Famous in my Family | Reverend Stan Gleason

[Music] Come on somebody. Jesus on the main line. Tell them what you want. Jesus on the main line. Tell him what you want. Jesus, hold on, man. Tell him what you want.

[Music] [Music] If you want the Holy Ghost. [Music] Say. [Music] Come on, say it again. Say, if you, if you want the Holy Ghost, tell him what you want. If you want the Holy Ghost, tell him what you want. If you want the Holy Ghost. [Music]

Come on. I wonder right now if we could just. I know, I know we're in a COVID time and all this is happening, but I wonder if somebody can just get a dance and they step and understand the power of Jesus. Come on. He's keeping the church. Come over here. Nothing to be afraid of. The Bible says it before, if He's for us, who could be against us? Come on. I wish somebody worship would begin to realize that, you know, I don't know what tomorrow may hold, but I know one day I'm gonna fly up yonder. Come on. With the name of Jesus. Come on, man. I know our ladies ain't with us tonight. Come on, to pump and pry us up, but it's time for Samir to say, "I'm gonna worship God, no matter what."

[Music] So. [Music] Whoa. [Music] Oh, Jesus on the. [Music] [Music] [Music] What? Thank you, Lord. Come on, somebody, clap your hands to the heart. God, you're so worthy. God, you're so worthy. [Music] So. [Music] [Music] [Music] Hallelujah. [Music] Hallelujah. [Music] Come on, that's okay, just to worship. We don't need the words to the song. Oh, Spirit of God. [Music] Oh, we love you, Jesus. Come on, shout it out. Come on, we love you, Jesus. Come on, is that somebody's cry today? Oh, I come to worship you. Come on, I come to worship you, Jesus. Come on, you've been so good to me, Jesus. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Come on, that's it. Come on, that's it. Come on, that's it. Oh. [Music] Come on, that's it. Come on, someone has entered the heavens right now. Come on, the Spirit of God is dwelling in this place. Come on, I wonder if you can just begin to close your eyes all over this building. Come on, begin to lift your hands up. Come on, begin to get your mind on Jesus. Come on, it's nothing else. Come on, it's nothing else that's important. Come on, there's nothing else that's important tonight. Come on, it's nothing else. [Music] Come on, that. Come on, that. In the name of Jesus. Come on, that. I give myself. [Music] I give myself away. Come on, is that the cry of your heart tonight? [Music] [Music] [Music] I give. [Music] [Music] My. Is you saying that? I give myself. Come on, that sounds so good to Him right now. Just lift your worship. [Music] I give myself away so you can. [Music] I give myself away so you can use me. [Music] I give myself to you. [Music] My life is. [Music] My life is. [Music] My life is. [Music] I give myself to you. I give myself away. [Music] Here I am to say that your mind. Say you're all. You're together. [Music] Do you believe that today? Can I just worship you, Lord? [Music] We. [Music] I'll never know how much it costs to see my sin. [Music] [Music] Come on, sing it again like that. I'll never know how much it costs to see my sins. [Music] Again. [Music] Know. [Music] You're my God. You're all. [Music] So here I am to worship. [Music] So, hallelujah. How many of you love Jesus Christ in this place today? Amen. He is worthy of our thanksgiving. He is worthy of our praise. Amen. Hallelujah. You may be seated for just a moment. I want to say a special thank you to Pastor Justin Anthony and for opening up their facilities here. Normally tonight, we would be in a rustic setting, um, at Timber Lake Ranch Camp. Uh, we would be in the Upper Room right now. Um, we would have just feasted on a wild game feast and everybody would have been trying to move. I think last year, Brother Doty polished off five venison burgers, okay? He said he had saved his appetite. But, but we, uh, we are very thankful to be here. Um, I had some people asking me that they did not smell the venison chili cooking tonight when they walked in, so it didn't feel like Men's Retreat. But, um, we are blessed. Amen. And, um, our committee, we have a wonderful committee, and I want to say thank you, Brother Palmer, you did a great job of leading us in worship. Thank you so much for our Men's Committee. Amen. Brother Doty, thank you for putting together the staff and the ushers and everything that you have done. Brother Ali, thank you so much. Amen. And, um, Brother Daywit, we appreciate our Men's Committee. Amen. And we appreciate all that they do. And, um, so Brother Justin Anthony, as the host pastor here, said, Brother Wolf, I got something that I'm going to let you give away. Um, and so normally you would be feasting the night after service on some more deer chili and some venison sausage and, and, um, you'd be around the campfire. Brother Doty would be giving us our nighttime devotion before we went to bed. But since we're not doing that this year because of the disruption that we have experienced, I want to say thank you to all of those who gave in our Father's Day offering. Pastors, thank you so much. We greatly appreciate that. Amen. And we have some things here we want to give you. If you have already given your Father's Day offering, thank you very much. Amen. If you have not given your Father's Day offering, we're giving you this as a reminder to make sure that you get it in. Amen. Um, so Brother Steve Showalter will help me to remind you that you, you have not got it in yet, but you got your reminder tonight. Amen. Um, so there are some different kinds of beef bark, beef jerky here, premium jerky. This one says it was packaged 10/8 of 2020. I mean, it's fresh, okay? Um, and we've got all kinds of flavors here, okay? I want to make sure that every pastor gets one of these tonight. Amen. If you're a pastor and you're here, Brother Doty, is he still here? Brother Doty, come and help me pass these out, okay? Um, if you're a pastor and you're here, this is your thank you or your reminder, whichever it may be, okay? And Brother Doty's gonna help me to give these out tonight. Just put your hand up if you're a pastor, okay? All right. Come on, please, brother. You want one? Okay. This is a real. I know, I know. Um, so now Brother Ali is going to take up our offering today, but I just wanted to remind you if you hadn't sent in your Father's Day offering to please do that. Um, but, um, there is some amazing Uncle Ernie's barbecue sauce in here, okay? Um, and if you will give extra in the offering tonight, is there anybody in here that would give extra in the offering tonight? Okay, more than what you were planning. If you were planning on giving a 20, can somebody pull out two 20s or a 50? Um, I want you to come up here and get that barbecue sauce, that Uncle Ernie's barbecue sauce, right now. Just go ahead and pass that out for me. Somebody raise your hand if you'll do that, okay? I have got some local Prairie Gold honey, okay? Some Prairie Gold honey right here, okay? Um, all right, somebody. All right, okay. We got another barbecue sauce too. Somebody else want a barbecue? All right, okay. All right. Oh, man, there is some steakhouse seasoning right here. If you're a barbecuer, okay, you gotta have some good seasoning, right? Is there somebody else who, who wants to help us out? I've got another honey too, and I got some more jerky. Come on now, raise your hand. You're gonna help out. You're gonna give at least a 20 bill tonight, okay? He wants the steak sauce, okay? Here you go. All right. Hey, there's another one of those in here too. How many go give at least 20 bucks? Okay, you gonna give at least 20 bucks? Okay, all right. If you haven't got something already, um, I appreciate Brother Ali. I know this wasn't how you were planning on doing it, but I'm giving you a prep, okay? All right. Um, but, um, but guys, I tell you, there's, uh, I got three more jerkies here. I mean, Brother Gleason ought to have one to take. All right, you got one. All right, okay. I got three more jerkies. Who'll give at least 20 bucks tonight? All right, here you go, right over here. Okay, here's some more. Thank you, guys. We want to send Brother Gleason home with a, a great offering from Nebraska Men's Retreat, amen. And, uh, this don't work very good as