God is good all the time. If God be for you, who can be
against you? Learn from history. Trust God. Do the right thing. Things will
turn out all right. Praise God. God has a plan and
purpose and it always doesn't come to pass exactly, you know,
the way we think maybe it should. But you never give up. You keep trusting God and keep
trucking. And that's what we've done here. We're still trucking.
I want you to turn to 2 Samuel chapter 6. While you're turning
there, just a little review of what we are talking about, have
been talking about, are the five points of grace, total depravity,
unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace,
and perseverance of the saint. And we are on now the second
point, unconditional election, which simply means that God before
the foundation of the world has chosen a people that no man can
number unto salvation. A massive, massive number. In fact, God has chosen so many
people that it's innumerable. We don't have the terminology,
we don't have the words to say how many people are going to
be in heaven. It's a number that no man can number. So please
remember that when people say, You know, you folks believe only
a little handful are going to be in heaven. Remember, it's
God's hands, and His are big. And it's a number that no man
can number. God has a humongous family. He has lots of children, and
none of them stillborn. They're all alive, quickened,
regenerated, and coming to know Christ. So God has elected before
the foundation of the world this people unto salvation. This is
not hid in some obscure corner of the Bible. You say, well,
Pastor, I never heard election before. Well, you were in the
wrong church. If you've got a preacher that studies the Bible, he's
got to do something with the doctrine of election because
it's not hid in some obscure corner of the Bible. It's not
just hit and miss. It's everywhere. And once you
see it and enter into it, you say it's everywhere. It's everywhere.
you began to see that this doctrine is taught throughout the Bible.
When I was a young preacher, I was discussing actually with
a preacher, and I saw him do this. He picked up his Bible
and he goes, election, election, the doctrine of election, they
say it's in here somewhere. Well, I'm telling you, that man
was a fool, because if you open your Bible and do any serious
studying of scripture, you'll find out the doctrine of election
is there. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Just turn there and read it.
Jeremiah 1.4. Ephesians 1.4. I mean, those
are just right in your face verses. That's only three. Well, how
many do you need? How many times does God have
to say something for it to be true? If God says it, it's true. According as He had chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1.4.
Bound to give thanks to God For you, brethren beloved of the
Lord, because God from the beginning has chosen you to salvation. John 15, you have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. Right? So, the Doctrine of Election,
it's a wonderful truth. It's a glorious truth. And when
you enter into it, it'll give you happy feet. It will. It will give you happy feet to
think that God chose you. Think about how crazy you've
been. Think of the places and predicaments that you've been
in. You should have been dead a long time ago, sleeping in
your grave, right? A sparrow does not fall to the
ground without his notice. The numbers of the hair of your
head are numbered, the scripture says. God's eye is on the sparrow
and he watches over you. That's a wonderful truth. In
your craziness, in your bipolarness, God watches over you. I was watching the lady who was
on American Airlines She was screaming over the microphone,
the plane, something's wrong with the plane, you know, it's
gonna go down, you gotta stop. Come to find out, she is bipolar.
But you know what I said when I sat up? That could have been
me. There go I, but for the grace of God. Do you know that? You're
not gonna worship much as long as you think you're better than
somebody else. There go I, but for the grace of God. Grace will make you gracious.
Mercy will make you merciful. What a wonderful truth this is.
God. You know, Psalm 14 says that
God looked down through time to find a good person. He couldn't
find one. God didn't choose you because you were better than
somebody else. Just remember, God saw you in Lodibar, dead
dog that you were. God saw you in the valley of
dry bones, and you were parched. You didn't have a piece of meat
on your bones. You were a parched bone, bleached
out by the sun, very dry. Something happened. The bone
began to move, and the leg bone was connected to the hip bone. and flesh formed on the bone. And then a wind blew, called,
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and John threw. And you were
quickened by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit quickened you,
gave you life. You were a dead dog, and God
came to you. You were in the hog pen. God saw you in the hog pen, but
His eye was on you. you husk eater god was watching over you protecting
you because he had chosen you have you ever thought about how
crazy you've been and the crazy things you've done just think
about them a little bit and you're here yes i want to talk to you today about
dancing with joy over being chosen. Let's go to 2 Samuel chapter
6. And of course, this is the story
of David bringing back the Ark of the Covenant. And the Ark of the Covenant,
of course, was a type of the presence of God. And when Israel
had the Ark of the Covenant in their possession, they were blessed.
