Certainly thank you, choirs, for your singing and church, for coming and singing and worshiping. And Almighty God, He's certainly worthy of our worship this evening, and He's the only one that is worthy. If we want to follow along in the reading, we'll be reading one little verse out of the 18th chapter of the book of Proverbs, the 18th chapter of the book of Proverbs. Let me say it's certainly good to be with you here at Silver City this week, and we have looked forward to this, and certainly love each and every one of you. We love this place, and we love the people here. Before we go any further, though, we do want to go to the Lord in prayer. I want to ask Brother David Skinner if he would to lead us there. Thank you for that. Brother David, in the 18th chapter of the book of Proverbs, in the 21st verse, it reads like this. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. And may God add His richest blessings to the reading of His Word. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. I thought of C.S. Lewis, what he said one time, he said, the dressing on the wound of a corpse will do nothing. You see, it has to have life in order for a bandage to work. And so I thought about life, and that's what we want to look at for just a minute. Life and death are in the power of the tongue, life. If you look in the dictionary, life simply means that thing which separates the organic from the inorganic or the living from the dead. The ability for something to grow and to change preceding death and so Webster says that is what life is and when we think about that I thought about a 1668 scientist that said this one time of Francesco Reddy I did an experiment to disprove what they called spontaneous regeneration y'all y'all just hang with me for a minute I'm gonna get there listen spontaneous regeneration was to believe or thought that a something came out of nothing or something living came out of something that was dead and so in 1668 Mr. Reddy did an experiment and showed that in fact that something alive does not come from something that is dead and so scientists hung their hat on that and said oh well that's good and if we look at it today and we read what scientists are putting out today. In fact, they are saying that the universe and the world and us all together came out of nothing when they already proved that something doesn't come from nothing. And so then they wonder, where is it that this something comes from out of nothing? Well, I'll turn to the Bible to find the answer to that question. I like what Moses said in the first chapter, in the first verse of the book of Genesis. He said, in the beginning was God, and that was simply it. In the beginning was God. From everlasting to everlasting, He is God. I like what John... You think of little old John in the first chapter of the book of John. He didn't have any formal education. He hadn't grown up with some kind of schooling. Listen, they didn't have public schools in those days. He hadn't sat under anybody. He had never cracked open a science book. He had never looked at anything. But you know what John said in the first chapter, in the first few verses? He said, in Him was life, and all things were created by Him. Oh, I like what Paul said there in the first chapter. of the book of Colossians. Now listen, Paul had grown up at the feet of Gamaliel. He was an educated and a learned man. But Paul had never looked up to the cosmos with anything other than his natural eye. Listen, and you know what Paul said? All things were created by him. And in all things and by all things, they consist for him. Listen, life today comes from Jesus Christ, oh, and Him alone. Life today, God. They say, well, where did He come from? Listen, I like what S.M. Lockridge said in the book of Habakkuk, a little prophet. You'll find it in the Minor Prophet. He said, I saw the Holy One come from Timon, which means nowhere. I like what Lockridge said. He proclaims there that he was preaching a revival meeting somewhere in Cincinnati. And there was a man who came out and said, Preacher, let's get reasonable about this thing. You can't really believe that God came from nowhere. Where did He come from? And he said, alright, we'll get reasonable about it. God came from nowhere because there wasn't anywhere to come from. Listen, in standing coming from nowhere and standing on nothing, He reached out into nothingness and grabbed ahold of something. and when he got done with it, he hung it out into somewhere, and he said, that's good, because there wasn't anybody else there to say anything. Listen, so all life comes from God Himself. We find that true to be in the Scriptures. I find it true. Oh, listen in the world today that in the beginning was God. Oh, when you consider that and you think on that for just a moment. In the beginning was God. All life came from Him. There's not anything that ever has been that didn't come from God Almighty. Life and death lies in the power of the tongue. When we look at this and we consider all of these things, listen, and we consider Jesus Christ, when you consider what Webster said, that life is simply what separates the organic from the inorganic. Listen, I begin to ponder on that. Oh, and begin to look at what life is and what death is. Oh, there's so many today, and you might be out there that believe this same thing. That we are born somewhere, and we live a while, and somewhere out in the future, we die, and that's just simply it. Listen, I find that to be not the case. How can it be the case? Listen, life today, contrary to popular belief, contrary to what society would teach us today, life is sacred. Listen, young people, don't you ever forget it. Life doesn't come out of a test tube. You can't destroy it. Listen, without a consequent, we believe today. Listen, did you know that millions upon millions of unborn children will die in this country every year today. Then we wonder why our school houses get blown up by bombs and guns. Then we wonder why folks are killing each other. If you don't believe in the sanctity and the sacredness of life, what do you believe