a mic, okay? But I just held it up for the wrong one. Going twice. Going once. Thank you all very much for your giving. We appreciate all that you do. And, um, thank you so much for being here tonight. I know this is a different setting than we're used to for Men's Retreat. We're Men's Service, amen. And even though we are in the midst, or coming out, or whatever you want to say, of a pandemic, I'm so thankful that we had the opportunity to get together. About a month and a half ago, our committee had to make a decision. Um, and, um, Brother Gleason said he was willing to be here. And so, I said, let's have church, amen. Um, and, um, but I'm so thankful that, um, our District Superintendent, our Bishop, is here tonight. And I want him to come. Every year in January, the Men's Department has the very first service of the year for the state. And Brother Powell always gives an invocation, a charge. And I want him to give us a charge tonight, amen, because I believe this is a new beginning. Praise the Lord, everybody. Amen. Isn't the Lord good? Amen. I was thinking this afternoon, just kind of letting the Lord lead my spirit to some different men, maybe to draw from, to speak to us, to challenge us, to give this charge tonight. I couldn't help but think of an Old Testament man by the name of Caleb. The Bible says he had a different spirit. He was faced with a situation where he heard the word of the Lord, just like all the spies did. If you read Numbers 13, you'll find that God tells Moses to appoint 12 men to go into the land because God has given it to them. I'm quite certain Moses relayed that part of the information to them. This is the promised land. God has spoken. I want you to go spy it out. And only he and Joshua brought back a good report, a godly report, a faith-filled report. What I like about both of them is they, they didn't deny the reality that there were giants in the land. Just like we're not denying that there's things going on in our world and unexplained different issues and all the pandemic and everything. We, we're not denying that it's not there. But like Caleb, who had a different spirit, and six times the Bible says he fully followed the Lord. I want to challenge the men of the Nebraska District to have that same different spirit that says, "We are well able to go up and possess the land. We are well able to do what God has called us to do." Amen. Amen. I want us to be like Caleb. I want us to be like another man. I don't even know his name. I just know that about a hundred years ago, he was a young pastor in Zimbabwe. He was coerced by others to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ. The pressure was intense, and thinking that he was young, they would be able to manipulate him and cause him to change his mind and to recant his faith and renounce his belief in Jesus. But in a moment of godly courage, he put pen to paper to write his answer. And these were his words: "I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of His. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I am finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, and I'm uplifted by prayer, and I labor by His power. My pace is set, my gate is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, but my guide is reliable, and my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate at the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Jesus Christ." And these were his last words: "I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go till He comes. Give till I drop. Preach till all know. And work till He stops me. And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me, for my banner is clear." That young pastor in Zimbabwe was like a Caleb who had a different spirit. I don't know the outcome of his story. I don't know. And his name has been forgotten. But I believe that God wants the men of the Nebraska District to have the same kind of attitude. I don't know how much longer we have before Jesus comes, but I want to work every day like it's today. I want to spend every day like it could happen right now and reach as many people and teach as many people. I wonder if there's some men. I wonder if there's some ministers, some pastors, that'll stand to your feet and say, "Count me in. I'm going to have a different spirit. I'm finishing 2020, and I'm going into as long as we have left with a different spirit." Stop. You can be seated for a second. Don't reach into your pocket. Don't reach into your wallet yet. Those of you that have ever had to take up offering, you know how easy this job is. It really is easy because it's all up to the Lord. I do my part. I give my gift. It's up to you guys. But I want to do something tonight. I want to read you a couple of scriptures to kind of to set a, a mode and an environment, if you will. Mark chapter 10 and verse 21 says this, the rich young ruler coming to the Lord. "Then Jesus beholding him loved him and said unto him, one thing thou lackest. Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and take up the cross and follow me." So there are some things not sold today, but given away as benefit, as reminder. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 3 says, "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." So now, without looking, reach into your pocket. Without looking, reach into your billfold, your wallet, and pull out that offering. Without knowing what you're given, but know this: Matthew 10 and verse 8, it says, "We are commanded to heal the sick, to cleanse the lepers, to raise the dead, to cast out devils." And then it says, "Freely ye have received, freely give." So right now, we're going to have prayer. And as we pray, I want you to reach into your self and take out the offering. You know, I can almost guarantee that if the Lord were to come and stand on this stage today, there would not be a penny left in our pockets. We'd throw our credit cards in, our debit cards, just take it all. Here's the PIN number, here's the secret password code, just take it all. I'm not asking you to give everything, but I'm asking you to give something. We're in a different environment today, but I tell you what, we're going to have a great word of God given to us today. The Spirit of God is going to move in mighty ways, and He is going to show Himself powerful. Amen. I would rather the word of God be preached than me receive that than to have up here throw in these beanbag toss games because I might take a little trophy home, although I would never take a trophy home because I can't win that. But I'd rather walk away from here with the understanding and the assurance that God knows who I am, God knows where I am, and God knows what I need. Let's stand together and let's pray unto the Lord. Jesus, we love and appreciate You. And God, I pray right now that You would fill every heart and every mind, Lord God, with Your word, with Your power, with Your presence. God, will loose Your Spirit all across this auditorium today, Lord God, that You might minister to the men of the Nebraska District. God, that You would just love them, Lord, that You would embrace them, that You would touch their bodies to heal them, Lord, of their sick, that that You would provide provision for them, and protection for them, Lord God. We ask tonight, Lord, that they would get a glimpse of who You are. There would be an understanding of who You are within their very soul. And God, they would understand and realize and recognize the great Savior of the world who died on the cross of Calvary. God, we offer ourselves to You today. We offer this offering to You today, asking You, Lord, to bless abundantly. We ask it in Jesus' name. [Music] Amen. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] God is good. Amen. Somebody say, "He's good all the time." Amen. I was so thankful when our family determined that we were still going to at least have a Friday night service. We weren't going to cancel Men's Retreat, but we were going to substitute Men's Service. And again, thank you, Pastor Anthony, and the church here at Bethel for opening up your facilities. We greatly, greatly appreciate it. And I was so happy that Brother Gleason agreed to come, and he got sick, and I got worried. Amen. And I said, "Are you okay? Are you still going to be able to make it?" And, um, he said, "I'm getting better. I'm planning on being there." I believe that God has ordained this service tonight, and whatever the devil did to stop it, amen, he has been defeated already by us showing up. Amen. He has been defeated already by us showing up. And I don't know about you, but I came because I need to be fed, and I need to be filled, and I need a word from God. And I'm expecting to receive a word from His messenger tonight. Amen. It is an honor and a privilege to bring Brother Gleason to this platform today, amen, and for God to use him in a miraculous and mighty way in the name of Jesus. [Music] Well, praise the Lord, everybody. Now we've sanctified the microphone and the pulpit, sanctified and sanitized. And I'm so glad that here in Nebraska, we have joined Saul on the road to Damascus. We're still not de-masked in Kansas City, but we're getting close. And so we thank the Lord. Thank you, Brother Wolf, for the kind invitation from you and your team, and host pastor, Brother Anthony. We love you. Known you for many years. Love your family. We thank God for you, Bishop Powell. Great to be with you. Thank God for your precious life and your leadership here in Nebraska. And all the pastors, ministers, all of you that are here. When you get home, thank your wife or your mother for giving you the money and the time to be here. Would you do that? Is that you, Brother Brock? I'm so happy to see you. I love you. Let's give the elder a hand. We're so glad he's here. I looked all night for him. I couldn't find him till I got up here, amen. So, just remain standing. Just going to read one verse. Uh, actually, before I do that, I got the first. I want to show you guys a picture of something I did 30 years ago, but I just have to share it with you. I have not fished since I caught that fish. Where's there to go from there? 1991. That's Brother Parish. That's his forehead and hairdo in the background there. You can't see him, but that's him. That's me. Do you know why I caught that? Just for the halibut. 215 pounds. Brother Blackshear told me people live and die in Alaska and never get anything close to that. There were 41 of us on the boat. We all came home without a hundred pounds of fillet. And when I went to the grocery store, it was nine dollars a pound, and it was some good eating. It's long gone. But anyway, I just, I'm not, I'm not one of these guys. You know, I'm so glad that Men's, this Men's Retreat is not at that place at your time. This is more like me. I don't, I wouldn't know what to do there. I have no survival skills. I would be dead by the morning. You know, if you gave me a compass and a bottle of water and a sleeping bag and a book, a match, oh, I'd be dead in five minutes. I have no survival skills. So I like it nice and clean and sweet, and I'm glad to see all of you tonight. Amen. First Chronicles 12:30. Sort of an obscure scripture, but it hit me hard as I read it. "Of the sons of Ephraim, of the sons of Ephraim, 20,800 mighty men of valor, famous men throughout their father's house." Everybody say, "Famous." 20,800 men of valor. Sort of like you're talking about Caleb, they became famous in their father's house. [Music] So I don't know if I'm going to preach, teach, scream, and holler and yell, or just put my hand in my pocket and talk to you. But before we leave, I believe God's going to challenge us, and He's going to give us something to take home. I want to be better because I probably drove. Did anybody drive further than three hours to get here? Oh, okay. Well, you whooped me. How far did you drive? Four hours. All right. Well, if we took the effort to get here, let's, let's try to get something from the Lord. So my subject tonight for the occasion of this Nebraska Men's Retreat is simply entitled, "Famous in My Family." Famous in my family. Is it all right if I talk to you about you and your family? Amen. All right, you may be seated. Benny Berkowitz was always bragging to his friend about all the important people he knew. He said, "I know the mayor. I, I know the governor. He said, I even know the president." He said, "You know, you don't know the president. You don't, you don't know the governor. You don't know the mayor." A few weeks later, they were at the city Christmas tree lighting ceremony. The mayor was there. He gave a speech. He looked out, put his hand across his eyes so the light wasn't blaring. He said, "Oh, we're glad to have Benny Berkowitz here tonight." His friend looked at me, said, "You do know the mayor? That's amazing." A few weeks later, they were at a fundraiser, and the governor came. He was involved in the project, and the governor was walking through the crowd, and he stopped at Benny's table. He said, "Hey, Benny Berkowitz, we're so glad you made it. Thank you for your donation to our project." And his friend looked at me, goes, "You know the governor? That's insane." A couple of years later, they took family vacations together. They were in Washington D.C. They toured the White House, and the president broke protocol. He came through the front area there, and he stopped and he waved, and saw the reporter. He said, "Oh, Benny Berkowitz, we're so glad you're here. Thank you for your donation last, last year. We appreciate it." Said, "I can't believe this." He said, "I know there's somebody you don't know." He said, "Who's that?" He bought two round trip tickets to Rome, and they took him to Vatican City on Easter Sunday, and they packed into Vatican Square, and there was a million people. And in the hustle and bustle, Benny and his friend got separated, and his friend looked around, he couldn't find him anywhere. And all of a sudden, the trumpets blared, and up in the little balcony, he saw two characters up there, and one of them was Benny, and he couldn't believe it. And he turned to a complete stranger. He said, "Do you know that guy up there?" He said, "Well, I don't know who the guy in the white coat and the white beanie is, but the guy next to him is Benny Berkowitz." You gotta admit, that's pretty famous. First Chronicles chapter 12. The text situates the nation of Israel in a critical transition, sort of like this world is right now. Saul was dead, his defrocked kingdom was in decline. The new regime under the anointed David, the man after God's own heart, was on the rise. God had been amassing David's loyal troops, men who got it, men who had discernment, men who saw Saul's departed kingdom in decline and David's anointed kingdom on the rise. They figured out where to cast in their lot. And so, beginning with the 400 distressed, discouraged, and in debt, who joined David in the cave of Adullam, then still more joined him and sought asylum with him in the Philistine city called Ziklag. Saul's youngest son, Ish-bosheth, proclaimed himself to be king for two years, and he attempted to establish his power, but never gained much traction, especially so after Abner's death. And so now, in this moment of the text, the tribal leaders are making decisions. The heads of households are figuring out which way they're going to go. Warriors began stepping up, tribe by tribe, family by family, household by household. And the men who got it, the men who had discernment, began pledging their loyalty to the new king, David. The text says that of the Ephraimites, there were 20,800 mighty men of valor who had become famous in their father's house. For my purpose tonight, when I use the word "famous," I'm not talking about the kind of fame that the world considers. I'm not talking about the fame of athletes and politicians and pop culture figures. Our apostolic church culture does not embrace the idea of worldly fame, and rightly so. The Bible says God resists the proud and He gives grace to the humble. We're not seeking, nor are we talking about worldly fame or political fame tonight. But I'm talking about family fame, and I'm giving you permission to be famous somewhere in this world. Amen. I'm giving you, when the Bible gives you permission, it's okay. It's not okay. We don't understand being famous because we, we only have one famous one in the church, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered and bled and died. And it's not about any of us, and it's all about Him. We want His famous name to be