Let's begin with verse 14. Actually,
there are some of you here today, you have absolutely no desire
to be here. In fact, you hate this place.
But you're such a lunatic that you ended up over at Grace and
Hope because there was no place that would take you. And you'd
rather be there than starve to death. But, you don't like anything
about this. You would seem to most people
beyond the pale of salvation. That there absolutely was no
hope. Your mother and father have pretty much given up on
you. Society has done its best and lost the battle. It's you
that I want to talk to today. So, let's read from Scripture.
I would say this, most of you Bible folks, probably along with
me, have never seen the depth of this story. And I hope that
you see it today. Verse 14, Matthew 17, And when
they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man,
kneeling down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for
he is lunatic. and sore and vexed. For oft times
he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water." In other
words, he tries to kill himself. And I brought him to thy disciples,
and they couldn't cure him. Then Jesus answered and said,
O faithless, O faithless and perverse generation, How long
shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?
Bring him here to me." And Jesus rebuked the devil.
And he departed out of him. And the child was cured from
that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus
apart and said, Why couldn't we cast him out? Good question. And Jesus said unto them, because
of your unbelief, For verily I say unto you, if you have faith
as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto the mountain,
Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove. And nothing
shall be impossible unto you, how be it This kind goeth not
out but by prayer and fasting." These demons don't go out. In
other words, this is not an ordinary case. This case is a little different. It can't be simply the prayer,
Lord save sinners. Thank You, Jesus. Amen. It's
got to be a little more pointed. It has to have a bullseye. It really has to be somebody. And I wonder here today, and
I'll talk a little bit about this as we go along. You know,
we have here at this church, in our meetings, really unusual
sinners. I don't want to frighten you
away, but we have had hit men in our services. Amen? I knew because I knew their record.
We have had pedophiles. Although, we keep an eye on that.
We don't take that lightly. But they've been here. If you're
looking for a nice churchy church, you're in the wrong place. Because
Christ came to save sinners. And, you know, if I'm going to
go bass fishing, I don't want to catch a six-inch bass. And
I'm fishing for men. I'm a fisherman of men. I like
to catch those big ones. Those ones that no one suspects
that there's even the slightest hope for. So, if you're here
that way today, this is your special Sunday morning service. This is just for you. Last week we talked about it's
impossible to please God without faith. You can't please God without
faith. I say this to you. Lunatics won't
get saved unless a lot of us have faith. Well, amen? Lunatics don't get saved. I mean,
people that are way out there don't get saved unless some of
us believe that God's able to do that. See, when I get on your
trail, this is Pastor Clark, when I get on your trail, I truly
believe God's able to save you. I believe God. I don't believe
there's a person in here that God is not able by His power
and His sovereign, amazing grace to reach down and save you. And I think what the churches
of today need is very simply this. Pastors of faith. If I
don't believe that God is able to save you, that you've gone
too far, you're in the wrong church, you aren't going to get
saved here. I mean, you're not going to wander
in here and get saved unless somebody believes that God's
able to save you. These disciples weren't able
to cast this demon out of a man, and the Scripture clearly indicates
it was because of lack of their faith. This guy booger-beared them.
This guy scared them. This guy frightened them. They,
in their mind, thought, he's too big for us. This demon is
an extraordinary demon that nobody's going to get out of this guy.
You know what I expect this morning? I expect the deaf man to hear the sweet melody of the gospel
of Jesus paid it all. You whose ears are plugged and
have been plugged and you pay no attention. I expect you to
hear this morning. I expect the dead, dead in sins
and trespasses. Like a man who's not just dead
with one stab, but you've been stabbed over and over and over. You are dead, dead, dead, dead,
dead. Today, God is able to quicken
you, to give you life, to turn you around, to born you again.
I believe that. That's why I love this place.
