We've been here for a couple of days. It's been a pleasure to be here. I want to publicly thank Pastor Anderson and his wife for just making us feel at home.
I hope I'm blessing to you tonight. If you want to open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 12, I heard somebody say that you preach the way you look.
I might be a little short and ugly, but...
Genesis chapter 12, I want to begin reading verse number 7.
And the LORD appeared unto Abraham, and said unto thy seed, Will I give this land?
And there buildeth he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
And he removed from them, sent to a mountain on the east of Bethel, and picked his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east.
And there he buildeth an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
And Abraham journeyed going on still toward the south.
And there was a famine in the land, and Abraham went down into Egypt, to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land.
I want to read one more verse, a very, very famous, famous passage.
In the book of Second Chronicles 7.14, a very famous passage, the Bible says,
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my faith, and turn from the awakened way,
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Let's pray.
Father, thank you, Lord, so much for moving with me, for the fact that we have set aside some time for preaching.
Lord, I ask that you fill me with your Spirit. Lord, help me to say what you have been saying.
And Lord, just let heaven come down for the next few moments, Lord.
In your precious name, I pray. Amen.
You know, it's really exciting when Brother, Pastor Anderson asked us to come out here.
I was definitely, I wanted to come out, because you're in the beginning stages of this church, Faithful Word Baptist Church,
and I don't know if you realize what you've gotten yourself into, but you're in for just the ride of your life.
And you're in life, the best part of it, because you're able to say, I was there for the beginning of it.
You're able to say, you know, you should not even look back and be like, you remember when we used to meet in my bad house?
Remember when Pastor Anderson would get up and just like rip it up? You know, now in his old days, he's gone solid.
But you're, I mean, you're in the exciting stages of this church.
And, you know, what's so exciting to me to see this church get started is that this is what America needs.
You know, I was thinking, it's kind of funny, Pat, we were talking earlier today,
and you were talking about last time you heard me preach, I preached about soul winning in America.
That's all I ever preached about. But, you know, our nation tonight is in trouble.
We talk about all the different things that happened, all the issues.
I was reading a book, and the schools in the state of California where I'm from,
they're actually having gay parents coming to the schools to talk to the students,
to sort of advertise and promote what they're doing, what they're about so that the kids can,
they call it, I forget what the word is that they call it, you know what I'm talking about.
They call it diversity, and they call it diversity training, and they want everybody to be open minded and open about it.
And, you know, when I see stuff like that in our country, I think America is in trouble tonight.
You know, when I see stuff like what just happened recently a few months ago,
where there was a man, and I won't get too detailed, he took a four year old,
this man was supposed to be taking care of two adults who are mentally retarded,
and those adults have a four year old daughter who is mentally retarded.
And for the last five or six years, he had been molesting that daughter.
And they took him to court, they caught him, and this liberal judge gave him 60 days in prison.
And the liberal, the Democrats and the Congressmen and all that and all the people in that state were protecting that judge.
People were mad about it, and they wanted that man's head.
But they were protecting him and allowing him to keep his job.
You know, when I see stuff like that in our country, I think America is in trouble tonight.
You know, when I think about, I was reading statistics, 60% of teenagers lose their purity and virginity
before they hit their senior year in high school.
11, 12, and 13 year old girls can actually go into Planned Parenthood without their parents ever having to know about it.
I've heard stories of girls who get pregnant going to their neighbors,
and their neighbors driving them up the trench north, driving them to these Planned Parenthoods and getting abortions for free.
And when I see stuff like that, I think our nation is in trouble.
And you know, sometimes I read the newspaper or I'll listen on the radio sometimes to the news,
and people talk about America and how we need all these reforms.
You know, our public schools are going to hell, so we need reforms.
Do they want to throw money into the public schools?
You know, they talk about George W. Bush as the president,
and the thing is, George W. Bush is not the hope for America, and the next president wasn't, and Bill Clinton dead sure wasn't.
And the hope for America is not the president, it's not the Congress, it's not the White House, it's not the D.C., it's not any of that.
The hope for America is right here right now.
Faithful where Baptist Church and churches like this, churches that can be started that preach like this.
I'm not talking about the kids in that church down the street that's holding the building house over tonight.
They hold two services this morning, a contemporary one and a whatever.
And these churches aren't getting done.
The hope for America is a church like this.
And you know, when we look at our country and we look at what the Bible, this verse is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.
I think it's God's recipe for revival.
Now revival is what America needs.
When the Bible says God said, see, I completely, I want to say this, I completely agree with everything your pastor preaches.
Sodomy is sin, it needs to be preached against.
