Genesis chapter number one. Good to be in church, isn't it? Genesis chapter number one. And that is in the front of your Bible. And you should not need the index for the book of Genesis. If you do, you should have went to Sunday school a little more. Genesis chapter number 1, we're not starting verse 1, but we'll read, let's see, verse 20. Let's start there in verse number 20. If you're there, say amen. If you're not, say hold on. All right, verse 20, and God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and the fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day." Let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, I ask you, Lord, right now to help us. Lord, the song has already been good, the anchor holds. And song service was good, and the songs that were chosen, Lord, what a day that will be. And all those different things that prepare our hearts to listen for the Word. And Lord, I pray that you'd help me now not to mess it up, But Lord, that we would focus upon you for the next few minutes. Forget about everything that's going on around us outside of these walls and focus on you. Lord, help the young people to listen and put their phones up and not be on their phones. And Lord, while I'm preaching, Lord, they'll be listening, tuned in to you. And Lord, I pray that be the case. And Lord, I pray you'd help us now. In Jesus' name we pray and all of God's people said, Amen. Now, if you've been with us the last few Sunday mornings, you will understand that we've been talking about Genesis chapter number 1, the creation. We're not necessarily dealing with what he made on day 1 or the creation on day 2 and things of that nature. But what we're trying to do is relate it to the Christian life. If you were related like this, day one represents our salvation where God said, let there be light and there was light and God turned the light on you and you got saved by God's marvelous grace. Well, if that was all there was or there is to the Christian life, then that was it. then God would have killed you, or when he saved you, and took you on to heaven. But God's got more that he wants to do for you. Just like the old song, God's still working on me to make me what he ought to be. He took him just a week to make the moon and the stars, the sun and the earth, and the Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient he must be. He's still working on me. And if you don't think he's still working on you, then you need to look in the mirror and do a little checkup because he's working on everybody. And nobody, if I'm not mistaken, y'all help me if I'm wrong, raise your hand if I'm wrong, but if I'm not mistaken, there's nobody in this room, or in Dyersburg, Tennessee, or in the world for that matter, that is perfect and sinless. Now I know some of you thought you were. But you're not. And Mother Teresa's not, and the Pope's not even perfect. And so if the Pope and Mother Teresa ain't perfect, I know you ain't perfect. And I know I ain't perfect because I have to live with me. You understand? And that was not a good place to say amen. But here on day number two, God shows you how to divide water from water. Water being the picture of the Word of God. And then on day three, be fruitful. And the earth brought forth grass and herb-yielding seed. And if you're a Christian, you're supposed to be yielding fruit and bearing fruit and fruitful and multiplying, replenishing the earth. And then day number four, Sunday before last, we talked about the sun and the moon and the stars. The light shows up on day number four. But didn't you think this is odd? On day number 4, the sun shows up, and then on day number 5, what we just read in verse number 20, and it says, and God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly and the moving creature that hath, what? Life. The first time in your Bible that word is used, life, shows up after the sun shows up. You cannot have life without the sun. The Bible says in 1 John, He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath not life. You cannot have life. You say, well, I'm living my life. You may be, but you're not living the life unless the Son has showed up in your heart and life. So then on day number five, we see, how in the world, preacher, are you going to relate this to the Christian life? We got whales. The birds flying in the air. How in the world are you going to relate that to us today? Well, I'm glad you asked because that's good. That's a 45 minute answer to your one question. Hallelujah. You say, Preacher, what are you talking about? On day number five, God called the whales to do what they do, and they swim in the sea. God called the birds to fly in the air. What if you was to walk up on a bird and he wouldn't fly? And you, you know, shot a BB gun at him or whatever. Sorry, you know, those of you that don't like shooting stuff, you're supposed to shoot stuff. But eat it if you're gonna shoot it, hallelujah. And he wouldn't fly. You'd say, that bird is not doing what it was created to do. If you looked at a fish and the fish was in the water and he wouldn't swim, he'd just lay there. He'd look like some of y'all look right now. And you say, that fish is not doing what he's created to do. If you looked at a whale and he wouldn't swim and he wouldn't jump up out, or the dolphin, it jumps up out of the water and comes back. You say, that dolphin is not doing what it's created to do. But how many times have you looked across and you see Christians and, well, I've been saved 25 years, and you look and say, they're not doing what they were created to do. And so on day