That's why I love being your pastor. You're the raunchiest,
meanest, no-good-for-nothing folks in the world that God is
able to save. I've often heard this, not in
exact words like this, only the worst go here, Clark. God, thank
God. The nobodies, the ragtag folks,
the harlots, the thieves, the crack addicts, the heroin users. Well, you're the people I want
to come and hear me, along with you dead theological suburbanites. Come over and hear. And by the way, just so I can
keep it balanced, Suburbanites need to be saved just as much
as inner-city folks who are on crack. Amen. All have sinned
and missed the mark and come short of the glory of God. So
it doesn't make any difference the designer clothes you're wearing
or whether you have patches on your knees. Christ came to save
sinners. And that's the only folks He
saves. You know, all the good folks out there, don't bother
coming over here because there's nothing for you over here. I
have nothing to feed you. You won't like the food here
if you're good. You'll have no appetite over
here because we only serve sinner food here. That's all. How important it
is, not only for me as pastor to believe, but for you to believe
as a member of this church. You have somebody out there that's
beyond. They won't listen to you. Maybe
your own child, they won't pay any attention to you. And maybe
because they haven't seen Jesus in you, they didn't really get
to know you when they were a child, but now you've come to know Christ
and you ought to be believing all things are possible to whoever
it may be. And little Johnny, who's not
so little anymore, can be saved because God is able to do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we ask or think. Mustard seed pay. Man, I wish I could have brought
a mustard seed with me. You couldn't see it from where
you're sitting. The front row couldn't see it because it's
so tiny. But Jesus said, if you just have
that much faith, I mean, even if you have, Lord, I believe,
help my unbelief faith, you can move mountains. Look at me. I
mean, just look at me. You may think I'm a great man
of faith, but I'm really not. I'm just like you. I'm always
saying, and you've heard me say for 35 years, some of you, Lord,
I believe, help my unbelief. If I were to ask the Lord for
one thing, it would be this. Help me believe more. Give me
a greater faith. Just think, there are some mountains
I'd love to see moved. Wouldn't you? And think about
the mountains God has moved here. Look at you. You were one of
them. And God saved you. Think about where you were five
years ago. And where you are now? Alright, I want to dissect this
story. First of all, I want us to look
at what a sad case it was. The disciples had cast out demons
of almost every sort and every kind, and they had done it everywhere. So, they're getting in this religious
routine. This father brings his son to
them and, you know, okay, let's do it. Be gone, demon!" The demon didn't go. And attempt
after attempt after attempt. In fact, the disciples said something
like this, Lord, even the demons are subject to us. They got into
it. They got really excited. Even the demons are subject to
us. But here is a demon of the worst
kind and actually baffled. the disciples. Now, I want to
tell you, I don't want to talk too much about demons. And they're
here today. I'm sure the demons are very
shaky today, because they already know what's coming this morning.
They know what I'm going to say this morning. But there are grades
of devilry. Demons, just like there are grades
of human sins. Hornication is not exactly the
same as shooting a person through the head and murdering them.
Right? Just say there's a different
grade there, a bit. All sin is sin. I want you to
know that. I'm not saying that sin is not sin. All men are evil,
but all men are not alike evil. Just let it soak in a little
bit. All devils are full of sin, but they are not all sinful to
the same degree. You remember in the Bible there's
a story about a devil that was cast out. And then the Scripture
says, Then goeth he and taketh unto him seven other devils,
more wicked than himself. So you can see kind of a grading
there. And there seems to be one chief
arch spirit called Satan. I call him Slewfoot. One mighty
Lucifer. There's a hierarchy in hell,
is what I'm saying. There's a hierarchy in hell.
Now, this young man in the text seems to have been possessed
of one of the worst, one of the most potent and violent demons. You may be too. It's you I want
to talk to today. Actually, there is a class, and
I've thought about this. All week I've thought about this.
And I've been thinking it as I get older and begin to try
to analyze what's going on in our world and the sin base and
just everything that's going on. There's a certain class of
individuals who are not only desperately sinful, but subject
to extraordinary impulses. It's going to be a little edgy
for you today. You're going to feel a little pain. But if you're
a Christian, you're a Christian. Demons can influence you, but
they cannot possess you. Just know that. If you're a child
of God, demons cannot possess you. So, Christians, you rest
easy. I want you to think about this.
These extraordinary impulses. They are carried to a hellish
length and depth. I mean, just think about it.
You probably know somebody that you wouldn't say was just a little
sinner. I mean, you wouldn't say, well,
they chip a little bit. But you might say this about
somebody. You might know somebody like
this. I'm telling you, they're gone. They are so far gone, there
is no recovery. They just don't chip. There is
something demonic about them. They go and go and go. I'm going
to give some for instances. All men are sinful, but the power
of depravity in some men is much stronger than in others. And
this may be your problem. Jesus asked the boy's father,
how long has he been this way? How long has he been this way?"
