Seasons of Blessings
by Kevin Allen
October 24, 2021 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Deuteronomy 28:1-2, Psalms 1:1-3, 2 Timothy 1:7, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Psalms 5:12, Deuteronomy 28:2-6, Amos 3:3, 1 Samuel 8:11-13, 1 Samuel 16, 1 Samuel 16:11, Acts 2, John 3

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--seasons-of-blessings
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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It's Deuteronomy chapter 28. It's a very interesting chapter in the history of Israel, one that I find very inspiring to those of us who are trying to follow after God. It says in verse 1, "And now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all of his commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth." Listen to verse number two: "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God."

Psalms chapter one, verse number one, two, and three — one of my very favorite passages of scripture in all the Bible: "Blessed is the man who walks not on the council of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bring forth its fruit and its season, whose leaf also shall neither wither. And whatsoever he does shall prosper."

And for just a short few minutes today, I feel to preach on Seasons of Blessings. Seasons of blessings.

I'm not surprised that we have a deep move of God here today. Anytime that the church or individuals make a sacrifice and a commitment to God, God always follows in behind that with a move in our lives. Last Sunday was a commitment Sunday here, and many of us made commitments and pledges to the building from the church, where we wanted to continue to be a part of what God's doing here at this local church. But if I'm going to be real honest today — and I figured the church is a great place — I want everybody to know: I want to be blessed. I — I want to be blessed in my life. I need the blessings of the Lord in my life.

Now, we live in a culture, and we live in even a religious culture of the day, that has corrupted what blessings mean, because it always wants to attach dollar signs to blessings. The world we live in says that blessings have to be calculated out in — into a net gain or net worth: the house you live in, or the car you drive, or — or where you send your kids to school. But I want everybody to know today: all that stuff's going to burn. It's all going to burn. I'm not against it. But I'm going to tell you right now, that's not how I judge the blessings of God in my life, and I hope you don't either.

Now, I'm not ignorant. I realize that we are blessed with material things. We are one of the most blessed generations that has ever lived. We are one of the most prosperous generations that has ever been in the church. But there is one more important element I want to talk about today, and that's the blessings have gone a lot longer, a lot farther, than just the money in my bank account, of the house I live in. Those things are great, and they're nice, and I'm so thankful God has blessed me that way.

But II Timothy 1:7 says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and a sound mind." And I want you to know, ladies and gentlemen, that's a blessing. That's a blessing that money can't buy. That's a blessing that God can only give, that I have power in my life to speak to the things that try to control me, and to tell those things, you can't control me unless I allow you to control me. For my God has filled me with his spirit, and that spirit is an overcoming power that I live my life by. I don't have to put up with foolishness. I don't have to put up with your voice. I don't have to put up —

With you trying to control me. I can speak the name of Jesus, and I have the power to be an overcomer in this world that I live in. Oh, I wish somebody believe what I'm preaching right now. Then, more than money in my bank account, more than the car I got parked in my driveway, I have the ability to live an overcoming, powerful life. I have the ability to say, the depression, you have to be gone. My God promised me a sound mind.

I'm thankful for his blessing in my life. I want you to know today that we are blessed people. We are blessed. Look at your neighbor and say, "I'm blessed."

The word of God says in First Corinthians 10, "No temptation has overtaken you, except such is common to man. But God is faithful — God is faithful — who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able, but with every temptation make a way of escaping." Yes. I don't know what you're facing, but I know this: God already has an escape plan for you.

There's already an escape plan there. No matter the overwhelming circumstances you're up against right now, I promise you, with him there's a blessing of a way of escape, if you will be diligent in pursuing after him. No matter what you face, there's already an escape plan built into the process. With every temptation, there's already an escape plan built in to the temptation. What a blessing that is. What a blessed people we are.

God has looked down on you and said, "I'll never leave you, and I'll never forsake you. I'll never put more on you than you can bear." What a blessing that is, ladies and gentlemen. This world may not be able to measure it with a scale that they have, but I'm not worried about the world scales. I'm glad that our God has already tipped them in our favor. He's already said, you know what, I'm on your side. I'm going to be with you, no matter what you face and no matter what you go through. I want you to know, I'm there. I'm there with you, not just to be beside you, but so that you can overcome whatever it is you're facing in your life.