on the lips of every human being of our communities. Amen. I'm not talking about stealing glory from Him, but I am giving you permission tonight, and the Bible gives you permission, to become famous in your family. I'm not going to apologize tonight or make excuses for my passion, my desire to be famous in my family. I'm not interested in being on the six o'clock news. My kids have been on the six o'clock news for all the right reasons, thank God. I have yet to make the news. I'm, I'm not interested in having my name in bright lights on a marquee somewhere, although I sort of did look for it when I pulled in tonight. But the Lord tried to keep me humble, and it wasn't there, at least not when I rolled by. But more than being celebrated by this world or aspiring any notoriety, even in our wonderful fellowship, there's one place I really want to be famous, and that's with my wife, my four children, my son-in-law, who is a Packer fan, and that's a problem. That's a big problem. What are we here in Nebraska? Are we Chiefs? Vikings? Bears? Broncos? How about those Chiefs? Come on now. So anyway, that's where I want to be famous. We need, we need the family of Ephraim. We need the sons of Ephraim. We need 20,800 to become famous in their family. We need apostolic men of valor who become famous for all the right reasons. Why do we need men to be famous in the family? We need men to be famous in their family because strong families build strong churches. One commentary said that the Ephraimites, on the whole, though their number was above 20,000, they were all celebrated and they were all regaled as famous men, not just two or three, but all of them. Other tribes perhaps boasted a few famous, but in this family, there was a DNA. In this family, there was something unusual and extraordinary that motivated and inspired these men to the point where they were revered and respected and regaled in their own households. We don't know exactly what the qualifications for their fame was. Perhaps these men became famous due to their exploits in battle, or perhaps they became celebrated by their families more so than other tribes celebrated the men of their homes, due to their extraordinary courage, their uncommon valor. Maybe it was even their loyalty to the new king, and for taking the journey with the king, and fighting against the enemy, and gaining the victory with the help of Almighty God. I want to just take a time out and say right here that one thing that will make you famous in your family is when you get behind the vision and the pastor that your pastor has in your congregation. I'll tell you one thing that will make you famous is even when you don't agree with everything, you don't criticize, you zip your lip, and you pray, and you ask God to give your pastor guidance and direction. I have a passion to partner men and their pastor, and I thank God that in my home, the heroes in my home were all the saints in the church and the pastor and the leadership in the church. I never heard one negative word about my pastor. I never heard one negative word about a saint of God when I was a kid growing up. The most famous people in my life were not sports celebrities, not politicians, not local celebrities, but the greatest people in my life were the people in the church, and my parents made it be that way. More than ever before, and in light of this untoward, perverse, godless generation that we've already heard many comments about tonight, we are living in a culture where we need men, as the Bishop said, who know who they are, who know where they've come from, and they know where they're going. We need every pastor and every man in this room to become famous, not just in your congregation, not just in your Sunday school class, not just in the vestibule when you're greeting and you're the greatest hospitality person in your church. We want you to be famous there, but there's somewhere else we need you to be famous, guys. We don't need you to be famous just because you caught a 215-pound halibut in Alaska, and that's a, that's a fluke right there. I don't even know the first thing about fishing. I didn't even have a thing to wear. Everything I was wearing was borrowed from somebody else. All I had was suits and ties and my Bible. But thank God, somebody that was a 43 regular and a 10 and a half shoe size gave me something to wear. Praise God. But we don't need you to be famous, amen, on a sports page or even in the lunchroom or at your business, and we celebrate your career and your success. But where we really need you to be famous is around your kitchen table, and who we really need you to be famous with is the kids that eat Cheerios at your breakfast table every morning. Now, I have to, I have to say that I understand when I start talking about family, that this can be a very painful topic. I get that there's so much brokenness and dysfunction in so much of our culture, which explains one of the reasons why we're having such an interesting dynamic on the streets with law enforcement, because this is the first time some of these young men and young women have heard somebody tell them no, because Dad's not there. There's no authority figure. Nobody's ever stood up to them and said, "You can't do that." And you can't really blame the kid. It's not his fault. He should have been taught better by somebody to respect authority. Now, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna celebrate bad policing. I'm not gonna celebrate that. I'm going to be the last one. I'll never will celebrate that. But at the same time, I'm going to say that we need every man in this room tonight. We need you to step up and be Dad. We need you to step up and not just bring home the bacon, but when you bring the bacon home, praise God, help somebody to sit down and to smell it and to enjoy it and to eat it, and explain to them the work ethic that brought that home. Praise God. Everybody okay? Is this all right? Amen. I refuse to sacrifice my family on the altar of ministry. I have been a full-time licensed minister for 42 years, but when I was elected District Superintendent, it was a shock, a surprise. I was 45 years old. Nobody saw it coming. I certainly didn't. Our superintendent resigned. It was not anything anybody saw coming. Two weeks later, I'm elected. I didn't have a speech ready. I stood up in front of 175 voters and I said, "What in the world did you just do? You chose the, the only pastor in our district who doesn't even have a worship center to worship in. We are a homeless church, and you just chose me to be your leader. What were you thinking?" I said, "But here's the, here's the way this is going to work. My priorities are God, Marlene, the Queen, my children, the Life Church, and the Missouri District. And if you can get along with being fifth on my list, it's gonna work great. If not, in two years, you might want to get somebody else." So it must have been all right for eight years anyway, because I was elected actually five times. I think the first year was an unexpired term. But I've got a picture I want to show you of my priority. This is where I want to be famous. Do you have my family? No, I'm sorry, that's my dad. Okay, I'll get to him in a minute. Okay, here we go. Let me get my glasses on. And while you're looking at my family, I want you to get your phones out, and I want you to get the latest picture you've got of the people that mean the most to you. Would you get it out? Get your phone out. And while you're getting your phone out, and find a picture, on the left is yours truly. Next to me is my son-in-law, that lousy Packer fan, Daniel Badger, that I love like a son. He's holding his oldest daughter, Marigold. And then there's Rosemary, their youngest. And that's my daughter, Marissa, in the jean skirt, holding a little baby. Behind her is my youngest son, Caleb, a recent graduate from Ursuline College. To his, to our, to the right is my daughter-in-law, Anna, and then in front of her is my little granddaughter, Molina. Then next to her is my daughter, Michaela. She's a schoolteacher. Then there's the lovely, the beautiful, the gracious, the Queen, Marlene. And then Cohen is being held by his dad, my son, Justin, who's our associate pastor. And Caleb is now our student discipleship pastor. And