And He shows up when people get excited about Him. A lot of times churches, the Lord's not showing up because they're just not excited about Him anymore. And they're just not praising Him. And if you look in the Bible, you can find out the Lord shows up when they praise Him and when they sing to Him. That's a blessing. I appreciate the singing and stuff this morning. It's a blessing. You know, I mean, I used to, I'll be honest with you, when I first started preaching, I used to think, you know, okay, well, you know, singing is good, but then I'm ready to, you know, hear the preaching and the preaching is a big deal. But man, and now I realize now as I grow in the Lord, how much that singing means and not only to us as Christians, but how much it means to the Lord and it sets the heart right and gets the spirit right. And so I appreciate all the singing and the, and the songs and stuff this morning. That was a blessing. We'll be in 2 Kings chapter 20 this morning. 2 Kings chapter 20. And this is a message the Lord laid on my heart not too long ago. And, you know, it's just something that almost does in a way excite me a lot and gets me excited. because we're about to see things come to pass here shortly. And a lot of people are down and depressed about how everything's going, how the society's going, everything's going on. We can go on and on about it, but as a Christian, you know what? You need to look up for your redemption. Draweth nigh. And you need to be excited about that. We're in the last time, we're at the doors. I mean, the doors are starting to open. And that's what I'm going to preach about this morning. Kind of an odd way to start, but in 2 Kings 20, in verse 1, the Bible says, in those days was Hezekiah sickened to death. And the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, came to him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech you, O Lord, remember now why I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart. And have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, before Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him again, saying, Came to him, saying, Turn again and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will heal thee on the third day. Thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you so much, Lord, for looking down on us and taking care of us, Lord, washing us in your blood, Lord, forgiving us for our sins, Lord, the mercy and grace that you have with us, Lord, is just unexplainable, Lord. the long-suffering you have with us, Lord, and Lord, especially just I can speak of myself, Lord, just how good you've been, and Lord, how you've taken care of us, and Lord, just through everything, Lord, you're still there. You're on the throne, and nothing shakes you, Lord. You're just sitting there just watching things, and Lord, just thank you for just being saved. I thank you for meeting me, Lord, on that day in Greece, Lord, and saving my soul, and Lord, I just thank you for, How merciful you've been, Lord. Thank you for an opportunity to even preach your word this morning. Lord, I'm preaching something much, much bigger than me. And Lord, I pray that you give me the wisdom of the words that I need to say. Lord, I need to be filled with your Holy Spirit, Lord. I just don't want to sit up here in the flesh and beat the air, Lord. I pray, Lord, that you can move and encourage your people and help them, Lord, strengthen them. even rebuke them if they need it, Lord. And Lord, I pray that you just help us as your people, Lord, as we come into these last moments, Lord, before you come back, to do the things that we're supposed to do, Lord, and be ready. And Lord, I'm sure looking forward to seeing you, Lord, and Lord, I'm excited and I'm ready, Lord, just to move on and be with you. But Lord, in the meantime, help us just do the things that we're supposed to do. Lord, please bless the service. I'll be with Pastor Evans as he's down in Florida. Help him and his family be encouraged, get some rest, recharged. Help bring them back safely, Lord. And Lord, please bless this church. Lord, bless the service this morning in your precious most holy name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen. I want you to pay close attention to the first verse there. It says, in those days was Hezekiah sickened to death. And the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos, came to him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, set thy house in order. And I'm here to tell you this morning, folks, the Lord, what He gave me to tell you is you need to set your house in order. You need to get things ready because you're about ready to go on a trip. The Lord told me, and He spoke to my heart, and I don't know when it's going to be, but I know it's going to be soon, and you need to get your house in order. I remember when I was a kid, and I remember my mom and my stepdad would work late, and when we got home from school, we had chores. Amen? We had the chores we had to do. And I had to have those chores. I mean, when I got home from school, they better be done by the time mom or my dad pulled in the driveway. I mean, I better have those things done, because it was an hour or so before they got home. And you know how kids are. You get home, and you know what? You procrastinate. And you sit there, and you wait. And you just, well, I'm going to watch a little TV, or I'm going to do this, or go in your room. I'll get it done. soon enough and you think about it, but man, when you hear those car doors slam out in the driveway, man, panic ensues. I mean, you're just, oh my goodness, I haven't done a thing. You'd be amazed at how quick you can clean in like less than 30 seconds. You can get more done. I mean, if we just did that all the time, amen, you could do that stuff. You could just get a whole house clean if you had a whole hour, let alone in 30 seconds. And man, my mom would come in there, man, if things weren't done or my dad came in, man, it was a bad thing, amen. But you know what, the thing about that, and I know you probably heard that analogy before, but a lot of times you don't know when they're going to pull in the driveway. Sometimes they come home early. Sometimes they stay late. Sometimes they call. Sometimes they don't. You just better make sure you got your stuff set up and in order so that way, you know what, whenever I cleaned the house and did the things I was supposed to do, did my chores outside, you know what, I could kind of relax after that. I knew I was right. You know, I knew when mom and dad pulled in, I was fine. I had everything done. But as we know, the Lord's coming back. Listen, he's about ready to pull in the driveway. And I'm telling you this morning, you need to get your house in order. You need to get something, you need to get those things that are in your life, those loose ends that you have in your life, you need to get them tied up now. No more, you don't need to be sitting there thinking, I got 20, 30, 40 years. You don't, I'm telling you right now, we ain't got much time. Now, I'm not trying to tell you when he's coming back. I don't know exactly. I got my theories and my thoughts and my feelings. My opinion's about that, but I'll tell you right now, I know the Lord's coming back. I mean, He's coming back very, very soon. I'm not talking any day now. I'm talking, it could be today. He could be coming today. I believe, I mean, there's things, I mean, just things are set up now. I mean, I believe that He could come in the springtime, this spring. You might only have a couple more months. I'm not trying to say anything. You're saying a couple months when He doesn't come. Well, Brother Josh, it could be any time. He could come back. I believe he's coming back in the spring, but I'll tell you this, not necessarily this spring, but he's coming back in the springtime, but it could be this spring. Amen. I mean, I could have the whole thing messed up. Laura could show up before we pull out of church today and get us out of here. But all I'm telling you this is that you better set your house in order. There is no more time for playing around anymore, folks. There's no more time for sitting around saying you're gonna do something later on. Now's the time, now's the time. You ever been sitting there at your, I know when I was a kid, and if you, well, not as much as a kid, but even as an adult, when you got a fun trip or vacation planned the next day and everything's packed up and you got the car loaded? the night before and you go to bed that night and everybody's all excited. My kids can't even sleep because they know the next day we're going on the road and they're excited to get out of here. Well, let me tell you something this morning folks, you better have your bags packed, be ready to go because tomorrow we're leaving on a trip. Amen. I'm not just saying that just to get you all excited, I'm saying I know the Lord is coming back. I know he's coming back soon, I mean real soon. I got to be careful about giving dates or anything, not because I'm afraid to give