If you've been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, your sins have been forgiven. If you've been filled with the Holy Ghost — evidence is speaking of the tongues — you, friend, are a blessed individual. I don't know about you, but I love walking in those blessings in my life.

I love that Psalms chapter 5, verse number 12, says, "For you, O Lord, will bless the righteous. With favor you will surround him as with a shield." He protects us. I love that he goes before me, and I love that he comes around back behind me. I love that he stands with me. I love that he's above me, and I love that he's under me. I love that he is all around me.

I don't say this because I'm greedy. I want blessings in my life, because I need God's blessing and favor in my life. The good news is, today we have a God who delights in blessing his children.

My opening scripture is a beautiful word picture of the blessings that God has for his people. If you go back to Deuteronomy 28, verse number 2: "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you." Did you hear that? Did you hear that, that the blessings are not just there, but they're going to come up on you? They're coming around back behind you, even where you're not looking. They're sneaking up, and they're going to overrun you. Did you hear what I'm saying, that you can't outrun the blessings of God? "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Bless how you be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground, and the increase of your herds, and the increase of your cattle, and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall —

Be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed thou be when you come in, and bless how you be when you go out." We are blessed people. Oh, I don't know what you have facing right now, but I'm telling you, you need to realize you are a blessed individual, and that the blessings of God are something that you cannot outrun in your life. Somebody needs to grab a hold of what I'm saying today.

Oh, I'm not preaching a prosperity message. I'm against prosperity message. That's a doctrine straight out of the pit of hell. I'm not asking you to sow a seed, or to buy anything, or any of that stuff. I'm telling you right now: you are blessed. You are blessed because God loves you. You are blessed because he's already died for you. Are blessed because he's already taken care of the penalty of sin. And you are blessed because he's provided a way for you to have salvation. You are blessed because he comes along beside you. He couples with you. He partners on your side. He calls you his child. You have access to him. You are blessed.

See, this is where the world sometimes gets a little bit confused, because I'm not chasing after blessings. I'm chasing after Jesus. And when I chase after Jesus, his blessings chase after me. I'm not trying to chase down a blessing. I want to be blessed in my life, but my primary understanding and responsibility is, I'm chasing after Jesus. I'm chasing after the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We sing about him today. We sing about the power in the name. We saying about having the relationship with him. When I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, he comes behind me and chases me with blessings in my life. What a wonderful understanding and opportunity we have, but simply having a relationship with God.

You know, I — I like to jog. I like to be active. Last night I was sitting, and I had just been — the past couple days have been a lot of meetings. I've done a lot of speaking, different venues, and just hadn't been a very active person for the last couple days. So I was feeling like just a big old tub of lard, to be honest with you. And I told my wife, I said, I got to go do something to be active. I just feel like I need to move. So I had went out. It was about 7, 7:30, and I went outside and was walking. I got just to the end of the street I was on. All of a sudden, I heard something coming behind me. You ever — you ever been out like that and been dark? Like, it's amazing how spiritual we get in the dark, in it. I was walking, I was like, in Jesus' name.

Found out it was just a little neighbor's dog coming behind me. He's about to get punted, in Jesus' name. But you know that feeling when something's following you? I'm telling you, something's following you. Something's following you. It's called the blessings of God. It's following after you. It — it's going to overtake you on purpose. Maybe I'll buy in a minute. God wants you to know — want somebody to know today that if we will walk with him, you don't have to worry about something sneaking up on your back that's going to overrun you and put you down. He's already going to protect you. But what's coming up behind you — you may have some bouts of depression. You may have some lean time in your finances. You may have some episodes of sickness. But God wants you to know, he's got something chasing after you. He's got some stuff for you that's going to catch up with you and overtake you, and he calls it his blessings. "These signs shall follow them that believe."

We got a whole lot more things for us. So this isn't a time to be backing out or worried about how it's going to work out. I don't have it all worked —

Out in my life, but I have this worked out: my God is for me. My God is for me. The rest of it is the details. I'll let him worry out. All I got to do is stay maintained, focus on him, his word, and his command for my life. He'll take care of the rest.

