That's right. That's right. He said God did answer that prayer. Yes, he did. He made a prayer on all of us. As far as I know, nobody's barefoot in the cotton field picking cotton anymore. Folks has got a running refrigerator in the home. Right. Got an ice box and got running water. Yes. Flip a switch and the fire comes on. Yeah. Nobody had to yoke up the mule and the wagon this morning to get to church. Right. Had to get in a nice car and turn the heater on. Had to crank mine early this morning to get the window defrosted. When you're married and you got a car for it, the wife gets the car for it. Amen. So I don't get the car for it. And so I had to defrost the window this morning. I guess I can grumble about that, but it's a lot better walking. Yes. God has been good to us. Amen. We hadn't treated him so well back. But I thank God for his goodness in my life. Yes. And the things are as well as they are with me. Yes. And I tell you, the power can go off at our house, and it's like everybody loses their mind. And we're so good. We're so habitual in our ways. I'm as guilty as anybody. The power can go off, and I'll still go through the house flipping switches wondering why the lights don't come on. We do that out of habit. That's right. We're so used to all these things God has blessed us with and I've come to a conclusion and I just throw me in the bunch with everybody else and I think we've done without some of these things. It's so convenient. Yeah. Right. And folks used to need God, didn't they? Yeah. Communities used to reach out for God. They'd pray for God to help them. Amen. They'd pray for rain. They'd pray for good weather. And they had to depend on each other, too. Folks loved one another, they had to depend on one another to get by. Well, we've come a long way in the wrong way, son of a lady. And thank God for His goodness in our life. And we've got this nice building to be in tonight. And to sit here in this comfortable building. It's cool outside, but it feels pretty good in here. Thank Him for that tonight. One of these days, He's gonna pull us out of this old world. It's looking real bad for them on the outside. It sure is. It's looking a lot better for us on the inside. It all depends on which way you're looking. Amen. If you're looking upward, it's looking better on the outside. Amen. So I'm glad to know I'm numbered among the living. All right, I want to bring something just to encourage you tonight out of the book of Luke, chapter number 22. I'm going to be real brief. I'm going to try to force myself to be real brief on this tonight. We've got a meeting all week next week, and I don't want to wear you out. There's going to be six meetings in a row at night that we're asking people to attend, so I'm not going to keep you very long. Just a thought by way of encouragement tonight. This has been a help to me in my life many times. And I want tonight to pray that the Lord will take this, use it, and strengthen you and help you with it tonight. Encourage you as we go on through the week, maybe we can take this and build off of it and understand, as the children of God, there's a lot of valleys. There's a lot of heartaches. Brother Wesson talking about sleepless nights in the midnight hour. heartbroken, concerned about people praying over your family. Today I prayed over my youngins, I prayed over family members. I've got an uncle tonight that's living as ungodly as you live. Prayed for him many times. Sometimes I, you know, I've wondered about whether he's even capable of coming around. Kimberly came to me one time about a family member. She said, I can't even pray for him anymore. Said, don't have a burden for him anymore. That's a scary thing. Amen. It's a scary thing. Yes, it is. We can't even get a burden for somebody. Right. I believe as I preach this morning about that church sign. said that you can never be too lost for God to save you. That sounds good and religious, but it's completely, vividly wrong. You can get too lost for God to save you. You can go too far. God can do anything you want to, but he's not going to bend the rules of what's already been done. He's not going to compromise the word of God, and he's never saved any sinner at the expense of his character. He's not done that. I've got family living in sin. I pray for them. My heart breaks for them. I've been there. A lot of them ups and downs in the Christian life. A lot more good things than there are bad things. I can say that. I'm rejoicing because I'm saved tonight by my brother Wesley. The Lord didn't have to do anything for me for him to be God. He's God whether he does anything or not. Amen. He's God. The Bible said if we could get to a time, and we're in that time, Bible said days coming when they, talking about church people, religious people, will not