Good morning. We're with the Liberty Baptist Church. We're here in Bobclatch with a stand saying redeemed. Redeemed how I love to proclaim it Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed through His infinite mercy His child and forever I am Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed, redeemed. His child and forever I am. I know I shall see in His beauty The King in whose light He lies, Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps And giveth me songs in the night. Redeemed, redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed, redeemed. ♪ His child and forever I am ♪ Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this time we've come to your house this morning, Lord, and worship you. May you bless all the services across the property this morning. If there's anyone here, Lord, that does not know you, they'd come to your knowledge this morning. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, you may be seated. Seeing Savior like a shepherd lead us. ♪ Savior, like a shepherd lead us ♪ But we need thy tender care ♪ In thy pleasant pastures feed us ♪ For our use thy foes prepare ♪ Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus ♪ Thou hast bought us thine we are. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, thou hast bought us, thine we are. Early let us seek thy favor, early let us do thy will. Blessed Lord and only Savior, with Thy love our food's obscured. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou hast loved us, loved us still. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou hast loved us, loved us still. As I look back on this road I've traveled I've seen so many times He's carried me through If there's one thing that I learned in this life My Redeemer is faithful and true My Redeemer is faithful and true Everything He has said and He will do Every morning His mercies are new My Redeemer is faithful and true My heart rejoices when I read the promise. There is a place that I'm preparing for you. I know one day I'll see my Lord face to face. My Redeemer is faithful and true. My Redeemer is faithful and true. Everything He has said and He will do. Every morning His mercy's all new. My Redeemer is faithful and true And in every situation He has proved His love for me When I lack the understanding He gives more grace to me My Redeemer is faithful and true Everything He has said He will do And every morning His mercies are new My Redeemer is faithful and true. Jesus is faithful and true. Grab your Bibles if you would. Go to Hebrews chapter 12. We're going to read one verse there. Brother Taylor usually is the one teaching class in here, and he had asked Kurt to teach class, and Kurt was going to teach class and have the teens down here. Then yesterday, Kurt got sick, so I'd already had in the back of my mind, I thought, I guess I should have volunteered and told Kurt if he needs me to call me, but he knows that anyway, and later in the evening last night, he called me and said, I got the bus covered, I got this covered, you probably already know what I'm calling about, and I went, yeah, I do, I'll cover it, so you're stuck with me today, sorry about that. Hebrews chapter 12, notice verse 2, we're going to read one verse. Then we're going to see about learning some stuff today from the Apostle Paul. Now here's what was said in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2. Looking into Jesus, and here's who Jesus is, the author and finisher of our faith. So he's the one that starts it and he's the one that finishes it. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame, and sitting down at the right hand of the throne of God." Now, when it tells us to look unto Jesus, that is who we should always look at. Now, we have the tendency to look at other people sometimes, and as long as they're faithful, as long as they do what they're supposed to do, that's not a bad thing. The problem is, the best of men, as they often say, is at best still a what? A man. So truth is no matter how godly the person is that you're looking at and the person that you're following. And by the way, all of us are supposed to be an example that folks can follow us. But keep in mind, if you're looking at a man or a woman, there'll be a time that that man or woman trips up. There'll be a time that man or woman messes up. You say, why is that? Because they're sinners. Now, Jesus is the only perfect person that ever lived. So when we talk about Jesus, now immediately it comes to our mind is we say to ourselves, well, that was Jesus. He's God. How in the world can I live like Jesus? And by the way, you never will be able to accomplish what Jesus accomplished, nor can I, but we're still only supposed to strive for that. That's why I said keeping your eyes, I mean, again, just put your eyes on Jesus. But today we're not going to talk about Jesus, although again, as far as using Him as an example, we all should. But this is Paul talking, Paul the Apostle. He used to be called Saul of Tarsus. Now Paul got saved on the road to Damascus, and most of you know his story if you've been in church very long. But Paul got saved, and then something happened to Paul. Now, again, when a person gets saved, there's supposed to be some changes in their lives. Now, the younger you are, the less that change will probably be that others might see. For instance, if you get saved and you're six years old, it's not like you as a bank robber and an adulterer, and you say, has a six-year-old sinned? Truth is, before he or she even recognized the fact that they were a sinner, they'd already been sinning, they just weren't held accountable for it until they realized they were a sinner. We call that the age of accountability. That's why when you see the story about Nineveh, it talked about so many innocent souls. You know who those innocent souls were? babies, one and two and three-year-olds, four-year-olds if they hadn't understood it yet that they was a sinner, five, and then any young men or women who had learning disabilities that never reached the age of accountability mentally, and there are people like that. I had a young man named David Moran. You've heard me talk about him. He was on my bus route out in Oklahoma City. And David had some learning disabilities. And it was later in life when David, I mean, when I say that, most kids get saved at five or six or seven or eight years old. David was older than that when he reached the age of accountability, mentally, because it took, I mean, he wasn't up mentally with everybody else his age. So the truth is, when Nineveh had those innocent souls, David also mentioned that, that he could go to where his baby was But his baby could not come back to him. Now you say, what was he saying his baby was? He was saying his baby was in heaven. And he said, I can join him, but he can't come back and join me. So again, when it comes to people, one of the best examples in the Bible is