Living Next Door To Heaven

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon's captions — published in summary form; watch the full sermon at the source.

Two lawyers, two passages

The cut opens with him already at the desk, giving out his texts: "I pray that you would find two passages of God's holy word. Remain standing, turning to the book of Luke, the 10th chapter, verses 25-29, and secondly, Matthew, the 22nd chapter, verses 35-40. And in your turning, quickly, I am astounded at this incredible crowd of people that have traveled to this Jackson Convention Center. And I think you ought to give yourselves a hand for making an effort to be in the presence of the Lord tonight. Come on. Anybody was glad when they said unto me, 'Let us go into the house'? We thank this facility for allowing us to break the norm of this building and convert it into a sanctuary. And we are eternally thankful for the passion of this host pastor, Pastor Robinson, Sister Robinson, their family, Brother Parks, the entire New Bethel church that have put effort and exasperated energy into this conference. I think we ought to give them thanks and appreciation. All the ministers, we appreciate you. As I was backstage listening to them sing — I promise you, if I could sing, I would not be preaching tonight. If I could sing like Brother Mark Crowder, I would sing before the preaching, during the preaching, after the preaching. And that's why God ain't going to let me sing. Anybody thank God for anointed singers? Brother Donnie Bright — these gifted musicians. I'm going to start calling him Dangerous Donnie, because it gets dangerous real quick. Anybody believe the devil's in trouble? Come on. God's exalted. The devil's defeated. Anybody believe that this is the greatest generation this earth has ever seen? Thank God for my family that are here. Among them, my parents are in the building. My amazing wife and our two, soon to be three, miracle boys. I'm so thankful for the grace of God being so kind to me, and I'm humbled to be in this desk tonight. These two passages I have brought to your bosom tonight, I pray, would transform the way you look at God. Jesus is ministering and dealing with the adversaries of Pharisees, scribes, and the astute attorneys of the day that we know as lawyers. The Bible says that a lawyer stood up — Luke 10:25, to be exact — stood up, and tempting Jesus. How could he be a lawyer if he broke one of the laws? 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.' Tempting Jesus, saying, 'Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' Anybody still want to make it to heaven in the house? Come on. Anybody still want to see the face of Jesus in the sanctuary? 'What must I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said, 'What is written in the law? How readest thou? What did you read in the law?' And he, answering him through his learning, scholastically: 'Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.' And somebody shout: and thy neighbor. Thank God for that word to last night — Brother Fish preaching about loving your brother. Anybody love your brother in the house? Come on. Any good sisters? Love your sisters in the house. But God wants to bring us beyond the borders of brothers and sisters. Love thy neighbor. Somebody shout: thy neighbor. 'Thy neighbor as thyself.' Jesus said, 'Thou hast answered right. This do.' That young lawyer, willing to justify himself — 'God, I've served You with all my heart, all my strength, all my might. But that neighbor stuff...' Him, willing to justify himself — I'm going to preach to somebody tonight — him, willing to justify himself, he said, 'Who is my neighbor?' Matthew 22 — I'm hurrying quickly as I can. Another lawyer stood tempting Jesus, asking also a great, profound question: 'Jesus, what is the greatest commandment?' And Jesus — verse 35 — Jesus said, 'The greatest commandment is that thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart.' Anybody love Him with all your heart? 'Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.' He said, 'This is the first and great commandment.' But Jesus said — I wish somebody would hear me all the way at the back — but Jesus said, loving the Lord with all thy heart, all thy soul, all thy mind, all thy strength — we're in the 30s, ladies and gentlemen — He said, 'And you shall also understand that the second law is like unto the first: you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.' God, help us tonight in Your holy presence. You need to love your neighbor. I wish you would reach over and say, 'Who is my neighbor?' Reach over to your neighbor: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' He said, 'These two laws — on these two laws hang all the laws of the prophets.' With the help of God, tonight I want to tell somebody that our convictions mean nothing if you don't have a conviction about loving people that are lost. And I know you love God. Anybody wave your hand if you love God in the house. I know you love God. You wouldn't be here worshiping Him, praising Him, praying to Him. But Jesus said that the second law is just as profound as the first. I wonder if you can reach over, where it's appropriate — we're not just going to pray to God, we're going to pray with our neighbor. Father — I wonder if we can begin to pray like you believe in the spirit of intercession, and let your voice ring in this convention center. Somebody pray unto the Lord: 'Lord, God, I don't want to just make it to heaven, Lord. But Lord, help me, God, to love my neighbor enough to live a life that would help somebody else see Your face.' Come on, somebody pray like there's a backsliding young man in your youth group right now. Come on, somebody pray like there's a young person that's battling suicidal thoughts, and you ought to let them know: come on, God loves you too much to quit on you. Come on, God created you perfectly in His image and in His likeness. And we don't just love the Lord, but you ought to love your neighbor just as much. Somebody ought to pray like your neighbor needs the Lord. God, I pray that You would baptize us with a pure conviction, God, that You would lace my lips, God, with words from Your throne room to speak unto Your children. Somebody clap your hands like you love the Lord — and clap your hands like you want your neighbor to see the Lord too. Tonight, with the help of God, I want to preach from this: Start Living Next Door to Heaven. God bless you in the fear of the Lord tonight. You may be seated. Somebody shout, 'Who is my neighbor?'"

