This was Higher Plains Baptist Church group from Oklahoma City to use their talents to serve the Lord. And I'm always super impressed with people that have musical talents. Maybe because I have none. And I hope all of you that are extra blessed with musical talents are thankful for, obviously, the talent that was withheld from me so that you could have extra. I hope that you're enjoying that. But when I get to heaven, I want it back, OK? And I love that. Excellent job. Very, very good. Well, we've had a great week at camp and appreciate the spirit, all the churches that are represented. And I've just enjoyed myself. I love just meandering around, watching the competitions, watching the excitement. What a good spirit. and the young people have been so easy to preach to, and that's a testimony to their churches, to their parents, and thank you, young people, testimony to you, and so I appreciate this opportunity, and your pastor's so well-spoken of all across the country, and I really mean that. Him and his wife just have a wonderful reputation. I've heard so many good things about the ministry here through the years, and first time I've had a chance to be on the property, and I kinda just snooped around. Preacher, when we go to the other churches, we just kind of snoop around and peek indoors and steal ideas. And my church members think I'm brilliant because I'm always coming up with these great ideas and they don't realize I'm just stealing them from all the people that are capable of coming up with good ideas. And so anyway, I've just enjoyed it and loved my time here. And yes, Melvin Franklin came and found me. Before church we were in Bible college together about a hundred years ago I think it was and his dear wife there and it's always good to run into people that Here all these many years later still serving the Lord still faithful to God and that always does my heart so much good let's go to Genesis chapter number three tonight Genesis chapter three and I appreciate the opportunity and Genesis chapter number three, of course, those of you that know the Bible, Genesis one, two, we're talking about the creation story, and it's a wonderful thing to watch what our great creator God did, and just speaking the worlds into existence. And then, of course, it chronicles the creation of man, where God stops speaking things into existence and reaches down with his hands and forms man out of the dust of the earth, and then God's lips touch man's lips and breathe into his nostrils the breath of life, and man becomes a living soul. And then we get into Genesis chapter three, and unfortunately, boy, we're a mess as humans, aren't we? I mean, folks, there wasn't 10 rules, 15 rules, 20 rules, 3 rules. There was one rule. And we see that the devil, come on, the devil comes along. Young people, you better be careful. The devil's a liar. Don't ever think he's your friend. He's a liar and a murderer. He'd like to kill off all of your good potential and all the things that you could do for the Lord. And so he comes along and we know the story of the temptation of Eve and then the fall of mankind. Let's pick up our reading in verse number six. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise. She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard, now think about this, verse eight, and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And then think about this, and Adam and his wife, what did they do? Hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God. the Lord God Amongst the trees of the garden and the Lord God said unto Adam And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him notice what he says where art thou? Hmm and he said I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked notice the last phrase here and I hid Myself Heavenly Father, I pray dear God that you would help us Lord. She would minister to our hearts through the message Lord. I pray that you'd help us Lord to be reminded of something that I believe everybody in here Knows we know it But Lord, I pray, dear God, that from now on, from this night forward, we would live as if we know it. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. When we were kids, we lived out in the country. We didn't have a whole lot. Back in those days, if we wanted to entertain ourselves, it was our job to come up with ways to entertain ourselves. So I always liked it when mom and dad would take us over to one of their friends house And they had kids and you know the adults would be in the house doing the adult stuff But all of us kids would want to go outside and play and we always played all kinds of games But we would put off playing one particular game until after dark because that's the best time to play Hide and seek you got it hide and seek all right good you played in Kansas do then huh? Well, let's see if we played it about the same way, okay? Because the first thing that we did, it took us a half hour to get the game started because we would argue over everything. The first big decision was who was going to be... Exactly, it. Now, you know, if they called it a more attractive title, maybe people would volunteer, but who really wants to be an it? So everybody would argue back and forth and yeah, I was it last know you were that was