Alright, we are we are now live. Someone just joined. Yeah. Yeah. Good morning brother Randy, how you doing? Thank you, thank you. See, see my cousin Felix just joined. Welcome, Felix. See, Robert Wilson, Sean Campbell. Welcome to all of y'all. I hope y'all been saying your prayers. That the Lord would bless me. Robert Wilson said, oh, he got a bunch of folks with him watching. And my sister Godria, happy Father's Day. Thank you, sis. Brother Randolph is watching. Everybody's starting to come in. I'll wait a couple minutes to give everybody a chance here. Lavelle is there. Thank you, sis. Happy Father's Day. Diana Milkelson. Stephanie, my daughter, she said, Happy Father's Day. Thanks, baby. Yes, sir. We wait a couple more minutes and go ahead and get started. Y'all get a chance to hear me sing another song. I'm gonna get some recordings. I know y'all getting tired of my voice. That's my grandson, Michael. Happy Father's Day. Thank you, son. All right, we're going to go ahead and start. We'll start off by, I'll sing a few verses of Bye and Bye. A lot of people say that's the glorious kingdom's anthem. We are often tossed and driven on the restless sea of time. Sunburst skies and howling tempests All succeed a bright sunshine In that land of perfect day When the mist has rolled away We will understand it better by and by, singing by and by. When the morning comes, when all the saints of God are gathering home, we will tell the story of how we overcome. And we'll understand it better by and by. We are often destitute of the things that life demands. Want of food and want of shelter, thirsty hills and barren land. But we are Trusting in the Lord and according to His Word, we will understand it better by and by, singing by. In Biola, when the morning comes, hallelujah, when all the saints of God, we are gathering home and we will tell the story of how we overcome And we'll understand it better by and by. Temptations, hidden snares, often take us unaware. And our hearts are made to bleed for many a thoughtless word or deed. And we wonder why the tears when we try to do our best but we will understand it better by and by singing by and by when the morning comes hallelujah when all the saints of God are gathering home and we will tell the story of how we overcome and we'll understand it better by and by. Amen. Scripture says we look through a glass darkly. We don't know what's on the other side. But one day we will see and be known as we are known. Down here there are many things we don't understand. But one day we will understand all things. I had a request that I lead a prayer this morning and Sister Sheeran, I saw your text, Sister Jerry, Uh, those pepper that sent me a Happy Father's Day wishes, I see them, can't respond to all of them. Um, but, but I do see them. Those of you that can, bow with me in a word of prayer. It was requested that I say a prayer this morning. Most holy and all-wise God, Father God, as we come before your throne of grace, I realize all of our weaknesses and our insufficiencies. I realize, oh Lord, that I'm not even worthy to call on a holy and divine name. I'm not even worthy to bow down to you, Lord, and ask you anything. You are righteous, we are not. You are holy, we are not. You are without blemish, and we are not. But Lord, we thank you because you have clothed us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, for the work that he did on the cross by coming down and redeeming us that we might have a home beyond this veil of tears. And Lord, I'm calling on you because there's no one else that we can call on that'll do our souls any good. And you told us, Lord, in your word that men ought to always pray, and when we pray, not to faint. I ask you, oh Lord, to go with the Smith family. Go with them that the husband that has lost his wife throw your loving arms around it I know lord you a comforter and there are none that can comfort like you you're a wonderful counselor a prince of peace and an everlasting father I've got a cousin, Lord, Sister Deneen Ellison, that is driving all the way from Louisiana back to California. She was depressed and draught yesterday from leaving her mom and driving home by herself. But Lord, I know you everywhere present and nowhere absent. Let her know that on her way back home, she's not by herself. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are wrapped up in that vehicle with us because you said you would never leave us, Lord, and you said you wouldn't forsake us. Bless us to Brenda Charles, Lord, a woman that fulfilled her duty as the wife of a pastor and a minister. It's a hard job, Lord, and I say so many times it's harder on the wife than it is on the husband because you gave us something inside that drives us to want to preach your word. But the wife that's staying by the minister's side, Lord, she goes through the ups, the downs, the laughs, the frowns, the good times and the bad times, Lord. And Sister Brenda has done all of that. Let her know, Lord, that she's not alone. She's not by herself, but you are standing with her. You are able to prop her up. You are able to keep her. And you told her, Lord, in your word, you would never leave her, not forsake her. Then, oh, Lord, I got up to the Burleson family. First we had Brother Burleson taking care of his wife and then she got ill, Lord, and now she's had to take care of him, he's trying to take care of her. Both of them, though, are on the bed of affliction. But, Lord, you're a doctor that has never lost a case. Send your spirit down to comfort them and keep them, Lord, in your all-wise power. Bless Sister Grace Beck, been on the battlefield for a long time, approaching 100 years old. I don't know if she'll make it there or not, Lord, but I know who is able to keep her from falling. And we're calling on you, Lord, bless her, strengthen her, that she might come back out of that hospital so many times as she has done before. She would always light up the church. when she walked in there with her smile. She loved having good churches, loved hearing good preachers. Now she's on the bed of affliction, Lord. Go with her and stand by her. Be with her as only you can. Lord, then there's just so many others that I can't name all of them. But all those that I'm duty-bound to pray, Lord, I know you know who they are. Stand by them, keep them, send your spirit to comfort and heal them as only you can, Lord. Then bless all them, the fathers that are in this land today. And I always said, Lord, there are two kinds of fathers that I want to wish happy birthday. I want to wish happy birthday to all the fathers that brought children in the world. But I also want to wish happy Father's Day to those fathers who are a father, but they didn't bring the children in the world. Bless them, Lord, keep them, hold them in the power of your hand, and give all of us most strength and courage to walk as fathers. As you said in your word, you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, lest you be discouraged. Give us the wisdom, the insight, and ability, Lord, to walk before our children in a way that motivates them to do better, that strengthens them, that causes them not to want to give up, and make sure that they always pointed to thee, and be alone. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank all of you for being on. And I need to say something. This is not going to be one of them soul-stirring sermons. We're in the fifth chapter of Ephesians. But it is going to be a sermon that if you pay attention and you apply the things I say to your life, if you pay attention and apply the things I say to your life, your life will be better. It'll change your life. Now that's somebody out there going to say, I done tried all, I got a cousin older than me. Always telling me I done tried all that religious stuff. It don't work. I'm not going to call his name because some of y'all might know him. I say it's working and it's working with you. You just don't know no better. However, for those who do feel that way, I'm going to tell the rest of you, Hello? We're getting some interference over there. As I was saying, there are always those who say that the Word of God doesn't work. The only people who say the Word of God doesn't work are the people that ain't tried God. I'm gonna say that again. The only people who said we've been religious, we done followed the scriptures, we done followed Jesus, and it doesn't work. The only people who make that statement are the people who haven't followed Jesus. Because faith without works is dead. That's why it don't work. The scripture tells you that be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. So I'm going to read some things to you in the fifth chapter of Ephesians. Those of you that have your Bibles, get your Bibles and start to circle it. Because Paul is going to be real blunt and say some things that may not make us feel good. But you let God's word be true in every man of life. The first thing he says in verse 1, Paul writes, let me read something first. You don't need to turn your Bible to it. Keep your Bible on Ephesians chapter 1, I mean chapter 5. But in the book of Isaiah, the 28th chapter and the 9th verse, The scripture says, Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breast. For precept must be upon precept. Precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, hear a little and bear a little. I'm going to read that again for your hearing. Isaiah 28, verse 9. Whom shall he, God, who shall God teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine, the truths of God? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the bread. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little. What you talking about, Lord? In other words, we got folks that might have been in the church 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, and they're still babies. They're still babies. Well, who is it that God is going to teach knowledge? Who is he going to teach to understand his doctrine? He's going to teach them that are growing, that are growing in the grace and in the knowledge of God. Those are the ones that he weans from the breast. Those are the ones that he don't worry about being tossed to and fro by the things that go on in the world. Why? Because they're growing, they're not infants anymore. Some of us join the church, but we don't practice the church. Some of us say we love the Lord, but we don't pray. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. If you want to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord, and He'll teach you. Because you can read the Bible all you want. There's a whole lot of folks who read the Bible and don't know nothing. Because God hasn't taught them anything. Why? Because they're not committed to God. God blesses them that bless Him. God strengthens them that strengthen in Him. God calls them and gives them what they need. Why do you think Job was able to say, though he slayed me, yet will I trust him? Why was he able to say, the Lord gives and the Lord taketh away? Why did God tell Satan, when he asked him, what you doing here? And Satan said, I'm just walking to and fro in the world, doing everything I want. And God said, have you considered my servant Job? Some of us, we wouldn't have to worry about God saying, have you considered him? He already know we wishy-washy. Make up your mind right now, and I say it every week no matter what I preach. You make up your mind that whenever we come through this, whenever I'm back in my assembly in the church, whenever I'm back out going around like I used to, I want to make sure that I'm stronger then. than I am right now. It takes work to do that. You gotta read the Word of God. You gotta apply the Word of God to your daily life. Now let's look at Ephesians. The thought I want to leave with you is in that first verse. He said, Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children. But sometimes the crowd is hard not to follow. Follow God. But sometimes I get so much pressure that it makes me angry. Follow God. You follow God. And now as we go through that, that's what I want to remind you of in the fifth chapter. Because first, Paul talks about following God when you're looking at him. Then he deals with following God as we interact with our brothers and our sisters. Then he deals with following God as husbands and as wives. And then in chapter 6 next week, he even looks at it as children. So in all aspects of life, Paul is about to tell you, you need to follow God, book, chapter, and verse. Talk, don't get the job done. So verse 2 he says, and walk in love. Walk in love. as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering, a sacrifice to God for the sweet-smelling savage. Now let's look at those offerings, because you had the bloody offerings, and you had the offerings that weren't. But our Lord fulfilled every single Old Testament offering. He was the burnt offering, which depicted His perfection. He was the grain offering, which depicted the total devotion, His total devotion to God. He was the peace offering, because without Him, we don't have no peace. Every one of them. Now the sin offering, He was also that. But in that offering, Two offerings, the sin offering and the guilt or trespass offering. When all these offerings, God could rejoice in His Son. But when He got to the sin offering, He was repulsive. Why? Because He was made sin for us. His love for us. His caring for us. Caused Him to put on sin who didn't know no sin. So for one moment in time, our Lord God looked at his own son, only begotten son, and he looked at him at sin. And he cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He did it for you. He did it for your sake. And then he tells us now, walk in love. What love? The same love that made Christ go to the cross. The same love that left him hanging there when they put a nail in his right hand, they put a nail in his left hand, then they put nails through both his feet. And he hanged there, and when it got hard to breathe and he'd have to stretch himself up, his muscles and his lungs began to come apart. He said in the book of Psalms, he said he was talking to his bones. They beat him before