The Ark of the Covenant being a type of presence of God or
signifying the presence of God? More than anything else in the
world, I want the presence of God. And I would like to be used
as an instrument to bring back the presence of God. I would
like the shout of the King to be heard again in this country
and in our churches. Do you want me to tell you what's
wrong in America? God is a stranger here. God is
a stranger here. I hear all the politicians talking
about, you know, right-wingers and moderates and left-wingers
and all of this. I hear it every day now on the
news that politicians should not be talking about social issues. Let me tell you, my friends,
having more jobs in America isn't necessarily what America needs.
We need God in America again. We're rotting at the core. We're
rotting at the core. You can have all the jobs and
all the money and go down the drain and that's what's happening.
And you can be as poor as Job's turkey and be happy. That's right. God is a stranger in the land.
The worst thing that could happen to America is for God not to
speak, for God just to be silent. You see, I want to tell you this,
if you're an Attican here, if God doesn't speak to you, you'll
live and die that way. God has to speak. If you're a
religious church person, you'll go to hell from a church pew,
unless God speaks to you. There's only one great need,
and that's to bring the presence of God. If God's here, all is
well. All is well. But we've told God
to get out. Get out of our lives, get out
of our schools. And now you're beginning to see government start
to infringe on church territory. And the government is going to
become God. Fifty, sixty-some percent of
the American people are on some kind of government welfare. 17% of this nation's budget goes
toward our armed forces and protecting this country, while 60-some percent
goes toward passing out checks to people where government becomes
their god. I would just say this to all
of you. Get off of government stuff. God is your friend. Trust God. Don't trust government.
Don't trust government. I thought you were going to talk
about election. I am, brother. I am talking about election. So, David was used to bring back
the ark. But there's some lessons to learn
here. Let's notice. David gathered, in verse 1, David
gathered up chosen men, 30,000 of these men. And they got a
new cart. The enemy had taken the Ark of
the Covenant away, and David was going to get it back. And
he did, and he got this new cart. They were supposed to carry the
Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders, but they got this
new cart. Now, I'm going to say this to
you, my friends. People say I'm a little outdated.
You know, my screaming style, my preacher style, my all of
this. You've got to be careful about getting a new cart. It is pleased God through the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That's 1 Corinthians. You can read it. So I'm not going
to take up a new cart. And you check this out too. Every
great revival that this world has ever known came with a man
sent from God who was called a preacher. You may call us chicken
eaters and a thousand other things, but we're God's messenger, boy.
Whether you like it or not, if you hear from God, you're going
to hear through a preacher. That's exactly right. No apology for
that. So watch getting a new cart. God doesn't always bless
a new cart to bring in His presence. He usually puts it on the shoulders
of a man He calls from the wilderness, eating locusts and wild honey
like John the Baptist. Anyway, so they're bringing the
ark back. And in verses 4 and following, you'll find out that
as oxen pulled the new cart, the Ark of the Covenant began
to shake and this guy lifts up to touch it to keep it stable
and God kills him. They weren't doing it in God's
way. This thing is serious stuff. Don't mess with God's stuff.
