The Bible says the time will come, that time is in 2 Timothy chapter 3 there, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, the they that endure sound doctrine, it's not the world, that's the church, will not endure sound doctrine. They will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure affliction, do the work of an evangelist, and make full proof of the ministry. Father, bless your word, and help us if you would, please, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Now, on Sunday, I'm gonna cover some of the things about the people that are idolatrous, and superstitious, and naive, and double-minded, and skeptical, and fickle, and the reasons of why they wind up getting into the condition they are. But I'd like to tonight, if I could please, to start off in Isaiah chapter number 52, and I'm gonna deal with two words which says, but watch. That watch has nothing to do with watching the mainstream news media or any news media for that matter. That watch has to do with watch for the coming of the Lord. That watch has to do watch for your relationship with Jesus Christ. Isaiah 52, come to the middle of your Bible and move toward Revelation, you'll find Isaiah in there. Here's the thing you want to understand, but watch. Watch what? Watch your personal relationship with the Lord. What does it take to break you away from Him? What does it take to get you upset about Him? What does it take to break fellowship with Him? Watch yourself before you start watching others. Whenever you catch yourself paying a lot of attention to other people, it's a danger sign for you to recognize you've got your eyes off the Lord because you have too much time to watch other people. But He gives you a command there in 2 Timothy 4, and He said, but watch thou. And I'm going to give you some things the Bible says about watching. You have to pay attention to what's going on around you. You have to walk circumspectly. That means that they call, when they're in the military, they call it put your head on a swivel. That means act like you've got eyes in the back of your head. Make sure you've got somebody good on your back. Make sure somebody's watching out for you, watching and caring for you. Make sure you're paying attention to how does what you're doing impact things in eternity. Not just in the here and now, in the hereafter, but watch, he says. All right, Isaiah chapter number 52. Come all the way down, if you would, please, to verse number 8. Isaiah 52, 8. Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice. With the voice together shall they sing, and they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion. So the Lord gives you certain individuals that you watch because they're watching. They're called watchmen on the walls. Now this isn't to be self-serving or anything, but God sees fit for whatever reason, Isaiah 56, to send certain individuals that give you insight to what's coming. I'm going to prophesy now. I'm going to prophesy. My eyes aren't going to roll back in my head like Jaws fixing to take a bite out of you. I'm not going to flop around and foam at the mouth. Prophecy in the Bible is based upon absolute truth. It's not based on Ex cathedra, something that comes to my mind, and I looked into a snake's eyes, or I happen to be having a dream, or something like that, has nothing to do with that. It has to do with prophesying according to what God says is going to come true. The prophecies are not my prophecies. They're His prophecies. as if a preacher would stand up and say, there's going to be a baby born in Bethlehem, it'll be under the star of David, and he'll be the Savior which is Christ the Lord, he'll be a branch out of dry ground, he'll come from the tribe of Judah, and he's going to be the Savior of the world, and he'll come and he'll be riding on a donkey, and his mama will be a virgin, and the whole nine yards. That's way back in the Old Testament. That's not that Old Testament prophet's prophecy. That's God prophesying through the Old Testament prophet. When a preacher prophesies today, he prophesies based on what the Bible says, not based on current events, not based on him watching the news media. It doesn't take you long to recognize where somebody is getting their material when all they do is spout out events that are happening in the world they've been watching the internet, not reading their Bible. when their sermon is about current events, and how many earthquakes, and how much is going on in the political arena, and who's going to win, and who's going to get arrested, and who's going to happen this, and what's going to happen there. They're not reading the Bible. That's not prophetic. Prophecy is God saying there's a heaven, God saying there's a hell, God saying there's a judgment, God saying there's gonna come a day where every man will give an account for the work that he does in the body, whether it be good or bad, where God judges the secrets of men. That's prophetic according to the Bible. When I prophesy, I'm telling you, one day you're gonna die if the rapture doesn't happen. That's biblical prophecy. It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment. So when a preacher prophesies, if he's not prophesying according to Scripture, he's not scripturally prophesying. It's not astalashantayantayabotayekonamihonga, whatever else it is they say, and that kind of deal, and then give you that kind of idea. That's not prophecy at all, that's foolishness. That's somebody that's been smoking too much crack and fooling around. And to be honest with you, when a preacher does that, he's doing that