endure sound doctrine. I believe that time's here. I've said in the last days perilous times will come, and I believe those times are here. It's when those times, in those days, people's grown cold and indifferent toward God. Jesus said in those times, Matthew 24, because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax strong. I believe we're in those days. Amen. He also said that folks would worship and love and adore the creation rather than the creator. Yes. We're there as well. Amen. Now Miss Vanessa get tickled with me about this and I've got my own varmints and animals I feed at the house and she treats hers a whole lot better than I treat mine. Amen. This is no throw toward you, Vanessa or anybody else. I'm not trying to do that. Amen. But people today, they'll, they'll, they'll, uh, carry you and prosecute you over mistreatment of your dog. Amen. That's right. Amen. But you can murder untold millions of unborn babies in this country. That's right. And it's illegal. Amen. If you say anything about it, you're not inclusive. You're right, brother. And you're crazy. And you're off your rocker. Amen. Amen. People worship the creation rather than the Creator. Yeah. People have lost their mind. They've lost their natural affection. Yes. That's what happens in the last day. Amen. They've lost their natural affection. Whenever in your time, Gil told me one time, he said, I've never seen a time like this. I said, honey, there's never been a time like this. In the church age, there's never been a time like this. And you've never seen a time like this because there hasn't been one. They shall lose their natural affection. Whenever have you seen a time in your life when a female can have a child in a back alley somewhere on Skid Row, Throw it over in a BFI garbage can and walk off as though nothing ever happened. God help. Throw them in scalding water and watch them. God help. Watch them drown in scalding water. Read that in the paper one time. When else have you ever heard a 10-year-old child putting a gun to their head and taking their own life? God help. We're in perilous days. Yes. Dangerous days. Dark days. Godless days. Yes. Well, their conscience is seared with a hot iron. Amen. You got a number now. You don't have a name much, but you do have a number. Yeah. And I'm not one on conspiracy theories. And America is just as involved as any other country is. But this one world government, they're headed for that. Amen. It sure is a world. Amen. They're doing everything they can to get it done. That's right. We've already had presidents. I'm talking about recently. solidify that. We had one president, recent president, some of his representatives all over the country, had to see how other countries receive and accept same-sex marriage in their country so that we can adopt those policies here. You're right. When a nation's leader condones same-sex marriage and sodomy and homosexuality, we're in trouble. Amen. Somebody said we're at a crossroad. We done blew past the crossroad. We're in trouble. That's the world we live in tonight. And as bad as you think the devil can be, he can be worse. As ugly as you think sin can be, it can get worse. It'll carry you further than you ever thought it's going to. Whenever has there ever been a time in your life When you'd ever dreamed that you'd see people that you've known in your life drink as far away from God as they have. When once in your life you stood and called that an old sainted person of God, woman or man of God, they used to be close to God, used to testify, used to shout the glory of God, keep the meat and stir it up, stand on their knees, sought the Lord for their family. Now they have been hoodwinked by prosperity, and by intelligence, and by the academics of this day, and they've drifted away. I know people that used to even be deacons, and ordained, and old-time missionaries, shout-backed churches, now gone on up the road to that liberal garbage. and hanging around with them circus clowns and comedians. Amen. Where they're having carnival out in the churchyard. Come on. And they done run the man of God off. Yes. And they've heaped to themselves teachers. Yes. Having each and ears, whatever you see today, like we see today. Amen. Amen. I know people like that and you do too. Yeah. That's right. I know people was born and raised right here with me. Yeah. In this church. Come on. Raised on these pews. Mamas and Daddies, like I had, sat under the sound preaching the gospel. I heard the same man of God that I listened to all my childhood preach to them out of a King James Bible and tell them what's right and preach against what's wrong and run up down these aisles shouting the praises of God. Old Saint and women had come to church with a shout in their heart and a new song of praise in their