I gotta get my promises out that I gotta stand on here. That's fine. One thing about it, we always, every Sunday, when you're up here, you stand on the word. You have to. You ready for me to start? Okay. Oh yeah. so so Well, good morning. Let me move this thing. I'm sorry. It'll go up and down because I'm kind of tall and Kathleen's a little bit shorter than me, but welcome to Deep Creek Baptist Church. Beautiful, beautiful autumn day in November. I kind of got mixed emotions this morning. I was two and one yesterday. My two Seahawk teams won, but my Duke Blue Devils did not. So, that's okay. We made a great show and we had them people in Miami worried for a while. But anyway, let's go to Lord in prayer. And Father God, I love you, and I thank you for this day, and Lord, we come before you humbly. Lord, we ask you to fill this building with your spirit. May everything we do here be pleasing to you. Lord, and I just love you. I thank you for all that are here today. Everyone that is here today, Lord, you have ordained for them to be here, and I thank you for that. God, I just ask you to forgive us of our sins and our shortcomings, and may all we do honor you. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Okay, if you would stand for our opening hymn. And David mentioned last week, which I think is really important, a lot of these, most of these songs are based on a Bible verse. And in today's, it's singing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. Colossians 3.16. Page 614, in my heart there rings a melody. so I have a song that Jesus gave me, it was sent from heaven above. There never was a sweeter melody, tis a melody of love. In my heart there rings a melody, there rings a melody with heaven's harmony. In my heart there rings a melody, there rings a melody of love. I love the Christ who died on Calvary, for he washed my sins away. He put within my heart a melody, and I know it's there to stay. In my heart there rings a melody, there rings a melody of heaven's harmony. In my heart there rings a melody, there rings a melody of love. It will be my endless theme in glory, with the angels I will sing. It will be a tune with glorious harmony, when the counts of heaven ring. In my heart there rings a melody, there rings a melody with heaven's harmony. In my heart there rings a melody, there rings a melody of love. Amen. So at this time we normally do our greetings, welcome again, but we also do birthdays and anniversaries. I'm going to announce the ones that's in the bulletin and if you have a birthday this week or an anniversary this week, stand up and we're going to sing happy birthday to you. Addie Claire Roberts has a birthday, she's not here and Renee is. She has a birthday on the seventh. Are there any other birthdays or anniversaries this week? We had one last week. Stand up. Yeah, she's been messing up the beer with me, so I need to leave. Well, stand up. Both of you. All right, we're going to sing happy birthday to all these. And so where we say happy birthday, you just think it's anniversary, OK? All right, so. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, God bless you. Happy birthday to you. Amen. All right, if you would stand. Our hymn for today is 453, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. What a fellowship, what a joy divine Leaning on the everlasting arms What a blessedness, what a peace is mine Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning Safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how bright the path grows from day to day. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning on Jesus. Leaning on Jesus. Safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning on Jesus. Leaning on Jesus. Leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms I have blessed peace with my Lord so near Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning on Jesus, leaning on Jesus Safe and secure from all alarms Leaning on Jesus, leaning on Jesus Leaning on the everlasting arms Y'all can be seated. I got some birthdays, we done done that, so I got announcements, praises, and prayer requests. Alright, the ladies circle will meet Tuesday at the 12th, which is next week. The men's group will meet on Monday the 11th at 6.30, the ladies meet at 7 on Tuesday. The Samaritan's Purse Project this year, we're doing 100 boxes. The buckets of blessings are going to run up until November the 17th, and all of them What they're doing is, the money that's collected is buying the articles to go in the box. The boxes have already been taken care of, the shipping's been taken care of. So all we gotta do is fill it, and so they're gonna make an order, they're gonna get all that stuff here, and then on the 17th, they're going to pack it. And if you've never been here to watch that, it's a similar line, it's a lot of fun. I'm sure there'll be some type of refreshment. And if you would like to participate, the 17th, it's a great day to be here. Sunday, November the 17th, if you have, well, I just said that. If you have any questions about Samaritan's Purse, you can call Renee at 910-690-0842. December 7th, there is a trip that they're going to take. December 7th through the 9th and 13th through the 15th is a live nativity. At Yates Staggered, reservations, you can start making reservations now. There will be nursery for Children's Church, or excuse me, the Children's Church schedule. This is running together, there's no spaces between them, that's okay. It's me. Nursery workers today are Jean and Red. Nursery workers next week are Sharon and Nate. Beginning in January of 2025, Children's Church will be for first grade and under. So with that, are there any other announcements? Thank you, Seahawks, for