Scriptures: Luke 10:25-29; Matthew 22:35-40

One God — and it's all or nothing

"There is no greater revelation than the revelation of the mighty God in whom we call Christ Jesus. That the angels beheld His glory. That the earth received Him and recognized that He is the Messiah that was prophesied of the men of old. God manifested Himself in flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld that great glory. But that great glory first appeared unto Adam, and then to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And every child that was born among the remnant of the Hebrews heard the Shema of this mighty God from the time that their ears could hear: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD —' I wish somebody would thank God for that revelation. 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God — our God, your God, my God — our God is one. Our Lord is one. And thou shalt love Him with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might, and with all thy strength.' He was trying to profess to His people — as I've already tried to articulate among this group of young people — it's one thing to recognize Him as God, but it's a whole nother thing to worship Him as God. It's one thing to recognize Him as the one true and living God. But ladies and gentlemen, God's not just asking us to recognize Him as God. But He said, once you have recognized the authority of My nature, the majesticness of My power — He said, 'I am El Shaddai, Elohim, Adonai, the God that was, and is, and is to come. And when you recognize that I was what I was, and I am who I am, and I am who I always will be — when you recognize that there is no beginning — somebody ain't standing up yet — when you recognize that there is no beginning and no ending. I'm eternal. I'm everlasting — He said, you ought to give Me a praise and an incense that keeps going, and going up to the— I wish somebody would worship God like you believe there's still one Lord and one faith and one baptism, and one God and Father of all that's above all. Come on. If you recognize Him as God, you wouldn't reserve to worship for anybody else. If you recognize Him as the one true Holy One, you would clap your hands with all your— Somebody ought to clap them a whole lot, wholeheartedly. With all my heart, with all my soul, with all my might, with all— Somebody ought to run it out right about now. Come on. There's no reservation with the one great Redeemer. He is God Almighty. Somebody ought to let this building ring with your voice right now. Oh, He is God Almighty. Come on. I said, I feel something breaking right now. Come on. You want to throw your head back and give Him the best cry you've given Him all night. Come on. You don't have to stop until I get to my next point. You can worship Him, because He is the point. Come on. Take about 30 more seconds. I feel a loosening right now. The same God that descended down from glory put a handful of His Holy Spirit — and we have this treasure in an earthen vessel here. Oh, Israel, the LORD our God is one. I wonder if we can just lift our hands right now and recognize Him. Come on. I pray — I preach and I pray against every spirit of deception about the triune nature of God. There is no triune nature. With His voice, when a pillar, when a cloud, when a bush of fire — He chooses to express Himself in any way He pleases. Oh, but He's still one. Oh, but He's still one. Anybody still on board? And Jesus tried to drive this into the spirits of His people, that I don't want no halfway holy stuff. I wish I had some Holy Ghost-filled Apostolics in the house preaching with me. I don't want no halfway, hypocritical holy stuff. If you're going to be holy, you've got to do the whole thing. If you're going to be righteous, you've got to do the right thing. If you're going to be in communion with the Holy God, there ain't no halfway of walking. It's all or nothing. It's all your heart, or nothing. It's all your might. It's all your soul, or nothing. And then Jesus, ministering to this man that tried to ask the great inquisition that we all asking: 'What must I do to inherit eternal life?' Anybody still want to make it to heaven in the house? 'What must I do to make it to the throne of the Savior?' And Jesus said, 'What have you read about that Savior, that God?' And he said, 'I read that you ought to love Him with all your heart, with all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' He said, 'I also read that you should love your neighbor.' Somebody shout: your neighbor. Neighbor. Come on, say it again, with some conviction. Your neighbor. Neighbor. You should love your neighbor just as much as you love yourself. And Jesus said, 'Correct, you spoken right.' But something in his spirit was self-centered and self-aggrandizing, that he said, 'I love the Lord with all my heart, and I worship Him, and I don't hold back. I run the aisles and I dance with the best of them. I do not hold back from God.' He said, 'But if I'm going to love my neighbor, who might I, pray tell, you are talking about?' I just want you to hold on a little bit longer. God's about to help you know who your neighbor is."