he even got to the cross. What made him keep going? His love for you. His love for you. And now, now Paul tells us, walk in that same love. Well, how do I walk in the same love Christ has? Do you know you've been born by the Spirit of God? Do you know that being born by the Spirit of God, God has put that love in you? The same love that Christ had for you is put inside of you. And He tells you about that love in 1 Corinthians 13. He said, charity, which is divine love, it suffers long. Y'all don't hear me now. You need to walk in that love. That love need to control how you talk to each other, how you interact with each other. It's long-suffering. Charity is kind. Charity, God's divine love, does not mistreat. Charity doesn't envy. It's not jealous of nobody. Charity bondeth not itself. Charity will not lift you up with pride. When you're allowing God's love to control you, your interactions, When you grow in His grace and His knowledge, charity will keep you from doing wrong things. Why throw it? Because He says, charity doth not behave itself unseemly. Charity seeketh not her own. I'm not interested in myself when I'm following what the Lord wants me to do. I'm interested in my brothers and my sisters. One more thing. He said charity is not easily provoked. And he said walk in that same love. It don't get mad real quick. It don't get confrontational. Y'all don't hear me. If God's love is controlling you, you will walk in charity. Let me tell you something else about charity. Paul said it bears all things. It believes all things. It believes every single word of the Lord. I read it, and I may not understand it, but I know if God said it, it's the truth. Something else about charity. Charity will never fail. I want y'all to make up your mind right now, when Ella Watters finishes this sermon, I'm going to leave here, and I'm going to be a follower of God. The world don't mean me no good. Verse 3, he says, listen to this. but fornication, and uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as become a saint. I don't have to explain to you what this is or what that is. I can't do nothing but bear witness to what you already know. How you gonna prove that to the Lord? Because Jeremiah 31 and 31 say he writes his laws in your heart, he prints them in your mind, and no more will a man teach his neighbor and brother to know me. My preaching can't do nothing but, you can rejoice in it, or you can be condemned in it. So he says, fornication, uncleanness, immoral stuff, covetousness, I want it, and I want it at any cost. I know some of y'all don't know what I'm talking about. But if you don't be careful, you will find yourself getting caught up with something. Caught up with people, caught up with places, caught up with things that don't mean you no good. And you will put those things as more important in your life than God. Knowing that is wrong. Put away covetousness from you. Covetousness is, I want to do what I want to do, and I don't care who it hurt or what it cost. And I'm going to tell you something else. Everything that God establishes in His Word. Satan makes the same thing. To confuse you. I call it counterfeit. Satan has counterfeit faith. The scripture says faith without works is dead. Satan got a counterfeit love. It's a natural love. I love you today but tomorrow I don't love you no more. Satan got counterfeit joy. For you think somebody is making you happy and then you think, then all of a sudden you find out that person is the worst person and cause you more hurt, more harm and more danger. It's counterfeit. Satan got counterfeit peace. You think you at peace, but then all you need, you just waiting for trouble to come. Satan has a counterfeit meekness. He don't come along looking at you with no pointed horns on his head and a pointed tail. He meek. Look like he harmless. It's counterfeit. It's counterfeit. Satan has one desire for the people of God. I want to destroy you. I want to destroy your marriage. I want to destroy your family. I want to destroy your church. I want to destroy everything about you. And I'm not going to make you do none of it. You made your own choices. It's all counterfeit. God's love is real. God's love will protect you. God's love will encircle you. God's love will keep you from walking down the wrong path. Jeremiah, and you know I'm gonna tell you something else Satan got a whole lot of counterfeit preachers out here too. Y'all don't hear me? There's a lot of preachers that's counterfeit. God told Jeremiah on one occasion in the 23rd chapter, the 21st verse, God said, I didn't send them prophets. But they went. They have spoken, and I didn't tell them to speak. We got them right in there in the pulpit. That's why it behooves you. Don't just listen to what Elder John Wallace say. You take what I say, and if you can't go prove it by the word of God, you think John Wallace can guarantee his word? I can't guarantee nothing. But God guarantees His words, book, chapter and verse, line upon line, precept upon precept, hear a little and bear a little. If you can't find it in Malachi, look over in John. If you can't find it in John, look over in the book of Philippians. If you can't find it in Philippians, look over in the book of Colossians. Hear a little and bear a little. That's the Word of God, church. That's the Word of God. And guess what else? It is not counterfeit. He goes on and he says in verse 4, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. If you're going to follow God, you don't need to do no filthiness. This is talking about indecent, unseen, low. Not foolish talking. Let me take a minute and tell you about that word. Y'all familiar with the English word moron? When somebody calls you a moron, you're going to get mad, won't you? Well, our English word moron came from the Greek word mora that was translated into foolish talking. In other words, what God has said is if you don't know, be quiet. If you open up your mouth, then everybody know you don't know. Y'all don't hear me. Some people just love to talk. Love to argue about anything. You're a moron. Paul called you a fool. I'm just saying you're a moron. Same thing. He said, don't do foolish talking. Now jesting. What is jesting? Jesting, you ever seen a, and nothing wrong with comedians, but jesting means a person that'll take something that's not quite the truth and make it into worse than what it was. You ever seen them comedians that take somebody, and they take a situation in life, and in some cases it might be somebody that was hurt. Maybe somebody that was hurt, and they make fun of the hurt. That's jesting. God don't like it. God don't like taking human situations and circumstances, things that hurt me, things that harm me, and you belittle it and make fun of me. He said, these things are not convenient. Then what should we do, Lord, if I follow you? Give thanks. Giving thanks to God is a powerful thing. When I woke up this morning, I had to say, thank you, Jesus. Before I came in here to try to preach to you, I had to say, thank you, Jesus. When I look over at my wife, and not doing well, I have