this apostle by the name of Paul. He wrote 14 books of the 27 in the New Testament. Now the good thing that's easy to know about the Bible is, and again this doesn't go for young folks because I don't even know if there's any Phillips 66 gas stations around anymore, but when I was a kid, when many of us old people were kids, there was Phillips 66. Say, why is 66 important? Because that's how many books there are in the Bible. Now, in the New Testament, there's not any Phillips 27s, so again, you just have to remember that there's 66 books in the whole Bible, 27 in the New Testament, and Paul wrote 14 of those 27 books. Now, no one else even came close to writing as many books as Paul did. Now, again, understand the books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, those have a lot more chapters than any of the books that Paul wrote, but the truth is Paul was an example to us all, and Paul was human. So unlike Jesus, who you and I will never be able to attain to where Christ was at, Paul is someone that we could... Now listen to me. Paul wasn't even saved as a child like many of us were. Paul wasn't. Paul was a grown man. Paul was an adult. Paul was probably 30s, 40s. From what we can tell, he probably wasn't in his 20s. He wasn't a young man when he got saved. He was an older man when he got saved. So the truth is, all of us who got saved when we were... I was saved when I was nine. How many of you were saved below ten years of age? You were saved before ten. So all of you guys and gals had an advantage on Paul. He did not get saved until he was an adult. And he still accomplished all that he accomplished in the time after he got saved. You say, was Paul religious before he got saved? Oh, of course. That's why he was actually killing Christians. Because he's like a lot of religions. If they wasn't following his religion, he felt like they should die. And he felt like they were actually opposite of his religion. And by the way, you'll find sometimes our religion, and what I mean by that, Independent Baptists, or folks who believe the King James Bible, or folks that believe that there's only one way to heaven, or folks that believe that salvation is all that you need, and baptism, and good works are something we do after we're saved, but do not make us saved. You'll find sometimes there's a lot of religions out there that don't agree with us, and by the way, attack us. You say, I left it on so I could follow the, I always get out on time in Sunday school. Can you guys turn me a clock on? I don't know if they're even awake. There we go. Upstairs, I always set my alarm, but I forget. Lately, since it's election time, and I gave some money to the two folks, now I get about 35 to 50 texts a day, so I forgot about that. So I'll shut it off so we don't have to put up with that. But again, Paul the Apostle was an example to us all. We're going to look today at a simple lesson that I call Watch and Learn. Father, we ask you to help us this morning. I pray, Lord, that you'd help me to make it clear and plain the things that you've given me that they might be a help and a blessing to somebody else here today. Help us to realize that we are to strive to be like Christ and that we will fall short of that. There are sometimes we will follow men or women. We will look at them as our heroes or someone to imitate and Lord, help each of us that we might strive to be that person that other people imitate or try to imitate in their Christian walk. In Jesus name. Amen. I used to tell Brother Patton this, some of you have heard me say this. I used to tell Dr. Lee Patton, Brother Lee Patton before he died, I used to tell him when I grow up I want to be just like you. He was one of my heroes. My dad was one of my heroes. I have others that are heroes, some of them still alive, some of them not alive. And by the way, you and I all have folks like that. Folks we look up to. Folks we want to be like. Folks that have some attributes that we want to imitate. Nothing wrong with that. So we're going to look at some of Paul's attributes today. Some things about Paul that I want you to pay attention to and maybe learn from. The first one, if you're turning your Bibles to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. All the stuff we're going to look at today will be in the New Testament. Normally, I am used to having the verses printed out, but I don't have them printed out today, so I will turn with you to most of them as well. The first thought I want you to get is this. Paul wasn't ashamed of his Lord. Now, you and I should not be ashamed of our Lord either. If you're saved, you should not be ashamed to talk about being saved. If He's your Savior, and if you're saved, that's the only one that is your Savior. If you're a child of God, you should not be ashamed of Him. Now, when a young lady gets married, you know what she can't wait to do? Show off the ring. Fact is, when she gets engaged, she can't help it. She wants to show everybody the ring she got. You know why? Because she's so proud of it. Hopefully she's proud of the guy who gave her the ring as well, but she's really proud of that ring. Now, when we get a baby, All of us who had kids, you know what, we took pictures. Now back then, cell phones, back in my time, we didn't have cell phones that took pictures, so we would have to actually take a real picture. But whether it's a child or a grandchild, I guarantee you, you walk up to Mrs. Sanders and said, how many grandkids you got? Mrs. Sanders would tell me. Five. Five. And then I'd say, do you have any pictures of that? And she would go, oh no, I'm so sorry. No, she would say yes, and she'd pull out her phone and show you a bunch of pictures of her grandbabies. And by the way, they're not even really babies. How old is the youngest? 11. How old is the oldest? If you ask us men that, we'd go, have no idea. They're about that tall. I mean, but we don't usually keep up with those things. But the truth is, if you've had a child, you were proud of that child, and you wanted to show that baby off. Now you say, but Walker, are all babies pretty when they're born? Oh no, some of them are not so pretty when they're born. Thankfully, they don't stay like that. And by the way, some of them do. Some of them stay ugly. Henry, sorry about that. That's just the way life happens. But the truth is, I'm just teasing Henry. But the truth is, Paul wasn't ashamed of his Jesus. Everywhere Paul went, he gave his testimony. Now his testimony, what his testimony was, what happened to me. Now you heard Brother Coro say this, if you don't know the Roman's road, and by the way, you should have learned it. If you're a child of God, that way you can always show someone else how to be saved. If you're saved, you should want to show others how to be saved. If you don't know how, then you should learn. There are a lot of things we've learned. For instance, the young man that played the