Daniel is our hyphen director. And so that's the people. Now, I want to see you. I want to see your bunch. Come on, show me. Just show me your picture of your family right now. I want to see it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Now, that's who I'm. Come on, get that deer out of there. I don't want to see them deer that you shot last year, okay? There we go. Hey, on the iPad. Oh, I like that, man. You guys. Oh, nice, brother. All right, brother. Excellent. Now, you know what I'm talking about. Everybody with me? This is where I want to be famous. When I, and Brother Powell, when we walk into the General Board room, which, where were you at the board meeting this year? Okay, I didn't make it. I was just coming out of quarantine. And, uh, when we walk in there, in pre-COVID days, there's about a hundred chairs, and there's four chairs at the head table. And I'm always looking around, thinking, "Oh, no, I got to go up to one of those four chairs." And over here is Brother Mooney, and then there's myself, and Brother Bernard, and his brother Jones for many years now. It's for the gram. And, you know, I really want to be respected by those guys. I would really like to be respected by them. But, you know, I can, can you put that picture back up there with my family? I can fool those guys. I can pretend I only see them maybe once or twice, or maybe at the most three times a year. But, you know, who I really want to be respected by? People, because I can fool them, but I can't fool them. Success is not a gold watch after working for a company for 50 years. Success is not earning a bonus every Christmas. And we thank God that you're a hard worker and you do that. I know a lot of people that have been successful in life, but have been awful and horrible and worse in building relationships with their wife, with their children. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to give a devotion to the Denver Broncos, the hated Denver Broncos. Peyton Manning was the quarterback. They, they came to play the Chiefs. We had baptized and filled and prayed through, uh, Chris Harris, number 25, who was an undrafted free agent out of KU. He played five or six years with the Chiefs. Now he plays for the LA Chargers, and we'll probably never hear from him again. But he was pretty awesome with the Broncos, and they won a Super Bowl, I think the year after this. But Chris put in a good word, and so we gave a, a talk to the Broncos on a Saturday night before they beat the Chiefs the next day. And I should have never given that devotion because it backfired. I really wanted to put a curse on him, but, but it backfired. But those guys have the world at their feet, and a lot of them aren't good at relationships. I really wanted to preach to Peyton Manning, and 28 guys came in, just about half the team. And he wasn't there. And I was about ready to speak, and sure enough, the back door opened, he walked in, he walked right up, shook my hand, said, "Hey, I'm Peyton Manning. Thanks for coming." I'm like, "Dude, I know who you are." Okay. But it was, he was very humble. He sat in the second row, and I got to preach to Peyton. And I told those guys, I said, "What changed my life, Brother Brock, was the night I stood at my dad's deathbed, 78 years old. My mom was there, my brother Gary, my two sisters, Pat and Pam, just the six of us. None of our spouses were there, and other grandchildren were there. Mom and Dad married 56 years. And Dad, who had been 220 pounds, barrel chest, full face, a brilliant, bright light. If he walked in this room right now, he'd be better than a cup of Starbucks coffee. He'd light up this place. And now he's sinking, and he's shrinking away, and, and cancer's taking his life, and all the chemotherapy. He looked at all of us. He said, 'The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord set His countenance upon you and give you peace.' He gave us the priestly blessing from Numbers chapter 6. My professor at UGST said that was the closest thing that God could give to mankind to the Holy Spirit that was available in the Old Testament. It was the blessing of the priest. And Peter said that Jesus Christ now is the one who pours out the Spirit. And Hebrews tells us that He is our High Priest. And so Dad looked at us, and he gave us his blessing. Brother Brock and I captured that moment, and I said, "I want this." Because there was no issues to hash out, there was no hatchets to bury, there was no dysfunctional stuff from the '60s or the '70s or the '80s or the '90s where we had to get this deathbed stuff all figured out. Like a woman called me even this last week, and she said, "I've got an issue with my sister, and I don't think my family will let me talk about it." Listen, there's some conversations we have to have. There's some communication that we need to do. There's some things we need to get under the blood. There's some things that we're already taken care of at the cross, and we've got to step up and be men. If we're going to be famous, we've got to be able to say, "I'm sorry." If we're going to be famous, we've got to be able to say, "Will you forgive me?" If we're going to be famous, we've got to be famous with the people that we're sitting with at the table when we get home tomorrow. I decided I wanted what my dad had. For some of us, you may be seated. For some of us, some of those things may have passed us by, but you can rush home tomorrow or tonight and be a man of honesty, a man of humility, a man of courage. I want the people closest to me to love and respect me the most. There was a third-grade Sunday school teacher, and she asked her class a question one Sunday morning. She said, "Where does God live?" This one little girl, she's like, "Oh, find where God lives." And the teacher thought, "Well, she really seems to know what she's talking about." She says, "Well, where does God live?" She said, "He lives in our bathroom." She said, "Really? How do you know that?" She said, "Every Sunday morning, we just have one bathroom in our house, and everybody's getting ready for church, and every Sunday morning my dad keeps pounding on the door of the bathroom and says, 'My God, are you still in there?'" If you have one bathroom in your house, God help you. If you have any females also living there. But I refuse to allow my home to become chaotic. I refuse to allow my home to become a thoroughfare. I once had a man tell me, he said, "For 30 years, not one time did I ever look forward to going home at night." That broke my heart. I'm the total opposite. I'm like, "Oh, if I can just get home. Today's been nuts. Oh, if I can just get to 2205 Southeast Meeting Street. If I can just get behind that door. If I can just, wham! Whoa! I made it, baby! I'm home!" What sort of emotions stir up in your heart when you think about going home, driving home? I refuse to allow chaos in my home. There was a little boy about six. Family was driving home from church, and he was clearly upset in the back seat, whining and crying and really upset. And his dad finally said, "Son, what's wrong with you?" And all the other kids were carrying on. He said, "Well, you heard the pastor today. Said every child in this church just deserves to go home to a home where there's love and peace and joy. But, but I want to stay with you guys." Shall we pray? Amen. Listen, guys. Everybody say, "Peace." Don't underestimate your authority and using the weapon of peace. Peace, I would say, is the most underused spiritual weapon of warfare. You don't think of peace. You know, we want to growl at the devil, and you know, stomp hell, and go out in the parking lot and stomp on the devil, and all these things. Let me tell you something, peace is perhaps the most powerful weapon of warfare. You can't, you can't operate in peace if you've got chaos in your life. You can't operate in peace if you haven't settled issues with God. My, I, I watched my dad walk in peace and live in peace and value peace. Peace is so powerful. In fact, we sold a house. We lived in it for eight years. We had two more children when we, after we moved to that house. We sold that house. The lady that bought it called my wife two weeks later. She says, "Who are you people?" She said, "What do you mean?" She said, "No, no, no, no."

