00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
You all have to stay. Amen. Brother Clark, come preach to
us. It's been a blessing. I did wake up this morning thinking
it was Thursday. Anybody else do that? You know?
In fact, one of our staff members said they went home and turned
the TV on and there was football and they're like, why is there football on
a Wednesday night? I'm like, oh, that's right. This
is only Monday. It's Tuesday. Amen. Somebody asked me, are the roads
paved where we're going? Yes, they are. I just want to
make sure everybody knows that. Amen. you pray for us as we do
move to West Virginia this part of West Virginia it's it's an
old coal mining town and there's a church there that God has called
me to and I'm excited a great group of people and I know they're
watching tonight so hey guys how you doing and I love you
I'll be back home soon and but I'm excited about what God's
doing in my life and I'm excited about what God's doing here it's
just awesome to see that even though we're in different states
not state of minds but we're in different states Some people
think we're crazy, but we're in different states. We're doing
the same thing, and that's what's so amazing. Getting the chance
to travel all over this country, and even in different parts of
the world, there are Christians trying to do the Lord's work.
They're not all giving up, amen? And so I'm thankful for a church
that stands upon the word of God. Church, don't ever lose
that. I know with your pastor, you're
never gonna go away from that, but I'll tell you one thing. to put this aside and do what
the world tells them to do to get a crowd. And I'm telling
you, it's not working. The only way that it's gonna
work is if we go by what God says. The old time religion still
works today. Jesus still saves and he still
saves the same way that he did many years ago. He still does
it the same way today. And so you keep on keeping on
for the Lord. If you have your Bibles tonight, Luke chapter 19, you pray for
me. I think I've got a frog in my throat that's been with me
all day long. I don't know where I got it from,
but that's why I didn't sing with this group tonight. Not
to mention I didn't get an invitation. But good music, good godly music. I tell you, I love it. I love
to hear those young people get up here and sing. I love being
able to just preach to the young people. Thank you so much for
allowing me to just preach in the school and everything. It's
been a blessing. It's been a huge blessing. The
US produces, listen to this, 268 million tons of waste each
year. That's a lot of waste, isn't
it? Wonder who weighed all that. I was thinking about it. I began
to look at all that, and I was thinking, 268 million. Is there
somebody out there that's just weighing all this waste, weighing
all this trash? I don't know. But they came up
with this number, and it's reported that 4.5 pounds of trash are
produced on average each day by one person. Now in my house,
that might be a little bit more. But in this article I was reading,
a question came up. What can we do to limit our trash
production? Now, those of you that are visiting
tonight, don't worry, I'm not gonna go into trash production.
And some of us are thinking, what is this? Is this gonna be
talking about some green message or something? No, that's not
what I'm gonna be preaching on tonight. But I begin to think
about waste as I was reading that article, and I was applying
it to my own life. And as a human, we only have
one life to live. I'll never forget as a young
boy, I had a chance to grow up when they did not have video
games. You know, I grew up during the
era when they didn't have any of that. And then as I grew up,
they came into fruition. And I'll never forget actually
playing the first video game. And the first video game that
I played, I only got three lives. Well, I didn't last very long
because I'm not technologically inclined. And so I lost those
three lives very quickly. Well, a few years ago, I was
playing video games with somebody. I don't do it very often, but
I was just doing it because I wanted to, you know, just talk to this
young man. And we were having a good time
right there playing those video games. And I noticed that there
was unlimited lives. So I could die as many times
as I wanted. So I was like, well, I like this because if it doesn't
work the first time, I just reset and I get these unlimited lives.
Well, you know what? That's not reality. We don't live two lives. We don't
have three lives. We don't have nine lives and
we don't have unlimited lives. We only have one life to live. Now I begin to look at this life
and I begin to look at the measurements of what I have. I've got 24 hours
in a day to live. seven days a week, which has
1,440 minutes per day. It's got 10,080 minutes per week,
524,160 minutes per year to live in this life. Now, depending on how old you
are or how many years you've been on this earth, I'm 50, so
I've had around about 26,208 minutes I've lived on this earth. Now, that's a lot. Some of you
may have less. Some of you may have a lot more.
