Transcription
Colossians chapter 1, that says to them, "God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." That was never known until Paul revealed it to the church. And then he said, "Him, H I am Him, we preach, warning every man."
You see, my call is to warn you. It's to bless you, rebuke you, encourage you. That's in the package of the ministry. I'm not here to make you feel better. I am here to preach the truth. Then you, if you line up with it, can feel better. And if you are opposed to it, you can repent and get right with God. But I'm here to warn. And I do it all the time. And people get tired of warning. They got tired of it in Noah's day. But he kept right on preaching. He was a preacher of righteousness. And he warned, and he pleaded. And I warn, and I plead. And I remind people, time is running out. We're living in the last days. My life is being lived as though Jesus could call me home today. This is not a game. This is not a weekend event. Uh, this is not a religion. I am not practicing a faith. I am walking in the spirit because I know that at any second the trumpet of the Lord could sound and the Lord could catch His sa- His saints away to be with Him in the air. And then what's coming on the earth is indescribable. I'm warning. Don't play with God. I am warning you. Time is running out. I am warning you. Stop vacillating in and out and up and down. In and out of church. In and out of sin. Stop it. I warn you in the name of Jesus. And He says, "I teach every man." In my warning, I'm constantly telling you why. I'm giving you scripture. I'm proving it to you through truth. God Himself wrote this book. It is this book from which we get our information and most importantly our transformation that we are taught to walk in the truth. Walk in the light as it shines upon our path. Him we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. This is about making you more like Christ. I can't do it except through the preaching of the gospel, teaching of the scripture. But the point is to be made like Jesus, perfect in Christ. There should be improvement. There should be constant progress spiritually. You should hate sin more and love righteousness more. You should see a distance between you and the world, between their thoughts and philosophies and yours. This should be ever increasing. And Paul said, "To this end, for this reason, for this purpose, I labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily."
I don't want to make this about me, but folks, God called me to do this. I didn't wake up one day at any point and say, "I'd like to be a preacher." When I was a little boy, I never said, "Boy, I'd like to be a preacher." I never even considered anything like this. But God called me to this. And I look back over the events of my life, everything that's happened to me, and it was the hand of God directing me even to this point right here today. So, I'm here to remind you, time is running out. I'm not a professional speaker. I've got an anointing on me. And God put His hand on me, and it's heavy. And I'm speaking on His behalf, and I want Him to be pleased with what comes out of my mouth. And I'm warning you, and I'm teaching you this morning, get right with God. Stay in the spirit. Walk in the truth. READ THE BIBLE. TALK WITH GOD CONSTANTLY. RUN FROM EVIL. FLEE THE APPEARANCE of sin so that YOU MAY BE MADE PERFECT IN CHRIST JESUS.
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>> You've heard me rave for months about the situations in the world and how it's affecting the church. And I don't care how much I spit and spew, there are people who will not listen. They still have the philosophies of this world in their minds. They are still delving into worldly politics and ideas of this world. Then you come in here with all of that infection in your spirit, and you can't really hear the gospel. You've You've done damage to your spirit because you listen more to politicians, and you watch more news than you read the scripture, and you got angry, and you're upset, and you're leaning in this direction. No wonder that the Holy Spirit can't produce flourishing buds of fruit in your life. You're all bound up and caught up and confused and living in this cloudiness in your mind. You can't make a distinction between the church and the government. You can't make a distinction between the Bible and politics anymore. There needs to be a revival in your life. You need to get everybody off your mind except THE ONE WHO DIED FOR YOU AND IS COMING back for you. THERE IS NO POLITICIAN. THERE IS NO DELIVERER. THERE IS NO GROUP THAT'S GOING TO SAVE ANYTHING BUT THEIR OWN HIDES. I'M HERE BECAUSE I ALREADY GOT SAVED AND HIS NAME WAS JESUS AND HE'S THE ONE I'M SUPPOSED TO BE LIVING FOR.
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>> Oh, Lord, help me. So, here I come again doing my best to remind you that everything that's happening in this world is orchestrated. And God knows all about it. And God is allowing it. There is no movement of power. There's no change of government. There's no war. There's no anything past or present that God has not allowed. God is God is arranging things Himself. There's a passage in 1 Kings chapter 12. I'm not going to read it. I'm just going to make a light reference to it. Where a king did something that made no sense. People were befuddled by it. I wish I could find it right quick. I don't know why the Lord lays things on me and then I can't find the scripture. I I'll The king did something that was totally out of order. It wasn't even his nature. And everybody was saying, "What's wrong here?" But the Bible says this turn of events was from the Lord that the will of the Lord might be fulfilled. You hear me? What's happening in this world is the Lord allowing it so He can bring things to the place where one day His Son is going to be glorified above all else. I'm telling you, you stay all upset about the government and about Do I need to go through the whole list? And the point of the matter is, nothing happens without God's permission. You're fighting against God. YOU'RE QUESTIONING THE PREDETERMINED PLAN AND PURPOSE OF ALMIGHTY GOD. WHEN WE SEE ALL OF THIS stuff that stirs us up, what we ought to be stirred up about is the fact that He is closer to coming than He's ever been before. And what you see is going to get worse. It's not going to get better. This country's not going to get any better. No country's going to get any better. All countries are doomed. Every country's going to fall. Every nation is going to perish until Jesus gets back and rearranges things. What you see is God loosening the reins on humanity. If He didn't hold things back, if the Holy Spirit didn't hold things back, we'd be in Armageddon right now. But God is gradually loosening it. And evil is encroaching and darkness is getting darker and destruction is getting closer and the church ought to be on fire for Jesus. Instead of getting involved in it, we ought to be on fire for Jesus, singing, shouting, preaching, and praying and telling people there's a better way, and there is an answer, and His name is Jesus. The Bible says, "The end of all things is at hand." Then why don't we act like it? Why don't we talk like it? "The end of all things is at hand." I predict nothing, but I believe this is the generation that will experience the rapture of the church.
