He's always with us. There's never been a time He's left me alone. There's been some times, Brother John, I felt like I was alone. But He's always let me know that He's always been there. And I sure am thankful for that. I need Him now more than I ever have. And especially with two new babies. And somebody asked me this morning over at Brother Dalton's how it was going. I said, well, it's a whole lot less sweet and a whole lot more work. But I'm thankful for it, man. The Lord's blessed us tremendously. And I wouldn't trade it for nothing in the world, Brother Jeremy. And man, from the time they were born, just the overwhelming joy that was inside of our hearts. And man, there's nothing like it. I can't explain it unless you know what I'm talking about. And I'm thankful for it. And we've definitely got our hands full. And they've already showed us that they can whoop us before we're even going to whoop them. But they're definitely keeping us busy, but I'm thankful for it. And I'm glad the Lord trusted us with some children and allowed us the opportunity to be able to raise kids. And I hope that I can do exactly what the Lord wants me to do and be the father to them that he expects me to be. And I hope one day maybe that boy of mine will be a preacher one day. And maybe that little girl of mine will be just a prayer warrior, or whatever God wants her to be. And I'm willing, Brother John, just to put them wherever God wants them to be at. And that's where I want them to be. But I'll be honest with you, I ain't got nothing extravagant tonight. And I told Brother Jeremy, I said, I'll be honest, the Lord just laid one verse on my heart, and that's what He wants me to preach. I ain't got no three points, I ain't got much of a title, I ain't got much of a big outline, Brother Darnell, but I just got what God laid on my heart. And so, if you got your Bibles, I'll be in 1 Corinthians, Chapter number 13, 1 Corinthians chapter number 13. Before last Sunday, I felt like I hadn't been to church in forever. And you feel like, I don't know if y'all feel like this, but I feel like if I miss one Sunday, I miss the year of Sundays. But man, I love coming to church. I know we're not at 100% capacity right now. We're not 100% or whatever you want to call it, but we're exactly where God wants us to be at. I believe that. But 1 Corinthians chapter number 13, if you would stand to your feet, I'll read one verse, a very familiar verse. Chapter number 13 of 1 Corinthians and verse number 12. It says, For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. Brother Jeremy, if you would pray for us. Thank you. You can be seated. I love reading the books that Paul wrote in our Bible. Paul, I believe, had one of the greatest impacts on our King James Bible. The amount of books that he wrote and the way he penned down and the words that we have that he wrote down, I love reading after Paul. And if anybody knows what it was like to go through persecution and give a good example of salvation, being on the road to Damascus and then getting saved. And man, I'm telling you that Paul went down every road that you could think of that you could go down in a Christian life. And Paul definitely faced persecution. He was I mean, if you if you look at a person that's being persecuted because of the cause of Christ, you're looking at Paul because he went down that road. He was persecuted for the cause of Christ. And I was reading just a little bit, and I had this verse in my heart this morning, and I was thinking, as I was going down the road to Brother Dalton's, and this verse had just come across my mind. It says, For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know, even also am I known. Paul was saying here, he says, everything that's going on ain't real clear to me right now. What's been happening? I believe what he was saying was there's kind of like a cloudiness over my vision, my spiritual vision. And I just can't see. I just can't see exactly everything that I need to see. He was saying for now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. What he was saying was everything that's going on ain't clear to me. Everything that's happening, I don't have answers for it during his day. He was saying that. And I was thinking, man, we're living in wicked times in the day that we live in right now. Man, I think about what the Dalton was talking about this morning, that church out in California being fined so much money just because they're meeting in a building and going to church. But they're playing football down the road, and they're going to restaurants down the road, and they're doing whatever they want to down the road, but it's because they're going to church. It's because they're worshiping Christ, and it's because they're preaching it right, and because they're doing it right. That's why they're facing persecution. It ain't because... I'll be honest with you. I believe if it was another... If they were doing anything else, they'd be okay with that. They wouldn't fine them. They'd say, do whatever you want to do. We're fine with that. But it's because they're doing something that they don't like what they're doing. And Brother Gary said it last Sunday. He said whatever happens in California always seems to sweep across our nation. It starts in California and goes all the way across our nation. It's just a matter of time before it's right here in St. Mary's, Georgia. I believe this might be the year, Brother Bradley, we see people try to come by here and close their church doors. Saying if you listen to them, we can follow all the regulations, we can do everything they want. But just because we're meeting right here in the house