in? Listen, life comes from God Himself. The Bible says that God created man from the dust of the earth. Now you get that in your mind. There's God created man in the dust of the earth. I don't know how long it took Him. Oh, He might have just wadded it up in His hand. Listen, He might have bent down and whatever, you think I ain't gonna get in all that. Listen, however you think that God did it. But then the Bible says He does something. He does something to man that He didn't do to anything else, didn't He? Listen, the Bible says He bends down and breathes into his nostrils the breath of life. Have you ever seen anybody on a respirator? You know, one of those machines that keeps you alive, they say. You know what the doctors have said? I've sat in the room when families get the news and the doctor comes in and says, well, he's gone to the respirator, but he's gone. Oh, what does that mean? Oh, what does that mean? It means they've died. Their life has left them. Listen, and you can't do anything about it. I like what Solomon said, where a tree falleth, so shall she lie. Listen, when a soul is dead or when a body dies, that's the end of it. Just like old Lewis said, you can't put a dressing on the wound of a corpse and expect it to heal. It's got no life in it. Listen, it's not anything in that dressing that's going to make that wound better. It's life in the body itself today. That's exactly what it is. Listen, you might be out there this evening, have been in the world, or maybe you have gone out and you've tried to find solace and peace in the world, and the world's got all kinds of bandages to offer, don't it? Listen, they've got all kind of self-help book. They've got all kind of counselors and therapists. I'm not knocking them. Listen, they do a great and a wonderful job. Listen, while you're alive, but they'll do absolutely nothing once you're dead. Listen, the world's got all kind of pill bottles. They've got all kinds of liquor bottles. They've got all kinds of things that you can fill your body up. Oh, the bandages of this world that you can put on yourself. But once you're dead, you're dead. That's the end of it. Listen, life and death lies in the power of the tongue. The Bible says that Christ spoke of this same thing in the book of Matthew. He said you'll live and die by the words that come from your mouth. Listen, what does all of that mean? Well, listen to this. I thought about Jesus there. You know what I would say if somebody said, Brody, what is life defining? I would have two words for them. Jesus Christ. Listen, when we think about Jesus walking on the seashores of Galilee, listen, life came calling and life came walking. If you're out there this evening and you have a sin sick, it's a sickness unto death. According to the authority of God's Word in the third chapter of the book of Romans, In the 23rd verse, we all have sinned and come short of the glories of God. In the 6th chapter of the wages of sin is death today. Listen, Tyler said it this morning, I believe out of the book of James. Listen first, when we are enticed by lust, lust bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, rendereth forth death today. The Bible says in the seventh chapter of the book of Romans, now listen, Paul, reflecting back on his life, said there, he said, the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. Listen, and so we all must die. What kind of death must we die, preacher? We must die a spiritual death. Listen, now, when we look through Jesus Christ, knowing that He is the life, Somebody said, how do you know that He's alive? Well, He said He was. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. But there's evidence also of what He said. The Bible says there was a man came to it and said, My daughter is sick unto death. Oh, she's going to die if you don't come quick. Oh, and Jesus teared. But when He got there, they began to mock Him and say, She's already dead. Oh, what are you going to do? And He said, You're going to live. Listen, and life stretched Himself out that little girl, and he began to breathe, and she came alive. The Bible says now, Jesus had a great friend, didn't he? Listen, and they sent word to him, and said, Lazarus is sick, and he tarried for four days. But when he got there, listen, Mary and Martha, they began to weep. One of them said, if you'd only been here, he'd not have died. Listen, oh, life walked to the mouth of that tomb and said, come on out, Lazarus. You see, when life comes calling, you'll stand up and answer. Listen, I'm reminded now, what's there? Life had to die a death, didn't it? Paul says that in that book of Romans in the sixth chapter as well. He said Christ died. Yeah, He did. Listen, life. died today. We find it there that they hung Him on the cross of Calvary. Yes, they did. Listen, and He gave up the ghost. You be careful with that. I've heard folks say the Jews killed Him. Pilate killed Him. The Romans killed Him. What did He say to Pilate? I'll lay it down and I'll pick it up. That's what life will do. Listen, lay it down and pick it up. You can't take it from Him. Listen, but the Bible says He gave up the ghost. Oh, listen, and he bowed his head and it was over. Oh, and they took him down and they laid him in the tomb. You might be out there this evening. You don't see any hope. You don't see any way. Listen, you're just like Paul. Sin's revived and you've died. Listen, you're dead in the trespasses of your sin. There's no hope for you. There's no way out. There's no bandage that the world can offer. There's no surgery that you can undergo to fix this. Listen, you can't get rid of your sin. You're born into it. Oh, it's in you. It's part of you. You can't get rid of it in and of yourself. The Bible says, now He died on the cross of Calvary. They came and they begged His body. Oh, Nicodemus, some wonder whether Nicodemus ever got it right. The Bible said he had a hundred-pound sack of myrrh on his back, headed to the bearer of Jesus. I believe he got it right. He knew just exactly who he was. Why? Listen, you spend an evening with life. Oh, and you'll