I don't know. But that's a lot of minutes when you start to
look at the statistics and the actual numbers. These are the
minutes. These are the time. This is what
I have been given. One day, I'm gonna give an account
for the life that I live. Every minute that I live, every
breath that I take, every word that I say, I will give an account
to God. To waste something means to never
get it back. And I begin to think about the
life that we're living, and I can't help but look at what we're dealing
with today and even the revival this week, and I'm telling you,
I see a common denominator and a common theme all week long.
And I believe that God wants us to have a sense of urgency,
number one, to live right according to the Bible. That's number one.
But also, we need a sense of urgency to get out the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Folks, we have the greatest news
on planet Earth, and yet we are so quiet about it. We've got
the answer to people's eternity. There are people in the media
that are saying that there's more than one way to heaven,
and there's a lot of people that are believing that lie. There
are many people out there that believe there's two or three
ways in order to get to heaven. But the Bible, God's holy word,
tells us the truth. And those of us that have accepted
Jesus Christ as our Savior and we've gotten saved, we know that
truth. We've experienced the fact that
there is only one way to heaven. So we can rest assured because
of the grace of Almighty God that we know that there's only
one way to heaven And that's through Jesus Christ. It's not
through Buddha. It's not through Muhammad. It's
not because I'm a church member. It's not because I'm an independent
Baptist. It's not because I'm a preacher. It's because I accept
The biblical way, listen to that, the biblical way of salvation. So I've got the greatest news
on planet earth. I've got a chance to tell everybody
about Jesus. So who has a chance to be saved? The Bible says, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So what does
that mean? That means anybody can get saved.
Oh, you mean Brother Mike, somebody in another country can get saved?
Oh, yes. You mean somebody down the street can get saved? Oh,
yes. You mean any nationality can get saved? Oh, yes. Why?
Because our God who loved us gave his only begotten son to
pay for our sins and he did it for all of us and all we have
to do is accept it. That's some pretty good news,
don't you think? How many of you are excited that you're saved
tonight? I tell you, when I got saved
at the age of 16, I've never gotten over it. Never will I
ever get over it. I've been a changed life for
all eternity. And sometimes we as Christians,
we have salvation. We forget about the fact that
we're gonna live eternally somewhere. Yes, we have a life on this earth.
Yes, we do have to be responsible with the life that we have on
this earth. but it means so much. The Bible
says in Romans chapter 14 verse 12, so then every one of us shall
give an account of himself, listen to this, of himself to God. In this passage, Paul is talking
to the believer and he warns us this life matters. There's many people who think,
well, I'll just go ahead and I'll get a do over once I die.
There is no do over when you die. Christian, those of us that
are living, and we know that we're saved, we have a responsibility
to listen to the Holy Word of God, and there is a sense of
urgency that we need in our lives, in our families, in our homes,
in our churches, to live according to what the Bible says, not according
to what the religious movement says, not according to what the
popular movement says, but what thus saith the Lord God. Are you seeing the similarities
in the messages throughout this week? Are you starting to see
that God is trying to prick the hearts of the Christian to get
right with him, to live according to the scriptures and stop listening
to the lies of this world? He says, so then every one of
us shall give an account of himself to God. You know, the days that
I live on this earth will soon pass. I don't know how much longer
I'm going to live. I may live to be 99 years old.
If I get to 99, I hope at least I get to that hundred because
I want to see one zero zero with all those. I'm going to get a
hundred candle candles. I really am. I want a hundred.
If I reach a hundred, I better get a hundred. I don't want three
candles that say one zero zero. I want a hundred candles because
I want to see that many. But you know, I may not live
that long, but whatever life that I live, The only thing that's
gonna last for all eternity, listen to me tonight, and listen
very closely. The only thing that's gonna last
for all eternity is what I do for Jesus Christ. It's not what
I do for this world. It's not what I build up in this
world. It's what I do for Jesus Christ.
Father, I just ask you tonight to help us. Lord, we get so comfortable in
our lives that we forget that we need to have a sense of urgency
to do what's right and to share the gospel. And so, Father, tonight
I pray that you will help us tonight to take note and to listen
to your Holy Spirit speak to our hearts. Lord, if there's
someone here that does not know you as Lord and Savior, Lord,
may tonight be their night of salvation, that they can leave
here with the same joy that we carry, the same peace that we
carry that passes all understanding, knowing that if we died right
now, we'd go straight to heaven. But Lord, maybe there's someone
here tonight that does not know you as Lord and Savior. They've
never accepted you yet. Lord, may tonight be their night
of salvation. Lord, speak to our hearts. Use us in Jesus name. Amen. Now in this passage of
scripture in Luke chapter 19, you'll see the beginning of it.