mouth. Hey man, raised in the old time way of worship. And they get grown, get married, and have kids right off down the road with some garbage that don't even use the right kind of Bible. They got some gimmicks for their kids. I'm telling you, we're living in the last days. Amen. God bless you. I know you are too. God help us. Yes. I'll see them in Walmart, and they'll want to brag about Going to church down there. Oh, we go to church down yonder now. Yeah, we went down there because, hey, you know, our kids, I even had one tell me one time, said, well, our son's a little bit socially awkward. We wanted to get him somewhere where he could fit in real good. My prayer, all my children's lives as they were growing up as children, I didn't want them to fit in nowhere. That's what's wrong with church people today. They're trying to fit in. They're trying to get in a place of comfort. And they really don't want their kids to get lost. They want them to go to heaven, but they don't want them to get lost. Amen. That's why they're carrying them somewhere where they'll get comfortable and fit in and have social activity. So they can fit in with the crowd and the going thing and what's popular in these days. Bless God for a mom and daddy. had to carry their babies down where the man of God is and put them up under the preacher. Amen. And say, that's the preacher. Yes. That's the preacher. Yes. That's the man of God. And they need to hear mama and daddy say amen every once in a while. Yeah. And send the preacher along. Yes. And get in the meeting every once in a while so they'll know this is real and it ain't phony business. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. God bless your heart. Amen. Brother Donald, when I kids was growing up, I'd start getting a little bit cold and sour toward God. I'd look over and see them three little babies and that's enough motivation for me, amen, to get my heart right with God. Amen, move on up a little closer to where the preacher man was and put my boys up there and say, now boys, that's the man of God. That's the preacher of the word of God. You sit still and you listen. And one day that preacher will get from down below your collarbone and get your heart and make a believer out of you. I've heard every single one of them tell me they've been born again. Praise the Lord. I bless him for it. I could have carried them down the road where all their buddies was. Amen. But I'd rather carry them where the fire of the Holy Ghost is and get them uncomfortable so they can get lost and seek a savior while there's still hoping time. Amen. Praise the Lord. I'm starting to feel like preaching now. Praise the Lord. Thank God. I'm glad for this old-time way. Aren't you glad of it? I'm glad he takes old ants and makes ants out of them. Hallelujah. Amen. He said he bringeth not the things that are, but the things that are not. I'm glad He takes them hard knots and makes something out of them. Hallelujah. Amen. Praise the Lord. He's the foolish thing to the world who can found the wise. Amen. By the foolishness of Christian, He'll save them. that'll believe. Amen. He said that he came to his own. His own received him not. And you know who he'll save? As many as will even call upon his name. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's where I want to come. That's the kind of preaching I want to hear. Amen. That's the kind of church that I love. It'll get where the gospel is. It'll get where the spirit is and the will of God is. We might not be popular. We may not have the newest building in town, but if God shows up over here, you can't find a better place to go in all the world. I'd rather be here than to be a kid of a vice domain. Amen. I'm in better shape than the president is. Amen. I believe that, brother. I really do. They talk about his bodyguards in the Secret Service. Hey, man, you won't talk about a bodyguard. Yeah! Amen. Praise the Lord. You talk about secret service. Amen. I believe there's angels in Christ all around this place. Amen. Angels unaware. Angels unseen. We might not see them with the naked eye, but God's got this thing well in hand. He knows exactly where we're at over here in Agraville on First Street. He knows what's going on. Hallelujah. And I felt Him this morning, so I know as of this morning, the Holy Ghost still knows where we're at over here. Amen. God hasn't run out on us. Thank God He's still on the throne, still in the saving business. Hallelujah. And I'm well on my way to a better country, not because of what I've done, but because He saves old sinners. Amen. That's what I want. I'm glad he didn't just save it for the academics and the rich folks and all the folks uptown that's got everything. I'm glad he picked some of them old rotten scoundrels on the side of the road. Hey