God has a way of doing things. So he reached up and God killed
him. And the Bible says it kind of ticked David off. I'm doing
a good thing here. I'm bringing you back. I'm bringing
the presence back. And the Bible says that David got a little
raw about that. In fact, he was afraid. He didn't
talk out loud too much. Have you ever gotten mad at God
but didn't talk out loud too much? Because you didn't want
God to hear you. Verse 9 says, And David was afraid
of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord
come to me then? So David pouted and would not
remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David, but
carried it aside and he put it in Obedadam's house." Okay, I'm not going to touch
this thing. So he put it in Obedadam's house. And then the word comes
to David after months, hey, God is blessing Obedadam. Obeditum
is getting all these blessings. David said, let's go get the
ark. And so verse 12 says, So David
went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obeditum
into the city of David with gladness. And verse 14 says, And David
danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was girded
with a linen ephah. That is, David's doing this dance
and he takes off his crown and his royal robe. And he's wearing
the dress of the people. That's significant and we'll
see that a little later on. Look at verse 16. And by the
way, they were having a concert when they brought the ark back.
There was all kinds of musical instruments being used and they
were praising God, the presence of God, had come back to the
city of David, the Ark of the Covenant had come back, and they
were really getting down. They were having a dance. It
was a joyous celebration. Look at verse 16. And as the
Ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michael, Saul's
daughter, that's David's wife, Saul's daughter, looked through
a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord.
And she despised him. She despised him in her heart.
Well, after the celebration, David goes home. Look at verse
20. Then David returned to bless
his household. His household should have been
at church with him. But anyway, David's going to go home and
he's going to bless his wife and his kids. You should have
been there. God was there. And we had a happy
time. Look at verse 20. And Michael
the daughter of Saul came out to meet David. She didn't wait
for David to get there. She came out to meet him. Some
of us men have been met that way. Notice the nervous laugh of men
who have experienced that. So Michael came out to meet David. And here's what she says. How
glorious was the king of Israel today! who uncovered himself
today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows, shamelessly
uncovers himself. David has just been in a great
worship service. He has praised God. He has danced
with all of his might. He goes home happily. And his
wife comes to meet him and scorns him. And David said unto Michael,
It was before the Lord which chose me before thy father and
before all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the
Lord over Israel. Therefore will I play before
the Lord. I wasn't doing it for you. It wasn't about you. Why is everything about you?
I was doing it before the Lord. I got happy feet because God
chose me. And He chose me over your daddy,
Michael. And over your daddy's house.
God chose me. And that's why I was dancing.
And that's why I was happy. Because I've been chosen of God. And then he said to her something
like this, verse 22, and I'm not through yet. And I will yet
be more vile than thus. You think this was vile? You
were ashamed of this? I'm about to get down in a way
that you're going to think is more vile. Never before had David so enjoyed
the public worship of God. He was soaring up on eagle's
wings. The ark had been brought back
signifying the presence of God. He had thrown Himself into the
glad service of the Lord that day. And the people had joined
Him in adoration with joy of the presence of the Lord being
there. How sweet it is. Have you ever been in a service
like that? I mean, where it was so sweet, it was so wonderful. It had been a high day. A day
of days. A day that the nation had not
enjoyed in all of its history before. Wouldn't it be something
if we could have a service like that, that we had never had before?
You know there are times in the presence of God that you've never
experienced it. Paul said that you might be filled
with the fullness of God. Filled with the fullness of God.
If you've never experienced that yet, that ought to be a longing
of yours. I want to be filled with the fullness of God. I want
to know what it's like to be filled with the fullness of God. But after this great day of worship,
the king then went home to bless his household, wishing that all
his family might share in his joy. And it was at that moment
that Michael came, Saul's daughter came to meet him, and she was
just so angry and so full of scorn. Has it ever happened to
you? I'm telling you, Husbands and wives, well let me say this
directly to husbands, it's a great thing when a man and woman help
each other along the road to heaven. It's tough enough down
here without having somebody scorn you. And I will say this
to you ladies, please encourage your spiritual leader, your husband,
when he's worshiping God, when he's giving of himself, When
he's out there serving God, don't scorn him. It's a direct disappointment
and disheartening. She was disgusted at seeing her
husband take off his royal robe and his crown and dress like
the common people. You know, if you've got problems
and I'm the holy man of God, I act as if I have no problems,
you're not going to come to me. You're not going to come to me.