Abortion is sin, drunkenness is sin, drugs is sin, and I mean, you name it, it's a sin, it's all a sin.
Television is a sin, all of it.
And we need to preach against that garbage.
Because the truth of the matter is, sodomy or the gays and the lesbians, the homosexuals, they're bringing the judgment of God on this nation.
But when the Bible talks, see, we know all that crowd brings the judgment of God in America.
But when the Bible talks about saving a nation, God doesn't say if the abortion crowd, he doesn't say if the drunkards, he doesn't say if the gang members, God said if my people.
See, the reason America is not alone in hell is because of us.
See, the Catholics don't got it.
They can't do anything.
Even if they want to save America, what are they going to do?
They don't have the truth.
The Jehovah's Witnesses, they spend their time counting on doors and what are they going to tell people?
They don't have anything to say.
They don't have the will of God.
They don't have the Bible.
Even if they have the King James Bible, they don't even have the Holy Spirit for them to know what it says.
The hope for America.
And when God talks about saving America, he says, if my people.
The reason America is being destroyed is because of everybody's sin, including ours.
But the reason we're not having a revival is our fault.
God said if my people, which are called by my name.
I just want to go through this real quick.
The Bible says humble themselves.
Now that word humble themselves is funny.
In John, the Bible says, John wrote, I must decrease that he might increase.
See, when you're being humble is the opposite of pride.
When you're filled with pride, you're number one.
You're number one in your life.
You want to take care of yourself.
You want to take care of what you want.
What are your habits?
And God says, you need to put yourself down.
Let me first.
He said, my people need to be humble.
A humble people aren't proud.
See, you want to sleep in on Sunday morning.
God wants you to come to church on Sunday morning.
Who's going to come first?
Is God going to come first or are you going to be proud?
Are you going to be humble?
God has certain laws.
God has certain things he wants you to do.
And all you have to do is say, I'm going to humble myself.
He said, humble yourself before the mighty hand of God.
To bring revival to bring up, to save this nation my way,
not just the preachers we've been trying to save mission,
every single one of them.
Every, everybody who has a son, a daughter, a granddaughter,
a child, a cousin, a friend, a neighbor, a mother.
We need to save this country.
And the Bible says, if my people, not the abortion crowd,
not the drunkards, not all that crowd,
not that crowd that we know is wrong.
He says, if my people, which are called by my name,
the Christians, humble themselves.
And then he says, and pray.
You know, prayer life, all of this goes together.
We don't pray because we're not home.
See, if you just realize that I'm worthless,
I can't make it in this life, if God doesn't step in
and do something, see, the only time we pray
is when we're in trouble.
When that car accident comes and you don't have money
to pay for it, you don't know what you're going to do,
then you get on your knees and pray.
Then you humble yourself.
You're the guy.
Well, everything's going good for pride.
We just walk around.
Who cares?
I don't care.
I don't need God.
All of it goes together.
God says, if my people humble themselves, they would pray.
Because they would realize that they need me.
And God said, well, let me ask you this.
How is your prayer life?
I know the average Christian.
I know the average person.
I mean, do you spend more time watching the television
than you do praying?
If you're doing that, then you're proud.
First of all, because you're doing what you want to do.
Secondly, you have an idol in your house.
And God says, don't have any idols before me.
God says, have no other gods before me.
Our God, see, we talk about, and obviously it's true,
we talk about these images and these greater images
and these things.
And when you think of an idol, you think of like the statue
that people were going about.
But you know, an idol can be anything.
Anything that comes before God is an idol.
Marty's an idol.
Television's an idol.
Your sports are an idol.
And they come before God.
They're an idol.
See, God says, I want me to come first.
He said, if my people humble themselves, pray, seek my faith.
How do you seek God's faith?
Yes, sir.
Yeah, that's good.
There's no other book written by God.
The Quran is not written by God.
They don't even pretend it was written by God.
They say it was written by Muhammad or whoever.
It was written by some prophet.
They don't even try to say it was written by God.
The Bible was written by God.
And if you're sitting here tonight,
and you don't have a King James Bible,
and you don't have the Bible, let me just say that
so I can tell you I'm in the right crowd here.
The King James Bible is the Word of God.
And we're the only ones that have it.
This is the only book that even tries to pretend it's the Bible.
But we spend more time on it to do what we want to do.
We spend more time on the internet.
We spend more time messing around with our cars.
We're talking about whatever.
And God says, humble yourself, pray, seek My face.
And then He says, turn from My wicked ways.
I'm going to take this off.
It's really hot in here.
I'm not used to Phoenix.
God says, turn from their wicked ways.
This is probably the most important part of this verse
right here.
You need to get right with God.
There needs to be a desire.