man, the world unrolled them off. They didn't have popularity. Nobody was talking about them in the newspaper. And when the Lord got here, he went down there by the and found them old fisher boys and said, follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men. Amen. Hallelujah. Thank God he takes them old foolish things to confound the wise. Yes, he does. Hallelujah. He'll save a rich man, but he'll have to get poor in order to get it. Amen. Praise the Lord. Abraham was rich. Amen. He had a lot of possessions. He had a lot of servants. He had a lot of things going his way. Amen. But God didn't favor him because of what he had. Amen. You know why he favored Noah? Because he found grace in Isaac. Amen. The Bible said Abraham's faith was counted to righteousness for him. And what caused his riches caused that faith in God. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. A rich man can be a big blessing around here. Yeah. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Amen. Praise the Lord, this will do the mayor of Arkville, Alabama, some good. Amen. That's right. All the city councilmen, go over there and tell them if you ever seen them, tell them, hey, somebody over here to tell them, hey, it's good news from a far country. Amen. And the best thing that ever happened to Arkville, Alabama, it's not the sports complex, but it's a man named Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. And I'd take an old-time Baptist church over at the theater any day. I would too, brother. That's right. Amen. Praise the Lord. And I'm not standing around and buying tickets either. God bless your heart. God bless your heart. I tell you, I'm not trying to sell the city over a sports complex, but I'll tell you, there's a name that is above every name. Yeah. Amen. And at that name, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. Amen. Praise the Lord. I'm just an old country boy too, brother Jerry. I'm raised in a two bedroom house. We raised an old stick barn out there. Just a family ordeal. We got together and raised an old stick barn. It's still standing today. I was raised out there on that little spot of land. We was raised on the creek bed. Raised out in the pasture where they still square bale hay. Had to get out there and go to work in the summer. I wasn't raised in front of a television. I didn't lay around with a Nintendo in my lap. I had to work like everybody else's kids had to work. But bless God, when the sun went down and we got in the living room, there was love, there was compassion. And over on the coffee table was a King James Bible with a mom and daddy that believed every word of it. Amen! Praise the Lord. Oh, it's not what you see. That makes me a sinner. Amen. Thank you, Lord. Amen. We don't own that place anymore. No. God bless you. About three or four times a year, about all I can stand, I'll drive out that way. Now, the reason I can't stand it so much is because I go to whooping myself for letting it get gone. Bless you, brother. Should have held on to it. Bless him, brother. And it breaks my heart to know that it did. I've shared this with Brother Wesley, one of the biggest mistakes I've made in my life. But we make them. Yeah. We make big boo-boos. We always do. But I'll drive by out there once in a while. And I'll see that in my memory out there, dealing with them old cows. Maybe under the hood of an old Ford truck he was always peddling with an old engine or something. He had enough money to buy a new car, but he wouldn't do it. It used to make me mad as a devil. Amen. He'd always be patching up, putting band-aids on some old beat-up Ford truck. Amen. And he'd drive us to school, and some old truck didn't even have a muffler on it. If it did, it had a hole in it. Amen. It'd be embarrassing. We'd ride up there, and all them other kids in the new cars. And here we are in that old beat-up Ford truck. Oh, what'd I do to have another truck? Lord, trouble me one more time. Amen. God, let them precious memories come flood through my soul. I'll go back again and see where God has brought me through and got me to where I am today. I say we ought to take time out of our life every day and just praise the Lord for His goodness in our life and let him know how much we love him. Amen. Thank God. Yeah. Praise the Lord. I wouldn't bring him back. I wouldn't do that. No, wouldn't either. Amen. Wouldn't bring mine back. Praise the Lord. But I can go back in my mind. Yeah. And I can see it. And I'm on the back side now. I know I've just started the back side. I'm getting to start to understand what Brother Raymond meant. Amen. When he would say, I'm glad I'm leaving out of this. Yeah. Praise the Lord. And as every day goes by, I'm losing more and more attachments to this world. Amen. Ain't a whole lot keeping me here anymore