two times ago And and we'd be pointing and trying to get everybody else to nominate this person and finally somebody would just get frustrated go all right I'll be it but he's not happy about it because he's a Exactly. And who wants to be an it? And so then the it would decide that, okay, I will close my eyes and I will count to 10. And immediately the arguments would start again because you can't hide just when somebody counts to 10. So someone would say, no, you got to count to 1,000. I'm not counting to 1,000. And all these numbers would be thrown out and finally somewhere along the way, it would finally just say, okay, 50. And everybody would decide that's enough. And then it would always try to cheat. So we'd just kind of stand there watching it. And he'd go like this and put his hands over his eyes. And he'd go one, two, three, four, five. And we'd start, yeah, we knew it. We knew it. I wasn't peeking. Yeah. We'd argue for another five minutes. And finally, turn around and face the house. All right. Then he'd turn around, face the house, and all of a sudden he'd go, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. We'd start screaming again. I mean, it was lucky we ever got to play the game. Finally, Slater, you got to go slow. All right. One, two, three, and then we'd all go try to find, like, the super coolest hiding place. I mean, the one where nobody's ever going to find us. Now, the way we played it, maybe you did too, there was always a base. So It had to not only look for people, but he had to also guard the base. Because if he got too far away from the base and someone could come out of their hiding place and run, touch the base, then he wouldn't have to be It. And if everybody got to the base, Then he would have to be it again, which would make him a double it, and then he's really upset, okay. I mean, one thing to be an it, to be a double it, that's horrible. So, OK. Then, let's suppose it just can't find anybody. And everybody's in such a great hiding place that you know what? He's just kind of frustrated. He's looked. Nobody's coming in. And he wants to give up so they can start all over. Now, there's this special, special phrase that he has to say. in order for the game to be restarted. I don't know if this is an Indiana thing or international. Who knows? Anybody know what he had to say? What does that even mean? I thought about that the other day. Who invented olly olly oxen free? But if you didn't say that, I mean, you had to be careful, because it could be tricky, you know. And so it might just say, you know, hey, your mom and dad's leaving. Don't fall for it, all right? It's olly olly oxen free, or it's not anything. Now, the few times I had to be it, I had a strategy. I'll just be honest with you. I knew the little guys, it'd be hard to find them, because little guys can hide well. And then the super fast guys, I didn't even try. I'll just tell you what my strategy was. I ignored all those other guys, and I looked for Chubb. Because Chubb's not very fast. And wherever he hides, there's something sticking out. So I'm just, Jerry Ross's strategy when I'm playing hide and go seek. And when I'm reading this portion of scripture, I'm going through it one day in my devotions and I'm like, is this the first game of hide-and-seek ever in the creation of mankind? And then I begin to get past that and ponder that a little bit, but it's really interesting, young people. I'm going to ask you a question in a moment, and I think you'll know the right answer. But I was fascinated when I got down to the end of verse number eight, and it says, and Adam and his wife hid themselves, hid themselves from the what? Presence of the Lord. I don't know what's going on here. Now I'm gonna ask you a question, a Bible question. If you're gonna ask a Bible question, make sure you give a Bible answer. Here's the question, all of a sudden I stopped and went, wait a minute, can a man hide from God? Okay, then that was my inclination. Can a man hide from God? And then I looked at the next verse. And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, what did he say? Then all of a sudden I thought, wait a minute, I thought, I thought I was sure that I had a Bible answer here, that it's impossible for a man to hide from God. And then the next verse, God is saying, where art thou? And then verse 10, and he said, I heard thy voice in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked. And I, here it is again, and I, what? And so I got to thinking, well, wait a minute. Am I wrong on this? Because it seems like he's hiding from God, and it seems like God can't find him. And all of a sudden, I was reminded of Psalms 139. I flipped over there. Here's what God says. Hey, Bible question, get a Bible answer. Whether shall I go from thy spirit, or whether shall I flee from thy presence? If I send up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. I say Surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day and the darkness and the light are both alike to thee and once again, I Establish a Bible answer no a man cannot hide from God So then I go back to this story, then I have to ask myself Okay, then what's going on here? Okay, because God is acting like he can't find them. He's hauling out to them, where