dates, but I don't want to get you too excited. If you knew what I knew and some things, you'd be really excited too. But I'll tell you, Lord's coming back soon, and you need to set some things in order. Now, there's some things in your life that need to be put in order, and you can't put them off very much longer at all. You need to get them done. Listen, folks, from the Lord when He was crucified on that cross to today, we are almost ready for the Lord to just finish the church age and take us out of here. It's almost time, folks. And I'm not just saying that because of politics. I'm not just saying that because of certain things. I'm telling you, all you got to do is not be ignorant of the seasons and look around and see the attitude and the spirit of the people in this age, and you know that we're almost time to go. Folks, we are in a minority right now. We are officially in a minority, and you need to realize that. You know what? It's almost time for us to get out of here. The Bible says in the last days, men's hearts, right? They'll be hard. They'll be wicked. They'll only be thinking of themselves. The Spirit of God is getting ready, and He told me, and I mean, I'm not a prophet by any means. I got to be careful how I say that, but He dealt with my heart and said, son, you need to get your house in order. Getting a little carried away. I get excited when I talk about the Lord. I mean, I'm ready. I mean, listen, I appreciate what the Lord has done for me. I'm sure you appreciate what the Lord has done for you in your life. But I'm telling you folks, I don't believe we have much more time. I believe we're at the doors, and you as a Christian, we say, what should I do? You need to set your house in order. The Bible talks about, it's a little bit different application, but Jesus talks about if the man of the house had washed his house, he would have suffered his house not to be broken up. I'm telling you folks, you can pretend, oh no, I talked to a guy the other day, I think the Lord's not coming back for another 30, 40 years. You know why he thinks that? Because he doesn't want the Lord to come back. But you can't, you can't deny what's going on in society today, folks. I'm not talking just in America, in the world. You ever read the book of Daniel? and you read about those last kingdoms at the end and they got the animals at the end and they got the griffin there, the eagle which represents, if you want to go in and study about it, it represents England in the last days and then you got the bear, type of Russia, and you got the leopard, type of America. Those kingdoms fell, they had to quit becoming, England used to be a great kingdom and it's fallen. It's not the kingdom it used to be anymore. Russia, during the Cold War, those of you who know, all that stuff's going on there. Then Russia, supposedly, fell, and then you got the leopard. America got all the mix, the black, the white, the white belly, the yellow, and all that stuff. America's just a melting pot of people. And then when that country falls, you read in that chapter, what's next? The beast rises. So you're saying, what are you saying? I'm saying, folks, if America is going down, then there's nothing left. And last I checked in my Bible, we're not going to be here in the tribulation. So you're saying, what are you saying? You better buckle up. You better have your house in order. And some of you, you're looking at me like, I don't know about that, brother. Okay, well, you can do what you want. You can just keep doing what you want to do. But I'll tell you what, I want to make sure my ducks are in a row when the Lord comes back and gets me. I want to make sure things are set up. I want to make sure the Lord's going to, I'm ready to meet the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ. You ready to meet the Lord? You ready to meet him right now? Because time's coming. Listen, they have been preaching for years, the Lord's coming back, ever since Paul's day. But you cannot sit here, the Bible says, you're not ignorant of the times or the seasons. You cannot look around right now and think that you have a lot of time left. You do not. You cannot think that. Even me as a kid, I knew when that clock was kicking down and certain things were happening, that sun was at a certain position in the sky, I knew my mom was going to be home any time. I knew it was coming. And listen, you can't sit here and look at what's going on, the times and the seasons and look around you and look at society, not only in America, but in the world and their attitude and their attitude towards the Lord and everything that's going on and say, you know what? I've got a lot of time left. You don't got much more time than you need to get your house set in order. You need to get those things right. And I want to talk to you about a couple of things and turn to Revelation chapter 2. Now, listen, I'm trying to encourage you, believe it or not. I'm not trying to discourage you. Now, some of this might be a little rebuking to you, but let me tell you something. Just listen. you gotta make sure everything's right. This morning I was panicking because we were coming to the Tawas here and we decided we'd go stay at Andrea's mom's this morning, or last night, because it's a little bit closer to the church. We wouldn't have to go as far this morning. And I got up and I was getting around and I remember looking at stuff and I said, oh man, I forgot my razor. I don't have my razor. And I'm like, man, I'm gonna come to church with a beard and I'm gonna have a scruff and everything, which is, there's nothing wrong with having a beard, but listen, when you look like you just got up and you got the shadow going on and everything, I was like, oh man, you know what, I'm panicking and everything. And I ended up finding it, but you know what, you say what? You say you want to make sure everything you have, everything you need. You want to make sure all your ducks are in a row. You want to make sure all those loose ends are tied up. And you want to make sure your house is in order. Folks, listen, we don't have much more time. We don't have much more time. You know, I can go down a lot of roads, and let me tell you something. Listen, all I can say, folks, is that if your eyes are open and you're looking around, you know It's time to set my house in order and be ready. The first thing I want to show you in Revelation chapter 2, now I know these don't necessarily apply to us doctrinally, but these are talking to the churches in the last days. The first thing I want to say this is I want you, you need to as a Christian, the Lord's coming back. You know, I don't think He's just, He's going to show up and it's going to be a surprise to many people. It doesn't have to be a surprise to you. You can be ready. And in Revelation chapter 2, he's warning his churches. In verse 1, the Bible says, "'Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things sayeth he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil. And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars, and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent." You know what he's telling him? He says, listen, let me tell you something. You need to get some things right. Listen, you need to make sure your sins are in order. And what I mean by that is those sins that you have been saying you're going to try to work on them and you haven't been working on them, you've been letting them go for a while, you need to start working on those things quickly. If you can, stop sinning. Amen? Stop doing those things. You say, preacher, I can't kick it. Well, then keep trying. At least be trying to fight that thing when the Lord comes back. Listen, some of those things you guys think, well, the Lord, I'll deal with that later. I'll deal with that later. Listen, there is going to be no later pretty soon, okay? It's going to be the end of it, and you're going to have to give account for it. Listen, we're all sinners, and I know no one in here is sinless. I'm not trying to give you an idea that you can be sinless necessarily all the time, but what I'm telling you is that those sins that easily beset you, you need to work that much harder to try to fight those things and get those things down. Maybe there's some sins in your heart that you've been hiding for a long time, and listen, now is the time to get those right, because you'll want to get them right with God now and not up there, amen? You want to get them right now. You want to have less to give account of when you're with the Lord and keep fighting those things. I turn to 1 John 1 verse 9. You know the passage very well. 1 John 1 verse 9. How easy is it? Very simple. God didn't make it hard. Bible says in 1 John 1.9, most of you got it memorized, it says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Folks, listen, if there's something, get it under the blood, get it right. Those things that you've been letting slide, you better shore those things back up. You better make sure because the Lord's coming. I'm telling you right now, He's