Preach The Word

Thank you. Thank you, security team and teachers for taking time and praying. There's such a such a spirit of prayer in here today. And I'll be honest with you, I got about four openings to this sermon and I don't know which one to go with. Amen. I got about one ending though. I may just start with an ending. So honored to be in the house of the Lord today. So honored that you're here. I know that day in and day out life gets busy. Things happen. This summertime everybody's been on vacation. I'm so glad to be back from vacation. I think we took a trip. We didn't take a vacation. I was so tired. I was like, "Good Lord." So glad that you're here. You've had time off. Some of you, some of you, you still got a little bit to go, but it's it's time for the word. Amen. Very interestingly, and you may be seated today.

Very interestingly, I uh I I don't have a lot of notes, so this could be long, could be short. All right, I have have sticky notes today. And I've got my grandfather's Bible with me today because I I think I need him need his help a little bit today. I need to trust in some of the prayers and studies he's done. maybe, but he's still alive, but it's I stole his Bible. I don't know how else to say that. Like, he left it somewhere and I was like, "Yeah, I'm not giving that back." So, uh, today I I, uh, or actually Friday, Thursday, Vandy and I were we were sitting in a in a roundt session at camp meeting and there was a there was just a really good discussion around the role of the church, the health, the healthiness of a church. It was there was a really good discussion with some pastors, some ministers there.

And and a lot of it came up with the mission, the vision of what a church does. What is your church do? We we all know what the mission is, right? But how's your church executing it? There's there's a lot, you know, there's a lot of different things. And out here on this wall, you can you can read it and we have our mission. We have our vision. It's really long, though. So, it's really hard to remember. I don't I don't remember. Vandy and I were just like, um, greater. This is a year of greater. We We'll go with that, right? This is greater. And and part of that is we want to make sure that we're focused around something in a year. This this is a month of greater families. The greater we had greater greater women. I want that to be known. They didn't put my slide up. Kiara, I'm calling I am going to blast Kiara out on that one.

She didn't put my slide up. But y'all remember at least part of the message, so I guess it worked out. Uh greater men, we had greater finances, greater families. That's where we're at this month. It's it's a focus, but all it is is that's a subgroup, a subcategory of what the church actually does. It's a subcategory of of because the reality is there's a balance in the church between the uh between the internal of what we need and the external of what God wants us to do. Uh it's it's it's something that um when when we step into the house of God, when we step in and God saves our lives, we are no longer our own. We're purchased. We are bought for a price. Our life is no longer ours. So then our purpose is no longer our purpose. Our our way is no longer our way. I And it's a constant struggle.

That's part of it because we're still human, right? Uh in John in John it says Jesus says the things that are born of the spirit are of the spirit and the things are born of the flesh are of the flesh. Well guess what even though when Paul says I died daily we're still here and so it it's like it may be like 18 times that day that we have to lay ourselves down. We have to we have to to reestablish the order, the properness of what God is intending for us, what God is calling out of us. And there is no difference in that. And then in a church, in a in a group of us because we're just people. This is just a building made up of people that come together to worship God. But then we're we're pulled we're pulled into a greater cause, a greater need. It's more than just what we can do in and of ourselves, but it is part of what we must do.

And it's it's to fulfill the great commission, right? Jesus said to to he said to go to teach and to preach and to baptize and all those things. He he he he did not intend for the gospel to be bottled up in us. He wanted us to be full of it, but he wanted so much of it that it runs over. There's there's something that uh several years ago I prayed with the with the tech team and and before every service I would pray this or that I could is as they pour out that God would pour in because I'll just tell you something. There's something way there's there's not in any serving capacity that's what's happening. You're pouring out of yourself. But guess what? What that does is it makes room for God to pour into you. When you truly give of yourself, God gives into you.

The blessings are greater than what you It's more blessed to give than to receive. And so I'm I'm I'm working through all of this this thought process and and I'm I'm last week um I was driving. I got to go out to California. I got I went to the good part of California, y'all. It was beautiful. It was amazing. I was like, "Wow, they should make a separate steak here." It I mean, we were in the mountains there. Beautiful. It was I mean, it was like 75 degrees. I was like, "Y'all can have all the humidity you want." But they have forest fires. I was like, "Ah, you know what? We'll take the rainforest." I was I I got out one day and I was like, "You know what? I'm just going to drive." That's that's what I like to do. No one else wanted to. Lauren was like, "No." I was like, "That's fine.

