Call Me Not Naomi

you stand with me tonight? I want to turn your attention to the book of Ruth. And in the very first chapter of that book, I want to read a scripture. It simply says this, "And she said unto them," Call me not Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I'd like to preach to you tonight for the next little while, for the next few moments at least, call me not Naomi. or is this Naomi? I want you to pray and here is the prayer that I want you to pray signifying to you first of all that the Lord has dealt with my heart for some time about this message for the very first night of this youth camp. We all have our preference. We all have our rathers. We all have I suppose all of we preachers have the particular style sermons that we love to preach and I like to preach them all. I love camp meeting style. I love I love the the things that thrill our hearts. But somehow in the Holy Ghost I have felt that God wanted and and and what we're seeing here tonight is just it's indicative of what I have been feeling. God wanted to dig us up. He wanted to do something to us that would begin a work that would that would happen throughout the week. And I want you to pray with me now. I want you to pray and this is the prayer that I want you to pray. God, anoint the lips of your feeble servant. Anoint his lips to minister the word of the Lord and anoint the ears of every hearer in this building. And then the third thing, ask him to melt our hearts together in the presence of the Lord. Would you pray those three things? Anoint the lips of his feeble servant, the ears of all of the hearers, and melt our hearts together in his presence. Let's lift our hands everywhere in the building tonight, and let's pray that prayer. Lord Jesus, we're so nothing. We're so helpless. And I do pray that you would anoint your feeble servant tonight. Anoint our lips. Anoint our hearts. Anoint our minds. And I pray that you would anoint every ear in this building tonight and melt the hearts of your people together. We ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. We ask it in the name of Jesus Christ because it's only for your glory that we desire it Lord in Jesus' name. And everybody say amen. And everybody say amen. Amen. Oh, that's a sounding a lot better. You know, as big as this building is, it takes a whole lot of sound waves to make it sound like there's anybody here. And I feel like this youth camp crowd, by the time we get all fired up and in the key and in the gear and in the in tune with what God wants to do, I think the whole town of Lefkin will know we're here before it's over. But I'd like for the Lord and the devil both to know that we're here right now. Would you just lift your voice and say hallelujah real loud? Oh, glory. That's sounding good. God bless you. You may be seated. I think probably the characters that I will use in my message will be some of your most familiar characters. I don't probably have to preach a character message for you to be acquainted with Naomi and Ruth, but perhaps the gist of the message, perhaps the overall point that I will be striving to preach to you tonight will be somewhat new to you because I guess I I've heard Naomi and Ruth preached as much as any other characters in the Bible. Bible since I well really I Pentecost is all I've ever known because I discovered America in a Pentecostal preacher's house. Well, I guess it wasn't his house, but he was staying with his mother and daddy and and that's where I was born. So, that's that's just the way it is. But, this is all I've ever known. Preaching is all I've ever known. And I've heard this this setting and this these characters used so many times.

But yet I think we are a lot kinder to Naomi in our memory of her and our own recalling the account than what she was to herself. Right. And I would like to preach to you tonight. The overall gist that I will be striving to preach to you and to help you understand the basics for the message will be honesty. Would you say that with me? Honesty. Say it with me again. Honesty. I don't I don't think that perhaps there's anything that on the first night of a camp that I could preach to you that would be any more important to you than for me to get across to you the message of honesty. I realize that we are in a day and living in an hour that it's it's well there's just not an awful lot of premium placed on those who are honest. In fact, we we have seen the time now. I remember back when I was a child, there was there was still there was still a premium placed on honesty. And if somebody was honest and good, well you know, there there was a certain crowd that that that mocked or made fun. But but at least the the folks in authority, the teachers and and you know the the people that that really mattered, they were on the side of honesty and integrity and doing things right and doing it doing it the way it's supposed to be done. But we we have lived to see the day when honesty is something that well you're you're called a square, right? You are you're actually ridiculed if you hold for the side of honesty and decency and integrity. I had a young man