Half dead means half alive

"'Who is my neighbor?' Because of this question, Jesus begins to synergistically begin to speak from a parable that we all know. And I won't spend the time to even delve into it: the parable of a good Samaritan. That the priest, and the Levite, and a man that was not even considered to be in the breeding — the breeding of the blood and the body of this one God, in the remnant of the holy, righteous ones — the Samaritan man. These three people all had the opportunity to look upon the wounds of a hurting man, and to see him not as half dead, but to look at him with potential — that if he's half dead, with the love and the lens of God, that means he's half alive. Oh, I wish somebody would hear me in the house. I said, a halfway-backslid young person is halfway alive. Oh, I wish somebody would help me right now. I said, I know it looks like they're on the way out the door. But they didn't cross the threshold yet. There's still a chance. There's still time for the neighbor to be made. I wish somebody would shout like you love your neighbor. Oh God, help Your servant right now. He still have life. And Jesus began to talk about the thieves — the thieves that beat him, stripped him of his remain, leaving him half dead. And Jesus said, 'Who do you suppose was his neighbor?' The question was not so much who was his neighbor. But ladies and gentlemen, the question in reality was: who recognized that if I don't do something, this man will not make it? Oh God, I pray You would help this generation. The question was not whether I'm his neighbor or not. The answer in this question was the fact that Jesus said: you are the neighbor to whoever you go by, that needs your help, and you can do something about it. Oh, I wish somebody that's got the Holy Ghost would help me right now. I said, this joy I have, the world didn't give it, and the world can't take it. But it was never meant for the world not to have it. I need about 125 more to help me. I said, this holy God from heaven that filled me with His Spirit did not choose for me to keep it to myself. Come on, somebody ought to shout like you thank God for His Spirit. Come on. I wish somebody would really thank God for His Spirit. Somebody shout: neighbor. Jesus tried to drill to him that your neighbor — your neighbor might just be that young lady that's sitting in the coffee shop by herself. And instead of the other young ladies attacking her because she don't have the clothes that you— God, I wish somebody would hear me — and she don't have friends. He said, that young girl could use somebody loving on her. Can I just preach to somebody? I'm so done with being polished. But can I tell somebody that if you're going to love your neighbor, you can't laugh at people battling the spirit of lesbianism. I said, just because they're dying their hair and piercing their face, and they've got — come on — and they've got hard times: they might not have the parents you have. And they might not have the gospel you got. And they might not have that Book that's been bartered into your heart. If you love your neighbor, you will love them like Jesus. Like Jesus. Like Jesus loved. Oh, I wish I had somebody else helping me in the house. You got to understand that loving your neighbor was so profound that Jesus said, 'Not only do I want you to love your neighbor — I also do not want you to covet them.' It's all right if I'll take my time just a few more minutes. He said, 'If you're going to really love your neighbor, you've got to love them so much that you do not even covet what they have, what they walk in, and how they live.' He said, 'You must understand something about the creation that I have made: you cannot love God if you do not love His creatures.' Come on. I wish somebody would help me on a Friday night. I said, they may not look like you, go to the same school as you, have the same education as you, live in the same neighborhood. And you — come on. You said you love God. I'm talking about the second law. He said, 'Because if a generation and a remnant of people that love God do not covet their neighbor...' Because covetousness — covetousness is a spirit that offsprings from being ungrateful. If you're ungrateful for the truth that God gave you, you will start thinking that being free under the bondage of sin is a better life to live. If you're not thankful for that Holy Ghost God gave you, and the purity of His presence for you to walk in His holiness, you will start looking at the young people at your school and start saying, 'I wish I can dress like them, and I wish I can go where they go, and I wish they — I can do—' I'm preaching to somebody. 