when you say, he's a great preacher, and two people go, amen. That's from an older preacher to a younger preacher, that's a pity amen, that's what that is. That's like pity laughter, that's what I get when my wife tells me, honey, you don't do really good with jokes. And I said, honey, they laughed. She goes, after you told it three times, they just felt sorry for you. And so anyway, it's good to be here. What a blessing to be here. It's like a second home. We've had a lot of good meetings here. And at times we have been interrupted by hurricanes and all kind of other things like that. I know there's a reason they call them hurricanes. It was named during the time when a woman was going through menopause. And they said, there is no way to describe it except the really bad storm, so they said hurricane. So I don't know why they don't name him a cane, but at any rate, I am glad to see it. Miss Margie made my whole year. You've been one of my sermon illustrations for a really long time. Ever since, you stood back there in that corner, because you were fixing to have hip surgery. You postponed it till after the meeting, but you said you couldn't sit down. That's back in the days when you were howling. up here singing. That's a compliment. She understands. But I've used you as an illustration of a broken vessel on many occasion. But you made my whole week, a whole month, whole year seeing you here. And I sure appreciate that. I'm looking forward to hopefully getting something done. I've got a whole week with you. I feel sorry for you. You'll have to put up with me for a week, but at least think of it this way. It's kind of like when you go to the bathroom, you flush the toilet, forget all about it, and you're all good to go, right? So at the end of the week, you'll have your pastor back, and everything will be great, and it'll be like, boy, we're glad we don't have to wait for another year for that to happen again. So but it is a blessing to be here really is. I want to just kind of call to your memory a couple of things here if I could. I do have a text but some of you know when I get started sometimes I might not or may not make it back to the text but I want to talk to you about something that I see. That's occurring in a lot of places. You know, the Bible teaches us clearly in the last days there are certain things that we can expect. I think the Bible says in Timothy that in the last days there will be perilous times, right? And men will be lovers of themselves and so on and so forth and he goes through all the things, disobedient to parents and lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God and having the form of godliness, denying the power of God. We recognize that as a warning but we never think we're those people. Right? We never think we're the ones that could be being talked to. We never realize that in the passage in Galatians chapter number 5 He says to you, who did hinder you? But we never think we're the ones that are going to be hindered. We never would pause to think in 1 Timothy chapter 4 He says something to this effect. I try to paraphrase and try not to get my verses out of the living Bible this evening, but I think he says something about that in the last days many will give heed to seducing spirits, right, and doctrines of devils and many shall depart from the faith. We know also that in 2 Timothy 4 he says preach the word, be instant in season out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. for the time will come when they, that would be the church, but we never think it's us, will heap themselves teachers, having itching ears, and be turned away from the truth and turned unto fables. Well, we're living in those days. I don't know how close we are to the rapture, but we could be closer to death than we are to the rapture. I don't know. I hope and pray somebody will figure it out and come up with a date and hopefully it will be some 88 reasons why we're going to get out of here and 88 but then that passed and then 89 and then 2000 and then all the other ones that have guessed that. But I like it when they guess because here's what it causes us to do. It makes us turn our eyes upward. It gets our eyes off of the here and now. At least you get excited a little bit about thinking about seeing the Lord and sometimes it's even a bit fearful. Sometimes we get to thinking about ourselves like getting married and that kind of a thing can be a fearful kind of thing. You just happen to be in the right spot at the right time. So congratulations and good luck to you. Yeah. After you've been doing it about six months, you'll be grateful you got a good one because there ain't nothing like a bad one. So I've been told, but at any rate. It's interesting that we never see ourselves as the one that needs to be warned. And number two, I'd like to say this, that even though in the book of Hebrews where the Lord starts off with Abel, he says Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice, it's interesting that we never talk about that sacrificial Christian life anymore. We've gotten to the point where we enjoy conveniences so much that we even think that Christianity should be convenient. I mean, we're very, very much like Ahab who looked down there over his garden wall one day and he says, you know, hey, I'd like to have Naboth's Vineyard because it's nearby my house. It's close by and you know what? I don't really like the grapes and stuff like that. I want to plow it up for herbs and spices because they smell good, they look good, they make food taste good. No substance in them at all. But the main thing is, is it's really close by. You know, one church is as good as another and they're all about the same and it doesn't really matter and it's convenient. It's funny what we'll inconvenience ourselves for. We'll inconvenience ourselves to go to work. We'll inconvenience ourselves even to join the military and even run the risk of dying for our cause, for whatever it might be, the country or for the guy that's in the foxhole next to us. It's interesting that we're willing to be inconvenienced even for our own kids and for other things like that. But we've grown this sort of attitude, maybe not you, But some places where I've been this kind of attitude is, is if it's not convenient it isn't for me. And so now the stretching out when it comes to spirituality has kind of been put on the back shelf. And what we've done is we've become gluttonous in the sense that we're more after carnal comfortable things than we are after spiritual things. And so all of a sudden we're kind of like the fat bird in the cage instead of the skinny bird that's out in the forest. I'm not making accusations and I'm not talking about your waistline. I mean, some of you do look like you have a fence around a chicken graveyard, but I, you know, I can understand how those things are. You know, whiskey barrel with pipe cleaners for legs, that happens. You know, Coke bottle turns into a mayonnaise jar every now and then. I mean, I understand that. That comes with age and that's the only thing that we really kind of enjoy doing is eating and now I've really ruined things. Brother David is like, could you get to preaching? I am preaching. I really am. But here's the thing that begins to happen. Our fellowship with the Lord begins to take a back seat to everything else. I think it's because you're inherently wicked. I don't think I can get up here and say that you've let your liquor and your cigarettes and your rock and roll music and your television and your internet, maybe your social media, but anything other than social media, you probably hadn't let it get ahead of the Lord. Did you see how quiet it got right there? I was hoping that you wouldn't think that your social media had gotten between you and the Lord. But maybe it has. I think I feel a change coming on. I think I'm going to change gears now and preach out of a different passage. No, let's just stick with where I'm at. And so one of the things that winds up taking place is that we have a tendency not to want to get back to the First things, you remember the Lord has a great church over there in Ephesus and he begins to brag on it in Revelation chapter number two, if you'll remember the passage. And he says, hey boy, you're meeting yourself coming and going, you've even tried those that are apostles and they're not, and you've tried the people with the false doctrine, and you've got a visitation program, and you preach on the street, and you've got a jail ministry, and you're traveling all over and getting all these things done. But he said, you know, I got something against you. And they're like, Lord, I don't know what it would be. I mean, we're running without the Lord. We don't even need you to be here. We got every program you can have. We got everything fixed. Does it sound like our Christian life? No, Lord, I'm good. I'm real good. Do we sound maybe a little bit like Esau? Remember when Esau met Jacob? Do you ever recognize that in that story that when Jacob says to Esau, would you take these gifts, do you ever recognize that Esau says, no I have plenty, that there's a lot more to that statement than you might recognize? You know what he doesn't know? He doesn't know that even though he may have plenty materially, God hasn't been paying any attention to him at all because he has no fellowship with the one that made him. I find the church in the last days to some degree, we're doing pretty well. Hey, we made it through COVID and we did lose some people, I understand, and some people got really sick and I'm not making light of it and I'm not here to fight the battle of the mask and the no mask and the vax and the no vax and the flu shot