that prayed through in our church. He was he was working for an auto dealership. He was a mechanic. And the boy came to me weeping one night. He said, "I I I will have to quit my job." He said, "I cannot work for those people." He said, 'I I I cannot I cannot be honest and work for them because they require of me to put things on the parts report that I did not have to use. They they make me do things that that I I don't want to do. This is the leadership, the ownership of a of a motor company. men who work on jobs, they are they are they're ridiculed by their fellow laborers if they happen to be among those that don't take tools and things out in their lunch kits. We have lived to see the day where you are ridiculed in a restaurant if you happen to find a mistake on the bill. And my wife was in a department store one day and had bought had bought a dress or or a blouse or something and and she knew how much money she had. And when she went back to the car before she left to go home, she counted her money again as she was putting it back in her purse. And she found that that the woman had made a mistake and she knew how much money she had. And it was not in my wife's favor. It was in the woman's favor. And my wife went back up went went went up the elevator back to the place where she had bought the garment and and and explained to the lady, called her over and explained to her, "You you made a mistake here. You didn't charge me enough money and I I wanted to come." The woman made a spectacle out of my wife, turned around to all of those that she felt probably had had that she had been exposed to for her for her mistake. and she she turned the tables as though my wife were the one that had made the mistake or she said, "Oh, so you you you decided you want to be wanted to be honest about it, huh?" And and left my wife in a very embarrassing situation standing there before people because she herself did not want to brace up to the fact that she had made a mistake. We're just living in a day that honesty is almost a thing of the past. It's almost a thing of the past. But I want to preach to you tonight, young people. You hear me and you hear me well. Honesty is still the going thing with God. I don't care who you are, nor where you come from, nor what your title is. If you are going to be thought well of by God, you're going to have to have that one that one quality called honesty.

It's got to be it's got to be. And I I understand I understand the deterioration of the morals of our world. I understand the deterioration of the concepts of our world. I understand the deterioration of everything that we have trusted in as security and decency in the past years. I realize that it's crumbling and I realize that it's fading away. But you hear me tonight when I tell you God's church cannot be affected by the dishonesty of this hour. God's people must keep a heart that's honest before God. I don't care who lies. I don't care who steals. I don't care who pads reports. I don't care who is a hypocrite. I don't care who's immoral. I don't care who's a scoundrel. I don't care what society accepts. I don't care who divorces and backslides and steals and gets away with it and society accepts them again. I'm preaching to you tonight that God still requires honesty. And I don't care who accepts it. And I don't care if the church that you're a part of, I hope it never happens, but if the church you're a member of tonight happens to vote to take things in that are dishonest, God will turn his back and will not accept it. God requires honesty, decency, and integrity. I'm not going to preach to you something tonight just to tickle your ears. I'm going to preach to you the word of God. And I'll tell you what, I'm going to leave the dishonesty of our world. I'm going to leave the dishonesty of the school. I'm going to leave the dishonesty and the cheating on college exams. I'm going to leave all of that. But all of that has had a way of painting and tinting our concept of our dealings with God. The surroundings are so dishonest. All right. Until we have almost come to the place that we feel like that we can be just a little bit dishonest with ourselves and that we spoke to my heart and it's the very familiar story of Naomi and you know you know that Naomi had a husband whose name was IMC and then they had two boys one of the boys' names the elder was Malen and the other was Chileian And Naomi and IMC happened to be a young couple in Israel and they lived in the land around around Jerusalem. Uh in fact, it's not far from the city of Bethlehem and I had the privilege of paying a visit to the field where where Ruth in later chapters of that same book came back to glean. And it's such a beautiful sight. Well, the Bible speaks of of there being a drought. There was a there was a drought that hit Israel. And u the Bible does not give us the the mind of God on why he allowed the drought to come. It does not go into detail as to what the situations were, whether he was trying to teach Ezrael a lesson or or you know whether there were some undesirabs that he wanted to starve out or whatever. I don't know what the story was, but somehow another this young couple Naomi and IMC when when the when the drought and of course the famine that resulted from the drought when when the when the results of it all began to be felt and