pulling in the driveway. We're almost there. You need to be ready and have those sins taken care of. You need to make sure you set your sins in order. Turn to Mark 1. Mark 1. Now I know the Lord's in this message because every time I flip the Bible I've turned right to the passage, so amen? So I know the Lord's in this, amen? Mark 1. Now I know this doesn't apply to us doctrinally, we don't need to be baptized in the wilderness by John the Baptist, but the Bible says this. The Bible says in verse, we'll start in verse 2, it says, as is written in the prophets, behold, I send my messengers before thy face, which I'll prepare thy way before thee, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord and make its path straight. John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism and repentance for the remission of sins. And then went out unto all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. Now, I know that's for Israel, that's not for us, but let me tell you something. What's going to happen here, and just very shortly after this, is the Lord's going to show up. Okay? He hasn't showed up yet. He's about to show up. And what are they doing? They're confessing their sins. They're getting things right. Listen, we're saved. We know we're saved. You're washed in the blood. You know you're going to heaven when you die. But you know what, now's a good time to make sure those sins are confessed and those things that you got secretly in your heart are taken care of. And keep fighting that thing. I know some of those things, they just beat you up day to day, but keep fighting those things, keep working at it. I was at work and there's a lady at work and she came in and she was talking to one of the other ladies there and she was asking me kind of and this other lady for some advice. She's got a son that goes to school and he's a little guy and he keeps getting picked on all the time. And he's just a small guy, he won't stand up for himself and they push him around and she tells him, you know, just walk away from him. But listen, I know, listen, I'm not trying to go against mothers here, but when you're a guy and you're walking away doesn't work, okay? It doesn't work. I know that's the peaceful thing and the right thing to do. Walk away and just tell him to leave you alone. That's not gonna work in the real world, okay? In the real world, when you're in school or anywhere, listen, when someone's picking on you and they know that you'll let them pick on you, they will keep coming back. They will keep coming after you, okay? And as a guy, I know this, listen, what you need to do, listen, it's totally different when you're getting persecuted for the Lord, right, or for his sake. But when you're in school, listen, I tell my sons, I say, listen, don't go looking for a fight. If you ever get in a problem or a situation like that, I said, don't go looking for it. If you can walk away from it, walk away from it. But if they keep coming after you and they come after you and they're trying to hurt you, you stand up for yourself." And I said, if anyone gives you a problem, you come to talk to me because I told you you could do it. Now, I'm not foregoing around. Some of you are like, oh, that's awful for a preacher to say. No, I'm telling you right now, listen, just because I'm saved doesn't mean I'm not a man anymore, all right? Listen, you know what? Listen, it's different. If I'm out there street preaching and someone's coming up to beat me up, that's a totally different thing. I'm taking the approach of the Lord out there. I'll take whatever hits they want to give me, but just a normal life. And so I told this lady, I said, what you need to do, I said, is you need to tell him to stand up for himself. I said, you know what? I said, he doesn't got to go crazy, but I said, they will keep picking on him until he stands up for himself. Now, listen, I'll give you guys a hint. When a bully comes after you, they may be bigger. They may be stronger than you, but if you fight them back, Even if you get one lick in, they are not going to be as prone to come after you again. You know why? Because you're not easy meat anymore. And listen, listen, I don't want to pick at anybody if I'm going to get a bloody nose out of it. I may beat him up, but I'm going to get a bloody nose out of it. You know what? I'm not going to mess with that kid anymore. Now, I'm not advocating somebody like, man, bro, Josh wants to go beat people up. That's not what I'm saying. You know what I'm talking about. So I told this lady, I said, listen, he needs to stand up for himself. And I said, he's small. And I said, she goes, well, these bullies are so much bigger. Of course, bullies always go in gangs because they feel more comfortable in gangs, right? And it gives them confidence. You get them by themselves, it's a different thing. But they come in gangs. I said, you know what, you tell him to stand up for himself. And I said, if he stands up for himself, I said, if he gives them a hard time, I said, they will leave him alone. And she came in a couple days later, and she says, you know, I told my son that. And they went, and he's just a little guy. They pushed him around. He started fighting them back a little bit, pushing them. He says, they aren't messing with him no more. You say, why'd you tell us that story for? Listen, your sins may bully you around and push you around, but you know what you need to do? You need to give a punch in the nose to some of your sins once in a while and keep fighting that thing until the Lord comes back, amen? Some of those giants, those sins, those giants in your life that are beating you up all the time, listen, maybe you are struggling with it, but you know what? Every once in a while, take a swing, take a shot at it, and you know what? Keep pushing them back and keep fighting until the Lord comes back. Keep fighting. Don't let them bully you around. Don't put, well, I guess I just can't handle it. You know what? Give a swing back once in a while, amen? Ask God to help you once in a while. Do something. Keep fighting those sins because the Lord is coming back. And I don't want anything loose end out there sitting there somewhere when the Lord comes back that I haven't dealt with and I haven't taken care of. You need to set your sins in order. Make sure those things are set up and taken care of. Turn to 1 Timothy 5. You got to fight those things, get those things taken care of. And some of you say, well, brother, what are you talking about? You all know what I'm talking about. You guys have taken care of some sins, amen? You've gotten some things under the blood, you've taken care of some things, but there are some things that you've just been letting slide. And you know what I'm talking about. You say, what? What you're thinking about right now. That's what I'm talking about. And you've been letting it go. And you know what? The Lord's about to come back. We're at the doors. And you need to make sure that you fight back. I think the Lord's gonna be pleased. He'll say, Lord, I couldn't. I couldn't kick it. Lord, I kept trying to fight and I get under the blood. But Lord, man, I fought with everything I had against that sin. I fought everything I could. And you just kept fighting and fighting. The Lord's gonna say, all right, well done. I'm not saying keep doing it and be okay with doing it, but you know what? You fought as hard as you could. And you even gave it a bloody nose once in a while. Keep fighting those things. 1 Timothy 5, verse 22. 1 Timothy 5 verse 22, that's not the verse I wanted. 1 Timothy, it might be 2 Timothy, that might be what I wanted. 2 Timothy 5 verse 22. No, that's only four chapters. So I don't know where I was going with that, bro. This is the preacher's nightmare right here where you don't know the verse you're going to. Amen. But what I'm telling you this is that you need to set your sins in order. Oh, that's what I want. It is 1 Timothy 5 verse 22. I'm sorry, I doubted myself. 1 Timothy 5 verse 22, lay hands suddenly on no man. The Lord's like, there it is, right there in front of you, son. Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins. Keep thyself pure. You know what you need to do? You need to keep yourself as pure as you possibly can. Try to, listen, some of you, the reason you have trouble with some sins is because you go to the wrong places and you hang out with the wrong people. Sometimes you're in places where you shouldn't be, okay? Some of you, you're in spots you shouldn't be, maybe even your own home. You're somewhere where you shouldn't be at the wrong time. Let me tell you something. You need to keep yourself as pure as possible and fight back as much as you can and get those sins loosed up. And you say, I can't beat it, preacher. Keep fighting it. Keep fighting it. Keep fighting it. The Lord sees your struggle. He sees your fight. Keep fighting it. We all got those sins that just tear us up and beat us up all the time. And some of you, I'm probably the only one in here, but I've had to go back several times for the same thing sometimes. And I've had to ask God, please forgive me again, please forgive me again. And I almost get to the point where I'm like, Lord, why am I even asking forgiveness? I can't believe you would forgive me again. I mean, you got to be tired of me by now. You ever felt like that? Yeah, amen. You just sit there and just, I just can't do it. Lord, I just, I don't even know why I'm asking for repentance. I mean, I have to ask for forgiveness, but man, Lord, I feel like just a total hypocrite sitting here asking for forgiveness. Because you know, Lord, in 10 minutes, I'm like, do it again! Right? You ever been there? Like, Lord, I don't want to ever do this again in the back of your mind, your flesh, like, oh, we're going to do it again. You're like, no, no, no, no. Lord, no. You know what? Fight that thing. Fight that thing. Fight that thing. You know what? The Lord is coming back soon, folks. He's coming back. I know you've heard that a zillion times probably from this pulpit, but let me tell you something. We haven't got much more time and you need to set your house in order. Now, you don't want to set your house in order. It's a free country, at least for the moment. It's a free country. Listen, you set your house in order. You don't want to set your house in order. You say, I don't want to do that. I'm not going to do that. That's fine. That's your prerogative, all right? But don't say the preacher didn't tell you. Don't say, I didn't know. Don't say, Lord, I didn't know you were coming back quite this quick because a preacher showed up. And I know Pastor Jeremy does the same thing. He showed up and told you what you're supposed to do before the Lord comes back. And you cannot disregard the fact of what's going on. Now listen, I'm not trying to overreact. I'm not trying to be like, oh, because this went this way, or this went this way, or the country… I'm not trying to overreact. Listen, before, you know what, a year, two years ago, it was obvious what was going on. But listen, you're watching everything. We are at the cusp of the Lord, and there is nothing else that needs to be done for the Lord to come back and get us. All someone has to do is push a button, and we are gone. That's all that's going to happen. Listen, folks, I don't know what you're waiting for. I don't know what you're thinking about doing. But I'm telling you right now, the Lord is coming back, and you better set your sins in order. Set those things in order. Secondly, this. Turn to Revelation 3. Back in Revelation again. Listen, what do you got to do tonight that you can't go be with the Lord? Amen? I mean, I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm excited. But at the same time, I have a reverential fear because I want to make sure I'm right with God when He comes and gets me. I want to be doing right. You ever just done the wrong thing at the wrong time? I mean, just, I mean, I just sometimes I'm just, I mean, I just don't know. I think sometimes I just got a bubble head or something. I don't know. I was at the VA and a guy came in to get his hearing aids checked and he's blind and he's a real nice guy. He comes in and I have to guide him back to my office. I don't know if I told you about this, but I was guiding him back to my office and I'm walking and I'm talking to him. And I say, so is the sun shining out there? And immediately as I said it, I was like, I said, I'm sorry. I said, I'm sorry about that. He's real nice about it. He said, no, don't worry about it. It's okay. No problem. I take him in, I get his hearing aids fixed. I'm walking him back out to the waiting room and I can't even remember, I said something of the same nature again. I don't remember, I said something that obviously he is not seeing. And I said it again, I was like, really? And he kind of chuckled at me, he's a real good guy about it and everything like that, he understood. I just say the dumbest things and I do the dumbest things at the worst times. The other day, I was coming out of work, and I'm just confessing my sins right now. Amen. I'm just kidding. No, I'm just talking about just not being where you're supposed to be or doing the right thing at the right time. I'm walking out of work, and one of the doctors is coming out, and we're walking out. And as we're walking out, I'm walking out. She's walking out behind me. She says something. As we're walking out, she has to walk over to the car dealership to pick up her car, and she's going to walk. And I'm like, okay, like, we'll have a good night. And I just keep walking. Now, I don't know exactly, I'm still praying about what I should have done in that situation. But I'll tell you what didn't even faze me. She goes walking across the parking lot. She's got a I don't know how long a jaunt. I just walk out to my Jeep. And, you know, I'm a Christian, you know, I'm gonna be a testimony. I just let her walk. I get my Jeep not thinking, you know, pray, Lord, please bless me as I go home. Keep me safe and go turn around. And I see her walking up the road. I'm like, How did it not register to me that she needed a ride? And I was like, oh, I better catch up with her. And then I saw her. She was only like a half a block or a block up the road, and she walks in there. And it's too late now for me to go get her. I'm like, what a testimony I am, amen? I'll be able to lead her to the Lord here anytime soon. You say, what happened? We just do dumb things at the worst times. And listen, I don't want the Lord to come back and catch me in a bad situation where I'm doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. I want to be doing right, amen? Revelation 3, set your sins in order, but in Revelation 3, verse 1, the Bible says this, "'And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things sayeth he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest and are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent.'" If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." Isn't that weird? You know what he says? You're not going to know when I'm coming. Why? Because you're not strengthened in things which remain. He says this, I have not found thine works perfect before God. You say, what's your point? My point is this, not only do you need to set your sins in order, but you need to set your service for God in order. Listen, you know what some of you need to do? You need to strengthen those things you're doing and put a little more effort into it. And those of you who have been praying about doing something for a long time, now's the time. Now's the time. You say, well, I'll do it someday. Once I get work caught up and once I get things set up to the side and I get things taken care of, then I'll get on that. You don't have any more time. Listen, right now, what if the Lord told you He's coming back in, say, March? If you knew for a fact He's coming back in March, would that change your plans? Would you say, you know what? He's coming back in March, maybe I need to put this stuff on the back burner and get something done for God real quick. Another thing about Hezekiah is Hezekiah, he knew when he was going to die. You realize that? He had, what, 15 years he added to his life? He knew he had 15 more years. But instead, he didn't use it for God. He messed up. Now, he got right at the end. But isn't that like a Christian? I don't know. Maybe if you knew the Lord was coming back, you wouldn't change anything. But you say, what are you saying? You need to make sure your service for the Lord is in order. Turn to Nehemiah chapter six. Again, I apologize. My throat is very dry this morning. You know, the heater kicks on, it dries out your throat. So Nehemiah chapter six. You know, when Nehemiah came to build that wall, when Nehemiah came to build that wall, he didn't have his circumstances exactly how he wanted them. Some of you say, well, I'll wait for the perfect circumstances. You're not going to get any perfect circumstances. You're going to have to just do it despite, listen, you're going to have to serve God regardless of what happens. You have to make up your mind right now whether you're going to serve God regardless, not when it's convenient, not when things are easy. You're going to have to make up your mind to do it now. He says in Nehemiah 6, verse 1, now he's trying to build the wall. Now, it came to pass when Samballot and Tobiah and Geshum the Arabian and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left therein, though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates that Samballot and Geshum set unto me. saying come let us meet together in some way of the villages of the plain of oh no what they thought to do me mischief and i've sent messengers into them saying i'm doing a great work so that i cannot come down why should the work cease whilst i leave it come down to you yet they said unto me four times after this sort and i answered them after the same manner then sent some ballot his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand wherein it was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashemus saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to the words." Look at down at verse 9, "'For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.'" Are you afraid? Are you going to stop doing what God wants you to do? You know what the devil wants to do? He wants to make you afraid. He wants you to stop. That's why they were doing this. They're sending all these messages to people saying, hey, we're going to do this. This is going to happen. If you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to keep doing it. You know what he says? We're doing a great work. I cannot come down. I'm still doing what God told me to do. You know what some of you need to do? You need not to be afraid and trust the Lord. and keep going forward for Him with what He's opened up for you. There's a big push right now in Christianity for everybody to stop doing stuff. They're afraid. I know a brother right now, I know a lot of people, and there's a lot of wisdom, and pastors have to have a lot of wisdom about what to do to go forward, amen? You've got to use a lot of wisdom. Pray for your pastor, for a lot of wisdom for him. But there's some things that churches have stopped doing because they thought that they weren't supposed to do, and yet we've went out and done them and had no problems, but they're afraid. You say, what do you need to do? You need to not be afraid and keep going forward for the Lord. Nehemiah, they had to have their weapon in one hand and their tool in the other. They build a wall while they were ready, and I'm almost told to pull that sword out. You say, what do you need to do as Christians? You need to not be afraid. A lot of times, listen, things in the future could get bad, but a lot of times I found in life, a lot of times Christians just get scared and back off before anything even happens. And you know what? If you're a Christian, you want to serve God, you got to set your service in order and finish what God wants you to do. Turn to Exodus chapter 40. Listen, God saved you. Amen? God saved your soul. I'm praying. I'm preaching. I'll save people in here, but maybe not, but God saved you and God gave you something to do, amen? And God wants you to keep being faithful to Him, right? But in His plan, in His great wisdom, He thought, once bad times happen, you need to stop. No. He says you need to finish. what I told you to do, despite your circumstances. Exodus chapter 40, look at verse 32, they're setting up the tabernacle, they're finishing it up. When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed, as the Lord commanded Moses, and he reared up the court around about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. He finished it. Look over to 2 Chronicles chapter 4. God gives you something to do, you just keep going until the Lord says you're done. And for most of us folks, it's when He calls us home. That's when we're done. 2 Chronicles 4, you need to set your service in order. You need to get serious about that. And if you're going to do something, you better do it now. And what you got set before you, don't quit and stop doing it out of fear or out of anything. You just keep doing what God wants you to do. 2 Chronicles 4, look at verse 11. And verse 11, and Herod made the pots and the shovels and the basins, this is as they're finishing up the temple, and Herod finished the work that he was to make for King Solomon for the house of God. What did he do? He finished it. He finished the work that he was set to do. What are you supposed to do? You're supposed to finish it. God didn't give it to you so you quit. He wants you to finish it despite your circumstances. Turn to John chapter 17. John chapter 17. Let me flip through a couple of chapters here. John chapter 17. You know what makes me sad? And listen, I'm not trying to say anything because, listen, we're all human, we're all flesh, and things bother us and things worry us and things scare us. I get it. I mean, it's not like I'm this tower of power and tower of bravery up here. I mean, I get concerned about things all the time. I get worried about things all the time, but the Lord has to rebuke me for it. And He says, listen, you need to quit worrying about that stuff and just keep doing what I told you to do. How many things have I been afraid of in my life serving God? The first time I went street preaching, I was scared to death. And you know what? Now we do it all summer long now. And you know what? No one has come up and punched me. I mean, I've heard all these stories, well, you got to be ready to take a hit. People come after people, throw things. I've never had that happen to me. I've had some people say some nasty stuff to me when they drove by, but my biggest fear never came to fruition. You understand? Lord took care of me. As a matter of fact, this last summer, we had a couple of times people pulling up and giving us Cokes from McDonald's and stuff because they appreciate what we're doing. I would have missed that blessing if I would have been home. I mean, nothing better than a fountain Coke from McDonald's. Amen. John chapter, that'll get your day going. John chapter 17, verse 4. This is the Lord. He says, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And you know about Paul, he could go there, too, but he said he finished his course, right? He kept the faith. Are you going to finish? You say, well, preacher, it's tough times right now. I didn't ask if it was tough times. I said, are you going to finish? The old saying is, no one cares about the storms you encounter, but did you bring in the ship? Right? Now, I'm not trying to be heartless. I'm just trying to say this. Listen, it's not easy, but you know what you need to do? You need to set your service in order, folks. This is your shot. Okay? This is your time to do something for the Lord. You need to do it while you can, because there may come a time when you can't anymore. There's things that are shutting up all over the place. I was in the jail ministry. That's shut up now. I can't go anymore. I can't go in there. Now, I'm praying, may the Lord give me another opportunity. But if the Lord doesn't open that door again, at least I took advantage of it when I did, when it was open to me. I took advantage of it. I didn't wait for it to close and say, oh, man, I wish I would have been in the jail preaching. I can lay my head at pillow at night knowing that I did the best I could when I had the time to do it. I'm not regretting it later. Listen, as things go, get shut down, or if things get tighter and tighter, listen, keep doing what you're supposed to be doing because you might lose that opportunity. That person you're supposed to witness to, maybe now's the time you're supposed to do it. Because you might not get that opportunity again. Some of you have been witnessing the family members. I know you have. You've been doing things, but you've given up and you quit. Listen, time is short. I'm not joking with you this morning. You need to get your house in order because we're about ready to leave. And you need to get things taken care of. You need to, that person you need to witness to, give him one more shot, give him another witness. The things that you're supposed to do, do it now, do it now. I remember when I was getting ready to graduate from PBI and Dr. Ruckman got up there and it was, I think it was 2007, he got up there and he said, listen, and he just, I don't know, he came up and he preached a weird message and he said, you know what, if you're going to do anything for God, do it right now. and do it right now. And I remember asking a guy after the church services, man, that's kind of a weird message, how he seems really adamant about doing it right now. He says, yeah, he says he senses something. He saw something coming. He's gone now. He's with the Lord. You don't have to worry about that stuff no more. We're still here. I'm telling you this morning, I'm no doctor, but I sense something. And I know it's coming down the wire. And I know Christians, some of them won't take it seriously. And some of you are going to be caught off guard. And He's going to come in, like it says in Revelation, and catch you unprepared. You're saved, amen. But are you prepared? You just said your work's in order. You know, the thing about Josiah, I think it was Josiah, if I remember correctly. Remember when he came in and the kingdoms had been so wicked for so long before he came in there. And he came in there as a young man and he decided to set his heart towards the Lord And then you know the story, he went in and had him start rebuilding the temple. And the temple, he went in, they found the book, and then he found out the wrath that God had upon them. Listen, when you start rebuilding the temple, isn't your temple the body of the Holy Ghost? Amen? You start rebuilding the temple when getting it right again, You get back in the book, amen? You get back in the book, God deals with you and you get some things right. Long story short, the Lord says, you know what? He says, I'm paraphrasing now. He says this, He