guitar today. How long have you been playing the guitar? since he was 14. You say, but why can you play the guitar? Nope. Could I learn? Yep. Will I learn? Probably not. But the truth is I could. It's not something that I couldn't learn. So the truth is you can learn how to be a soul winner if you want to. Learn the Romans road. But if you don't know the Romans road, you can still talk to somebody about Jesus. And what you'll have to do is tell them what happened to you when you got saved. Show them again. And that's what Paul did. We call that his testimony. Everywhere Paul went he talked about his Lord. Was he ashamed of him? Oh no. That's ultimately why he died. He got killed because of his belief in Jesus Christ and the fact that he wouldn't stop talking about him. Now when I say he wasn't ashamed of his Lord, that's why many don't witness. You know why a lot of Christians don't witness? Because they don't want to talk about Jesus. That's why many have no standards. You know why they don't dress in the team uniform? And again, if you have ever played on a team, how many have ever played on a sports team? When you played on the sports team, you know what that team had? A uniform. Now you didn't get to wear your uniform, whatever you thought was the best color or the nicest looking uniform. You wore the uniform that every other player on your team wore. And by the way, there is a Christian uniform. There's ways that ladies should dress if you're a child of God. There's ways that men should dress and look if you're a child of God. The truth is we have a uniform. Many Christians have no standards because they're ashamed of Jesus. I mean, again, they don't want to look different. Now, it is so amazing to me that young people may, I mean, they may wear all black, or they may get their hair spiked, or they may do some other crazy stuff. They don't mind being different when it comes to the world, but many Christians are ashamed to look like a Christian once they get saved. Shame on us. Again, Paul was not ashamed of his Lord. That's why many don't witness. That's why many don't have standards. That's why many fall to peer pressure. Someone teases you and makes fun of you. Did I just see you pray for your meal? You should say, sure, because I'm thankful for what God gave me. Shouldn't shouldn't be a problem should be now again. I often tease in the past many Christians are the handkerchief prayer When they pray for those because I'll pull out that now some of you don't even have handkerchiefs people block yours is pink I've got pink ones and red ones and I even got a purple one I don't know where I got it at if it sure is tell me about and I'll bring it back But I I've said some Christians like to use their handkerchief to pray so they go think it'll be through that man and and I mean, and they're done. I mean, some of you, some of you do the, I mean, you may do the, you know, the scratch your head. I mean, I mean, you put your, the truth is a lot of Christians are ashamed to pray for the lunch. You shouldn't be. He was never ashamed of you. Again, that's why He died on the cross. You say, Brother Block, you don't understand how wicked I was. Jesus did, yet He still died on the cross and took your sins and mine. So again, why many are, again, why again, many folks show that they're ashamed of the Lord because they don't witness, because they have no standards, because they fall to peer pressure. That's why many are not faithful to church. Now I can tell you this, your neighbors should know every Sunday morning you're pulling out of the driveway at a certain time. They should know they're on the way to church. Again, if your relatives come over and they come and visit Sunday afternoon, they should know about such and such time. And again, I've told you this story before. My dad had a brother that him and his wife were not saved. Again, I always prayed for my aunts and uncles. It was Rex and Dixie and it was Irvin and Josephine. When I prayed for them, it was always the pair that I prayed for. But I remember when Dad got saved, we started going to church faithfully. And when Rex and Dixie came over one Sunday afternoon to visit us, about church time, we had two choices. Stay and visit with Rex and Dixie, or go to church. And my dad, again, at that time he'd been saved just a short time, but my dad, every Sunday night he went to church. So he told them, you got two choices. You can go with us to church, because that's where we're going in a few minutes, or you can stay here, and when we get out of church we'll come back and visit. And they said, no, we'll leave. Now, a couple weeks later, a few weeks later, they visited again on a Sunday, and about The time, again, we started church there, I think at 7 o'clock in the evening. And by the way, I like 6 o'clock church. I don't know about some of you, I love 6 o'clock church on a Sunday night, because you still get home and you still got some time to do some stuff before you have to go to bed. When it's at 7.30, we get through at 8.30 or 9, by the time we get home, some of us have to go to bed. Now, I don't, because I'm a night person. But the truth is, that next time that they came to visit, The time we normally get dressed, Rex and Dixie said, I guess we ought to be leaving because I know you guys go to church tonight. Now it didn't take them very long to figure that out, that we go to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. That's the least we should do. The Bible tells us when we see the day approaching, which, by the way, any of us with any common sense can see the day approaching, we should go to, he says, you ought to be there at those times, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. So every other activity at the church, you should try to be there. But again, Paul was not ashamed of his Lord. The second truth, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the second truth I want you to see this morning. I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. You can turn to 2 Corinthians, but I won't be reading any of the verses from there, so you'll just be a chapter ahead of us. 