and the no flu shot and the monkey pox and all that. The great thing about monkey pox is, is unless you're a monkey, you don't have to worry about it. Or unless you're monkeying around. emphasis intended. Brother Peacock, are you worried about that? Not in the least. I ain't worried about that. Now here's the thing that you have to consider is, is that when Esau said that to Jacob, in his mind, hey I'm good. I'm doing just fine. You know when Esau found out that he wasn't doing fine? When he died. When he died, he realized, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. Do you know why? Esau despised his birthright. Esau was a picture of an individual who also had an authority problem. Because when his mama and daddy said, boy, you don't have any business being over there, God said, leave those women alone. He went over there, thumbed his nose at his mama and daddy, and went over there and did what he wanted to anyway. Esau was untamable. He was like a wild donkey's colt, running around, doing what he wanted to do, and had no idea that the Lord had left him a long time ago and was paying no attention to what he was doing at all in any way, shape or form. I think sometimes because we're so accustomed to being in church that we don't listen to what that old preacher used to say. He used to say, there'll be as many people going to hell from a church pew as there is from a barstool. You say, why? Well, because there's a lot of us that are here. I don't even know whether you're saved or not. Look, you've known me a long time, or a lot of you have anyway, longer than some of you want to admit, but you've known me for a long time. You know I'm not a retreader. You know I'm not like people that are south of here and all that, that teach, you know, well, if you are saved, I believe you'll be doing this and this and this and this and this and this and this and that and that and that and that. In other words, whatever the preacher says that you should be doing to prove that you're saved. I don't believe that. I believe you can be saved and live like the devil. I really do. I believe that. I've seen it. I believe if the numbers are right, that one out of every twelve in every church is a Judas. If the numbers are right. I'm not calling you Judas. But I'm just saying. It doesn't matter that you're in church. What matters is, is how's your relationship with the Lord? Well your relationship with the Lord began at an unusual place if you're saved. If you're not here to save, I'd say this charitably as much as I possibly can. I believe that you are mentally defective. I believe that if you are here in a church in the South and you're at a revival meeting on a Monday night and you're lost, you must be mentally retarded. Really, you gotta be an idiot. Why would you expose yourself to this idiot from over on the East Coast to come in here and yell at you, or what did you say, stomp on you? Man! But why would you expose yourself to that and you don't even understand what's going on? You're lost. You know where you're headed? You're going to hell. I don't know why you would do that, but you know where those of you that are saved are headed? you're headed to the judgment seat. I know we're going to heaven, praise the Lord for that. But wouldn't it be a terrible thing to be like Esau, to show up at the judgment seat of Christ, and to think, hey yeah, me and the Lord, we're good, man, I mean, we're solid, man, me and the Lord, yeah, he's been taking good care of me, I got a good job, got a good wife, got a good kids, everything's going good, got me a new car, got me a new house, man, I got plenty of money in the bank and all that, oh, I died, well, it's no problem, I'm going to heaven, show up in front of the Lord, hey Lord, how you doing? Sure is good to see ya, I bet you're glad to see me. Could you kind of just pipe down for a minute here? You look at the bride at the wedding and the corpse at the funeral here. Not up here in heaven. I'm the big cheese. Can you just take your... I'll get to you in a little while. Well, Lord, I'm sure you want to show everybody, I mean, what a real Christian is and what a real... I got Paul for that. Could you pipe down there just a little bit? You sound a lot like Jezebel to me. You just don't know... You got diarrhea of the mouth. You don't know when to shut up. I'm telling you, be quiet. I've been trying to tell you that for a long time, but you just want a spotlight grabber, aren't you there? Could you just sit down for a minute and shut up, please? Well, but Lord, I mean, I'm just trying to help you out. Okay, go ahead. Come on up here. Kneel. Now, let's throw your work in the fire. Oh, sure, Lord. I don't know if you got a dump truck big enough to hold what I'm going to be getting. Lord, I mean, is heaven large enough to hold all the gold and the silver and the precious stones you're going to be giving me? I mean, Lord, if you give it to me first, what's going to be left over for them? I mean, you'll have to go back to the first days of creation and create things because, I mean, I'm positive all that stuff in that vault right there, that's got my name on it. And the Lord said, could you pipe down for a second? Just throw it in the fire. I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll let your work do the talking. And you throw it in the fire. And all of a sudden those smiles turned to tears. And the tears began to dance across the frozen firmament like ice cubes. And the Lord said, well your works have proven you to be a liar. and you're saved and I promise to save you and I promise to keep you until that day and you're welcome to come in here because of your salvation but you got nothing but wood, hay and stubble because you misunderstood that everything I've been doing down there you thought I was doing that for you because you happen to have some material things and some health and some wealth. You thought that was me. That wasn't me at all. That was a work ethic or the devil. Man, what a place to start. Well, it's revival, isn't it? You know what revival means? Revival means that you have to be revived. It's got to be dead first in order for it to be revived. You know what a revival means? Revival means to reflect, it means to look back, it means to ponder. I'm sitting over there in the corner there next to Brother David, been my friend now for 25 years or so at least and all the stuff and things we've been through and my mind is just running through all kind of stuff that we've been through together and things we've been through at this church and y'all over at our church and the singing and all the other stuff that we've been through. And I'm thinking, boy, it's been a while maybe since you took a look back and remembered the first things. What was the first thing? I think you met the Lord at an altar. You say, no, I didn't meet him at an altar. I was in my car. I was at my desk. I was in a hospital room. I was out in the field somewhere. I was down by the tractor like the boys out there in Alabama that got saved out there by the John Deere, you know, and that kind of a thing. No, no, no, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the altar of Calvary. Your relationship with the Lord began at a place where somebody else offered themselves as a sacrifice for you. But you know what doesn't get passed on by heritage? He never forces a sacrifice. In Galatians, I mean, excuse me, in the Gethsemane experience there where the Lord goes out of the Mount of Olives there, you'll be around Matthew 25, 26 there, 26, and He goes out and they've had their last supper and He rises from the supper and He goes out and they're singing a hymn together and He tells Judas, what thou must do, go thou and do quickly. Satan enters into him, the Lord goes across to Kidron Brook there and crosses over to the other side. He steps up in there to the Mount of Olives and he leaves the four boys inside, the other boys in there, and takes three boys with him. Judas is gone now. The other seven of those guys are sitting right there, or eight of those guys are right there, and the three boys are with him. Peter, James, and John. You know what he says to those other eight boys? Sit you here. You ever wonder, you ever ask yourself why those boys didn't say, how come they get to go with you on the Mount of Transfiguration? And how come he gets to walk on water? And how come he... That's human nature. Why don't they desire the spiritual things? Why don't they say, hey, I want to go pray with you. I'll tell you why. Because they're comfortable sitting right there just inside the gate where they can get just close enough to see a little bit of Jesus and just close enough to see a little bit of the world. And that's where most of us are today. We're not Judas. But we ain't Peter, James and John. We don't want to get that close. I mean, good night, man. We don't want to be called out like that. I mean, we are like Peter in the sense that, hey, we'll jump out and say, not so, Lord. I'll never deny you. Peter, you're going to deny me? No, Lord, I'm not. I mean, think about that. Peter calls the Lord a liar to his face. Twice he does that. And he still winds up being like, you know what the Lord does? The Lord said, no Peter it's going to happen. Peter said, no it ain't going to happen. And Peter falls asleep and even though he has the opportunity to pray, Peter falls asleep. The other two follow suit. And they wind up there. The last time it comes by the Lord it says, go ahead and sleep on, you know. And then Pete wakes up a little bit later on. Could I say this to you? Those other eight are just inside the gate. Where are you? He's fixing to go to Calvary. You know what the Lord said to Peter? He said, Peter, watch and pray. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. That's what revival's about. Revival is about looking back and remembering when no matter how tired you were, how exhausted you were, how worn out you were, boy, you needed an answer from God, and you'd be on your face, and you'd pray, and you'd fast, and you'd search the Scriptures, and you'd get out and read your Bible, and you'd listen to back in those days cassette tapes, you listen to that and then it went to mp3s and cds or whatever they got out there now and now all you do is just have to mash some kind of a button somewhere move a rat around somewhere without a tail and click there it is and up it is and and you were searching but it's kind of grown cold hadn't it? I mean doesn't that net the tendency for most of us? Don't we have a tendency to sort of let that ember sort of get away from the fire a little bit and kind of let it go out and the next thing you know it's charred and it's burned and it has evidence that it was in the fire at one time. It was there. I mean it was burning hot and bright but the fire kind of moved away from it and instead of getting up there and sort of kicking it back up on the fire, you know, and getting it where it'll catch again, we've just kind of let it kind of die out and Boy, all we do is talk about what used to be. Boy, it used to be meetings, and boy, it used to be, boy, God did something, and used to be I'd witness, and used to be I'd pray, and used to be I'd sing, and used to be I'd pass out a track, and used to be, and used to be, and boy, see that old burnt out log there? That's me. That's used to be. Boy, I'm telling you. Why don't you put the log on the fire? Well, I don't know, man. You know, last time I tried to put logs on the fire, I got snake bit. Yeah, that's old Paul. You know what he does? He winds up in a shipwreck. You know the story. Gets off the shipwreck and everybody else is cold and freezing. Good time to build a fire, don't you think? I think it is. Great time to build a fire. Nobody's building a fire. That's kind of like working in the... You've got to learn to do it whether anybody else does it or not. Quit griping about it. Just go get it done. You say, yeah, but when you do, you get snake bit. Yeah, he got snake bit. And guess what happened? They looked for him to swell up. They looked for him to get mad. And Paul just shook it off and kept on shucking the wood onto the fire. What a great opportunity for the Lord to have a miracle. You say, well, what would have happened if Paul wouldn't have done nothing? The snake wouldn't have bit him. You wouldn't have been reading the story. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to try to tell you that this week, you know, there's something that we might ought to consider. We might ought to consider the first works. You might ought to consider where it started. It started at an altar. In my mind, I'm thinking about this in the passage where I'm going here in a couple hours. I'm thinking in my mind about when Genesis, so have to be four, three at the end of the fall there where Eve starts listening to other voices and stuff. One morsel of meat like Esau, Eve gives away the whole kingdom just for something to eat. unsatisfied, doesn't think she has enough, while she's got the whole garden, she's got a perfect man, she's a perfect woman, everything about the garden is perfect, no insects, no bugs, no stinking love bugs getting all over your windshield and all that kind of stuff. I don't care how much Vaseline you put on the front end of your car, they still manage to get through there and stick there and then nick the paint off of it when you take it off of that. What happened to your car? Did you have a wreck? No, love bugs, that's what it is. I didn't have no yellow butterflies flitting across the daisies today. I had them stinking things zap, hitting that thing zap. It's like somebody shooting at you, man. They got laser precise thing of being able to hit you. And they hit my windshield right where I'm looking. Now they might not hit yours that way. I don't have a hole. I'm constantly moving my head around and then I wind up cross-eyed because them things are right there, you know, and they're making you pay. They're like kamikaze love bugs over here. You don't hit them until you get just past Lake City. And then from Lake City all the way to Thomasville, those things are like, you know, and then they splatter all over your windshield. And every now and then they bring one of these big old June bugs with them. I don't know, it's like a blimp hit in your car, you know. And so you get ready to come over here, ladies and gentlemen, you're thinking, well, preacher, you know, I'm just coming in for a little bitty meeting and that kind of a thing. And just kind of never really, you ever pause to think a minute that the Lord might say, you know what, this might be your last meeting. Maybe there's some things you need to get right before you get home to heaven. I think in my mind about old Eve and she looked out there, you know what she said, what I have ain't enough. What I have, I'll sell it for something to eat. That's what she did. She sold it for a grape. For a grape! Are you kidding me? She damned humanity for a grape. But boy, ain't that the flesh? You know what the first temptation of the Lord is out there? He's been tempted for 40 days and 40 nights out there, and He comes up with those three temptations. You know what the devil tempts Him with? Same thing he tempted Esau with. Same thing he tempted Eve with. Same thing he messed around with Joseph about eating and the king's meat and all that. You know what he tempted the Lord with? If you're hungry, aren't you hungry? Yeah, I'm hungry, man. Wouldn't you like some biscuits and gravy? I mean, come on, man. I mean, you've fasted 40 days now. Ain't that long enough? Come on, you've fasted more than anybody else. Cut it out, man. Come on. Just me and you out here. Come on, don't you want something to eat? There ain't nothing to eat out here, man. There's no bread. There's no skillet. There's no fire. There's none of that other kind of stuff. I got you covered, man. I know who you are. You're Jesus, man. I know you're the Messiah. I know who you are. You can do miracles. I mean, after all, you made me. Hey, listen, man. Why don't you turn those stones into bread? Ain't you hungry? Boy, how many times have I seen people give up eternal things for carnal things, give up eternal things for things in the here and now, give up just for a taste of just a morsel, just to satisfy my appetite for something like that. Is this making any sense to you? This is just the entrance, the foyer, the introduction to the message. The message runs a week. What you got to recognize is, is the devil hadn't changed his stripes. He's still using the same thing. You say, what is he using? Your appetites. I just got to be married. I just got to be married. I just got to be... No offense intended. Nobody paid me to give you this message. God bless you. But I just got to do it. I just got to do it. Then you get married. I got to have a baby. I need a baby. I got to have a baby. I got to adopt one. Don't be in a hurry. What's the rush? Got to do it now, got to do it now. Well, what if you don't do it now? What if the Lord says, why don't you get to know Him for a little while, get to know her for a little while before you bring trouble into the marriage, I mean kids into the marriage. Hurry, hurry, hurry, fast, fast, fast, fast. When was the last time that you said, you know something Lord, I'm going to pull over and park and put it in neutral here and I just want you to speak to me this week. I get, by the time I get to Genesis chapter number 4, I see two boys that are there. Ever wonder how those two boys knew about an altar? Why the Lord Himself had taught Adam and Eve about an altar. You know that, right? You say, what, the coats of skins that were there? I'm sure there were lamb skins. Dr. Walker can straighten me out on that later on, but I feel like the type's pretty strong. It's probably a lamb skin that they got on them. You say, why? Well, you know, they thought what they had on to each other was enough coverage. See, you miss that when you read the text real fast sometimes. You know what he says? It didn't bother the two of them that they were naked. It's when the Lord showed up they realized I ain't got on enough clothes to make a pair of breeches for a blue jay and so all of a sudden the Bible said we were naked and we hid and the Lord said you were naked. Who told you you were naked? Why are you hiding? Why are you afraid of me for being naked? You know what I see nowadays? I see people that are spiritually naked as a jaybird at the judgment seat of Christ and it don't bother them. And they look at each other and they say, oh, well, you're naked as I'm naked. We're both naked. Have you ever seen two kids playing naked? They don't think nothing sexual. They don't think of nothing wrong or improper until you snatch them up and, you know, clothe them and all that. You know what I see Christians doing? Ah, you don't look any better than me. You know, I ain't got no clothes on. I ain't got no clothes on. We're all good. I'm not talking about physical. I'm talking about spiritual. And then the Lord comes walking in the cool of the evening one day and He said, Adam, where are you? Well, you know that's a rhetorical question. He knows where Adam is. He wants to know, Adam, do you know where you are? What in the hell are you doing hiding from somebody that flung the star clusters into existence? That painted a sunset with a dew off of a lily? What are you doing hiding