to say, thank you, Jesus. When we have words with one another, because everything ain't always great. But I still gotta turn around and say, thank you, Jesus. Mama and Daddy not here no more, but for as long as I had them, I gotta say, thank you, Jesus. Some of you done lost husbands and lost wives, and you can look at the void in your life, or you can look at the light and say, thank you, Jesus. Y'all don't hear me. Why do he talk like that? Rather giving thanks, because the more I think about what I got to thank God for, the less time I got to be worried about talking about stuff that don't make no sense. Thank Him. Thank Him when you're driving down the highway. Thank Him when you're talking to somebody. When you meet somebody in a store, say thank you Jesus. My mother had to teach me that. Mom couldn't go nowhere. She'd get in the elevator and by the time she got off the elevator she knew everybody in there. They all laughing and talking. That's the ministry she had. We all have that ministry. Learn how to talk. Let people know how you feel about the Lord. Don't be quiet about it. Thank you, Lord. I shout it. How you doing today? Oh, thank you, Jesus. I'm here. How you feeling today? Thank you, Jesus. I'm feeling all right. I've got this may be heard and that may be heard, but blood is still running through my veins. You'll be followers of God. In verse five, he says, for this, you know, no whoremonger nor unclean person Not because that's just man. Now watch him there. Who is an idolater have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Now some of y'all is gonna scare you. That scared me too. Because you might have named me in a couple of them things. Well guess what? If you've been born from above, there is a nature in you that God put there. That nature has the gifts of the fruit of spirit, love, joy, gentleness, meekness, faith. That nature has all the laws of God written in it. John said about that nature, he that is born of God cannot sin, for his seed remaineth in him. Yes, I do things in the flesh. All my righteousness is nothing but filthy rags. But I thank my God that I'm clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Sometimes I fall down and I do that which I'm not supposed to do but but that's that's practice Practice is what I do, but position is where I stand with the Lord in practice I fall short of the glory of God But in position in which is where I stand when I fall on my knees and pray heaven is gonna move So no those things they cannot inherit the kingdom of Christ, but you not of that I So you need to learn how to walk away from things that look that way. You know when you're doing right, and you know when you're doing wrong. Be ye followers of God. Then he turned around, ooh, I need a loud speaker now, y'all. So I can open up my window. Verse 6 says, let no man deceive you with vain words. But because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Two groups of people here. I want you to know there are only two kinds of people in the world. There are only two seeds in the world. One God's and one Satan's. Ain't no in-between. You either belong to God, you may not have been born again yet, but your name is written in heaven. And you just, the Spirit in his own time will quicken you and add you to that body. The others are Satan's. You thank him for it. And then he said, when you've been born from above, Don't be so easily deceived. Don't be so quick to follow after somebody that don't know what they're talking about. Don't you know? I call them alley mechanics. Y'all done met some of them people. Every problem you got, they got the answer to it. Alley mechanic. You easily deceived. Who is it that will not deceive me? I said, I thank God. for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He will not deceive me. He will not leave me. He will not forsake you. And I read earlier to you, if you need knowledge, He'll give it to you. If you need wisdom, He'll give it to you. I'll tell you what else He'll do, church. He'll fight your battles. You stop messing with me, and I'm growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, and I'm trying every day to walk upright before God. Every day I'm trying to praise Him. All I want to do is rejoice in Him and talk. I dare you to mess with me. Some of y'all know folks like that. You better be careful. Abimelech looked at Abraham, and he saw Sarah. Oh boy, Sarah was a good-looking woman. Abimelech looked at her, and he wanted her for himself. Abimelech laid down on her, but Abraham was a man of faith. Abimelech laid down that night, and God came to him in a dream. And God said, if you touch him, you ain't nothing but a dead man. And Abimelech knew who it was that was talking to him in the dream. He woke up and he said, Lord, he told me that was his sister. My error wouldn't have been my fault. God said, yeah, but I held you back from sinning against me. In other words, you would have did it had I not stopped you from doing it. You trust God. He's a way maker. He's a heart fixer. He's a mind regulator. He's a wonderful counselor. You put your trust in Him. Don't be deceived by the things that men say. Everything a man tells you got a beginning and it's got an end. Everything in this Bible is eternal. God don't change. He can't change. He can't lie. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And you know what else? You ought to go out and tell the world about it. I dare you to try something over the next week. You know how much you talk about God? And God gives you... God makes sure that you have all kind of opportunities to talk about how good he is. So over the next week, I want you to keep telling yourself, I'm going to take every opportunity I can. And instead of talking about this person, instead of talking about that person, instead of talking about COVID-19, I'm going to talk about Jesus. He's a shelter in the time of a storm. He's a rock in a weary land. He's the Prince of Peace. He's the Everlasting Father. He's like the shadow of a great rock over my head. He recircles me, protects me, shields me. And when I talk, I'm gonna praise Him. And the more you start talking like that, guess what'll happen? Pretty soon, when the preachers stop preaching, and you remember how you used to doze off, you won't doze off no more, because you're hungry in your soul to hear the Word of God. You have to train yourself to be that way. And then, the more you keep thinking about the Lord, guess what'll happen? I'm walking. I'm walking. But my mind has stayed on Jesus. And pretty soon, things happened in my life and it used to be that they would move me. But the more I keep talking about it, they don't move me no more. Because if I live, I'm going to magnify. What did Paul say? If I live, I'm going to magnify. And if I die, I'm going home to be with Him. I dare you to try it. What is it in your life that don't work? If all God is looking over us, there are some things, God, you think you could fix it, God will let you go ahead and try. What is it in your life that don't work? It don't work because you ain't turned it over