And the father answered, he's been this way from a child. You
ever known any little demons? Well, you may have called your own
kid that, you little demon. I'm not talking about the ordinary
course of kids stealing cookies from the cookie jar. Yeah. I
myself have seen young people who were young assassins. They
wanted to kill someone. They were literally perverted. And they were restrained by restraints.
I remember Amber worked at a facility in Kentucky where it was all
children and three-year-olds and four-year-olds who were murderers
at heart. Little guys who began to lie
early and to steal. And how quick their little lips
learn to swear. And it seems like there's no
stopping them. In spite of having, they have a functional family
to some degree. If there is a functional family,
a loving mother and father. I have talked with ancient mothers
who could not understand where the child had learned to talk
in that behavior. Where did that come from? You
know, quite frankly, I pray that God will grant that that'll never
be my lot as far as grandchildren. Or yours, as far as a child that
is literally demon-possessed from their youth. Do you know
anybody that has fits of evil? I mean, it just looks like they
go along pretty good and then they have a fit. And that fit,
it is a fit of evil. There are those in this auditorium
this morning who listen to the Word of God, seem to be respectable
folks, but occasionally has a fit. I'm talking about a fit of absolute
insanity, drunkenness. A fit. And you don't even understand
it yourself. Oh, listen, right now I think
I just had a word from the Lord. There's a demon struggling with
me right now in here about this. Don't be talking that way, Pastor.
You say, well, pastor, I've never heard you preach this way. You're
about to. You're about to because I saw something in this text
that really got my attention. I've often wondered, why do people
have fits? There's something behind a fit
when you can't even understand the fit. Maybe today Jesus will
pass by and cast the demon out and you won't have any more fits.
That could happen because He's able to do exceedingly abundantly
above all that we ask or think. Some of you in here, you know
it's wrong. It's just wrong. But a thousand angels couldn't
drag you away from it. You're going to do it come hell
or high water. Isn't that scary to you? That
you just can't stop. Some of you in here think you'll
never do it again. I'll never do it again. But you do. That's
called a fit. For 20 years you've been doing
it. And you do the same thing over and over and over again
in spite of yourself. All my sermons to you today,
I want to see you saved. How are you to be able to say,
no more fits, glory to God? Thank you, Jesus. The truth is,
if sovereign grace does not save you, you will die a drunkard. Oh, you need a God miracle. You
need a God miracle. You will go from drinking to
damnation if God doesn't intervene in your life. We need a God intervention
in here today. I've seen kind, tender, and generous
people. No one suspected him or her.
The guy that killed his wife a couple years ago, or had that
guy kill her, and gross point, he was a Rotary member. But beneath,
he had his little sexual perversions and hideaways and underground. And you may be here today, and
on the outside, you look good. I mean, you really look good. But on the inside, you're nothing
but a pervert that has a demon that causes fits. And these diabolical
fits come upon you, dear man or dear lady. I've seen children
whose parents have given them the world, have given their kids
the world, I'm afraid literally. But these fits come upon them
and parents would rather have a demon in their house than to
have their own children come home. There's something wrong
with that. In the case before us today,
this child was born deaf and dumb because of satanic possession. There are children in this house,
even downstairs as this service is going on, that now positively
are deaf to all spiritual sounds. You think about, listen, listen,
every parent in here, your children are deaf to the Lord God and
the power of the Holy Spirit gives them hearing to the Gospel. Pam and I often talk about these
little videos that Hayden watches and kids watch of magic. And Hayden has told me on a couple
of occasions, I'm going to turn you into a frog. I really don't know whether kids
ought to be watching that stuff or not. I'd rather them hear something
like this, God's going to turn you into a Christian. There are children here who have
been pleaded with, but pleaded with in vain, and now you've
grown up. There are people in here who know the truth. They
know the whole truth. but they don't know the power
of the truth. Do you know the power of the truth? And I know
there may be people in here who are five-point election predestination
people, and you know the five points of Calvinism, but you
don't know the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Calvinists
will be in hell, just like those who believe in salvation by grace.
Calvin didn't save anybody. Jesus did. Do you know Jesus
Christ? That's the great question. fatalist. You know, I've heard
from Clark every once in a while he gets off, but for the most
part, he believes in predestination. And I do. But I'm not a fatalist. In fact, I believe this, it is
please God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. And I believe this, That I need more faith to believe
that while I'm doing this silly yelling and talking, you know,
preaching is kind of crazy. I'm up here doing all this stuff.