art thou? And then I, as I meditated on it, I pondered, I thought of one of my granddaughters. I've got a little two-year-old granddaughter by the name of Audrey. And by the way, Monday, Sunday and Monday, we were babysitting all of my youngest daughter's children. And we're keeping them, they were out of town for a short trip, we're keeping them. Five kids, and it's a party. Audrey is a doll, a baby doll, and she knows it. She knows how to play on it. She does this when she wants something from me. And I just say, whatever you want, you got it. All right? That's grandpa's. So Audrey, sometimes she'll want to play hide and seek with Papa. She's over at our house, I'm babysitting, and so she'll say, hide and seek, play hide and seek, hide and seek, play hide and seek, hide and seek, Papa, Papa, hide and seek, play hide and seek, Papa, Papa, hide and seek. Now listen, when a two-year-old wants something, just surrender. They're not going to stop. You might as well just say, OK, Audrey. So I said, fine, Audrey, Audrey, OK, OK, let's play hide and seek. And you know what she says right away? You're it. Even a two-year-old don't want to be it. OK, so I'm Papa. So I said, all right, all right, I'm going to hide my eyes. I hide your eyes. And then I'm going to count to 10. And then you hide. Audrey, hide. And I'll put my hands over my face, and I'll go one, two, three. And she will set down right there, right at my feet. And what does she do? She takes her hands, and she puts them over her eyes. And I'll be going four, five. She'll be going, can't see me. Can't fight me. 7, 8, 9, 10. Now, if you're a papa or a teenage girl, you're going to say, after 10, where's Audrey? Where's Audrey? Now, if you're a teenage boy, you're going to say, hey, stupid. Would your mother drop you on your head? What are you, a moron? That's why you never let teenage boys babysit. Ever. Ever. But if you're a papa or a teenage girl, you're going to say, where's Audrey? And you know, I want you to think about this, young people, and it's not a trick question, but boy, what a spiritual lesson. Why is it that Audrey does not think that I can see her? Because she what? Because, come on. Because she can't. Are we treating God as if we're two years old? Think about it. I mean, everybody in here, the minute I said, can a man hide from God, you guys all knew the Bible and you jumped right in. You are 1000% correct. Well, if we can't, then what are we doing? You know, I've noticed that it seems like there's a lot of people that are playing hide-and-seek with God. You know, think about that. When I was thinking about little Audrey, I thought about Isaiah 53.3. Listen, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. I wonder how many times God looks down and says, just because you can't see me, have you forgotten that I can see you? I've watched this and I've kind of taken note of it now through these many decades of ministry. Listen, I've seen a lot of lost people try to hide from salvation. I was knocking on doors in Shelburne, Indiana, a little community near Jasonville, and you know I was going through and a guy was leaving for work and I stopped and chatted with him, pulled in his driveway, he's coming out with his lunch bucket. I jumped out real quick, gave him the material, had a good conversation. Obviously he was on his way to work, we couldn't get into it very deep, but he seemed open to it. And knew he wasn't saved and said, would you come back sometime? I said, can I come back sometime? He said, preacher, sure. Yeah, I got to get on to work. So I pulled out of the way, and he backed out. But as a preacher, you make a note of it. And then about a week later, I thought, I'm going to go by there. And I pull back in. Now that I know when he leaves for work, I'm going to make sure I came earlier. His vehicles are in the driveway. I pull up. I walk over to the front door. I knock on the front door. I take a couple steps back like this. No answer. I look in the driveway. The vehicles, same vehicles that were there. I step forward. I knock on the door. I step back. Big plate glass window right here. I couldn't help. You could look right into the living room. And I'm thinking, well, surely he's home. And then I look, and there is an ashtray beside his recliner. And it's got a cigarette in it. And it's about half. halfway burnt down and there's smoke coming. I look, there's a half of a glass of iced tea with the ice cubes still in it, not melted, and his rocker's going like this. What's he doing? He thinks he's hiding from the preacher, but he's not. Say well preacher before I got saved I sought God and I sought God and I sought God listen to me. No you didn't How do you know that because of Romans chapter 3 the Bible says as it is written? There's none righteous No, not one there is none that understand that there is none that seeketh after God no folks listen to me none of us sought God God sought us can I say this God's never-minded being it Think about that. And the honest truth is, if you were lost, some of you can look back and say, preacher, I can look back in hindsight and see where God came after me, and he came after me, and he came after me, and he came after me, and sometimes he sent a co-worker, and sometimes it was a family