You'll see the story of Zacchaeus. I got a chance to preach to the
elementary kids and I got to talk about this tax collector
Zacchaeus. I had a lot of time. I had a
lot of fun doing that. I was able to be a little bit more animated
and everything. So I won't be as animated tonight. I'm not
gonna talk about Zacchaeus, but I had a good time. But then when
you get down to verse number 11, you begin to see that Jesus
is going to give a parable. Jesus Christ is the son of the
living God, and he's about to give a parable. A parable is
a earthly story with a heavenly meaning. And Jesus was gonna
use this to teach a very important biblical principle to be able
to help. And this principle was not just
for that period of time, But it was also for 2023. I thank
God tonight that the Bible was relevant back in the biblical
times. It's relevant in 2023. It's the only book that I can
actually say that will be relevant as long as we are alive. In fact,
it will be relevant for all eternity. The Bible will never end. The
words will be in heaven for all eternity. And I thank God that
we can look at that tonight. But here we see this is Jesus
Christ and he's given this parable here. Now if you begin to look
in verse number 11, we see that there is a nobleman, a leader
of a country. He is a leader of this empire
and he's about to go somewhere and while he's gone, he's going
to expect something of his servants. And then when he gets back, he's
going to ask them to give an account of what they did with
what the nobleman gave them. So look at verse number 11, the
Bible says, In verse number 12 it says, to receive for himself a kingdom
and to return. Here in verse number 12 you start
to hear the voice of God begin to speak. I wish I was there
and I could actually hear his voice right there but here he's
actually speaking here and he says a certain nobleman went
to a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. In verse number 13 it says there,
Now you'll see in the first part of verse number 13, you begin
to see an equal opportunity for these servants. Here this nobleman gives the
servants and he gives them something of equal value. He gives them
a pound. He gives them something that
they all have the same value. Nobody gets more. Nobody gets
less. and they all have the same value. And so he goes and he decides
he's gonna gather these 10 servants and he's gonna give each one
of these servants a pound. And then he goes on and he begins
to give them all equal instructions. In this passage of scripture,
just in verse number 13, you'll see that he says, Now here, this occupy till I
come was a very, very specific instruction. I remember as a
kid, I listened to my teachers and they would give me very specific
instructions. And if I listened to those instructions,
if I was obedient to those instructions, chances are I would do well in
school. Now, did I always listen to my teachers? No, I did not.
There were some times when I didn't and I regretted it later on.
But those instructions are given for a reason. I remember I was
building a model one day and I had all of these instructions.
Have you ever built a model and you've got these 12, 15 pages
of instructions? Well, I looked at that and I
looked at the picture and I thought to myself, what in the world
do I need these instructions when I can just use the picture?
I mean, I opened up the box and it said it had 1,200 pieces in
it. And you know what I thought to
myself? I don't need 1,200 pieces to make this look like the picture.
So I got into the model and I was trying to make this airplane
look like the box, look like the front of that box. And instead
of picking up the instructions and going one, two, three, four,
I started looking, I found the biggest piece. I started with
that, and I made the outside at least look as close as I could
to what that model of the picture looked like, but I found out
later on, well, I was missing the engine, I was missing the
seats, I was missing all the people inside, I was missing
all kinds of things in that model, so that model was never complete. Well, here this nobleman was
giving them specific instructions. He not only gave them specific
instructions, he gave them direct instructions. Now, these were
not suggestions. These directions, these instructions
were actually a command. He said, occupy till I come. He didn't say, hey, listen, guys,
let's get together. I'm gonna each give you a pound. Hey, if
you feel like it, if you want to, when I come back, let's see
what you did with it. No, this was not a suggestion. This was a command by the nobleman. And so he said, occupy till I
come. Now that word occupy means to multiply. It means to invest. It means to be a good steward.