And tell him, my message today is Seasons of Blessings. I'm going to start my message now. That's okay, baby. I only got seven pages.

I think we got a pretty good understanding of how blessings work in the natural world. If you want apples, you don't wander out to the apple tree at the end of February and pluck an apple. That would be frustrating. Now, if you went out there and you went to get the apple, and there's no apple, out of your anger and frustration it would do you no good to take an axe and cut down the tree. The reason there's no apple is because that's not the season for it to bear fruit. Okay. I want to talk about seasons of blessings. There are stages in our walk with God. There are seasons in our life, and these seasons bring specific types of blessings because of the season that we're in. But we have a responsibility and an obligation. God ordains these seasons.

Psalms 1, which I read to you, says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counts with ungodly, nor sin that standeth in the way of sinners, nor saith and see the scornful." And thinking about the scripture here — and I've thought about this before, even taught about it once before — it come back to my mind, these seasons that are there. See, I feel like this represents not simply one man's journey over the course of one day. But what I feel like the psalmist is writing here to us is that — that this is three sets of instructions for three different seasons in a man's life. The reason I say that is, I know I'm not the only one who's read this and noticed that the man consistently becomes less active as the verse goes on. He's walking, then he's standing, and then he's sitting. Maybe it's talking about the declining physical strength and activity level. Maybe this verse has given us a picture of a man who's aging in his walk with God. Maybe, just maybe, these are instructions for three different seasons of a man's life, and how that man or woman can be blessed in each season. So it's with this that I want to launch out and preach to you today, Seasons of Blessings.

Now, here's the deal: I'm not going to put you in a group. Some of you probably — but nervous thing, he's fixing to point us out. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to let you decide which group you're in. But I'm going to say this: you need to be honest with yourself. Honesty is a good thing. You're in church. It's a great place to be honest.

Now, when I look at this verse, I see that it — it starts off with the man who's walking, walking not in the counsel of the ungodly. I feel like this is the psalmist who's addressing the younger stages of life, the — the young generation, the walkers. They're strong, they're active, they're moving, they're participating. They have lots of energy and vitality. They're still about doing things and making up their mind about what they're going to do and where they're going to go and — and what they're going to accomplish in life. Being young and doing these things is normal in the season of life that you're in. For many of you in the room, you know full well what that season in life was like. You've already passed that season. But for this group that's predominantly sitting right here — the students in the room — I want you to let me speak to you for just a few minutes about walking not in the counsel of the ungodly. I want to make a very big public statement today. I'm —

Very grateful for the students, the young men and the young women of Center Point Apostolic Church. I thank God for your energy. I thank God for uh your wisdom that you're using, and the fact that you are living in a day and age and facing things that we didn't quite face when we were your age. Now, as Solomon said, there's nothing new under the sun. The types of temptations were the same, but the way it's being presented to you, ladies and gentlemen, is much different than when I was your age.

I want you to know today that I have confidence, and I believe in — in your ability. And I also believe in what you have already started and put in motion for the kingdom of God. You are the next generation of the church. And as pastor, I want you to know, I believe in you, and I'm so thankful for your dedication and devotion.

Please hear me, though: the word of God says that if you want blessings in your life, you need to be very aware of the voices that you're allowing to speak to you. "Blessed is the man that, when he is walking, he does not absorb the counsel of the ungodly." Not just any voice needs to be speaking into your life. You need to be very selective of who you allow to really speak into where you are in this stage of your life, because there's a lot of opinions that you're still forming on some things. You need to be careful that you put the right people in your life as you're forming these opinions. It's important. It's important. It's important. It's important. It's important whose voice you're listening to. It's important what you're allowing to be inside.

There's — there's some things and some voices that should never speak to you. There's some — some things — there's some — some music that has no business being on your iPhone. There are some things that you just should not be participating in. I don't care if the world says it's okay. I don't care if the friends around school says it's okay and they — they make it such a big deal. It doesn't matter. There's just some things that you should not allow to penetrate the mind and the spirit that is there. There's some voices you need to silence. Just because someone that says it's good — just someone has posted it on some kind of social media — and I'm not even going to try to pretend I know what they all are. I do good to navigate the one or two that I'm on, when I'm ever on there. But I know they're out there. But just because somebody's able to put together something snazzy doesn't mean that that's something that automatically that buys them the ability to speak into your life. I don't care how many followers they have. I don't care how much influence they have in the world. Are they being obedient to the scriptures? Are they following and having a relationship with God, a true relationship? That's what I want to know.