five, God's got a plan for your life. God's got a purpose for your life. Look in the mirror. This ain't Joel Osteen. I'm not trying to Joel Osteen you or nothing. But look in the mirror. God's got a purpose and plan for your life. And the Bible says in Romans chapter number 12, be not conformed to this world. That conformity is like a potter and a clay. The clay is on the wheel and the wheel is turning and the potter is conforming that thing into what he wants it to be. Well, not only does God have a plan for your life, but the devil, young people, listen to me real good, the devil has a plan for your life. And if you're saved, if you're saved, the devil cannot have and get your soul. Let me let you on a little secret. Somebody told me one time, yeah, I've been saved four times. No, you hadn't been saved four times. You only get saved once. You say, oh, I've been saved a bunch of times. No, you haven't been saved a bunch of times. Newsflash, God don't lose children. Walking through Wal-Mart, well, God lost one of His kids, there they go. It don't happen, people. Now, parents around here may lose their kids, but God don't lose His kids. And so you've only been saved one time, and God will save you one time. But look at this. Listen, the devil can't have your soul after that. Ain't that good? So what the devil does, he tries to get you off of God's plan. And so on day number five, God's got a plan and purpose for your life, and the devil has a plan and purpose for your life, young people. The devil does not want you to listen to me right now. Adult, the devil does not want your kids to be raised up in a Bible-believing church. The devil wants you to be raised up in one of them smoke-filled dance team, drama team, and all that kind of old stuff. Now, if you want to go see that on Saturday night, that's one thing. Sunday morning is church time. Amen. And so we're selling the world a bill of goods and saying, hey, this is church because it looks like where you were Saturday night in a nightclub somewhere. Well, hallelujah on that. Let me part right here a minute. Because you say, well, we've got to win the world, we've got to reach the world. No, you ain't got to look like the world to reach the world. The world's looking for something different. The world's looking for something that's real. The world's looking for something that's amazing grace, how sweet to sound like it. Bless your grandmama and your granddaddy, and it'll do the same for you. God's got a plan the purpose for your life. And so when Jesus goes in the wilderness temptation He goes in the wilderness temptation and guess what the devil had a plan for Jesus. God Almighty had a plan for Jesus Christ and God's plan was to give Jesus Christ the kingdom of this whole world But the devil always offers a shortcut He says, I tell you what, if you'll bow down and worship me, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world now. Well, listen, young people, listen to me real good. The devil can give you things, but it's only for a short space. So if you want to take the shortcut, take the devil's path, but it'll only be short-lived. But if you'll wait, you'll get everything the devil offers you and a whole lot more because God will give it to you and you'll have it forever. God's got a plan. So what we got to do is figure out the difference between the devil's ambition and a spiritual vision that God has. And so before you were saved, everybody in this room had carnal ambition. Most people, they just come to church, and I'll be honest, I'm not fussing at y'all. I'm fussing at other people that's not here. I'm not talking about y'all. I'm talking about other people that ain't here, and you know who I'm talking about. And they come on Sunday morning, it's like they're watching a football game, and they just come to spectate. They're not planning on getting involved. Y'all need to help me up here. Watch my back. I got two guns on right now. If I need them, I'll throw you one and y'all start shooting. But most people just come to spectate. They're eating their popcorn and drinking their Coke. Oh, I did my little spiritual duty. I come. Hallelujah. Now I got the rest of the week to live like I want to. I come to church and did my little spiritual. Joseph, don't do that again. And we got this idea, okay, I'll give God his little hour and a half. So I've given that little iron have I've done I come and I watch the singing Joe did real good I'll watch Eric and his silly little jokes and that was all good and and we give him a little little golf clap And that's wonderful. And now I'm going home. Let's figure out what we're going to eat and God leave me alone for the rest of the week Well, that's good preaching whether you like it or not So, you say, preacher, what are you talking about? Spiritual ambition or, excuse me, carnal ambition or God's spiritual vision. Let me give you an example. There was a fellow by the name of D.L. Moody. Excuse me, not D.L. Moody, Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday played professional baseball. Billy Sunday played for Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia in the late 1800s. He made $5,000 a year playing professional baseball. Late 1800s, that's a whole lot of money. But guess what? God messed up Billy Sunday's plans and called him to preach. So he left playing baseball making $5,000 a year to making $84 a month preaching to people that most time they're sleeping on you and not paying attention to what you're saying. So he goes and he loses $4,000 a year salary to preach the gospel. But guess what? 300,000 people got saved