of God, they don't like that. They want to stop it. Paul was saying, I can't see everything. Everything that's going on ain't real clear to me. And I'll be honest with you, Brother Matt, I've tried to have answers for what's going on. People at work try to, they talk about it and you try to give them all the answers they want to hear. They don't know what's going on. They don't know what's happening. You try to tell them about church and they don't want to go to church because they're scared they're going to catch something down here. You try to tell them about God. They don't want nothing to do with God. You try to give them an answer. You try to make it clear to them, but for some reason it just seems like there's a cloudiness that has come across our nation. People that used to see God ain't seeing God no more because all they see is what's going on around us. There's a fear that has swept across our nation and it has taken the place of God in our hearts. Fear has filled the void that was inside of there that we was wondering what was going on. Fear has taken that place in our hearts. Why? Because we're scared what's going to happen tomorrow. We're scared what's going to happen next week. We're scared what's going to happen if we go to church. What's going to happen if we go to work? What's going to happen to my family? Are they going to be able to make it if they do catch this thing? If something happens to them? What's going to happen to us? We can't see it clearly. We don't have the answers. Brother Jeremy, I'd love to say I have all the answers. There's going to be some things I know my children are going to ask me one day. I just ain't going to have the answers for. There's been times I've had to go to my mom and dad and maybe dad sit me down and say, son, I just ain't got the answers for this. So I can ask him something and say he would love to help me, but he just can't give me a clear answer. Why? Because he doesn't want to give me an answer that's going to lead me astray and be the wrong answer. So he'd rather just not give me an answer at all and say that he don't have the answer. I've heard Brother Edwards say this. He said, you better be careful listening to preachers that always have the answer. If they always got an answer for everything, they're probably going down the wrong road and they might lead you down the wrong road, too. I've had preachers try to tell me to go this way, do this way, thought they knew the will of God for my life. But Brother John, I found out no man knows the will of God for my life. Listen to me, I don't have to go and ask a preacher what he wants me to do for God. Listen to me, God's going to reveal that to me in His own timing. Paul said, for now we see through a glass darkly. He says, everything that I'm trying to do right, I'm trying to preach right, I'm trying to live for Christ, I'm trying to tell people about Christ, I'm trying to do everything that I need to be doing. He said, what he was telling him was, I ain't got the answers to everything. Everything ain't clear to me. Everything don't make sense all the time. Brother John, there's been some dark days in y'all's life, I know, and I'm sure there's been times y'all woke up wishing, man, you just had another answer. Wishing you could give the kids another answer. Wishing you could give Miss Mandy another answer. Wishing you could give anybody else or the family an answer. But you just don't have the answers. Listen to me, it's okay not to have an answer. You ain't got to have an answer for everything. We're living in a day, it seems like, when we look around us, it's just cloudy everywhere. I don't know about y'all, but it rained at our house earlier. Man, it rained a lot. It's been raining a lot. And if you ever go out right before it rains, the clouds are always going to get dark. And the sun's going to seem like it's not shining just as bright as it was before it got cloudy and right before it's going to rain. Why? Because them clouds are building. And when they begin to come through, they're going to block the sunlight out. You're not going to be able to see like you used to. Why? Because things are going to be getting dimmer. It's not going to be quite as bright as they were. And it's just not going to be just like when night time comes around. When night begins to fall, the sun begins to set on the horizon, and before long, if you walk outside without a flashlight, if you ain't got no lights around, you're not going to be able to see in front of you. Brother David, we've been coon hunting before, and you ain't going to walk through them woods without a light. If you ain't got a light, you ain't going to see that coon in the tree. You ain't going to see them dogs where they're at. You ain't going to see one foot in front of the other. You ain't going to see that gator down in the hole, because I know he's going to be there. It's just a matter of you finding him. But if you ain't got light, you ain't going to be able to see. It's going to be cloudy around you. You're not going to be able to see where you're going. And Brother Matt, I'll be honest with you, it seems like we're in the day right now. We just can't seem to find our way. I'll be honest with you, just missing church. I know we can watch it online, but I'll be honest with you, I feel like when we're at home watching church, we just ain't where we need to be, if you know what I mean. Listen to me, I can watch it at home, but I just ain't getting what I need at home. There's something about coming here, sitting on a pew, listening to a preacher preach, listening to people get up and sing with the power of God on them, singing out of a hymnal, singing