You got to be very, very careful with the voices that you allow into your life. Do you want to be blessed? I'm going to try that again. You guys got to help me, because eventually I'm getting to the sitters, okay? And they're hardly hearing, okay? So, do you want to be blessed? Yes. Good. Yes. You want to be blessed? Do you want the blessings of God in your life? Yes. Do you want his hand to favor in your life? Yes, you do. If you're able to do something great for God — and I know you can do something great for God — it's going to be because — not because you have the best personality, the most talent, is because you have a relationship with him. Because you have a relationship. If you want to be blessed, you're going to have to make a covenant with your ears and with your eyes. You're going to have to make a covenant and with some things that you're not going to allow in to —

Pay no attention to, because — because they don't give you any good, godly counsel. There has to be absolutely a — a — a line that you draw in the sand and say, no matter what, I will not cross over this line. I'm not going to go on that side of the fence that I put up in my life. Most of you are already old enough to — that Mom and Dad may come down hard on you, and you may be compliant for a moment, but inside you're standing up. I'm telling you, it's that kind of thing you're going to have to face and fight and — and get the ability to conquer in your life, because it will be something that will cause you to stumble for a long time.

There are some issues that you guys are working through right now that you just need to settle. You need to have somebody in your life who has a right relationship with God that can help you work through these situations and circumstances, as you begin to face them. Because there's a lot of noise outside the church walls. There's a lot of voices outside these church walls. There's a lot of influence outside these walls, and some of it's painted up really good to look like it's Christian. But I promise you, it's not Christian. It's not directly from God's word. It's skewed by man. It has a spin on it. It has influence on it. And some of it is directly from the pit of hell, trying to get you to unfollow what God has said, I want you to follow, in my life.

I started off by telling you: the blessings come by being obedient to God's commands in your life. There's some things that you just don't need to do. You don't need to pay attention to. There's — there — there's some things that you have to separate yourself from. There's some people that you have to separate from yourself from. But if you're going to be blessed in your life and highly favored, it's worth the price you pay.

In my own life, when I was getting myself where I needed to be, and was — was — was trying to dedicate myself into what I felt like God was calling me to do, there were some friendships I had to end. And it was hard, and it was difficult, because they were good friends and they were close to me. But they were not giving me a positive, uh — they were not being a positive impact in my life. Instead, they were being a negative. They were pulling me away. They'd be saying, "Well, Pastor Kevin, I know you're going to say that. Dear, you're an older guy. You've got — you've got your kids in youth group." And I'm telling you — I'm telling you from personal experience, I didn't do everything right. And if I can save you from falling in some of the pitfalls that I — that I fail, and if I can save you from some of the struggles that I struggled with, that I started in my teens and carried into my 20s, even lapped over sometimes into my 30s — I'm trying to save you from making some of those same mistakes. Because I allowed some ungodly counsel to have influence in my life, when I should have silenced some voices, and I didn't silence the voice. I wish I would have understood Psalms chapter one, verse number one, better: that there's some things that I don't need to allow in my life. There's some things I shouldn't be walking with in my life. I should separate myself from, because it's going to cause me some heartache and some pain in the years to come.

Listen to me, students: you have to be extremely careful with what voices you allow to speak to you. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm sick to death of watching our young men and young women be taught our foundational points, and having a place in our life to have some kind of doctrinal misfit show up and tear down everything that we've instructed and put —

Inside of you. I'm going to tell you right now, ladies and gentlemen, I have seen, in my years of ministry, people who — who were taught what thus saith the word of God. They were taught Apostolic principles. And somebody came along and began to whisper in their ear, and started saying, is it really necessary? Listen to me: if you have somebody come into your life and they start whispering, is it really necessary, you need to let this go off as something, as an alarm, inside your mind. That the very thing that started the downfall of mankind was the enemy, the serpent in the garden, who was saying, is that what he really said? Any time you start hearing those questions, I promise you, it's a voice from the pit of hell. I don't care how kind it is. I don't care how sweet it sounds. Underlying what's going on in there is the enemy trying to cause you to question what you've been taught in your life. And what that does is, it causes foundational cracks to happen in what you're trying to build your life on.