over there, Adam? Well, I was afraid. Afraid of what? What would you know about being afraid of me? What have I ever done to you to make you afraid? Well, Lord, we found out we were naked. The Lord said, it didn't bother me ever before. Why would it bother me now? I made you. I made you that way. I clothed you with light. The lights went out in Georgia that night, boys. And they said, uh-oh, we better get a covering. She says, oh, yeah, we, yeah. What happens if he shows up? I don't know. If he does, well, lo and behold, guess what? Adam says, well, honey, you know how he is. He comes a cool evening. Every evening, he's gonna come up, he's gonna come. What are we gonna do? I don't know, I don't know. I know what we can do. How's this look, honey? I went down to the Walmart, and I got, does this look okay? Oh, yeah, you look good. Yeah, that's good. You got everything covered the right way. How's this, honey? Oh, yeah, you look fine. I mean, the fig leaves are working good. That's good. That's good. That's wonderful. And when they begin to wilt, we'll just get some more fig leaves. You know, nothing dies around here, man. These things will probably last for eternity. And the Lord shows up like He always will. And they were afraid. Can I ask you a question? If the Lord were to show up tonight, would you be afraid? Oh, I'd be afraid of the Lord. Really? You think it's any different than Adam? If you were afraid of the Lord, would you have done what you did yesterday that you shouldn't have done? If you were really afraid of Him, would you be harboring anger and bitterness and wrath and strife and emulation in your heart? How about pride? Well, you know what happens. The Lord comes down there and He offers a sacrifice and teaches them about substitutionary atonement and those kind of things. Big long story there, but we'll move on quickly through the story. By the time you get to Genesis 4, boy, you find the crux of the whole Bible right there. The law first mentioned will teach you a whole lot of things. Further mention and final mention will teach you even more things. But you know the strange thing about that? You find real human nature After Adam and Eve fall, look at that thing get passed down. Here comes Cain and Abel. That Bible said Cain. Of course, he always would want to be. He always wanted to be first, so he was first. So guess what? He comes to the altar first. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Boy, look at old Cain. He's down there at the altar. Yeah, but there's a problem. You say, well, yeah, Cain was on that wicked one and all that. Hold on. Hold on. Keep your shirt on just a second. I know you know all the deep truths in the Bible, but let's not miss the things that are shallow that maybe even run a little deeper than you might imagine. Cain's down there at the altar and he puts his fruits and vegetables there. Boy, it looks like a Michelangelo painting and lays all that stuff there. Man, I'm telling you what. It looks absolutely amazing. I mean, they are polished up and look. I mean, he lays it out there on the altar and he's like, okay, Lord, there it is. And he's got a big fanfare, got everybody around him looking. Boy, praise the Lord. Boy, ain't this something. Man, this is great, boy. And then here comes old Abel, man. I mean, he comes out of the field out there working at the flocks and the sheep and all that got him a little baby lamb here and he's petting his little old velvety nose you know that little lamb blinking them big old gigantic eyes and he's rubbing that little old head and he's saying I sure am sorry I sure am sorry oh little lamb I sure am sorry I sure am sorry. I'm sorry I have to do this to you because of what I did. I sure am sorry. And he takes that little lamb. That little lamb never even bleats, never even says anything. And he sits down there and he puts his hand on that little lamb and he says, Lord, I sure am sorry. I sure am sorry. I sure am sorry. And he says to that little lamb, I'm so sorry, but thank you for dying. And then, boy, that blood goes everywhere. And that little lamb's tongue comes out the side of his mouth there, and he lays there as the blood begins to drain out, and the eyes roll back in its head, and he falls over on that altar, and his little head dangles off the side of the altar there. And out of a Carolina clear blue sky, a bolt of lightning comes down and hits that lamb, and the Lord said, boy, I'm well pleased, forgiven. Well, there's an independent Baptist church member present. You say, how do you know? By his reaction. You know what he does? Instead of saying, man, what a blessing, I'm glad he got forgiveness. Boy, that's really good, man. Praise the Lord, man. What was it you did I didn't do? Well, I sure would like to get right. He picks out poaches out of his lip. And the Lord says, Cain, why is your countenance falling? Your face is telling on you. Are you with me so far? And Cain says, well, I brought the best I had. And the Lord said, I wasn't interested in the best you have. And he said, well, what was it that you wanted? He said, I want a lamb. And Cain said, well, about that. And the Lord said, what's the problem? And he said, well, there's only one shepherd in town. And the Lord said, that's your brother. Y'all was hatched out together. Just go to your brother, get a lamb and bring it and you and I'll be good. You know what you find out and what you'll find out before this meeting is over this week? Some of you are going to be Cain and some of you are going to be Abel. You say, how do you know that? You know what Cain said? I am not going to make it right with my brother to get a lamb in order to bring it here. You think it's about the lamb? It ain't about the lamb. It's about who he had to go to to make the thing right to be pleasing to God. You know what he said? I'd rather keep my reputation intact and I'd rather do what I want to do and I don't care what you think why he's just like Esau. I ain't doing it. I despise it. Just go to your brother and get it fixed. He warns him again and Cain says, nothing do it. He said, careful boy, sin lieth at the door. You better watch it. You better watch it. The devil's laying right there. He's going to get you. Like a roaring lion walking about seeking may devour. Just go to your brother, get it fixed up and get a lamb. Come on, let's go. I ain't doing it. All right. Fugitive and a vagabond thou shalt be and out he goes. You know what I know? I've seen it. I've been doing it long enough, youth camps and preaching, I don't know, for a number of years now, more than a couple. And you know what I've seen time and time again? I've seen Cain and Abel in every congregation and every group of people I've ever preached to. I've seen it in jails and prisons. I've seen it in big huge meetings. I've seen it in little bitty small meetings. I've seen it as many as four and five people sitting in a room. I've seen them people just cross their arms and turn their nose up at God and say, if that's what you're wanting from me, for me and you to be in fellowship, my fellowship with you don't mean as much as my reputation with him. And you know what I know some of you will do? You'll go out of here just like Cain tonight. Better be careful. Sin lies at the door. It's right out there. It's going to get you. No, it'll never get me. Oh boy, that bitterness will get you. Why, Esau thought everything was so good that when his brother came to him, as I told you earlier, he thought, man, me and the Lord are good. No, the Lord's done with you. You know what happened with the Lord with Cain? Did you ever read the story? I mean, that's in Genesis. We usually, you know, we make these like, at the first of every year, we make these resolutions, right? And we make these promises to God. They're about as empty as our, I mean, to other people, it's about as empty as our promises to God. We promise we're going to read the Bible through in a year. That's why I know whenever I preach out of the book of Genesis, I get a lot of head nods. Because you make it through about the first month of your Bible reading, and then after that, by the time you're at Chronicles, it's like, well, I tried, you know. It's like, are you reading your Bible through? Yeah, I'm reading my Bible through. Okay, well, it's December the 25th. You have seven days, you're still in Chronicles, gonna be a tight fit. Next year I'm going to get it done. I can preach out of Genesis. Generally speaking, I can preach anywhere from Genesis starting with Adam and Eve and the creation and I can go all the way over to Joseph and pretty much everybody will be right with me. Let me step over into Habakkuk. And people are like, huh? I made one of the stupidest mistakes I've ever made in my entire life. I'm in the Bible, if you can't tell. I just hadn't gone back to my notes. They're up there, I promise you. I just hadn't gone back there yet. I made a thing, they were making a big deal about people and messages and things like that, and so I thought it'd be cute, and so I said, you know, okay, whoever gets first, Peter 1, get up here first and go ahead and read it out and all that. And so the person got up and did that. Well, the next night I got up there and I said, okay, as soon as you find Hezekiah 3, stand up. I should have never done that. I had no sooner said it than an elderly woman stood up. Yeah, what would you do? I'll tell you what I did. I punted, man. I said, oh, thank you. I think she thought I said Habakkuk 3. Thank you very much, sister. I sure appreciate that very much. I never did that again. I hope that wasn't here that that happened. But you know what I know? I know that sometimes we're a lot like Cain. You know what that