says, listen, because you want to do right and you want to serve me and you're searching me with all your heart. He says, you know what I'm doing? I'm going to bless you. I'm going to take care of you. But let me tell you something else. This country is still going down. I appreciate what you're doing. But the window for the country to keep going has passed. I'm done." God does say enough's enough sometimes. We kind of take advantage of His mercy and His grace and think we just got forever. He does. He's forgiving God. He's a merciful God. Praise the Lord, He does. But I'm telling you right now, the things that are set before you, you may not have them very much longer. and take advantage of it. Set your works, your service for the Lord in order. Don't be afraid. Listen, it can be a scary place out there, but trust in the Lord, right? Doesn't the Bible say that the heart of the man that trusts in the Lord, his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord when bad tidings come, right? Evil tidings come, his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. Listen, be smart, be wise, use some wisdom, amen? God give liberally to every man that asks of it. But let me tell you something, don't walk around and be scared all the time. Just keep serving God and God will help you. And don't let your circumstances dictate what you're going to do for God. Listen, I understand there's some things you can't do. There's some things you can't do, but there's some things you can do and you're working around and everything around you and you're looking at the storm and you won't go forward because you're afraid of the storm. Let me tell you something, that storm is going to keep blowing until the Lord comes back. You need to go forward now. Don't worry about what's going on over here. Quit watching CNN and letting CNN tell you what you can and can't do. Quit looking at everything in the world and even other Christians where they're saying, you can and cannot do this. Listen, if God's dealing with your heart about it, you do it. If God told you to do it, you better do it. You ought to obey God rather than man. Now listen, I'm not trying to say be rebellious. I'm just saying when God says to do something, He's doing it, do it. Don't let circumstances. Christians right now are letting things just close in on them and they're huddling up and all scared. And listen, that's what the devil wants. He wants you to quit. I'm here to tell you right now, folks, we ain't got much more time. This is it. I'd rather go out on the front lines than be huddled up under a bed somewhere when the Lord comes back. Listen, the Lord knows when you're going home. He knows when you're going home. Right now, right now, He knows when you're going home. And circumstances around you aren't going to change anything. Now listen, I'm not saying go preach in the freeway traffic. You know, you'll make things a little short. You know, jump out in front of a rig and preach. I'm just saying, set your service in order now. I remember hearing, you know, you get afraid sometimes, but you got to keep going forward. I heard a story about some, I think it was World War II, where they were attacking Iwo Jima, I think it was. I can't remember exactly where it was, but I believe it was Iwo Jima. And they came in and they were under fire and lots of people were dying. And one of the Marine lieutenants, he came up there and he said, they're getting shot at. And he's like, hey, he was trying to take the ground, you know, because all the soldiers were scared. They were cowered down because they're being shot at. All the Marines were, it was the Marines that went and invaded Iwo Jima. All the Marines were cowering down because they were getting shot at. And I don't know if it was a lieutenant or a captain, he went up and he says, They're killing us down here. He says, let's go up there and get killed up there, amen? And then they started following, he went running up there and they started following him, amen? You know what? We might as well, if we're going to get killed, let's not get killed cowered up in a ball. Let's go up and go out fighting, amen? Let's go up there and do something for God. And listen, I'm not trying to, listen, you can think of the most dire circumstances. I know some of you, the last couple of weeks, you've had stuff go through your head and scare you half to death and things you're thinking about. And I'll tell you, the Lord knows what's going to happen and a lot of the stuff that you're afraid of, Never comes to pass anyway. Just keep doing with that. Lord, the devil, listen, the king of Assyria came in and threatened Hezekiah and says, listen, if you don't give up, this is what's going to happen. There's nothing you can do about it. It's over. It's over. The Lord said, Israel laughs at you, shakes your head. And he delivered him. The same God that delivered Hezekiah is the same God that you serve and saved your soul today, and He can take care of you. I don't know if you ever heard about the rear guard. Some of you might have been heard about the rear guard in the military. And the rear guard is either a company or a battalion or a regiment or whatever they can do, but what happens is when they're in a situation where they can't win, you're in a battle where you can't win, and you know you're not going to win, and everyone's going to be annihilated. And you know, everyone's going to be annihilated. What they do is they call it a rearguard action. And what they do is they take most of the people or the soldiers and they get them out so they can fight another day. And they get them out, but they keep either, you know, just a unit or a regiment or whatever they got. And they keep a small group of guys still there. And what is their job? Their job is to keep firing back at the enemy so the other guys can get out. And they're not fighting to win. They're fighting so their buddies can get out of there. And most of them don't make it, the company that stays behind. You say, what's going on? Nowadays, folks, and I've heard Preacher talk about it. It's a great illustration. We're the rear guard. Most of the people, Christians, in the past are gone, and we're just holding the line until the Lord comes back. And we're not fighting to win, okay? We're not fighting because we think we're going to win this battle. We're fighting to keep fighting until the Lord comes back. I'm trying to think of the poem that says, if we strongly win or lose, what matters it? God only does prevail. I was not told, it's not by, hand me my other Bible there, David, my other Bible, it's in there. Sorry, I got two Bibles here, one's about a papyrus fragment and the other one, so I've moved on from it, but I got something here, I wrote in here and it spoke to my heart. I might have read it to you before, but let me give you guys a help here. This is written by a lady. It sounds like it's from a soldier, but it's from a lady. And she wrote this, "'My orders are to fight, and if I bleed or fail or strongly win, what matters it? God only doth prevail. The servant craveth not, except to strive with might. I was not told to win or lose. My orders were to fight.'" Listen, folks, I hate to say it, but for the moment, The devil is going to win, just for a little bit, for a little time period. But don't worry, the Lord says, fear not, because I have overcome the world. And he's going to come back and take care of the situation. So don't be too dismayed. I mean, it's sad watching how people and the world's reacting to things, but know this is how it's happening. But you just need to keep fighting anyway and set your service in order. Marshal Ney, he was a general for Napoleon. Napoleon of Wars, and I can't remember what battle it was, but he, Napoleon, left because the battle was going bad, so he left. He left Marshal Ney in charge of the unit that was to stay behind. They did a rearguard action, so everybody in Napoleon, all of them, can get out of there. And so Marshal Ney, he went in there as a general and he led those men. kept the enemy at bay until they could get out of there. And he came up and he, most, all the men got killed except for the Marshal. I believe him or very few people survived. I don't think it might've been just him. I don't know. He came in, they said he came in and Napoleon was in a room talking with other generals. And Marshal Ney came in and he was all beat up and bloody and he came walking in. And Napoleon says, Marshal, He says, what are the rear guard? Marshal Ney says, I am the rear guard. He's the only one left. But man, what a statement. He hung in there till the end. And it wasn't because he wasn't fighting. If you read your history of Marshal Ney, he was a valiant, valiant general. I mean, he was a good soldier. And you say, what do you want? I want to be like that when war comes back. What are the rear guard? I am the rear guard. I want to still be one of the ones that's still standing when he comes back, still fighting. You got to set those things in order. You know, Marshal Ney was a great general, and