Thank you, dear brother. Once again, thanks to all of our musicians all the time. If you need a Bible, we want you to be able to follow along. If you need a Bible, raise your hand. And the ever-present and ever-handsome Bobby Bowman. And to the Turner family, to the Turner family, I want to apologize. Come back next Sunday. We're glad you're here. That didn't sound right, did it? I'm glad you're here. But if you came to hear Bobby, he has scheduled, we've been rotating this pulpit. Quite a bit. Pastor's been working on the French Bible, and he needed to specifically hone his time into that, and boy, I'm grateful. First Bible Church, I don't wanna, I'm gonna make a statement, and it's not that I'm taking God out of the equation, but you're in good hands. You're in good hands, all right? We have a host of men, deacons, even beyond our deacons, a 12 of them. Men who are elders in this place who love the word of God, study it, and know how to present it. So that's what we're going to do a little bit this morning, all right? I want you to go to 1 Peter. I started something, I looked at my notes, the other day, and I want you to go to 1 Peter chapter 4 with me. I started this in November, the first Sunday in November. I'm still on charity. I've got four more points to go and who knows how long that's going to take, but as I re-read parts of the Word of God, I have a problem anymore not being able to read the whole Bible through. I know that doesn't sound too good to you, but I have read my Bible through year after year after year after year, and as I've aged in Christ, and if God gives me a Easter Sunday morning, it'll be 52 years. that I've known Jesus Christ as my personal savior. And I was 70 years old at the time, and in a few days, excuse me, I was 20 years old at the time. I wasn't 70 years old. And in a few days, I'll be 72. But I have a problem. I have a hard time anymore just reading my Bible through. and because my mind jumps all over the place and tying things together. And you watch the news as I do. The second coming of Jesus Christ is not a distraction. The rapture is not a distraction. However, everything leading up to it, can be a distraction. Everything leading up to it, and I know you've all got an opinion, the pastor and I, and a few of the guys commented on this this morning, I know everybody's got an opinion, and after 50 plus years now of reading my Bible, I'm still not sure who Gog and Magog is. I know you've got an opinion, keep it in your pocket, I really don't wanna hear it. Okay. I've read the books, I've listened to the great men that we call great men, and I've read my Bible from cover to cover, and I still don't understand a lot of what lies ahead of us. Who's really gonna be involved other than Jerusalem? Okay. So I got into I Peter, and Paul would say the same thing in Colossians, and I probably have taken you back to these verses every time I've gotten onto this. Peter's life is not only coming to an end, he talks about in 2 Peter chapter one, he says in verse one, verse 13 and 14 and 15, as long as I'm in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, he was going to die. So his personal life was coming to an end, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me 15, then he says, after my deceased. But I find something, once again, it's pretty easy to find, just read your Bible. I Peter chapter 4, I Peter chapter 4, And if I can just read from 5 down through 8, "...who shall give account to him that is ready to judge..." He's talking about the world for a time past our life. But he says something in verse number 5, "...who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead..." That's the saved and the lost right there, the quick. If you're saved today, he quickened your spirit. Salvation's not a formula. Do this, this, this, and this, and you're saved. No, when God's ready to quicken your spirit, he'll get you ready. He'll quicken your spirit, but without a quickened spirit, you're dead in trespasses and sins. For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to the God in the spirit. Now verse seven, just once again, if you haven't realized, we are being governed by madness. And I'm gonna keep repeating that. I don't care whether you get tired of hearing it or not. Read your Bible, Deuteronomy 28, 28, just in case you thought I just was taking something out of the air. Do you know what God gave Israel over to? Because they decided to run their own show. He gave them over to blindness and madness. That's what we have today. And I grieve for every tyrant who decides to kill and to harm innocent people. I grieve because of that. I find no joy in that. But I've got to keep my eyes on the prize. And Peter says something very, almost seems benign, almost seems insignificant. And I think in the early stage of these lessons I said that it was the charity, and once again you must have a King James Bible or you're going to get nothing out of this lesson. Because only a King James Bible uses the word charity. Every other so-called Bible, so-called. takes the word charity out. And when you take the word charity out, we don't know how to conduct ourselves among ourselves. Because charity is taking what God did in my heart 50 plus years ago from this book and letting it permeate everybody around me. He said, but the end of all things, so it had to be more than