I'm just going to go for a drive." I'd never been out there. I love to see that. I love to see the countryside. So, I just went out. I just got in a vehicle and I just started driving. And I mean, I got to where nobody was. I got to see the the fun part, the good part of California, right? I mean was going through uh going through the the national forest there and all of a sudden I come out upon this giant valley. I don't even know the name of this little town in this valley. It honestly it probably barely had a name. There only was five people there. Like it was they had like some old store, some old cafe and like a janky looking gas station and that was about all that was there. But it was beautiful. I mean beautiful. It was probably like 15 miles wide, 30 miles long. just a beautiful valley.

As I'm driving through it very shortly, I was I was taking that time. Uh it was it was just a good time just me and myself and I and over there and and all of a sudden it was like God gripped my heart for that little town. Cuz I'll just tell you, there ain't been a lot of people drive through that town. And I I got to thinking, what if I'm the only one that's come through here that knows the power of the baptism of Jesus name? What if I'm the only one that's driven through here that's been filled with the Holy Ghost? How are they going to know? I'll be honest with you, you'd have to be called to go there because you wouldn't find it. It's just the God's honest truth. I I I don't know.

I don't I didn't even see a church in the little community at all, but my heart started aching for those people and I couldn't do anything but start praying for them. And as I'm driving down the road, I just started preaching the word. I just started saying here, "O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And him only shalt thou serve, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." I just I just couldn't help but say, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." I COULDN'T HELP BUT JUST JUST PLEAD THE BLOOD OVER THE LITTLE TOWN. I COULDN'T HELP BUT JUST SAY, "JESUS, TOUCH THEM. JESUS, MOVE ON THEM. JESUS, SAVE THEIR SOUL.

JESUS, I DON'T KNOW IF THEY KNOW YOU OR NOT, BUT GOD, GOD, LET THEM HEAR THE WORD. LET THEM LET THEM FEEL THE PRAYER. LET THEM HEAR WHAT THIS WHAT THIS LITTLE OLD PREACHER THIS THIS PREACHER JUST FEELS DRIVING THROUGH HERE. IT'S NOTHING SPECIAL BUT JUST THE DARTH OF THE WORD. GOD, LET THE LET THE LET THE ATMOSPHERE BE SHATTERED. I WANT TO SPEAK TO IT RIGHT NOW AND I WANT TO SAY JESUS OVER THEM. I just just driving through there and I was like, "Wow, that was incredible." And heartbreaking. When I was a kid, when I was in high school, I had a couple friends, good guys, good friends, uh just just still good men today. And and we're driving through and we go in my my little town of Colinwood. We drive through and we go to this one place in Colinwood that's just not a good place at all. One of them lived.

It could throw a rock and hit the area. Had never been in the in the neighborhood. The neighborhood was if if I can explain to you what a generational curse looks like, it's about what it looks like. That's that's about it. as a as as messed up generationally as any place I've ever seen in this world. Family after family, torn apart by drugs, by abuse, by alcohol, neglect, poverty, all the things that you can look out. And my heart achd for them. My friends, they were like, we're we're in high school and they're like, "Man, what is this? What's happening?" Like, I live just right there. I've never even been here. It was so interesting. And they said, 'What? How do you What do you do about it? How do you fix it? I don't know, guys.

And this was me because I drove a van route through that through that neighborhood and I picked up kids in that neighborhood. The only and I told them, the only thing I know is the word of God. The only thing I know that will change a life, the only thing I know that will pick someone up out of desperation and poverty and brokenheartedness and bondage and addiction is Jesus. THAT'S IT. I'M TELLING YOU RIGHT NOW, CHURCH. I IF I HAD ALL THE MONEY IN ALL THE WORLD, IF I HAD EVERY RESOURCE THAT MAN HAS, IT STILL WOULDN'T SOLVE IT. JESUS IS THE ONLY SOLUTION. JESUS, I'M TELLING YOU, I'VE SEEN IT WITH MY OWN EYES. YOU'RE WITNESS OF IT HERE TODAY. JUST JESUS IS THE ONLY SOLUTION.