the Lord watches us, and you need to set your service in order, folks, because we don't have much more time. Most Christians, though, today, they just won't, and they won't keep going. I have a good friend. He coached for a little bit. He coached a youth football team. Now, I mean, I played high school football and stuff, and I mean, it was a good time. But you have to have a certain mentality to play football. And when you watch the little kids play, it's funny because they don't necessarily have that mentality yet. Some of them will never get it, but some of them don't. And he's trying to teach them how to be soldiers out there on the football team when they're playing. And he said, his kids were playing, and one of his big offensive linemen, you know, big for a little kid, he calls timeout in the middle of the game. He calls timeout, and he comes running to the sideline. My friend's like, what are you doing? What did you call timeout for? He's like, I need a sandwich, coach. A sandwich? You need a sandwich? He said, what do you need? He's like, I have my sandwich every day at this time. I need to have my sandwich. And it made me laugh, and he was just like pulling his hair out. His kids would do stuff like that. If you coach little kids, you know how it is. And I thought about that. You know, that's how Christians are right now. You know, they go into the battle, and they're like, hey, I need a sandwich. And they go wandering off, and they call timeout. No, I need timeout. I need to do this for a while. You know what you need to do? You need to set your service in order. Amen. You need to set your sins in order. Set your service in order. And finally, this. Turn to Revelation 3 again. You need to set your spiritual walk in order. Folks, it's almost time. Now listen, if I'm wrong, which I don't think I am, but if I'm wrong and the Lord waits another 50 years to come back, what possible bad would come from you setting your house in order? I don't believe it's that at all. I see a lot of Christians giving up hope and falling to the wayside because they say, well, you know, it's just not going to happen and they're afraid. My Lord says He's coming back. And He says, you're not going to be ignorant of the time, and we are not to walk around like we don't know anything, and don't have any clue about it. God says, the Lord says, you will know. Paul says, you should know the times and the seasons. Revelation 3, verse 14, you just set your spiritual walk in order. The Bible says, and unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these things saith the amen, the faithful and the true witness, and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou art cold or hot, so that because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest I am rich, and increased with goods, and in need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. He says in verse 18, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Before the Lord comes and gets us here real soon, you need to make sure your spiritual walk is in order, because most Christians are in this state right now. And I say this this morning, I say there's Christians in Bible-believing churches that are in this state right now. Well, I'm in a Bible-believing church, so it might be Laodicean. You know, you're seeing a lot of things happen here. You're seeing how when the fire hits things, how a lot of things and Christians have kind of went to the side. And you know what you need to do is you need to realize that God wants you to make sure that you're not Laodicean. Listen, we're in the Laodicean age. We're actually not in the Laodicean age. We're actually at the end of it. We're at the exit door. Okay? So you say, well, what are you trying to say? I'm saying you don't have to be Laodicean. That doesn't have to be you. Now maybe the whole church in general would be like that, but you don't have to be. In every dispensation, there's always been a group of people that are still following the Lord with all their heart. You need to make sure your spiritual walk is in order when the Lord comes back. And look at this in verse 20, he says this, "'Behold, I stand at the door.'" What does he say that for? Because he's at the door after this church, and we're at the end of it. He's coming. The preacher told you he's coming. Set your spiritual walk in order. You know, if you set your spiritual walk in order, you know why you need to do that in the last days? Because you know what? You need to be close to the Lord in these last days. You need to be close to Him. The closest of all the disciples to the Lord was John. And John got told some things that none of the other disciples got told. Number one, the three disciples, Peter, James, and John, they saw things that none of the other disciples saw because they were closest. And John, he told them who the one that would betray Him would be. He told him because he's closest to the Lord. You know what you need to do? You need wisdom in these times. You need God to help you in these times. And you need to be close to the Lord when He shows back up again. You got to make sure your spiritual walk is in order. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4. Finishing up here. 2 Timothy chapter 4. You need to be close to the Lord. Why? Have you not noticed how much deceit and wickedness and lies and dishonesty and just evil has been around and people don't know where they're coming or going anymore? That's what the devil does. The devil, he takes a little bit of truth and then he mixes it with a bunch of other stuff. And that little bit of truth in there makes you think maybe it's real. But he's already messed it up so bad, so you don't know what to believe anymore. I mean, with the situation now, you got people who are afraid of the coronavirus. They say it comes from China. Then you got people who say, oh, it's all fake. And then you got this, and you go back and forth. And people are just like, I don't know what the truth is anymore. I don't know what in the world's going on with society right now. Let me tell you something. Listen, you need some truth and wisdom in these last days. And the only way you're going to get it is not watching the television set. It's not looking at your phone all the time. I hate my phone now. I'm getting despised. You sit there and now I get news updates whether I want them or not. You know, bling. You know, put it to the side. Or if you're always flipping to see what's going on, listen, some of you, you're like on edge with everything the news media says. Listen, you don't know what's truth anymore. You don't know what's lies anymore. So you need to be close to the Lord in order to know what truth is. That book is truth. And as this world spews out lies and thinks, how do you know what's really going on and what you're supposed to do in those circumstances, the only way you'll do that is if you're walking, you're spiritual walking, you are close to the Lord. and He will show you. He will show you. And that will give you peace of mind because everybody else will be running around and you can just sit there and say, well, I trust in the Lord. You know why that man trusted the Lord even though evil tidings came? He said his heart was fixed trusting in the Lord. He was close to God, close to God. You ever read about Elisha and his servant and then all those people surrounded the city? And he said, last, my Lord, what shall we do? Because they're going to come kill him. He says, Lord, open his eyes. And he saw the chariots sitting around, he says, Lord, they that be for us are more than they that be for them. Let me tell you guys this morning, they that be for us are more than they that be for them. You just don't see it. The Lord's watching. He sees what's going on. You just keep doing what you're doing. I got to finish up, but I remember a friend of mine, he said he was down street preaching in Mobile, Alabama, and he's street preaching down there. And while he's street preaching, a guy came out and started cussing at him, told him to shut his mouth or he's going to slit his throat. And he just kept preaching. And the guy came walking up to him. And then his buddy tried my buddy was not preaching. He was standing with the guy was preaching. So he tried to run interference for him. And he tried to walk in front of him. And the guy pushed him out of the way. And then as soon as he grabbed, I mean, he they're out there in the midst of Mobile, Alabama, as soon as that guy grabbed his tie, and he's preaching, he said, all of a sudden, that guy just got lifted up in the air. And he got slammed onto the back on the hood of a car, there was a state trooper standing behind him. And as soon as that guy touched his tire, that guy grabbed him, boom, slammed him on the ground, cuffed him, took him away. You say, well, the Lord licks out for his people. All right. Listen, I'm not saying you're never going to get hurt or get in trouble with anything. But listen, trust the Lord. All right. The Lord, we serve a big God, a powerful God. And all this stuff that you're afraid of, do you think the Lord's afraid of it? He's not afraid of it at all. You have the spirit of Christ dwelling in you. Trust in him and get things set in order. Make sure your spiritual walks with him. 