just his personal death. And Peter writes about the day of the Lord. That's Revelation 19. The day of Christ is Revelation chapter 4. He's right. Paul would predominantly write about the catching out of the bride of Christ, theologically called the rapture. Peter, on the other hand, would talk about the day of the Lord. He says, but the end of all things is at hand. Now he's writing that approximately around 60 AD, somewhere in that vicinity. And he says it's at hand. But look what he says. What should I be doing? What should be my focus? We're going to talk about the coming of the Lord. That's a given fact. Doctrine is gonna be continued to be preached. We're gonna talk about the coming of the Lord. We've all got an idea of when. Is it this year? How about 2026? How about 2010? How about, I don't have a clue. I looked for him yesterday, brother, and he didn't come. You know what I'm gonna do today? You know if God gives me a tomorrow, what I'm gonna do tomorrow? Don't you mess around with me, I'm busy. I'm busy looking. Looking for that blessed hope. Looking. I heard a friend of mine say, I'm not looking for a sign. I'm looking for, I'm listening for a sound. I'm not looking for a sign. I'm not Jewish. I'm not Israel. I'm not looking for a sign. I'm listening for a sound. Maybe that trumpet, maybe that was it. No, that was just the next door neighbor's dog barking. I'm sorry. The end of all things is at hand. Be therefore sober and watch unto prayer. And above all things. I hope I get to that point where I'm going to make a big deal out of a little word. But the end. Read it now, read it with me. Let me read it out loud, you read it silently. But the end of all things is at hand. Be therefore sober. Man said it this morning, my dear brother. Get off the drunk of the world. Sober, watch unto prayer. And above all things, verse eight, have, above all else, Christ is all. Above all that's going on around you, have fervent charity among yourselves. For charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. We'll see what the Lord wants to do this morning. Let's pray. Father, thank you again for the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I want to be a blessing this morning. You've got to control my thinking, got to control my heart, got to control my tongue. Father, thou must save and thou alone. I know something for sure. Not everybody's saved in this room this morning. It just never happens that way. And you've commanded us to come and dine and feed the saints, but if somebody here is here and knows not Jesus Christ personally, thou must save and thou alone. Would you be pleased that Sunday morning 52 years ago, 11 words out of the book of Romans chapter 2, and not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth a man to repentance, captured my mind, captured my heart, born me again right where I was standing in that pew. And I've never been the same. You can do that this morning, Father, because you're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And I will say thank you ahead of time for any and all eternal good that comes out of our meeting today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. If you went to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, you would find the 14 elements of the definition of charity. We've talked about this. Charity is not necessarily what we think it is. We have this time of the year where there's charitable giving, and certainly that can be a branch off of all the 14 things. But if you went to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, you would find out what charity is. And we've already gone through practically 10 of them. It says charity suffereth long, letting God work in your life long enough to produce what he wants to produce. Doesn't mean being beaten to death, but the word suffer also means to allow something to happen. One of God's names is longsuffering. Longsuffering is the salvation of God. God is long-suffering. That's who he is. But he wants us among ourselves to suffer long, to allow God to work in our lives. We're all at different stages of growth. We've got new babes in here and we've got old timers in here. And we have to suffer long with each other. We have to be, and there's another one that talks about being patient. Talks about being kind. Says, envieth not. Envy is not jealousy. Jealousy is I don't have what you have. Envy is resentment to the blessings of others. I want what you have. That's envy. Talks about vaunteth not itself. The word is an old English word. It means to boast and brag and to have the preeminence. says it's not puffed up, and I'm reading right out of 1 Corinthians 13, not puffed up, it's steaming, knowledge puffeth up. Now you must have the knowledge of what the Bible says to know anything about God. Without this book, you have no idea. All the creation may tell you there is a God, but only this book will tell you who that God is and what He is like. Knowledge puffeth up, says charity edifieth. Charity builds. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. That's charity. Not puffed up, that's esteeming self above all others. Diotrephes in 3 John, loveth to have the preeminence. The thing of being puffed up is being a show-off. Let me tell you how much I know. I don't think we have a church full of people like that, but I've been in places where, oh my word. Let me just tell you how much I know, and it's like somebody vomiting. It just never stops. Not puffed up. Not behave itself unseemly, the word only appeared two times, has to do with boundaries. It appears here in 1 Corinthians 13, but it also appears in Romans chapter one and verse 27. And if you go back and read that chapter, some people are doing things way out of the boundaries that God gave. And they're still doing it. Seeketh not her own. You get Epaphras out of Philippians chapter two in verse 21. And actually Paul would say that, that there was a group of people that they were just seeking their own. My four and no more. That's dangerous. That doesn't work, by the way, at First Bible Church. I'm glad for your four. But it isn't your floor no more. We've got visitors here this morning. And it's already been said, but you're an honored guest. We're glad you're here. We may make a fuss over you. We want you to come back. We're not looking for your money. We're not looking to build a bigger building. We want to see you come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. You say, do you have an agenda, Brother Pat? Oh yes, I have an agenda. It's not your wallet. It's not your time. My agenda is I want you to know Jesus Christ personally, like I came to know Him 52 years ago. And then I want you to grow in Jesus Christ. I want you to become faithful. And you've heard me say this, but it bears repeating. What is the first step of being faithful? Just show up. By the way, if you want to be discipled, I'm just going to throw this out. This is called poking the bear. If you want to be discipled, you've got to show up for church. Somebody wants me to disciple somebody, and they don't come to church, I'm not discipling them. If church isn't that important to you, then you're not ready to be discipled. This is important, by the way. And you know, Pastor Mike and I well enough, we're not after your money. We never talk about money. We're not after your time. We're not telling you how much to give and we're not telling you what to do. We're trying to train you enough in that book that you'll learn how to be faithful. And the first thing about being faithful is you gotta show up. So if you try to show, I know we've got work schedules. I've been at this for 50 years, guys. I know what's going on. I know you got jobs, I know other things are important. I got all that. I know families, family, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We only meet for two hours on Sunday morning. And we only meet for two hours on a Wednesday night. And I don't think that's asking too much. Yeah, that's three of you that agree with me, glory to God. Seeketh not easily provoked. We talked about our actions were to provoke one another unto love and good works. That's how we're not to be just always trying to win the argument around here. Now, then I talked about, and I think this is where we were somewhere in the past here. Thinketh no evil. If you want to thinketh no evil, you go to Romans chapter 12. Let me go to Romans chapter 12 with me and I'll just read this and then we'll move on to where I wanna be. Romans chapter 12. I think we talked about grandpa, not so much grandpa, but grandma's black book, okay? Every Italian somewhere in the past has had a black book. You do something wrong in the family and your name went in the black book. I got a black book. Yeah, but I want, you rubbed me the wrong way, Brother Pat. I want to get even with you. I got a black book. Got a black book. Look at Romans chapter 12. You know what, I like coming to church. I have fun. I'm not even in this pulpit a lot anymore. I don't need music hardly anymore. These guys transport me to the third, you transport me to the third heaven most of the time when you sing. I don't need to be in this pulpit to have fun. I just like hanging out with you. To me, that's fun. You guys keep me young. There's only a handful of us that are over 70. Probably on one hand. That means we've got a young church, 55 and younger, 55 and under. I like hanging out with young people. They keep me from getting old. I know I'm getting old. We got that, brother. Pastor Mike and I, I got him by a few years. We're understanding that. Okay, you start to age and you're, you do, you kind of slow down a little bit. You guys keep me young. Now, I'm not going to play volleyball with you, but I like watching you idiots play volleyball. I just flat do. I like to watch you breaking ankles and fingers and all that kind of stuff. It excites me because that takes me back to a day when I had broken fingers and I had twisted ankles. It's good, man. You got to love this place. Some of you don't have a clue about love in this place yet. Love in the family. Just love in the family. Go to Romans chapter 12. Look at verses 17, I'll read them quickly, through 21. That point was, think no evil. Recompense to no man evil for evil. That means don't pay something back. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Now, verse 18, I have it underlined heavily in my Bible. If it be possible, because sometimes it's not. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. It's almost like God gives you an out. And says, I know there's gonna be that one guy that just, it's gonna be impossible. But you gotta continue to read. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. They're not fair to me. I was on my phone this morning making sure I got all the information and went on YouTube a little bit. Guy went to prison at the age of 20. and they're now releasing him from prison because he was innocent. You know how old he is? 85. Ohio. Gotta love Ohio, brother. Him and I are from Ohio. Gotta love Ohio. That's not fair. And you know what? The only thing they said to him was, we're sorry. He was falsely accused of a crime at the age of 20. And now they're telling him you didn't commit the crime, he's 85 sitting in the wheelchair. They're talking to him and he's like addled. The world's not fair. Young people, listen to me straight up. The world's not fair. You're gonna get hurt. God's still on the throne. And he lets it happen. Read your Bible. Boy, there's some very, I mean, you read Hebrews chapter 11, and there's a verse that just captures my mind every time I read Hebrews chapter 11. It's a parenthetical thought. It says, of whom the world was not worthy. Payday someday. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. That means conviction. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Then we moved on, and I think this is where I'm at today. We talked about, or began to talk about charity, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. The word iniquity simply means it's a deviation from the rightness of truth in principle and in practice. Now, I'm not gonna go there, but I want you to bear it in your mind and write it down, perhaps. Go to Ezra chapter eight in verse 21. You don't have to go there, because I'm not gonna quote it. But in Ezra chapter eight, Ezra is praying by the river Ahava. They are now out of captivity. Cyrus, God has used Cyrus, his servant. Also called Nebuchadnezzar, his servant. You know who put him into captivity? Nebuchadnezzar. God also calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant. So all these madmen that seem to be running the world right now, don't be afraid. They're God's servants. See, you gotta read. You not only have to read, you have to believe your Bible. He called Nebuchadnezzar his servant. That's the guy, the Persian king, who threw Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael into the burning, fiery furnace. And do you know that that burning, fiery furnace was not for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You say, well, they went into the furnace. Yeah, but the furnace wasn't for them. You know who the furnace was for? Nebuchadnezzar. Because Nebuchadnezzar took a peek in that furnace and said, he said, Pat Deen's version, he said, back the horse up, boys. Didn't we throw three of those boys in there? I see four. And the fourth is like the Son of God. That furnace wasn't for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And what you're going through right now, and what I'm going through, guess what? It's probably not for you. Probably not. If you're like me, every time I get in a heartache, I repent of every sin I think I've ever done and I haven't done. Because I think God's mad at me. God's not mad at me. Yes, he needs to correct me. Boy, I need correction, God knows it. Don't you say amen because you need it too. Don't you think you're better? Nobody's walking on water around here. You're not walking on water, neither am I. So what you're going through or have been through, If you can get beyond the fact, okay, God's correcting me, and get your heart right in the whole thing, and then say, God's perfecting me. He's trying to mature me. But you, this came to my mind. Go to Philippians chapter one. Keep your, I got notes here, don't worry about it. They don't mean a thing to me, but I've got notes. Go to Philippians chapter one. Do you know that what you're going through right now Could be for the furtherance of the gospel. I know this, I know we got heartache in this place. God knows more and I don't make light of any of it. Deb and I have had our share of heartache and we don't talk about it hardly at all. You know, on Tuesday, Deb and I celebrated 53 years of marriage in our lives. 53 years. I give the credit to two people. Jesus Christ and that little gray-haired lady right there behind the Andersons. She has put up with me for 53 years. You think you girls have it tough? You ought to talk to Debbie Dean. Go to Philippians chapter 1 and verse number 12. Now, you've got to remind yourself of 2 Corinthians chapter 12 where Paul starts to enumerate some things and he says, I was beaten. He took 195 stripes. 40 save one, that's 39. And what would that be, five times? 195 times he was whipped. You think he didn't bear the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ in his body? He says he did. And then he says perils of this and perils of that and perils and perils and perils, man. But you know what he says in Philippians chapter one and verse 12? And this was put on a prayer card of one of our dear saints who went home to be with the Lord many years ago now. And she and her husband put this verse, as she went home to be with the Lord, put this verse on her prayer card. 112 in Philippians says, but I would you should understand, brethren, that the things, things, he doesn't even talk about, it's just things. Things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. He's in prison. Some of the brethren are taking strength from him being in prison and twisting it a little bit. One was preaching Christ of contention, not sincerely, but the other of love, and in 18 he says, what then? Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense, whether as a lie, or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. Maybe what we're going through today is the further, maybe what the world is going through right now, the hurt that it's going through, is for the furtherance of the gospel. I'll say it to you as I've said it to my boys. When God dies, then I got a problem. Long as God's alive, I don't have any problems. See, you have to get to that place. And I'm not saying I'm there. Every day is a challenge. But I got enough years under my belt to know that God is real. And he's not always gonna give me that ice cream with the sprinkles on top of it. Sometimes it's just a bitter drink, just to remind me that I'm nothing and he's everything. It's your perspective. Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter two with me. Because we talked about not rejoicing. Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity. Iniquity is the complete deviation from the rightness of truth. And here we have a person in 2 Thessalonians 2, starting in verse number 7. And if I could just back up in verse number 2, Somebody had written a letter or letters to bother the church of Thessalonica, and Paul had to address it. And in verse number two, he says that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter. as from us, as the day of Christ is at hand. And if you have a Bible like I do, and they tell you that's the wrong thing that should be the day of the Lord, I'm gonna take the Bible for what it says. It's the day of Christ. That's the rapture. Day of the Lord is Revelation 19, okay? Thousand year millennial reign, day of the Lord. Nowadays, Israel has worked its way through 42 months of great tribulation, and God steps out of heaven, Revelation 19. That's the day of the Lord. Revelation chapter 4 is the day of Christ. A door opened in heaven and God called up and something was caught out. That's what we commonly call the rapture. Let no man deceive you, in verse 3, by any means, for that day, that day of Christ shall not come, except there come a falling away first. Apostasy, heresy, apostasy, it's all around us. He goes on to say, and that man of sin. So now he's gonna talk about an individual. Man of sin be revealed. Notice it's called the son of perdition. And let me just throw this in, it's nothing new again. If you went into John chapter 17, the priestly prayer of the, that's the Lord's prayer, by the way, John 17. And you got around verse number 12, you'd find that Judas was called the son of perdition. It's only two times that phrase is used, son of perdition. Judas is called the son of perdition. And Antichrist, the man of sin, verse number three, he's also called son of perdition. Now the interesting thing, and this is just food for thought, it's got nothing to do with charity. If you went into Acts chapter one and verse 25, do you realize that Judas didn't go to hell? Judas went to his own place. I don't know what that means. But when the Bible wants you to know somebody went to hell, and in hell he lifted up his eyes in another place, a man being in torments, Judas doesn't say he went to hell. He says he went to his own place. So just food for thought. Not teaching doctrine. Maybe Judas Iscariot's got something to do with the Antichrist. Just food for thought. Got nothing to do with this message, but I wrote it down in my notes, so I have to use it because I put it in my notes. Go back to, yeah, I'm still in 2 Thessalonians. He says in verse number four, who opposeth and exalted himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing him to, look at verse number seven, for the mystery of iniquity. The mystery of godliness was 1 Timothy chapter three and verse 16. You know what the mystery of godliness was? God manifest himself in the flesh of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God. I know He's the Son of God, I understand that order, but He's God. That's the mystery of godliness. And here we have the mystery of iniquity. Look at verses 8 through 12. And then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume. Let me just read quickly down through. Even him who's coming, 9, after the working of Satan with all power and signs, lying wonders. 10, deceivableness of unrighteousness in them. Watch verse number 10, right at the end. Them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. You know how you get saved? You believe the truth. Some of you have been coming to our church. I'm not sure you're saved. I'm nobody. I'm just one guy who listens and watches and tries to keep his mouth shut. I'm glad you're here. I went to church from the age of three to the age of 20. 17 years, oh foolish, stupid, I'll use the word too, Keith, stupid me. I didn't come to a saving knowledge until I was 20. I'm glad you're here. We want you to come back. Turners, come back next Sunday. I want to hear my dear brother and friend, Bobby Bowman, too. I'll be here, Lord willing. But just because you come to church doesn't mean you're born again. He poked the bear again. Now watch what happens when you don't receive the love of the truth that you might be saved. And for this cause, for what cause? For the cause that they did not receive the love of the truth. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. Oh, we've got it today. Let me ask you just something. Who's telling you the truth? Come on. Fox News telling you the truth? All those side elements. YouTube is telling you the truth? Come on. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Now, that was your place to say amen, but you missed it. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But I've been reading since I was three years old. My mom taught me how to read as I sat under a sewing machine watching her sew. By the time I went to kindergarten, I was reading pretty much at a fifth grade level. I amazed the teachers. I amazed myself. I was reading things that I shouldn't understand and I was telling them what I read. What are you going to believe? Do you know it's important what you believe? You say, you bunch of dumb Christians, you're so stinking narrow-minded. I'm gonna wear that as a badge of honor. I am, because you know what Jesus taught me in this book? There's a broad way and there's a narrow way. And the broad way leads to hell and the narrow way leads to heaven. So I'll wear your criticism like a badge of honor. This is the narrow way. And I've had more fun in 50 plus years. I've met more wonderful people. I got to be part of First Bible Church. How crazy is that? This Ohio boy followed somebody. I just got on the bus. I didn't even know what I was supposed to do. I got a job and just started coming to church. fell in love with this book, fell in love with Jesus Christ, fell in love with God's people, learned that the ministry was only two things, love God and love people. Narrow way. I'm not trying to sell you Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ can sell himself. He's the truth. Yeah, somebody do that. I thought President Biden was in the congregation. Some of you laugh. I thought our Vice President Kamala Harris, you know how she answers questions? She just laughs. These are the people that are governing us. Come on, First Bible Church! Beloved, wake up! These are the people that are governing us! And you want to ignore the truth? You want to live like you want to live? And let this Bible go to hell, I'll do what I want to do? I know I'm getting hot. Steve's over there. I know he's sick. He's not doing well. He's doing better. Steve always turns my fan on. Nobody turned my fan on. I'm about ready to swoon up here. Do you know whatever they were damned because they believed, look at verse number 12, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth. It's got to be more complicated than that. Religion tells me, genuflect, do this, do that, give me your $5 every week. Do you know what sends you to hell? Well, maybe this does, and maybe that does, and maybe this does, and that's a terrible sin. How could God forgive that? You know what sends you to hell? Unbelief. God made this thing so simple. I'm going to say it my way. I'm only 5'7". I like hanging around with guys that are taller than me. You know what he did for me? He put the cookies on the bottom shelf. This guy, he can bend down and get the cookies, but I can get the cookies too. You got a little 5-year-old that's 3' tall? He can get the cookies, too. She can get the cookies. God's made this thing so simple. Whatever captures our attention will bring us into captivity. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 with me. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. We're in a spiritual battle. This battle's not one with money. This battle's not even one with your creativity or mine, your energy or mine. This battle is one with prayer and relying totally on the Holy Spirit of God. Oh yes, we don't be lazy around here. And we have a giving church. And there are things that it costs to put Bibles on a foreign field. Absolutely. But you know where the battle is won? The battle is won by the spirit of God and in the spirit of God. Go to second Corinthians chapter 10 and around verse three is where I'll start reading three through five. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. Parenthetical thought again. There's a gold mine in every parenthetical thought. Don't belittle the parenthetical thought. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations, and if you go back to Genesis chapter six, somewhere around verse five, somewhere around there, Genesis six for sure, their imaginations, they just began to run wild. Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God. Does it stop there? How do I succeed in all this, Lord? And bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You are not going to grow in Jesus Christ without this book. You're not. I don't care how much Christian music you listen to. I like it too. I pretty much don't listen to it. You know where you grow? You just believe that this book is more important than anything in your life. That's the bottom line. And I like to eat. Hey, I'm 55, 60 pounds overweight. I love to eat more than any of you. My wife calls me the eternal grazer. I just go by the refrigerator door and open it. There's nothing new in that refrigerator. But I think if I do that 10 times a day, it's probably 12 times a day. And I know what she thinks, I didn't put anything new in that refrigerator, hon. Why do you, why do you, I just, I open the door and just stand there. Gee, I haven't tasted that mustard in a while. Let me