member, and then grandma was praying for me. And you know what? None of us sought God. God's always had to seek us. By the way, that's fine when you're lost. But you know what after we get saved don't you think maybe we ought to decide to be it doesn't the Bible said that would say now that While he may be found God doesn't mind being it Jesus doesn't he didn't mind being it he came down and you know what he said He said the Son of Man has come to and that interesting not then just say the Son of Man has come to save and He said, no, I'll seek and then I'll save. And folks, listen to me. If you're here without the Lord Jesus Christ, you know what? It's time to olly olly oxen free. It's time to come in. Come on, it's time to get saved. Yes, there's lost people in our communities that are hiding from salvation. But brother, I just want to say this. Sometimes, you know where young people are hiding from salvation? Right in the youth group. Right in the Christian school. Come on, adults. Right in the auditorium. I preached a message, a youth revival out in Pennsylvania years ago, and it was a morning service, and I wasn't preaching really on salvation. I mentioned it, spent about five minutes on it, preached to the Christian kids, got down towards the end of my message, and all of a sudden a lady on about the second row right here, and it was a large group, big church, large group, and a lady who was a counselor. The youth pastor's wife, I found out, all of a sudden, I'm winding the message down. I'm almost done. She jumps up, and she tries to get out of the pew. Have you ever tried to get out of the pew when everybody else is sitting down and their feet's in the way? And she is stumbling and tripling, stumbling and tripling, tripping, but she is determined. And I see her coming, and she comes over and falls on the altar and starts crying. And so I kind of wind her down. I was already there anyway and just went. heads bowed, eyes closed, and I thought, well, she's got a burden or a heartache or something's happened in her life recently, and something that I preached. And so the pastor went over and talked to her, and then he got his wife, and she went over and talked to her. And then I handed the invitation over to the pastor, and he did something that a pastor doesn't always do, but he felt led to do it. He took the microphone, and he walked down to where she was, and he said, young people, she's asked if she could say a couple words. This is the youth pastor's wife. And she took the microphone and she's just shaking. I can watch it like this. And she looks out and she says to her husband first, honey, I am so sorry. I thought, what is going on? And she said, all this time, I've always known down deep, I'm not saved. But you know, everybody, when I was growing up in church, thought I was saved. know what then I went to Bible college and I knew I wasn't saved but I'm in Bible college and then I meet my husband and I'm not saved but I'm gonna be a youth pastor's wife and then we're in the ministry and she said I kept thinking I need to get saved but she said to the youth group I was so scared to get saved because I thought all of the young people They're going to realize their youth pastor's wife's been a fake all this time, and they're going to be disappointed, and they're going to stop coming to church. By the way, the devil will tell you any lie that he has to tell you to keep you from being saved. And she's crying. She said, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Hey, getting saved's nothing to be sorry about. And buddy, her husband came out, and he'd come over and give her a big hug. He wasn't disappointed in her. He was proud of her. And all these young ladies that she thought she would disillusion, all the girls poured out, and they surrounded her. And you know, girls are weird, OK? They kind of just do this big girl huddle thing, and they're all kind of like this gigantic group hug thing, and they're all crying, so the whole huddle's kind of... And the guys are kind of standing there like, well, we've got to do something. And so they come out, and they just kind of stand around the circle a little ways, and they're just kind of like, you know... You know, because... Psycho chicks, that's what they are, psycho. Are you hearing that? By the way, next thing I know, they're down on their knees praying together. And next thing I know, two more young ladies in the youth group get saved. And I get a call six months later, and revival broke out in that youth group and in that church. Listen, the devil lied to you. He's a liar. He's a liar and a murderer. I'm not sure he ever told anybody not to get saved. I think he just tells them don't do it today, because every day he can get you to put it off. He's got a chance to drag your soul into hell. Don't you listen to the devil. I've seen people hide from the salvation of the Lord. Christian young people, listen to me. I've watched people try to hide their sins from God. Now think about that. If a man cannot hide from God, then let me ask you the next question. Is it possible for him to hide his sins from God? Well, let's let's get a Bible answer Psalms 11 verse 4 the Lord is in his holy temple the the Lord's throne is in heaven his eyes Behold his