it was it it was it was bad. It was rough. It was not easygoing. They were hungry and people were starving and Naomi and IMC her husband somehow another I don't I I just don't quite understand how people get this concept. I I I never have quite understood it. But I I really believe that that since there were some that made it through the famine, I believe that Naomi and IMC could have, there were those that lived through it and and and Naomi and IMC could have done it, but something got a hold of them. There was there was a little independent streak that got a hold of them. There was a there was a little streak of of feeling just a little bit above the norm, you know, feeling just just a little bit immune from from some of the trials that that others have to go through. You ever you ever you ever see people that way? I mean, you know, they they they were going to bed at night and their their youngans were sc were crying and screaming for something to eat and and I know it was hard on them. I know it was. And I I I sympathize with them because I don't know what I would I don't know what I would do if I had to put my children to bed hungry and them get up in the morning and their little bellies be bloated because of starvation and malnutrition. I I I can sympathize with them. But but somehow if they could have just simply held on, if they could have stuck it out, if they could have hung in there, it would have been just a whole lot better. It really would have if if they could have just somehow another said, "Well, whatever this is, whatever's happening, God's got to have a purpose for it. And whatever God's purpose, though I don't understand, I'm going to hang in here with my church. I'm going to hang in here with my people. I'm going to hang in here with my pastor. I will not be moved. I'm going to stay here. I'm going to hang in here. God would have honored that. God would have honored that. But Naomi and IMC, I I don't know whether maybe they had been just a little more blessed than others. And maybe they had a little more than others because it seems that that those that are blessed the most are the ones that feel like probably they have to pay the least. And it may have been that they had the finest car. And I speak strictly, you know what I'm doing. I know they didn't have cars then, but I'm just giving you a modern-day parallel of of their circumstances. Maybe they had the finest home. Maybe they had the best clothes. And and it was just a little bit too condescending to them to have their young ones cry for something to eat, right? I mean, it was all right for the slums down the street. It was all right for the people on the backside that that never had really had much to begin with. I mean, you know, that they they they were just that was just the way they were. They they they were used to that. But but not us. We're just a little too high elevated in society. We we have had a little taste of too much for us to have to condescend to such deplorable circumstances as going to bed hungry and and starving. But you hear me? God had a reason for the famine, right? God had a reason for it. God does not allow things to happen without a purpose. Young people, if you could get that truth across to you tonight, it does not matter what circumstances you ever find yourself in. God has a reason and a purpose for it all. Nothing happens to you without cause. And God had a reason for that famine. God had a purpose for it. And God's purpose may have included Naomi and IMC in it. In fact, the way things turned out, I'm pretty sure that might have been their attitude and the attitudes of some others just like them that God wanted to correct. Because we do have a way of getting awful independent when our bellies full. We do have a way of getting awful independent when our pockets are full. We do have a way of snubbing God with turning up our nose when we're self-sufficient. It's only when we have our nose to the grinding stone and our pockets empty that we can really become honest before

God and say, "God, I was just putting on a bunch of front. I really need you. I really do. I really do. I don't know whether you know it or not, but the Holy Ghost is talking to you tonight. You hear me? I know when the Holy Ghost is talking to people, but whatever it was, they felt like they were they were immune from it. They had such a such an elevation and such a place that whatever God was trying to get across or do, well, they they didn't really need it that bad. And so they found a way that they could excuse themselves from the rest of the church. They found a way that they could excuse themselves from the burden that was on their shoulders. They had connections in another place and they could go somewhere else and they could live it up while the people of God learned whatever lesson they were supposed to be learning. Brother, pastor, I want you to know I thank you for what you've done for