outside of my wife and children and you folks down here in Antioch Church. Ain't a whole lot else tying me down. Amen. About right now, the way I'm feeling, if he calls, I say even so. Yeah. Amen. Praise the Lord. Now, when I come down on Monday morning, I might not be so anxious about that but right now, I say, even so come. Yeah. Jesus. Amen. Come quickly. Yeah. John said, he done got on the That's why he finished the book up that way. In the Revelation, man, he said he's coming soon. He's coming quick. And John said, if that's the case, just come on. He got on the back end of life. He is seeing the lights of home. Hallelujah! Thank God I've been close enough to see the lights. I don't know everything about heaven, but I know it's better there than it is here. and I know beyond all shadow and doubt that my ticket has been punched, my name has been recorded. When He calls, I will answer. Amen. Whether I be gone or whether I be alive and remain, I'm going to meet Him in there. Not meeting Him here, but meeting Him there. Praise the Lord. I don't want to be here. There's going to be a lot of fervent heat down here. Amen. I'm going to be above the heat. Praise the Lord. I was going to read to you something out of the 22nd book of Luke, but I'm just going to summarize it because we need to have a conference. I don't read a whole lot, and y'all know that I don't. Every once in a while, I try to stop and read the text. I try to do that. But the Bible says, And every time I read after a preacher in the Bible, I never see when they start off messing with the text and the title. They never did that. I'm not against that. I'm not against expository preaching. There's some preachers that preach that way, and I really like the way they preach. I understand that. I like that, and every once in a while it's good to have somebody slow down so I can understand it. I kind of like that. I'm okay with that. But I'm talking about this old cornbread preaching. Amen. Just that old time preaching. I believe this. When my boys come to me, I remember when Patrick come to me in the parking lot of the Hall of Growth Baptist Church, He said, Daddy, I think the Lord's called me to preach. I said, well, son, just keep thinking about it, and we'll talk about it later. Amen. And he said, well, how did you feel when the Lord called you? I said, I can't explain that to you, son. I said, but I said, take my advice, try to forget about it, and we'll talk about it later. And I'll have people say, why in the world would you say that? I'm gonna tell you something about preaching. If God puts preaching in a man, preaching will come out of the man. And you won't have to give an appointment to do it. He will have it in him. Amen. Praise the Lord. I do write notes. I have a little notebook and I write down things. I try to keep my thoughts in order and together. And you can tell the way my preaching style, I cannot follow notes. Man asked me if I used outlines one time. I said, I have too much trouble staying in line, much less using outline. I can't even stay in line. Amen. I do right damn things. I spent all Sunday school this morning listening to Sunday school on the monitor back there. Brother Greg, I was listening to you, and I could even see you. We've got to fix where I can see you now, but I was writing down things back there. And there's nothing wrong, but I said, study to show yourself approved under God. Amen. Amen. As some of them old-timey Black County preachers, they wouldn't even use a man that carries notes into the pulpit. And I thought that was foolishness when I heard that. Now, if a man's up there just reading a script, that's not preaching to God, and you ought to have better sense than to put a man like that in the pulpit. I agree with that. That's right. But I ain't got much respect for a man who won't study his books. Amen. So I don't read much and that's fine. And I told a man I can't read very well anyway. He said it's probably better if I don't read. So let me summarize week 22 for you real quick. I know this is going to be a help to some of you. This was a very crucial moment in the history of all mankind. Luke 22, it's recorded in a couple other places in the Gospels. In Luke 22, I mentioned it briefly this morning, they came and they arrested Jesus. And you remember, if you recall this morning, I mentioned that Peter followed afar off. Well, a quick summary of the rest of the remainder of chapter 22 in the book of Luke goes into a little bit of an insight on what was going on in the life of Peter during the arrest of Jesus. And now they had took him off. And unbeknownst to Peter now, he didn't know what all they were doing to the Lord. He just knew that he had just been arrested. Peter had just drawn his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant. And