As I'm driving through that town out west, THE THE THE VOICE OF GOD WAS SO STRONG AND THE ONLY I COULD ALMOST NOT PRAY BECAUSE I ONLY HEARD THIS one thing and it was preach the word. That was it. The hand in preach the word. I almost couldn't PRAY BECAUSE IT WAS SO STRONG IN MY MIND. PREACH THE WORD. CAN I TELL YOU CHURCH, WE ARE CALLED AS CHRISTIANS, NOT AS PREACHERS, NOT AS SINGERS, NOT AS TEACHERS. WE ARE CALLED AS CHRISTIANS NOT BASED ON OUR POSITION, NOT BASED ON OUR ROLE. WHEN GOD SAVES US, HE CALLS US TO PREACH THE WORD. HE CALLS US TO GO TO THE BROKENHEARTED. HE CALLS US HE CALLS US TO GO TO THE DESPERATE AND THOSE THAT ARE LOST AND BOUND FOR THE DEVIL'S HELL AND JUST PREACH THE WORD. WE GOT TO PREACH THE WORD THE WAY WE LIVE. WE GOT TO PREACH THE WORD THE WAY WE TALK, THE WAY WE WALK, THE WAY WE DRESS. WE GOT TO PREACH THE WORD.

THE WORD IS THE ONLY THING THAT WILL PULL A SINNER OUT OF HELL. OUT OF BOUND BOUND UP DESPERATION, DESOLATION, DESECRATION, HELL. I CANNOT TELL YOU THE DREAD THAT COMES UPON SOMEONE WHEN THEY START LOOKING HELL IN THE FACE. Some of you faced it before. Some of you have felt the absolute desolation of the absence of God. And somewhere along the way, you cl you cl you clawed yourself out of there, some of you learn to hate it enough. There's there's there's two ways to be motivated. It's to run towards something or run away from something. Sometimes I'm not motivated to things, but I'm tell you something. Sometimes I'm motiv motivated away from things. Can I tell you when I drive down the road and I see what drugs does to someone?

When I see the mess that someone makes out of their life because they bound by something, I run as far away from it as I possibly can. When I see what a lifestyle of waste brings, I I I know run to the father. I got to run to Jesus. I get it. I hear you. But first, I got to run away from something. I got to run from wrong living. I GOT TO RUN FROM FROM SIN. I'VE GOT TO RUN FROM BEING BOUND UP. OH, SOMEBODY HEAR ME TODAY. I'VE COME WITH A MESSAGE TO YOU TODAY. SOMETIMES THE RUNNING AWAY FROM FROM THINGS WE RUN TO OTHER THINGS. BUT LET ME JUST GIVE YOU AN OPTION. JUST RUN TO JESUS. CAN I JUST SAY THAT? JUST RUN TO JESUS. THERE'S ALL THE DIFFERENT things in this world that you can grab a hold of, BUT JESUS IS THE ONLY THING that will last. He's the only THING THAT WILL PULL YOU OUT OF WHERE YOU'RE AT AND WHAT YOU ARE AND WILL CHANGE YOU.

You see THE WORD IN JOHN 3 AND5 SAYS SOMETHING LIKE THIS. It says Jesus said, "But answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of THE SPIRIT, HE CANNOT enter into the KINGDOM OF GOD. THAT WHICH IS OF FLESH IS born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of SPIRIT IS SPIRIT. MARVEL NOT AT THESE THINGS. You must be born again. You see what you are and what you what you may be and what your family may be and what your makeup is and what your DNA is. It doesn't matter anymore. I don't care what YOUR NATURAL PROCLIVITIES ARE, WHAT YOUR HABITS ARE, what your MESS UPS ARE. ALL THOSE THINGS. IT DOESN'T MATTER. Jesus says be born again. I don't care WHAT YOUR CULTURE IS, WHO YOUR FAMILY IS, what your name is, and what you've done. YOU'VE JUST GOT TO BE BORN AGAIN.