He also gave him a specific time period of when he was gonna come
back. He says, when I come back, he
says, till I come. So what I want you to do is I
want you to take this pound. I want you to multiply it. I
want you to invest it. I want you to do something with
it. Be a good steward of it till I come. So here we see the equal
instruction. Now as we see and we begin to
look at this, we begin to see the individual accounts of what's
gonna happen as the nobleman comes back. And so here in verse
number 13, we see that the nobleman leaves. In verse number 14, but
his citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying, we
will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass
that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, when he
commanded these servants to be called unto him to whom he had
given the money that he might know how much every man had gained
by trading. So here the nobleman had gone
out, and now this time period, I don't know exactly how long
it was, but this time period transpired, and all of a sudden
he comes back, and now it's time for them to give an account.
Let me tell you something, Christian. One day Jesus Christ is going
to come back. It's going to surprise us. You know, there's a lot of
people out there that think they can manipulate and figure it
all out. They think they can put this
mathematical equation together to figure out when Jesus is gonna
come back and take the church home. No, they're never gonna
know. No man knows according to the scriptures. One day that's
gonna happen, and we ain't gonna be able to fix the things we've
done in the past. We're not gonna be able to clean
up our lives, and we're gonna give an account to Jesus Christ.
And that time is gonna come, and it could come at any moment.
at any time. In this passage we see the nobleman
has come back and they're about to give an account and he's going
to go up to those servants and look what the Bible says there
in verse number 16. Then came the first saying, Lord,
thy pound hath gained ten pounds. That's not bad, is it? I mean,
how many of you invest? Anybody invest in here? Okay,
that's good. Wouldn't you like that as an investment return?
You put one pound in, you get 10 pounds back, I think that'd
be a good investment, don't you? Well, look at that, he got 10
pounds, so look what happened to him. In verse number 17, the
Bible says, Again, he only got one pound, he didn't get no more,
no less than anybody else. Since you've been faithful in
a very little, have thou authority over ten cities." My goodness,
he had authority over ten cities. I'd like to be authority over
one city, wouldn't you? I mean, I'd change this world
if I could at least tell these people what to do in these cities,
amen? I'm not running for anything right now, but it sure would
be nice. I'd love to bring some biblical values back to our cities,
wouldn't you? My goodness, I think about this
and I think, wow, this is awesome. This nobleman was being generous
here. He was giving them a reward and
all they did was take that one pound and they did something
with it. They were good stewards of it.
It meant something to them. They didn't just throw it away.
They took it seriously. You know, folks, it's so important
that we as Christians, that we take our life seriously. and
understand that God wants us to do something with it. I look
at this and I was like, wow, 10 cities. I'd like to be just
a head over a few at least, but here he did 10 pounds, so he
got 10 cities. And then you get the second account.
Look what the Bible says there. He said unto him, Well done,
thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful in very little,
have thou authority over ten cities, verse 18. And the second
came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. That
still ain't bad. I wouldn't mind him being part
of my investment team, would you? I think that'd be okay.
I mean, one pound, they all got the same amount. Same chance
they all had the same value and now they're coming back and they
brought this five times value now It's not too bad. It's the
second account five pounds. Let's see what happens to him
He said likewise to him be thou over five cities That's not too
bad, is it? I mean, you got two people here
now, two people over 15 cities because they chose to listen
to their master. They chose to do what's right.
They chose not to waste their time. They chose not to waste
that pound. So they made a specific decision
in their own life and in their own heart to do something for
their leader. You know what we need today?
We need Christians who will determine in their hearts that they will
do something for their God. Not their country, not their
nation, but their God. Not their friends, not their
families, but their God. Not this world, but their God. If we would just choose to do
something for God, then God will use our life to multiply, to
see other people saved, to see those rewards in heaven, to be
able to do something for Jesus Christ that will last for all
eternity. And I'm afraid when we get to
heaven, there's going to be some regret. There's going to be some
time when we get there and we start giving account and we're
going, Oh man, I wish I had given more to the Lord. There's a man
in our church many years ago. I think his name was Richard
Brown. I can't remember exactly, but I'll never forget. He had
throat cancer. He was dying of throat cancer. And I'll never
forget, as he was dying, his testimony was, I wish I had done
more for Jesus. He was only 30-some years old.