he seen Jesus take that same ear and put it back on that man and done that without threading needle or without even leaving the scar. And Jesus put that ear back on that man, and I believe that was all done to let Peter know, now Peter, you need to keep that attitude in check. Yeah. Amen. Yeah. Because I don't believe for a moment Peter was aiming for his ear. No, amen. But that's what he wound up getting. Right. Yeah. He was aiming for his throat. Yeah. I believe he was aiming to take that man's head off. I do too, brother. But he wound up cutting his ear off. There's another message in that, I won't get to that. But the Lord put that on, and I believe the Lord was trying to show Peter something. Now, Peter, what you were trying to destroy, I'm trying to fix. Yeah. Now, if it were left up to me and you, we'd have this world in a big old mess. Yes, sir. Yeah. If it was left up to me to try to fix it, Brother Wesley, we'd be in a mess. Yes, sir. I'd be swinging a sword right now and don't act like you wouldn't either. That's right. Amen. It don't take much to get me fired up. I'm just no country boy like the rest of you are. And if you hit the right buttons, I'll probably get sideways with some of you. Amen. That's exactly right. I'm not as close to the Lord as Brother Rowan was. He's a carpenter. He'd hit his thumb. He'd miss a nail, he'd hit his thumb, he'd start praising the Lord. You know, other carpenters say, how in the world do you do that? He'd say, I'm just thanking God that I didn't hit all four, the other four. Most of us be ready to cuss. That's right. And it would be more like, forgive me, Lord, for what I said, especially for what I thought. We don't get into that much, but we need a good examination to get in here. I believe that's what the Lord was trying to get across to Peter, because something was about to happen to Peter that was going to be real devastating for him. And Peter, I believe, was as close to the Lord as any or all the disciples. He was the spokesman for the crowd. Every time Jesus asked a question, Peter would always answer. He would speak up. You remember in John chapter 6 when he looked to the twelve, After all, them other disciples went away and walked no more with him. He had just fed the thousands with a few loaves and a few fishes. All that crowd followed him, but when Jesus started preaching, they all bucked the ship and left. And he looked up to everybody and said, are y'all gonna lead too? And you know who spoke up? It was Peter. Peter said, Lord, by whom shall we go? Now that's the words of eternal life. And we believe. He wasn't speaking for just himself. He was speaking for the whole crew. We believe that our sure doubt to Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter was already persuaded. Amen. Praise the Lord. Peter got to see transfigured. Oh Lord, it's good for us to be here. Amen. And it was good for them to be there. Yes, it was. Amen. There's a whole other message in that. I'm going to get off on it. Had a lot of wonderful things happen to him. But he was about to go through something he wasn't prepared to go through. Right. But the Lord wasn't unaware of it. No. Amen. No. And the Bible said Peter followed a far-off. They arrested Jesus. They carried him down the whole trial. And the Bible said he went and warmed himself by the fire. Amen. There's a message in that too. Yeah. I won't get off on that. but he warmed himself by fire. I believe it was the wrong fire. I believe it was a fire of comfort. I believe it was a fire of ease. I believe it was an easy fire. That's the way we are. A lot of times when the heat gets on in our lives and trouble really gets on, we'll follow the path of least resistance. And we'll wind up warming ourselves by the wrong fire. We'll try to find comfort in things. That's gonna wind up getting us in more trouble. Amen. But I will give Peter credit for one thing, and I didn't hardly get to it this morning. The other 11 disciples scattered. I know Peter followed them far off, but at least he followed. Amen. That's right. He was earned. Amen. Truth be told, I'd probably be one of the other 11. I'd be running. And that truth be told, that's probably what you'd do too. Amen. We criticized Peter for following far off, but at least he was following. He was close enough to at least see what was going on. Right. I'm not going to criticize Peter because I don't know what I'd have done. I'd probably done far worse. Sure. But Peter followed far off, but he got him in trouble, you see. He got down there by the wrong fire. And here's where the heat got on. There was a woman accused him of this speech betraying him. In other words, she's saying, Peter, this man sounds like one of them. Yeah. Your speech betrays you. That's another message, too. That he was accused