me and I love God. You You understand? I love God. I love the truth and everything's going to be all right. Don't Don't worry about me. It's just that that that under these present circumstances. We're going to excuse ourselves. We'll be praying for you. Understand? Our heart's still with you. We're going to be praying for you. Everything's going to be all right. But we're going to we're going to excuse ourselves. And and in fact, it may be that we can we can be so blessed over there that that we could help ease the load of of the family here. You understand? We mean well. We want to do well. Bye. God bless you. It's been good to know you. We'll see you later when things when things get get a little better around here. We'll be in contact. when things get a little better, we we'll we'll be back. We'll be back. But until then, just we'll see you. Okay. God love you. There has never been a soul that was filled with the Holy Ghost that when they started to do wrong did not feel a warning. All right. You may sit here tonight and tell me, I know some people that did wrong and didn't know they were wrong. But that would that would serve notice that God in judgment would have to bow his head and apologize. I'm preaching to you tonight. That book said that the spirit of God would lead you into all truth. And on the basis of that, there's not been one soul that's ever been filled with the Holy Ghost that when they started to do wrong, did not feel something on the inside that rose up to smite their conscience and to let them know that's not right. That's not right. That's not right. That's not right. That's not right. You're doing wrong. That's not right. You may quiet it. You may turn the radio louder to keep from hearing it. You may go to somebody's house to play a game so it won't get through to you, but it's still there. And when you go to bed at night and you go to sleep, it's still a ring over and over. That's not right. That's not right. That's not right. That's not right. Hallelujah. You know how people are when they know they're treading on dangerous ground. No doubt. Evidently Naomi was the more sensitive of the two. on the way. She was so relieved when they finally got in to

the place in Moab, that they were going to stay because she just she felt good in her flesh about going, but she felt just a little disturbed in her spirit about going. Now, when you feel disturbed in your flesh and good in your spirit, it don't matter what happens then. You got a deep settle peace and you're not worried about a thing. Oh, but when it reverses and you feel good in your flesh, but you don't feel good in your spirit, that's that's every time somebody slams a car door, you're just a little jittery. because you realize that that an accident is stalking your trail. You realize that tragedy is is is walking close. You realize that that you're only moments away from the judgments of God. But when they finally got there, nobody was killed on the way. Nobody Nobody was hurt. Nobody was injured. I feel so good. We're all here now. Come on, Men Chillian. Come on, Lamech. Let's gather around. We've We've got a place to stay here. Come on. Let's gather around the fireplace and and let's have a let's have a love. Let's love God and thank him because we made it safe. I was so apprehensive about the trip, but we're here. Thank the Lord. Everything's all right. Let's Let's go ahead and enjoy it now. Go ahead and eat the fat of the land. Go ahead. Let's Let's have a good time. Let's live it up. But still, though they'd made the trip safe, though everything was was going good, Lamech had found the job. He had done made a paycheck. He had done come brought food. Amen. Oh, it's so good. It's so good to be in the land of the living again. Oh, it's so good. But though they became accustomed to the flesh being greatly relieved of its pressure, starvation, yet in the midnight hours when rest should have been as blissful and as beautiful as the bread and the meat that was eaten, it seemed that rest had a way of taking its flight. It It eluded. Somehow another escaped. It just just vanished. And what should have been good restful nights, Naomi found herself, rolling, tossing. Without anybody mentioning it, Jerusalem had a way of popping back in her mind. the old pastor, the family, those that were starving. It had a way of coming back. She didn't want it to be that way, but it did. And that underlying knowledge that that that she was walking on eggshells because though her flesh felt at peace, something inside here was disturbed. And she knew that she had to walk softly. She knew it had to be that way. That just one wrong move, she could mess up everything just and it's so hard to live that way. One day her fear, the thing that she had so feared happened. Let me let come home. Honey, I'm having trouble. I'm having trouble breathing. I'm going to try it again tomorrow. But if if something don't happen, I don't know whether I don't know whether we'll be able to get a message back home or not. Honey, are you that sick? Is it that bad? Honey, I don't want to disturb you. But I'm having problems. She tried to quiet it.