I'm telling you, I would only preach you what the word of God says. I hope I've earned your trust at some point. I hope Pastor Wesley and Pastor Taylor have earned your trust enough at this point, for you to understand we're going to bring you solid principles. It may sound like it's counter-cultural, but guess what? It's counter-cultural on purpose, because the world doesn't embrace the word of God. It runs from it as hard as it can. That's why you need a man or a woman in your life who you can trust, to say, this is what the word of God says. And if you're going to be blessed — if you're going to be blessed — if you want a blessed life, you gotta build on the word of God.

I want you to know: you guys are still walking. You're still trying to found your foundational points. You're establishing some things. But I want you know, your desires for blessings should be greater than your desire to be entertained. Your desire for blessing should be greater than your desire to be entertained. Your desire to be blessed should be greater than your desire to fit into the world. Your desire to be blessed should be greater than being popular. This is the wrong season of life to have ungodly voices around you. "But Pastor Kevin, they won't influence me." Don't tell me that. Amos 3 and 3 says, "Can two walk together, unless they agree?" Don't tell me — don't tell me you can do that, because what you say you can do, the word of God says is impossible. If you walk with them long enough, you're going to start thinking like them. If you start thinking like them, you start living like them.

You have the power and the potential inside of you. Look at me. Look at me. You guys are going to do greater things than I've ever dreamed of in my life. We're in the last days of the church, the latter rain. You guys are there. You're going to be the ones with your hands on the plow. And I promise you, I'm going to stand on the sidelines and be the biggest cheerleader you've ever said, because, you know, my energy's going to come to an end at some point. I got to move on to my stage. But for what time I have, and for what ability you give my voice in your — in your mind and in your spirit, I'm going to tell you: don't listen to the ungodly voices. Be sure you're careful, well, who you allow to have influence in your life. Don't — don't — don't be walking with the ungodly, if you desire to be blessed.

You got to make some declarations. If you want to be blessed, you got to make some strong commitments. One of the biggest reasons I'm — I'm standing here today is because I had to turn away some voices. Because you cannot walk in the counsel of the ungodly, as —

A church. Can we just pray for our students right now? God, I know they face overwhelming pressures in their life, things that I didn't have to deal with. So much bombardment from our culture, trying to conform them into what it wants them to be. Lot, I pray your heads around about our students right now. Oh God, I pray protection over them, over their mind, Lord, that they would limit the ungodly voices around them. Lord, I pray that you draw in close to them, Jesus, in your name.

To the standers: the word of God says, "Nor standeth in the way of sinners." To the middle-aged men and women here today. Here we are. Some points — I — it's hard for me to believe that 45 years has went by so quick. We're no longer moving as good as we used to. Now, I'm every bit the athlete in my mind I ever was, but I've reached the point to where my mind writes checks my body can't cash. The thing with this group is, we're still standing. Now, we've — we've settled some stuff. We're settled in. We've established a few things. It's — it said this group, that the psalmist writes, to be careful what you stand for. It says, don't stand in the way of sinners. Because, ladies and gentlemen, everybody stands for something. Every life shows what it stands for. And please, if you're going to stand for something, stand for righteousness. Stand for righteousness. Make sure you stand for this doctrine, for this truth that has been invested in you.

We're raising families, and I want my family to be blessed. I want my wife. I want my children. I want them to be blessed. And if we want that — that blessing in our life, we have to have righteousness. We have to stand for something that is true, that has stood the test of time. I'm not trying to be hard-nosed. I'm trying to raise my family in a world that's lost its mind. This world is crazy. I'm not at home here. This is not my home. I'm just passing through. And I hope I'm speaking to some more middle-aged people in his life. I hope you haven't grown comfortable living in Babylon, because that's not what we're called to be. We're just supposed to be here. We're sojourners. We're heading to somewhere else. Terry Freeman, this ain't my home. This is — this place is nuts, and it's getting crazier by the minute around here. I don't know about you, but I'm starting to pack stuff up. I don't want to be here anymore. The Lord can come back at any time. Never in my life have I prayed the prayer, Lord, come quickly. Oh, ever so, come quickly, Lord.