eyelids try the children of men Proverbs 5 21 for the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he he ponders all his goings Proverbs 15 3 the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good Proverbs 21 to every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord ponders the hearts Think about that Jeremiah 7 11 is this house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes behold even I have seen it I have I have seen it, saith the Lord. How about Hebrews chapter four, verse 12? For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Listen, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to So, I know this is a very basic Bible truth and Bible principle, but I think it's one that may have been lost on a generation. Because I'm watching Christian people live as if God cannot see their sin. Think about that. Bible and history is filled with illustrations of men and women who believed that they could sin and God would not see it. Remember the story of Achan? You know, Joshua's taken over. They buried Moses. They crossed the Jordan River. What's the first big city they come to? Jericho. You're exactly right. And you know what? God gave instruction to Joshua exactly how to do that. So one time around for six days, seven times around on the seventh day. And you know, the children's song and the walls came tumbling down. But wait a minute. They were given very specific instructions. Since this was the first victory, God was to get the first fruits. So all the gold, all the silver, if you look back, was supposed to go and be dedicated to the Lord. And by the way, everything else, everything else in that worldly, in that worldly city was supposed to be burned with fire. And there was a man by the name of Achan. And you know, folks, listen, if you study human nature, I think I can tell you what happened. Okay? I mean the walls came crumbling down, all the armies of Israel come in, they begin to slaughter everyone, and then they begin to collect the spoils, and a man by the name of Achan walked into a home, and he was by himself. Listen, what you do by yourself is who you are. Okay? Just cut hey just cuz mom and dad can't see doesn't mean God can't see Just cuz the preacher don't know it doesn't mean God doesn't know just cuz you put the come on pulled the wool over your youth group size and your youth pastor and his wife's eye doesn't mean that God doesn't see and I When I imagine this, he ache and walking and all of a sudden there's some gold and there's some silver and there's some Babylonish garments. Isn't it interesting that what else he wanted from the world was their clothes? And this is what I believe happened. I think he looked at that, he coveted them, he wanted them. I think he went like this. Wait, Achan, wait! There's one direction you forgot to look. Did God see it? Did it come out? How about this verse? Be sure your sins will find you out. Young people, listen to me. I want you to leave this camp Come on, not just thinking and knowing up here that God sees everything. I want you to know it here. I went off to Bible college, 1979, and I'll date myself a little bit. I got a job at a Kmart, worked there six months, hated it. I never have a job working inside of my life. I was always a guy that worked construction or farm work, always worked outside. Here I am, moved up to the city, and the only job I could find was at a Kmart. I worked the docks where they delivered everything. I took inventory, took it to the different departments, and the people took it out and put it on the floor. But it just wasn't a Jerry Ross type job. But you know what? I worked what I had to do to pay the bill. And the manager really liked me. And every once in a while, he'd come by and tell me what a good job I'm doing. And then he'd say sometimes, hey, next break time, why don't you meet me for coffee? And I don't know why, but he just took a liking to me. By the way, young people, if you'll work hard, you'll stand out. One day he came by and things were a little slow back there and he said, ''Hey, you want to go look at something with me?'' I said, ''Sure.'' So he took me over, we're back, here's the showroom. Then on three sides of the showroom, there is storage area and place where the customers can't go, only employees can go. So he took me to this staircase, metal graded staircase that went on the inside of the wall. Okay, the people can't see it. We're on the inside of the wall back in the storage area. And we go all the way to the top. And then there is a grate, a walkway that went all the way around on all three sides of the building. And I'd never noticed it before. But back in those days, all along, y'all remember who of this age? All along the inside wall, if you were looking in the store and you'd look up, you'd see windows like that. Only they weren't windows, they were mirrors. Okay? They weren't for really tall people to comb their hair. They were two-way mirrors. You say, why didn't they just watch the security cameras? There were no security cameras. Why didn't they check the computers? There were no computers. So I'm up walking this grading with the boss, and all of a sudden, I come to these windows, and I'm looking down, and you can see everything in the store, everything. And