The Bible says there is no difference. All have sinned. And I would
just say this in passing real quick to all preachers. Put your
collar on right. Some of you putting your collar
on backward and wearing a 10 pound cross around your neck.
Don't be Holy Joe preacher. You're just like your crowd you
talk to. Only you're a hypocrite acting like you're Holy Joe.
We got a preacher problem in this country. We really do. There
is no difference. All have sinned and missed the
mark. It's very, very true. Now, her language must have been
like a cold bucket of water in the face of David. Coming right
out of the house of God and she comes out and mocks him. Must
have stung. I want to say this to you too.
Always suspect. Some danger is near when you
perceive too much delight. Oh, I'm so happy! Hallelujah! Get ready. It's like Michigan weather. It's
going to be 60 today, but it may be below zero tomorrow. The truth is we are never so
near meeting the devil as when we have just met with God. When you come out of the presence
of God all happy and great things God has done for you, get ready.
The devil doesn't want you going through life happy. I mean, he
can't take you to hell, so he'll give you a little hell on earth.
He will. Just when you think everything
is going, hey, hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus! The worst side of the world is
turned toward you when you have been nearest the eternal throne. Brother Bunyan said, when we
are at the top of a mountain, we are not far from the bottom
of a valley. And often Satan breaks a man's
head with his own bone. Always be on guard. Thank the
Lord for a wonderful time, but be ready. This is not a cakewalk to heaven.
Satan is your enemy. He robbed you of your joy and
your peace. Just get ready. If God shows
up, Satan is too. He's coming. He is coming. All right. So what are you dancing
about, David? I've been chosen of God. God
chose me. God chose me before the foundation
of the world and predestinated and predetermined all of these
things to happen in my life. And I'm happy about it. David
said, let me explain something to you, Michael. It was before
the Lord who chose me. You need to understand that.
There is a great power in the truth of election when a man
or woman can grasp it. It's important that you grasp
election. I hear this so much. You know,
I wish pastors would talk more about practical stuff. Here's
some real practical stuff. The doctrine of election. If
I give you practical stuff about marriage, and we ought to talk
about where the Bible talks about marriage, I'll talk about marriage,
but I'm going to tell you this. You married a woman who is depraved. And you women married a man who
is depraved. Here's some real practical stuff.
When two depraved people are living together and they're not
speaking, God chose me! God's got us! Yeah. All of us husbands know. It isn't as rosy as it seems. Oh, it's a wonderful thing when
you can grasp God chose me. You need to know God chose you.
You need to know it, and grasp it, and enter into it, because
life is going to kick the stuffings out of you. And even when God
brings you joy, Satan's going to be there to try to take it
away, to mess it up. when we know by proof and evidence
that the Lord has chosen us. It causes us to break forth in
adoration and song and praise. I know nothing greater than this,
God chose me. I know nothing God chose me.
And if God chose me and is working everything out for my good, I
can live with that. I can ride the river of life
with that. And when we know that, then our
heart is lifted up in giving God glory and praise. People talk about God, but they
don't know God the way you know God. Personally, you know God, and
you know He's your keeper, that He's chosen you, that you're
His child, that He's working everything out for your good.
And you've got those people that you know. You know them. They're
sitting in a church pew trying to work their way to heaven.
Trying to be good enough. Yeah. Knowing your election of
God will have the same effect on you as it did on David. If
everybody in here could enter into this, God chose me. I mean,
if you could just really enter into that right now, God chose
me. Even though He looked down from heaven upon the children
of man to see if there were any that did good and couldn't find
a one. He saw you in the hog bin, saw
you in Lodibar, saw you there in the Valley of Dry Bones, saw
you in the open field, saw you, Gomer, saw you and chose you. Saw you in the hood, saw you
in the crack house, saw you shooting up, saw you trying to kill yourself,
and yet he chose you. knowing your election of God.