We were talking yesterday.
Proverbs says, through the desire,
a man has to separate himself.
Seek it, and it's the middle of all of himself.
There needs to be a desire in your heart to say,
I'm going to do right.
I'm going to love God.
I'm not going to humble myself.
I'm going to pray.
But see, there needs to be a desire.
The book of Jeremiah, God said, set your,
God said to Jeremiah, the preacher,
He said, set your face and sin.
You know what will change your life radically?
You need to get a desire to hate sin.
I hate sin.
I remember, I take a stand against the television.
I think everybody ought to touch the cord,
throw it out the window.
But he made the mistake when we got rid of ours
to take it to a pawn shop.
We got $3 for it.
I wish there was a broken stupid thing.
Somebody else brought it in now.
I'll make sure you lie right now.
If you're sitting here thinking, oh, you know,
it's not that bad.
You're lying to yourself.
You're lying to your children.
See, the Bible says,
and we're going to go back to Genesis in a while.
But after where I was reading,
the Bible talks about Abraham and Lot.
I don't know if you know that story.
But the Bible says that Lot had a,
he had his people, he had a servant that was blocked.
And Abraham had his people and his servants that was blocked.
And they were in this little place and they started fighting
because they didn't have enough room.
And Abraham came to him and said,
you go one place, I'll go to another place
so we can still be friends.
And he said, wherever you want to go,
if you go that way, I'll go that way.
If you go that way, I'll go that way.
The Bible says that Lot went towards
the well watered plain of Jordan.
And when he got to Jordan,
in the very next few verses,
the Bible says,
and he set his tent,
not that I think you're exploring that,
but it says he set his tent toward something.
Now he didn't say he went to something.
He said he just watched something.
He just looked at it for a while.
He just dabbled with it.
He wasn't there,
but not too far after that,
the Bible said he was at the gate of Sodom.
He was the leader of Sodom.
He was one of the leaders of that wicked city.
Because he was watching the wicked city.
If you sit down,
see, would you allow some pervert,
would you allow some pedophile to come into your house
and take your children for three hours a night
and just indoctrinate them in their philosophy?
Would you allow a killer,
a murderer to come into your house,
or a stripper,
or a prostitute to come into your house,
or a sodomite to come into your house,
a homosexual,
a lesbian to come into your house
and take your children around,
put them in the couch for three to four,
five, six hours a night
and just talk to your children
and teach them about their lifestyle.
See, you're not mad when I said that
the public schools are letting the gays come in,
but you're letting them do it at your house.
Turn on the television and will and praise.
Hey, what is that?
It's God.
God is straight out of good health.
Friends, I don't even know what those shows are.
I mean, I'd be like,
shows that are countless,
but they're all, all, all waiting.
All waiting.
You sit there and watch that.
See, Peter said,
I can only speak what I have seen and heard.
And Satan knows that.
Satan knows the Bible.
So he said,
they can only talk about,
they can only,
see, you speak with on your heart.
I remember when I met my wife,
I didn't realize this.
I still don't think so,
but I guess I talked a lot about her
when I met her.
And after we got married,
I had like five people tell me,
all you did was talk about her.
And I didn't realize.
I thought, you know,
I mean, some people said that.
I was like, oh, I don't want to annoy people, you know.
But they said,
you just talk and talk and talk about you and shut up.
But you know what?
She was on that heart.
And Peter said,
what you look at
and what you see
gets on your heart.
You can only speak.
And Satan said,
hmm, I know that.
So let's make a machine
that all it does is that
you can watch it,
you can listen to it.
And all it does is it affects your mind.
See, I promise you,
I promise you,
if you do this
and I'm wrong,
I will give you my paycheck.
But I promise you,
Satan,
which is not that much,
it doesn't even matter,
if you take the television
out of your house
for six months
and don't watch it.
I mean,
you don't go to a restaurant
and watch it.
You don't go to anywhere
and watch it.
You don't go to a neighbor's house.
You don't watch the news.
You know,
there is this thing called
reading a newspaper.
I wouldn't even say do that.
I mean,
good night.
My life has been so much better
since I don't know
what's going on in the news.
But if you just don't watch it
for six months
and you turn it back on,
you won't be appalled
at what's on.
You won't be appalled
at what you used to think.
You know,
that's okay.
I let my kids watch that.
Man,
one time I was in the state
of watching something
and I felt like doing nothing.
Television is waiting.
But see,
I've heard preachers say
since the invention
of television
there's never been
a revival in America.
If we got rid of our television,
that television,
you'd get right with God.
Or you'd get a lot closer to it.
God says,
turn from your wicked ways.
You know,
there are a lot of wicked ways.
