I look around and see the good things He does for me and I know I'm unworthy of Him, Lord But His blessings He freely gives, I know. I lie to Him, I've got so much to pay Him for. ♪ So much to thank Him for ♪ ♪ So much to praise Him for ♪ ♪ Well, He's been so good to me ♪ ♪ And when I think of what He's done ♪ God be proud, I've got so much to thank him for Well sometimes, well on my way I stop I kneel and pray, thank you ♪ Lord, for all you've done for me ♪ And then one day I'll reach heaven sure, oh please ♪ Just let me kneel once more, I've got so much to say ♪ And oh, ♪ So much to thank Him for ♪ ♪ So much to praise Him for ♪ ♪ Well, you see, He has been so good to me ♪ ♪ And I thank the Lord each hour ♪ Lord's will we're gonna get through this not like say, you know, we've he's got us through them all so far and he's got us this far in our lives and I He gives us a chance at salvation. And I'm thankful for all that. And this week, it's kind of been a, seems like everybody's had sort of a bad week. And it seems like we've all been kind of down on ourself. And everything that went on this week, I was kind of discouraged. And Thursday, a few little things happened. Then my wife called Friday. She's like, Greg, the cat is sticking his hand through the vent. It's got in the duck work. I come home from work and there's already a lot of things going on and so I come home and got home and I crawl underneath the house and the whole duct works tore down, it's tore apart and the cat has sprayed and used the restroom a lot of places underneath the house and lo and behold I get back there and when I'm walking back there my septic tank is leaking through the ground. So then I get underneath the house and there's a sprung leak, we've got to bust a water line somewhere and half the insulation on the back side of my house is covered. Then I thought, well, what good come out of this? And I thought, well, I guess I'm thankful that the cat did tear it down. Because if not, I wouldn't have known about the leak. But with everything that happened, I was glad to be back to church this morning. And all those things, all the worldly things happen. And we want to get down ourself, like Brother Garrett said. But it's not about the worldly things. And no matter what happens, we got to look at the bright side of it. And because we know there's brighter days coming. And I'm going to start out in John chapter 1. And I'm going to start out in verse 1. I'm going to jump around a little bit here. You know, I never really know where anything's going. And I know God's got a plan for this. And when I get here, He always puts me some notes. And I never really understand where God wants me to go. But He seems to always, it goes together. And you all pray that I'll get out of the way. Let God take control, because this is not about me. You know, everybody says, it's going to get easier, it's going to get easier. It's been over here, and it hasn't got any easier yet. But I'm still thankful. It says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. God has been here since the beginning. And He's been here through the middle, and He'll be here in the end. God's the only thing that's going to stand the test of time. You know, as you read through this Bible, there's been people and trials that have come on people, and there's been things where they've got down on their self, and there's been some wicked people in that's been talked about here. And through this, God still, there's one thing about it, God still stands all the test of time. And no matter what comes their way, when they rely on God and they turn back to God, it always works out in the end. And that's what we've got to look forward to. And a few of these people here, you know, we got from the beginning. So in the beginning, we know God created the world, and then we know He created Adam and Eve. And we know then Adam and Eve went on to eat the apple and eat from the forbidden fruit. And you know, sin came into our lives. And here they were, they were walking with God, and they could be in the garden with Him in the presence of God. And then sin started coming into the world. And then we had Cain slayed Abel. And then the world got bad, and the world went worse and worse. And before you know it, then here comes Noah. And they're going to sin. God, they speak to Noah, and they want Noah to build an ark. And you can imagine, Ben, these times that everybody's turning from God. And God seemed fit that he was going to call on Noah, and Noah was going to build an ark. And I can't imagine the mockery that Noah went through. Because we just talk about it, and we testify, and we talk to people, and they make fun of us, and all we're doing is talking about it. We're not out here building this huge ship, and it never rained then. So you can imagine, he's telling them it's going to rain from the sky, and God's going to destroy the earth. And God's going to show them that He is God. And it keeps going, you know, and then the great flood comes. By then, it's too late. Here the flood came and took these people away. And there's one thing that stood through that. It was God. And the Word of God went on. They went on to find through that. And then you've got Abraham. God made a promise through Abraham. And then it went on. They went down to Isaac. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son to God. He was willing to do whatever it took to prove to God. And it goes on down. You've got these things. They're all going through all these trials these people through. And the one thing remaineth is God and the Word of God. And then on down to the story, one of my favorite stories in the Bible is Joseph and how he was led into slavery. And then they went in in the 400 years. And then they come out and Moses, a man named Moses. And you know, we all know how Moses, where he was raised, and where he came from. We know that he was raised by the Egyptians. We know that when Moses came back, seeing one of God's people getting made fun of, then Moses murdered a man, and Moses went on, and he hid, and then Moses came back, and through Moses, God led the children of Israel out, and they went on to the part of the Red Sea. And you see all these things come on and go on through these people's lives and these people happen. And when they rely on God, it always works out. You know, just like us, we got our trials, we got our sicknesses, we got cancer, we got deaths. And when we try to draw away from God, we get weaker. And then when we get weaker, the devil really starts to hold on us. And the weaker we get, and the more we stay out of this book right here, I promise you, if you don't read this book and you don't get in church, you'll be one miserable human being. You know, one of my biggest faults as a Christian is reading this book. And after I preach, I feel like, man, I can quit studying or I can quit reading. And it goes on. And here lately, you know, with all the things that went on, it's been a while since I preached. And I kind of got to the point where, man, I said, I thought, You know, I need to start praying. I need to start reading my Bible. And I thought, I hope Garrett calls me and asks me to preach again. Because I'm such a weak person, it seems like I won't pick this book up unless I know it's for trying to help somebody, lead somebody towards salvation. And you know lost people, they don't understand. I had three guys at work this week ask me, said, why do you put up with the nonsense here, Greg? Why do you put up with this? You know, why do you go to church? Why do you, you know, the things they do, the things they say to you, why do you keep doing it? And, you know, if I had it to do over, I would have had a different answer. But he kind of, they caught me off guard and, you know, I didn't, I guess I kind of let the human side of me, I kind of got weak about it. The truth is, I do it for God most of all, but I do it for them. I do it for the lost. We all do it for God, but we do it to see souls saved and see people led to Christ. If we're not willing to go through the trials and go through the tribulations, then, you know, it says the light shines in darkness in that one verse. If we get God in our life, we are going to shine in darkness. And sometimes it's hard to shine in darkness, but just a little bit of light in a dark room, it'll shine through. And it's just like with us, with God. God's going to endure the test of time. Whether we endure it or not, whether we choose to take salvation which was offered to us, God's still going to be in heaven. And it's up to us whether or not we choose to be there with Him. And if you will, I'm going to jump over. Well, and I was going to. In Jeremiah, Garrett was talking a little bit about Jeremiah today, and I was reading there a little bit out of it. And in 23 and 5, you don't have to turn there, it says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch. And a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judas shall be saved. And Israel shall dwell safely and in his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord of our righteousness. You know, it's amazing how long they've known that Jesus was coming. And it's amazing that the Old Testament, the more you get to know about it, it all foreshadows toward Jesus Christ and the coming of Jesus Christ. And it's awesome for me to know that God knew in the beginning He was going to send a Savior. And God knew in the beginning that He was going to give us a chance for salvation. And it's hard for us to wrap our minds around it, that He was sending a Savior. And it's hard for us to wrap our minds around it, that He would send His Son to die for somebody like us. and you know one day we get it if we choose that salvation one day we're going to thank him and I feel like we'll be able to hug his neck and he's going to tell us all about it and that's what's going to be worth it you know that's what's going to be worth the trials we face down here and the tribulations we face down here and over in Acts in chapter 7 I'm going to talk about a Another man here, chapter 6, actually in verse 8, says, And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. And it went on, Stephen, he was a man of God. The disciples, they had seven more people and they come and helped them. And they were going to go out and spread the Word of God. And Stephen, after Jesus, they had just lost their Savior, these disciples had. Jesus had just died and He's resurrected. And you could imagine, I don't know this, I would say that it was a very depressing time. in their life. The man who they thought, you know, well, he was the Savior. And, you know, here is God. And here's the Son of God. And he has, you know, he has died this horrible death. And now they're going out and they're spreading his word. You know, just like Peter. Peter denied Christ. And, you know, after that, then look what happened to Peter. Peter got closer to God. He realized what he'd done wrong. When we realize the sin we're doing wrong, or we realize the things we're doing wrong in our life, Right there is where we can get on it, pray on it, and next time when that comes our way, with God's help and we lean on God, we'll get through it and we'll always be stronger for it the next time and the first time you work. You'll always get stronger if you pray and lean on God. And you know, here's Stephen, he's a righteous man, he's out doing God's work, and down here in 754, He had went to the Sanhedrin. They had arrested him. Then he went to the Sanhedrin. And now he's down here in 54. It says, he had told them all these things about Jesus and how that they were pretty much not doing what they were supposed to do. It says, when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand and said, Behold, I see the heavens open and the sons of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he said this, he fell asleep. You know, that really hit me today. It says, and he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. You know, if we walked outside and there was somebody out there completely against God and it was against this church and they were going to kill us because we were standing up for God. You know, we think, this is just me, I always get down on myself and I feel sorry for myself and I'm like, God, why do you want me to get up here and preach? I do not feel worthy enough to get up here and preach. And it has changed my life. It has changed for the better by far. But I let the old devil