never forget it. Listen, oh, there the Bible says they laid him in that tomb. They rolled a stone at the door. Listen, and he laid there for three days. Oh, and Mary, oh yes, Mary came to that tomb. Oh, she looked in. She looked all around. He wasn't there. Listen, he wasn't there. There was an angel that said, why seek ye the living among the dead? Listen, there'll be one day, I like what Billy Graham said one time. I didn't mean to get in all this. He said one time, he said, there's going to be a day that you're going to hear that Billy Graham's died. You don't believe a word of it. I'll never die. Listen, there'll be a day that you might hear Brody Hughes is dead. You don't believe a word of it. I've just shed off this flesh and bone. Oh, listen, and I've grabbed ahold of eternity and all of its glory. Why? Because life came calling. Listen, the Bible says they rolled a stone at the door. Mary, come. The stone is rolled away. Now, we've got to report that there were several of them that ran back to tell the other. But for one reason or another, There we find Mary in the garden tearing. Listen, and she's standing there. Oh, and she turns and she sees the gardener. And she says, where have you taken him? Listen, and the Bible said that life answered back. Yeah, life came calling. Oh, and he just simply said, Mary. Listen, I'm glad that one night when I was lost, and my sin. I listened. My life was gone out of me. I was spiritually dead. I listened, but life came calling today. Oh, and I heard His voice and I felt His presence. Oh, Paul said there, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me, who loved me and gave Himself for me. That's the message that God sent this way. Do you have life or do you have death? How do I find life if I'm dead? Preacher, it lies in the power of the tongue. Listen, there was a Franciscan monk who said this one time, that you should spread the gospel by any means necessary. And if you need to, use words. Listen, that's poppycock. That won't do. Life and death lies in the power of the tongue today. Oh, and I'm telling you on the authority of God's Word, that if you've not accepted Him, you are a sinner that is doomed for hell, and the only way that you can get out of that death lies in the tongue, don't it? Paul said, if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, you shall be saved. Listen today, that's the only way you'll find your way to heaven. There's not a bandage on this side. There's not any kind of medical miracle that's going to fix what's got to be fixed down deep on the inside. You've got to find life. Where did you find Him at, preacher? I found Him in the altar. Listen, I found Him in the nail-scarred hands of my Savior. That's where I found lie. Listen, the grave couldn't hold Him. Listen, they couldn't do anything with Him. Oh, life came calling. Is life calling out to you today? Christ wants you to live and to live more abundantly. And all that you've got to do is simply believe it. Come with a verse of song. That's all that we have this evening. Oh, I hope and pray that if you're out there tonight, that you'll find that life, oh, how great that He is. How great and wonderful that life is. Oh, how wonderful to be picked up in the hands of a Savior. To be picked up in the great big arms of God. Oh, and for Him to whisper into your ear that sweet peace that cometh only from Him. Oh, is life calling? I hope and pray you'll answer as we sing a verse or song. My soul hung in the gallows of the great high courts of heaven, and there was absolutely nothing that could stop that death until life came calling. Listen, if you're hanging in the balance today, life and death is hanging in the balance for somebody. I truly believe that. Listen, if you're hanging in the balance, There's a way out. His name is Jesus. All you have to do is call out to Him. All you have to do is turn to Him. Oh, He is ready, He is willing, and He is waiting. I hope and pray you'll do that. Sing another verse. In this world I don't have much in silver and gold. My house is just a cabin by the side of the road. Oh, but I been adopted in a king's family and when I move to my new home look what's waiting for me Such beauty and splendor eyes have never seen. Jesus, His sweet face I'll see I don't have much here, but look what's waiting for me I'll reside in a mansion by a cool and gentle stream And I'll dress up in some garments that are fit for a king Oh, and I'm gonna hold more treasures than this old world's ever seen. Because I may not have much here, Lord, but look what's waiting for me. is waiting for me such beauty and splendor eyes have never seen Jesus his sweet face I'll see I don't have But look what's waiting for me. Heaven is not so far away, and we'll reach it some glad day. Heaven's home is now my final goal, there to live while ages roll. days will be. What a glorious jubilee. All of heaven will renew. What a meeting in the air. lives are oh so sad to see, those who live in misery. ♪ Blood in heaven, no more grief or pain ♪ ♪ Crippled lives are whole again ♪ ♪ What a night that today's will be ♪ ♪ What a glorious jubilee ♪ ♪ All the blood of heaven ♪ What a meeting in the air! What a glad and happy days will be! What a glorious jubilee! All of God's heaven and earth will be there! Like a mother holds her baby, like a shepherd watches sheep. My Lord loves me Like a sparrow loves the heavens Like a sailor loves the sea My Lord loves me And he tells me that where I am, that's where he'll be. Where he'll be when I wake up in the morning and when I lay my head to sleep. He loves me. If I'm walking in a valley, if I'm walking on a hill, my Lord loves me. If I stumble in the darkness or if I'm walking in His will, my Lord loves me. He tells me that where I am, that's where He'll be. Where He'll be, where I wake up in the morning, and when I wake, I am to sleep. My Lord, yes, my Lord loves me. He loves me. My Lord, yes, my Lord. And He tells me that where I am, that's where He'll be. Where He'll be when I wake up in the morning and when I lay my head to sleep. My Lord loves me. He loves me. Oh. you