because he's trying to think of something to say because his well is empty and he don't have anything to say. That's like a hack preacher. They're hacking because they're trying to hack up something to say because they haven't been studying. A preacher shouldn't have a problem if he studies speaking. You say, why? The Lord opens up the faucet. Whenever that faucet runs sewer water out instead of pure water out, it's because the source is bad and corrupted, not because the source is the fountain of life. So I'm trying to help you to see that in the last days, these people are stepping up and saying they're watchmen. You know if they're watchmen, if they're based their passages, I mean their prophecy on what the passages say in the Bible, if they prophesy to you out of the Bible. If they don't, they're not prophets. You say, what do you do? Turn them off. You say, what do they do? Oh, they prophesy all kind of crazy weird things about aliens and about UFOs. They prophesy all kind of crazy things about demonic intervention and about satanic intervention and about, you know, Fauci's New World Order and all these other kind of things. and they call that biblical prophecy. That ain't biblical prophecy, that's foolishness. That stuff won't help you at all when somebody's laying in the hospital dying, when you got problems with the prodigal kid, when your marriage is falling apart at the seams, when you can't get a job, when you're starving to death, when your bones and your joints are aching. You don't need to hear about some kind of foolishness like that. You need to know the Jesus of the Bible. You say, what is that? All that is is sensationalism. Somebody getting on a YouTube channel, and because they've got to update their YouTube channel, they sit down there and they just start talking. And they're talking about what they had for supper, and where they've been, and what they've been doing, and all this other kind of stuff. You say, well that's illustration. Illustrations are fine if they're used to enhance the Scripture. You're getting away from the Bible. Well, preacher, you think you're the only one preaching the Bible. I know I'm not the only one preaching the Bible, but I'm trying to help you because the temptation in the last days, if the Bible's right, and I'm giving you what the Bible said, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but heap to themselves teachers. You say, why? Lustful ideas, lustful thoughts. The Bible says, heap to them teachers after their own lusts. We want to know what's going to happen next. We want to know what's going to happen to the presidency. We want to know what's going to happen about a cotton-picking mask. I don't know, I'm not a doctor and I'm not in a position to be able to tell you that, but I can tell you what the Bible says, and the Bible don't say anything about a mask. But some of you, you know, you have to wear a mask because you're robbing God anyway, so you always got to put on your mask. I didn't say you, I'm just some people are that way. Okay, Isaiah chapter number 56, I'm trying to lighten it up just a little bit. Look in verse number nine, can I get a witness? All ye beasts of the field, come devour, yea, all the beasts of the forest. His watchmen are blind, they are ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs, which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way, every one for his gain, for him his quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink. And tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. That's what he's telling you. His watchmen, not God's watchmen, testify and prophesy of things that are appealing to your flesh. That's a fulfillment written in Isaiah that he says will happen in the last days. So you have to be able to pay attention to that. Look in Isaiah chapter number 62. Isaiah is like the little Bible. It's got all the 66 chapters in it for the 66 books. Isaiah chapter 62, look in verse number 6. I'm trying to tell you to watch, to pay attention. The Lord gives you a spirit of discernment, an ability to be able to see things. He gives you a Bible and He gives you a Holy Spirit. Therefore, you should not be misled by somebody in the pulpit that's prophesying to you smooth things. He said, their dogs don't bark. Well, a dog that don't bark don't do you any good at all. You say, well, I really like my dog, but the barking drives me crazy. Barking walks better than a doorbell. For some reason, my doorbell don't work. Somebody called me the other day and said, we're standing at the door. I said, well, ring the doorbell. He said, we've been standing here ringing the doorbell. That's like having a dog in your house that don't tell you the bad guys outside. You want a dog to bark. Right? You know what he said? The new preachers don't bark. They're not threatening at all. They don't say anything like that. They just talk to you. You know, about coping and, hey, you know, everything will be good and it will be better tomorrow. 