you have no idea about abundant life. If you're not
serving people, serving people, if you're not giving back, Where is there a church you can
go to meet with and be the first one there and know someone had
beat you there? It's a little slow, some of you
a little slow. Where's there a place where you
can be the first one there and know somebody beat you there?
Maybe get goose bumps when you walk in the door, you're the
first one there and nobody here, except God Almighty is in this
place. I know something's wrong here.
Now listen, I'm about to say something that's really going
to upset the apple cart in weeks and months ahead. And here it
is. I know something's wrong here. And I've known something's
wrong here for a while now. And here it is. We are not, as a church, as an
organization, a close-knit, single-identity, biblically-functioning community. We are decentralized, multi-identified,
loosely-connected federation of sub-ministries. Be something
like this. Many out there who are not here
today do not identify with Grace Gospel Fellowship, but with a
sub-ministry to which they are related. In other words, oh,
no, I don't attend Grace Gospel Fellowship. I work over at the center. Say, Pastor, you can't do that.
You can't make all of your employees over at the center a part of
Grace Gospel. I'm just saying this. If you're
not a part of this church, you really have no idea what's going
on. You really don't. you identify not with this church,
but with the daycare or the rehab program or the learning center.
I didn't say you weren't saved. I'm just saying to you, the most
important thing is the father's business, and he's the one that
started the church. He said, upon this rock I'll
build my ekklesia, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
my ekklesia. You only will be a conqueror
in your life as you are in a strong local church that lifts up Christ,
that glorifies Christ, that points to Christ and says that He's
the only Lord and Savior. And I would just ask you this,
seriously, do you identify with this church as a whole or with
a ministry of this church? There's a big difference. There's
a big difference. It doesn't mean I don't love
you. I love every person that works over at our thrift stores
or at Grayson as a whole, but you're not in the real stuff
here. The real stuff's right here,
right downtown. right downtown Pontiac where
nobody wants to come. Nobody wants to live except Jesus
who radiates out of this place. Who on earth would have ever
believed that we would be in Clutch Cargo this morning praising
God? Who ever believed that? And that it would be given to
us Do you know so much money comes
from people who just like us? Do you know Jesus makes people
like us? I mean, look what a sorry bunch we are. You got a hillbilly
preacher from Lowe's, Kentucky that nobody knows anything about.
He yells and screams and hollers about Jesus Christ being King
of Kings and Lord of Lords, who is sovereign. Amen. People often ask me, can you
tell me how you did that? I mean, how do you guys operate
over there? How many millionaires do you
have who are members of that congregation? Zip. That's why sometime I don't think
we're on the same page. And I said last night to myself,
it's because we're not, but we're about to be. You'll see some things starting
to happen and you're going to say this, that's what he meant. That's what he meant. Someone asked me every week what's
going to happen to grace centers. And I want to tell you this,
I'm really not concerned about what's going to happen to grace
centers. I can hire a CEO over there when I'm gone, who can
raise money. I'm concerned about grace. Is this too strong for you? Some
of you look like you're fanning awful, like you're too weak. My question is who will shepherd
you? who will preach the gospel of the glory of God to you, who
will love your children, who will help protect your marriage,
who will talk to you about God's wonderful forgiveness and how
it's not the end when you relapse. This church is filled with relapses,
even in the pulpit. I'm such a relapser. But there is a biblical, glorious,
awesome way. God forgives us. We are saved
by grace alone, unmerited favor. Real quickly now, because it's
five after 12. What was the business plan that
so consumed the Lord Jesus when he said, I must be about my father's
business? Let me tell you this, beyond any shadow of a doubt,
when Jesus said, I must be about my father's business, he referenced
that eternal counsel that took place before the foundation of
the world. You see, among us business folks,
we always talk about, what's the business plan? Well, let
me tell you about God's business plan. God, before the foundation
of the world, chose a people, wrote their name in the Lamb's
Book of Life, and in that eternal business plan meeting, gave them
to Jesus Christ, who promised to redeem them, to come into
the world, to live a sinless life, to go up on Calvary and
pay their debt, their sin debt, and to set them free. That was
the business plan. There was that great redemptive
factor in there. His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Think about
this. I thought about this last night.