'I wish I can do what they do.' But if you only follow them home, when they cut off the lights and start cutting themselves, because they're depressed and don't have the spirit of dominion that God gave you — you would know that they wish they could be like you. Come on. While you're coveting them, they're coveting you, and saying: 'There's something about her. I don't know what it is. But how can she come to the front by herself? There's something hungry. There's something holy. There's something saying, I love God.' I wish somebody would worship God all across the house right now. Can I preach for some young people way at the back somewhere? Before you start complaining and thinking that your youth pastor and your parents are too hard on you, you think about that young lady that's trying to go to church, and her parents are not in church. Come on. Before you start coming and saying, 'I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish my parents wasn't like that' — you better thank God your parents are praying like that. You better thank God they're saying, 'We ain't missing church tonight.' Come on. Tell it to them by the way. Tell it to them when they lie down: 'We love God with all our heart, and we don't skip midweek. We love — we love God with all our heart, and we're going to pray.' I'm hurrying. He said, 'Don't despise — don't — I don't want you to despise your neighbor.' I'm hurrying here, and — Brother Donnie, come help me. Don't — don't make it dangerous. We already talked. I said, 'Brother Donnie, I want you to follow the Holy Ghost.' Proverbs 14 tells us that 'he that despiseth his neighbor' — he that despiseth his neighbor. And you think gossiping about that young man ain't doing you no harm is doing more harm than you think it is. You think sending pictures in the DMs and laughing ain't hurting nobody is doing more damage to you than you think it is. Because how could you love God, Whom you have not seen, and you hate your brother and your neighbor whom you see every day? Ladies and gentlemen, I feel a shift in right now. That word 'despise' should scare you. 'He that despiseth his neighbor' is not just a bad neighbor. He's actually fallen into sin. I prayed tonight. I said, 'Lord, help me to lace my words with Your love.' God, I pray — I pray that You would open up the cavern of my heart and pour in holy compassion. I'm getting somewhere. I wish somebody would still hear me in the house, because that word 'despise,' in the Hebrew, is so powerful. The word bazah means to treat as something is worthless. The truth of the matter is, this man that came to Jesus that said, 'What must I—' Somebody shout: I. I. Me. Somebody shout: me. Me. Me. And did I mention me? I would to God that we would stop having pity-party prayer meetings at youth conferences, where the only person you come praying and crying about is you. When God filled you with the Holy Ghost — and there's a young man in your group that showed up tonight, and he still don't have it — but before you weep out to God, you ought to grab him by the neck and say, 'We're not leaving this altar until you're filled with the power.' Somebody lift your hands in the house right now. I feel the Lord breathing over this room. Come on, lift your hands. I feel something about to break in this room. Come on. God forbid that we have a selfie, selfish generation that do not know how to intercede on behalf of a soul that's so far from God. Oh God. You wouldn't complain about standards if you knew your neighbor was living without them. You wouldn't gripe about the grace that God has given you if you knew that your neighbor don't even know what grace feels like."