But down here, that voice said, "It's not right for you to leave your people. It's not right for you to walk out on God. It's not right. It's not right. It's not right. She tried to quiet it. She tried to say, "It's just it's just a virus. It'll it'll be over tomorrow. Everything will be all right." But much to her surprise, hardly before she could tell the boys of their dad's illness, before they could even get on their knees to pray, IMC just laid back in the bed, drew his feet up in the bed, and he died. He died. right there in a strange land in Moab. Can you imagine the audacity of the man of the house dying up in a strange land leaving a woman and two little boys? It almost got her. It almost got her. But she said, "It's it's it's just it's just an act of fate." Somehow, she brought herself out of the of the clutches of that horrible tragedy. She brought herself out of it. And by sheer nervous energy, she said, "I've got to make it. I've got to make it." Men and Chillian were were big old boys. And it wasn't long until they they looked and found themselves a bride of of of the Moabitetes women. They took to themselves companions and they had hardly they they'd hardly well it it didn't take very long for all of this to happen. And then Naomi, bless her heart, she had she had done the best she could. She had given the boys the love and the attention. She had tried her best to teach them about God and about home and and and and what was over there. She she tried to be true to her raisin. She tried to. But you know a woman that's found off in a strange land that don't have a job and don't have any means. It's just hard for her to take a journey a long journey and go back and undo things that it's taken years to do now. It's just it's just few women have that much willpower and guts if you'll if you'll excuse the term. But it looked like that mail and Chillian were going to make it well. It looked like things were going to be all right. It looked like they were going to be able to support mom and mom was going to be able to have a few things and and everything was going to be all right when hardly before it was begun. It was winding up again. Men came in, told his wife she ran across the street to get mom. Mom, from all accounts, from what from what Mailen's telling me, something's happened to him. Much much like I hear what happened to dad. Mom, could you come? Maybe m may maybe you can pray. Could you pray, Mom? I I don't know how to pray myself, but but maybe maybe you you still know how to pray. Come pray, Mom. Before mom could get across the street, Megan had laid back in the bed and pulled up his feet and died. It almost knocked her to her knees. Oh, no. No. Surely not. I had three when I left. Now two of them are gone. When can I learn? When will I admit to myself? But for the sake of the daughter-in-laws, she had to come to herself. She had to pull her garments around her. I've got to be strong. They buried him. And she was she hadn't hardly got she hadn't hardly got her wits together until one day the the other daughter-in-law comes running in. Mom, mom, no. No, no, no. It's happened to Jillian. Mom, it's happened. Don't tell me it can't happen. Not three out of three. It can't be. It can't be. It can't be. It can't be.

But it is, Mom. It is. It's happened. Mom, it's happened. He's gone. Finally, when the funeral was over, mom calls the girls around and says, "Girls, I don't want to hold anything from you. Let me be honest with you. I've been living a lie. I have not been right. I have tried to make you think that it was the will of God for us to come to this country. But what I was really doing was running from my obligation. I was running from my responsibility. I was running from my church. I was running from my God. I was running from his teaching. I was running I was trying to find a little a little easier life for myself. But I just want to tell you girls, mom's leaving now. I'm a broken woman and I'm heading home. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the inconvenience that I've caused you. If it had not been for me, you would not have had to live the tragedies that you've found. But if you will, when I walk away, just forget that I ever lived. Forget that you ever knew me. Forget you ever heard my name. Forget that I ever had a son that called you love. Forget it. When you see me walk away, forget that I ever lived. and you try to find something that you can do with the broken pieces of the puzzles of your life. I'm sorry, for it all, but remember, you're not the only one that suffered. I've lost everything. They went with mom out to the border of the country. When they got to the border of the country, she turns and told him, said, "Come on, girls. I don't have anything left to offer you. If if if I per chance were to have another child, it's not possible. But if I did, you couldn't wait until it was old enough. So don't follow me for for any family connections or reasons. go on back. The Bible says that Arpa reached up and kissed her mother-in-law and started back toward home. But the other one, Ruth, the Bible says that Ruth clave unto her. Clave unto her. She threw her arms around her and said, "Mom, no, no, no. I'll not leave you. I'll not forsake you. And whether thou goest, I'll go. Where you lodge, I'll lodge. Your people will be my people and your God. Wherever he is, if you ever find him, he'll be my God, too. I have nothing to promise you, girls. I have nothing to tell you. or bids farewell. But Ruth clave unto her upon crossing the border, upon coming out of the hills of Moab down into the valley, down into the place that overlooks the field of Boaz where Naom and IMC fell in love and were raised. Here comes an old woman, tragedy stricken, emotionally drained, hardly able to lift her eyes to welcome the sight of home. But when she did, there were some old farmers in the field. The old farmers in the field picked up their their hole, their