The Bible talks
about the fact
that there are
a lot of wicked ways
in the world.
The Bible talks
about the fact
that there are
a lot of wicked ways
in the world.
The Bible talks
about,
in Deuteronomy,
a man ought not
to wear that which
pertaineth to a woman.
Now we understand now.
You saw a big,
tough,
hairy-legged man
walking down the street
with a miniskirt on
and the woman was
a strong man.
But you know,
there was a day
in this country
where women wore dresses
and men wore pants
and the sexes
were separated.
You go into any airport
in this country
and all of a sudden
you're like,
man,
I'm going to die.
You're going to see
a sign with a lady
with a dress
and a sign with a man
with pants
and that one's for men
and that one's for women
and God said
a man should not
wear that which
pertaineth to a woman
and he said
a woman should not
wear that which
pertaineth to a man.
You know what?
There is
the problem with
the dress.
The two issues
about the dress
is first,
modesty,
secondly,
identity.
And that's
the problem
with the dress.
The Bible
talks about a modest.
Now that word modest
is talking about
for a woman
about a long
clothing dress
that covers
your body.
God hates
nakedness.
God does not
want to see
your nakedness.
You read the book
of Deuteronomy.
God said
a father
shouldn't look
at the nakedness
of his neighbor.
He shouldn't look
at the nakedness
of his granddaughter
and the nakedness
of his granddaughter
and the nakedness
of his granddaughter
and the nakedness
of his granddaughter.
And it just goes on.
A sister
and a brother
and goes on.
God does not
want to see
your nakedness.
You know in the
book of,
in the Old Testament,
the Bible says
women wore
these long dresses
and the only way
you could see
a prostitute,
you could tell
how hard it was
when her slit
came up and
you could see
her thigh.
The way you knew
who was a prostitute
is if you could
see her thigh.
You know if you
can see her thigh,
you could see her
thighs first of all.
And then he wants
you to identify.
See this whole,
this whole movement
is a unit that's movement.
That's like you walk
into any Starbucks
in America
and I made a mistake.
I hate Starbucks.
I made a mistake
of what my wife
liked to change
together.
And we went
into Starbucks
and I walked in
and there was this boy
or this thing
and this thing
holding hands
and I couldn't tell
which one was
the boy or the girl.
You know what?
Because the new
movement is
these boys are wearing
these pink
born fitted shirts.
You know what I'm
talking about?
They wear these
born fitted shirts
and they wear
these born fitted pants
and then they
grow their hair
shaggy out
and then the girls
have shaggy hair
and they cut the short.
And I mean
I honestly
I'm not joking.
I could not tell
which one was the boy
or which one was the girl.
I don't ever
ever ever ever
ever want to walk
down the street
with my wife
and somebody saying
I don't know
which one was the girl.
I want to be known.
Not the woman
not the man
not what God said.
God said
I mean
go ahead
you do whatever you want
but you're helping the devil.
Unisex movements
unisex movements
are like
they're trying to
they're by the lines
and you can't
you can't tell
so then it's okay
for a woman
to sleep with a woman
and a man
I mean they all look
the same anyway.
You know what I'm talking about?
The Bible says
see that in Greece
that's wicked.
God said
I want you to
do me a favor
and I'm going to
pray and I'm going to
take my faith
and he said
turn from
your wicked
wicked
wicked ways
now why don't
you go back to
Genesis real quick
and I'll tell you
I'll show you
what the problem is
verse 7 says
the Lord
appeared unto Abraham
and said
unto thy seed
will I give this land
and there builded
the altar
unto the Lord
to him, and removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent,
having Bethel on the west and Haai on the east. And there he builded an altar unto the Lord,
and called upon the name of the Lord." Now just so you know what's going on in the story,
Abraham just left his home country, the order of the Chaldees, and he took, it was Abraham's
wife and his father, and they went up to the land of Haran, they went north. And they were there for
a while, and Abraham's father died in Haran. And God, if you go back verse 1 and verse 12,
the last verse in verse 11 says, and the days of Terah, which were Abraham's father, were 205
years, and Terah died in Haran. Very next verse says, now the Lord said unto Abraham,
get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I
will show thee. First thing that happened was God called Abraham. I'd like to say tonight,
if you ever really forgot is that God called you first. I hear these people say, you know,
I searched, God didn't search anybody. The Bible says in the book of Romans, all we like sheep have
gone astray, or Isaiah. They're talking about the same thing. He said, every man went his own way.
No man searches after God. Nobody looks forgotten. The Bible says in 1st God, I believe, God says,
you love me, or I love him, because he first loved me. God calls everybody. God calls everybody
salvation. God said, I am not willing to do that any shipwreck, but I also come to her hand.