Scriptures: Proverbs 14:21

Crumbs — Lazarus at the gate

"There's a passage in the Scriptures — I'm wrapping it up here, about 35 minutes — that through the lens of this lawyer, my heart has been so stirred, because I can't see it no other way. The Bible begins to fast forward six chapters later from that conversation with the lawyer. Am I boring anybody tonight? Fast forward six chapters later from the lawyer — Brother Harris — the Bible begins to bestow upon us this heartbreaking tale that Jesus begins to tell about a rich man. Anybody remember that story in the house, for the crowd? A rich man and Lazarus. Before you check out on me, I pray you will hear me tonight. The Bible tells us — describes so many definitive, delineating details about this rich man. He was clothed in purple. That's a detail. He wore fine linens. Because brothers, we like these custom suits, don't we? The Bible also tells us that he was pretty well off. He fared sumptuously. He had an overflow of abundance. He was doing good. Not just a few weeks — every day of his life, he woke up: Boom. 'I'm blessed.' Any blessed people in the house? Come on. If you don't like your blessings, you can bring them to my front door. Anybody thank God that He blessed you? Come on — that He believed in you enough that while you were yet a sinner, in your sins, He died that you might have life, and have it more abundantly. That He said, 'I am the bread of life. I am the well of living water. I am the door. If you drink and hunger after Me — I've never seen the righteous forsaken, and I've never seen his seed begging for bread.' Unfortunately, inversely, David is implying — implicatively to us, he's never seen the righteous beg for bread. But what about the broken? The Bible says this rich man had so much that every day he would leave his humble abode. Please don't leave me on the last row. He would leave his humble abode, with bread to spare. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which sat at his gate. He laid there, watching him leave his house every day. And every day he leaves his house, the dogs came and was licking his sores. In verse 21, ladies and gentlemen — I hope somebody hear this young preacher talking to you — the Bible said that all that Lazarus desired of that rich man was that he would be fed with crumbs. Somebody shout: crumbs. Come on, say it again. Crumbs. Crumbs. I'm not the smartest man in the world, but I'll tell you, there's a difference between pieces and crumbs. That's a piece. That's a piece. That's a piece that — I wish somebody would hear me like you got peace in your life. That's a little bit more joy. That's a little bit more hope. That's a little bit more love. That's a little bit more grace. And God gave all of it to you. You're rich in mercy. You're rich in— Oh, come on. I wish somebody would shout like God's been good to you. Come on. He didn't have to save you, but He did. He said, 'I'll give you peace that passes all understanding. I'll give you beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for your mourning. I'll give you a peace of My Spirit.' That's another piece. Lazarus was not asking for a piece of bread. Lazarus was asking for a fragment of a fraction of a fragment of a fraction. Just one crumb. Because even the Syrophoenician woman said, 'Even dogs get crumbs.' And the dogs that were licking the sores of Lazarus — they deserved crumbs. And we have a generation of young people that have never discipled one person. God, I — I'm preaching this in love, and I don't even want to look. We have so-called preachers that have never personally evangelized and discipled one person. Not even so much as send a DM of your church's Instagram page. But you love God. But you love God. But God is saying, 'If you love Me, you should love My creation.' And the same people you cast judgment on, and so quick to condemn — because they're not in your circle, and they're not in your friend group, and they don't have the convictions you have — I'll tell you what should be a conviction we all share: compassion for the great commission. Come on, Brother Dwayne. The great commission is not a great suggestion. If you don't have nobody you're teaching, nobody you're loving, nobody you're reaching — you don't love God like you say you love God. The table turns when that rich man dies. He says, 'Send Lazarus, that he might just give me a drop of water.' One-to-one ratio. He said, 'Why would you ask for a drop of water, when you would not give him one crumb?' I might get cancelled for what I'm about to tell somebody. But I'm going to preach this in the love of God: if you don't think that soul-winning is not tied to your soul being won, you better think again. Come on. Anybody hearing what I'm telling you? Come on. If you're not pursuing somebody in the grocery store — 'Let me tell you about Jesus. Let me tell you about the church. Let me tell you about a God that can bring broken people into the bosom of Abraham. Let me tell you about the holy God of heaven. He heals the hurting. He loves the unlovable. He — oh, God. There's one God. But He loves your neighborhood, neighbor. And He loves your neighbor.' Don't raise your hand: if you get to heaven, and God is looking for the fruit of faithful servants — and hypothetically, hyperbolically, if God asks you, 'Who is around My throne because of you?' — do you have anything to show for your faith in God? Help. Because you can dig and dig all you want. I've done enough studying and digging and praying and reading and studying and reading: there is not enough, Brother Davis — there is not enough biblical implication to believe that this rich man was a heathen. Not enough implication to believe him — clothed in purple — maybe he was a priest. Maybe he was a preacher. A prophet. We don't know. Oh, we don't have enough details about him. But might I ask you one eternal question: why was he in hell in the first place? And I submit to you, with every fiber of my being, that the only comparison we have to conclude as why he was separated from God is: this man Lazarus just wanted crumbs. And how he treated his neighbor ended him up where he was. Come on, somebody lift your hands right now, for the Lord about to help us. I pray to God we would dance with all our might sometimes, because there's a deliverance for your neighbor in your dance that's bound up. Come on. Come on. That's it. I feel something breathing over this room. Come on. I know you got convictions. I know we have strong convictions. Holiness — inside and out, from without which no man shall see the Lord. But is loving lost souls on your list of convictions? I'll tell you what has shaken my spirit: out of all the traveling that God has afforded me and my family to do the last 10 years — I don't want you to look up at this pulpit and esteem this desk as the apex of ministry, every young man that's frothing at the mouth to be used by God. Oh God, can I minister to somebody right now? God's not calling everybody to the mission field. He is calling you to minister to somebody in your high school, though. God is not calling— I'm telling— there's some men in this room under great conviction. I'm not talking about people that showed up. I'm talking about people that you pulled up a seat to the table and said, 'I'm going to minister to them.'"