shovel, leaning on the arm of it, the handle of it, looked down the road that led toward the hills of Moab. One looked at the other who comes here. I don't remember a stranger. Don't remember anybody disappearance. Or do I? That that walk seemed like I've seen the walk before, but that can't be. It can't be who I'm thinking because the woman that I'm thinking it kind of looks like she had a family. She had a husband, two boys. There's nothing but a strange stranger. Can't be her. But you know, unless my eyes fail me, that looks an awful lot like that. What was her name? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. His limb. Yeah. Yeah. Naomi, that that's you, Naomi. A feeble hand raises as though to silence the voice. Don't go any further. Don't say anymore. Don't drive the dagger of hurt any deeper into my heart. Just Just hold it where you got it. I used to be Naomi, but I'm not anymore. I'm a different soul than what I was when I left. I'm just the shell of a woman. I don't have nothing to offer. I don't have no excuses. I don't have no I don't have no stories to tell you. I don't have anything to offer you to tell you that I was justified in what I did. I don't have no crutch to lean on. Just just just forget forget that you ever knew a woman by the name of Naomi. For that's not who I am anymore. Just call me Mara. That's all. because I went out full and I'm coming back home stripped, empty, nothing. God hath dealt daily with me. And what can I say to justify myself when God has testified against me, young people, I wish this pull pit wasn't here. I I wish I wish I was down there so I could talk to you. But can you hear me tonight? Can you hear me? The beauty of what I want to preach to you tonight about honesty is that when you find yourself somewhere in a stouper away from God and you come to your senses, when you start back home, please come home right. Please come home, right? Don't come with your stories of self-justification. Don't come trying to justify yourself for what you've done. Don't come and

say, "But but I I was able to testify to people out there, but I wasn't able to testify here at home." Don't Don't Don't use those crutches. No. I beg you, don't do it. Because if you come home and come back to God trying to justify yourself, God will expose you. But if you'll open your heart and come to God and be clean and open before God, God will see to it that you're justified. If Naomi had come trying to justify herself, I know I did wrong. But look, I've got a Moabitetish girl that wants to serve God. That's good, Naomi. That's good. That's good. But don't let the devil hoodwink you. You lost three while yours are gaining one. Don't let the devil lie to you. Don't let him lie. But I'll tell you what if you will do, if you'll come back right. If you'll be honest before God. If you'll just open it all up and say, "God, I don't have no excuses. I don't have nothing to I don't have nothing to say to justify myself. I'm not going to lean on a crutch. If you'll come back right, God will see to it that you've got a roof out of the broken pieces of your life. that he can put in the kingdom to help justify you. If Naomi had come back to her country and if she would have justified herself, you would have never heard the name of Ruth written in the Bible. Ruth was not the offering that Naomi gave to the cause of God, right? to justify herself. Ruth was God's offering to Naomi to justify Naomi. Honesty always pays. I've seen some young people that have made some horrible mistakes. I've seen some young people that have traveled to Moab. I've seen some people that have made some terrible mistakes. And I have seen them from their mistakes try to come back and justify their mistake and say, "It was this one or it was that one or it was the other. It was it was this or it was that or it was the other that caused me to do it." And I've seen those people that did not come totally honest with God that go right back and fall back into another trap just like the one they came out of. But I have seen those that when they came back said it was nobody's fault but my own. I am the one to blame. I'm the one to cause. God would take that honest heart and lift them up. And out of their mistake, I've seen God honor their honesty with an offering that could be used for the cause of God. There's some young people sitting in this audience tonight. You have taken your little your little fling over toward Moab. Some of you when nobody was looking, pastor wasn't looking, mom and dad wasn't looking, and there was nobody, but maybe just another young person or so that you could trust. And you took a little fling toward Moab. And all the time that something on the inside was saying, "That's not right. That's not right.