old-fashioned songs about the Lord, about being saved, about being kept in the hand of God, about Him being our friend. Hey, there's something about that. You can't get that at home, Brother Darnell. I'm sorry. You can't get that nowhere else but right here at the house of God. I've been to football games before where they smear. They're loud, man. You can't even hear the person next to you. Hey, man, and that puts a feeling inside of you like nothing else. But I'm telling you, there's something about coming to the house of God. It's really unexplainable coming to the house of God. And I'll just be honest with you, sitting at home, I just feel like I ain't as close to God as I need to be sitting at the house, not coming to church. I just need to be around God's people. I draw strength out from coming in here listening to Brother Darnell stand up and testify. I draw strength off of that. Like Brother Ron, there might be some days, there's going to be days I walk in here sometimes I just feel undefeated. Satan's been riding my back all week, telling me the lies of the world, telling me all kinds of things. I'll be honest with you, I feel like I can't put one foot in front of the other. I don't feel like I want to read my Bible. I don't feel like I want to sing the songs. Hey, but maybe when I get in here on that Sunday morning, and Brother Darnell stands up and texts about the goodness of God, and how God saved him out of that jail cell, and how God's been so good to him. Hey, that encourages me to keep on going for God. It's hard to see the way right now. I believe we're all in that. If we were all to be honest tonight, we would all say that. It's hard to see clearly spiritually right now. It's hard to see. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. We don't know what's going to happen next week. And I feel like Brother Dalton, we were talking about the election coming up. And man, I'll be honest with you, I'm scared to death just to wonder what's going to happen on the election. And he was, Brother Dalton was at the house and he was saying, he said he feels like from this point, everybody says this election is the most important election we've ever had. But Brother Dalton said it like this, he said, I believe the next four years, every election for the rest of our life is the most important election we'll have the rest of our lives. Every election will be the most important election. Because I see, as a nation, just since I've been able to realize what's going on as a nation, as a whole, presidents and everything like that, I've watched us take a decline really, really fast. We ain't going up for the better, we're going down for the worse. I believe, I'm balanced with you, my children might see the day that our country may be a communist country. Where they have a track on everything you do. Every step you take, every penny you spend, everything you do, they're going to know exactly what's going on. And you'll be honest with me, they'll keep you from going to the house of God then. They'll stop it from happening. And you think it won't just be a little fine. There'll be a lock on the door. And if you keep trying to come in, they'll find a way to keep you from coming in here. We're going to see them days, I guarantee you. But Paul said, for now, we see through a grass darkly. But then face to face, Paul didn't leave it right there. He said, for now, we see through a glass darkly. But he said there's another. I believe what he was saying was there's another day coming. He said, but then he said, right now we're seeing through a glass darkly. If I had to say right now, it's a little dark around us. But then Paul said, but then, face to face, what he was saying was, right now, I know church is a little bit dark around us. We can't see just exactly what we need to be seeing. We can't see dark for who he really is. Why? Because of everything that's going on around us. But he said, but then, face to face, can I say there's better days to come for a child of God? Hey, it might seem gloom and doom right now. It might seem like all the hope is gone. It might seem like the world's falling apart. Hey, but don't you dread, as a child of God, our hope is not in this world. Our hope is not in the president. Our hope is not in the government. It's not in a U.S. currency. It's not in anything around here. But our hope is established in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us and shed his blood for us 2,000 years ago. Our hope is in him. He said, right now, I see through a glass darkly. He said, but there's coming a day face to face. He said, now I know in part, but then shall I know even also am I known. He said, there's coming a day where everything around me is going to clear up. I believe what he was saying was that the clouds in the sky that are blocking the sun are going to be rolled back one day. Hey, them clouds are going to part. Hey, and everything that's blocking the sun. Hey, one day all that's going to be moved out and we're going to see him for who he really is. Don't that remind you about how they say the crowds will be rolled back as a scroll? Hey, the Trump will sound and we'll see him for who he really is. Hey, we're going to see our savior. Hey, I'm glad one day, hey, if they have to admit Jennifer Hess and lay my body down in a grave one day, hey, don't worry about me. That is not the end of me. Hey, I'm not in there. Hey, I will not be in there. Hey, my body, my body might be there, but my soul is not going to be there. I will be with Him. Why? Because on March 15, 2009, He put a glorious hope inside of me. Hey, that I don't have to die and go to a place called hell. That I've