Scriptures: Luke 16:19-31

The barber, Siri, and Kevin

"One day, God convicted my spirit so greatly. I'm not saying this to be self-aggrandizing. If every revival was cancelled right now, I would not feel any less a preacher than I feel in this desk. Because every week — Brother Crowder, thank God for what he's doing in that church plant — every week, you want to know where I'm going to be. You think I just like good haircuts? I do. But about a year and a half ago, my barber — haircut after haircut — would ask me questions about God. Full staunch atheist. Didn't even believe in God. But just because people do not presently believe in God does not mean they won't believe in Him, if somebody told them about Him. I said, just because people do not presently believe in God does not mean they won't believe. If you begin to plead over their heart and say, 'There's a God that loves you. There's a God that knows you. There's a God that can help you.' Question after question, preaching after preaching. We even threw false doctrine. I'm hurrying. I'm done. He wasn't asking for bread, because a crumb to you is a smorgasbord to the world. I said, what you despise, people will die for it. I said, what you forsake and you forfeit — there are people that are fighting to trade places with you. And every Wednesday night, about 20 people — still, right now and presently — my wife and I pull up seats in that barber shop, and we're just trying to give him some crumbs about this Christ. About a year and a half ago, in January, my barber called me and said, 'I've weaved through every preacher that's lied, every preacher that's given me their opinion. But all you've given me was the bread of life, the truth of God's Word. And I want to be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of my sins.' How do you know they won't love God, if you don't love Him enough to tell him? If you don't love God enough to give it to him? I was convicted because my phone — I'm just — I'm telling somebody, the Holy Ghost is about to hit this house — your phone tracks your every patterns. Google right now is picking up the signals of the words I'm articulating. And if you begin to Google after this service, you probably can find this sermon enough that when you get in your car, Sister Leak, your Apple Maps tells you a suggested destination of where you might be going, based on your pattern. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Come on. You know what I'm talking about. And just about every Tuesday, when you go to midweek service, your phone will suggest to you: you're going to New Bethel Church. One day I got in the car, and I recognized that — Brother Robinson — I said, 'That's amazing. Even Siri knows I'm going to the sanctuary.' Wait — that's the love-God part. But as I looked at my phone, I looked upon the curb, and my neighbors, whom I've been friendly to, were waving at me. And the Holy Ghost smoked me and says, 'Your phone knows where you're going. But does your neighbors know?' Oh, God. I wish somebody would hear me right now. I said: 'Do your co-workers know? Do your friends on the campus know? Or do you hide your holiness at home? Or do you harbor your—' Come on. 'Do you harbor that Holy Ghost, when it can help somebody?' Press in. Press in. I'll tell you why I'm preaching so passionately. I'll tell you why you ought to not forsake this fire that God has given you. Because I did not realize how good of a gift God had gave me, being raised in a preacher's home. Now, I'm not going to tell my testimony. But as a backsliding preacher's kid on a college baseball team, I remember like it was yesterday: my suitemate that stayed right across the hall from me, while I was halfway holy, backslid out of my mind. One of my teammates, Kevin — I would stumble into my room, my suite, after a Saturday night partying, and tried to sober myself, going to church, just to go through the motions. If you love God, you don't go through the motions. You go through it with all your heart. Come on. And putting on your suit and coming up to the altar is a pretense of going through the motions. Come on, you need to go to the altar again and say, 'I don't just love God, but I want my youth group to love God. I don't want—' Come on. And Kevin, on Saturday, would say, 'Corny, are you going to church