And so, sitting here, or watching me now, today, are people who are in limbo. They can't make up their minds. You'll go to this church for a while, then you'll take off to another church. I don't know what you're looking for, but you can't make up your mind. And so, you'll come here and sit, and not even realize that in your desire, in your quest, you don't even know what it is. It's the goodness of God working on you. A good God has, just in my life, just as He did in my life, has arranged things since you were born. Events, good and bad, harmful and helpful, to bring you to this place, not this church, to the place you are, where He can come into your life, and instead of working on you, can start working in you. That's some good preaching. That is so good right there. You know, we curse things that happen to us.
>> [snorts]
>> We stay angry at people that did it to us. We're mad because of our upbringing. We didn't have what they had. Our parents weren't this, weren't that, and the other. Why did Why did this happen in my life? Folks, it's an eternal God coming in coming into time in your life to bring you to the place where you realize I can't live without Jesus. Nobody can make me happy. No amount of money can make me happy. I've bought things I thought I wanted, it didn't make me happy. I'm driving something I thought I wanted, it didn't make ME HAPPY. I FOUND SOMEBODY THAT I THOUGHT would be the answer to everything. They didn't do it. Because you weren't designed to be made happy or fulfilled by anybody except the giver of life, even Jesus Himself. Say amen, church.
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>> So, if you look back, just think about it. Look back over your life and say, "That's the goodness of God." This is God bringing me to Him. This is God getting my attention. This is the goodness of God. This is what Moses experienced. This is what Noah experienced. Noah Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. IT IS THE GOODNESS OF GOD THAT LEADS one to repentance. WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET you to God IS WORTH IT ALL and should never be cursed. So, I want you to know, whoever you are, you're not going to find what you're looking for in a church. That's why people are going all over the place. Charlotte's like a beehive. Oh my word, a beehive. People floating and flying from gathering to another trying to find the preacher, the group, the music, the fellowship, and you never will FIND IT. YOU'LL NEVER HAVE PEACE UNTIL IT COMES ON THE INSIDE of you through Him. So your only connection to God is Christ. You only know God through Christ. YOUR ONLY PLEA when you stand before a holy God is Christ. YOU ARE ONLY ACCEPTED BY GOD THROUGH the beloved Jesus Christ. YOU WILL NEVER KNOW TRUTH TILL YOU KNOW JESUS. ALL OF THE UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE, THIS life is in Jesus Christ. All of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Him. Listen to me, you who wish to be intelligent, theological, all understanding and all truth and all wisdom is in Jesus. The person of Jesus. Not in the degree you get in theology or divinity. YOU DON'T KNOW GOD BECAUSE YOU GRADUATE from a seminary. YOU KNOW ABOUT GOD. THIS IS MY I KNOW I'M going to have people say, "I don't agree with that." I want to tell you something. I've seen seminaries do more DAMAGE TO YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE TRYING TO FIND OUT WHO GOD IS AND WHAT GOD wants them to do than you can possibly imagine. I HAD A YOUNG MAN STAND right there several weeks ago and say, "Give me some advice. I'm I'm thinking about going to seminary. Uh, what would you advise that I do?" I said, "Why would you go?" He said, "I want to know God. I want to know the ministry." I said, "Why would you spend scores of thousands OF DOLLARS? WHY WOULD YOU BUY HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF BOOKS WRITTEN BY PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT? WHY WOULD YOU SIT IN A CLASSROOM AND LISTEN to somebody WHO LOVES TO HEAR HIMSELF SPOUT OFF IN HIS INTELLECT WHEN ALL YOU NEED TO DO AT FIRST, GET YOUR BIBLE." THIS IS WHAT I TOLD HIM. I SAID, "YOU GO GET A BIBLE AND YOU GO HIDE AWAY WITH GOD AND YOU SPEND 30 DAYS ON YOUR FACE WITH A BIBLE OPEN, THEN YOU'LL KNOW WHAT YOU OUGHT TO DO. THEN YOU'LL KNOW WHO GOD IS BECAUSE YOU WON'T KNOW HIM IN A CLASSROOM. YOU JUST GOT TO KNOW HIM ON YOUR FACE WITH YOUR NOSE IN THE BOOK. THAT'S HOW YOU GET TO KNOW JESUS."