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, notice verse 9. For I am the least of the apostles, that I am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. The second thing I want you to understand is this. Paul always remembered what he had been. Now, that did not stop him from serving the Lord, but I can tell you the devil used it often to beat him over the head with. Because the devil does that. He likes to remind us what we've done in our past. And if you're not careful, he'll use that first to get you to doubt your salvation. Because if he can keep you doubting your salvation, you won't be living for the Lord, because you're not even sure you've saved yourself. So again, you've got to make sure your salvation is settled, that you did what you had to do. And if you did, you're saved. Couldn't lose it if you wanted to. But again, I said first off, he wasn't ashamed of his Lord. Second, he always remembered what he had been. Say, what had Paul been? Well, notice what he said there in verse 9. Why Paul? He said, and I'm not mean to be called, I shouldn't even be called an apostle. Why Paul? He said this, because I persecuted the church of God. Paul's job before he got saved or Paul's driving force before he got saved, kill every Christian I can. That's why even when he got saved, some of the Christians did not want him to let him in the house and did not want him to let him come to church because they thought he was maybe putting on an act so he could get in there and find out who was truly saved and then turn him into the government so that he could get thrown in the arena or thrown into prison. They didn't trust Paul. You say, had Paul probably done that in the past? Probably. The best way if you want to trip someone up. That's why in the United States right now, we have foreign agents from other governments. Some of them have been citizens here for years. Some of them teach in schools. Some of them have regular jobs. And they don't even, I mean, you say, what are they doing? They're just here, and when the government notifies them and says it's time, then they're back being whatever it is. You say, do we have people like that in other countries? You bet we do. They call them sleeper agents. What it means is they're a normal person until they're called up by the government to take action. Now listen to me. Paul was not a sleeper agent. Paul was, I mean, he went out of his way to kill Christians, every one that he could. You say, why did he do that? Because he thought he was doing the right thing. He thought he was actually pleasing God until the day he got saved. Then he realized how, and by the way, how shamed he became of himself because he realized what he'd been doing all this time. You say, did he sit around and feel bad about that? I'm sure if he ever took the time, yes, he did. But the one thing that Paul did was what all of us should do. If we've lived for the devil 100% before we got saved, you know what we should do when we get saved? Live for the Lord 100%. Brother Vineyard used to say this. He said, when I lived for the devil, I was good at what I did. I mean, I was successful living for the devil. Once I got saved, I had a bunch of ground to make up. You say, why? Because he got saved as an adult, like Paul did. Now again, for those of us that got saved as children, we should be farther along in this race of the Christian life than someone who got saved last month or last year or even two years ago. Because many of us have been saved for 20 or 30 or 40, 50 years. Again, not only was he not ashamed of his Lord, he always remembered what he had been. Now you say, what do you mean by that? Here's what I mean. He didn't use it as an excuse, but just a reminder of the grace of God. Now when you look at your past, don't let the devil use it to beat you over the head with. He will try to keep you from serving the Lord because he'll remind you of your past. When I say past, I don't even mean, it's not even always the stuff you did before you were saved. Sometimes the stuff you did after you were saved. I say this all the time. I did worse things after I was saved than I ever did before I was saved. I was nine when I got saved. I hadn't done a lot of bad stuff. But by the way, in my teenage years, again, I have messed up. I have hurt the Lord. I have shamed the cause of Christ. And by the way, don't get too pharisaical, you have too. Because every one of us sitting in this room today, at best, we're just sinners saved by grace. But Paul, again, always remembered what he had been. Now, he did that to remind himself of the grace of God. He also did that to remind himself, I don't deserve to be where I'm at. I don't deserve this attention. I don't deserve this privilege to serve the Lord. I am so thankful that he uses me. You and I should be thankful every day that God uses us. We should never go to God and say, God, you are so lucky to have me. And many Christians get that attitude. We get the attitude that we're somebody. We get the attitude that we are something. And again, Paul always remembered what he had been. Now, it's not hard for me. When I think back to how I grew up and where I was raised, I'm amazed that God has been able to do anything with me. How many of you have ever been to Missouri? How many of you have ever been to Sarcoxy, Missouri? Couple of you. You say, how big is it? Back when I was a kid, it was 1,075. Now I think they're above 1,100. They're really, I mean, they're a growing metropolis. I mean, they are really going now. 1,100 people. And we lived three miles outside of the city. We didn't even live in town. Now, understand, when I go back and I drive around and see how I was raised, I'm amazed that God has brought me to where I'm at and that he's accomplished what he has in my life. And I can tell you, many times it was against my will. I went kicking and screaming. Sometimes I didn't want to. But again, I had to remind myself, I owe God. Now, you've seen bumper stickers on the back of the car that says, I owe, I owe, so off to work I go. You and I should have that, I owe, I owe, so off to church I go. I owe, I owe, so off to soul winning I go. Say, what do you mean by that? We owe Christ. We can never pay him back for what he did for us, but it doesn't hurt us to try. Again, not only was he not ashamed of his Lord, he always remembered what he had been. By the way, just as hard as he worked for the devil in the past, he worked for the Lord when he got saved. I mean, again, you couldn't say that Paul was a half-hearted Christian. Now, I can say that about some people. Hopefully you can never say that about me. I've often, again, some of you know this, I've been here for 39 years, a long time, but My philosophy at Liberty Baptist Church, and it's not as true today because I'm older and I don't move as fast, but my philosophy used to be if I ever left Liberty, I wanted them to have to hire two or more people to take my place. That was my intent. I did not want one person to be able to step in and do everything that I was doing. What I meant was, by the way, that should be your philosophy at the place you work as well. Nobody should be able to replace you. I mean, if you ever left it, they ought to have to hire two or three people to do the job that you do. What that means is you're not the average worker. By the way, that also will ensure that when they start laying people off, you're not the guy or the gal on the cutting block. I mean, it may just be you and the boss in the future. He may have laid everybody else off, but if you're doing the job you're supposed to do and you have the attitude you're supposed to have, they won't want you to go. Truth is, if you ever try to go, they should try to talk you out of it. If you walk in today and said, I'm done, the boss shouldn't say, well, God bless you. The boss should, oh, no, no, no. I mean, the boss should try to talk you out of it. By the way, if the boss doesn't try to talk you out of it, shame on you. But again, Paul was not ashamed of the Lord. Paul always remembered what he had been. Now go to your Bibles to Romans chapter 7. And I like this because it's encouraging to me. And I like to be encouraged. In Romans chapter 7, we're going to read several verses. And so the third thing I want you and I to learn from Paul was that he fought the sin nature. Now notice in Romans chapter 7 verse 14. Now this is one of those tongue twisters. This is like Peter Piper picked a peck of peppers. But notice verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal, so it unto sin. Then he goes on and says this. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, this is Paul talking, by the way should be true of all of us, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do." Now Paul said, I'm not going to do it. What happened? He did it. Verse 20. For now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that when I do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man." Now understand, what Paul is saying here, he said several times, the things that I wanted to do, I didn't do. The things I didn't want to do, I didn't. You say, what's that called? That's called living in this fleshly body. It's called being human. Now, what Paul said is, I discovered a law. I struggle doing right. That's what Paul decided. I struggle doing right. It is not easy to do right. Some of you have planted, how many of you have ever planted a tree? When you plant a new tree, typically you do what? You put a post or something right next to that tree and you tie it to that post so it does what? Grows straight. Now, years ago, we planted a tree in our front yard. And most of you know this, if you plant a tree, you won't enjoy the shade your grandkids or your great-grandkids will, because most trees, especially oak trees, grow really slow. Now, they live a long time, and the trees that grow faster usually don't live near as long. Some of you had an Arizona ash or an elm tree or something else because they grow faster, but at 25 or 30 years, they're ready to fall apart or come down. But an oak tree, 25 or 30 years, it's still a baby. It's a baby, I mean, they lived to be hundreds of years old. So we planted a tree, and I had a post in it at one time, and then, I don't remember if we pulled the post out or something happened, but the tree started growing crooked. Now, I tried to straighten it up. I drove a post over here and put a strap to that and pulled it over there and tried to straighten it up, but it was already too late. So if you come to my house, walk into my front yard, I have an oak tree that's like that. Say, why is it like that? Because I didn't straighten it up when I should have. Say, could you straighten it up now? No. To do so, I'd have to dig a hole so big I'd dig up my whole front yard, then you'd have to get a crane or something to straighten it up because it's not like I can just dig the little ball that it had originally. I'd kill a bunch of roots and the tree would die. The truth is, it wouldn't have been hard if I did it when I was young, but when I got older. By the way, that's why those of you that got saved older, it's a little harder for you than it might be for your children to live for the Lord, or your grandchildren, because they got saved at a younger age. Thank goodness for that. They don't have as much sin pulling on them. Now again, no matter how old we get, there's always going to be sin pulling on us. All of us have what the Bible refers to as a besetting sin. What that means is one that we struggle with more than others. For instance, have I ever smoked a cigarette, yes or no? No. So when I'm around someone smoking, do I think, oh, man, that smells good? And the answer to that is no. I go, I mean, I hate cigarette smoking. It bothers me. I mean, I can't stand to be around cigarette smoking. It makes me cough. Now, for those who smoked a lot of your life, how many of you ever smoked? How many of you smoked for more than 20 years? Some of our folks here did. Now, you say, was it easy to quit? For some people, they drop it and that's it. For others, they struggle with it. They quit it, they start it, they quit it, they start it. I know a lot of Christians just like that. And I'm not talking about just one or two, I'm talking about a lot of Christians. Now, I also have never drank a drink of alcohol. So if someone opened up a can of alcohol and said, hey, you want a drink? And by the way, the weirdest thing was, I was offered one one time when I was out soul winning. And when I said no, they said, My priest drinks with me when he's here." And I went, well, I'm not your priest and I'm not drinking. So apparently not all preachers have a problem drinking when they're out visiting people. Now, if you want to offer me something, offer me a Dr. Pepper or a Pepsi. Say, well, if it's Big Red, I will tell you, no thanks, I don't drink. But what about a root beer? Same response. For some reason, I don't like root beer or Big Red. I love Dr. Pepper. I'll drink a Coke if you don't have a root beer, if you don't have a Pepsi or Dr. Pepper, but I don't even like Coke. You say, why, it's so harsh. I mean, I end up, after I drink it, I'm thinking, whoa, that was strong. And by the way, that's the strongest thing I've ever drank, okay? I've drank Coke. But the truth is, he fought against that sin nature. It wasn't always easy. What did he say? Sometimes he lost. Sometimes sin beat him. Say, what did he do? He got up like the Bible tells us to in Proverbs, dusted himself off and said, all right, you won that one. And by the way, he just used that as an inspiration to get back up and go on again. How many of you ever watched the boxing when Rocky Balboa? You know what? They used to say, I remember one of them, he was getting knocked down and the guy said, he's getting whooped. And they said, oh no, he's getting mad. I mean, they beat the snot out of him. Say, what did he do? I mean, and by the way, sometimes he let the guy keep smacking him. You say, Brother Walker, have you ever done that? I am not that stupid. It wouldn't make me mad, it would hurt. But again, understand, you and I should get mad when we get knocked down by the devil. We should get back up and say, you won that round, but the fight's not over yet. Because in this case, it's not a nine round fight. It's not a 12 round fight. Truth is, it's a lifelong fight. And there'll be times you and I get knocked down. But like he tells us in Proverbs, the righteous man falleth seven times, but what? Riseth up again. You get back up. I remember years ago, there was a joke that the guy said, we had this guy. I mean, he got knocked down, he got