2021 is going to be better than 2020. How do you even know that? I'll be so glad when 2020 is gone. Okay? But what does that mean? Well, in 2021, I mean, when the calendar changes, everything gets better. There's one thing that'll make you better, get saved. Other than that, you've got no hope if the Bible's right. If I'm prophesying according to the Bible, it all, including the church, ends in apostasy. Isn't that a glorious picture? I'm giving you 2 Timothy 4. He said, this is what's going to happen in the last church. They're going to turn away from the truth and be turned unto fables, having teachers heaping to them after their own lusts. We ain't gonna go to a church that preaches the Bible. We want somebody that tells us what's gonna happen and what's best for us. And they got a program for everything, cause everybody's special. You need to go join the social club. The church was never intended to be that. The church was intended to be a place where Jesus Christ was lifted up and His Word was given to you to instruct you, to help prepare you for the things that are coming. It was never intended for everybody just let's get together. Do that after church. Go have a dinner. Get a steak. Get a hamburger. Do whatever you want. Eat pizza. I don't care what you do. But when it comes to church, it was never done for the purpose of socialization or fellowship. It was done for the purpose of exalting Jesus Christ and keeping you in fellowship with Him and teach you things that you don't know. I know you don't have the time to study. I do. I don't know why God called me to do it. I'd just soon be sitting right there and listening to somebody else teach me. I have to work at what I do. But you know why? Because you have to work to earn a living, to keep the lights on, the air conditioning running, the water running, and I appreciate that, to take care of the stuff that needs to be done. I have a responsibility to do what? Put cheap food in the trough! Worldly food doesn't do anybody any good at all! Not here! It's like going to the doctor and saying, my radiator's busted. And you're in the waiting room going, hey, you know, why don't you call my number? He's like, I don't know nothing about radiators. Now, if you're plugged up, I got maybe something for you, but I don't fix radiators. I'm not a mechanic. Why is it that when people come to church, they expect to hear something other than the Bible preached? But that's what people expect nowadays. They come to us like, well, what's he going to do? He's going to preach? What's he going to preach? The Bible? You know how many people come here when they first start visiting, they don't bring a Bible, and after a while they look around, y'all all got Bibles. They're kind of like, man, I don't fit in around here. And they reach up in that pew, it's kind of like, I got a Bible. That's a hymn book. Put that one down and get the other book. You say, why? They're not accustomed to that because in the last days, churches begin to fit into what is good for man instead of what's good for God. Let me show you a couple more if I could, please. Are you in Isaiah 62? Verse number six. I have set a watchman upon the walls of Jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence. So there's one watchman that don't bark and there's another watchman that won't shut up. Which one is it that you want? If you know there's trouble coming, which one do you want? You want one to tell you? Jeremiah chapter number six. I don't want a doctor that's afraid to tell me I'm sick. I don't want a doctor who, because they're afraid it's going to hurt my feelings, has to tell me, I'm going to have to see you every quarter or every six months for the next five years to make sure that nothing's going to jump on you that Ajax won't take off. because you want to think you're better than you really are. I want a doctor that says, I'm sorry it's uncomfortable. I'm sorry it's inconvenient. I'm sorry that it makes or remind you of what you had. Nonetheless, this is what has to be done in order for us to stay ahead of it. I want a doctor that is going to be straight for me. I'm not as concerned about bedside manner as I am. Tell me the truth. Am I sick? Give me a pill. But don't be worried about the fact I'm not going to like the fact that you just came in and said you've got whatever's wrong with you. Tell me what's wrong with me and then tell me how I can fix it. And if we can fix it, we'll fix it. I don't want a preacher who just coddles me and says to me what I think I want to hear. I want a preacher who says, thus saith the Lord, and then leave it with me. I like those preachers. Those are the ones when I get kinks in my head, that's the guy I need to talk to. And their bedside manner, it's not great. But that's what I need. I don't know about what you need. I don't need a Charles Stanley. I don't need a Joel Osteen. I don't need a Joyce Meyer. I don't need some philosophy of life, a Tony Robbins, a motivator. I need somebody to kick me in the slats. That's what I need. You say, why? I need him to knock the wind out of that black dog so the white dog can get to the food bowl. I need him to come kick the stew out of me and say, get away from the bowl, man, and put the right kind of food in there and let my other dog eat. You say, why? I tend to cater to one dog more than the other. Maybe you're not that way. I need somebody to kick that black dog. I like it when that black dog gets to, you know, oh, oh, oh. We ran some dogs one time years ago. We were out hunting and stuff and ran some dogs. And raccoons are worse than you can possibly imagine. Some of them are even rabid. But they're mean little devils. I know they look cute with a little mask on and stuff like that and all that. They just need to pull it down over their nose and mouth and that kind of a deal. But at any rate, there's little raccoons. And this dog got the raccoon cornered. And you can hear him because he's excited. And the barking is picking up. And then all of a sudden, you hear, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof. And the old guy I'm with says, he got a little too close to that raccoon. I said, what did he do? He said, he knocked the snot out of him. We got down, that dog was over in the corner in the bushes bleeding looking up at that raccoon that was up the tree. He was over there, he wasn't saying nothing. You know when you're out there hunting, a dog that won't bark doesn't do you any good because you can't find what it is you're looking for. You want a dog that barks, although you may not like what he says. I'm just telling you about last days. Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter number 6. Look if you will please in verse number 16. I know you folks get hammered sometimes. I know you get laughed at and made fun of. Oh you go over there. What kind of singing you all got? Hymns? Out of an old hymn book. Piano, organ, cello, violins, flute, trumpet, all that stuff, saxophone. What do you do? We just sing the hymns. Do you sing a lot of singing? No. Sometimes one and then we have to get out of the way because he's going to preach and we just will go ahead and get our dose now because otherwise he's going to... How come y'all are so late? He wouldn't shut up. I'm aware of it. I get it. I understand. Oh, what is he doing? Same thing he did 30 years ago. He's just a little toned down now. Well, hadn't he learned that he needs to, you know, make changes? No, we don't want him to change. Then they look at y'all like... See, they don't know y'all are my problem. And that's a good thing. You say, why? Because if I got up and gave you that other stuff, you wouldn't come here. I know you. Jeremiah, this is a great thing. I got hit with this on the phone earlier today because I made a couple of decisions and the guy said to me, he said, you're not compromising, are you? I said, no, brother. He said, I'm just making sure you're not leaving the old paths, are you? He didn't know in my sermon tonight, look at verse number 16, make it 15. Were they shamed when they had a committed abomination? Nah, nay. They were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among them that fall. At the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. Now let me pause just a second right there. You see what's happened. He's talking about Israel, but you know what happens? Look in verse number 10. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them. Out of reproach they have no delight in it. You say, what's he talking about? I don't know. When a preacher mentions to you about homosexuality and queers today, how do you respond to it? You can't blush anymore. I heard an old preacher one time, I think his name, I think it was Mays Jackson. It might have been the big-headed guy there that used to sing and come down. I'll think of his name in just a minute. He's the one that says not make a pair of britches for a blue jay guy. But at any rate, one of them old preachers, I heard him preach a message that the church has lost its ability to blush. And I mean, he went through that thing. This is in the 60s. And he preached that message and I'm sitting there thinking, well, my goodness, man, if it's in the 60s and I'm way up here in the 2000s, that's 50 years ago. 50, 60, 70 years ago that this guy's preaching. Billy Kelly. Might have been Billy Kelly that preached that. The church don't blush no more. And he went down through a whole bunch of things. You know what I've learned about the church nowadays? They don't blush anymore. You know what the Word of God means to them? Telling me I can't be like the world. they don't take any pleasure in it. So when a preacher gets up and tells you what God says about same-sex marriage or fornication before marriage or abortion or any of the other kind of stuff, you know what, you lost your ability to blush. Whatever. Still wrong. Yeah, but preacher, times have changed. The Bible hasn't changed. That was going on back in Isaiah's day, back in Jeremiah's day. You know what he said about my people? He said, their ears are now uncircumcised. They can't hear nothing anyway because why? The Word of God doesn't mean anything. Don't you realize when you keep rejecting the Word of God repeatedly, it's like getting a callus? Didn't you realize that? That's what secrets will do to you. They'll callous over until you wind up getting hard-hearted about a lot of things, keeping too many secrets. Can you keep a secret? Can you keep a secret? Can you keep a secret? No, my secret bin is full right now. You know what he said about the nation of Israel is a tight picture? He said they don't appreciate preaching no more. You know what the Lord says about the church in the last days? They don't appreciate preaching no more. They don't want somebody to tell them right and wrong. Now watch what happens. I just read the passage to you there. In verse number 15, 3 times 5, look at verse 16. Thus saith the Lord. Now He's going to give you instruction. Stand ye in the ways, and see and ask for the what? You've got to be kidding me. Old fashioned way, that's what He said. You say, why? Ask for the old path. Why? Where is the good way? Walk therein, but ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we're not walking therein. We ain't doing it. You're crazy. That's old time, old fashion. The Lord said, but that's what you need. Stand ye, determination. See, observation. Ask, supplication. Walk therein, participation. We will not. That's procrastination. I ain't doing it. Verse number 18, Therefore hear ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. I'm sorry, 17. Also I said a watchman over you, that's what we're looking for, hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, we will not hearken. Now isn't it strange that this nation is in the condition that it is? He