Bible does? He don't mention Cain. Again, the same book of Hebrews, guess what happens? He mentions Abel. He mentions Cain a little bit later on. Or he mentions, not Cain, but later on, he mentions Esau. You know what he mentions in Hebrews chapter 12? You ever read it? Hebrews chapter 12 talks about you running the race and who you run with and being affected and then he brings up Jesus Christ and talks about how great he was and for the joy set before him that he endured the cross and so on and so forth. But not as Esau, that profane person who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. It starts with a great example and it ends with your choice. You want to be like Jesus or be like Esau? Well, you don't go past Genesis 4 there. Do you find that there's an altar? I know there's several before this kind of stuff. Genesis chapter number 8, if I remember correctly, and again, if I'm wrong, get it off the tape and I'll be glad to correct it. I'm just trying to go somewhere with this tonight. I've got a lot of things to say, so let me just say them real quick. So if I could, Genesis chapter number 8, I think you'll find Noah. It's the guy that built the boat, right? Isn't he the one that all the independent Baptists got on? We called them wild animals or something like that. But they couldn't have been independent Baptists very long, sis, because they came in pairs and they were all getting along. And then they got on the ark, and they were on the ark the entire time, and nobody had a fight, nobody ate one another, so I'm thinking, wow, that must have been a pretty awesome church, you know? And so, that was a joke. It's okay to laugh. And so at the end of that, you know what happens? He steps off that ark and he slays those clean animals and he says, Lord, you sure do appreciate you. You see there's more than just confessing sins and sacrifices that are Adam started off confessing sins and Cain and Abel found out that there were sacrifices necessary but all Noah comes up and he says you know something Lord you sure have been good. I think I'm on build an altar just to offer my praise and thanksgiving boy. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. Old Paul says over in the New Testament, you know what he says? He gets to thinking about it one day and he says, hey, I just want you all to know that but by the grace of God, I am what I am. And then he says in that same verse, he said, God didn't waste his grace on me. What he gave me, I'm going to utilize it to the full potential. And what he gave me, and then he goes, well, what I mean to say is that God's grace gave it to me. You ever pause to think how arrogant and obnoxious you can be to think you're anything at all if it wasn't for God being what he was to you? How dare you turn up your nose at God and think you're something special? Oh, I'm special. I'm somebody. If you're somebody, it's because God made you. God don't call everybody to do everything He gave you the ability to do. I know people in here that have the ability to sing. Man, they could sing in Nashville. They could sing and make millions of dollars and be out on the circuit and they'd make enough money to retire on after a couple of years and so on and so forth. They were given a supernatural voice. Well, either the devil gave it to them or God did. If they use it for the Lord, that's a tremendous blessing. If they use it for the devil, that's something that he pays them for now. They don't get anything for it later, except the lake of fire. Well, you move on through there, Genesis chapter eight. Let me hurry about Genesis chapter 15. I've actually preached in 2009 here, I preached the message about keeping the sacrifice on the altar. That's the one where Abram, he's not Abraham yet, he's just Abram. He goes out there and he's looking for the will of God. We're just talking about altars. I was headed somewhere else, but I'm just gonna camp on this for just a little while. And you better hope I just stay on altars, because if I preach the other message, we'll be here a whole nother hour. So I'll save that for later on. But he said there's plenty of water. At any rate, I remember when I used to first come here, they would bring me a fruit juice glass of water. And that was his subtle way of saying, you have to stop preaching when the water runs out. And so then the next time he brought this big pitcher up here, and y'all all came to church like, oh no, I ain't staying for this. He thought it was a baptismal service, I was gonna come by and baptize everybody. By the time you get to Genesis 15, you learn that sometimes finding the will of God requires a trip to the altar. more than once. The way I figured it, Brother Keith, I think it took him 14 trips to the altar before the Lord ever even showed up. I wonder how many people have stopped just short of where God wants them to be because they've brought all they're going to bring. I wonder how, when we bring it, how often we would beat the black birds off of it and knock them off and say, hey, that's the Lord's sacrifice, and how many of us would be fighting the birds for taking it off the altar to take it back instead of bringing it to the Lord and letting it there. Lord, he says to him, he gives him a promise about Isaac and the sands of the sea and the stars of heaven. I'm positive you remember the passages in Genesis 15. It's there on the left-hand side of the page, left-hand column there. And as he's going down through that passage there, he said, Lord, how will I know? And the Lord said, make thee an altar. Make an altar, just give me an answer. The Lord said, no, I want to see if you're going to put a little sweat in it. You've got to make a little effort. I'm going to see if you mean business. You realize that sometimes we ask the Lord to do big things with us, but we're not willing to do the little things? Oftentimes we always talk about the kids and all that, you know, oh they always want to start at the top, but sometimes in spiritual life, hey I got saved, where do you want me to preach? Hey, I got saved. Who do you want me to teach? Hey, I got saved. What's special? You want me to sing? How about, hey, I got saved. Did you want me to clean out the toilets? You want me to sweep the floor? You want me to work in the parking lot? Oh no, no, I got saved. God saves something special when He saves me. He saves something special, okay. Well you know what happens in that story, Abram gets down there and the Lord comes in the horror of darkness and he comes up to him and he gives him an answer to his prayers. Do you realize Genesis 15 is a run up to Genesis 22? Surely you know that. Surely you can see that. In seven chapters, you know what he's going to ask him? He's going to ask him for more than a pigeon and a turtle dove and a ram and a lamb and a he-goat. He's going to ask him for his boy. My goodness, man, isn't God good to give you little baby steps along the way and been merciful to you to let you kind of get ready for things before the big things hit you? And boy, ain't it something that right after you got saved, some of the tragedy and the troubles and the difficulties and the problems that some of you folks have been through, ain't it good that He didn't do that right after you got saved? Man, you'd be madder than a hornet. But He lets you get seasoned a little bit, doesn't He, and prepares you a little bit. And it's hard, though. I understand it's hard. But if He hits you with it right after you first got saved, man, probably every one of us would be out. I'm so glad in my own personal life that the Lord didn't deal with me about sins I didn't even know I was committing. I never was stupid enough to pray this prayer. It sounds so holy and when you're out public. And Lord, forgive me of all the sins that I don't even know that I committed. Well, if you don't know you're committing, they're sins of ignorance. You're not asking you to do that. I spend too much time confessing the ones I do know. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know y'all were there. Oh, no, not me. I just, you know, it only takes me, you know, count your many blessings, name them one by one. I count my sins and I name them one by one. And that one, and I'm good, so I'm like, well, Lord, I know there must be others. So forgive me of those, too, because I'm... Okay, so by Genesis 15, you know what happens? You see a change take place. In Genesis chapter number 15, the odd thing that takes place there is the value of the sacrifice has gone up. See, now it's gotten more personal. And he's gotten a little bit more possessive. I get close to pets sometimes. We had a really good dog. His name was Zeke. We made him stay around too long. We should have put him down long before we did, but I liked that dog. He couldn't do nothing. I mean, he was just a dog. He was a Heinz 57. He looked like a miniature retriever. He was supposedly a Cocker Spaniel. I don't know exactly what he was. We left his tail on him. He had a long tail. He had long fur and that kind of stuff. You could point your finger at him and pull the trigger, and he'd lay over like he was dead. And then he'd start wiggling his tail and you'd go, you ain't dead yet, and he'd stop. And then you'd say, okay, and then he'd come get his treat. And he could sit, and he could lay, and he could roll over. He got so deaf, he couldn't hear a bomb go off. He would come, so he was letting us know he was worth something. He'd go lay down by the back door with the garage door. He'd lay with his back right up against the garage door, you know, and so that when we opened up the door, you had to hit him. And many a night, I'd come in, I'd open the door, and I'd have to push Zeke off