back up. He got knocked down, he got back up. He got knocked down, he got back up. And the coach said, don't we want that guy? He said, no, I want the guy that's knocking him down. By the way, if he knocked you down, what that means is at that moment he was stronger than you. He beat you. You got knocked down because, I mean, he was superior to you. You and I have to realize what Paul realized. We have a sin nature to fight. And again, thank goodness Paul fought it and won. You say, what does the Bible say about that? Go over to Philippians chapter 4. Now, those of us who have been saved very long, we already know what this verse says. But those of you that haven't been saved very long, you need to see what this verse says. This is for you sisters in the back that got saved a while back. Notice Philippians chapter 4. And Peter, if they can't find it, lean over and show them this, because they ought to learn this verse. It's a good verse to memorize. Notice verse 13. And what he says here is, and again, who is this speaking? Paul, what's Paul saying? I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. Now, Paul did not think it was because of him. He said, I can, there's nothing that I'm not capable of. How come, Paul? Because I've got God, I've got Christ. Now, again, when you and I realize that no matter what fight we get into, we can be victors. You know why? Because the one fighting besides us is the one, by the way, you say, well, sometimes I have to fight the devil. Uh-huh, the same guy that got kicked out of heaven. The guy that got beat by God a long time ago. And by the way, it wasn't even a fight. I mean, it was a massacre. If you've been following along on Sunday night, the same thing will be true in the future. He gets thrown into hell when God wants to let him out. I mean, the truth is the devil has been a defeated foe from the first day he raised up and thought he was going to go against God. So you and I have God on our side. Now there are folks that have the devil on their side, but trust me, it is not a fight. Now if you and I try to fight the devil by ourselves, we will lose. But we don't have to fight him by ourselves. So again, first I said Paul wasn't ashamed of his Lord. Second, Paul always remembered what he had been. That keeps you and I from getting proud of ourselves. He fought the sin nature. Next I want you to see 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We're going to read a couple of verses there. In this case, I actually mean 2 Corinthians, so you're going to be right if you turn over there. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Notice we'll read verse 8 and verse 9. Here's what Paul said, We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed. Now I don't know about you, but to be troubled on every side, that's pretty tough. To be perplexed, to be persecuted, to be cast down, you'd think that that meant Paul was a loser, but Paul said, all that stuff happened, and when the smoke cleared, I just, I mean here, I was walking, I came walking on through. Again, why could he do that? Because of what that verse we just read about, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Now you're in 2 Corinthians chapter four, look over at verse 16. For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." Now you say, what do you do when you mess up with the lock? You either get on your knees physically or you get on your knees mentally and you ask God to forgive you. No, you don't get saved again. If you've ever been saved, you got saved one time and that's it. But we have to get right often. Like in a marriage. The truth is, every husband and every wife messes up, so sometimes we have to say, I'm sorry. Now I can tell you men, we don't like to say, I'm sorry. But I don't know about ladies, because I've never been one of those. But the truth is, I know men hate to have to apologize. We hate to admit we're wrong. And by the way, if you're not big enough to admit you're wrong, you're not very big. Because you will be wrong and you will make mistakes. So again, what Paul said was, you know what? I'm not gonna let my failure stop me. He said, now, again, Brother Vineyard used to say he was knocked down, but not knocked out. Boxed in, but not boxed out. He used to tell us, if you can't get over it, go under it. You can't go under it, go, I mean, go around it. You can't go around it, go through it, but just get past it. There will always be something in your Christian life trying to keep you from serving the Lord. There might even be a person that's trying to keep you from serving the Lord. Sometimes it might be someone in your own house. Years ago, when Brother Boyd was here, we had a young man sit in the front row. He got saved during the service. And how many of you know what Brother Boyd wanted you to do after you got saved? Get baptized, get in deep water. So he said, next day we was doing something and we was meeting and Brother Boyd said, what about that boy that got saved last night? I said, I asked him about baptism and he talked to his dad about baptism and his dad said, you get baptized, you're gonna get a whooping when you get home. I shouldn't have told Brother Boyd that, because you know what he did that night? He got up and said, after he gave the invitation, he said, you know what? There might be some of you sitting out there today, but you need to get baptized, and your parents don't want you to get baptized. You might even get a whooping. I thought, why did I even tell Brother Boyd? I thought this was, you know, Brother Boyd and I. He said, you know what I think I'd do? I think I'd just take my whooping. He said, what did the boy do? He stepped out, came down front, got baptized. I told him later, I said, Brother Boyd, I should have took you over to the house and let you take his whooping. But the truth is, it's a lot easier for us to promote this stuff than it is to actually do it. You say, did he get a whooping? I don't know. I didn't even want to go ask him because I'm the one that thought, I mean, because I mouthed off to Brother Boyd, I'm the reason he had a chance to take a whooping. But by the way, are you supposed to get baptized after you're saved? And the answer to that is yes. It's an act of obedience. But the truth is, again, he didn't let his failures stop him. The next thing I want you to see, and I must hurry on, he didn't let his differences stop him. Go to Acts chapter 13. Back the other way in your Bibles a little bit. Acts chapter 13. Notice verse Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga, into Pamphylia, and John, this is John Mark, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. You say, what happened to John Mark? If you read your Bible, he got homesick. You say, but Walker, have you ever been homesick? Oh, yeah. When I went to Bible college as a 17-year-old boy, I had never been away from my parents. I never stayed at anyone's house overnight. I