Who are you people? Oh, I said, I'm sorry. I don't understand. She said, what's going on? Is something wrong with the house? No, the house is great. It's beautiful. It's perfect. She said, but there's something in this house I have never felt in my life. My wife said, if you had to put one word on it, what would it be? She said, peace. Jesus said, my peace I give you. I leave with you. The bible calls him the Prince of Peace. And Paul said, the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. I don't allow. It's not that I won't allow honesty. I'll allow conversation. I will allow confrontation. But I will not allow, I will not allow chaos. Because Satan is the prince and power of the air. He can't tell the truth standing on a stack of bibles looking at God. Satan is in the middle of every dissimulation. He's in the middle of every argument. He's in the middle of every antagonism. And I will not allow it. As a father, as a husband, I choose peace. I choose to come and let us reason together and let us talk about it. If the elephant's in the room, let's get the big bad boy here up in the middle of the room and let's talk about it. And come and let us reason together. Though your sins be a scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be like crimson, they shall be like wool. We need men to stand up in these last days who are willing to resolve conflict, who are willing to say, "I'm sorry." Who are willing to say, "Come and let us talk about this and let us get this thing figured out." Everybody okay? Oh yes. Oh yes. You become famous in your family when you lead your family in family altar. I'm not even going to have anybody raise their hands. But if you've never sat down with your family at the kitchen table, in the living room, and said, "All right, we're going to read the scriptures." He said, "Well, that's for church." Oh, really? We're going to read the scriptures and we're going to pray. Listen, too many of us have church theology. Everything spiritual has to happen at an address on a campus two or three times a week. The house is the house, and then the house of God is the house of God. Guys, listen, we need to have spiritual experiences in our homes. We need to create atmospheres in our homes of faith and and unity and humility where we can. Don't you shouldn't feel embarrassed to get a bible out and and talk and and say, "We're gonna, we're gonna read the bible." If your kids look at you like you're nuts, it's only gonna happen one time. Then after that, they're gonna get used to it. Amen. You know, when when pastor and I were talking about this today, when when Israel worshipped the golden calf, God said, "I'm not going, Moses. I'm not going into the promised land. I'm not going with you. I'll send angels and it'll flow with milk and honey and your enemies will fall before you. But I'm not going." And Moses took his tent, which was his house, and he picked it up and he pitched it outside the camp. And it became known as the tent of meeting. His house became the prayer room for the whole nation. And the bible said, "Every man stood at his tent and watched him go to the prayer meeting." On that nice pastor's going to pray. And Moses is like, "Come on, I wish somebody would go with me." Finally, Joshua got enough guts and said, "Okay, I'm going." And when Moses left, Joshua stayed. And when you study it, Moses' tent became the prototype for the first tabernacle. His house became, brother, the first tabernacle. And I say it's time to turn our common houses into a sacred house of worship and take authority over all manner of entertainment and over all manner of music and all manner of activity and all manner of attitude. We've got to be men to stand up and say, "Look, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord." We're not going to go there. We're not going to participate. We want to invite the presence of God in this place. You may be seen about, I don't know, six or eight months ago. We, our old refrigerator was 20 some years old. It went out and we ordered a new refrigerator. And my wife was there and she said, the, the delivery guys came in. She's, one big old guy. He sort of walked into the living room. He said, "All right, ma'am, where we gonna put this?" Whoa. He stopped dead in his track. She said, "Right in the living room." He said, "Whoa. Something's in this house." She said, "What do you mean?" He said, "No, ma'am, there's something here." She said, "Oh, that." She said, "I know what that is. That's the presence of God." He said, "Man, that's exactly what this is." Look, we didn't say that about ourselves. An outsider walked into our house and felt the presence. Let me tell you what'll make revival break out in your church. When we stop making our families have to crawl over junk and get through dysfunction and chaos that's in our home. If we would bring a little heaven and a little love and a little unity. What about a prayer meeting in our house? Amen. What about a bible study in the house? What about just a few little scriptures? You say, "Well, I'm not a theologian." You don't have to be a theologian. Just spend time in the bible and say, "God gave me one thought and here it is. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so." A revival can break out in your house. And if we can bring the sacred to our houses, what will happen on Sunday? Turn to somebody, say, "Get famous." Turn to somebody else, say, "Get famous." Amos, Bishop was talking about. Bishop was talking about Caleb, Joshua, and Caleb and the 12 spies. Can anybody name for me any of the other 10 spies? Anybody? I can't. You know why? You know why we don't remember them? They're losers. Bishop, you're right. They gave a negative report. The bible called it an evil. When you speak against God and the man of God, it's evil. It's not your right. It's evil. And we don't remember the other 10 because they gave up. They quit. God said, "They can do it." I said, "No, we can't." Joshua and Caleb said, "We can do it." We remember them. I've already mentioned his name. Raise your hand if you ever heard of Peyton Manning. You know why we heard of him? He never gave up. Raise your hand if you ever heard of Abraham Lincoln. You know why I remember him? He never quit. Raise your hand. Have you ever heard of Thomas Edison? You ever heard of Thomas Edison? They say he tried, you know, 9999 times to invent the incandescent light bulb and he didn't never quit. You ever heard of Herschel Smirtz? He quit. Right. We don't remember people who quit. But remember people who kept showing up, who kept being faithful, who kept advancing the kingdom of God. So you got 10 more minutes on you, everybody? All right. So I showed you the picture of my dad by mistake earlier, but put it back up there. That this man here was the greatest Christian I ever knew. And he's famous. Wendell Gleason is famous in our family. I regret that my two youngest children, my daughter Michaela, when she was five months old, got to sit on his lap and he blessed her. But Caleb never knew this grandpa. He never knew his other grandpa. This, this man is famous for a lot of things. I want your kids to talk about you like I'm going to talk about him. When your kids get together and they talk about you, what are they talking about? So, uh, he was famous because he loved soft ice cream. My dad would never pass the Dairy Queen. And if he was in a hurry, he would at least, you know, do the sign of the cross just to make sure he'd be all right. He told me one time, he said, "Son, I think whoever invented air conditioning and soft ice cream, God will just give him a pass