That's not right." You slipped off and you went to that picture show. You slipped off and went to that old singing that you knew that pastor preached against. you slipped off and went out to that that spot where you did things that you know your pastor preaches against and you tried to justify it by saying, "But I didn't know it was wrong. I didn't know it was wrong. I'm sorry. I never had heard nobody say it was wrong." But I'm preaching to you tonight. Every time you did something wrong, there was a voice on the inside of you that said, "That's not right. That's not right. That's not right. That's not right. And there's kids sitting in this audience tonight. You have tried to worship over some of those things. You've tried to get a hold of God over those things. You've tried your best to go on like it didn't happen, but you've been cheating yourself. You've been trying to hide it from God, but God didn't buy it. And deep down in your heart, you know that you haven't bought it either because you know it's not right. It's not right. It's not right. And I can't repent for you. Brother Johnson can't repent for you. Mom and dad can't repent for you. Pastor that loves you can't repent for you. Naomi is going to have to be the one that repents for what she did. She tried to convince herself that it was all right, but she knew some of you that are sitting in the my audience tonight, every time you get in the car, you're apprehensive as to whether you're going to come back or not. Every time you hear a siren, it almost causes your heart to stop. Every time you hear a racket, every time something happens, you're on edge because you're walking on eggshells. And you know that just one just one wrong move could end it all for you. I'm preaching to you tonight, young people. You can't live like that. You can't live like that. Why try to go on as though it were not there? Why to try to go on with sins that have not been confessed and repented of before God? Why go on walking on eggshells when you could come to an altar tonight and pour it out to God and say, "God, I have sinned. I have committed fornication. I've committed adultery. I've lied. I've cheated. I've done things that were wrong. And I'm not I've gone against what my pastor said. I've gone against the standard of my church. But I'm not going to hide it any longer, God. I'm tired of living with it. And I'm not going to justify myself by saying all the other kids are doing it, too. I'm not going to justify myself by saying that everybody else is guilty of the same thing. I'm tired of toting it around. I'm going to put it on an altar. I'm going to come to God tonight. I'm going to get everything out of my life that should not be there. You say, "But preacher, I've lived a little better life than that. I haven't committed immoral sin. I haven't cheated. I haven't lied." And there are those here tonight that have not. But while God has been trying to get you to move into a higher realm of spirituality that he could use you, you have looked at others that you were better than they and more spiritual than they. And you have justified yourself for not being the ultimate in spirituality because there were those beneath you that you said, "I'm better than they, so I must be all right." When deep down in your heart, when you sat there and didn't worship God, something inside says that's not right. That's not right. That's not right. That's not right. When you openly walked out when a sinner was praying. That's not right. That's not right. When that young person that was hungry for God tried to ask you what church you went to and you had something else that you had to go do and the Holy Ghost smoked you and said, "That's not right. That's not right. That's not right. That's not right." I dare say that there's very few in this building tonight that if you were to

become totally honest with God, there's not some things that you could find in the closets of yesterday that you've been trying to be spiritual over and something kept sapping your victory. You've been in Moab. You've took a few flings out there and you've tried to justify it with a lot of other things and crutches. But if you want God to give you a roof out of the broken pieces of the puzzle of your life, you're going to have to be honest with God. But if you try to justify yourself, there'll never be an offering that God can use. God honored her honesty. Amen. And put Ruth in the lineage of Jesus Christ. That's how much he loved honesty. That's not how much he loved what Naomi did. That's how much he loved her honesty. and her repentance. Every head bowed, every eye closed. I'm preaching to some young people tonight. I could come lay my hand on some of you because you have tried your best to look around and get your mind off of what this preacher's been preaching to you. But I promise you tonight, if you come clean before God, God's going to take the broken pieces of your life. He's going to make a preacher. He's going to make a preacher's wife. He's going to be He's going to make a gospel singer. He's going to make something out of you like you wouldn't believe if you'll be honest with him. But you keep on trying to hide it. You keep on justifying yourself. You keep on living tense. You keep on walking on your eggshells. And you're going to find out that God's going to testify against you. And when he does, it's going to be bad. But I want some young people tonight. You don't care what it takes to be used of God. You want to be used of God. You don't care what it takes to be right with God. You're going to be right with God. And you're tired of judging your spirituality by everybody else. You want to judge your spirituality tonight about by what God thinks of you. I want those of you tonight that feel the Holy Ghost tugging at your heart. Would you stand up from where you are right now and make your way down to this this brown carpet all the way around this platform tonight? I want some young people that want to come clean before God. I want some young people that say, "God, I'm going to be used of God. I'm going to be used of the Holy Ghost. I'm going to be honest. I'm going to be clean. I'm going to confess my faults before God. and shattered.