God called Abraham, but see Abraham had to make a decision. He went, verse 7, he says,
he went up to a mountain, builded there an altar, and verse 8 says, and called upon the name of the
Lord. Now immediately when I read that verse, my mind went to Romans chapter 10, verse 13,
I believe. And the Bible says that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
I believe this is Abraham's salvation testimony. God called him, but then he confessed God. Now
we understand Jesus hadn't died yet. To get saved, we, the cross is here. We're here 2,000 ways.
We're looking at the cross, putting our trust and our faith in Jesus Christ.
Abraham was looking to the cross. Later on in the passage, Abraham actually prophesied and said,
God will prepare himself a lamb. John said, when he saw Jesus coming down the mountain, behold,
the lamb of God will save the way that sins the world. Abraham had to, salvation, we're talking
about, people say on the Old Testament group, I say by works. Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody
ever gets saved by works. If you have to get saved by works, no one will go to heaven. Salvation
has always been by grace. The only difference was they were looking and putting their trust
that Jesus would come and die on the cross. We're looking back and putting our trust that he did
die on the cross and you've been taken to heaven. And I believe Abraham got saved here. And the
Bible says that he called upon the name of the Lord. He met God on this mountain and accepted
Christ or the Lord as the savior, but what really caught my attention is that, see, he was in
Haran and God called him down and he was going down south. And he went off on a mountain and met
God somewhere. And when he got saved, and verse nine says, and Abraham journeyed going on still
toward the south. Now he got saved, but his direction didn't change. And the next verse says,
and there was a famine in the land and Abraham went down into Egypt. Now, Egypt, we have a
favorite message like the land of Egypt. Egypt is always a picture of the world in the Bible. Every
time you see Egypt, you're going down into Egypt. I won't cause it. I forget an Isaiah has very
descriptive term for the house of bondage, the place of the furnace. I think I might be
mispronouncing that, but Egypt is always world. And the Bible says that Abraham accepted Christ.
He confessed to this now, but he continued going down still toward the south. He continued going
down still toward the south. He got saved, but his direction didn't change. The reason that we're not
having a revival today, the reason second product design 14 doesn't work is because we got a lot of
people that are confessing with their vows. They're believing in their heart. They're getting
saved in the parts of the Bible. You truly, truly are getting saved, but their direction is not
going anywhere. He continued still toward the south. I'd like to say tonight, how was your
direction? What has changed if you got saved? I know you're going to heaven. I know your
destination has changed, but as your direction changed, have you done anything? Has anything
happened? God said he wants to return from your wicked way. Why don't you say, like the psalmist
said, search me, oh God, and know my way. And look, he says, look to see if there's any wicked way
anymore. Why don't you just think about what you do? Why don't you just say, I'm going to make a
decision. We're going to be different. We're not going to dress like the world. See, the problem is
we conform to the world. My favorite passage in the New Testament, Romans 12, verse one,
says, I beseech you therefore, brother, by the mercies of God, that you present your body
the living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
And the next verse says, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewed
everybody. Now, I'm going to do this, and I hope you guys don't get uncomfortable. It was the best
play I ever taught. The Bible says, God doesn't want you to be conformed to this world. I promise
I'm not going to do anything weird. When I bought this belt,
now, if I would have bought it like at a bookstore, maybe it would have been like this.
But when I first bought this belt, believe it or not, it was straight. Never. It just
was going the right way. We bought it, we purchased it, and it was straight. I have used this thing
for the night. I'm sorry. But it was straight. But during the course of time, it got bent because
it conformed to my body. Even though I'm pretty skinny, it still conformed. You know,
I had to like wrap around, but it conformed to my body. And now it's just destroyed. It's
not even right. I just recently got a new tie. My mom and dad, I was born in Minnesota. My mom
and dad actually went to Minnesota. They have these nice, nice leather belts there. They bought
me a new one. And my wife said, why didn't you bring your old one? I didn't tell her. I was
like, but this belt has conformed to my body. See God, you think I'm joking, but this thing is
going to wrap around you. The Bible says God doesn't want you to be conformed to the world.
The problem with Christians is we have a bunch of Christians that are conformed to the world.
There's no difference with it. You look like the world. You talk like the world. You act like the
world. If there was a trial and we had to prove you're a Christian, we couldn't because there's
no proof that you're a Christian. God said, stop being conformed to the world. My advice to you is,
first of all, you would just decide I'm going to be faithful to every service of faithful wordmaster
church. I don't know if you know this, but most churches don't get preaching like this church gets
preaching. If you want to grow, in fact, forget you want to grow rich. The Bible says in the book
of Hebrews, forsake not the assembling of yourself together as a matter of some is.
