And Dr. Anderson are two of my favorite preachers in the world. And I am honored tonight to have both of them in the house tonight. And Dad was out preaching this morning, made it back tonight, and we're thankful for him. But I'm thankful for Dr. Anderson. What a friend he's been to me. And what a man of God and a great preacher of the word. Put your hands together and make him welcome again as he comes to preach the word of God. Bless you, Dad. Thank you, Pastor. Well, isn't it great to be back in the Lord's house tonight? My, that singing, music, just blessing my heart. Where's my piano? Sister, God bless you. Where have you been? Amen. Man, she's got a hurt arm or a hurt hand, and man, I'd hate to, I don't know if we could stand it if she was 100% whole, amen. I'm telling you, that was fantastic. Great music tonight, and so good to be back with you as we close out this meeting. I don't know about y'all, but I've certainly enjoyed myself. How many of y'all have you enjoyed these days of meeting? I love seeing the 30-some mothers today across the front. Wasn't that a beautiful sight? And the house of the Lord was just comfortably full and we thank the Lord for that and how God has met with us and blessed us. Now listen, I'm going to just tell you something from an outsider's perspective. The best days of the church do not have to be yesterdays. They can be future days. And I see all that with great potential and possibility as I come on these grounds and sense the presence of God and what God is doing. And I do appreciate so much, let me mention Dr. Mikusil, who is everywhere I go out in the Midwest, his name comes up in a very positive and influential light. And boy, that blesses my heart to know how God has used him and how churches all around these parts and they seek his counsel and seek his preaching. And he's been a friend to me and a help and encouragement to me because I'm just starting out in what I'm doing at this phase of my life and ministry. And then we appreciate Pastor Jason and Miss Hannah. Let's give them a hand tonight. And from a man who's pastored myself for 30 years, you'll never ever go wrong by doing everything you can to be a help and a blessing to your pastor. The most important preacher in the ministry of this church is not guests like me who come and go, but it's the man who stays with you. He's there at the funerals, he's there at the hospital, he's there when you need him, and he's there to preach to you week after week. Can the church say amen right there? So any way you can lighten their load, be a blessing to them, I know the Lord would bless you for that. I'm constantly asked this as we turn to John chapter 15. Preacher, what can I do for you? Well, I'm going to tell you, this church here, I've never been anywhere where I've been treated any kinder And Pastor Hopsel, out of his own means, of his own personal means, has furnished me a vehicle and brought me all kind of food, smoke, bologna. I guess I'm full of bologna now. I don't know. But I'm telling you, that's some of my favorite things. I know that Brother Hutzel's doing things for me and my wife that he's not responsible to do because I'm preaching in other churches and he's letting us use vehicles, feeding us food and things like that. And then we appreciate so much Dave and Julie. They're much like the couple I described in the text today. They have provided lodging, a comfortable, wonderful place and food. And they have saved this church and other churches literally thousands of dollars by housing men of God. And I appreciate that. When you travel these roads and you go week after week, you do appreciate hospitality. And I thank God for these dear people. I really do. And again, I'm always asked, what could we do for you? Well, here's one thing you could do. If you could go to one of the blank pages in the front of your Bible somewhere and just write down, pray for Brother Don, and Juanita. I would appreciate that so much. We're trying to recruit prayer people behind us. Since I was here last year at this time, I've been in over a hundred different meetings and God has given us many safe miles and we thank the Lord for that. And then we're also asking churches to pray that if God should touch hearts, we only want what God wants us to have. But in these days, it's, you know, traveling is very expensive. And we're asking the Lord to raise up some churches for monthly support. And if you'd pray about that, and I asked Brother Hutzel, Brother Mike Hutzel about that probably a year ago, and he gave me advice about that. And I appreciate it. You know, I never ask how many is going to be there. I never asked how much the love offering would be. And there's been times I've went into a service where there was as few as three people and I was one of the three. Now that's getting pretty slim. Say amen. But I just preach like the house is on fire and preach like there's a thousand people. And I thank the Lord for all the open doors and I appreciate all the friends I've made here at this great, great church. I want you to look in John 15 tonight. I didn't mean to take long, but I just wanted to mention some things to you and really try to recruit you to pray for us as we go. We'll be flying out tomorrow. The Lord is willing to have a few days free at home, and then it will be wide open again for weeks. The Bible says in John 15 verse 1, I am the vine, I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you're clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." Now, when I begin reading verse 4, let me just stop us right here. From verse number 4 down through verse number 10, I want you to notice the reoccurrence of the word abide. I want you to notice that. I mean, it's a really strong strong statement in that word abide from verses 4 to verse number 10. Then I'll read verse number 11 and we'll close the reading. Look at verse 4. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit For without Me, ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. And men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, You shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. Verse 11, my final verse. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. Let us pray. Father, we are grateful tonight for the wonderful singing and music we've had. Thank you, Lord, for the preacher's boys singing and thank you for our guests that have come to lend a hand tonight in the music. My, it's just been great. Then to see a good crowd back out on Sunday night. I pray now, Lord, here for a little while, that You'll touch me and help me as I try to give the message as You gave it to me. And I pray You'll bless like only You can. In Jesus Christ's name, I pray, Amen. Here in the text, if you notice that word abide, I gave you a little heads up on that. I want you to start noticing from verse number 4 down through verse number 10, 7 verses, it's mentioned 9 times. Look up here at me just a minute. Abide, abide, abide, abide, abide, abide, abide, abide, abide. Nine times in those few verses. Do you not think that that does not mean something? That must mean something if the Lord just repeats that over and over and over again. I did a study on the word abide and I just saw so much there, but tonight I want to give you just one tiny part of the meaning of the word abide. One of the definitions is this. And this is what I want to major on as we close out the conference tonight. One of the definitions of that word abide that's mentioned nine times in seven verses is the idea of staying close. You see, when we are abiding, that means that we are staying close. So Jesus in just a few verses has instructed us of the importance of staying close. Now, I'm not going to preach long here, but I want to give you some faces and some people real quickly to help you understand what I'm talking about and to see in person what it means to stay close. You don't have to turn, but in Isaiah 41, verse 8, God said this about a man named Abraham. Now listen to what God said about a man named Abraham. In Isaiah 41, verse 8, God said, my friend." Now, ladies and gentlemen, that to me speaks of closeness. When a holy God points out a feeble man and says, that little man right there, he's my friend. Now, what if God called your name? What if God said, Don, my, what would the blank be? You see, God looks at us all in our true character as a believer. But when He looked down at Abraham, He said, there's my friend. You know, in James 2, 23, don't turn, but when people spoke about Abraham, people said that Abraham was the friend of God. Now, when you've got God saying, that's my friend, and you've got people saying, this guy is God's friend, that speaks of closeness. Don't you want to be in a close relationship with Jesus Christ where that He would consider you as friend? Let me give you another one real quickly. What about a man named Moses? Don't turn, but in Psalm 103 and verse number 7, the Bible said, God said of Moses that he made known his ways unto Moses. Now, when someone knows someone else's ways, it speaks of closeness. Me and Miss Juanita back there, we've been married 36 years. We pretty much know each other's ways. Sometimes we start the same conversation with the very same word at the very same time. Well, when you live together as long as we have, that's what comes of closeness. Amen. Now, we travel together most of the time. But sometimes she gets this affliction called grandmama-itis and she's got to get a grandma-itis fix and she may stay back a few days. And I say, Mama, if you stay back a few days, it won't matter. We can still have the same conversations without the other there because we know what each other thinks and we know what each other is going to say. That might sound funny, but there's a lot of truth in that. And when God said that Moses knew His ways, that God revealed to Moses His ways, that speaks of closeness. What about David? David, a man. The Bible said in Acts chapter 13 and verse 22, God said, David is a man after mine own heart. Wow! What a testimony that a human man could be in pursuit of the very heart of God. Does that not say closeness? Abraham, Moses, David, and then the writer of the text we're in tonight, the beloved John, the apostle John, you know, he was known as the disciple that