What's wrong with this? The enemy's coming, and he's sowing all kinds of seeds of confusion and identity crisis everywhere he goes. People confused about who they are, on — on — on — on record scale levels, all across the board. They don't know who they are. The enemy's sowing seeds of confusion, to try to get them to — to look at the Creator and say, you've made me wrong. You've made me wrong. Confusion and what my desires are. Confusion and who I am, even on a genetic level. To look at it on paper and read it, it's uh — it's — it's utter lunacy. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. But the culture is buying in wholesale, and it's pushing an agenda from the very pit of hell, everywhere we go. And it doesn't even matter, because you can't even escape to the world of Christianity, because Christianity has lost its mind too. Some denominations laying down everything, because they're grasping for straws just to have people show up. Last time I checked, there's nothing in the word of God that said that we had to meet a certain number quota. It said, go and make disciples. He said, go and make disciples. When I read the word of God, it says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. You won't question my commandments. You won't alter my commandments. You won't try to —

Twist my commandments to be something that it was never intended to be. But we're living in a world that's doing all those things. It's trying to alter what God has already established. I'm here to tell you, the word of God isn't going to change. They may misprint it, but it has not changed its purpose or its meaning. His word is forever settled. Every dot, every line, every comma, it is there for a reason, and you can build your life on it.

And I'm talking to you standards here in the room: if you want your life to be blessed, you better put the word of God inside of you, and then build your life, build your family, around it. In this world, if we want to be blessed, we got to stand for righteousness. I'm not trying to be ugly today. But I want you to know: I want to be blessed. I want my wife blessed. I want my girls blessed. I want to have a blessed life. Therefore, there's some things I got to stand for. I'm going to plant my feet on truth, and I'm not backing down. I'm not wavering. I don't know what the future holds for me. I don't know what they're going to do. I don't know what point — they may not come in that back door right there, and they may haul me off in handcuffs. I'm not asking for it. I sure don't desire those things. But I've made a stand. I will preach Apostolic truth as long as there's air inside of my lungs. As long as I have the ability to stand here, I'm not wavering off this. You guys may get mad at me as a church. Y'all may decide to vote me out of office one day. That'll be okay. But I promise you, I'll be sad in a moment. But I'll still stand on truth. And anybody else that wants to stand with me will hold hands, arm and arm, because I know this: I can build my life on the word of God, and then it's all said and done. I'm going to be asked and judged by this book. Not by your opinion. Not by the world's opinion. Not by our government's opinion. We've seen this play out in scripture before.

Y'all okay? Wow, I've already talked a long time.

Israel cried out, "We want a king." "You don't want a king." "We want a king." "You don't want a king." "We want a king." "I'm telling you, you don't want a king." "We want a king." "Why do you want to king? Everybody else got a king." "Well, just because everybody else jumps off the bridge, does that mean you got to jump off the bridge too?" You're welcome, Mom. Everybody else has a king. I want to be like everybody else. What could be wrong with a king? And the prophet stands up and says, "I'll tell you what's wrong." First Samuel chapter 8, verse 11: "This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots, to be his horsemen, and some to run before his shirts. He will appoint captains over thousands, of captains over 50s. Will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, and cooks, and bakers."

Listen to me, standards: if you insist on being more and more like the world around you, the price will be extracted from your children. You decide you want to be like the world — if you decide that, then your parents, they were there a little too hard lying on some things. They were — they were a little too strict on some things. They were a little — they were a little bit too — we're going to ease up on some stuff. I'm telling you, if you start moving towards the world, the price will be extracted from your children. You got to stand for something in this world. You're —

Going to be pushed into a corner. I'm telling you, the pressure's coming. You're going to be pushed into a corner to make a declaration, and you'll either conform, or you'll be labeled as someone who's a non-conformist. Tell me, there's a generation that's dying on the vine because Mom and Dad are refusing to stand for something.