and will be in heaven one day because Billy Sunday traded out carnal ambition for the spiritual vision God had for him. What if Billy Sunday was saying, no, I'm going to play baseball? Forget 300,000 people that could get saved and go to heaven. Now some of you are looking at me saying, I'm rather generous against baseball. No, I'm not against baseball. Nothing wrong playing professional baseball, but if God calls you to preach You'll never be satisfied playing baseball until you do what God's called you to do. That's day five Day five everybody in this room God's got a plan and purpose for and you need to figure that out. I Everybody is different. Let me give you another example. Maybe you didn't like Billy's son example. Let me give you a Dr. M.R.D. Hahn. Dr. M.R.D. Hahn was a very successful medical doctor a little later in the 1800s, early 1900s. And M.R.D. Hahn, God called him to preach. Successful medical doctor. There's nothing wrong with being a medical doctor, okay? But God called M.R.D. Hahn to preach. And after a sick bout in the hospital, he left that hospital, and he says, I cannot take it no more. He sold his practice, he sold everything that he had, and he picked up a Bible and started preaching the Word of God. He wrote one of the greatest books called The Chemistry of the Blood to prove the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. The Chemistry of the Blood. M. R. DeHaan preached. Thousands got saved because he did what God told him to do. On day five, God has. You say, preacher, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Find out what you're supposed to be doing for God. Find out what you're supposed to be doing for God. Maybe you didn't like that example. Well, let me give you another one. There was a fellow by the name of George Beverly Shea. George Beverly Shea. Many of you probably remember him. He's dead now. But George Beverly Shea sung the Billy Graham Crusades. And he sung all different kind of songs. Right before Billy Graham would preach, you'd have this old guy and one of the best, probably one of the best voices for that age of a guy would get behind that microphone and fill that whole stadium. But before he, when he was growing up, his dad was a Methodist preacher. His mom played the piano in the Methodist church, and he got an offer. NBC made him a big offer where he could make big money on television broadcasts. And his mama knew about it. She put a poem on the piano one Sunday morning, knowing that Billy, excuse me, George Beverly Shea would come, and he would read that poem right there on the piano before. And so this was the poem that he saw, and George Beverly Shea sat down and wrote the music to these words. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I'd rather be his than have riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I'd rather be led by his nail-pierced hand than to be the king of a vast domain or to be held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. And he called NBC after reading that poem and putting the music to those words and he called NBC and said, no thank you. And now, George Beverly Shea, this was several years ago, 104, still singing at 104, 105 years old. Billy Graham Crusades, get back there and sang with that big voice, that voice that just filled the whole place. I'd rather have Jesus than anything. You better find out what God wants to do for you and through you and in you. Find your purpose. You see a preacher out there like, well, let me give you, I got a bunch. A lady by the name of Fanny Crosby, Fanny Crosby, blind, could not see. And she wore those old dark glasses, you know, those little pop bottle dark glasses, you cannot see her eyes, and born blind. And so P.T. Barnum, which was Barnum Bailey Circus, came and knocked on Fanny Crosby's door and talked to her mama and said, hey, we want to get her in the circus. We want people to pay to see her. And she said, you ain't getting my daughter. You go on and go on about your business. God's got a purpose for her. You're not getting her in the circus so people make fun of her. Now, some parents would take that and say, oh, yeah, yeah. No, not if you're godly and looking for God's plan. Let that sit in your lap a minute. And so Finney Crosby grew up. and wrote 8,000 hymns about a person she's never seen before because she's blind, about a place she's never been to before because it's heaven and she ain't been. How does a person do that? Write that. And guess what? She died and they buried her in the same graveyard, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, I believe. In Portsmouth, Rhode Island, they buried her in the same graveyard that P.T. Barnum, Barnum Bailey Circus, owned the graveyard, buried her in the same graveyard as P.T. Barnum. On one side of her tombstone, big tombstone, y'all ready? I'm getting blessed just knowing where I'm going. On one side of her big tombstone, it says, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. You walk around to the other side, and on the other side it says this, she done what she could. Ladies and gentlemen, you better find out on day five what God wants to do with your life. There is a difference. You say, preacher, I've been called. Okay, you've been called. Hallelujah, glory to God. What are you doing? I remember when God called me to preach. Man, I thought by now men marked me on the Gaither videos. Man, we started out, we had a bus, neither one of us was old enough to drive, and the bass singer we had was the only one that was above 16 that could drive, the stupid thing. It would break down, we broke down one