God said, don't forsake it. Whenever the church is open, whatever the crowd is there, whatever
preaching there, he says, don't forsake it. Just be there. Be there. Be there. Month, anything.
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, revival day, anything. God says just be there.
God said, you know what? God said that verse. I like that verse. God's like, well, through the
foolishness of preaching, he had manifested his word. God said, through preaching, you can know,
see, a lot of times you're going to read through the Bible and you're not going to stand on it.
And I promise you, this will happen. You start reading through your Bible and you'll get things
and God will show you things. And there's only things that you don't understand. And I didn't
want this to be all the time. Like a week later, I go to church and somebody preaches on them
and God manifests and God shows me what it's about. That's how you grow. But how are you
going to do that? I mean, I would hate, I go to church every time it's open because I would hate
for the pastor or the preacher to preach the message that I needed and I stay home because
I talk to my friends and my iPhone. Just be faithful, be faithful, be faithful, be faithful.
It's called character. Just make a decision. See, the Bible says in the book of Daniel,
that Daniel was taken to a foreign land as a little boy. And the Bible says that Daniel
purposed in his heart not to defile himself. Now I believe that Daniel wouldn't have ever
just made a decision, I'm going to do this. And would have just kind of went along with whatever
happens, happens. He would have done just like the rest. He would have ate the king's meat,
he would have defiled himself just like everybody else. But Daniel purposed in his heart,
why don't you give me a choice tonight and just say, from now on, I'm going to meet you.
From now on, I'm going to read my Bible every day. I'm not saying you have to read. I mean,
you should read. I mean, you should at least try to read through the Bible once a year.
We can redo more than that. Check the television in about 45 minutes and you can read through the
Bible. But just decide. I mean, I tell, I preach to kids a lot. Just, just read. You're okay. Just
read. Just read one verse, just one verse a day. I mean, you'll get through the Bible in 23 years,
but that's okay. Just read one verse. Just read one chapter. Just go, my youth pastor,
you would say to us, just go vote for the father. Robert's had 31 chapters. There are 31
days in a month. Just read one problem a day. Yes. In February, you'll have to catch up with
doing 20 days. That's okay. But just read through it. Get that wisdom. Just get in the habit of
reading, reading your Bible, reading about just spending a few minutes a day, praying.
You don't know what you, you don't know what you have. You go, you think, you know, you say,
oh, you might think, oh, holding services, you know, you know, people in Iraq are dying
for what we're doing right now. See the problem with our Christianity is we don't have a sacrifice.
I had a story of a missionary. It's one of my favorite stories of a missionary,
but I hate to tell it.
There was a missionary and his wife, a 15 year old son, and they went to a tribe
in Africa. And they've been there for a couple of months. And they were just trying to meet people
and talk to people and give the gospel. And they were trying to get people to come. And it seemed
like a wall of opposition just, just built against him. Like people were just not wanting to doing,
have anything to do with them. But they just kept trying and stayed at it.
And one day the chief of the tribe came to this missionary and he said, why are you here?
And the missionary said, well, I'm here because the God of the Bible, the true Jehovah God sent
me here. I'm here because it's the will of that God that I come here and preach to you the gospel
of Jesus Christ. And then she said, why are you here? And he said, I told you the true Jehovah
God, not the God you're worshiping, but the real true God sent me here so that you would know
how to go to heaven in your life and be more abundant. And the chief said,
we have our own God. We have our own religion. We have our own religious leaders. We have our own
faith. Just you're, you're unwanted. Just go, just go away. And the missionary said, I can't,
because it's the will of that God that I come here. The chief said, we'll see about that.
A couple of months passed, three months passed. The missionary's wife was getting the evening
meal ready. And she asked her 15 year old son to go out to the market and buy a few things for the,
for the meal. An hour passed and he hadn't returned. And she grew a little concerned and
called the husband and sent him off and tried to look for him a couple hours past. Couldn't find
him. Just looking for him. Couldn't find him. A guy from the tribe just ran up and said, hey,
Michigan. And the missionary thought, and he said, the chief wants to see you and it's hot.
The missionary thought, well, maybe he knows where my son is. Maybe he's heard a word of my son.
He walked into this hut and there was a little picnic bench table with two seats.
And the chief walked in with two big strong men in burlap bath. He said, sit down. And the
missionary said, I'm looking for my son. I can't find my son. You know, sit down. And he sat down
and the chief said, why are you here? And the missionary said, I don't have time for this.