to God. You say the kids ain't working because you ain't raising them the way God said. The marriage ain't working because you ain't dealing with it the way God said deal with it. God don't have nothing that don't work unless he gives you the strength to make it work. I dare you to try. In the seventh verse, he said, listen at this now, be not therefore partakers with them. I was reading the newspaper the other day, and it was talking about these people that are going around stirring up people by breaking the windows and looting. And they started and then they go off to the next place. But so many people get caught up in it. and they go run right there in the store and start the stealing. Don't do that. These people ain't looking out for your well-being. These people that's getting you stirred up to do something wrong, you think they care about you? They don't care about you. He says, be ye not therefore partakers with men that deceive you with their vain words. Don't do it. You know how to walk in the light of the Lord. Walk in his light. He goes on church and he said, For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord. Walk as the children of light. What do you mean by that? Sometimes I was darkness. Let me make it real plain to you. It's easy for me to talk about me because I know more about me than anybody else. There was a time in life that I didn't care about the church. There was a time in life that my father said when I was born, he heard a voice that plainly told him another preacher is born in the world. But until I was 30 years old, I made him think he done had a nightmare. I wasn't going to preach. I was going to live the life I wanted to live. I was going to do what I wanted to do. I walked in darkness. And I can't say I didn't like the darkness. I kept doing it. You can't say you didn't like darkness and you out there keep doing it. But one day, Lord have mercy. One day, God turned my world upside down. I've always loved the job that I had. People say, you don't never work if you love your job. Well, I always loved mine. Spent all kind of hours at EDS, Electronic Data System, ADP, Automatic Data Processing. Always loved it. They got time to be reading no Bible. Boy, one day the Lord began to mess with me. I got so confused I couldn't talk to nobody but my brother Gene. The only reason I could talk to Gene is because he knew me, he knew the good, he knew the bad and the ugly. Gene told me one day, he said, John, I believe the Lord working with you. And right now, as of this point in time, if you don't do what the Lord tell you to do, your life is going to be turned upside down. There ain't a God called preacher nowhere that can't tell you that when I wanted, didn't want to preach. Something let me know that if I don't preach, life ain't never going to be the same. God not only calls you to the job, he gives you the desire to do the job so that those old songs that I never liked, them old backwards primitive baptist ain't got no pianos, ain't got no choir, who want to be singing them old funny songs? You know, when the Lord finished messin' with me, I hear them songs of tears start rollin' down my face. And I hear them old preachers start to preachin', and it's just like they just steppin' all over me. And let me tell you somethin', church. I'm gonna tell you somethin' right now. Anybody that know me, you can't stop me from preachin'. You can't stop me. I don't know nothing else to do. Yeah, I loved my job, but I don't love nothing more than I love preachers. I love answering questions about God's Word. They ain't my answers, they ain't God's answers. What the God calls you to do, He gives you the desire to want to do it. Some of you know what I'm talking about. Don't get caught up with no things of the world. You were sometimes in darkness, but if you were born by the Spirit of God, you are now in the light of the Lord. Walk in that light. Don't be walking out there in darkness. He goes on in verse 9 and he says, For the fruit of the Spirit, y'all hear me? For the fruit of the Spirit is all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Now listen now, what he's talking about, he's not talking about the attributes of the fruit of the Spirit. He's saying every one of those attributes fall into these categories. Goodness, righteousness, and truth. What are you talking about? Well, what are the fruit of the Spirit? Love is the fruit of the Spirit. Not your love. That's divine love that God put in you. Your love is turned on today and turned off tomorrow. God's love is always on. He gives you joy. If you say that you can't find no joy, then you ain't using what God gave you. Because you got a joy in times of sorrow, He gives you peace in the middle of confusion. I could be going through the valley and guess what? I know I'm going to get out. I just don't know when. But while I'm walking down here, I'm going to walk in the light of the Lord. He gives you long-suffering. You know that person that get on your last nerve? Y'all know what I'm talking about? God gives you long-suffering that you can deal with that person. He gives you gentleness. Some of us think gentleness is weakness. Well, if this is the fruit of the Spirit of God, is my God weak? My God ain't weak. He speak and His work is done. He give a command and it'll stand fast. He gives you goodness. He gives you faith. How do you believe in God? You think you just made up your mind one day, Oh Lord, come into my heart. That don't even make nonsense. I told you in the beginning, there ain't but two children in the world and they didn't choose which one they wanted to be. The children of Satan and the children of God. Go read John chapter 8. Meekness he gives you temperance with God's right deal with you. You can't look at life and say they made me so mad I start acting crazy. God taught you how to temper you learn how to use it And then he said against such there is no law who you gonna follow You be followers of God. These things will change your life. They'll change your marriage. They'll change your relationship They'll change your interactions with people. I dare you to try what the Lord says Then in verse 10, now listen at this. I had an old friend, Al Field. Al not well right now. We ought to always keep Al in prayer. But when Al was young, Al used to say, there's a whole lot of church folks, they ain't nothing but gophers. And I said, what you mean, Al, they gophers? He said, they just gopher anything. Gopher anything. Paul said in the 10th verse, proving that which is acceptable unto the Lord. Don't jump up and do anything. Don't jump up and say anything. When you're talking to a husband, talking to your wife, talking to the kids at your job, make sure you prove, think about what you're saying. If it ain't acceptable to God, put your hand over your mouth. You do what's acceptable to Him. You know what else? Let me make this clear. What is it that you want in life? What is it you want? The 34th Psalm said, what man is he that desires life and love as many days that he might see good? But then David turned around and he answered it, because like I said, God's book got a guarantee in it. What do I do, David? Keep your tongue from evil. and thy lips from speaking God. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. I dare you to try that. I dare you to try it. See if the Lord don't. And I don't mean go out there and I did that last week, but it don't work. Like I said in the beginning of this message, anybody that tell you they tried God and it didn't work, it's a lie. They didn't try God. Because the people that have tried God talk like this. If I knew back then, what I know right now, my life would be so much better. That's a person that's done tried the Lord. Anybody tell you that Jesus don't work? Religion don't work? God, the Bible don't work? It's cause you ain't tried to make it work. God will not deny himself. I dare you to try him. Then he says in verse 11, Don't have fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. I don't need to point out the wrong you do to reprove your wrongs. I just carry myself the way God wants me to carry myself. Don't have no fellowship with works of darkness, and darkness is all around. Right now, you have to be careful who you talk to, because they'll give you a big long list of how bad the world is. And when they give you that big long list, some of us will sit up and nod our heads. Don't do that. You know God done told you if my people, which are called by my name, if they just do these four things, Humble themselves. Pray. Seek my faith. Turn from their wicked ways. What you gonna do, Lord? Then will I heal from heaven. Y'all don't hear me? I heal their sin. Forgive their sin. And I will heal their land. I dare you to do that. Humble themselves and pray. Seek my faith. Turn from their wicked ways. I dare you to try it, church. He can't deny himself. He will not deny himself. So when you hear people talking about it don't work, the only people that say it don't work are people that's walking in darkness. Not people walking in the light. Start walking in the light. Be ye therefore followers of God. Don't let nothing turn you around. Donella Wallace ain't got no money. Be followers of God. Beneath the waters, my body is just wracked with pain. Be followers of God. Beneath the waters, I thought this job was going to happen, going to happen forever. Now that I've lost that job, be followers of God. You ain't got nobody in your life that'll open doors the way God opened them. The 12th verse, he said this, it is a shame to speak of those things which are done in secret. What are you talking about? You know when you do wrong and you're trying to hide it from everybody? Well, God said if you want to learn how not to have fellowship with the works of darkness, don't even talk about it. To talk about evil is evil. Don't talk about it. Don't let it get rooted in your mind. When you wake up in the morning, if things are going bad, push it out of your mind. Why? Because Paul said whatsoever things are true, not your truth, God's truth. Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of a good report, what are you thinking about something in your mind for and it ain't no good. Paul said don't put, put it out of your mind. He said if there's any virtue or any praise, think on these things. Watch what you allow to get in your head. You let evil thoughts in your head get in your head, then you get in a confrontation and pretty soon you're going to be doing evil. It's a shame to even speak of those things, but now listen to this. Verse 13, But all things that are approved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever does make manifest is the light of God. Lord have mercy. God shows us wrong. You don't have to figure it out. A lot of people say experience is the best teacher. You crazy. This is the best teacher. Book, chapter, and verse. I don't need to experience things to know they're bad for me. The Bible is the best teacher. God is the best teacher. His spirit is the best leader. He goes on in verse 14. Wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest. Oh boy. I hate to explain this one to you. Awake now that sleepeth, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. I used to sleep a lot, y'all. I'd run in the streets of San Jose, run in the streets of Oakland, thought I was having a good time, I would sleep. Sleep. What he means by that is those that are asleep from the things of God. Wide awake to the things of the world. He's saying, wake up! Wake up! Arise from the dead and Christ will give you the light. When you make up your mind that I'm going to get up from the world and I'm going to do God's will, the light will turn on. He'll show me, he'll talk to me and let me know what's right and what's wrong. One of the writers said you will hear a still small voice say, this is the way. Walk ye in it. I tell people all the time, they wonder, did God do this? You don't have to wonder about what God did. You don't have to wonder, is God punishing me? Which of you have a parent and the parent will punish you and don't tell you why you're getting a whooping? God is the same way. If God is punishing you, then he gonna let you know exactly why he punishing you. So if you feel like you're being punished, you're not doing something God wants you to do. I dare you to try it. I hear some background noise there, please turn off your background, those of you that are on the other, that's not on Facebook. Then he says, listen at this, in verse 13, verse 15, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, that's that same word, morons. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as morons, but as wise. That's obviously telling me that God got some people that are morons. How did they get that way? By not paying attention to their situation and their circumstance. Do you know that this body can get accustomed to anything? You keep doing wrong long enough and you'll think it's right. The scriptures say you'll start calling evil good and good evil. Walk circumstantially when you follow the Lord. Follow book, chapter, and verse, line upon line. Quit making up your own way to go. Don't make it up. God tells you what He wants you to do. In the 16th verse, and this is important, He says, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Every day that you're standing on this earth is evil. The world is evil. So what you want me to do, Lord, I want you to purchase the time for my sake. Well, how do I purchase time? Well, right now the world is acting crazy, Lord, but I'm going to go down here to the corner, and all I'm going to do is talk about the goodness of God. And everybody that bring up a conversation, how you doing? I'm doing fine, the Lord is with me. And I don't mean I'm doing fine because I'm blessed. Everybody's blessed. I'm doing fine because I woke up this morning. I'm doing fine because I got a fair portion of my health and my strength. I'm doing fine because I had a good mother, a good father. I'm doing fine because I got three brothers, and if I need something, they'll help me. I'm doing fine because I got a church, nothing but a little small church, but