time in Florida, air wouldn't work, and son, we was hot, called my daddy, he had to send a bucket load of money to get the thing fixed, he's still mad about that. I was back when we were 16, 17, and he still brings that up. He said, you still owe me for that silver eager bush. You know that, don't you? He does. And then I remember, and I said, man, we got plenty. I mean, Stamps-Baxter School of Music, boy, is this really going to do something, you know? And all of a sudden, God messes up my plans. He has a way of doing that. And so Trinity Baptist Church, and I was on the road. I forgot where we was at. We were singing somewhere, and I think I was with the Bashirs at that time, and singing somewhere. And we stopped, and this is back before cell phones, because I had to find a pay phone. So I called my daddy, and I said, hey, listen, I've got to talk to you a minute. I said, I think God's calling me to preach. He said, boy, are you sure? I said, yeah, I think so. He said, well, I'll tell you what you do. He said, I'll tell you what you do. Just hang up and try not to. I said, all right, I'll try not to. And I said, well, that's sort of odd. I figured daddy would be proud, you know. And he just said, try not to. So I called him back about three months later. I said, I'm trying not to, and I can't help it. He said, well, you probably called then. And so then I come home off the road, and Trinity Baptist Church, I'm probably 18 or so, 19 by then, and I'm thinking, you know, Dad's on up in years. I said, well, he ought to resign and turn everything over to me. Trinity Baptist Church, I mean, I just got called. I'm a man of God. I mean, turn it all over to me. And so I remember Sunday morning, I said, hey, Daddy, I got a sermon. He said, well, I do too. Get somewhere and sit down. And I did like some of you. I'll show him. I won't even sing. Y'all wouldn't do that, would you? And so anyway, the next Sunday, I said, hey, Daddy, I got a sermon. Man, I'm going to get up there. I'll rip their hides off. You won't have no more trouble out of them people that treated you. I tell you, I'll rip their hides off. I'll straighten the whole church out. He said, well, I don't need that. He said, I can do that myself. And he said, but there's a Sunday school class back here and a little kids class. One of the teachers is going to be out. Could you fill in right there? I said, God didn't call me to teach no kids. Call me to preach. He said, well, get somewhere and sit down then. Then next Sunday, I remember I said, Dad, I got a sermon, got a sermon. He said, Well, I ain't got everything covered today, but we got one of the ushers out and they need somebody to take up an offering. You help. I said, Daddy, God did not call me to take up an offering. He called me to receive an offering. He said, Get somewhere and sit down. I'm telling y'all the truth. Y'all think it's funny? I'm telling y'all the truth. I may embellish it a little bit, but anyway. And so I told, I called him and I said, look, dad, I said, look, I've been telling you, I got a sermon on my heart burning, I mean, just burning. And I need to preach and you won't let me preach. And that's what he said. He said, son, let me tell you something. He said, if you won't be faithful in the little things, God will never use you in the big things. So until you can learn how to do the little things, forget about the big things. I ain't never forgot that I said, all right. Well you want me to do he said what you need to do? If you're gonna go chop wood you sharpen your axe So I started sharpening my axe Started sharpening axe He said it went at time when somebody calls you to chop wood. You'll be ready. You won't have a dull axe So get in there and start sharpening axe So then one Sunday, Brother Charles Callen called. He said, we're going to the Obine County Jail. You remember this? Obine County Jail. The jail now. We're talking about the jail. People locked up behind bars. Jail. Some of you know. And he said, we're going and, you know, I said, okay. Well, I thought I had a sermon. And I got behind them bars, and them guys are looking at you, you know, like some of y'all right now, and like a bunch of criminals, but anyway. And I'm through them bars, and I thought, I said, man, this, you know, I said, y'all got time? I mean, I got a psalm, I got pages and pages of notes. Preach for seven minutes. On John chapter 10, I remember this, the Good Shepherd, John chapter 10. And Lord, I bombed that whole thing out. And man, I'm telling you, listen, God's got a plan. And some of the Sunday, Miss Judy Cole sitting right over there, she could tell you right now, sitting in her Sunday school class, me jumping up all the tables, turning the lights on and off, and running all over, pulling girls' hairs and all this kind of stuff. I guarantee you, she said, God will never use that boy. And her mother, Ms. Helen Kirby, and Ms. Wilma Hicks, and all of these people that, listen, God's got a plan. You Sunday school teachers, you're looking at them rowdy kids in your Sunday school class, you're saying, my Lord, nothing will ever come of them. My friend, God's got a plan for their life. You've got to have a purpose and a plan to train and train them up in the admonition of the Lord. You don't know they may be the next Billy Graham. God's got a plan and he's got a purpose. Well, I haven't gotten anywhere where I thought I should be in these notes, but I can tell you this. God reached way down in the mud to find you and I. God can make something out of it. You take a softball bat and you put it in Mark's hands And there's no