if they never obeyed the gospel." He led him right into heaven. Let me tell you really why he's famous. He's famous because he taught us kids how to forgive. That's why he's famous. He gave his life 35 years in a particular ministry. At the age of 61, he was unjustly released. And when that news came to me, I was a youth pastor. I was 20, three or four years old. I got to tell you, it got my Irish tenor, I mean, my Irish temper ticked. I packed my bags, I drove home, I marched into the living room. I said, "Dad, we're going over there. We're going to straighten this out." He said, "Oh, no, son. You just stay out of it." I said, "This ain't right. The way you've been treated and all you've done, all you sacrificed, all you gave up." I said, "No, no, no, son. I'm praying for him." I said, "Praying for him? I got some prayers I want to pray for him." "No, no, no, son. We, we just, God's, God's going to be with us. God's going to help us." I said, "Dad, don't you think you're taking this Christianity thing just a little bit too far?" I mean, I'm the devil's advocate. I'm like, "I want in there. I want to give him a piece of my mind." Daddy, he said, "Now, you know what happens when you give away too many pieces of your mind." I said, "Well, I didn't think about that." I said, "Dad, I've never heard you say anything bad about anybody. And now would be a good time." I said, "I bet you could say something good about the devil." He said, "Well, he is a good one." When he said that, it was the end of the conversation. I had been soundly defeated. He taught me how to forgive. What are you teaching your family? How to make money? How to have nice cars? How to kill a deer? How to dress a deer? All those things are fine. That's a good father-son thing. That's good. But I just buried a 78-year-old sweet man in our church yesterday. And I was so glad that I could give a count for him with joy. Been in our church for 55 years. The epitome of faithfulness. Guys, what are you going to be famous for? Starting arguments? Badgering? Belittling? Putting people down? I got, I got one more picture. Two more. But show the picture of the black and white of the older gentleman. So this is my dad's dad. His name is Turner Gleason. And guys, one of the things that'll make you famous is when you tell your stories. Tell your stories how you got saved. Tell your stories about the miracle how you got healed when maybe you had tuberculosis or cancer. Or tell the story about how you were in a horrible car accident, you should have died, but God protected you. Tell your stories. It'll make you famous. How God made a way. When my son, Caleb, was in his senior year of college, my wife and I went over, uh, to St. Louis and we took him and three of his friends out for dinner. And we're just having a nice dinner. And Caleb says, "Dad, uh, tell my friends a story about, you know, when you were in your, about 30 years old, you went to, because of the times, and you had a bad attitude against the general superintendent, and God sent you up in front of God and everybody, and you had to bow down in front of them and humble yourself and ask for forgiveness." I said, "Oh, you don't want me to tell that story, do you?" He said, "Yeah, Dad. I want you to tell the story about how God corrected you and how you humbled yourself before God, humbled yourself before the bishop, and got your spirit right and got your heart right." And I'm not going to tell that story. But you know enough of it to know it's a painful story. But it saved my soul. It saved my soul. I got saved that day when I took that long walk and I knelt in front of the bishop and I told him that I was offended, that my spirit was hurt. And I said, "You control my destiny. You can bind me now to this church or you can loose me." And I'm so thankful the bishop wept upon me and put his arms around me and helped me to understand what was going on. That's why the bible says, "Come, let us reason together." And I left feeling a part of something that was so amazing. It changed my life. So I had to tell that story. This man is famous among 150 people, his direct descendants. He was born in 1871. That's my grandfather, not my great-grandfather. Six years after Lincoln was assassinated. He was six foot four, barrel-chested, deep rich baritone voice. But that's not why he's famous. He was a vaudeville actor. But that's not why he's famous. He won an art school in Minneapolis about the turn of the 20th century. Painted a charcoal sketch of Chief Aguila Fire, who fought at Little Bighorn to help defeat General Custer. But that's not why he's famous. He was the elevator operator of Oregon City, which is a two-tiered city with about a hundred foot cliff down by the Willamette River. And he operated that elevator for, I think, 25 years and knew everybody in town. But that's not why he's famous. He's famous because in the middle of the depression, when he was raising eight children, we received a letter, he received a letter, certified, from a law firm in London and said, "You are the heir of a 4.3 million dollar estate." Now, I don't know what 4.3 million dollars would be worth today. But 4.3 million today wouldn't be too shabby. And, uh, so, but you have to live in London for the payout because of how our tax laws work. So you'll have to move your family to London to get your inheritance. In those days, communication was not near what it is today. So they tried to find out if they could find a suitable apostolic church. Because he has eight kids and their backyard joins the backyard of the church. I've been there. And every kid played an instrument. There's a sousaphone and a saxophone and a guitar and accordions and pianos. And they all sing four-part harmony. And they're in the choir. And they, they're the hospitality team. And they're the orchestra. And, you know, they're pretty involved in the church and pretty committed. And so after several weeks of trying to find a suitable church, they couldn't pull the trigger. Although it was so attractive. And he sent a letter back saying, "You'll have to pass that on to the next heir because I want my children to be saved." Can you, did I, do you have that picture of those eight, those ten people? There's grandpa and grandma on the front middle and Uncle Lauren on the right and Aunt Fern. And then from right to left, and I don't have my glasses on, yeah, and Olive, Uncle Stan, Aunt Connie, Connie Ballastero, some of you will know her. Then my father, Wendell. Then my Aunt Babe and then Aunt Eleonora. And Aunt Fern is on the left side on the couch. They're all ten gone. But they all died in the faith. And 140 direct descendants. I can't tell you how many preachers, evangelists, pastors, two bible college presidents. Less than 10 percent of the 150 are not walking with God today. About 140, 135 or 40 are in the apostolic church today because of a man who became famous in our family, who made a decision and said, "You know what? I'm not taking the inheritance." I'm like Moses, who looked one way and the other. And the bible said he, he did not want to desire the treasures of Egypt, but esteem the reproach of Christ greater treasures than all the riches of Egypt. And I thank God for men that are here tonight. I know you're the cream of the crop, otherwise you wouldn't be here tonight. I celebrate you. I thank God for you. The future of the church is in your hands. Some of you aren't married yet, but when you get married, you need to lead a wife to the altar, not just at your wedding, but Sunday after Sunday. Have spiritual experiences together. You don't have children yet, but when