Jesus loved. He was known as the disciple that laid his head on Jesus' chest. Now if you look at Abraham and God, you see closeness. If you look at Moses and God, you see closeness. When you look at David and God, you see closeness. When you see John and God, you see closeness. Now inject your name. What do you see? I'm afraid tonight and I just want to be honest and I want to try to be a help tonight. But you can sit on these pews, you can put in your tithe, you can give commissions, you can do many things that's expected. But if you're not careful, you can be sitting right here in the house of God and never miss a service and never miss a beat. And then distance is getting between you and the Lord. And that's what I want to deal with tonight. I want us all to see the importance of closeness. The importance of getting close to the Lord and staying close to the Lord because I promise you in these last days you're going to need His presence like you've never needed His presence before. Now looking back in John 15, I want to show you tonight what will happen to you, what will happen around you, if you and I abide. That is, if we stay close. Number one tonight, I want you to look with me, please. Look with me, please, in verse number 4 and 5. Jesus said, Abide in Me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself. except it abide in the vine. No more can ye, except ye abide in me. Verse 5, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. Now Jesus says in these two verses that He is the vine, okay? He's the vine and we as believers are the branches. He said if we're abiding with the vine, that is if we're close, if we're connected to the vine, He said that we'll be bearing fruit. That's what Jesus said. But he also said when a branch is apart from the vine, that branch cannot bear fruit of itself. You see, the vine is where the life is at. And there's not going to be fruit in the branches, and the branches are us, when we've got distance between us and the Lord. And can I say to us tonight, we as God's people need to take inventory And let's take a look tonight at our position with Jesus Christ. Now, this is a very heavy and convicting message. And I just hope God will deal with us and speak to us. And I want to make reflections as I go tonight on back when we first got saved. And number one tonight, if we're staying close, number one, ladies and gentlemen, there will be fruit bearing. Now that's what Jesus said. He said if the branch is abiding in the vine, if there is that closeness, then we will see fruit bearing. Now the fruit bearing is seeing people saved. There is nothing more important, there is nothing more wonderful, there is nothing more exciting than seeing people get saved. But what we do to justify our people not getting saved from the community, we say, well, we're in the last days, or we're in the great falling away, or things are so bad. Well, we're just making excuses because Jesus said if we're close to Him that we're going to be bearing fruit. Is that what the Bible said? And can I challenge you? Look back through the pages of history and show me the worst of times. Did you know the worst of times have always been the best of times for people to get saved? You see, what we're making excuses Because we're in these bad times and that's why we're not seeing people saved. Well friends, the reason we're not seeing people saved is simply because we've allowed distance to get between us and the Lord. That's what it's all about. You see, if we're abiding, and we're close to Jesus Christ, then what's important to Him becomes important to us. And Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. And ladies and gentlemen, if I am abiding in Christ, if I'm close to Christ, if I really love Christ like I should, the things that are important to Him will become important to me. Whoop, hallelujah, say amen. And I may have said this already, but if I did, it bears repeating. What we do now to justify people not getting saved, we look at the sinner through a dry eye of criticism. When we should be looking at the poor sinner through a wet eye of compassion. You know, we want to talk about how bad they look, how bad they act, how bad they smell, how bad they're doing. Oh yes, all that would be true about everybody in here if it were not for the good grace and mercy of God. I have nothing to glory in tonight other than what Jesus Christ has done for me. And if I hadn't had a bath, I would smell. And if I didn't have a razor, I'd have a beard. And if I didn't have a barber, I'd have long hair. I'm just telling you, friends, if it wasn't for the good Lord, just think where you would be and where I would be here tonight. But you see, we want to justify our empty altars and no conversions, but there's no justifying for it. If we all get close to Jesus, Jesus said Himself that you'll bear much fruit when you are abiding in Me. Now, reflection. Look in the rearview mirror of your life. Do you remember back there when you first got saved? Do you remember back there how easy it was to witness? How it seemed such a flow that would just naturally come out of you back when you