I want to be blessed. And maybe you're saying, "Well, Pastor Cameron, why do we got to stand?" I'll answer your question, because it's a good one. You can find the answer in First Samuel 16. "Samuel said to Jesse, 'Are all the young men here?' Then he said, 'There remains yet the youngest, and there is he who is keeping the sheep.' And Samuel said to Jesse, 'Sin and bring for him, for we will not sit down until he comes.'" The reason we got to stand is because there's a king coming. There's a king coming. Listen to me, Mom and Dad. Listen to me, standards. Listen to me, my generation: we have to stand, because there's a king who's coming, and he's looking for somebody who's standing in his presence. I'm not going to cow down. I'm not going to waver. I'm not going to back down from this stuff. I don't care what they say about me. I don't care what you say about me. I'm going to build my life on truth. And as long as I have influence in my daughter's life, I'm going to push them to build their life on truth too. Because there's a king coming. There's a king coming. There's a king coming. And we've got to stand until the king comes.

We're going to stand for Acts 2 and John 3. We're going to stand for wholeness and separation from this world. We're going to stand for distinction of sexes. We're going to stand that it's all right to be a virgin when you get married. I don't care what the world says about it. I don't care. We're going to stand for truth.

"Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." To the sitters in the room today: they don't walk so good anymore. In fact, sometimes just standing makes them a little bit tired. Life's not over. No, not by a long shot. And their usefulness is nowhere near being passed. Their wisdom and their counsel is beyond estimation. Today, I want all the elders in this church to know how much we love you, and how much we appreciate the examples and the life that you live, the sacrifices that you have made. We would not be here, if it were not for you. We would not be here.

Some people, they've only known the comfort and convenience of — of — of a church like this, or maybe it's a little bit smaller. They don't know that the time that was spent. They don't know the sacrifice. They don't — you know, we live in a day and age when it's cool if you're a tongue talker. But for you sitters in the room, you know you grew up in an era where that was not the case. They made fun of you. They called you holy voters. They threw tomatoes at you. You were on the other side of the tracks. There was no — there was no means when you came in. But you showed us. You showed us how we could stick to it. You showed us how we could persevere, how we could endure. You showed us how that we could make a marriage work for the lifetime. You — you showed us this. You — you showed us how we could stand true in a world that's lost its mind and gone crazy. So to the elders, I tell you, thank you for what you've done. Thank you for the life you've lived. Thank you for staying committed. Thank you for setting an example. Thank you for blazing a path and cutting out a trail. We enjoy what we enjoy today because your generation stuck to it.

But you got to be careful. Psalmist speaks to you as well. Because when you've reached this season of —

Life, it's easy to become scornful. It's easy in the latter years to become negative, and critical, and judgmental, to see all the faults in the generation that's coming behind you, and question their commitment and their faithfulness. Seems only natural to dislike change, because, after all, we got here doing it this way. Why are we changing? I want to step out, and hope you don't hate me for this statement, but I don't see tambourines, songbooks, and accordions making a comeback. I don't mean that bad. I just — it worked the day when it was there. It did. It did. We're not changing our message. You still got to repent. You still got to be baptized in Jesus' name. You still got to be filled with his spirit. You still got to live an overcoming life. We — we — we believe this. We — we're not — we're not wavering on those things.

But be careful, my sitters in the room. Be careful, elder, that you don't sit and become judgmental. Just remember, the generation before you didn't like your music either. No, no. I'm 45. I'm not old, but I'm not young. Chances are, I'm not going to double my age. I like to eat too much bad stuff. I'm trying. I — I try to exercise. I try to take care of myself. But I'll be honest with you: some of this — some of this new music, I don't get. I don't get it. I'm never gonna get it. It doesn't make sense to me. But they get it. And this is what happens. Please listen to me, sitters, all right? They have every opportunity to be entertained outside these church walls. But they choose to come in here and sing songs to God, whether I like it or not. They're singing songs to God. They're worshiping him. And there's something inside of me that's willing to say, it's not my favorite. But what is my favorite is when I watch these young people come up here in this front, and they begin to worship, and they begin to praise, and they begin to dance around. There's something about that. I may not like the song myself, but I sure do like what I see down here. I sure do like the results on the other side. So I'm willing to make a few concessions, if — please be careful. Please understand me, elder: we need you.