being here. If you would join me in giving them a round of applause, they're great. I have two, actually I have three families. I have my church family here, I have my Seahawk family, and then I've got, of course, my family. And I have enjoyed and loved every one of them. With that being said, I'm not going to embarrass them and have them to stand. You can tell who they are by their shirts, so that's good enough. Any other praises and prayer requests? I have a praise. The little boy back there in the yellow jacket with the curly hair. That's who we've been praying for. That is Maverick. And Maverick's eye has already started getting better. And so we're going to continue to pray for Maverick until it's completely healed. And he's here today just as happy as he can be. And I have a, the what? He has beautiful eyes. He does have beautiful eyes. And they're both looking forward. Amen, amen. And so I have another praise. Little boy on the prayer list, Cannon. The doctors told the family this week that they needed to be thinking about how long they wanted to leave Cannon on the ventilator. Now he's, what, 10 months old? He's three months old, three months old. All right, well, he's trying to breathe on his own now, and he's starting to move his arm. So keep praying for Cannon. We know, I don't know if y'all know this, but people call us at this church and ask us to pray for them when there's dire straits, and people get healed. And so I want us to pray for the lost like that. because they're already in a tomb and we need to snatch them out. Amen? All right. Any other announcements? Praises and prayer requests. Go ahead. Amen. All the way from Hawaii. Yep. Go ahead, John. Okay. Lily Wilson, she's 13. She had some dental work. And so keep praying for her. She's in a lot of pain. Anne Norris. Anne Norris. Anne Norris, OK. I have a resident. Traveling Mercies for Diane and her sister. And then Zoma Connor. She's had a breast surgery, so be in prayer for Zoma. Margaret. Amen. Amen. Are there any others? I have one. OK, go ahead. Carol G. I don't know her last name. Carol G. She's really hurting. She fell again, and she's really hurting. She's fell since I talked to her? I talked to her a couple of days ago. I know she fell and hurt both of them. She's still hurting? Yeah, she's still hurting. All right, continue to pray for Miss Carol. She is still hurting from where she fell a couple of Sundays ago. So keep her in your prayers. Are there any other praises and prayer requests? Go ahead. I've got another one here. I want to thank you for, Joanne and John, for letting the youth use their facility up their cabin this past weekend. We had to get together. The kids, we had about 17 there, and they painted pumpkins and did some other activities, roasted s'mores, and we had a great time. We just praise God for letting that amount of kids come to our tent. I'm going to give them a minute. Miss Jean's getting a hold of Maverick. And Maverick is going back there now. Y'all may want to be, in fact, if you're going to Children's Church, go ahead and get, that way he won't be by himself. Bye, Missy. Now, you players, some of you need to stay. I got a sermon especially for you. That's Malik. No, it's all right. That's Malik. She'll take care of Malik, Tracy. She got him. Yes, ma'am. Well, I guess I get to preach to the parents since all of them bailed on me. But that's okay. God, I've lost my place. Gene got the kids up. Are there any other praises or prayer requests? Go ahead. Okay, alright. Jason, thank you. I'm going to say again, and it's a praise, I've been around the Seahawk family. This is my first year around them, and I have felt nothing but blessed to be around them. It's funny, some of the things that happen on game day, I've been told to plug my ears, I've been told to take a walk, but that's okay. But that's okay. And I'm okay with that. And then they'll apologize. Oh, I'm sorry. Look, I'm just like y'all, I'm a man. If you're gonna apologize, talk to him. He's the one that's gonna breathe it out on judgment day, not me. I'll be standing there with y'all, so it's okay. I hear one of them screaming, so they having fun. And I'm excited to have them here today. I wish they all could have came But I did put a thing out this morning told him if you can't make it you can watch it live on On Facebook at Deep Creek Baptist and so I'm sure some of them because when I was coming out of the office I kept hearing So maybe some of them are watching or either they had some kind of something come up on our little group. But anyway, with that being said, I'm glad to have y'all here. You're welcome here anytime. Before you leave, I promise you'll be your tank of hugs will be filled up. Because you probably didn't get it coming in, but I assure you, you'll get it going out. This church is a loving church. It's probably one of the biggest kept secrets in this county and probably, I'd venture, in the state. When they ask you how you're doing, it's not just to pass the time, they were concerned. They will pray for you, they will hug on you, they will love on you, and if you need help, they will help you. This church is the embodiment of what Christ had envisioned for Christianity, for us. So with that being said, I'm going, if there's no more praises and prayer requests, I'm going to close us in prayer and we'll have another hymn and then y'all get to hear me talk. So let's go to Lord in prayer. Father God, we love you and we thank you for this day and Lord, we just lift up everyone that was mentioned on this prayer list. Diane and her sisters with Traveling Mercy, Lord Roger and Anne and Lily with her mouth and Anne Norris and Zona and all the others that are on here, Little Cannon, we thank you for getting to see Maverick. Lord, all of these people, you're invading their lives and you're invading their space and we've We prayed for you to do that, Lord. We just want you to continue to wrap your arms around them. And those that are grieving, who have lost loved ones, and who are preparing to handle the last days of loved ones, Draw near them, Lord. Wrap your arms around them. You are the only one that can heal a broken heart. You're the only one that can fill that void that's left by a loved one that you've called home. God, we love you. Fill this place with your spirit. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. If you would stand for our offering hymn, it's 552, My Jesus, I Love Thee. My Jesus, I love Thee, I know all the follies of sin, I resign. My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou. I love Thee, my Jesus, just now. I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me, Purchase my pardon on Calvary's tree. I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow. If ever I love Thee, my Jesus is now. I will love thee in life, I will love thee in death, and praise thee as long as thou lendest me breath. The death of thy scolds on thy brow, If ever I love thee, my Jesus, tis now. in mansions of glory and endless delight. I'll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright, and singing Thy praise If ever I love thee, my Jesus, tis now. Lord, we just thank you for this time of fellowship that we have with each other. We can praise your name and for your love on us. that we don't deserve, Lord. We love you and thank you for everything that you do for us. Be with our military or first responders, Lord. Just bring them home. Be with our leaders in this nation, Lord. Put them on their knees and let them come to you for everything they need. We just thank you for this youth that came out today, Lord. Just put your hands up. Put safety on them when they play ball, Lord. We just love you and just use this money as you see fit for your kingdom. Jesus made it, man. so so so so so so It's a beautiful piece. Thank you, sir. Well, once again, good morning. I had prepared a sermon for the youth, and they bailed. But I understand, I just sitting up here, I was praying, and I remember the conversation at the field yesterday that I had with Tater, and he said, Papa, I told him children's shirts have got snacks. So, I didn't stand a chance with them kids, They go on for the snacks and I can't say that I blame them but the the the sermon that I prepared today was about God's rules and sharing his message with with children and And so since we're all God's children, I think it's appropriate that I can continue with this message The biggest mission field in the United States for the church is children and Think about that. They get maybe, if the parents bring them to church, they maybe get two hours, three hours a week. If they come to Sunday school and they come to the worship service, they get about two hours. And if they come on Wednesday night to youth or whatever, they get another hour. But the rest of the time, they're inundated by worship. Exactly, the world. And they go to school and used to, you didn't have to worry about what they taught at school. And I know that there's good teachers out there who are teaching good things, but there's also some teachers out there that are teaching indoctrination. Now, and so it falls back to the parents, it falls back to us. Our job is to raise our children with character. Our job, and fathers, I'm gonna throw this out there, it is our job to see to it that our family is placed in a position where they can make a legitimate decision about whether to follow or reject Jesus Christ. That is going to be on the fathers, because God has ordained us to be the head of the house. not to be submissive, you know, not to put our thumbs down on anybody, but because when you read about back in Genesis, when he put Adam and Eve together, he says that there to be one flesh. So we're one. The things that I can do, you know, Sharon does the things that I can't do and vice versa. And so we become one flesh, we become one rule. Sometimes the Sometimes there's a lack of communication in that one place, you know You know, sometimes you wind up with a thorn in the neck, you know, but that's okay. That's okay It's not because of anything. It's because we as men probably didn't do something that we should have done or maybe we didn't Perceive to do something that they thought we should do now ladies on behalf of men We're not clairvoyant And we're not mind readers, I mean, you just got to come out and tell us. You know when you were dating that we slow. Some of the signals that you send to us, we don't quite comprehend. When you say everything's gonna be alright, Now after 37 years, my little antenna goes up because something ain't right with that. But anyway, with that being said, it's our job and it's our responsibility to make sure that our children understand who Jesus is and whether they want to make a decision based on him. So that means who's supposed to take them to church? Who's supposed to make sure they're there in church? Now, with another example of that is if you pull up and you get your kids and send them into Sunday school and you drive off and you and the wife go out to eat for a couple hours or whatever and then come back and pick them up after worship service, what have you just tossed your child? Church is important for children but not for mom and dad. You know, there are object lessons here. We can reinforce our lessons or we can mess them all up. So there are about five rules that we need to understand about talking to our children about