I know they love me. I'm doing good. I don't know what I'd do if I was doing any better than I'm doing right now. But wait a minute, COVID-19 has shown up here. It's either gonna leave me here doing fine, or it's gonna take me home to the Lord. Y'all don't hear me. I'm doing fantastic. How you doing fantastic? Because greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. I can do all things through Christ which is my strength. All things. Redeem the time. What do you mean redeem it? Purchase time from this evil world that you've given to the Lord. Give it to Him. He'll bless you for it. You know what? God has done all this for us. I wish I could make you understand what I'm saying. God has done all this for us. And then the scripture says, Romans 12 and 1, present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to the Lord, which ain't nothing but your reasonable service. What do you mean reasonable? Based on all he's done for you, giving your life to him ain't nothing but reasonable. Then guess what he turn around and do? He takes it and he puts it in the bank for you. He's done all this for you. And then, when you will try to be faithful, and I said try to be, because all of us are going to mess up, fall on your knees, and Lord have mercy and get back up and do better. What is He going to do? He's going to forgive you. He's forgiven us. He's going to forgive you. Now don't keep doing it over and over and saying it, because He'll leave you to yourself. But as long as I'm trying to do better, He ain't turning on me. I dare you to try. And then when you start trying him, based on what he's given you, cause some of us God done gave a whole lot. Some of us God gives a little. So the scripture tells us he gives to every one of us a measure of grace. That means that you and I could do the same thing out in the world. And I turn into a drug addict and it don't bother you at all. That mean you better than me? No. We got a measure of grace. But what it also is, is that when I'm doing mine, you know some people we can look at them and we think, oh they're so good. And then we turn around and read in the newspaper they ain't worth, as my brother say, they ain't worth two dead flies. Find out that they done abused somebody, took advantage of somebody. Let me tell you how God works. God works like this. If I bless you a lot, if I give you a lot, I expect more from you than the person who I only blessed a little and gave a little. So the scripture says, under whom much is given, much is required. So you and I can do the same thing, and we get punished for it, and my punishment can be way worse than yours. You use your God-given gifts and talents to praise God, glorify God, talk about God, follow Christ. Be ye followers of God. Verse 17 he says, wherefore, be ye not unwise. Don't be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. What does God want you to do? I'm reading to you some of it, but for those of you who have a pencil, I'm going to give you a bunch of them. What does God want me to do? Read Colossians chapter 3. What does God want me to do? Read Philippians chapter 2. What does God want me to do? Read Ephesians chapter 4, 5, and 6. And when you finish Colossians and Ephesians 4, 5, and 6 and Philippians chapter 2 and you finish them, come back and see me after you finish that and I'll give you the rest of what He wants you to do. I dare you to try. I dare you to try. I don't know no God like our God. Don't know none. Then he goes on and he said, now listen at this. Verse 18, and be not drunk with wine, quarreling is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Let me tell y'all how stupid I used to be. My brother's on this call, my sister's on this call, my kid's on this call. I used to be so stupid out there in the world, Me and my cousin, and he gone home to glory now. I used to drink Chavez Regal. And every time I hit a bar, I'd say, Chavez with three olives in it. So every time a waitress heard that, she knew John in the house somewhere. So Chavez Regal with three olives. Got to my mom's house, they done went to a church meeting. Wasn't even 21 yet. My wife and I was dating. We sitting there and me and my cousin get in an argument, it don't matter his name, you know my name. We went out and bought two fifths of Chavez Regal. Then we bought two six pack of Olympia beer. Sat up there like two fools and drank them till we passed out. Ray was there, passed out. Do you know what they said? When you drink so much alcohol and you pass out, you one step away from death. One step away from death. How stupid is that? And I look back at it now, you can't tell me the Lord ain't always been watching me. I tell people in a minute, I am not the brightest bulb on the tree. But I ran the entire Western Division of Automatic Data Processing in these United States. 5,000 people. Who did it, John Wallace? The God in John Wallace. I dare you to try my God. If something don't work in your life, he'll make it work. You commit your life to him, he'll turn your life around. I dare you to try him. He said, don't be drunk with wine like I just told you about. It's excess. What do you want me to do? I want you to be filled with the Spirit of God. I want you to walk in the Spirit, talk in the Spirit, act like the Spirit, move with the Spirit, be led by the Spirit. I dare you to try that. Dare you to try it. You be followers of God. Then he says this, and I'm gonna stop. And since I didn't finish, that means part two gonna be next week. It'll give y'all a chance to study and practice. It's going to take me another hour to get through the other 13 verses. He says in verse 19, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. The world needs to hear that. Because the world thinks it ain't church if there ain't no guitar there. It ain't no church if there ain't no piano there. But he said, I want you to speak to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. How many of you just like music? Don't music soothe you? Don't you have music that just comforts you? Sometimes you can be all stressed out and you just sing a song. And it'll just take all your troubles away. What the Lord is saying is the stresses that you have in life. The frustrations that you have in life. Learn how to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Not with pianos and organs and all that. Make it melody in your heart to the Lord. A psalm is a testament. It's music that was made primarily for praying in the temple. And it was talking about the nature of God in the psalms. Read them, you can see. Those are music. A hymn is a song of praise. It's praising God, thanking Him for what He's done for you. I dare you to try. And He tells, when you talk to each other, sing a song. When you talk to each other, sing a hymn. Your words ought to be like comforting songs. And then He says, and sing spiritual songs. Well, what is a spiritual song? A spiritual song is a testimony that I have of what the Lord has done for me. Y'all don't hear me. I can talk about him and say my daughter's 33 years old, but I knew there was a God when he brought