there. He'd just slide on the floor like that because he was... But he always wanted and then that tail start thumping and he'd do the best he could to look at you and stuff like that. I mean, but sacrificing an animal and sacrificing a kid, I don't care how close you are to a pet. Boy, when the child you have, the sun rises and sets in their eyes and all your hopes and dreams are resting upon that boy that you've watched up. Hey, Lord, how are you this morning? Good. How are you doing, Abraham? Good, Lord. Good to see you. Boy, sure has been a while since we talked, Abraham. Yes, sir, Lord. What about that boy? Boy, Lord, did you see him? He knocked that stinking gnat off that fence post at 300 yards. You should have seen the first buck he killed. I was right there. We blooded him good. Lord, you should have seen that. Man, old John was underneath that. We've been looking for that lunker bass for so long, I came to mad. Boy, he filled that nip-a-diddy right up under that thing, and it's just, you know, man, and that thing came up that yellow silly sidewinder. Boy, that pork rind, yow, that old bass grabbed that thing, and he took off. Man, he stood up in that boat, wrestled that thing in. I put him in the net. He's hanging out on the wall. Hey, Abraham. Lord, I'm not done telling you a story. Boy, what a blessing that kid's been to me. I'm just telling you. I mean, I know I've missed church. I know I've missed going to the altar. I know I've missed a few other things. I mean, I realize, Lord, but I've been having such a good time with that boy. I mean, you know what? I got somebody to give my inheritance to, and he's going to be the next in the kingdom. Boy, he's just a good kid, and he's a good kid. Hey! Yes, sir? Take that boy to the land. I'll tear the offering there for a sacrifice, a burnt offering. Something done got between you and the Lord, Abraham. There's an Isaac in your life. Something that you are near and dear to. Something that you love has prevented you from doing what God would have you to do. Aren't you glad for stories like that in the Bible? I am. You say, why? I realize that I can be Abraham. I can have an Isaac that's not a human being, but boy, I sure can love a reputation. I sure can love monetary things. I sure can love security. I mean, I find out if I don't have to look too far, I can find out I can love an Isaac. And the Lord says, Up here, you say, why? Sometimes altars are a place where fellowship is restored. You know what the Lord says about him there? He says to him at the end of that thing when he's about ready to plunge that knife in there, I think if I could paint the picture, I'd paint the picture, boy. I'd have him in there a sweat, boy. He's up there sweating, snot-slinging, boy, slobbering, crying, boy, I'm sorry, boy, I'm sorry. Just like Abel when he put that hands on those lamb, boy, boy, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I believe the Lord. Oh, a preacher, he read in Hebrews 11. He believed in a resurrection. Okay. Boy, that's a far cry from having to put the knife in your boy. That's a lot of faith, ain't it? He's getting ready to kill him, boy, and I think he's on the down stroke, man, or he's got that thing and he's fixing to cut that boy's throat and he's got it right up on those jugglers, man, getting ready to come across there and cut that windpipe and all. And the Lord grabs his hand, just twists that thing out of his hand this way, and he said, now I know not you love me. What happened to you, Abraham? You quit fearing me. You forgot I was God. Your fellowships broke, Abraham. You let the boy get between me and you. You let carnal needs and desires get between me and you. Well, you don't have to go much further. You can get over in the book of Exodus. You know what happens? Oh, Joshua was down there fighting a battle in the valley and Moses is up on the mountaintop and they hold his hands up and his hands come down and they lose the battle. His hands go up and Aaron and her come in there and they get under one armpit and the other armpit. I'm about to where I'm going. This is an introduction. The message won't take but a minute, but just give me a couple more minutes here. And they hold him up like that and that kind of a deal. You know what happens after Joshua wins that battle? It's an odd thing. And the Lord says to Moses, He said, Now, here's what I want you to do about that battle. I know he's got battle experience. So I'm down there fight. I get that. I understand that. But he said, Here's what I want you to do, Moses. I want you to build an altar. Okay, Lord. And I want you to be thankful for the victory. But I want you to pass on what I did for the nation of Israel because you did your part, Aaron and her did their part, and he did his part. And rehearse this in the ears of Joshua, the future leader of the nation to come. Where do I discuss it with him, Lord? At the altar. Isn't it something that when you mention altar, even in a Baptist church nowadays, that people find reasons not to go instead of reasons to go? I'm sure you know this by now. You've been married 30 years coming up soon and you've been pastoring here for nearly 20. I found in my own church that people that make a habit of using the altar rarely ever create any problems in the church. It's the people that are always making excuses not to come that create the issues. You say why? The altar is a place of humility. It's a place of bowing down and bending down. I like the story of Gideon. You know, remember Gideon over there? He's over there threshing wheat. He's hiding behind the little thing that's there building the wheat around. He's throwing the wheat up and there's winnowing it. But he's hiding himself and the Lord said, Thy mighty man of valor. And Gideon's like, He looks down at that little threshing floor, he says, somebody down there he's talking to. He said, I'm talking to you. You know the odd thing in that passage? Before Gideon ever takes the pitchers and gets paired down to 300 people, that's a great message in there, and the people lapping water and that kind of stuff, and he gives them a light and a pitcher and a trumpet and all that, and that's a great victory that's won. But you know what he does to test him? Have you ever read it? You ever think about it? Why, that bird, you know what he does? He goes over there and the Lord says, here's what I want you to do, Gideon. Yes, sir, Lord, you want me to go out there and fight the battles and all that? No, your daddy's got the wrong altar. So the first thing I want you to do is I want you to grab some of your guys and I want you to go tear your daddy's altars down and I want you to build my altar up. You know what happened in the days of Gideon? You know why they were under attack? They quit using the altar. But Baal's people never quit using the altar. Why, it was even in Gideon's own family. His dad A well-to-do, well-known individual, known about town. As a matter of fact, his dad was so well-known that his dad renamed him. Like a burr in the saddle or something. I can't think of the right word right now. It won't come to my mind. But he was against to or opposed to Baal. And he comes down there to him and he says, hey. He said, tear your daddy's altars down. Why? Because every altar is not God's altar. You ever have to tear an altar down? You say, no, I ain't got no altars up there. Really? You never sacrificed more for the things you want than the things of God? You sure you don't have altars? Altars are just places you make sacrifices. They're just places of worship. It's just places there you go to give glory for things and different stuff like that. Places that you go to get the will for your life and so on and so forth. Are you sure you don't have any altars that need to be torn down? You sure about that? Okay, well good. Praise the Lord. I'm glad you only got one altar. That's good. Most of us find out, if we looked very long, we'll find out, you know, something, Lord, I gotta tear something down before I build something up. I'm just being upfront with you. And he said, build the altar. Well, not long before that, remember, I started at Calvary. We've been through a few. Let me just stop with this. You remember the passage? Everybody knows the passage. I like Elijah. He's a great preacher. Three and a half years by the kid-drawn brook there, I mean by the river there, not the river, the pond, the bubbling brook. It'll come out to me in a minute. And then he comes over there and he gets the biscuit from the lady and that kind of a thing. And then the boy dies and he resurrects the boy. And then the Lord comes to him and says, go over there and tell Ahab, now you've already told him it wasn't going to rain. Now I want you to go tell him it's going to rain. But we're going to get up there and have a showdown at the OK Corral. Did you ever think about that? Do you know why there was a drought? It's right in the passage. If you read 1 Kings chapter number 18, you know what you find in the passage? You find the reason for the nation of Israel having a drought and having a famine. And it wasn't God just being mad at them. It wasn't just the judgment of God because it was, you know, He just loved to pick on the Jewish people. You know what the cause was in there? Baal's altars were full, his prophets were preaching, and his services were profitable. You know what the nation of Israel did? They migrated into Baal worship. How do you know that? Well, you read the passage right there. There's 450 prophets of Baal that are sitting at Jezebel's table, and the nation of Israel, the leaders of Israel, they're sitting with the prophets. You know, step number one, what many people don't recognize is, is