God. Number one, God has rules. And the rules are in the Bible. God gives us his rules in the Bible. And God created everything. It says, so in Genesis one, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So not only did he create us, but he created the thing we're standing on. Everything that's in it. One of the second rules is that Colossians 1 verses 16 and 17 and if you want to follow that's fine if you don't I'm gonna read them I'm preaching from the home and Christian standard today because I was thought I was going to be preaching to children and I'll be back to the King James Sunday. No problem be back there Wednesday night, so For everything was created by him in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thorns or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. So everything that's created was created by him, for him, and we're talking about not only him, but all of him, the three parts, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all right? He is before all, see, he is before all things and by him all things hold together. And then in Revelation 4, 11, it says, our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power because you have created all things and your will, they exist and were created. So we're all here today because of God's will. We're all made in his image. And so, therefore, we're not to be ugly to somebody else. We're not to treat people bad. We're to treat everybody like we want them to be treated. And so, those are his rules. And then, the next thing that I want to tell you, we teach our kids about the rules. And they're not hard to keep. There's some rules that we're not gonna be able to keep because we're not perfect. The only person who was able to walk through this life sinless was Jesus Christ. Well, there were three that's been on this earth that were sinless. The first two didn't stay that way. Adam and Eve did not stay that way. Because remember when God created them, put them in a garden, he said, this is well, this is perfect. And then they got induced, of course we know the story. So the thing that comes up next that we need to share with our children is we sinned. We sinned. And so every single one of us, since the time of Adam and Eve, every person that has ever lived has chosen to disobey God. It's a choice. Every one of us has done it. The Bible calls this sin because God is holy. God cannot be around sin. Sin separates us from God and deserves God's punishment of death. That's bad news. That's bad news for us. We all deserve the punishment of death because not one of us are good. We're not. In Romans 3 23, it tells us that for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. From Billy Graham on down to the rest of us, we've all sinned. Billy Graham was a sinner, he would tell you that. He was saved by grace. If you would ask him was he perfect, no, he wasn't perfect. If you would ask him what the most important thing that he had to say about all the sermons that he preached and all the people that he talked to, the most perfect advice that he had was that you come to know Jesus Christ. Because all else is useless. It's useless. All else is vain. And so with that, in Romans 6, 23, it says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Think about that. He gives us an out. Even when we're in the midst of sin, all we have to do is stop. Just stop. We don't have to change. We don't have to do anything. Call upon the Lord and he's gonna come right then because he's already there. And this may come as a shock to you. There is nowhere on the face of this earth since it has been created until he calls us home that he is not. He has always been here through all the trials and the tribulations, all the massacres, everything, every tsunami, every hurricane, every flood, the twin towers, everything. He was there. And people say, well, why does God allow evil? He doesn't. We choose to do evil, we do. And people will say, well, hell's gonna be filled with people that God rejected. Absolutely not. Hell's gonna be filled with people that rejected God and are gonna get exactly what they deserve. If you don't come to him and get cleansed in his righteousness like the song we sang earlier, we're already there. If you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you're already there. And our job as Christians is to share the good news. The good news is that you don't have to spend eternity separated from God. You don't have to spend eternity in a hell that was not created for human beings, it was created for fallen angels. And if it's gonna be tough on them and they're gonna be screaming and gnashing their teeth, what do you think it's going to be like for a human being forever? And if you go back to one of the stories, you'll realize that the person that's in hell, the rich ruler, he had all of his faculties. He could see, he could smell. He even called Abraham and Lazarus by name. And then he wanted them to go and put one drop of water on his tongue, said it would relieve all manner of suffering. Can you imagine being so tormented that one drop of water would relieve your suffering? And then he wanted them to go tell his brothers about the place that he was at. And Father Abraham told him, said, no, he said, if they won't believe the prophets and they won't believe the ones that are alive, how are they gonna believe the one that returns from the dead? Think about it, you go to Jesus Christ, right? He was executed, he was buried, he resurrected, he run around for 40 some odd days with his fins, and then he returned to heaven, and today, people don't believe he even existed. They think it's a fairy tale. What did Father Abraham say? If they won't believe the prophets, they're