doesn't send enemies, he doesn't send war, he doesn't send famine, he doesn't send earthquakes, he doesn't send an election, he doesn't send any of that. You know what he does? He sends a preacher. And you know what they did to the preacher? We ain't interested in hearing what the preacher said. Now verse 18, therefore, hear ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth, behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor my law, but rejected it. Well, who was it that brought them? It was a watchman, or just a preacher, just a prophet. The Lord said, if you'd have hearkened, things would have turned around different. Is it any surprise to you right now that the nation is where it is? Ezekiel chapter three. You know what would be a whole lot more popular right now? For me to give you a prophetic view of 2021. And all these preachers that get up right now and they're prophesying about what's going to happen with the government and what's going to happen here in the dark winter that's coming upon us and this and that and the other. I bet you we won't come back in six months and check back and see if they told you the truth or not. you'll just let it go. What about the Shemitahs and the blood moons? Weren't we supposed to have some kind of major catastrophic event take place and wasn't the Virgo slipping into Aquarius and didn't it come out on September the 23rd and therefore we see the birth of a Revelation 12 sign because Revelation 12 is a picture of... Wasn't that all supposed to happen? How come nobody's going back there and getting the guy with his chalkboard and going, hey, wait a minute, man. You wrote this down as if this was the sign of the rapture of the church and this was going to happen. Well, you liar, you. First of all, Revelation 12 is a literal thing that takes place. It has nothing to do with a bunch of planets flying around. Surely you know that. Surely you know that the man-child is not just Jesus Christ there and not just Mary. Surely you know that's God with the nation of Israel taking them off out into the red rock city of Petra. Surely you know that's in the middle of the tribulation period. Surely you know that. The idea, you sit there and look at that stuff and think, oh boy, we're into astrology and astronomy and the study of the stars. Why did you get drawn into that? I'll tell you why. Can I tell you why? Because it doesn't do anything at all to put you under conviction and doesn't do anything at all to work on your relationship with Jesus Christ. It does not feed that white dog at all. All it does is blow your head up. And you sit there and you're wowed at that and you're thinking, wow, that's really something. That's why all the stuff that went on in Genesis chapter 6, you haven't heard me mention that in years. You say, why? It doesn't feed your soul. It doesn't help you at all. You say, well, it's true. Okay. So now you know the truth. What are you going to do with that when somebody's dying or when you're having trouble or whatever? Give them the Genesis 6 rendition? There's a guy that's got a website. That's all he talks about. Giants in the earth in those days. There were giants. Okay. Well, they ain't here now. But they were here. Okay. You want to argue? No. I want to get close to Jesus. You say, why? Because I don't want Goliath to get me. Well, you know they're coming back. I'll be gone. I'm not going to be here. You know the only way those people are able to keep that propaganda going? Christians supporting them. Do you know why Google stays on? Christians supporting them. You know why social media stays on? Christians supporting it. Why don't you turn it off? You turn him off. Oh, I get it. You got one of them dogs that don't bark. I got you. You got one of them dogs that don't bark. Just comes up and you can pet him whenever you want to. Ezekiel, look if you will please, I'm trying to hurry. Chapter 3, verse number 17. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman under the house of Israel, therefore hear the word of my mouth and give them warning from me. Look at where the source is now. I'm in Ezekiel chapter 3, look at verse 17. Where's the source? Look at it, it's in the passage. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman under the house of Israel, therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from Me." What's the source? Is it the preacher or is it the Lord? What's the command given to the preacher? First, listen, and second, speak. If he won't listen, what does he have to say? Can I tell you what he has to say? Nothing of any value to a saved person. Your soul needs to be fed when you come here, not your flesh. We're not passing out lerps and meals and all the other kind of stuff and MREs and that kind of a deal and getting you to prepare yourself and all that stuff in case something like that. I'm preparing your soul. That's what you're supposed to be here for, soul food, not soul train. I had to go there. Look at verse number one of the same passage there. Let me just read a little bit of this. Moreover, he said unto me, Son of man, eat thou, and find to eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. You say, what is he talking about? Eat the roll. It's called the bread of life, isn't it? You know what you're supposed to be doing if you're going to be a preacher? You're supposed to eat it. If you don't eat it, you don't have anything to give. You say, why? As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. What goes in your eyes affects your heart, right? So if you're not in the book, you don't have anything to give out. You don't