He had some kids and a wife. It was devastating for him because
he felt like he was losing his life too early because he didn't
have enough time to go back and fix his life before because he
hadn't done enough for Jesus Christ. And in his dying breath,
that's all he kept reiterating. I didn't do enough for Jesus.
I wish I had done more for Jesus Christ. In my dying breath, I
don't want to say that. I don't want to sit there and
live a life of regret because I didn't do enough for Jesus.
I don't want to sit here and say, well, the world distracted
me, God. The world put me over here and
I just fell into their trap. I don't want to say that. I wanna
say I did everything I could for you, Lord. I tried my best. I know I made mistakes, but I
tried my best. I wanna be like that man that
took the one pound and produced 10 pounds. I wanna be like that
one that had one pound and he produced five pounds. I wanna
be that one that takes the one life that God gives me and I
do something with it. But then you begin to see another
person that comes to the picture here. And Jesus Christ again
is speaking here. He says in verse number 20, and
another came saying, Lord, behold, what's it say there? Here is
thy pound. which I have kept laid up in
a napkin. Oh, he took that same pound.
He had that same opportunity. He had that same value that the
first one did and the second one did. And here he looks at
the nobleman, he says, hey, I've still got that pound, but this
is what I did with it. I took that pound and I laid
it in a napkin and I folded it up and I put it in my pocket.
And that's what I did with it. Now, was that servant obedient
to his master? No, he was not. So the Bible
says there in verse number 21, for I feared thee because thou
art an austere man. Thou takest up that thou layest
not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. I don't believe
for one minute he believes that statement right there, because
if that servant had truly, honestly believed that that nobleman was
a strict man, guess what? He would have been obedient. Let me tell you something, folks.
Our God is a strict God. And when he tells us to do something,
when he gives us a command, he does it for a reason. God doesn't
just tell us to do things and there are suggestions. He doesn't
tell us to do things just because it feels good. He gives us specific
instructions of what to do with our life. And guess what? Then the choice is up to us.
What are we going to do with it? Are we going to waste it
like this guy did? Are we going to do something
with it? Are we going to go out there and tell people about Jesus
like we're supposed to? Are we going to take this life
and make sure that it's right with the Holy Scriptures that
God has already given us? Or are we going to waste it?
I mean, this man wasted it. Look at what the Bible says there.
For I feared thee, the Bible says, because thou art an austere
man. Thou takest up that thou layest
not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. In verse number
22. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge
thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere
man, taketh up that I lay not down, and reaping that I did
not sow. Wherefore? Then gavest not thou
my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required
mine own with usury? And he said unto them that stood
by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath
ten pounds. When I began to look at this,
I realized that this man wasted an opportunity to do something
great in his own life. Now, I understand we're talking
about money in this passage of Scripture. I understand that
this is earthly treasures that we're talking about. But there's
a heavenly meaning, there's a biblical principle that I believe that
God wants us to get tonight. And I don't believe that Christians
are getting this. I believe they're wasting the
life that God has given to them. They're not out there knocking
on the doors. They're not out there giving out the tract. They're
not out there inviting people to the revival. Let me ask you
this question. Is there any stack of revival
flyers on the back table? I don't know if there are or
not. But if there are, let me ask you this. Are they there
because we ran out of people to give them to? Is that what
happened? Is that probably what... Are
there tracks on the rack because we've run out of people to give
them to? Is that what's happened? Folks, I don't think that we're
serious about the life that God has given to us and we are wasting
it. You know what we're doing? We're
laying it up in a napkin. You know, I begin to think about
how much of my life I've wasted. I begin to think about all the
things that have taken the place of what God wants me to do in
my own life. That's what revival's all about.