think one time I stayed at one of my grandparents' house while something was going on with the family, with death in the family. But I never got to go to my friends' houses. They could come to our house, but we never got to sleep someplace else. We never got to spend all day with someone else. My mom and dad thought that God gave, and they often would say, God gave you to us, so we're the ones supposed to raise you. Other folks are not supposed to be raising their kids, or our kids. And so I never got, so when I got to Bob College, I was a homesick little boy. I left a town, I mean, I left living in the country outside of a town of 1,000. Zero, 75. I mean, 1,075. I moved to Oklahoma City to go to Bible college. It was a great big town. I mean, big town compared to where I'd been before. I was homesick. Back then, we didn't have cell phones. I don't think we even had pagers. Say, what did you have? Pay phones. So every couple of weeks, I could save up my money, and for $3.25, I could talk for five minutes. And then right before your five minutes was out, they'd say, your time is up in, I think, like 30 seconds. You can either deposit more money. And by the way, they didn't give you another warning. When your time ran out, if you hadn't already said goodbye, you didn't get a chance because it just went click. I mean, your conversation was over. I saved my quarters. And every couple weeks I can make a phone call to home. I was homesick. So I understand what homesick is. Now, understand, unlike John Mark, John Mark got homesick and he left the ministry. He left the missionary field where he was at and he went back. Now, say what happened? Paul got mad about that. Notice that you're still in Acts. Notice Acts chapter 15, over just a couple chapters. Oh, I'm sorry, he was in Acts 13, so Acts 15, notice we're going to be in verse 38 and 39. Acts 15, verse 38 and 39. But Paul thought not good to take with him who departed from them from Pamphylia, who is he talking about? John Mark, and went not with them to the work. Notice verse 39, and the contention was so sharp between them. Who's he fighting with? He's fighting with Barnabas. Barnabas thinks John Mark ought to be able to come back with him, go on the trip, because now John Mark's over homesick, and now John Mark wants to go again, and Paul says, uh-uh, he quit on us last time, I'm not taking no stinking quitter. Say, was that the right attitude? Paul thought it was. Don't know if it was or not. Did Paul always have that attitude? No. Don't have time to flip it over there, but there was a time later on when John Mark had been living for the Lord a while and proved that he was back living for the Lord. Paul said, I think you ought to bring John Mark with us because he is profitable for the ministry. But here in verse 39, I mean not only did he not take John Mark, he split off from Barnabas, I mean his faithful soul winning partner. So Barnabas took Mark and sailed on to Cyprus and Paul chose Silas and departed from being recommended by the brethren and to the grace of God. He went, verse 41 says, to Syria and Sicilia. So they went in opposite directions for a while. So not only did he not take John Mark with him, he fought with his best friend. Barnabas was his soul winning partner, his best friend. They departed from each other for a while. Say, well, you ever bump heads with other brothers and sisters in Christ? Uh-huh. Say, why? Because they're brothers and sisters in Christ. How many of you ever had brothers and sisters you fought with? Every one of us who had brothers and sisters? I had no sisters, so I never fought with a sister. So you say, Brother Block, you ever fight with your sister? No, because I didn't have any sisters. But I did fight with my brothers. And I don't know any brothers or sisters that don't fight. Now you say, Bill Barton, my kids are so good they never fight. Then you should get a game camera and you should set it up in your house. And you should go to the store after you left the oldest son or daughter in charge of the rest of the kids. And then watch what happens when the dictator that you left behind decides that he or she is going to run the show and make his little brothers or sisters do all of their chores that mom and dad left them to do and the ones they left the oldest one to do as well. You know why? Because mom and dad put me in charge. If you don't listen, I'll tell mom and dad when they get home. Say, did you and your brothers ever fight? Oh yeah, because my brother was a dictator. and try to boss us around. I didn't mind obeying my mom and dad, but I don't have a verse in the Bible that says, thou shalt obey thy oldest brother. I don't. And that my life is a long life. I mean, wasn't any place in there about that. But again, understand, He had some problems. He had some differences. There could be differences at home. There might be differences at church. There could be differences among friends. We call each other brother and sister, which means sometimes we're going to bump heads with each other. You know why? Because we're all opinionated. And especially us guys, we think we're always right. Say, are we always right? Most of the time, which means, by the way, some of the time we are not. But at those times, we still think we are right. And we will persist in our rightness even when we're wrong. Say, why? Because we're stubborn and bullheaded and sinners. And sometimes it takes a while to realize how stupid we were. But again, understand there might be some differences. Don't let them stop you. He did separate from Mark for a while. And by the way, probably because he did that, is one of the things that helped John Mark get back on his feet, because he realized, I failed Paul. He said, you're supposed to have your eyes on Jesus. You are. But there also will be men and women that you put your eyes on. And Paul was, by the way, a good example. John Mark messed up. And I think later he thought to himself, you know what? I want to be like Barnabas. I want to be like Paul. Now later, Paul said, bring him with you. He's powerful for the ministry. And then the last thing, and I'll be done. Although he was highly esteemed, he didn't let it go to his head. Go to Ephesians chapter three in your Bibles. Ephesians chapter three, one of my favorite verses. Ephesians chapter three. Yeah, I said, although he was highly esteemed, I mean, he was well thought of. He didn't let it go to his head. Now the one thing that we all have to be careful of is this, if God ever does something with us, realize what I just said, who did it? God did it. I mean, it wasn't us, okay? But we have the tendency to think because God used us, we must be somebody. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says God could use rocks to sow in if he wanted to. I don't know about you, I would not be real wild if I heard a knock on my door, I opened up and went, hello, and the rock said, hey, I mean, that scared the crap out of me, I mean, the truth is God, but he says I could use rocks. He used a donkey one time. Now understand, in this case, he said, Paul's somebody, Paul's accomplishing stuff, Paul's a hero to a lot of people, Paul's a testimony to a lot of people, and here's what Paul said about himself. Ephesians chapter three, notice verse eight. Unto me, Now here's what Paul said, I'm a nobody. Now I'm not talking about someone else said that about Paul. I'm talking about Paul said that about Paul. By the way, it's a good day in our life when we all realize whatever I am, if I ever become anything, if I ever accomplish anything, it's all because of him. That's why, now again, I try to preach good messages, I try to teach well, but if you come up after a sermon and say, that was a good message, what will I usually say to you, Henry? Praise the Lord, because I know the guy that preached, and he's a mess. That's what I, apparently, Henry, I must not have ever said to Henry. Apparently, you've never thanked me for preaching, Henry, because that's what I'd have told you. It's a shame on you for not ever saying, Brother Block, that was a good message, because then you'd have known what I was going to say. Someone comes up and says, blah, blah, blah, that's good. I'll say, just give the glory to God, because I know the guy that preached. You say, who are you talking about? I'm talking about me. Now, we might say that about someone else and feel pretty good about ourselves. Paul wasn't saying that about somebody else. He wasn't saying this about John Mark. He was saying this about Paul the Apostle. And Paul said, unto me, who am less than the least. Paul said, I'm lower than a snake's belly. I'm a nobody. And by the way, no matter who we are today, always remember, you and I are nobodies. The God takes, if we allow Him to, God takes us and moulds us, makes us into somebody, and it's all because of Him, so don't get the big head. Notice what He told us, and we'll be done here. Notice Philippians chapter 3. Just over a short distance, Philippians chapter 3, notice verse 14. I pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Now you say, what did Paul do? He said, even though, now I said, others esteem him very highly, he didn't let it go to his head. Here's what he said, I'm determined, I'm fastened on the mark. Now, understand when he said, I pressed toward the mark, what he was saying is, I'm trying to get to victory. I've often said this to the teenagers. Make sure that you have out in front of you the goal of living for the Lord. I'm going to serve God. I'm going to please God. Make that your goal. Don't look to the left. Don't look to the right. I mean, don't look behind you. Those things will all discourage you and get you distracted. I'm not going to ask how many of you have ever been in a car accident because you took your eyes off the road, but I can tell you probably if you had an accident, If you've had very many accidents, at least one of those was because you took the eye off the road. I don't know if you're like me, if you ever noticed, when you start turning right, and when you put your head to the right, you know what you typically start doing? You start turning right. It's not like you just keep driving straight ahead. The truth is, your hands will usually follow your body, or your eyes. Again, Paul said, I pressed to the mark. What he's saying, I got my eyes, I'm concentrating on the goal. You say, what was his goal? To be like Jesus. Did he accomplish it? No. He got pretty close though. I think he was probably more like Jesus than most Christians ever were or are. Now, again, I said don't get your eyes on a person, but if you're going to get your eyes on a person, put them on someone that's living godly, but realize, at best, they're still a human. At best, they're still going to mess up sometime. So if they fail, just say, phew, man, God, I mean, don't let me do that. Years ago, we had someone that messed up here. Within just a few hours, two other Christians called me and they said this, for the block, I don't know what I'm gonna do. And I said, what do you mean you don't know what you're gonna do? They weren't even involved, but they knew the person that messed up. They said they were a lot better Christian than me and they messed up, what chance do I have? I said this to them, first off, they're not as good a Christian as you thought they were. Because by the way, when we fall, when we publicly fall, trust me, we've already been falling inside for a while, okay? It finally just showed up on the outside. I said, first off, If they failed, and all of us will someday, you're going to have to take your eyes off of them. They may have been a hero for a while. Take your eyes off them, put them back on Jesus. What that means is we took our eyes off Jesus and put them on a person. Now, I want you and I to live in such a way that our kids, or our grandkids, or our Sunday school class, or the folks younger than us, or a new convert can try to imitate us because we're serving the Lord. But no matter who you are, especially if you're a new convert, if you're going to follow a person, keep in mind they are a person. They will fail you someday. Now, if I ever failed you, I didn't do it on purpose, but I guarantee you, if you follow me all the time, I will fail you because I'm human. I'll mess up. There'll be some time I'll let you down. Did I want to let you down? I did not, but I'll still do it because I'm human. But I can point you to one who never lets you down. I can point you to one who never leaves you nor forsakes you. I can point you to one that will always be there and hear every prayer you pray. And by the way, be there when you need them. A friend that sticks closer than a brother. and he's not talking about one of us, he's talking about the Son of God who saved us, and by the way, then makes us into something if we allow Him to. Again, you and I can take Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2, it says looking unto Jesus, and we ought to look to Jesus, and sometimes we'll have a human that we want to follow, but make sure you always keep in mind, and especially if you're the one that's being followed, stay humble. If someone's trying to imitate you, keep in mind, you're only who you are because of Him, not because of your I. If anything good comes out of us, it's all because of the grace of God. Father, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your blessings. Help each of us that we might keep our eyes on Jesus. And Lord, if we have our eyes on a human, help us still to keep in mind that they are human. And Father, I pray that you'd help us to, each of us should strive to be a good example to those either that have been saved less time than us or those who are younger than us, but we might try to be an example for them. So that means we got to keep our eyes on Jesus. So if they've got their