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>> I'M NOT PLAYING THIS MORNING. I DON'T MEAN TO INSULT ALL THOSE LEARNING PLACES. I DON'T. BUT I'M JUST TELLING YOU, NOBODY IN THE BIBLE EVER FOUND GOD IN HIS FULLNESS IN THE TEMPLE. NOBODY EVER FOUND GOD IN TRUE KNOWLEDGE WHILE THEY WERE SITTING UNDER RABBIS. THEY FOUND HIM SITTING BESIDE A CREEK ALL BY THEMSELVES. THEY FOUND HIM IN THE WILDERNESS WITH NOTHING BUT SHEEP TO WALK AROUND WITH. THEY FOUND HIM ON THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN WHEN THE WIND WAS BLOWING AND THE FIRE WAS FALLING. YOU CAN FIND HIM WHERE YOU LEAST EXPECT HIM.
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>> That's where I found Him. 9 years old, down in the woods, hanging over an old log with an old King James Bible, screaming and crying out to God, "If You're there, let me know." That's where I found Him. In a furnished room at Lee University, in the basement, hanging over an old WOODEN BENCH, saying, "Save me. Help me." Oh, I could name a dozen other times and places where God revealed Himself to me. You see, you're not really safe in going to the classroom until you've been at the foot OF THE CROSS. WAIT until you've been on your face before God. Then study to show thyself approved. A workman that does not need to be ashamed or intimidated because you can rightly divide the word of truth. We're all here by grace. We're all here by grace. One of the things that bothers me, last two Sundays I've had people come up and tell me stories about churches they attended for years and how they're now changing. I'm disturbed as a pastor. I'm disturbed as a preacher about what I see happening in churches. This this cowardice, this acquiescence to uh, the times of peer pressure wanting to look uh, like you're in with it, in the know, like you're moving with the group. You've got it going on. Dressing a certain way so you can appeal to certain people. Using certain language. I can sit with young pastors and tell you what books they've been and they make me sick. Because these words have become a replacement for the word of God. There's something terrible happening in the church, which lets me know we're in the last times. And some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. And so Paul said again in Colossians, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit." Philosophy, ideas of the day. Current acceptable ARGUMENTS AND DISCUSSIONS OF THE DAY. FROM THE MIND OF MEN. TRYING TO CONCOCT ideas which only amount to theories. He said, "You beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ." You listen to me. See, I'm older now and and I think I'm getting meaner. You listen to me. If you're a young pastor, if you're listening to me, you better be careful that you don't acquiesce to the pressures of men your age whose churches are growing because they are doing in things that entertain people rather than change people. You better be careful. You cannot afford to become weak at this point. If God has called you to preach, He has called you to preach the word. He didn't even call you to preach from the word. He called you to preach the word. That's the only thing that you should ever preach, the only thing that should be on your mind. I'm going to say to you, young pastor, and I'm going to say to people who might go to a church like this, if your pastor is preaching critical race theory, you better get up and run out as fast as you can because it is a philosophy of men, and it is empty deceit. It will anger you. It will divide the church. IT WILL DESTROY YOUR SOUL. AND YOUNG PASTOR, IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE GUTS AND THE GUMPTION TO PREACH THE WORD, NO MATTER WHAT THEY'RE WANTING YOU TO PREACH, THEN YOU'RE EITHER A GIGANTIC COWARD, OR YOU'RE not even called to preach, AND PLEASE DO EVERYBODY A FAVOR AND DON'T EVER WALK BACK IN A PULPIT AGAIN.
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>> IF IF YOUR PASTOR IS CONSTANTLY ON THE social injustice new gospel, another gospel, I'm telling you members, I'd jump up and get out of there as fast as I could because you are apt to be deceived and cheated THROUGH EMPTY PHILOSOPHY. AND YOU'LL get stirred up about something that doesn't even matter to your soul. Anytime a pastor gets up and preaches from a book or somebody's books instead of this, he's not called to preach. And I tell you, the pulpits are full of people. Yes, you told me this weeks ago and you don't even remember it. They went, but they were never sent. You remember saying that? Pulpits are full of preachers who just went, but they were never sent. Brother, if a man is sent from God, you won't get but one MESSAGE FROM HIM. HALLELUJAH! JOHN SAID THERE WAS A man sent from God, sent from God whose name was John. Did you hear me? There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He was not that light, but sent to bear witness of that light which was the true light, which lights every man that comes in the world. He said He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world did NOT KNOW HIM. BUT AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM TO THEM GAVE HE the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. Who were born not of the flesh, nor of the will of man, NOR OF BLOOD, BUT OF THE WORD OF GOD. I'M TRYING TO TELL SOMEBODY, PEOPLE DON'T GET SAVED BECAUSE YOU PREACH INJUSTICE OR CRITICAL RACE THEORY OR OUT OF SOMEBODY ELSE'S BOOK OR POLITICS. THEY GET SAVED WHEN JESUS IS HIGH AND LIFTED UP. HIGH, HIGH, HIGH, LIFTED UP, PROCLAIMED, ANNOUNCED.
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