Looking into the spiritual mirror of your own life, and seeing
the reality of where you are, not where somebody else is, not
where the preacher is, but where you are according to the scriptures. So I began to think about all
kinds of things. And I have some napkins here. And I wrote a couple
of things on them tonight. And I began to think about my
life. And I began to think about the time that I would fold up
in a napkin that I could have used for God. and I just set
it down. I think about the challenge throughout
my life that I've given so many excuses to God, oh God, I can't
do that bus route, I can't do that Sunday school, I can't do
this, I can't do that, I've got this, I've got that, I've got
responsibilities. Just folded it up, put it in
a napkin, and wasted it. The finances God gives us, you
realize the finances are a blessing from God. Without God, we'd have
nothing. The world doesn't give us the
money, God does. When I surrendered in evangelism,
one of the hardest things that I had to get over was myself
thinking, well, how am I gonna do, I don't have a salary to
take care of my family. God says, you don't need a salary,
you have me. But how many times have we taken our finances, and
we've just folded it up, not used it for God, and we wasted
it. What about our salvation? Oh
man, the greatest gift God's ever given to us, our salvation. How many people have we told
about Jesus? I haven't told enough. I wish to God we all at least
tell five people. How many of us, I don't want
us to raise our hands tonight. How many of us have even led somebody
to the Lord? Have we taken it? Taking our salvation. Oh, it's
mine. But you know, I'm not gonna tell anybody about it. I'm not
gonna share it. I'm just gonna lay it up in a
napkin. I'm gonna put it down. What about God's love? This world
is filled with hatred right now. They are filled with hatred. And I'm telling you folks, they
need to know about the wonderful love of Almighty God. I'm talking
about the scriptural love of God. I'm not talking about the
feel good. I'm talking about the scriptural
love of almighty God that we experience every single day. When was the last time we told
somebody about the love of almighty God? What about his word? Wow. You know, I, I look at the
word of God and I, I'm just in all of all, all the things I
don't know. It's not about what I do know.
It's about all the things I don't know. You know what I've done
in my life sometimes? When I could be spending more
time with the Lord, getting to know God, I've just taken his
word. Lord, not today. Lord, I'm too
tired. Fold it up, put it in a napkin,
set it to the side. I am thankful that I didn't do
one thing, and that was to take what Jesus Christ did for me
and fold it up in a napkin. But you may be here tonight and
you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you
died right now, you have no idea if you'd go to heaven. The most
tragic thing that could ever happen in a soul's life, your
never dying soul is, that would you take your soul and say no
to Jesus Christ, and you'd fold it up, you put it up in that
napkin, and you waste your soul. and you perish without Jesus
Christ for all eternity. Oh, you may be here tonight and
you say, well, Brother Mike, you know what? If I die, guess
what? I'll have somebody buy me out of hell. There is no buying
out of hell. Oh, well, somebody will pray
me out of hell. There is no praying out of hell. The minute we close
our eyes in death, folks, our address for eternity is stamped
forever. There is no going back. And so
if you were here tonight and you don't know Jesus Christ as
your Lord and Savior, if you do not accept him and you die
without Jesus Christ and we don't know when we're going to die,
we have no idea how many more breaths we're going to breathe.
We don't know how many more times our heart is going to pounce.
We don't know how many more times our lungs are going to take another
breath. But I'll tell you one thing I
can guarantee, that if this body dies right now, it's going straight
to heaven because of what Jesus Christ did for me. But let me
give you some really good news tonight. If you don't know Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior, guess what? You can know that
same peace tonight too. And you can leap, you may say,
oh brother Mike, you're smiling. Yeah, you're right, I'm smiling.
Because I know that no matter what happens down here, no matter
how hard it gets, no matter how difficult it gets, No matter
when things don't go my way, it's okay. Because I have a home
in heaven because of what Jesus Christ did for me. So guess what
I want to do? I don't want to hold it up. I
don't want to take that salvation and fold it up in a napkin. I
want to tell everybody the good news of Jesus Christ. I want
to proclaim it. I want to treat it as special
as it truly is. And Christian, you and I must
understand it is the most special thing on planet earth. It's better
than a new car. It's better than a new house.
It's better than some old movie. It is better than anything we
could ever have. And that's the salvation that
God has given to us. Oh, would to God us Christians
just get a little bit excited about our salvation. Oh, would
to God us Christians would put a smile on our face out there
knowing that it doesn't matter if things don't go the way it's
okay because my soul is set in stone. And I have a mansion in
heaven because of Jesus Christ. I've got a home in heaven because
of Jesus Christ. And one day, this old body's
gonna die. This old earthly life is gonna
pass. And then I've got eternity that
will never end. And I'll get to enjoy heaven.