not even gonna believe one who's returned from the dead. And so that was a forewarning of how we are gonna react to Jesus Christ. And so, God has provided us a way. He's provided us a way, and this is his words. In John, verses six and seven. john chapter three verses sixteen and seventeen now this is jesus speaking for god love the world in this way he gave his one and only son so that anyone who believes on him will not perish but have eternal life for god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him see he had christ die for us while we weren't even born. He had Christ die for us while we were still sinners. While we were still running in the world, having a wonderful time, doing whatever, chasing after things that would give us pleasure that never fulfilled us. Never fulfilled us. We had an empty heart. You would buy something or you would do something and it would give you gratification for a little time. And then all of a sudden that feeling of despair and wanting, that emptiness was back. But when Christ fills you with his spirit, that emptiness is gone. So God provided a way for us. He also, and well, let me flip my page over with my notes here. And in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 he says for you are saved by grace through faith and this not from Yourselves it is a gift not from works so that no one can boast The only way that you can accept Christ is through Jesus Jesus said I am the way the truth in the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I I don't, and this is gonna get me taken down again this week, and I don't care. Because I'm fixing to violate your standards, Facebook, so here we go. I don't care if you kiss Buddha's fat belly. I don't care if you want to go to a Mormon tabernacle choir and sing with them. I don't care where you go. Muslims, if you are a follower of Muhammad, he ain't gonna get you there. Allah is a moon god. One of 600 that the Muslims have. He is not the same as God Almighty. In fact, the Muslim faith did not come around until 650 years after Jesus Christ. So no, he's not a prophet. And if he is, he's a prophet of Satan, period. So there's only one way, and that's through Jesus Christ. Now, there are many foals. I don't care if you're Methodist, Baptist, or whatever. Jesus says there are many foals, but my sheep know my name. And so I know when Jesus calls, do you? Do you know when Jesus calls you? It's important that you hear his voice. It's like, for me, it's a subtle little voice on the breeze. I don't hear it audibly, I hear it spiritually, and it guides me. And if I make a mistake, I immediately know it because I get sick right here, right here. And it's like I need to go and throw up, but it's because I've done something that has offended my Lord and Savior. And so I tried to change that. For those of you that know, last Saturday a week ago, I spent some time when I got home on my knees. I responded to some people I shouldn't have responded to. But I'm human, and that's not an excuse. Anyway, and so with this, Christ suffered for our sins. He died for us. He has given us a way. Jesus gives us a way, since he's provided for us, he gives us a way to be able to get out of this circumstance that we're in. And we're in a terrible circumstance. If we don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, there was a movie come out one time, it was called Dead Man Walking. That's what we are. We're just walking through this life, and if we don't accept Christ before we draw our last breath, then we're gonna spend eternity in hell. And that's not a place we want to go. And so it's my job to make sure that I tell you so that you can pray and make a decision. Now, if I say something today and it upsets you, please don't get angry at me. That's the Holy Spirit talking to you. Talk to the Lord. I'm just a messenger. And I'm not, sometimes I'm not a very good messenger. But Jesus gives us a way out. He gives us a way. God provides his own love for us that in while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And that was John, or excuse me, that was Romans 5.8. Chapter 5, verse 8, Romans, that he provides a way for us. And he also, in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 21, it says, he made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Think about that. We're gonna become the righteousness of God if we accept him. We get to be drafted in or adopted into his family. We become joint heirs, he tells us in his word, joint heirs. That means that Jesus' crowning moment, when he calls us home, when we get there, we're gonna be like his, we are his brothers and sisters. He called us that. We're gonna be standing or sitting, I don't know where, up on wherever he is at on his throne, judging the world. We're gonna be there with him. We're not gonna be down there being judged. We're gonna be judged on what we've done with our gift of salvation, but we're not gonna be judged on whether we knew him because our names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Now we will answer for our things, but it will be, We'll have rewards in heaven, but we're going to give an account for our lives on what we've done with the gift of salvation. Have we multiplied it or have we not? Have we shared the gospel, have we not? How have we treated our brothers and sisters? All those things are going to be laid out before us. And so, in, In 1 Peter 3.18, it says, for Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteousness for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but was made alive in the spirit. Christ is alive today. We don't serve a dead God. God is alive. God is alive. And so our job today is to share these truths with our children, to