got hope at the end of this life down here. Now we see through a glass darkly. It's hard to see around us. When you can't see the way, can't see what's going on, you don't know where, you don't know how to put one foot in front of the other. I'll be honest with you, one day he's coming back. And I'll be honest, it'll probably be sooner than later. We're a whole lot closer now than we've ever been. I've heard preachers say that all my life, but I believe, I believe honestly, we're real close. We're closer now than we've ever been. God has a way of working things out and showing us things. But a lot of times we've got our blinders on and they're so thick we can't even see what's going on around us. And we're blind to the spiritual things that are happening around us. And we're not seeing it the way God wants us to see it. Why? Because we're so focused on the numbers of coronavirus and we're so focused on what's going on in the White House. And they, listen to me, they pump that stuff out there. Why? Because they want that stuff to distract you from everything that's supposed to have your attention. If you let that stuff distract you, it'll keep you from raising your family the way they need to be raised. It'll keep you from staying focused on what you need to stay focused on. As a preacher, I'll be honest with you, as a preacher, it's real easy to get distracted right now. There's so much political stuff going on. There's so much. Man, you can you can get on Facebook and it seems like everybody's arguing about spiritual stuff. They want to argue about the Bible. Everybody's got their opinions about this. Everybody's got their opinions about that. Listen to me. If we worry about everybody else's opinions and worry about what everybody else is saying, we're going to miss God. I believe we're in the place we are right now because we're so worried about what man thinks, and we're so worried about what this preacher's doing, we're worried about what this church is doing, and we're so focused on that that we're missing God. Missing Him. The grass is dark. And a lot of times, the grass is so dark before us, and we're making it that way a lot of times, But if we stay focused so much upon them things, I wonder how many people, I wonder how many family members will miss God because we're focused on everything else. You better realize there's a day coming, He's coming back. I want my children to have a chance to get saved before that happens. I want my lost family members to have a chance to get saved before that happens. Man, some things that we got to look forward to when He comes back. You realize when we leave from this earth down here, there's going to be no more sickness. There's going to be no more pain. There's going to be no more death. All these things down here that are troubling us, they're going to be no more when we when we see him face to face. When he comes and gets his children, hey, all the troubles down here, all the trials down here, all the tears that we've shed, hey, it's as if he'll wipe the tears from our eyes. Hey, these things will be no more. No more troubles, no more heartaches, no more having to bury a little child, no more having to bury your spouse, no more having to bury a grandparent, no more having to say goodbye to all your loved ones. Why? Because if they were saved, we're going to see them over there. When we see him face to face, we're going to be seeing the loved ones. We're going to be seeing them once, hey, that we had to leave down here so soon that we didn't want to have to leave. But one day soon, we're going there. Hey, if you're saved, you got a hope. Hey, and it's not down here, but you got a hope over there that one day you are going over there. You will see him face to face. Hey, the one that died for you, the one that shed his blood for you. Hey, the one that took them nail prints in his hands. Hey, the one that walked up Calvary Hill and died on a cross from here. Hey, one day we're going to see him face to face. He turns his eyes and looks upon us, but one day our eyes will be fixed upon him. He looks upon us. We can't fix our eyes upon Him yet. Hey, but one day we're going to fix our eyes upon Him. We're going to be worshipping Him around the throne. Thanking Him for what He's done. Thanking Him that He didn't send us to hell. Paul said, For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. For I know in part, but then shall I know, even also am I known. If I just had one thing to say tonight, Church, your hope is not in this world. Do not be troubled. I know it's hard to just to live a normal life right now because nothing around us is normal. Nothing is normal. It is so strange just to go out in public and then stick a thermometer to your head, taking your temperature everywhere you go, wanting you to wear a mask everywhere you go. I don't know about y'all, but on our job, they want you to wear a mask. It's got to be pulled over your nose. They don't want you breathing on nobody. They don't want you coughing on nobody. Stay away from everybody. Nothing is normal in the day that we live in. Nothing is normal. We're living in times now. I'll be honest with you, my grandparents, they used to tell us all the time on the front porch, they'd say, we never thought we would see these days like they are now. And I'm talking this was 10 years ago. They said they used to let my dad run up and down the road on a bicycle. Wouldn't even have to worry about him not making it home. And wouldn't have to worry about some pedophile picking him up and taking him down the road somewhere. They didn't have to worry about that. But now you can't even turn on a TV show without even seeing