I thought about how many people are there out there who are not
here today, who are not in this house, are gods, they belong
to God. Right now, they're using heroin. Right now, they're into all kinds
of stuff. How many religious people are
there out there in churches that are dead in their doornail, have
never heard the gospel of God's grace, and have not been called
yet to fill this place? I long for the day, I'm ready
now. I'm telling you, I'm ready for five services on Sunday. I've said this, Lord, if you'll
bring them, I know you'll give me strength to preach the gospel
and I'm gathering some folks around me who are gonna help. Amen. I'm ready now. God didn't give us this building
for it to be empty. And remember what I said, a dead
church I shall kill. I shall commit holy murder. I'm determined not to live in
a religious congregation that's fussing and fighting and feuding
and deader than a doornail. I'm going to live somewhere where
God is giving life and saving sinners from their sins. Just think, this morning, how
exciting it was to get up and come over here and preach the
gospel to you. Because somewhere, there's a
crackhead, there's a heroin addict. Say, pastor, you shouldn't say
that about, I just don't like the way you talk. Well, you're
gonna have to find another church, it's too late. I've already told
you, just between us girls, we're all a mess. We're all a mess. But the blood of Jesus, there's
power in the blood. Wonder working power in the blood
of Jesus Christ. Think about God calling his people
from their sins. Think about that. In that eternal
council, God planned this local church thing. And he wrote job
descriptions for his disciples. And now you start out at Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world. You know,
I'm constantly reminded here that I have a captive audience
of about 250 to 300 people. You have to be here. What I want to see happen is
that you come to know Christ and you want to be here. You
love to be here. Jesus said, when you preach this
gospel, those that trust me shall be saved. They're to confess
me in baptism. They have found a home in the
local church. Go make disciples. Let me ask
you this. Are you comfortable here? Is
this home? Can you say, this is home for
me? I'm going to spend the rest of my life, I'm going to be a
part of this. You know, people talk to me all the time, like,
well, you know, Pastor, we've been around for several years,
and we're thinking about going to California. We're going to
move. My husband has found a great
job, and I'll be talking to them. Have you found a church out there
yet that preaches God? No, not yet, but I'm sure there's
some church out there. That's not the right attitude.
The right attitude is God put me here. I'm here to stay. You're
stuck with me, preacher. I'm here to stay. I'm a part
of this church. I won't hold that middle finger
up, but there's been a knot in the last few weeks. You know,
I need that little finger. You may be a middle finger, you
may be a little finger, but if the Lord's brought you here,
he's got a purpose for you being here. It may be that we need
a volunteer custodian. We may need you in the choir.
You may have a great voice. What are you sitting out there
for? I mean, now some of you, and you don't, but those of you
who truly have a gift to sing, you ought to be using that voice.
And maybe you're a, you know, I've met people that are tremendous
cleaners, they clean everything. Miss Pam would make a great custodian. I'm telling you, you talk about
a cleaner, now she's a cleaner. I had my hairbrush out this morning,
she put it up four times. Four times I had to go in the
drawer and get my hairbrush. People like that make good custodians. What is your gift? God's brought
you here for a purpose and it's not just to sit and hear me preach
on Sunday morning or hear Joe or Dr. Christopher or one of
our leaders here. Here's what Jesus said. Jesus
said this. Don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together. You have church over there on
Sunday morning, you have it on Wednesday night, church, church,
church, church. Don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together. I guarantee you this. I'm gonna
let you in on a secret. When I, you know, some of you
sit in the same place all the time. I know where you are. And I know when you're not there
because that's your seat. And I always think this, you
miss three or four times, I think, uh-oh, there's problems going
on there. Something's happening there.
Something's going on. Because where you'll find your
strength to overcome your flesh is being together. That's why
I'm glad you folks are able to watch us this morning, but it's
not like being here. It's not like, don't ever associate
that we're doing this so you can stay home. And I'm going to tell you this,
in the Corinthian letter, Paul said some really strange, awesome
things happen when the church comes together. And an unbeliever
comes in, and there's such a power there. There is such a spirit
there that this unbeliever actually falls down on his face and says,
God is in this place. That's what ought to happen here.
And he confesses his sin. You know what could happen today? We come together, and the closer
we get to one another, you know, we're gonna do some things coming
where you're gonna get to know each other. I guarantee you,
half this church doesn't know the other half. You have no idea who you're sitting
next to. Otherwise, you wouldn't be sitting
there. I'm kidding. But it's so true. Those of you
in the balcony, you don't know the folks down here. We're going
to have dinners together. We're going to get ready for
an exciting time. The devil will try to disrupt
this, though. You know, ministry is like pushing a bulldozer that
has no motor. And change really messes people
up. Sometimes there are board turnovers.
Sometimes people leave the church. Sometimes people want to hang
the pastor. That's not the way we started. That wasn't, you
know, you change horses in midstream. Get ready to change horses. Oh,
this is going to be an exciting place. We're either going to
have revival or revolution.