share these truths that we don't want to spend our lives separated from God in a place that wasn't made for us, that we want to do what's right, and that we want to have Him in our hearts forever. And then we have to respond. We have to respond to this. Romans 10 verses 9 and 10 it says if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved It's very simple. All you have to do is admit it. Take what you're thinking, give it atmosphere, put it out there like when I came home two weeks ago and I went in my bedroom and I got on my knees and I verbalized, God, I'm sorry, I let you down. I drug your name through the mud because I responded to some people that I shouldn't have responded to. Lord, I lost control and please forgive me because I soiled your name. I am supposed to be a servant of you, and I am not supposed to speak about my brothers and sisters in the tone that I use, and God, forgive me. Forgive me, because I have wronged you, and I don't want you to forget who I am and where I come from. Lord, you are my all. That's how would I pray. And I felt like the burden had been lifted from me. Prayer is a great thing. We pray for a lot of things. We pray for provision. We pray for others to be well. Maverick is a perfect example of that. We pray he's well, he's getting well. We see the result. What does that do? That builds our faith in prayer. That gives us the ability to be able to trust what we ask God to do. And it's an amazing thing. The more we do, the more we learn. Yeah, we're gonna make mistakes. Guess what? God doesn't care what you've done. He wants your heart. He wants your heart. There is nothing that you have done or can do that he cannot forgive. His forgiveness is bigger than our sin. It is a simple thing to do. No matter how bad you think you are, no matter how unforgivable you think you are, God can forgive you and will if you will humble yourself and tell him you believe he is who he is and he did what he did for you. That is simple, it's a simple thing. And when he does and somebody comes down and they accept that all of heaven rejoices There is a celebration because they know that that soul is going to spend eternity in heaven with god almighty Ain't that amazing? It's amazing. It's a simple thing and people try to make it so hard so we confess by the mouth Jesus is Lord and we believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved one believes with the heart resulting in righteousness one confesses with the mouth resulting in salvation The two are connected, but you're not going to say it if you don't believe it It's got to come from the heart. And that's what he's after is your heart. And when it gets to your heart, you confess it. First thing probably happens is you start crying because you realize, you realize, Lord, I need a savior. I don't want to go to hell. I need somebody to drag me out where I'm at. Forgive me of my sins so that I can go forward and serve you. I want to spend eternity with my friends and my family who are Christians. That is as simple as it gets. And then you go to Romans, the same chapter, verse 13. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. In my Bible, it is bold print. Bold print. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. God says, whosoever shall call upon my name shall be saved. Guess what? I was a whosoever. And if you've called on the name and if you've accepted me as your Lord, you're a whosoever. because everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. When he walked up to be baptized by John the Baptist, John the Baptist said, behold, here comes the savior of the world who comes to take away the sins of the world. All you have to do is believe. They have a simple little thing, they say, you know, admit, believe, and confess. I think it ought to be believe, admit, and confess. I think it ought to be even deeper than that. I think you ought to believe, confess, and then admit that he is who he is. It doesn't matter how you turn that around. As long as you autolyze it, as long as you believe it in your heart, you will be saved. And here's the greatest thing. You wanna see a miracle? The moment you accept Jesus Christ, you become a new creature. You take off the old and put on the new. You are the first miracle that you will witness. Because over time, your mind's gonna change, your heart's gonna change. That heart of being mean and angry and whatever, not happy, it will change. it becomes softer, because you realize that that's not right. You know, God didn't create us to be this way, but we wound up being this way. Think about this. Moms and dads, did you have to teach your children how to talk? Yeah, absolutely, they didn't know how. In fact, when they were born, they weren't worth a whole lot. They couldn't talk, they couldn't walk, and they had no teeth, and not only that, They had no hair. Some of y'all still don't have any hair, but that's okay. But we had to teach them how to do that. Moms and dads, did you teach them how to eat with spoons and forks and knives? That way they're not having to caveman it with their fingers. Did you teach them how to use the commode? Absolutely, that way you don't have to walk around smelling. And when mom and dad ask you to do something, they don't need you to do that. They're wanting you to do that because it's going to teach you responsibility and it's going to teach you discipline. And you understand why when a parent tells you to do something and you jaw back, we get upset. I'm gonna tell you what happened to the children in Israel when they jawed back to their parents. You kids got it made today. The children of Israel, if a son or a daughter would jaw back to their parents, you know what they