My son's missing. I have to go find him. Do you know where my son is? And he said,
why are you here? And the missionary said, I told you why I'm here. Because God sent me here
to give you the gospel. And the chief said, I told you we see about that. He snapped his fingers and
one of those big strong men opened that burlap bag. The chief put his hands into that bag and
pulled out two feet, just feet, and set them in front of that missionary. The missionary looked
at those feet, looked up at that chief, and he thought to himself, no, I can't be my son.
And the chief reached into that burlap bag and pulled out two hands, just hands, and placed them
in front of that missionary. The missionary recognized the hands of his 15-year-old son
and brought up those hands and held them up against his face, against his feet.
And he looked at that chief and looked at the feet and the hands of his son,
and with every question he could ask, what have you done to my son? And the chief
pulled up his hands into that bag and pulled out the head of that 15-year-old son.
The missionary took the head of his 15-year-old son, cold, lifeless, and kissed those stiff, cold
lips. And the chief said, now tell me about the will of God. The missionary stood up and he said,
it is good to be in the will of God. When I read that, when I read through my Bible, I see what
these men and women have given up to preach the gospel. When I read books, I see what martyrs have
given up for the gospel, what people have given up so that the gospel could come to me. When I see
what men and women have given up in this country to start churches like this and sacrifice and
give their lives, I think, oh God, you know, we get mad when the preacher doesn't shake my hand
and we don't sacrifice and we don't give anything. Just a few days ago, we were giving out
lies and I looked at a man who was on a cell phone and when you're using a cell phone, I just go over
and hand them the car and they take it and say thank you. And this, I handed the fire and the man
looked at me and I thought maybe he wanted me to say something. I said, you know, I'm faithful,
we're about to church, we're having a grand opening service, I'd like to invite you. And he looked at me,
slapped the fire out of my hand and he said, get the blank out of here. And I said, and I said,
okay, uh, it's kind of like, okay, what's wrong with you? I picked up the fire and he said,
there's no way you'd like to listen. I said, I'm not, I'm not soliciting anything, I want to invite
you to church. And he said, get the blank out of here. And it just hurts. I said, all right,
I bless you. And I went off. You know, most Christians put a hop and pop and say, I'm never
doing anything. No, I think God, you know what the wicked way is, you know what the worst,
most possible, I believe the most possible, wicked way, wicked thing we could ever do.
And if I say this and you get mad, that's okay because I'm leaving tomorrow.
But the worst, wicked thing you could ever do, I think, is to never get the gospel.
If somebody, if my, my dad led me to the Lord when I was four years old,
I remember I was in Venezuela, I listened to preaching and my little heart, I convicted over
my sin, whatever it was. And I went to my dad and said, I don't want to go to hell. And I said,
you don't have to. And he took the Bible and assured me, you know, my dad would have been
as lazy as some of you are. I would have died. If a person that led you to the Lord
was as lazy as you are, you wouldn't go to hell. Don't you realize the Bible says that if our
gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. It's not hid to those that are saved. We don't
need the gospel anymore. We're going to heaven. If you don't get the gospel, you know, every single
one of you has somebody that doesn't know about Christ. You have a neighbor, you have a friend,
you have a grandmother, you have a mother, a father, a co-worker. Don't you realize that
when we preach about hell, heaven is a real place. There is a real burning fire. The Bible
says that one day we will stand and watch the people as our loved ones get escorted to hell.
Because we don't want to get up on Saturday morning and go to school.
Because you'd rather watch the news or garden. I've heard people say, well, I can't go to school
because I'm a gardener. I'm glad a little fig tree is more important than a soul.
I'm sure that's going to stand when you say that. The Bible says it is appointed to man
once he's died. When you stand before God, you're going to look him in the face.
I don't want to say, God, I didn't serve you because I worked late on Friday and I just
went on this tire. God, I didn't serve you. I didn't want to dress modest. I didn't want to
feel my pants. My pants were more important to me than you were. My alcohol, God said,
uh, why did the mockers' strong papers raise you? And those who are deceived thereby are not wise.
You remember when they say, God, you know what? I know you saved my soul. I saw those people die
go to hell. I know hell is a real place. I know you saved me and I'm glad you saved me. And I
took that, but I didn't care about you. I didn't care about you. You're going to stand before God
one day and say, oh God. You're going to stand before God one day and say, oh God. You're going
to give that crown back to God and say, oh God. Even if you're happy about heaven now,
you'll be happy about heaven when you get there. You'll stand before God and say,
I just didn't care. God said, see, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is accurate. God destroyed
that city because of perverseness inside me and homosexuality in that city. But you know,
God would have spared that city. God went to Abraham and said, should I tell him what I'm
doing? He's talking to Sodom. And he told Abraham to destroy Sodom. And Abraham said, God,
if I can find fifty people, will you spare me? And God said, if I find fifty righteous people,
I'll spare you. And he said, oh, okay, but if there's not fifty, if I find forty-five,
will you spare me? And God said, if you find forty-five people, I will spare the nation.