that if you're ever gonna make your way to the altar, you gotta get up from eating at the wrong table. Man, when it comes to eating... I'm not talking about cinnamon rolls and ice cream and, you know, manna from heaven, that kind of a deal. Horry for Austin, all that kind of a deal. Ice cream, that's heaven. That's manna. But let me ask you this question. Do you ever pause to think about some of the garbage, some of the trash, some of the stuff that you put in? Most of you, most of us, I'll say this, most of us eat 21 meals a week. That's if you eat three times, not counting snacks. If you eat three times a day, seven days a week, that's 21 meals. And you hadn't fed your spiritual body with a morsel of meat in over a week. And physically, you're doing great. And boy, if you miss your meal and don't get your cookies before bedtime, boy, you are Krabby Appleton when you wake up in the morning. But you're starving yourself, and that old black dog is as fat as he can be, and that white dog is just shriveling up and shriveling up, because you care more about feeding the flesh than you do about feeding the spirit. You say, what does that flesh eat on? Oh, it eats on bitterness, boy, and anger. And I'm right. I don't care who knows it. Oh, OK. You ever read 1 Peter 2? I like that passage. You know what he says there in 1 Peter 2? He said, you know what, if you get a whooping, this is the Living Bible version, he said, if you get a whooping for something you did wrong, what's the big deal? You deserved it. But you know what he says? If you took a whooping for doing right, he said, this is thankworthy. You know who's doing the thanking? God is. God said, I appreciate you taking the wrong, I like that. That's like me. You wouldn't take the wrong, would you? Not to stay in fellowship? You wouldn't do that, would you, Cain? Nah. You wouldn't do that, would you, Esau? Nah. Ain't nothing doing, man. Sure you wouldn't, Judas. I know that. You know one thing I do know? I never saw Judas in an altar once. Until he hung himself. Those souls cry out from underneath that altar in Revelation chapter number 6. It's funny where they're crying out from. They're under the altar. I know where the altar is. It's down here on earth. They're not in the body of Christ. They're down here. They're slain for the testimony of their spirit. They're slain for the testimony of Jesus Christ. They're slain for doing right and keeping the commandments and having the faith in Jesus Christ. How long, Lord, before you avenge us and all that? Where are you making that plea from? From an altar! Lord, you avenge me! You said vengeance is mine. Take vengeance! Do something! Help me! Where's the cry coming from? From an altar! Who cares about an altar preacher? That's old-fashioned, old-timey stuff, man. I'm already saved. I'm not Southern Baptist. Southern Baptist, you come down two times. One, you come down for salvation, and two, you come down for rededication. Whatever in the cat hair that is. And before you get real upset with me and all that, I was raised Southern Baptist. I was in a Southern Baptist church nine months before I was born. I was raised on drugs. I was drugged to church in the morning, in the evening, and at supper time. Whether I liked it or didn't like it. So don't tell me I know about Southern Baptists. You say, well I was raised that way. I made a choice to get away from that kind of stuff. You say, why? Because I realize I'm like Abram. I need to make more than one trip. I realize I gotta put some sweat and some effort into it. And I realize sometimes I have to give up some things that I dearly love in order to keep my fellowship with Him. And not one time, not one time, my personal testimony is not one time have I found myself regretting it. God has always supplied my need and given me more abundantly than I could ever ask or think. He's filled it in a multitude of ways. Boy, why I'm so slow to go to the altar. I don't know. That flesh just gets in the way. Well, before long the Baal's altars are good. You know what's an amazing thing to me in that story is that they do no repair work at all to Baal's altars. Because they have been in use. Every stinking day they're worshiping a false god. Every single day. They come to the altar there after the time's over, it's noontime, Baptist salute, everybody, hey, 12 o'clock, time to get out. You ever wonder where that came from? You say, yeah, it's what time we get out of church. No, that's what time Baal worshippers get out. So you didn't know that. You say, what is that? That's the time when the sun is at its peak. It's a form of worship. I intentionally go a little bit past 12, because I don't want to be considered veil worship. I have some of my dear church folks here, and now they know the truth. But they're not social media people, so probably nobody will even know it. Twelve o'clock comes and they're done worshiping and no rain. In that passage, you know what happens? You say, yeah, the fire falls on it. Wait, but hold on. I'm preaching and I'm just kind of like, tell the story, OK? So just relax for another couple of minutes. Metaphorically speaking. That old preacher says to the nation of Israel, come near unto me. He doesn't say anything. He starts repairing the altar. He's probably shaking his head. If I could paint, I'd have preachers standing around him. I'd have him down here like this, getting a stone like this and putting it in the right place. And I'd have him look up here at Peacock and the thing going. Wouldn't I teach you better than this? How come you ain't had this thing built? What have you been doing? Sitting around on your blessed assurance during all this time? This nation wouldn't be in. There's a lot to look. Do you realize that when the Lord comes out of the praetorium after having the tar whipped out of Him, do you realize that all He did was look at Peter and Peter went out wet bitterly? Boy, there's a lot in a look. I think that old preacher's looking around them other people who call themselves preachers and he's saying, why am I down here doing this? Y'all should have been doing this. I shouldn't have to be doing this. Y'all know the necessity of an altar. It started in a garden in an altar. Those preachers just have to hang their head in shame. Hey, preacher, let me help you. Get your hands off. You don't get to get in on spotlight now. You say, well preacher, we know by reading the Bible that later on, you know, Elijah, he's kind of thinking he's the only one around. Okay, well let me just ask you this question. I know there's 7,000 hat and bow to need a bale, is that right? That's in the Bible, right Brother Candidate? Right? Okay. Could I ask you this question? Where in the cat hair were they when he was standing by himself on Carmel? How come them 7,000 weren't standing right there with him saying, Amen preacher, we're with you. I mean, you can't blame him for thinking he's the only one. Be careful about twisting that passage into yourself. Oh, see, he's full of pride. I'll be jumped, man. I'd feel like, man, I'm the only one here doing anything and nobody else has jumped in to volunteer to help me till they see what the outcome is. I mean, do you realize that after the fire falls and they run into the town and he passes the chariots, not a one of those 7,000 had him in for a biscuit? Reminds me of church members. I don't know, let's wait and watch the bloodbath and see how things come out. We'll see how it goes, and then we'll let you know where we stand. Lest I get too personal, let me hurry and get through with the story. Talk about an altar. He builds that altar. I think it's strange. I know your pastor's already seen it, and probably all the other preachers in here, and probably you Bible readers have seen it if you made it into 1 Kings 19 or 1 Kings 18. He gets everything done. He gets the sacrifice laid on it like he's told to do. He's got everything ready to go. The blood's been poured out. And he says, okay, Lord, everything's in order, so show them who God is. I mean, I don't have no doubt. He's been taking care of me for three and a half years very, very well. Boy, I sure appreciate it, man. It's been really good. Well, I appreciate wherever you sent that bird by over there, that woman that made that apple pie. It'd be good if you could send her back by there, you know, and that kind of thing. And the Lord says, okay, well, there's something else missing. No, sir. I think... Tell me what it is, sir. I'll get it. He said, you see them barrels of water over there? Elijah looks at him and grins. He said, you mean what the people have been depending on to take care of them instead of you? And the Lord said, now you're thinking. He said, pour that on the altar. See, the miracle wasn't that the Lord knew how the white light wood that was wet That's a shallow interpretation. Preacher, there's one barrel for every tribe in there. Okay, well how many barrels did it take to fill the trench? What are they for, the lost tribes of Israel? Those Harold Armstrong's tribes? The Lord said, fill up the trench. Man, those animals are sitting there, they haven't had a drink of water. Their tongue is cleaving to their jaws. Those people are saying, man, we knew this preacher was a nut. What a fool. What an idiot. Now he's trying to get the fire going and he's pouring water on there. What's he pouring? The most valuable thing we have in the nation of Israel right now is water. Nope. You missed it. The most valuable thing you have in the nation of Israel is God. But you forgot Him, didn't you? and you're dependent on the job, and the government check, and the vaccine, or the mask, or the hydroxychloroquine, or the ivermectin, or the bleach, or the