No more pain. Anybody dealing with pain? No
more suffering. No more evil. No more temptations. None of that bad stuff I gotta
deal with no more when I get to heaven. But if you die without
Jesus Christ, then fear will be the new norm. Pain and suffering
will be for all eternity. And it's not because Jesus Christ
wanted you there. It's because you chose to take
your soul, fold it up in a napkin, and say no to Jesus Christ. Christian,
it's time. It is time that we get a revival
of a sense of urgency, yes, to live according to the scriptures,
but also to tell people about Jesus Christ. Stop leaving the
tracks on the track rack. I mean, wouldn't it be great,
Pastor, if the church, if you kept seeing them and you're like,
man, I can't get them in fast enough because people are out
there giving all the tracks out. They're trying to reach people
with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we can't keep enough in here.
We've got to find more people to produce the track. Wouldn't
that be wonderful? Wouldn't it be wonderful for
us to have a time when we're just rejoicing because of the
souls that we've been able to lead to him. It's all going to
take us not putting our life in a napkin, not wasting it,
but seeing the value, seeing how precious it really is. Father, I thank you tonight for
the precious value of our life. Lord, I know that you have a
specific plan for all of us. And God, we've wasted it on so
many different occasions. Lord, we've taken it, we've folded
it up in a napkin. God, forgive us Christians for
doing that. Lord, our finances, our time, our talents, your holy
word. Oh God, I just say, Lord, forgive
me for doing that tonight. So Father, I pray that you'll
help us to get right with you. With every head bowed and every
eye closed, I wanna ask you a question tonight. I'm not here to embarrass
anybody here whatsoever. But maybe you're here tonight
and the Holy Spirit is pricking your heart and you're just like,
you know what? If I died right now, I don't even know if I'd
go to heaven. And maybe that's you tonight. Nobody's looking
around. I'm the only one that's going to see it between me, you,
and God. I'm not gonna come get you. I just wanna pray for you.
So maybe that's you tonight. You're here, you say, brother
Mike, I'm not even sure that if I died right now, I would
go to heaven. I want you to pray for me. If that's you tonight
with the quietness of every head bowed and every eye closed, would
you just slip up your hand real quick and put it up and then
put it back down? You say, brother Mike, I'm not even sure that
if I died right now, I would go to heaven. Anybody, anywhere.
Christian, let me ask you this question. How many of you would
be honest before God like I have tonight and say, you know what?
I've wasted a lot. And that's you tonight. Would
you raise your hand as a testimony before God? We wasted a lot of
time. There's souls in hell because
I've wasted time. I understand that. I've come
to grips with that. You can put your hands down.
I've come to grips with the fact that it's time for me to stop
wasting all of what God's given to me. So tonight the invitation
is this, it's time for commitment time. That's what revival is
all about. Committing to God, Lord, I'm done wasting. I'm ready to use my life for
you. Father, thank you for speaking
to our hearts. Lord, help us to respond to you.
In Jesus name, amen. Amen. If you would stand with
your heads bowed and eyes closed as the pianist begins to play. God spoke in your heart, will
you come? Someone has rightly said that
we should not fear failure. We should fear succeeding in
that which does not matter. There's a lot of success in this
world that's wood, hay, and stubble in heaven. So often we fall in love with
what we think is important in this life. But are we living
this life for what is important in the life to come? If we hear, well done thou good
and faithful servant, when we stand before our savior, it won't
be because it happened by accident. If you're here tonight and you
don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior, we'd love to show you
from the Word of God how you can know that heaven's your home. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed,
Christians have come. Why don't you step out? Why don't you come up here and
take me by the hand. Allow someone to take you to a private room
and show you how you can know Jesus. Don't gamble with your
soul. Let's take our hymnals, turn
to 480 to close this evening. It's a tremendous hymn that's
being played. Let's allow this to be a prayer
from our heart to God as we meditate and think about what has been
preached this evening. Only one life to offer. Let's
sing together. Only one life to offer, Jesus
my Lord and King. Only one tongue to praise Thee,
and of Thy mercy sing. ♪ Only one heart's devotion ♪ ♪
Saviour, O may it be ♪ ♪ Consecrated alone to thy matchless glory
♪ ♪ Yielded fully to thee ♪
Are You Folding Up God's Gifts in a Napkin?
Series Revival
| Sermon ID | 10423245307644 |
| Duration | 42:44 |
| Date | |
| Category | Teaching |
| Bible Text | Luke 19:11-24 |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.