You say, well, Pastor, you know, you're a little weighty for me.
I don't understand this doctrine of election. Well, let me put
it a different way. Maybe you're like this. Well, maybe this is
where you are. Pastor, I don't know whether
I'm elected or not. Now, the devil's trying to throw
you a curve here. Let me ask you this. You have
faith in Christ. Is your faith and confidence
in Jesus Christ alone? Then you've been elected. It's
because you're elected. Because where did you get your
faith? What? It's the gift of God. For by
grace are you saved through faith. And that faith is not of yourself.
It's the gift of God. Who does God give faith to? Those
that are chosen before the foundation of the world. Say, well, I want
to know better. I want to know I'm elected. I
want to know. Well, here's what I would say
to you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I told the first services
it's kind of like this. Over here at the door, if I go
outside the door and it says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. That's what it says up here above
the door. I enter back and look back after I trust Christ and
it says, Hey, you were chosen before the foundation of the
world. I didn't know that until I believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ. So you trust Christ. And then after you trust Christ,
you go, oh, hey, an extra bonus. No man has ever had true faith
in Christ without receiving it from God. You received it from
God. And all of the other saving gifts
come from God. The effect that this doctrine
will have on you, This inward conviction that God has elected
you, chosen you, this inward conviction that God, before the
foundation of the world, chose you, will make God leading in
your thought patterns. It will. When the Holy Spirit
has shown you that God elected you before the foundation of
the world, and the Holy Spirit has fully persuaded you that
God chose you out of the world, The certain effect will be is
that the Lord will stand in the clear light. You won't be saying
it was me and God. You won't be saying I did my
part and God did His part. I took a step and God took a
step and, you know, we met in the middle. Me and God got a
good thing going. I'm building a bridge from here
to heaven. It won't be any of that. You
won't be talking about my free will. I always wonder about people
wanting to talk about their free will. The reason you want to
talk about your free will is because you want to have something
to do with saving yourself. But for me, I say this, God chose
me when I was ugly. God chose me when I was dirty.
God chose me when I was in the valley of dry bones. God saw
all of my mess. He saw me in the hog pen, saw
me there in the open field. God saw me in my own blood. God
saw that every imagination of my heart was only evil continually. God saw me when I was a dead
dog, dead in sins and trespasses. And yet, He chose me. It must be because I'm white.
My feet won't dance. It's enough to make a white boy
dance! God has chosen us. God is first and foremost. David said it's before the Lord.
That's what I was dancing about. I was dancing before the Lord.
He made me happy because He showed me. He chose me. He chose me. Michael, you don't get it. He
chose me. That's what David is talking
about. And you begin to see God everywhere. When this truth of election comes
home to you, God will be realized in every passage of your life.
Sixty-seven now. I do this more than I've ever
done in my life. I look back. I see Him everywhere. I see Him everywhere. Please
don't think I'm haughty when I say this. I wondered about
saying it this morning, I'm going to say it. I became a safety patrol boy
at Harding Elementary School. It was God. I know you're laughing, but I'm
telling you the truth. It was God. It was. God was getting me ready
for leadership. I ran out in front of a car,
I remember this, pushed a little girl out of the way and got my
legs hit by the car. I thought about this several
times. I thought about this. You know,
God was getting me ready to be an instrument to save people.
And then I got promoted to captain of the safety patrol. Then all
through middle school and then on into high school, there was
the end of my class. I see God in that. Preparing me. Student council
president. God was preparing me. Yeah. And when I'd get the big head,
God would pop the bubble. God was getting me ready. Oh,
I know about bubble pop. Oh, listen, listen, just so you
know, I'm very careful about any kind of glory or praise.
Don't be putting too much stuff on me. God doesn't intend for
me to get any glory. Amen? Nor you. Nor you. But if you look, the
doctrine of election, once I found out God chose me, I began to
see God everywhere. I began to see God everywhere.