get the food dispensed. You don't have anything to dispense. Notice what happened. I opened my mouth and He calls me to eat that roll. And He said unto me, Son of man, cause the belly to eat and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then I did eat it and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee to the house of Israel, and speak my words unto them. So you see what he's talking about? He's talking about eating, but he's making a comparison. He's saying, now you eat. He said, man, that's good to eat. For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech or of a hard language, but to the house of Israel, not too many people of a strange speech or of a hard language whose words thou canst not understand. Surely I had sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. You know what he just said? People that couldn't even understand your language would have listened to you, but the people that know your language, they're not going to listen to you. They should listen to you. But the people that don't have the education that these people do, they would listen to you. He's being kind of sarcastic. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for they will not hearken unto me. For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. Head button. as an adamant harder than a flint, that's like a diamond, harder than a flint, have I made thy forehead, fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, and though they may be a rebellious house, I heard also the noise, I'm sorry, verse 10, moreover, he said unto me, son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear in thine ears, and go get to them of the captivity, and unto the children of the people, and speak to them, and tell them, thus saith the Lord God, whether they will hear, whether they will prepare. You know what the charge of the preacher there is? First of all, sit down, shut up, and listen. There's an old preacher, I can't think of his last name now, a guy, I think his first name was Mack, and I don't mean disrespect, but his name was Mack. I think he was on a, he's a black preacher, and he was teaching a class to some preachers, an old preacher, a very eloquent speaker. And he got up and he was teaching, and I only caught one little part of the thing, but he was teaching. A guy had sent me the deal, he said, hey, what do you think of this guy? And I listened to him for a while, and I heard a lot of wisdom. And he said, boys, he said, one of the biggest problems you have is, is you think that God comes in through the top of your head. And he said, God doesn't come in through the top of your head. He said, God comes through the hind end. When you apply your hind end, he called it a butt, but I don't want to do that, a posterior. He said, when you apply your posterior to the seat of a chair and you sit there and study long enough, it's infused from your hind end and up into your brain because until you spend time in that chair, God's not going to give you anything in your head. I called that guy back up. I said, this guy's a genius. Then I got to looking at him. He'd been in the ministry 60 years. You say, what do you think about that? I think I listened to that guy. You know what he taught me? The same thing that old preacher said. You know what that old preacher said? Study, study, study. There were three things that he told me on a regular basis. I won't tell you one of them, but the other two were study, study, study. And you know what he would say? Feed the sheep, feed the sheep, feed the sheep, feed the sheep, feed the sheep. Feed the sheep. You feeding the sheep? Feed the sheep. That's what he'd say. You say, well, what's the deal with that? What he's saying is, is you can't feed them if you ain't been to the well yourself. You ain't been to the corn crib to get corn. You ain't got no corn to put in there. Then all you're doing is just repeating yourself. Well, that's something that'll help you out if you consider that. You say, why? It'd be easy to sit around like a lazy buffoon watching the sensationalism now. These guys nowadays are all caught up in the same stuff that CNN and Fox and all the other people. The only thing they lack is commercials. And all it is is just sensationalism. They're just constantly scanning all the other websites to pick up whatever they can do to entice people to listen to them like they got some corner on the market. That Bible says in Ecclesiastes, there's nothing new under the sun. Why would you spend time looking at that? I can tell you why. Because you don't have to hear him when he talks to you through that book. You'd better hear them talk about aliens. Okay. I don't know what all is out there. Principalities, power, spiritual wickedness, rulers of darkness and high places. That's enough for me. How are they going to show up? I got no idea. I can tell if they're out of this world. Can't you? Come over here. Let's get in the New Testament real quick. Let me just give you two more. You got a couple more minutes? Acts chapter number 20. Acts chapter number 20. Brother Lance has got a couple more minutes. Y'all can take a break if you need to. Brother Lance is like, yeah, that's good. Y'all are like, yeah. That Bible says right after he said, but watch, he also says, endure afflictions. So you have to tolerate the preaching. That was funny. or not. Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of..." Acts chapter number 20, look if you will please in verse number 28, this is the Apostle Paul. Make it 27. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves of all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. A lot in that verse there. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore, what? Watch and do what? Remember that for the space of three years, I cease not to warn you night and day with what? You know what Paul said? Remember what I taught you. Remember what I taught you. Remember what I taught you. When I'm gone, people are going to come up from among you and they're going to try to teach you contrary to what I taught you. What's he doing? He's telling you Timothy's going to come true. 2 Timothy 4. Listen to what I taught you. What am I trying to do? I'm preparing you whether you know it or not for the future. The same way Paul did. If I get snatched out of here and one of these boys picks up the mantle and they take off running with it and that kind of thing, you know what happens? If all of a sudden they stray off over here, you go, now wait a minute, that preacher taught the book and this is what he said and you know what we better do? You better watch it. You better watch it. What am I doing? I'm preparing you. Suppose he takes out all of us. What are your kids going to do? Can I say this to you without sounding self-serving? What I'm teaching you is timeless. It is the same thing that Paul taught. It is the same thing that Jesus taught. It is timeless. It's eternal words. It is words that will help you no matter what the geographical location are the circumstances that you are surrounded with. The words that I'm giving you are words of life. They're spirit. They're truth. They have to do with a time. There's no time stamp on them. It's not the prophetic word for today. It's the prophetic word for all days of all times, everywhere, anytime. Paul preached it back in years ago, 2,000 years ago. Paul preached it. I'm preaching to you the same exact thing. You say, why? They're His words. Those are the words that you need for your soul. Paul says, hey, watch it, watch it. You say, why? Because it's going to happen. Let me give you one more. Look in 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5. A lot of times you don't think about that. You distance yourself from the fact that these are God's words. Now, I want you to think about this. Just put on your thinking cap for a minute. I'm not being smart when I say that. I want you to think about this. When it comes to movies and television and series or whatever they call the things, is it like a series or a thing that they have? Every year they change the series. It's the same show but it has different things taking place. And they have to change it on a regular basis. You watch a rerun and it's the same thing but it doesn't give you any more light on anything. Is that right? And they have to always be putting out new movies. Right? I mean, there may be a couple of whatever you would call classics, but for the most part, they have to constantly change it to get you interested in looking at anything new. Do you think God knew that when He wrote the Bible? And He put His words in concrete? He molded them out of stainless steel? And He said, I'm not changing. I'm doing this right here. Well, Lord, don't you need to change with the times? There's no time stamp on this. The words I speak to you, they're spirit and life. These words are eternal words. They will fit in any generation that you put them. I don't have to change that. Yeah, but Lord, times have changed. Yeah, but I'm God. I haven't changed. Now think about it for a minute. There is no other book like that on the planet. You say, why? Because there's only that one author that wrote that book. You know what he said? These words are good for any time, any place, any situation from the time it's printed until eternity and I magnify it above my name and I'm not changing it. Now let's make a comparison. Why then do we feel that we have to change the preaching of it to please a crowd if God said, This is what I gave Paul to preach. You preach it. Why is it that we go, well now I know what he gave Paul, but that was Paul's day. I just heard that this week. These preachers nowadays, they get up there and they think that because Paul preached that we should be preaching it now. Okay. Yes. Amen, brother. Yes. He's like, they don't understand times have changed. So now time becomes the authority? The circumstances, the situation, the geographical location. Now you become the God? Oh, oh, I just got it. Now you've decided what parts of that fit for the time that you're in. Instead of going, wait a minute, God's looking at this thing already finished. When He put those words down, He intended for them not to change for a reason. Because they don't need to, they fit whatever the situation is or whatever the time is. It doesn't need to be updated. Isn't that strange? Why didn't He give us a Bible with continual revelation and have it rewritten and rewritten and give another chapter and add another chapter? I mean, you know, why don't we carry it around in a briefcase, a suitcase and then some luggage and the next thing you know we have to have 50 volumes of it because we keep changing it. Why did He write it? And He said, 66 books and that's it. I'm done. Everything you need is in the 66 books. That's an amazing thing to me. And he doesn't get intimidated by the fact that you think it ought to be changed at all. You do realize, you know, what time period we are, yeah? Why are you saying thee and thou? It's timeless. You just think the whole world revolves around you. The Lord says you got the triangle inverted, son. You see things from where I'm at, from beginning to end, you'll recognize Something solemn