did? They took them outside the city gate and stoned them to death. Stoned them to death. God says, don't spoil the rod, or don't spare the rod and spoil the child. We're supposed to give spanking. Contrary to what the world will tell you, you're supposed to spank. There's a difference between a spanking and a beating. A big difference. I got a lot of spankings, I never got a beating. I turned out pretty good. Not only did I get it from my mom and dad, but I got it from teachers and I got it from the neighbors. I was just a rambunctious boy. So that's why I understand at these ballgames why these boys are how they are, because I was one. And if you talk to my wife, I might still be one. But that's okay. But the main thing is, is believe that Jesus Christ is God's son and receive his gift of forgiveness from sin. And when you do, the burden of sin will be lifted from you. It's like the weight of the world is gone. That burden you're carrying will be gone. If you're here today and you are a believer and you're still dragging suitcases around from stuff that you don't think God forgave you of or you think you've got hid in that junk room in your heart, you need to lay them down at the cross so that that yoke will be light. That yoke will be light. Get rid of it. Leave it at the cross. That's where it belongs. He said, follow me. My yoke is light. Put your burdens upon me. I don't know how people who don't know Christ, how they survive, where do they take their troubles, where do they go with them? If you're here today and you don't know Jesus, I pray God that you don't leave this building and cross that threshold back there without having made a commitment for Jesus Christ. Because if you die in your sins, you will spend eternity in hell. If you die wondering whether or not you are saved or whether you're 100% unsecure about your salvation, I suggest today you get right. I suggest today you come down this aisle and you come see me. If it gets crowded up here, I'll get the deacons up here, and we will see that you understand that when you get saved, you are saved. Jesus said, what God puts in my hands, no man can take out. That means you can't take you out. In spite of you, you can't take yourself out of salvation. Now we Baptists get a lot of grief about being once saved, always saved. It's the scripture. It is the scripture. It's not something Jerry come up with. It's not something somebody 10,000 years come up with. Jesus Christ said it 2,000 years ago. And so that's how we can base our salvation on Jesus. He died one time for the remission of sins. We don't have to keep hanging him on the cross every time we sin. You accept him as your Lord and Savior, you're forgiven. He says, I will not remember your sins as far as the east is from the west. He won't call him back to you. He forgave you. And when you make, after you become a Christian and you make a mistake, you go to him to maintain the relationship, not to ask for forgiveness for sin. What happens when your dad is upset with you because you did something you didn't do, and your dad decides he's not gonna speak to you for a few days? How do you feel? Separated, right? Oh, it's bad. My dad didn't speak to me for seven days. That was the longest seven days of my life. Finally, I went to him and told him what he already knew, and he started back talking to me after about an hour of lecture, but that's okay. He was talking. I mean, he didn't even acknowledge me sitting at the table. He talked to everybody in my family but me. He didn't acknowledge my presence in the house. And so, I came to Christ and I want to tell him everything I've done. I don't even try to spin it anymore. Because we're good about spinning. We're good about trying to make us in the right light. He already knows. Tell him what he already knows. So today, I'm going to ask you right now, Shelby, you can come up here if you don't mind. We're fixing to close this message. And what I would like for you to do is something I haven't done in a long, long time. And David reminded me of it a couple of weeks ago, or actually last week, we talked about it. And so what I want everybody to do, I'm promising you this, it won't take long. I want everybody to bow your head. And I want everybody to close your eyes. I'm gonna ask some questions and be honest because the only person that's going to see it is me Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ if you do raise your hand If you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ raise your hand If you would like to have a relationship with Jesus Christ today, please raise your hand I Okay You could I'm gonna close us in prayer and then what I'm gonna ask you to do if you put your hand up I'm gonna ask you to come down and see me and if you're not comfortable doing that I want you to sit in your pew when everybody leaves. I want to come talk to you either way. It's fine with me I want you to make a decision if you're struggling with who Jesus is and whether you're saved or not saved And you've got concerns about your salvation raise your hand Amen. All right, let's go to Lord in prayer. Father God, I love you so much. I thank you for this day, and Lord, I thank you for those who put their hands up. Lord, I just know that you have touched their lives. God, we love you. I ask you to bless everyone that's here. Those that traveled here, Lord, keep them safe. Let their life be wonderfully fulfilled by you, and Lord, let them serve you from here on out. Lord, in Jesus' name I pray, amen. There's going to be an offertory hymn, or not an offertory, an invitation hymn, and if you want to come down there and get that sign, if you want to wait until the service is over with, that's fine.