In my conversion, saving me at eight years old, early on. keeping
me out of stuff, digging ditches and saying, you can go that far.
Listen, I planned a lot of stuff. And God would dig a ditch and
say, you can go that far, but you're not going over that. Has
it ever frightened you about what you thought about doing?
And you planned to do it. But somehow there was a ditch.
And God stopped you. Absolutely. I see God everywhere. I was thinking this morning on
the way to church about seeing God everywhere and Teddy was
my grandmother and I used to go to visit with her and I remember
going out on her porch on several mornings and the thunder clouds
would begin to form and there would be a gentle rain. It was
about 85, 90 degrees and I remember the smell and the gentle rain
hitting on that tin roof out and thinking, God is so good. I saw God in the rain. For 23
years now, I've watched this maple tree every spring. I'm
getting ready. In about 30 to 60 days here,
it's going to bud out. It's going to start to bud. And
you know what I'm going to say? Thank you, God! I see God. Do you see God? What a shame
it is to go through life and never see God. How, grace people,
I see God everywhere, in everything! We see God. I worship Him in spirit and truth.
Do you know what it is to worship Him in spirit? You know, this
is all outward. Right now what's making some
of you holler is your spirit. Saying, that's true! That's true! There's something going on on
the inside. That makes you praise God. Right now in the house of
God, what are your thoughts? Are your thoughts on the tailor
or the Creator? In other words, are you looking
around to see who's got on new clothes? Or are you thinking
about God? David showed excessive joy before
the Lord. Do you have excessive joy? I
hope you do. God inhabits the praise of His
people. We ought to have excessive joy. Not life sucks. No Christian
should be saying life sucks. God chose me. God's working everything
for my good. When you fall down and break
your leg, get up and kind of brush yourself off and thank
God that's over. God's got great plans for you.
I know the plans I have for you. They're good and not evil. That's
what God says. You need to know that. God has
plans for you. He chose you and has a plan for
your life. I'm not just talking about me.
I'm talking about you, the chosen of God. Listen to me really close. You're
always just grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. You're
just always talking about grace. That's right. And I want to tell
you why. Listen to me really good. You
probably ought to write this down. The doctrines which are not of
grace lead you away from God and throw you upon yourself.
Once you leave grace, all you've got left is you. How do you like
that? How do you like that? I mean
really, be honest. How do you like that? Just you. God have mercy! Don't leave me
to me! All of us in here need to get
our Whale Belly University degree. You need to get your WV. Whale
Belly. Doctrine of Theology. Salvation
is of the Lord. From first to last. We were children
of wrath even as others. Who made you to differ? Who made
you to differ? I see God everywhere. I know some
of you have heard people say, you know, I thank God for my
parents. I had good godly parents. Well, let me tell you, if you're
a bastard, let me tell you this. You're very special. Godly parents. And I'm thankful
for that. But you think about a little
throwaway. You think about not having mother
or father, or think about your mother and father were totally
dysfunctional. But here you are. He's a mighty good guy. Because you could have been right
where mom and dad are right now. Still out there in the mess. I know some of you come here
and the Lord saves you. It's all exciting. You go, I
can't wait till my mother and dad hear Pastor Clark or one
of the elders here at the church. I just want them to come. And
then they come and they go like this, you're in a cult. You're
in a cult. You got to get out. Clark's trying
to control you over there. But then you look at mom and
dad or aunts and uncles or whoever, and their life is totally hypocrisy
and screwed up. And you go like this, thank you
Lord for choosing me. In fact, David said, here's what
David said about his family. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure, For this is all my salvation and all my
desire. In other words, even though my
family's not saved, God saved me. Some of you fight over this doctrine
of election because you go like this, well, well, well, you know,
what about, what about, what about Junior? Junior's wicked
and depraved and deserves to go to hell. Are you saying God should chose
Junior because he came out of you? Don't worry about God's business. Just praise Him for saving you.