You just got to be born again. You see, WHEN WHEN WE START UNDERSTANDING THAT OUR JOB and and let me let me let me let me clarify something here. Let me go to my second note here. Long message now. We're going to we're going to start a food bank. Amen. We're going to we're going to do those things. We're going to clothe and we're going to feed. But can I tell you something? In the lineage of what's important, that's secondary. That's right. It's secondary. Because let me tell you, you see, I had them I had them put this up, this old abandoned old western shanny town over here. Because it doesn't matter your economic status. It doesn't matter if your belly is full or empty. It doesn't matter if you've got clothes or not. Doesn't matter if you've got a home or not. It doesn't matter if you've got shoes OR NOT.

DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU'VE GOT A FAMILY OR NOT. It doesn't matter. Anything in this world does not matter. As long as you're making IT TO HEAVEN, THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS. WE'VE GOT A HEAVEN TO SHUN AND A HELL TO GAIN. WE'VE GOT A WE'VE GOT A COMMISSION IN OUR HEARTS AND SOULS AND MINDS, CHURCH, THAT WE HAVE TO PREACH THE WORD. Hell or high water, I want to I I know Jesus fed the 5,000. He did all these things, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT? He bankrupted heaven for the lost. You know, all these things, I believe in them. We're going to do it. I'm not, but they're secondary. Our primary goal, our primary job as a church is to preach the word. It's how we live. It's how we act. It's how we converse. I'm telling you right now, I can't save you, but Jesus can. Sometimes I think we forget something because it's real easy. We don't talk a lot about hell.

Different culture, different time, right? But I'm telling you, hell's real. Go outside. Isaiah 5:14 said, "Therefore health enlarged herself, opened her mouth without her mouth without measure, and their glory, their multitude, their pump, and he that rejoices rejoicth shall descend into it." Hell's waiting. Hell's growing. It's getting bigger and wider. I can't put anyone in hell. I can't put anyone in in heaven. But I can tell you this. You must be born again by the water and the spirit. Matthew 13 says, "And he shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and nashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as a son in the kingdom of their father. Who who hath ears to hear, let him hear." That means every one of us. There's a hell to shun and a heaven to gain. Amen.

at the right I I let me let me just let me go back to Sister Ethel here for just a minute. All right. You wanna You want to know something about Sister Ethel? At the end of her life on her deathbed and we don't talk about deathbeds very often in a church with you know four people over 60. I'm just saying like we it's not it's not really something we talk about a whole lot here. But Sister Ethel on her deathbed that's what it was. her body shutting down, waiting to die. That's real. That's going to happen to every one of us. It is. Can I tell you? She was not concerned about her life. She was not concerned about the husbands that she had outlived. She was not concerned about the children she had or did not have. She was not concerned about her brothers or sisters, her families or friends or men.

She didn't even care about the jobs that she had. It didn't matter to her. She was concerned of where she was going. SHE TALKED ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL. Even in her old age, having lived A LIFE, SHE STILL WANTED TO MAKE SURE HER calling and election was sure. SHE STILL WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT, YOU KNOW WHAT, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT I DID IN THIS LIFE as long as I'm GOING TO HEAVEN. CAN I LOOK AT YOU AND CAN I PLEAD WITH YOU TODAY? IF WE CAN ALL ADOPT THAT ATTITUDE, IF WE CAN ALL ADOPT THAT THOUGHT, WE'RE NOT PROMISED TOMORROW THERE IS A HEAVEN to gain and a hell to lose. NONE OF THOSE THINGS MATTERED. I KNOW I KNOW we've got to live. I'm I'm right there with you. I try to work as much as I can and I believe I believe in doing good work. I believe in being busy. I believe in all those things. But can I tell you something?

And if it comes at the cost of MY SOUL, WHAT HAVE I GAINED? If it comes at the cost of heaven, what have I gained? Just took note here. She'd lived a full life. She had brothers and sisters she she would call regularly. That wasn't it. Husbands. Guess who was going to be standing by her at the pearly gates? Wasn't them. And as much as we have to be strong in our families, as much as we have to be together, all of that, it's you and God. That's it. It's not your jacket. It's not your pretty dresses. It's not your soccer ball. It's not your job. It's not your career. It's not the house. It's not your truck. It's not even your kids. It's you and God. Joshua did it like this as they come to the music. I don't I don't have a long message to preach today.