I said, what in the world? He said, yeah. He said, I was thinking about maybe giving you a job wanting to work security here. I said, is this what you use this for? He said, yeah, we use this to kind of keep an eye on things, make sure nobody's shoplifting, wash everything. And then as we walked along, he stopped and he looked back and he said, you know what? Sometimes I come up here also, not to look for shoplifters, but just to check on the employees. And I thought, Is there a purpose for this tour he's giving me? Did he see me do something? All of a sudden, I'm thinking, what did I do that he could have saw? And so he gave me the tour. We went back down. He said, see you later, Jerry. I went back to work. Young people, listen. I never walked out on that showroom floor ever again without doing this. and wondering if my boss was up there. Hey, let me tell you a very healthy way to live your life. Why don't you just get up every morning and when you walk out, just kind of look up and remember, okay, everything, come on, I'm trying to help you live right. I really believe these are good kids that are trying to do right and anybody's trying to do right we need every Motivation come on we all fight the same junk the devil's out there trying to trip us up temptations are gonna come What's one of the things that helps you preacher? I know the Lord is watching And I'm not going to be able to hide hide my sin From him I worry I Brother Hanks, I just do enough of this preaching to young people and then I know enough youth pastors and I hear a lot of the after stories or the heartaches or the tragedies to just think when I'm standing up here, who am I talking to? By the way, you can be good kids from a good family and that doesn't mean that there aren't some secret things going on. I said this the other day, I'll say it again, with a group of young ladies this large, this many young people, young ladies, I'd be almost shocked that there wasn't one of these girls that had a secret relationship going on through technology their mom and dad doesn't know about, and you don't even know how close you are to ruining the rest of your life. I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to help you. Well, mom, dad don't know. God knows! God knows Preach on this many young men. I would almost be shocked at this one true that there's somebody Come on through the technology or some of the devices they have that are not secretly looking at things That their parents don't know about the preacher don't know about and nobody knows about young people. Look right up here That's not true. God knows God knows So I've watched people try to hide from the salvation of the Lord. I've watched people try to hide their sins from the Lord. I'll finish with this thought. I've watched young people try to hide from the call of the Lord. By the way, we have some Bible examples of that. You know, how about Jonah? Does that come to your mind right away and God tells him listen? I want you to go to Nineveh and and you know what he does the Bible says he went down got on a ship only he didn't go to Nineveh he headed to Tarsus and it says that he was trying to escape he was trying to hide from the presence of the Lord Did that work out for him? Think a lot of young men that God's dealing with in ministry I don't think I've seen a whole lot pull a Jonah every once while you might see one I think more about King Saul first king of Israel Remember him and Samuel went and anointed him to be the first king and he said on such and such a day I'm going to announce and introduce you as the new king and so on that day Samuel comes out if you read the story and he says basically behold your king and And he had he had Saul waiting there in the wings and he walks out gets the people's did behold your king and behold your king Behold Your king He went back said where Saul go and nobody's I don't know he was here now. He's not and the Bible says that they found him hiding amongst that you remember what it says hiding amongst the Stuff. So what does that mean? Welcome to my garage. There may be seven or eight people hiding in there now. I mean, homeless people could be living in my garage, and I would never find them, OK? So he probably found a preacher's garage, and he was hiding. I don't know. And by the way, was it because he was rebellious and he didn't want to do what God said? I don't think so. I think in that moment. It just overwhelmed him. And he felt like, I can't do what God wants me to do. Young men, listen to me. And I'm terrible about this. I'm just going to go ahead and say this. Probably preachers in here do such a better job explaining what it is to be called to preach or what that moment feels like. All I know is this. If God calls you to preach, you'll know it. That's the best way for me to say it. I mean, the day I got called to preach, I didn't hear some audible voice, but I'm going to tell you, it might as well have been. And I finished my senior year of high school. I kind of had the direction of my life all set. And then, you know, just a Tuesday night in the summer. Just a Tuesday night. Dad gets up on Sunday and says, listen, Tuesday night, let's all meet here at the church at 6. There's a sister church in the next community