Praise Him for saving you. And you should probably ask Him
to save Junior too. Because Junior isn't going to
get saved unless God saves him. Because Junior came out of you,
you know. I'm almost through. Two things. The doctrine of election
will cause you to worship God for yourself. Other folks can't do it for you.
I can't serve God for you. I can't. You can't pay me to
serve God for you. Knowing that the doctrine of
election is true will cause you to serve God for yourself. How
much I owe I cannot tell. I'm a debtor to the grace of
God. The doctrine of election will
cause you to do what God wants you to do. And others may say
it's impossible. I remember when I bought 53 Seneca. Everybody said, you are as loony
as a June bug. You are insane. And why on Seneca? Because God's going to do a great
thing. God's going to do a great thing. And they laughed. They're not laughing now. I'm going to tell you. I'm going
to tell you my anchor holds. And here's my anchor. God chose
me. And whether you like it or not, God has ordained me to be
here. And God has plans for me as long
as He leaves me here. And so I follow him and you say
it's crazy. I hear it all the time. Clutch
Pirate, you're never going to get the beer smell out of that
church. God took the beer smell out of you. You don't smell like beer no
more. Well, some of you don't. Somebody said, well, you know,
preacher, if I believed in election and that God predestinates, if
I were you, I'd just go on a cruise and stay gone. Because God's
going to do it anyway. No, God's not going to do it
anyway. God's going to do it His way. And God's way is through
the preaching of the gospel. I don't know who the elect are.
I got a feeling there's a bunch of them in here today. Because
as I talk about it, you're happy, you're glad, and you're rejoicing. And it's a sweet doctrine. It's
a sweet truth. It'll make you a missionary and
make you care about other people. You know why I'm here? Because
I know God's got some people here. He's going to save them. And there are others coming.
We have some new ones here today that just came from the crack
house. And I can't see a big E on your forehead or a C, elect
or chosen, so I just have to preach the gospel to you and
the Holy Spirit will quicken the chosen. So what I'm doing
is, I'm sheep hunting. Here, sheepy, sheepy, sheepy.
I got food for sheep. You could have gone to a thousand
other churches today and never heard the doctrine of election.
But something's strange. You like that doctrine. It's
like sheep food. You know, you don't have a sophisticated
pastor. a great orator, you've got a
wild man. You've got crazy screaming, not
a fireside chatterer, not an administrator, not a counselor,
you've got a screamer on your hands. And it's crazy, you go, loose
him and let him go. Let him scream. You rag me on. God, look at you, you're aggin'
me up. I'm trying to quit and you circumvent it. I watch every Sunday some of
the folks coming from over Seneca that are not our people that
come over here. I watch them smile. I watch them rejoice and
beached off of our gospel here. They're not in our program. I'm
glad you're here. I was telling the first service,
most of you have heard this story, but I'll tell it one more time
until I get some new ones. I used to feed the chickens with
my tutty. Y'all wore out? When I was a kid, I'd go down
to Carlisle and I could feed the chickens. The first time
I fed the chickens, I told Tutty, I want to feed the old hens.
She said, okay. She shucked the corn in a bucket
and we went out to the chicken pen there. And I reached down
in there, and the hen saw us coming. You know how the old
hen does when she's very comfortable. She's used to my grandmother
coming out there. Those old hens would go, quack, quack, quack,
quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack. So I reached down
in that bucket. I got that corn out, and I let
them have it. Wham! They said, quack, quack, quack,
quack, quack, quack, quack. They went everywhere. Tutty said, that's not the way
you feed the chickens, Kenny boy. I said, Kenny boy, you reach
down in there real slow, and you drop it on the ground right
around your feet. Like this, she said. She goes,
kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick. Those old hens
I had scattered all over that pen began to talk back to her. And pretty soon, those chickens,
those hens, were eating the corn off my feet. What I want to do
is not throw the doctrine of election at you like a bad thing,
but to feed you the grace of God, where you don't run away,
but you... Let's stand and praise our God
together.