first got saved? And back then, you didn't know as near as much about the Bible as you know now. Some of you remember that night the preacher said, turn to the book of Job. and you looked and looked and you finally found the book of Job that was the closest you could come and then you just gave up. Well, do you remember them days when you knew very little about God? But if you were saved, there was something flowing out of you, that newness of a wonderful new birth experience. And can I say to us tonight, let's look back at when we first got saved and how easy it was to witness Do you remember back there you thought everybody could get saved? You thought all your family would be saved. You just thought everybody's going to want what you've got. But now you see distances come between us and the Lord and it's created a big problem in our churches. Number two, not only will there be fruit bearing, but would you look with me in verse number seven. He said, if you abide in Me, And my words abide in you. Ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Now that's what Jesus said. Now if there's a parent in here, And they're sitting over on the corner of the front row. I should have set up some. And there's a parent and a child sitting very close. And then, Brother Mike Hustle, there's a child of the same parent sitting far in the back corner. Now, the parent loves both children the same if they're a good parent, whether they're close or not. But you answer this question. Who is more apt? to get their request granted from the parent, the child that's sitting close or the child that's way back in the corner. We all know the answer to that. Now Jesus said in the Word of God that there will not only be fruit bearing if we are staying close, but there will be prayer answering if we are staying close. He said if you are close to Me, you can just ask what you will. Now brother, that is powerful. But that is true. But we want to make excuses of why we are not seeing our prayers answered. Let's reflect again. just the rear-view mirror. Do you remember back there when you first got saved? You really didn't know how to pray. You really didn't know what to say. But you prayed anyway. And back there in those days when you first were converted to Christ, it seemed it was so easy to pray, so easy to believe God. So easy to trust God, and can I say, so easy to see our prayers answered. But you know why we're not seeing prayers answered? One of the dustiest, driest things in our churches anymore is that old prayer list that never ever changes. Nobody ever gets healed. Nobody ever gets saved. No problem is ever solved. Well, friends, there's something wrong with that. And if our children are growing up in a church And we say that God answers prayers. And then we got this old prayer list that nothing ever changes. And the only way you get off that prayer list is to die. Brother, there's something wrong with that. We ought to be seeing prayers answered on a regular basis because God Almighty is still in the prayer answering business. And I'm glad to report to you tonight that we just need to get back close to Christ And then we'll start seeing prayers answered. I got saved as a boy. I grew up in the country. When I see the cows and hay fields out here in the Midwest, that part of the country reminds me of home. That's where I grew up. I grew up in a valley. We called it a holler. We had a branch. That's just a little tiny creek going through that valley. And I grew up there on a farm with some Black Agus cows and dad and digging fence posts. I thought that was what life was about, digging fence posts and working on the farm. And by the way, that didn't hurt me none. I didn't go down to the spa to get my nails done. There seemed like there was always dirt under my nails growing up. Amen. Say amen right there. I don't want to mess up a good sermon, but I felt that coming on. But I'm going to tell you something, ladies and gentlemen. We, as God's people, ought to be getting our prayers answered. When I was a boy, I got saved. And I remember it just like it was yesterday. And just after I was saved, My dad was out in the hay field mowing hay with a sickle-type mowing machine that laid real flat on the ground. Some of you know what I'm talking about, and it would cut that hay real close to the ground. The hay would fall over, and then we'd come back with what we had back then with a hay rake, and it would fluff it up into what we called a windrow. And then when the baler came, he would feed the baler off of that windrow. Some of you know what I'm talking about. Back there, we had the square bales. We didn't have the round bales like they have now. But I never forget, we came in to eat a bite for lunchtime. And my dad, mom, and I, we were all sitting around the table. We'd been out in the hayfield. And daddy had just sold some calves. And I remember what he had. He had $800 in cash in his wallet. Now, that was a lot of money back then, a lot of money right now. And I remember dad out there mowing and coming in to eat a bite. And all at once, my dad's facial countenance fell. And he said, Joy! My mama's name was Joy. He