in the morning?' And with a hangover, I'll say, 'I'm going.' He said, 'Wake me up.' But out of shame for what I did not appreciate, I would leave that dorm room and wouldn't knock on his door. But one day, on fall break, I got a phone call in the kitchen of my parents' home. A phone ring, and one of my teammates, Mark, said, 'Hey, Corny, where are you?' I said, 'Man, I'm getting ready to head back to school.' He said, 'Man, Kevin had an accident last night.' I said, 'Is he okay? Did he mess up his arm? He's a pitcher.' He said, 'No, man.' He said, 'Kevin didn't make it.' I fell to the floor in that kitchen. And I realized that what I had been so ashamed to say anything about — Kevin left this earth, and I'm quite sure he wished he knew. And I realized, when I got back to that dorm, I had been teaching Kevin how to play dominoes before I left the dorm. The dominoes were sitting on the table. Brother Posie, when I opened up the door back to my suite, and I saw the dominoes still on the table, and I went to his room, and I realized his bed was empty — I realized Kevin had been staying next door to heaven, but I wasn't holy enough to help him. There's some struggling young people in this building. There's some broken young people in this building. But you ought to pray like you're not just trying to win your soul. But even if you're standing to a young man that's not in your youth group, I wish you would close your eyes and grab a hold of your neighbor. Come on. Don't practice that praying-for-yourself stuff. Come on. There's a young lady that sat in the back of the bus this week, writing a suicide note. Somebody ought to pray. Come on. If you love your neighbor, you ought to pray. If you love God, you ought to pray with your neighbor. Come on. If we can hide in sin with our friends, sure enough we can call down the glory of God. If you love your neighbor — come on. 'Silver and gold have I none.' Come on. But there's enough Holy Ghost in this house that a young man don't have to leave without His Spirit. Come on, somebody get a burden for a broken—. Come on, somebody get a burden. Come on, no laughing. Come on, we need some love. Come on, no criticizing. We need some conviction. Come on, restore somebody in the spirit of meekness. I know we haven't been doing right, but God's got a calling for us. But God's got a work for us here. Oh, I wish a young man would pray like you don't care, because God's given me too much power to hold into my heart. He's given me too much glory. 'Here I am, Lord.' Come on. Oh, I feel something moving. Somebody ought to get a boldness right now. And don't be ashamed — somebody threw just crumbs of your glory. 'Here I am for you.' Oh, yes. 'I take my love for Your glory. I am Yours. I am Yours. Send me to the broken.' Oh, come on, somebody pray from the front to the back. 'Send me to the— Don't let them struggle by themselves. Don't let them try to get to God by themselves. Breakthrough's coming. There's some bread in the house. Breakthrough's coming. There's some bread in the house. We've got more than enough. We've got more than enough. Oh, this joy I have — the world didn't give it, but I can give it to the world. Come on. The hungry, the thirsty, the broken, the battered, the bruised — somebody ought to find a young lady in the building, and weep with her, and cry with her, and pray with her. 'Me to the— I got to teach somebody. I've got to reach somebody. I've got to weep for somebody.' Oh, let us intercede for the lost. 'Oh God, if I'm not— if I'm going to win my soul, I've got to win somebody else, too.' Oh, come on. There's some ministries being released right now. I wish some young ladies would get an intercession about you. 'Let them see. Let them see me.' Come on. There's people getting the Holy Ghost right now. Come on. 'We shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. We shall cast out devils, and through the authority of Jesus Christ they shall speak with new tongues.' And these signs shall follow those that love their neighbor." The altar service runs out the upload — shouting the name of Jesus, counting first-time Holy Ghost recipients ("Somebody got the Holy Ghost for the first time... one, two, three... four"), and dancing ("When I think about Jesus... I will shout... all night") to the end of the cut.