peroxide, or the iobat, and the wing of newt, and the baking soda over the shoulder. Stand on your head and... If you stay in the house and turn the temperature up to 90, it'll kill it dead. Yeah, and you won't care because you'll be dead too. You got to sleep under the covers a certain way. The most valuable thing is your life. No. And you know what happened, the Lord hits the... I think we've been talking about the altar. The Lord hits the sacrifice that's on the altar. There's no mention of him hitting the calf on there. It's about him hitting what Israel was dependent on. To send them a message. You now have given up the most valuable thing to you. That's a finite supply. It's going to run out sooner or later. See that cloud up there about the size of a man's hand? I'm fixing to wring it out. And I'm going to give you more water than you can even imagine what to do with. But don't you forget where that water came from. Preacher, what are you talking about tonight? Well, I have to repeat the whole thing by now if you haven't got it. I don't know how to give it to you. That Bible starts off in the book of Hebrews when he starts off over there talking about people that mean something to him. You know what he says? Abel. Abel? Yeah, all the way back there in the New Testament. He offered a more excellent sacrifice. Why is he making a point of that? Because the altar means something to the Lord. That's why Calvary is there. You say, well, what got offered at Calvary? There wasn't no lamb there. Oh, there was, the Lamb of God. The most valuable thing in the entire universe. He set the example. Now you're at the beginning of a revival meeting. I hope I've given you a few things to think about and consider. Maybe you want to ponder and pause a moment tonight and think, you know something, it's been a while since I've been down there talk to the Lord find out about his will or to glorify him for what he's done or to praise him for the victory or to ask him for direction or maybe I got something in my life I need to get rid of or maybe you know what I need maybe I just need a prayer answered maybe he won't hear me unless I maybe I need to be praying from an altar and maybe what's between me and him right now is my Isaac is my pride I'm too proud to bow my head and bend my knee in front of these people, you know, I grew up around them. You know, we all live out here, you know, it's sort of country here, you know, preacher. We all know each other, every one of us around here. We live out in farms and we work our maters and our peas and our taters and things. You know, we do business at the tractor place up the road there, up on 19, you know, down there on the left on the way out of town before you hit 10. You know, Preacher, we eat together down here and we, Preacher, you know, this worshiping together and people knowing that I ain't all I'm cracked up to be, I don't, I don't, that ain't church to me, Preacher. I think church is just, you know, apple pie and ice cream, Preacher. You know, dinner on the grounds kind of stuff, Preacher. This altar stuff. You're kind of freaking me out a little. You sound a little like David Koresh or Jim Jones. You're asking for me to do something between me and God. You know, preacher, you know, I mean, pass the coffee, but... Okay. Go ahead, Ephesus. Go ahead and don't recognize until you die, Esau, that God's not even looking at you. You say, why? You want to get his attention this week? You know where it starts? It starts where it began with you at Calvary. And you never quit going until he calls you out. When you get up there to heaven, you're going to be shocked. You say, why? In the New Jerusalem? Why, you know what's up there in New Jerusalem? Why, there's an altar there. Ain't that something? You know what it'd be here in the Millennial Kingdom? You'd almost think that the Lord thinks there must be something to it. But that's why we play it down and make so little of it. Because it's sometimes a hard place. I'm almost done. This is the last illustration. I'll close. Jacob. After he meets Esau, the Lord has given him instructions. He's supposed to be headed back to Bethel. For 30 years, he's been within 20 miles. You know that, right? You're Bible scholars. 30 years, he's been within 20 miles of where he first met God. Pretty major meeting. Major promises made, all that stuff, right? You remember the story. It's a quick illustration, just stay with me. Do you realize that if you stop at the end of Genesis chapter number 33 before you get to Genesis chapter 35, you know what he does? He stops short of where God wants him to be and he builds an altar. But it's not one that God recognizes. He builds one that has connections to the world. It's close by, it's convenient, he don't have to go another 20 miles. But can I just tell you what the wrong altar cost him? Chapter 34, have you read it? It's in Genesis you should have. His daughter gets raped. Chapter 34, his two boys, they wind up becoming murderers. Chapter 34, that nation is doing everything they can do to try to find Jacob and all of his descendants so they can put them to the sword and kill them all. Chapter 34, the beginning of chapter 35, the Lord says, you better get up and go back to Bethel, where I called you, where I appeared to you, and where I showed up there. Guess what happens? His wife is worshiping idols and they're in his house. You say all that from what? The wrong altar and the wrong place. Because you know, every church is as good as another one. Don't make no difference. As long as you're there, you know how to eat the chicken, throw out the bones. I bet if Jake had it to do over again, you know why he's leaning over there in Hebrews? He's leaning on that staff and that old Pharaoh says to him, Boy, Jake, tell us, man, we've heard you're the patriarch. You're it, man. You're the cat's meow. What do you tell us about this? He said, Few and evil have been the years of my pilgrimage. What am I doing? I'm looking at a raped daughter. I'm looking at an idol-worshiping wife. I'm looking at murdering sons. Why? Because I stopped short of where God told me to go. Have you ever stopped short of where God told you to go? You know, stop just short. Bring some fruit and vegetables instead of bringing the lamb. You ever stop? You ever done that? Boy, it sure cost him. He sure had a lot he had to shed there in Genesis 35 just to be able to make the trip, man. He had so many stuff hanging off of him. He would have never made it back to Bethel. There were too many things holding him down. You know what he had to do? He said, leave it all behind. Bury it under the oak tree. Take them earrings off, boy. Why? Earrings were a sign of being a servant to something. Enslaved. Jake, you better leave all that behind. I think to myself this and I'm done. I think to myself this. We'll turn it over to your pastor. I think to myself this. I think when Jake's looking back there and he finally sees all the stuff all work out and the wagons come and he's over there talking to Pharaoh and all that, he's thinking, man, what a mess I made from the time I tricked my daddy until the time I got tricked until the time I got back until I lied to Esau and I wound up there and man, that daughter that sweet little old precious girl with pink ribbons in her hair pretty little curls look like Shirley Temple in her beautiful little ruffled dress and so pure a boy a snowflake would be scared to land on her just beautiful little girl sit in my lap put her to sleep at night daddy the bee stung me daddy the bee stung me come here and let daddy help you with that daddy I skimped my knee and grow up and boy that little girl comes into a beautiful woman And the lust of a young man falls upon her, and he has the power to take her, and he takes her. And the Lord says, mind you of anybody, Jake? And the next thing you know, in the face of religion, two boys have a whole town, have a so-called revival, and they go in while they're wounded and can't do anything, and murder everybody in the town. I think Jake looks down and says, boy, I sure wish I had gone back to the right altar, offered the right thing. Man, boy, I never thought it could turn out like this. No do-over, Jake. Got to do the best you can from this point forward. Yeah, a few and evil, boy. Boy, the collateral damage. You're not in this alone. and your actions have repercussions for good or for bad. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might consider helping us tonight as we ponder, pause, think about these things that are written clearly for us in the Bible. I realize the day and time in which we live that it's an unpopular topic and most people will sacrifice to pretty much anything else, but certainly not to you. But nonetheless, Lord, it's a biblical truth. I know it's there. I know we have a responsibility to preach it, whether they will hear or forbear. Lord, would you just, through the power of the Holy Spirit, would you individually talk to the folks tonight and help them not to be looking around or seeing what anybody else is doing or not doing? Lord, would you just bring us back tonight, call us back tonight to Bethel? maybe here at this altar, maybe at the pew where we're seated and we just turn around and make a Bethel out of that place. Lord, maybe, maybe we can get back and get our relationship, our fellowship with you back to where it needs to be. Lord, who would have ever thought that our altars are in bad need of repair in the day and time in which we live? The missing part of our worship service is the altar. I pray Heavenly Father now your blessings upon however the preacher chooses to close the service. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.