He said, he knew there wasn't forty-five. He said, if I find forty, if I find thirty,
if I find twenty, if I find ten, if I find, God said, if you find ten righteous people,
I will spare Sodom and Gomorrah. And he couldn't find ten. You know why? He would just cut his
family's aid. It would have been more intense. I understand Sodomy and abortions and all that
is waiting before God. But God says, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves
and pray and seek my gifts, then I will hear from heaven. I'm almost done, I promise. We talked
about the power of God. As preachers, we talk about the power of God. Now, all of us need the
power of God. You need the power of God to raise your children. You need the power of God to work.
You need the power of God for everything. And you know, sometimes we talk about the power of God,
and we think like the power of God is like this little aura, kind of like, you just have this thing
and everything you do, just like, you walk up, you know, you shake somebody's head and they're
saying, you know, and we make it like this weird thing. But you know what the power of God is?
I want you, if you have your Bible, I'll just read a real quick story, if I can find it here.
In the book of Joshua,
I dropped my Bible a few times, so I lost my place. Just give me a moment.
Joshua chapter 10 verse, I'll begin reading at verse 11.
The Bible says, and the Lord said unto the children of Israel,
I'm sorry, I'm reading the wrong place.
Let me make sure I have this right. Joshua chapter 10.
Okay, verse 11 through 14, the Bible says, and the Lord said unto the children of Israel,
did not I deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon,
from the Philistines, the Zidonians, also the Amalekites and the Maonites?
They did oppress you, and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hands.
Yet ye have forsaken me and served other gods, wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry
unto the gods which have chosen, which ye have chosen, and let them deliver you in the time of
the tribulation. There's another story in Joshua that talks about Joshua, what happens,
they're fighting, and Joshua, he's like whooping his feet when he needs some more time,
and he says, God, will you hold the son in the sky, and God held the son. Now,
Joshua had the power about himself on his life, and the Bible says that God, that day,
hearkened unto the voice of the man. You know what the power of God is? To have God hear,
that when you pray, God listens. You know, God hears your prayer, but he's not listening if
you're in sin. God says, if you serve other gods, then cry unto them, but if you serve me,
I will heart them, and in the book of, in carnival semper tine, if my people, which are called
by my name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek my faith, turn from their wicked ways, and God says,
then I will hear from heaven. You want the power of God in life? You want people to say, God,
I need this, and God says you got it. I'm listening. Lord, I want to see people saved,
and God says you got it. That's the power of God. God said, then I will hear from heaven.
You're praying for your children to grow up right? You might want to get back with God first,
so you don't let God listen. God says, then I will hear from heaven. Then I will forgive your sin.
Then I will heal your life. I don't know about you, but I think America needs healing tonight,
and it's not going to happen in Washington. It's not going to happen
in these other churches. It's going to happen right here. This crowd just says, oh God,
why don't you just make a decision tonight? I'm going to be faithful at church. I'm going
to read my Bible. I'm going to pray. I'm going to be a soul winner. I'm going to stand up for God.
I want everybody to bow and never act closed. Do you have any problems? Lord,
thank you so much for your word. Thank you for your goodness to us, Lord.
I'd like to just ask a few questions, but I'll turn the service over. If there's anybody here
who would say, you know, if I died today, I do not know. I cannot say without a shadow of doubt.
I know for sure that I would go to heaven. I'd just like you to slip your hand up. I want to
embarrass you. I just want to pray for you. Maybe talk to you after the service. By your testimony,
everybody here is stating, and you've all accepted Christ as your Savior. The Bible says you have
his name and question. I'd like to ask, maybe you're here tonight and say, you know what?
I did confess Christ with my heart, with my mouth, and I accepted Christ, but I'm still
going down southward. My life hasn't really changed that much. And you say, I want to make
some changes. I'm not going to ask you what you want to do. I'm not going to ask you what you want.
I'd just like to see your hand so I can pray for you. If you say there are things in my life,
I'd like you to just raise your hand up so I can pray for you. You say, God spoke to my heart about
something tonight. There's things that I can change, the things that I need to do.
I want my children, I want there to be an America for my children. Father, you see the hands. You
know the heart. And Lord, I ask that every decision here would not just be something that we say to
say, Lord, but there would be something that we would do and perform. Establish this church. Bless
the spirit. In your question's name I pray. Amen.