But it's the power of God as the Gospel goes forth. And I
believe that with all my heart. I came to church today expecting
somebody who's an extraordinary person in the sense that they're
demonic to come to know Christ. Wouldn't that be something? Why does the Lord allow the devil
to fill the soul with sin? To manifest His divine grace.
You know, humanly speaking, there are people in here also that
many of us would say, they're nice people. And they are nice
people. I know nice people in the sense
of they're nice. Foaming at the mouth, demonic.
But nice people go to hell, too. But what I'm saying is this.
Have you ever thought why God just permits? You know, God can
do anything. Nothing is impossible with God.
Have you ever asked, why would God permit my child to go that
far? Maybe... So He'd get all the
glory when He saves your child. That's why when big sinners,
you know, it's like this. Big sinners get saved, we go,
glory to God! This would never have happened.
And by the way, God is never surprised. God doesn't jump back
when you get saved and go, oh, wow! I would never have thought
that. No, God came after you in all
of your depravity and wickedness and cast the demon out of you.
And we're all in awe. That's why the old song goes,
Oh, what a wonder that Jesus found me. Out in the darkness
no light could I see. He put His great arm under. And what a wonder He saved even
me. Alaskan, 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 faith saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled
away. My sin not in part, but the whole
is nailed to his cross, and I beg no more. It is well, it is well
with my soul. 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. God, God will let you fill yourself
with gook and then save you. And you'll give Him all the glory
for it, too. That demon comes in and entrenches
himself, even from your youth. Some of you, a long time ago. Let Wanda get happy. You know, I can pick people out.
Wanda's one of them. Way back when she was a child,
that demon got inside. But she had a divine appointment
at the well. Oh, and doctors may drug you
up. They try to calm that demon down
inside of you. They'll shoot you full of stuff
because you're bipolar, schizophrenic. I don't know what you are, but
I do know this. There's power, power, power,
wonder-working power in the blood of Jesus Christ. I do know that,
and I believe that with all my heart. I don't believe there's
a sinner in here beyond his reach. No, sir. You haven't gone too
far and you haven't done too much for Jesus. He can reach
you. Look at the scene around this
young man. Five sorts of people. I'm going to have to pick it
up a little bit here. There are scribes. And, of course, the
scribes are the religious folks who always are saying something
like, your master is a pretender. Can't you see those poor disciples
trying to cast that demon out? And all of these religious scribes
standing around saying, Ha! You don't have any power? Don't
you have power? You can't cast the demons out?
Think about it. Just think about it. Think about
the wonder that's on the outside. Think about your own parents
that are amazed that you are here sitting in the house of
God. in your right mind. The scribes. Those you healed
were not truly possessed. In other words, all those people
that you threw the demons out, they were not really possessed
to begin with. They got on the wrong track and you kind of worked
them up emotionally and they stepped over the line or they
made their decision for Jesus and, you know, You can't cast
out demons. You know, I want this church
to have the reputation. You better not get near that
church if you don't want to get saved. Because God's over there. He's in there singing. He's in
there praying. God's over there. Those people believe in God.
They are people of faith. That's important. They probably
said something like this, Come on, Philip, you and Matthew. Show us how you can cast out
demons. There's some untouchables in
here. Honestly and truly, I'm working on you today. I'm talking
to you. I mean the meanest, rottenest, dirtiest, scummiest, filthy person
that ever wormed their way out of hell. I'm talking to you today. I know there's hope for you today. I know God is able to save you
today. No doubt people go like that.
Oh, you know, I've had people say this in a way to me. You
talk about the great position. Well, why doesn't he heal so
and so? Why doesn't he save so and so?
He can heal little fingers, but he can't teach or touch the lunatic. Well, the truth is, he can touch
the lunatic. Lunatics, where are you this
morning? You see, this message is no accident.