As they come though, Joshua said, "Choose you this day whom you're going to serve." As simple as that. I believe that someone has in their Listen, I believe that the church is a hospital for the soul. And I'll tell you this right now. I I I want to I want to establish this. The pain and the anguish of this life. I wished I could solve all of that. I wished I could pay every bill. I wished I could make every career go great. I wished I could make every home amazing. I wished I wished I could. And I will tell you as a as a man of God, I pray for those things. And I pray that God intercedes on your behalf. And I pray that God sets your home in order. But can I tell you the primary thing in life is not those things.

Job said, "Naked I came into this world and naked I will leave this world." You've got just a little bit of life in between eternity. And somebody needs to understand and put eternity where it belongs. It belongs at the primary primary focus of our life. My tithe means absolutely nothing. My bank account means absolutely nothing. But my eternity matters more than anything in this world. I I I KNOW MY PAIN IS A LOT. I KNOW THAT I'M STRESSED TO THE MAX. I KNOW THAT I I JUST DON'T MY ETERNITY MATTERS MORE THAN ALL OF THAT. AMEN. I AM CALLED OF GOD AND I FEEL THE CALL OF GOD. BUT IF I FOLLOW THE CALL AND I LOSE MY SALVATION, WHAT HAVE I GAINED? IF I DROP MYSELF TO TO OBLIVION AND I burn myself out, what have I gained? If you do the same, what have you gained?

I am telling you today, there is a heaven to gain and a hell TO LOSE. IT IS OUR JOB TO PREACH THE WORD. IT'S GOT TO GO WITH US DAY IN AND DAY OUT. IT'S GOT TO WAKE US UP AND IT'S GOT TO PUT US DOWN. Would you stand with me for just a moment? There's two audiences I'm preaching to today. One is the church. Church, we cannot forget that. That's our goal. That's our job. That's our call. That's why God saved us. He rescued us from us. And the other is to the world at large. I have zero answers for your problems. I'm I'm going to preach to the camera for just a minute. I have zero answers for the strongholds that you can't break. I have no answers for that. But Jesus does. I CANNOT SOLVE ALL YOUR PROBLEMS, BUT I CAN TELL YOU ABOUT HEAVEN AND TELL YOU that it's that it's paradise. The book of Luke brings to us the crucifixion of Jesus.

And we focus on it. We look at it. Luke 23:39 says, "And one of the male factors which were hanged railed on him." This is one of the guys that was hanging by Jesus. "If thou be Christ, save thyself in us." He mocked him. Can I tell you some of the most uh the most anger and the most and I get it. Most resentful detractors of Christ say, "If God, if you were God, why did you let that happen?" And I will tell you what he told Job. When I made the world, where were you? Did I consult of you? And I know that's strong medicine. And I know that hurts to the core, but can I tell you there was another man. Verse 42, he says, he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest unto thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, "Verily, I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise." Two men whose life circumstances did not change.

God did not take them off the cross. It was their cross to bear. They deserved it. One went to hell, one went to paradise because one cried out for mercy, and one held on to pride. Would you gather around the altars? Would somebody in the house, would you just hear the words of Peter? Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of the sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For this promise is unto you and to your children and all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Oh, what must I DO TO BE SAVED? WHAT CAN I DO TO escape a devil's HELL? WHAT CAN I DO TO GET OUT OF THE MISERY THAT I AM TRAPPED IN? WHAT CAN I DO? JUST RUN TO JESUS. ALLOW HIM TO SAVE YOU FROM YOUR SINS. ALLOW HIM TO LIFT YOU UP OUT OF THE MIRY clay that you're stuck in. Oh Jesus. Oh Jesus.

OH JESUS. SAVE MY SOUL. Have mercy on me. Oh Lord, HAVE MERCY ON ME. OH SON OF DAVID. HAVE MERCY ON ME. JESUS. JESUS. JESUS. OH, somebody hear the word of the Lord today. Somebody preach the word of the Lord today. Jesus, I've got to have you. I can't leave here without you. Heaven to gain and hell to lose.