said, Joy! Dad's name Roy. She said, Roy, what's wrong? He said, Joy, I've lost my wallet out in that hay field. I had the calf money in my wallet. and it's gone. And I just watch mom and dad like that's some of the worst news they've ever got. They've lost all that money and it's out there in acres of cut hay, out there in a windrow somewhere, and mom and daddy's really troubled. Well, I'm just a boy. Now, if you don't believe that God answers prayers of boys and girls, just put your earplugs in for a few minutes till I get done. But I looked at mom and dad in that dilemma, and I just had got saved. I walked out from the supper meal table, and I went out on the porch, and I looked up to God, and I said, God, you see how bad mom and dad's feeling about losing this money? I really believe, and I can remember like it was yesterday, I said, Lord, I really believe that You'll let me go out there and find that wallet. I really believe it. And I'm heading out there, Lord, and I'm going to find it in Jesus' name. I'm just a little old boy praying a simple little old prayer. But when I left that porch, when I left that porch, I had zero doubt that I'd find that wallet. There was acres of cut hay. Boy, that don't look too good, does it? But I had no doubt. I just ran out in that field. I started kicking up hay in that wind row. And I didn't kick, but a few kicks, and all of a sudden, I had on a pair of Brogan boots. I can see it right now in my mind's eye of memory. And something was under my toe, and I kicked it up, and it was black. And it was lined with green. And I found that wallet. I snatched it up. I ran back to mom and dad. I'm just a little old boy now. Now if you don't believe that, no need to meet me after service because I am sold. Amen. You cannot change my mind. But listen, my point is this. how much faith we had when we first got saved. We just believed God could do anything. We just believed God would answer our prayers. Now, where are we tonight? What if we needed something like that tonight? If we're abiding in Christ, the same God that did it for us when we first got saved is the same God that would do it today. The problem is not His ability. The problem is not His power. The problem is distance has got between us and the Lord. Prayer answering. When's the last time that you can remember that God answered a real prayer for you. I mean for you. You see, it's still, it's quiet. We're thinking. We're thinking sometimes we go weeks, months, never get a prayer answered. And then the Bible I hold tonight, please don't try to explain away what I'm preaching. To me it's just plainly written. If you abide in me, you can ask what you will. And Jesus Christ is still in the business of answering prayer. I believe tonight with all of my heart that if we'll get close to Jesus, we'd be amazed at how much problems it would solve in the church. We'd be amazed at how much problems it'd solve in our marriages, our homes, with our children, if we would just really draw an eye to God, and He'd draw an eye to us. There's not only fruit-bearing people getting saved, you'll have your fingerprints on people that got saved. I'm telling you, that's what'll happen. if you stay close. You'll have prayers answered. There'll be prayer answering when you're staying close. But let me give you this one and I'm closing. Go back to verse number 10. The last mentions of the word abide. And then we're going to close in verse 11. He said, if you keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love. even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love." Now notice verse 11. Dr. Hutzel, he's going to sum up the whole thing here. He's going to sum up, he's going to tell the whole world why he has just said abide nine times in seven verses. Why would you do it, Lord? These things, verse 11, have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. Not only fruit bearing, prayer answering, but joy remaining. Again, let's adjust our rear view mirror. Do you remember back yonder when you got saved? There's no words to describe how it is to be just saved. I mean, Peter probably put it as good as anybody. Peter said it's joy unspeakable. It's full of glory. There's just no words to describe the wonder of it all and how great it is. to have the load of guilt and sin lifted. How great it is to know you're a child of God! How great it is to go from the road to hell to the road to heaven! My, what a great day! The greatest day in life is the day that you get saved. But Jesus said, I want you to stay close. Because if you don't, you're going to lose that joy that you had back yonder. when you first got saved. Now, I give this advice to all the young people. Before you come to the marriage altar, you need to talk about your plan on serving God. Me and Miss Juanita, I was in my late teens. She may have bumped 20. See, I married a much older woman. Amen. I mean, she might not be real tall, but she's, I believe it's older business along. Thank you, brother. Doesn't he finally woke up now? I'm just kidding. My, my wife, maybe 20, I'm late teens and we're getting married and this might not sound very deep. But we