that mess. We're living in wicked times. Nothing is normal. They're trying to make everything, they're trying to cram it down our throats and make it seem like it's normal. But it's not normal. Not normal. I refuse to accept something that goes against my King James Bible. I refuse to accept something that goes against the Word of God. I refuse to accept something that goes against my church standards. Hey, I refuse to accept something that goes against my lifestyle and the way that I'm supposed to be living. I refuse to go against something that, the way my mom and daddy taught me, hey, that man and woman should be married. Not man and man or woman and woman. Hey, I refuse to, I refuse to teach my children that it's okay for a man and a man to be together and let a school system teach my children that. Hey, I refuse to let that happen. Why? Because my Bible tells me different. He said that it's an abomination. But they're trying to push that down our throat and say, that's the new normal that we live in. Hey, that's hogwash. You ain't going to tell me that's normal. That ain't normal. God, if it would have been normal, God would have set that up in Genesis 1 in the beginning. Hey, but it wasn't normal. He put Adam and Eve in the garden, not Adam and Steve. He made it man and woman. And he said man shall not live alone. He put a woman in there because he knew he was going to need some help. He needed some help need. God knew the way it needed to be. But we're trying to get away from that and say the new normal is for man and man to be together, woman and woman to be together. But Darnell, I'm sorry, that's sickening to my mind. Absolutely disgusting. And listen to me, I don't want my children around that mess. Hey, I'll be honest with you, I got family members that are caught up in that mess. Hey, I want my children to be around them. Hey, I don't want nothing to do with that kind of stuff. Yes, I want them safe. Hey, but I don't want nothing to do with their lifestyle. I'm sorry. We're living in dark times. Paul said, for now, I see through a glass darkly. But one day, face to face, Listen to me, church, your hope is not down here. If you've got loved ones that have been passed on from here and you know they were saved, the assurance that we've got that we're going to see them again on the other side. Brother David, you've got children waiting on you on the other side. What a blessed reunion that's going to be when we depart from this world down here and make it over there. To think what it's going to be like. Man, heaven's sounding better every day. I'm only 25 years old, but I'll be honest with you, I'd much rather be with him than down here in this world right now. To think that all the problems that we got now are gonna be fixed when we get over there. No more tears, no more heartache, no more pain. Everything, we're gonna see it clearly then. We'll know, we'll know why, we'll know why. All the wondering that we've done, we'll know why over on the other side. Why God let that happen? Why didn't He let that happen? Why did He take them? Why did He do this? We'll know over there. For now, you can't see down here. It's kind of blurry to you. But there's a hope waiting on the other side if you're a child of God. For now, we see darkly. But then, face to face, One day we're going to see him face to face. Hey, listen to me. I ain't going up there looking for Buddha. He ain't going to be there. I'm not looking for Muhammad. I'm not looking for Elvis Presley. I'm not looking for no great person, but I'm looking for the greatest person. That's my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Hey, I'll be honest with you. I want to talk to Paul. I want to talk to all them. But most of all, I want to see my Jesus. I want to see my Savior. If I've got any questions, I'm going to ask Him, why in the world did you save somebody like me? Why would you save me, Lord? Why would you let me in? Ain't He been good to us? Man, it's just a blessing to be able to come in here and see each one of y'all. We've been sitting at the house when you've hardly been nowhere. and just the fear of getting the babies out and everything. You just don't want to go out in public. You're scared that they're going to get something. But listen to me, I know God's got us right where He wants us. And I'll be honest with you, I know we haven't probably been able to tell everyone thank you for what y'all have done for us as a church with the baby shower and everything y'all give us. But I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, we thank y'all. Y'all are our family. Our closest friends are right here in this church. And I couldn't imagine going to church anywhere else. I don't want to go to church anywhere else, to be honest. This is my church. I love my pastor. We got the greatest pastor in the world. We got the greatest people in the world right here at this church. Greatest friends right here. We could not ask for a greater pastor and pastor's wife. They care for this church more than you even realize. They love us. I love this church. Man, to think that God meets with us. comes in here and, man, fellowships with us. I know we're six feet apart, but man, God's still right here with us. He's right here. Aren't you glad He does not social distance from us? They're doing everything they can to try to distance us from God. But aren't you glad they cannot take us away from Him? When you got saved, you got put into the hand of God and nothing in this world will ever take you out of it. Nothing. We got the best church in the world. Camden Baptist Church is the best church in the world. I'm thankful for this church. I love you, Preacher.