The past few years, we — we've lost some precious, dear saints in our church, and it's hurt. And I'm thankful for those examples that are there. But for those you who are still here, we need you. We need you. We need you to encourage us. Sister Joyce, we need you to tell us it's gonna be okay, that just because the world's gone crazy, he's still a good God, and he'll get us through. And I need you to tell me that. I need you. I need you, Jim Vincent, Judy Benson. I need you, Jack Taylor. I need you to tell me, hey, it's gonna be okay, son. You're gonna get through. I need you. I need your elders to encourage us, to keep us going, to tell us it's going to be okay, that — that he's going to make us through. We need you. So please, please, please don't become scornful in this season of your life.

To you walkers: be sure you know who you're allowing to influence you. To us standers: we got to stand for righteousness in a world that's gone crazy. And to you sitters: please cheer us on. Please cheers on. Because it takes all of us to make it. That's what makes the church beautiful. It's just not just a generation. It's multiple generations coming through, that we — we can draw from each other. We can draw from our experiences. We can draw from where we're at. And we — we're there to encourage, to help. We — we look at the young, and we're like, oh, to be young again, to have that energy. And we look at the elders, and say, oh, you've made it. You set an example. And we're standing for stuff —

And here's — here's what I feel in my spirit to do, as I end this message, is I would like to do this, if it's okay, and if you guys are comfortable, if you'll just — if it's okay to do this. I feel like God's fixing to do something. If I could — could I get — can I get — if you — if you — if you qualify, I'm gonna let you qualify yourself. But if you qualify as a sitter, could you — could you come down here to this altar area? If you got somebody around there that can help you, and look around. It's the ground. But you qualify as a sitter. I'm not gonna qualify you, but I need your brother more. I'm gonna go ahead and qualify you. You're a sitter. I need you to quit sitting and walk down here. You and Sister Moore, will you come down here? Jimmy. Judy Benson, you're — you're a sitter now. Get up. Come on down. Come on. Come on, sitters. Come on, dude. I need you down here. Come on, sitters, come. Just spread out, all right? I want you to turn towards the crowd, but spread out just right here. Give it a little space. You don't have to all stand right — I'm not signing you up for Amway or anything. You guys understand that joke? Yeah, yeah. I'm not rushing you. I know it takes a little while. Just — just make a line right here. Just making — like, spread out a little bit, cause you're gonna do — you're gonna do something great. There you go. You're gonna do something great. There we go.

Now, here's what I want: I want all you walkers right here. I want you to come up here and get one of these elders to pray for you. Come on. Come on. Come on, pile in here. You got a bunch. You're gonna be — we're gonna be multiple deep now. I don't want y'all to be nervous at all, okay? It's not you. God's gonna use you. It's not you. Come on. Come on. Spread out, guys. Let's go on all the way around here. This is beautiful. This is beautiful. Come on. Come on. Get over here. Get in. From — all right.

Here's what I want to do. We're not going to start yet. Sister Kennedy, she's an overachiever. She's already started praying. Let's wait just a minute. Wait just a minute, okay? Gotta listen to my instructions. Now, I need my standards. I want you to come. We gotta — we got to get behind them. We're standing for righteousness. Come on, standers, get behind them, right there. Come on, pile in here. Come on, just them for a minute. People can pack out a goofy football stadium, or watch a bunch of baseball players, and act like an idiot. Surely we can come down here for just a few minutes and encourage a couple of generations. Yeah. Come on. Come on. Come on, you guys, play something. There we go.

Here's what I want: I want you setter — you sitters, listen to me real quick. I want you to pray that those walkers will limit the influence in their life, that they'll have godly voices, that they'll have the ability to navigate through the craziness of this world right now. Okay? You guys can go ahead and start praying for them. Standers, you pray heads of protection around what's going on right here, because there's a transference is taking place. Jesus, God, you see these generations that are represented here. God, you know exactly what's taking place in this moment right now. Lord, I pray that these elders, as they're praying for the influence in this world today to be limited in these young people's lives — God, I know I see future pastors and missionaries, Sunday school teachers —