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 1. Paul says this, "'I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is a judge of the quick and the dead, that it is appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season.'" So even if the season is not right, keep preaching it anyway, amen? There's a time when it's easy to preach, there's a time when it's not easy to preach, amen? Reprove, rebroke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, amen, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry until 2020." Then we've got to stop. No. What Paul's getting ready to do, he's getting ready to die. getting ready to go see the Lord. He says, "'For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but to all of them also that love is appearing.'" You know why I need to be close to the Lord, not only to get that wisdom and stuff, but you know what? If you don't get close to the Lord and you're not serving Him, you're not going to be happy to see Him and you're going to miss out on a crown. That's a crown you can get. Everyone in this room can get it. But if you're not setting things in order, you'll miss out on it. You need to stay close to the Lord. He'll get you through. You know, I'm about done here. I'm glad my Lord is on the throne. I'm glad He's king. I told my wife the other day, I said, he's on the throne. I said, he's doing fine. I said, don't worry about anything else. I said, the Lord knows what's going on. I said, just keep trusting Him. We'll keep going forward for Him. And you know what? When you're close to the Lord and you're walking with Him, you know what? There's a comfort and a peace that comes from that. And you walk around, and you know what? You're not all rattled like everybody else is. You're not all worried about stuff. I go to work, and I come in, and I pray, I read my Bible, and I talk to the Lord constantly throughout the day, and I'll be sitting there, and I'll see my co-workers come through. They're just in a tizzy. I mean, they're just everywhere going, just always, you know, it's Corona this, or it's the president this, or it's this. and they're all just, you know, going crazy. And I sit there and I just keep doing stuff and I just, you know, the peace of God that comes inside. Now, listen, things can get me rattled and I have to get back to where I'm supposed to be. But that peace of God that passes all understanding comes when you serve Him and He gives you that wisdom to know what's truth and what's not and not to be afraid. When I was a kid, As a kid, I didn't get saved until I was 24 when I was in the military. So I lived a normal lost kid's life. I remember when I was a kid, I went and saw a movie called Ghostbusters. I went and saw Ghostbusters. I wanted to be a Ghostbuster. That's what I wanted to be. When I saw other movies, that's what I wanted to be. But this time, I wanted to be a Ghostbuster. So I was going to want to be a Ghostbuster. And so me and my friends, we decided we're going to make a Ghostbuster. I don't know how we thought we're going to stop ghosts, but we made these packs, and we made everything to try to look real cool. And we actually, I'm not kidding, we put signs up on telephone poles saying, if you have ghosts, call us. I don't know what we would have done. I don't, you know, we probably would have been scared to go in there if there was really a ghost in there or something. But we're sitting there and we got all this stuff and we put up signs and stuff and not much has happened. We weren't getting a lot of phone calls. So we got bored and we're sitting out there. Well, I happen to have a, a porch light in the back of my house and it was a different kind of porch light you know how most just are yellow or whatever this was a blue porch light so it looked a little different so I thought I'd have a little fun with my friends I said hey I said I don't know if I told you I said but I set up a little alarm system in my house and I said every time that light turns blue there's a ghost in the area I said, really? I said, yeah. I said, and I lied. I said, it normally turns yellow. But I said, when it turns blue, that means there's a ghost in the air. Oh, and they didn't suspect it, because they suspected it was just a normal porch light. So they got talking, and I walked in the house, and I walked in the kitchen. We're going to flip that light on. The light turned on blue. And I went out there, and my first thought, there's a ghost around here. There's a light just went on there, and getting all crazy, and running around, running around, running around. I'm like, oh, wow. And I went back in, and I shut it off. I came back in there, it must be gone. I said, yeah, it must be gone. I'm just having fun with them. And I go back in a little bit later, turn that light on. Ah, there's a ghost and everything, and they're just having fun. He said, what are you doing? I'm just watching people lose their minds. But in my mind, I knew everything was fine. I was just goofing with them. You know, as the world runs around, screaming and screaming and running and going crazy, you can have the peace of God. If you set your walk with the Lord, your spiritual Lord, you can just look around and watch everybody going crazy. And you can say, well, Lord, you said this was going to happen. I'm just going to trust in you and just keep going forward until you come and get me." And you and the Lord can have sweet fellowship as everybody else, including Christians, lose their minds. And you can just keep going on for Him. It's time to set your house in order, folks. It's time. It's time. I'm going to read you this last verse and we're done. 2 Timothy chapter 2, just a little passage here, just to leave it with you, and we're done. We'll close up shop. 2 Timothy 2 verse 1, this last words to you, "'Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, you shall be able to teach others also. Thou, therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.'" And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits, and consider what I say, and the Lord give the understanding in all things." Trust Him, guys. Set your house in order. Listen, be wise, use some wisdom, trust in the Lord, have peace with God, but make sure you're ready, folks. because he's about ready to pull in. And you need to make sure that your house is set in order and that you've gotten things taken care of because we don't got much more time at all. I mean, just a wisp of vapor left. I just know it. And so you can't say the preacher didn't warn you. Amen. I'm gonna go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer, and we'll have the song leader come up, and he can lead in whatever the Lord leads him in. But Lord, thank you for your mercy and your grace, Lord. I'm glad that you're God. I'm glad that you have mercy and grace with us. Lord, thank You for all You've done for us. And Lord, if there's some Christians in here, Lord, and they're afraid, Lord, I'm not trying to mock them being afraid. I understand it's a normal human emotion. It's a normal reaction to things. We've all been afraid. We've all been scared. We've all been worried. We've all been afraid of things. But Lord, we need to look to You and, Lord, trust in You and know, Lord, that You can take care of anything. No circumstance, no situation is beyond You that You can't do anything in, Lord. And help your people, Lord, to keep going on for you. Keep going on that fight for you, Lord. Keep doing the things that they're supposed to do, Lord, until you come back. Help deal with people's hearts, Lord. Help us, Lord, have our houses in order and be ready, Lord, when you come back to get us, Lord. And I know that's very soon. Encourage your people, Lord. Strengthen them. Help them go out, Lord, and still continue to serve you. Because, Lord, when they look up, the redemption draweth nigh, and we're almost out of here. Lord, I thank you and praise you for your goodness and your precious most holy name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen. Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee, Even though it be a cross that raiseth me, Still all my song shall be Nearer, my God, to Thee. Nearer, my God, to Thee. Nearer to Thee. Second verse. Lo, like the wanderer, the sun gone down. me, I rest a stone. Yet in my dreams I'd be nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer, my God, God to thee, mirror to thee. And on the last verse. Or if on joyful wing, cleaving the sky, sun, moon, and stars forget, upward I fly. Still all my song shall be nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee. Amen. Thank you once again to Brother Hoffman and his preaching here. All right, he will be back this evening, right? All right, amen. So we hope to see you here. In the meantime, you may be dismissed. Enjoy the nice weather out there. you