God didn't send me over here by accident. He didn't have you
come through 11 inches of snow to get over here. You fighting
all the way, not wanting to come. Thinking about maybe how you
can have an excuse to go to the bathroom and get out from hearing
the message, and you stay out in the vestibule. I'm talking
to all you lunatics in the vestibule. There was this father. Think
about this father who was there. He probably said to the disciples,
I'm disappointed in all of you. I brought you my boy, and you
didn't do anything for him. I think maybe your master, he
might be able to do it, but I'm not sure even your master can
do it. Maybe, Mom and Dad, you're here
today, and you're saying, I've been praying for my child, and
they've been over here three months, or they've sat in this
service. My child is not saved yet. Are
you sure, Pastor? I'm sure that God is able to
save your child. Some of you are saying, I brought
my husband or I brought my wife, but he or she is still lost and
full of Satan as ever. You know, God doesn't get in
a hurry. Don't be too quick. Today is a thousand years with
Him. You know what? If your wife or
your husband or your child get saved in the last day, the last
hour, the last second of their life. Praise God. Praise God. And I'm like this, let's play
it all the way out. God's not through yet. Your child's
not dead. Your husband's still here. Your
wife is still here. We talk about recovery. All of
us are recovering. All of us. And sanctification
is a process. You don't get saved and get holy. I'll never think about sin again. You got about a half a second
after you get saved, and then you're going to start thinking
again. Some of you are about ready to
give up. I'm telling you, don't give up. That's all I'm saying. God's able when, how, and with
whom. and his eyes on the sparrow,
and he watches over that person that you're praying for. Then
there's the general crowd. They say, if this man be healed,
we will know Jesus Christ is who he says he is. But if not,
he's an imposter. So, lots of things going on around
here. And some of the folks were saying,
well, if he gets healed, there's hope for me, too. You know, a
lot of people are in the audience watching, looking on. That's
why I say to you young men and you young ladies, don't you know
you're not the only addict in the world? And don't you know
that God saved you and brought you out of that to be a minister? In my meeting with the mayor
this week and other influential people, I'm talking about we
can start this job program. We can rehab a million dollars
or so worth of houses and we can put people in them. And I
said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. My great goal is not to build
houses. My great goal is not necessarily
to fill houses. My great goal is to get somebody
saved who can be a homeowner and take care of a house. The problem in America is not
housing. We don't have a house shortage.
We've got a drug problem. You can't take care of a house
and be on drugs. Amen. alcohol problems. And I've said this before, and
everybody keeps telling me on email, sending me emails. Now,
Pastor, you can't preach like you used to. When we move down
to the big building, you know, all the nice people are going
to be coming, suburbanite people are going to be coming, blah,
blah, blah, blah. Don't you think suburbanite people get drunk? Do you think only inner city
poor people use crack cocaine? You're nuts. How many of you
in here actually believe that only poor people in the inner
city use drugs? If you do, don't raise your hand,
because I'm going to call you out. No. Come on, Birmingham folks. Come over to the former clutch
cargo and get saved at Grace Gospel Fellowship. Come on, you
folks living in the hood. Come on over and get saved at
Grace Centers of Hope and Grace Gospel Fellowship. That's what
I'm talking about. You know, demons are afraid of
us, though. The more gospel-oriented, the more faith we have. The devil
doesn't want folks to be in the presence of folks who are high
in faith in Christ. No, they don't. I think even
the devil was there. I think the devil seemed to say,
you know, Try whatever you want to try. I got this guy. Preach
at him, pray for him, weep over him. Do whatever you want to
do. I got this guy. I think Satan says, I'm not afraid
of you. I have so fixed myself inside of him that no power on
this earth will ever be able to heal him. Hell seems to shriek
over this man. I mean, hell is happy about this
guy. Here's one we got. I can hear
Satan say something like this. Yes, I can trust him to go up
to Clark's church. I know that hundreds have come
to Christ there and have felt the power of the Holy Spirit
in making them new creatures, but in this case, Clark's not
going to touch this guy. Those folks up there that have
been made new creatures, all of them together are not going
to touch this guy. And I'm telling you, the gospel is the great
hammer that knocks the chains off and sets the captive free. I don't care how bound you are. I don't care how long you've
been using. Dear lunatic, if the Master comes
this morning, and comes to where you are, you're not going to
jump in the fire anymore. You're not going to try to drown
yourself in the water anymore. You're going to say something
like this, I'm going to the water, but it's to be baptized this
time to tell the world that I have trusted in the Christ that died,
was buried, and arose again. Amen. Victory is mine. Look, here comes the Master.