just taste the mustard. taste and see that the Lord is good. You gotta taste. You gotta let the book get in you, and here's the key. You not only have to get in the book, excuse me, but you gotta let the book get in you. Bringing into captivity, let me read you something. See, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Whatever a man depends upon, whatever rules his mind, whatever governs his affections, whatever is the chief object of his delight, that is his God. Hey, I live in a world just like you do. I like things. I like to watch those old muscle cars, man, going fast from A to B. That was my life, just go fast from A to B. I loved it all. I could still love it. But you know what I want to govern my heart and my mind? Yeah. I heard one little female voice say amen. Where's the rest of us at, brothers, sisters? Come on now. We're family, we're friends. We're not getting mad at each other. We're just talking. Come on now. You do realize we're about ready to leave here. Do you realize that? Do we realize that? And you know what's waiting for us? I hope to God I don't have to stand beside a Waldensian, an Albigensian. I hope to God I don't have to stand beside some woman that her husband was torn by wild dogs and then set on fire. And then he said, what do you think of your husband now? And she says, I never thought as much than I think right now. I hope to God I don't have to stand beside that person. I'm too old to start telling people fairy tales, brother. You are too. We are too. I'm not saying we're not on the course. I'm not saying that. But you know what I have to do? When I come to church, you know what I'm waiting? I'm waiting for him or him or him or him come up to me and say, OK, I won't kick him hard, but I'm going to kick him. And I go home with a sore butt and bleeding. To me, church was good that day. Oh, tell me something nice, brother Pat. It's picking a fight. I know it is, brother. I apologize. Bobby, Bobby, your work's cut out for you next Sunday. You got to correct every mistake I made today. 2 Timothy 2.19 says, let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Iniquity, that body, that deviation from the righteousness of truth, the rightness of truth. It's all around us. All around us. Let me read something, guess what I'm gonna do. I got something to preach next couple Sundays. I didn't even get into point one yet. Rejoice in the truth. There are 30 or 40 books in the various world religions, each one claiming to be a superior revelation of truth. Jesus said, heaven and earth shall pass away. My words shall not pass away. Matthew 24, 35. How important do you think the earth is? Well, Jesus says heaven and earth shall pass away. The Bible does not attempt to defend itself, defend its inspiration. You'll not find any verse in the Bible that says this book is really true. So you better believe it. But here is an interesting thing. Genesis opens with the words, God said, nine times in the first chapter. The statement, saith the Lord, appears 23 times in that last Old Testament book of Malachi. So you have God says from Genesis to Malachi. The Lord spoke appears 560 times in the first five books of the Bible alone. Isaiah claims at least 40 times his message came directly from the Lord. Ezekiel claims the same 60 times. Jeremiah claims the same 100 times. At least 3,800 times in the Old Testament, the Lord spoke appears. The Lord Jesus quoted from at least 24 different Old Testament books. He just quoted them. Now these are facts that will be valuable for a person with an open heart. Not that you have to throw your brain away, your head away, in order to believe these facts. But if you do not want to believe, nothing will convince you. Voltaire, his name came up recently. About 250 years ago, he lived from 1694 to 1778. But somewhere around 250 years ago, held a copy of the Bible in his hand and said, in 100 years, this book will be forgotten, eliminated. The joke is that 100 years later to the day his house was made the headquarters for the Geneva Bible Society. They're distributing Bibles over that house today. God has an incredible sense of humor. Yeah, you just got to laugh. They say a good hearty belly laugh lowers your blood pressure. I'm always looking for that good hearty belly laugh because my blood pressure is always too high. Say you were going to write a book and this is how you were going to write it. You take 40 different writers, authors for a start, totally different writers, some highly educated, even doctors. Then you get some farmers. You go and dig a guy out of a ranch and say, I'd like you to help me write a book. You find some fishermen. So you go down to the wharfs, the shores. A couple guys from San Francisco, a couple guys from New York Harbor, a couple guys from Florida, all through the world. Help me write a book. Then you get them to write on the following things. Religious themes, poetry, ethics, science, philosophy, creation of the universe, where it's going. It's throwing a few things about where they think it's all going to end. You collect all that and then, oh by the way, you have to separate these people so they can't communicate by any form of communication. Only word of mouth. And it has to be passed down over the years. You collect all this stuff over about one and a half thousand years. You compile the whole thing in one