over, and they're having a revival. Let's put a bunch of people on a bus and go over and support this meeting. And so, hey, you know what? Preachers, kids, we go. We go. I was working a construction job. I was able to get off in time. And I showed up, went home, got ready real quick. went to that place. And I knew that God had been kind of dealing with me and I knew, let me just put it this way. When God's kind of getting you ready for something, he creates what I call a holy unrest where you can tell God's doing something or want something, but you can't put your finger on it. It's just, there's this unrest like here I am getting ready to launch out what I believe is God's will. And yet God is kind of, Causing me to think about it and question it and I don't know I can't figure out what he's doing And so I go to that revival meeting and do a thousand of them Tuesday night preacher gets up preaches about two-thirds through the message all of a sudden God Begins to work in my heart And I mean, he put his finger on me and said, I want you to surrender and spend your life preaching my word. And I'm sitting there thinking, oh my goodness. Now listen, I immediately began to think of everybody else in our youth group and everybody else in our church. And I got to thinking, God, you're making a mistake because I'm probably the least qualified candidate to preach. Invitation came. I stand up, heads bowed, eyes closed, it's intensifying. And this is gonna sound so dumb, but I really thought this, because I didn't think there was any way I could do it. And it finally, come on, my little 17-year-old brain, I thought, God is actually trying to call the guy behind me. and the signal, I'm in the way. I was so panicked in that moment. So my buddies to the left, I go like this, and they're like, what? You know, we're supposed to be praying. I'm like, scoot over. They're like, what? I said, just scoot, just scoot. This guy's pushing this guy, and this guy's pushing this guy. And I get over, and I thought, now God didn't get to the guy he's trying to call to pray. Let me tell you something, if God's calling you, you can zig, you can zag, you're not getting away from it. And Brother Hanks, I didn't go forward. I mean, I knew God wanted me to surrender to the minister that night, and I was so scared, I did not go forward. I'm kind of ashamed, but I did not go forward. And I got on the bus, right home, quiet, can't sleep hardly at all that night, get a little bit of sleep, wake up super early, get my car. We're framing a house. I'm working on a framing crew. We start just as the sun's coming up about their framing. We work about two and a half, three hours. The guys holler for a break time. All the guys get down. They want to run into town, get something to drink. Jerry, do you want some? I said, I'm going to stay up here and finish up a few things. And so they all took off. And there I am with my tool belt on a hammer in my hand. And I'm just, and all morning long, God is like, okay, I let you have last night. You gonna do this? And I'm giving God every reason I could think of why this is not a good idea and why I can't do it. But young people, that's probably, come on, young man, that's kind of the guys he chooses. I think he'll walk past all the guys that think they can do it, and he'll find the guy that nobody thinks could do it, because he's going to get all the glory then. And finally, I'm sitting out there, sun's up about like this, and I remember taking my hammer and putting it in my tool belt and dropping it in like that in the loop. And I look up, and I go, whew, Jerry Ross, a preacher. Are you sure? And then I thought this, okay, I'm gonna surrender, but it's Wednesday, and I'm not gonna do it on Wednesday night, because that's the chicken way, because that's the smallest crowd, so I'll wait till Sunday. Well, I went to church that night, and I don't even know what my dad preached, and all during the service, God is just like, listen, I gave you 24 hours, son, and I could not stay in that pew. And as soon as the invitation, I came forward, dad came down, I hugged his neck and I said, dad, God wants me to be a preacher. Young man, I just want to say this to you. And I don't call people to preach and no man can call another man to preach. And not everybody is supposed to be a preacher. It's not God's will for everybody to be a preacher. But in every generation, God does call some men into the gospel ministry, in every generation. He created you from your mother's womb to be a preacher, just like he did Jeremiah. The call is simply God telling you why he created you. If you run from it, you'll never be happy doing anything else in your life. Listen, what I'm saying is this. If God calls you to the ministry, calls you to the mission field, calls you to be a preacher, you don't run from it. You run to it. Because it is the greatest honor of my life to have been able to spend my life preaching his precious word. Unto me, this is my life verse, unto me who am less than the least of all saints, Is this grace given that I may preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, most unlikely candidate in the world? And yet it was God's will. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. We play in hide and seek.