The disciples have failed. The enemy sounds the trumpet
of victory. All the sergeants and lieutenants,
the disciples, have all failed. But yonder I see a cloud of dust. Who is that that comes to the
battlefield? It is I, strong in battle, mighty
to save, comes back the answer. The Messiah, the Captain of our
salvation. The commander-in-chief of the
armies of heaven. The poor lunatic is there foaming
at the mouth. Jesus comes. And he goes, come
out of him unclean spirit. And just like that, in the moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, that devil comes out. The thing is
done. The victory is won. You know,
it's kind of interesting as you read the story in the other Gospels.
When Jesus came, of course, the devil knew it. By the way, the
devil knows when Jesus is about to deliver you. Have you ever
seen people get under the gospel and get worse? Hey! Hey, church,
listen. When somebody comes here and
they hear the gospel and they keep coming back, but they get
worse, uh-oh, all that means is the devil knows that God is
about to save them. That's all that means. This is
the devil's last big hurrah, because God is about to capture
them. And I want to say to you, lunatic, doing the crazy things
you do, and you're even confused about, you know, I've been going
over there to church, but I've got worse. That's because God
is about to do something. He's about to set you free. You
know I'm right about that, don't you? You know God's got his hook
in you, don't you? You want to go away, you want
to stay away, but something draws you back here, lunatic, and you're
still doing, even hyped it up a bit. Oh yeah, we call that acting
out. Because God's got a hold of you
and you start acting out. The demon's already out, but
that influence, it's kind of hard for you to lay down that
activity. You still think you're a lunatic,
but actually you're a child of God. You've been made alive in
Christ Jesus. You've been washed in the blood
of the Lamb. You're saved. You're heaven-bound. You know how I read these stories
about when a house is repossessed, Sometimes the tenant of the house
goes in and takes all the copper out, destroys the house because
he's angry he got thrown out. Sometimes the devil tries to
make a revisit. Since I'm going out, I might
as well destroy everything in this place. That's right. Some of you in here who have
been lunatics kind of think like this, why on earth would I get
worse? Why am I? I'm no better. My Master will
soon stoop over you and pick you up and talk straight talk
to you. You're mine. I love you. I'll never take you out of the
will. I'm building you a mansion. I'm coming back for you. It's
not going to always be like this. So you can know it's well with
your soul. And you can believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I say to you this and ask
you as a church to pray for me, because in these special cases,
ordinary preaching of the Word will not avail. It may be time
for this church to fast. You know it's mentioned here. You know the church has just
kind of passed over that. No preacher should be fat. Let's just say this. You read
what the Lord says. Fasting and prayer. This demon
isn't coming out easy. You say, well, pastor, you preach
salvations by grace. I know that. It is by grace,
and by grace alone, and faith is the gift of God. That's why
I ask God to give me more faith. And when I have more faith and
God says, that demon's not coming out without some fasting and
prayer. If you've got somebody you want
to truly see saved... Now, I'm not talking about asking
the whole church to fast. I'm not doing that. But I am
saying this. I guarantee you this. If I get a target... I've
been thinking about this all week. If I got me a big target... I mean, you're a purebred lunatic. You've got your papers. You're
a pedigree. And God puts you on my heart.
I'm going to stop eating for a little bit. I mean, it isn't
going to hurt me. And I'm going to concentrate
on this. God, You can save John. God, I know You can save John.
And I'm not going to be full and cut off the oxygen where
I can't think about John being saved. Maybe a few meals, missing
a few meals, and thinking about this, concentrating on this.
Today, getting saved is like joining Kiwanis. I'm going to
give Jesus my heart. I know everybody's happy. How do I join? Really, it's not that way. It's
not that way. I come as a person who knows
I'm a sinner. And by the way, a farmer never
plows a field except he intends to sow. So when God comes on
the inside of you and just rips you to pieces, I mean, He plows
up all the ground where He turns over and all the clogs and all
the worms come out. And you see yourself a sinner.
What's about to happen is cultivation and the sowing of seeds. God
doesn't tear people up to hurt them. He's about to do something. So if you're here like this this
morning and you're thinking, God, I wish I hadn't come. This
is awful. I feel worse. I feel worse than
I did when I left. And then for all of you saints,
for all of us, Pastor included. We want to see people saved here.
We just played Sunday morning religion. Do we deal with lunatics? We do. I is one. Have been one. Lunatics just
means, you know, doing the same thing over and over, expecting
different results. How many lunatics have I got?
Yeah. 100% lunatic church. Only once
I was lost. Now I'm found. Once I was blind,
now I see.