come in there, and I let him get in there, and then I get poor pitiful me. God, why are you doing this? Why are you doing this? And then I read stuff like this. Here's a man willing to die for going out and spreading God's Word, and he's ready to die, and then he's ready to forgive the people that's killing him. And I'm thinking, God, all you want me to do is get up here and talk about you and go home and read you, and when I go to my job, tell people about you and try to show them forgiveness and love. And I'm thinking, so you know what? Then I get down on myself and I think, man, I'm pretty sorry. Because this man, for what he went through, and I'd heard about Stephen, but I never really had read about it much. And so, you know, I'm thankful. I was kind of going around today, and I was kind of happy. I was like, man, you know, I need to take what God gave me, and I need to do it, and quit feeling sorry for myself. And you know, it says on down here, it says, and Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church. which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and hailing men and women, committing them into prison. And here's this man Saul. You know, there's one thing, you know, all these years ago when God created Adam and Eve, And it's several thousand years, and now you're reading about more people all this time. God has still stood the test of time. God's Word has still stood the test of time. And all these years, there's still people willing to lay down their life for God. And then you've got this man Saul. I love Psalm Paul, and you start reading about it, and he's doing these things. He's out persecuting these Christians. This is another time in a Christian's life. I think it's been somewhere around 30 or 40 years, I'm not sure exactly, since Jesus' death. Then here you've got, they're starting to kill all the Christians. So here's Saul, who's out killing these people and sending people after him, and little does he know, he's getting ready to be one of God's greatest people ever in my eyes, and he's getting ready to go out and preach God's Word. God's getting ready to change him, and here he is killing Christians in the beginning. And you know, there was a man the other day, texted me a while back, and we've all been praying for this man. And he was supposed to be here or not, and he ended up not making it. And he said that he don't feel like God can forgive him for the things he's done. He feel like he's done too much. And then you read about Paul. We've never done the things that Saul did. None of us in here, there's no doubt in my mind. And you know, you read about these things and that's the kind of stuff why it's so important to get to know these things. If I had never read this or didn't know anything about this and I go to work tomorrow and there's a guy there. murderer, rapist, whatever he has done in his life, and he's got questions about God. And he don't think he's worthy to come into the kingdom of God. He don't think that he's worthy. If I couldn't take him and show him about Saul and show him that no matter what he's done, he's worthy, then that would be wrong on my part. And that goes back to You know, when God gives us something to do, stand up and do it, no matter how hard it is. Let me jump around here for a minute. If I stop talking, then my mind goes and the devil tries to get in there, but he ain't getting in there. Because God's on my side. And I'm going to turn over to... Acts chapter 9 here for a minute. And you know, we just read about Saul, the man who was going out and they were persecuting these Christians and those Christians were scattered out abroad. Which you know, that was part of Jesus' plan and God's plan. They knew, they had already said, It was prophesied that they were going to be cast out and they were going to be spread out abroad. So when they started killing them, they started martyring them, they had spread out and was telling people about Christians, about God, and they were healing people and going on and it was growing. And even though they were fighting against God and they were trying to take out God's people, God was still on the throne and God was still in control. And over here in 9 verse 1 it says, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard voices saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul rose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was there three days without sight, and neither did he eat or drink." Here's a man that was so wretched and done all these things and killed all these Christians and done all these things against God, had just given his life. Right there, He'd come to him on the Damascus Road, and that's where his life starts to convert over. And that's where Jesus comes into him. That's where he gets the Holy Spirit. That's where he has help. Then, he becomes a much more powerful man than he ever was before. You know, he was powerful in strength of the flesh, and people would fear him before. But now he's got a man on his side. You know, like I said this morning, when God's on your side, you've got a much more powerful fighter and a much more powerful army than anybody else and any other idol you'll ever go to. And with God on your side, if you stand by Him, you will stand the test of time. And that's the only way we're going to get to heaven, is if we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And we're willing to humble ourselves. And we always wonder, we always ask ourselves, we go through this life, You know, as a Christian, we should strive to be the best Christian we can be. Are we perfect? No. The Bible tells us plainly, we all fall short. But we strive, and we want to be better, and we want to be closer to Jesus. And it's like Brother Garrett was saying this morning, you feel like you do things for God, and you feel like you're really doing something. And then He gets you down and shows you that it's not about you. And that's what I've always struggled with, and that's what I always have you all pray for me. That if it ever was easy for me to get up here, that I would pray to God that God would do whatever it takes. And I always pray to God, whatever it takes, God, to humble me. And like I've said before, I was asking, man, we're supposed to glory in tribulations. If I didn't have the best job in the world, if I had a sick kid, how would I do toward God? And that's why I think it's so important to pray and keep ourselves close to God and keep ourselves humbled. Because I was talking to a guy at work the other day, I said, we might have a good job right now, and we might have this. I said, but next week, we could be the man standing over there without a job, without a home, without a wife, and without children. And don't ever think that we're any better than they are. And you know, that's the good thing about God. We've got God in our life. If we truly get close to God and humble ourselves, He's going to show you and He'll prove to you that it's all about Him and not about you. And over in 1 Peter, And I'm about done here if somebody can get a song. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. That's what I'm talking about. That fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. God's made a place for all of us. All we gotta do is be willing to humble ourselves and ask God to forgive us of our sins, And to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fate hath not await, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice. Though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, let the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes. Thou it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, ye love in him. Now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation unto your soul." That's the worldly things are going to perish away. They're going to all be gone. And there's one thing that's going to endure. Our souls will endure forever. It will either be in heaven or in hell. But it's up to us. You know, God's done laid it. It says over here in 1 Peter, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world. When God created the earth, Jesus was sent for us for salvation. He gave us a chance. From the foundation of the world, God knew He was going to have to send a Savior for us. And He laid it out there, and He left it up to us. When God calls on you, I know it's hard, and I know sometimes when you're lost, you just feel like everybody's against you. You feel like everybody else, if they're going to heaven, so am I. That's not the case. Just because you see somebody in church, you see somebody acting a way, and your salvation is not up to them. Your salvation is between you and God. And you know, you see so many people, there's things holding them back. And you know, sometimes you ask them, and you say, what's holding you back? For me, the biggest thing holding me back was, you know, I didn't think I could make it. I just felt like I couldn't do it. You know, there's so many things out there in this world that drag us down and drag us away from it. And I like going out and doing those things. And I didn't want to give God my time. And God stopped dealing with me for a long time. And then finally, you know, I said, all right, God, it's all on you. And it's by far been the best year and a half of my life. And you know, not only am I going to get to see the glories of heaven, but now family members and I've met a lot of new friends and family in here that I didn't know a lot of y'all before. And every time somebody comes up and gives their life to God, you know, we all hug them and tell them we love them. It's a special thing because And you realize God's still in the saving business, and God's still put out salvation for us, and all we've got to do when God calls us, we've got to be willing to humble ourselves, lay down the worldly things, whatever it may be, and the things that have happened in our past, let them down and give your life over to God. Because don't drag the things that have happened in this life. And you know, Jeremy was talking about the three sins the other night. You know, the things of this world will get in the way, and we blind ourself. And when you're lost, you want to stay away from it, you don't want to focus on God. Well, then you get somebody at work that's talking about it, and it just starts growing and you're growing. And that's what happened when you all started this church down here, and I always wanted to hear Garrett preach. And my wife had tried to get me to go hear Jeremy. She's like, you need to go listen. I'm like, I'm not going down there to church to listen to them guys. And she kept on, kept on. I stopped down here one night. I said, I'm going to come listen to you. And I think I cried. I don't know how long I came, but I cried every time I came. And I just wouldn't do it. And I'm sure these guys have done the same thing I do. I'm like, man, what's it going to take? And you go home, and sometimes you can't sleep because all you can see is that lost person in the front, back, middle, or wherever. And all you think is, did I say the right things? Did I do the right things? And it really weighs you down. And you know, I hear people say, well, people have asked me, they say, has anybody ever gotten saved under your preaching? I say, I don't know. You know, there's people who come and pray, but that's not what it's about. Because I couldn't tell you about the people who come up, but I can tell you every man or woman that's walked out that door, if I know they were lost, I can tell you those people that walked out of here not accepting Christ. And you know, you wonder sometimes you see a pastor or a preacher And let me tell you something, it ain't an easy task to get up here and tell people about Jesus Christ and go out into the world and try to do the best you can do. And you see time after time people go out and deny it because then the devil gets in there and you want to lay it on you. But thankful for these guys, Danny and Garrett and Jeremy and all of them, they've all helped me. They keep telling you it's not about us, it's about God. If you do truly what God puts on your heart and you say what God, my salvation is between me and God. All we can do is what God wants us to do. Right down here it says in 22, it says, Seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto the unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever, for all flesh is as the grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. you