her out of that hospital in Southern California. I've been driving in dangerous places, dead driving down the road and almost running into a truck on a narrow bridge and me and my three brothers, Greg wasn't born yet. And he threw up his hands and said, Lord have mercy. We don't know how we got on the other side of that bridge. God took us there. God took us there. So when you sing spiritual songs, if you got a testimony, you ought to be able to look at your life and say, I know the Lord brought me this far. I know it was his grace that got me this far in my life. His grace keeps me here. I dare you to try it. That's how we need. Well, where'd the music come from? Cause in the Old Testament, they had music. In the Old Testament, God took the music away. I don't want to be jumping on nobody and what they believe. But God took the music out of the Old Testament. God told Amos, said, I don't want to hear your vials. I don't want to hear your assemblies. I don't want to hear your music no more. Read the fifth chapter of Amos and the sixth chapter. Where did the music come from? Jesus said, they that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. Where does it come from? My melody come from my heart, because my mind has stayed on Jesus. Not no piano, not no stringed instrument. He didn't put them in the new church. Man did that. God took him out of the old church. He did not put him in no new church. You can go read that for yourself. Then he said this and I'm going to close. In verse 20. Next week we'll do the last 13 verses because they're powerful. In verse 20 he says, Give him thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do y'all need an example of giving thanks to God? Did you wake up this morning? Say thank you Jesus. Are you listening in a streaming device? Say thank you Jesus. Do you have friends and loved ones in your life that I know if they call, that if I call them, they'll be over here to help me? Say thank you Jesus. I'm thinking when I go to the doctor, I'm going to say thank you Jesus. When I look at my children, my grandchildren, my nieces and my nephews, I'm going to say thank you Jesus. By the time I finish thanking God for all He's done for me, I ain't got time to be worried about nothing going on in this world. Y'all don't hear me? So it's this day. Make up your mind the rest of this day, my mind is going to be stayed on the Lord. I dare you to try. I dare you to try to God I serve. Let me tell you how He talks. He says, I am God. And there is none else. I'm God and there is none like me. I will not share my glory. I declare the end from the beginning. From ancient times, things that are not yet done, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Who wouldn't serve a God like that? I dare you to try my gospel. A day to try. Daniel tried it. Daniel went down to the lion den. The king didn't want to put Daniel there. Daniel went on down there anyway. The king got up in that morning and said, Daniel, Daniel, did your God save you? Guess what? God took the appetite out of the lion's mouth. Who was it that saved the three Hebrew boys? When they told the king, live forever. But the God we serve, listen how the Hebrew boys talk. They say he is able to deliver us and he will deliver us, but guess what? Even if he don't deliver us, we still not going to buy. Make up your mind that no matter what happens to me, I'm going to walk in the light of the Lord. I'm going to follow the Lord. I'm going to talk like God. I'm going to shout like God. I'm going to always thank God for who he is and what he is. He's been so good to me. I dare you to try that. I dare you to try it. I'm going to stop right there. If you make up your mind, I'm sorry I didn't get to finish that chapter because there's more good stuff in it. But next week we'll do that. But you make up your mind right now, the rest of this week, I'm going to be a follower of God. The rest of this week, I'm going to go closer to the Lord. The rest of this week, I'm going to tell somebody about the goodness of God and what he's done to me. And if he's done it for me, he'll sure enough do it for you. I thank all of you. God bless all of you. I dare you to try my God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Bow with me in a world of prayer. Most holy and all wise God. Father God, we just thank you. Father, I can't thank you enough. I thank you for watching over me from the earliest of my days down to this present moment in time. I thank you, Lord, for being a battle axe in the time of a war. Thank you, Lord, for being a shelter in the time of a storm. And yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Lord, I won't fear no evil, because I know you with me. I can leap over mountains, Lord, because of you. You give me my strength. You keep me. You said you would never leave me nor forsake me. You said you'd be the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. We lean in and depend on an independent God. Go with those that are on this call, Lord. Give them strength. Give them the eye-right of their mind that they might focus on your word and try to live your word in their everyday life, redeeming the time, taking it from the world, and giving their time to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. God bless all of you. Go make somebody happy. Love you too, sis. Love you too. See you, Niecy Wilson. Out there, praise his name. You're right, sis. Just praise him. I dare you to try. He won't leave you. He's not going to forsake you. He always, he's right. He's always there. See, Sister Laura saying amen. Sister Vanita, God bless all of you. God bless all of you. Really appreciate you being there. Keep me in prayer. Keep me in prayer. Sister Pernell, love you, sis. Pray for Mama today and hope she's doing better. Ask everybody else to pray for her, too. that we know who's able. Oh, Willie Benson out there. God bless you, Bill. God bless you, God bless you. Another pastor out there. Then I see my cousin, Jack. Happy Father's Day to you too, Bill. Happy Father's Day. I thought I might be able to finish that fifth chapter, but I can't, and I can't leave it off. Hi, Darlene. My cousin's down in Arkansas. It's amazing all this streaming stuff. I get friend requests from the Philippines and from Africa and everywhere. Sister Sharon, how you doing sis? I guess if I was going to stay on and say hi, I could have finished a few more verses on it. Y'all read the rest of that fifth chapter. Read the rest of that. Sister Jerry, and y'all know I don't do what people I don't like calling people's name or not, but I had somebody tell me this morning, last night, they said, I'm going to be on the call and I'm going to be there every weekend. Do not mention my name. Sister Jerry, I didn't mention your name. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. God bless all of you. I'm going to go now. I got to check on the boss over in there. She wasn't able to come sit with me. She don't like me to tell when she's here now, but she wasn't able to this morning. So God bless all of you. Be ye followers of God. God bless you.