book. One book. What would you have? Well, I suggest you take a biology book from 60 years ago. You compare it with the one today. That's just 60 years ago. You know what you'd have? You would have the most motley piece of junk you had ever seen in your whole life. People totally contradicting each other. But that is not what you have when you read your Bible. Let me just throw this in. But you have to read it in order to find that out. The more you read this Bible, this book that we call the Bible, that's been called the Bible, the more incredible the unity of it. Because the more you get into it, the more incredibly detailed it is. you find that there are not 40 people, authors, who wrote it, but one. One author. You know why I, this book, let me close on this. We're done. I know what time it is. Don't worry about it. Your meatloaf's not going to burn, okay? Go to Timothy with me. I don't know your spiritual condition today. That's between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. But that morning, Lord willing, 52 years ago, this book spoke to me. I didn't hear the voice of God. I didn't. Lightning didn't flash. The lights in that main auditorium were well paid for. They weren't flashing. But you know what the Spirit of God did? He took a book that is all God. This is the written words of God. This book is God on paper. You can disagree with that. You can come later and apologize to me. I've got you in 1 Timothy and we'll close on this because I don't know your condition today, your spiritual condition. Every man and pastors absence because of the translation. Every man has used the King James Bible and told you the truth. Personalities are different. Ages are different. Backgrounds are different. But you know what we all did? And by the grace of God, I think I know my brother Bobby well enough. He's going to do the same thing next Sunday. Somebody got in this pulpit and opened the book and let God speak. What you believe is important. You know what sends a person to hell? We've already established that. Unbelief of the truth. It's not murdering, molesting. None of that is good. Don't misunderstand me. But that's not what sends a man to hell. Or a woman. It's unbelief. It's saying, okay, I've listened to Brother Pat, and I've listened to Pastor Mike, and I've listened to all these guys, and yeah, blech. and you just blow it off. But you know what God does? God stands there with an open hand again. He stands there and just, he did that year after year. You talk about mercy. You want to know why I think the way I think? I can't get beyond the mercy of God. I can't get beyond His love. I'm not a deep, dark thinker. There's surgeons in this place. I'm a field medic. I might be able to keep you alive in order to get you to the surgeon. We got a bunch of surgeons in this place who can take this book and write it. I've never gotten beyond the love of God. I get stuck there. His mercy, that He would care for me. He didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Nobody had to prove me that I was a sinner. I was glorying in it. One verse, 1 Timothy 2, and just look at verse 4. Here you have the heart of God. The unconditional love of God is John 3.16, for God so, Love the world. I was asked that. A young man asked me to tell him what this unconditional, about the unconditional love, and I was sitting in my car waiting for my wife, and I didn't even have my Bible with me, and I don't have one on my phone, because a phone's a phone, not a Bible. And all of a sudden, God said, for God so. There was nothing that was going to deter God from saving me that day. Nothing. Look at chapter 2 and verse 4. You want to know what God's agenda is? 2, 4 of 1 Timothy, who will have all men, not just a few, not just the elect. John Calvin, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. I'm not going to beg you to be saved, and I'm not coming to you, and we're not going to give four hours of invitation music. I've been preaching my guts out for over an hour now. If God hasn't spoken to you, I think you're in trouble. It doesn't take any more than that to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. You recognize you're a sinner, and you recognize he came to save all men. And you receive it. You receive it. You say, thank you. You just say, I thought you had to pray a prayer. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That's about the closest I get to a prayer. You want to pray a prayer, pray that one with a right heart attitude. God be merciful to me a sinner. The Christians, everything's important. Coming of the Lord, as I said, I looked for him yesterday, I'll look for him today. God willing, I'll look for him tomorrow. But I can't get distracted with what's going on around the world. I got to stay focused. on Jesus Christ and the task that he has set personally, and I know all of us here, but personally what he's... To leave something behind. I'm just trying to leave something behind. This book, that's what I'm trying to give you. Fall in love with it. Fall in love with Jesus Christ. I'm not saying don't love your wife, don't love your kids, don't love your husband. But that blessed woman of 53 years, so I don't even know how we did it. We came to an agreement. We would love Jesus Christ first, that we might learn to love each other best. Bow your heads. I apologize. Bow your heads.