determined that we were going to be faithful to our church. And whatever the church did, we were going to be faithful to it, Brother O'Connor. That's what we were going to do. I mean, can you imagine putting 36 years in reverse on our lives? That's how young we were. And that's what we determined, Brother Jason, to do. Well, that's what we did. We got married. We set out, Brother Dave, to be faithful. to the house of God. Brother Ken, we were going to be faithful to the house of the Lord. I wasn't preaching yet. We were just laymen in the church, working in the church. And I remember on a Sunday night back in those days, I had an F-150 single cab truck. How many of you know what a single cab is? Raise your hand. How many of you know what it means when you've got a bench seat in a single cab? That means the whole seat goes up, right? That means if your wife is 4'10 and you're 6'1, that means she never drives if you're in there. The only way I could ride with her, I'd have to lay my head in her lap and put my feet out the window. That would have been the only way. Because when she went up, buddy, I mean it went up. But I had that old F-150 shining. I had it so clean. I had my tires shining. You could have brushed your teeth in the sidewalls of that pickup truck tire. And we were heading to church on Sunday night, and our church had about a half a mile long dirt driveway, which is not what I want to do with my clean tires. And when I came on that dirt, I got down to walking speed. And we got about a half a mile journey to get to the church real parking lot. And Juanita says, you're starting to hold up traffic. And I looked in my rear view mirror, it was already getting dark, and I could see headlights. I couldn't tell who was who. But man, I'm backing up the whole thing. And I'm just creeping along, keeping my tires clean. And I finally get to where I park. And I back my truck in. As I'm backing in, I look out my side window and I see an old deacon backing in beside me. It was him who was the first one behind me. He's in heaven now. Been there for years. His name was Robert Moorfield. And I looked over. I was kind of looking at him out of my side vision there. And I seen him get out of his vehicle real quick. And when he did, he stood there like that. I thought, I'm getting ready to get chewed out by Deacon Morfield. Oh, man, I dread this. I dread getting chewed out by this old deacon. About that time, I got out, getting ready to face the music, and then Juanita popped out. And when she popped out, Robert Morfield lost his train of thought. He done this. And he looked at her, and he looked at me, and he said, well, there is two of y'all in there. And what that means is this. He was riding behind us in that old single cab, Brother Mike, and we was sitting so close, he thought it was just me in there. And when she popped out, it really got him. And he said, man, there's two of you in there, boy. That means we were sitting really, really close. Now we got a more modern pickup now that has a divided seat, got an armrest. And I told this story one night, and me and Juanita always cutting up, and we have a good time. We enjoy life. And she's sitting over there in our more modern pickup. And we're going down the road, and she said, you know, Don, nobody can say Don like her. She said, Don, you told that old story. You know, we don't sit close like we used to. And I thought a minute, and I'm over here. I said, baby, you're exactly right. But I haven't moved. I'm right where I've always been, right here under the wheel. And if you've ever wondered what the moment and the twinkling of an eye is, that's how long it took that armrest to come up. And buddy, she's coming like a bulldozer. She's heading my way. But there was a little problem in her journey from there to here. You see, that armrest hadn't been up for a while. And when she raised that armrest up, there was an old plastic cup that had gotten mashed down under that armrest. There was a Kentucky fried chicken plastic fork. Glory to God. And then there was some old napkins that just accumulated up under that armrest. And you know what, this might sound humorous, this may sound simple, but I'm gonna tell you what she had to do. Before she could scrunch back up close, she had to get rid of that cup and that fork and them napkins. She had to clean up the clutter that was separating me and her. And when she got that stuff cleaned up, man, whoop, there she is. We're so close again. But with that little illustration tonight, can I tell everybody here, he hadn't moved. He's still right where He's always been. And it could be the reason that you're not sitting close to Him like you used to. You've done let some clutter get under the armrest. Why not tonight, let's quit worrying about our brother, our sister, and our neighbor, and let's examine ourselves and see if there's some distance that's come between us and the Lord. The old songwriter said, nothing between my soul and the Savior. Keep the way clean, let nothing between. As we stand tonight with heads bowed and eyes closed, can you honestly say that you're as close to Jesus as you've ever been?