God blesses you with children, lead them to the house of the Lord. Serve the Lord with gladness. Amen. Teach them how to forgive. Never put your mouth on a man of God. And be faithful to the house of God. And someday you'll be famous in your family. Would you stand with me? I've got one last picture. I've never showed this before. This is, you can't hardly see, but that's Antonio Lopez. His feet are toward us and his body's going that way. And he's laying on the grave, the fresh grave of his dad, Peter Lopez, a church planter in Missouri. He had knee surgery. It was not a big deal. And he got a blood clot and it went to his heart. He was only in his 30s and it took his life suddenly and tragically. And his widow, the mother of Antonio, sent that picture to me. It haunts me. See that 12-year-old boy? Guys, if he got children, run home and hug them. His dad is forever going to be famous because he died with integrity. He died with humility. He died in the will of God. I don't understand that. He's got an older brother too. And I, I wish it didn't go down that way. But I wanted somebody to say, "You know what? I may not have tomorrow. And so I'm going to make sure that I'm famous today. I'm going to start today. I'm going to start doing the right thing. I'm going to shut up. I'm going to stop saying stupid things. I'm going to stop being a home wrecker. And I'm going to start being a home builder. I'm going to get the porn out of my life. I'm going to get the junk out of my life. I'm going to get all the things that shoot me in the foot every time I turn around. I'm going to get a prayer life. I'm going to start fasting every Monday. I'm going to start, I'm going to start seeking God. I'm going to start going to the pastor and ask him if there's anything that I can do to make a difference in this church because I want to be famous in my family. Guys, you need to run home. Rush home. Get home quick. Somebody needs to change a relationship. Somebody needs to change a relationship. I, I got a message this week from a 40-something girl. We buried her dad. He was a church planter in Missouri, Brother Ron Norris, Sr. She's a backslider. She's got abuse, not abuse, but she abuses substance. She's a substance abuser. And she said, "Since my dad died, I, I'm torn apart and I, I need help." And I thought, "Dear God, it's an unresolved emotional issue. We got to get honest." Guys, don't check out with a kid or a wife. An unresolved conflict. Come, let us reason together. I don't know if you're altar calling or not, Nebraska. But just lift your hands where you are. Say, "God, help me to be famous in my family." Now the Holy Ghost is going to do a work. Now come on. The Holy Spirit is going to do a work. Now come on, guys. Let's make it count. Let's make it count. Let's figure it out. Let's get some help. Reach out to somebody. Get some help. There's help. There's more help available today than there's ever been. Come on, gentlemen. Come on, sir. You got a newborn at home. You got teenagers. Your kids had grown and backslid. It was their decision. But is there something you could say? Is there something you could do? Come on. The Holy Spirit is working gently right now. Gently like a dove. The Holy Spirit is just coming down softly. It's coming down softly. Come on, sir. Don't be ashamed to lift your hands. Open your mouth. Get your spirit right. Get your heart right. Say, "God, I gotta take my family with me. I gotta take my family with me. I gotta take my family with me. My family's got to be saved." Noah prepared an ark to the saving of his family. Lot lost his whole family. But Noah saved his whole family. Lot set a direction for Sodom and Gomorrah. But Noah started saving his family long before he ever built an ark. Lot's children didn't believe him when he said judgment's coming. But Noah's family believed him because he had integrity. God's sending a flood. We got to build an ark. Ham, Shem, and Japheth said, "We know, Dad. You're a man of God." Guys, we got to get our families out of here because a flood's coming. What do you think was going on outside the ark? Do you think there were any famous dads outside the ark? Dad, I thought you said Noah was stupid. I thought you said Noah was crazy. He looks pretty smart right now. And Ham, Shem, and Japheth are like, "That's our famous dad. He walked with God." And God gave him the plan. I'm so glad that Noah had integrity. So when we confront our family and we say, "As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord." Do you have authority when you say that? Or are you like, are your kids like Lot's kids who mocked him? Ah, oh no. I say there are Noahs in this house tonight who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Come on, Noah. Come on, build an ark to the saving of your family. Your ark is your house. It's your household. Amen. It's your living room. It's your kitchen. It's your bedrooms. It's your great room. It's your garage. It's your backyard. It's your front yard. It's your driveway. Amen. That's your ark. You're building an ark. You're building an ark. You're building an ark. You're building an ark. If I had ten thousand in church on Sunday, but one of my kids wasn't there, it would be an emptiness in my heart. Come on, guys. Commit tonight. I'm going to get it fixed. I'm going to get it right. I'm going to get some help. I'm going to get some help. Somebody's going to have to help me. I can't do this by myself. There's something I learned wrong somewhere. Come on. You got to go to your pastor. You got to go to an elder in the church. You got to talk to somebody and stop the foolishness and stop the brokenness. And and you know, you're under conviction about it. It's time to get it fixed. There's more help today than there's ever been. There's more honesty today than there's ever been. There's more transparency today than there's ever been. This is not a day to hide. This is not a day to have secrets. This is not a day to play games. There's too many opportunities around us to be healed, to recover, to be delivered. Come on, guys. As for me and my house. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Let's clap our hands to the Lord with determination. Come on. Let's clap our hands to the Lord with a desire to commit. Is there anybody else? You just want to take a step of faith? I think you can practice social decency. And I think you can do it. Is there somebody here who wants to take a step of faith? Say, "You know what? Tonight is my night. I'm making my break tonight. I'm making my break tonight." I know we don't have a rustic atmosphere in a casual atmosphere. But come on, guys. Come on. Anybody else? Anybody else? I'm going to figure it out. I'm going to get it right. I'm going to say, "I'm sorry." I'm going to humble myself. I'm going to tell my son, "I'm sorry." I'm going to tell my daughter, "I'm sorry." I'm going to tell my wife, "I'm sorry." I want to get it right. That's the only place I want to be famous. It's the only place I want to be famous. Oh yes. Something's happening. God's doing the work right now. I feel the spirit of holiness. I feel a sanctification coming over us right now. Come on, guys. Pray about your future wives right now. Your future family. Say, "God, I want to be famous." That's it. I feel a sanctification right now. I feel a cleansing and a holiness. Oh, this is holy. This is holy. There's holiness here. There's holiness here. There's an altar here. God, take everything out of me, Lord, that's not right. Does not like you. Every attitude that exalts itself against Jesus Christ. Oh, in the name of the name of the day.