when you see it. That should give you confidence. He doesn't change it. You know why? He's not interested in your opinion of it. Isn't that irritating? Every other author writes with a thought in mind when it comes to modern fiction and that kind of stuff. How's it going to do on the New York bestsellers list? How's it going to do in the bookstore? Whether or not they're going to sell it and be able to make money out of it or whatever. He wrote it and gave it away for free. He didn't even have a copyright put on it. He's not worried about whether you like it or not. He said, thus saith the Lord, you know where we are? You're in the days that Israel was in. You know where Israel was? We ain't listening to that. Times have changed. Give us a king. Samuel said, you don't want a king. The Lord said, give him a king. Oh, I'll give him a king. And it wasn't Joe Biden. It was Saul. But he did it to the nation of Israel. Are you better than the nation of Israel? They quit listening. You're not guilty of that, are you? Thus saith the Lord. I guarantee you, however many are watching, Earning it off. Here he goes. Same old thing. Thank you. Same old thing. Like a broken record. Old black preacher got up one time. The deacons got all over him. He preached the same message for about seven weeks in a row. Preached on Sunday morning. Preached it on Sunday night. Preached it on Wednesday night. After about seven weeks, the deacons called him together. Back in those days, deacons ran everything and called him in. They said, preacher, we want to talk to you now. We hired you to come in here and preach to us. We're getting tired of hearing the same message. and we need you to change your message. And that preacher looked at him square in the eye and he said, when you start listening to the message I'm preaching, I'll change the message. Until then, I ain't changing. My friend, James Aloysius Lentz, he went to Dyersburg, Tennessee. Brother Knowles is up in that area now, not at the same church. There's an old guy up there that ran a mill and employed nearly half the people in the whole county up there. And a big portion of them went over there to that church. And Jim had just gotten out of school. Him and Travis was a little baby at the time and Cheryl was up there living in a trailer, living on rice and pinto beans and stuff. And Jim didn't have any sense back then, any more than I did. And he got up and one of the first messages he preached was on television. Back in those days, you'd preach on TV. That was a big deal. You'd preach on TV or you'd get a sledgehammer and axe. You know, you run over them with a steamroller and TV was the devil and all that other kind of stuff. And you know, tell the vision to no man or TV or not TV, that's a question. The glass toilet, all that stuff. I did some of the same thing. You know, you make, you know, hobby horses out of things and that kind of a deal. Make a lot of motion, but they don't really go anywhere. But at any rate, the TV's still wicked and all. It's got an on-off button and that kind of deal. But anyhow, Jim preached it. And that old guy came up to him after the service was over with and he said, if you ever preach that message again in here, we will run you out of town on a rail. He said, you cannot preach that kind of a message in this kind of a church. So Jim, by his own admission, Sunday night, he preached the same message again. And by Wednesday, half the church was gone. And by the following Sunday, Travis and Cheryl were there, and that guy had made his way through there, and here's what the guy said. If you go back to that church, I'll fire you. And Jim and them lived on rice and beans and walked out in the cornfields. That's a great story you want to hear sometime. God used a lot of stuff like that. Now, I'm not saying that you ought to be trying intentionally antagonize somebody. But if God's trying to get a message across to you, you should appreciate the fact that somebody will keep trying to tell you whether you like the message or not. I think the Lord used that message to move Jim to Valdez. That's what I think. And he's from Valdez, and then he died when he was 54. Anyway, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, and we'll go to Barn. Look, if you will, please, down in verse number 6. This is talking about last days and the second coming here, times and seasons. Brethren, you have no need that I write unto you yourselves. Know perfectly the day of the Lord comes with a thief in the night. An old movie years ago came out called The Thief in the Night, you know, that kind of thing. It's talking about the second coming, for when they shall say, peace and safety, sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman and child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You're children of the light and children of the day, and we're not children of the night and darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others, but let us what? You're supposed to be looking. And then he says one more thing, and he ain't talking about drinking on New Year's Eve. Be sober. That means be serious. It ain't no joke. Serious as a sack full of rattlesnakes, a friend of mine says. Serious business. You say, what is he telling you? He's telling you to watch. Watch. Pay attention. Pay attention. Pay attention. Pay attention. Watch. You say, why? The Lord wants to show you some things. if you're interested in seeing them. I hope that helps you. We'll talk about enduring afflictions. I know some of you feel like you've done that tonight, but we'll talk about enduring afflictions on Sunday.