telling where that ball might go. But you take that same baseball bat, or softball bat, and you put it in somebody like Dale Murphy. How many of y'all remember Dale Murphy? Atlanta Braves, Centerfield. I mean, knocked it out of the park a bunch of times. Mark McGuire. You put that same bat in their hands, what can they do with it? You put a golf club in Steve Hutchinson's hands. and you're going to be over in the trees. You've played with him too, haven't you? And you're going to be over in the woods where you're not even supposed to be. But you put that same club in my hands. I'm kidding. You put that same club in some of those other guys' hands, and man, they can make that thing look so easy. I said all that to say this, and we laughed, and I want you to laugh, but you think about this. You take that same Moses. God says at the burning bush, says, what's that in your hand? Moses said, that's my stick. He said, my rod. He said, throw it down. He turned into a snake. God says, pick it up. He picked it up, it turned into a rod again, and God says, now, go and do what I've called you to do. Sometimes you gotta throw down something and let God get the devil out of it. Sometimes you gotta throw something down and say, throw, just say, this is what I got, this is mine. God says, I want it, throw it down. Let me get the devil out of it. And you pick it back up. And when you pick it back up, it's like it's in my hands. And I'll do great and wonderful things. On day number five, God's got a plan and purpose for your life. I don't have time to finish preaching all of this, but let me just tell you this. The fifth man of faith, and I'm done, the fifth man of faith is Isaac. Abraham, God promised him a son. And the devil gave Abraham a shortcut. Remember? That's why we got the Muslim nation today. Because the devil gave a shortcut. Abraham couldn't wait on God. He took the shortcut. He went into Hagar and had Ishmael, the father of the Islamic nation. God's got a plan, but don't forget the devil's got one too. And Abraham couldn't wait on God. But then God finished what God... Be confident in this very thing, that he that shall have done the good work in you will perform it. Will perform it. So God gave Abraham a son, Isaac. And then this is what he done. You said, watch, I haven't left my sermon yet, watch. Moses, rod, throw it down. God says, all right, now take that son I give you and sacrifice him. Throw him down. And while Abraham and Isaac is coming up one side of the mountain. See, God sees both sides of the mountain where we don't. We see one side of the mountain. Oh, God, I don't know why I'm going through this. Oh, Lord, I don't want to kill my son. Oh, God, I don't want to give you my son. He's the one you give me and I don't want it. But on the other side of the mountain is coming a ram. And God whispers in the ram's ear and says, hey, I want you to go up here inside the road and stick your head in that thicket right up there. Abraham says, take your son. He put his son upon that thing, drew back that knife. And the angel of the Lord said, hang on, Abraham. If you'll look right over there, there's a ram caught in the thicket. He'll be the substitute. And Abraham probably, this is in the Bible, probably looked up and says, well, God, I thought you wanted my son. And God says this, I really didn't want your son, I wanted you. What was that song y'all sung? You lay your Isaac down. God may just want you. Say, all right, God, here I am. Day five. Plan and purpose, whatever it is. Show me what it is. I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'm closing with this. Did I already say that already? Okay. That's a trick. You shouldn't fall for it. I've told you this story before, Mark's coming to the piano. There's three boys that couldn't afford to get in the circus. Three boys couldn't afford to get in the circus, and the circus was coming to town. So them boys found an old picket fence. One old boy found him a little knothole. He was looking through it. He was watching the circus for free, through the little knothole. One old boy couldn't find him a knothole, and he went all down that picket fence. He found him. Somebody had laid a ladder up against the fence somewhere down the way in the backyard somewhere. And so that boy climbed up on the ladder and looked over the fence and watched the circus. from a ladder way on down the fence. And one old boy, they couldn't find him no ladder or a knot hole, so he done found him way down the way. He done found him a big old oak tree just laying right over the side of that fence, and he got way up in the top of that thing and watched the circus for free. He said, Preacher, what are you trying to tell us? Well, one little boy was looking through a knot hole, and he could only see what was in front of him. The boy on the ladder, he could see a little further, but the boy in the oak tree saw the front of the circus and the end of the circus all at the same time. Ladies and gentlemen, let me help you. On day number five, everybody in this room, including me, are looking through a knothole, and we're seeing just today. And we don't understand What's coming? We don't understand what God sees. But God's in the oak tree, and He sees the beginning and the end, and He knows what's best for your life. God's got a plan and a purpose. Our job is to find out what it is. Find out. Start doing it. Throw down your rod. Let God get the devil out of it, and you pick it up and do something for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what happens on day number five. Heavenly Father, I thank You, Lord,