of being a follower of Christ. And as Jesus had already prophesied over the life of Peter, He said, you're going to deny me, Peter, because Peter said, Lord, I'll follow you all the way to death. I'll go that far. But you see, Peter didn't realize just how weak he could be when you get distance between you and God. You might not think tonight you can ever go that far, but I'm telling you, if you start giving a little bit tonight, it won't take very long for you to get in a state where you can mess up real bad. Let's look at the time frame. Let's look at the timeline of his life. He went from the garden I'm fighting for Jesus and cutting a man's ear off with a sword aiming for his head. I'm talking about in just the span of hours denying the Lord three times. That's how quickly it can happen. So by way of encouragement tonight, I want to tell you something. This seems like a doom and gloom story when you read this story about Peter in the Bible. Because it goes on and it continues to get progressively worse for Peter. Because after he denied him three times, the cock crowed, as Jesus said before the cock crowed, you're going to deny me three times. And he heard the old rooster rire back that head and begin to crow. And I believe immediately, according to the scripture, it says, so immediately Peter knew in his heart what he had done. He remembered the word to the Lord. And the Bible records that Jesus then looked at him, and Peter returned to look. Words were not exchanged. There was no conversation, only a look from the Lord. I'm telling you, friend, tonight the Lord is aware of every move we make. Amen. That is right. Amen. And Peter wept bitterly, the Bible said. And he went and repented himself. I believe he felt sorry for himself at first. And there's evidence of that because he went back to the disciples and he said, I go fishing. In other words, it's symbolic of him going back to the same life that God had taught him from. In other words, I'm throwing in the towel, boys. They took him off. He said he was the savior of the world. Now he's gone. So I'm just gonna go back to doing what I always did. And he wound up carrying some disciples off with him. You see, our influence can be very powerful sometimes. If one preacher quits and goes to the house, can you imagine how many lives that affects? How many hearts that breaks? How many churches that might destroy? Because somebody quits and goes to the house. So Peter went back to the boat and he carried those disciples with him. But you see, I want to say this tonight by way of encouragement. I want you to hear me real good. I'm going to make a statement. It's not a new statement. It's not a profound statement. But it's something I want you to hear tonight, everybody in this building. Listen to me closely. Failure is not final. Amen. Did you hear what I said? Because if it was, we'd all be doomed. Amen. That's right. Jonah made a big boo-boo. Yes, he did. He paid the fare to get on the wrong boat heading the wrong direction. Right. He fell asleep as we preached on this morning about falling asleep on God. He fell asleep in a ship heading in the wrong direction. Right. Not only was he heading the wrong way, he got comfortable about it. Uh-huh. He fell asleep in that boat and they had to wake him up. And they told him, you better seek your God, because there's a storm on the water. And our life is in jeopardy. And he said, well, it's all because of me. He said, I fear the God of heaven. Amen. Amen. They started asking him all kinds of questions. What's your occupation? Where are you from? You know what? Jonah didn't even answer them questions. No, he didn't. You know what he said? He said, I fear the God of heaven. Yeah. And it's because of me this tempest is upon you. He said it won't cease until you throw me out of the boat. There's a payday coming someday. Now just because we get forgiveness don't mean the consequences just automatically go away. Because when David sinned, his great sin, the sword never departed from his house. But let me tell you something. I want you to know something. When we do mess up, when we do get as bad off as Peter got, it don't mean God kicks you out. Amen. Cause if God kicked you out, Jonah wouldn't have had a second chance to go preach the new one. Cause the Bible said in chapter number three, and the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time. Amen. Well, praise the Lord. Ain't you glad he's a God of a second chance? I'm glad failure's not final. I'm glad he don't kick us out when we make a big blunder. And when we mess up. I'll tell you, I've been making a mess of my life ever since he saved me and I don't see how he still puts up with me. I don't see how he tolerates me even when it's 30 days. He ought to kick me out a long time ago. Broke my neck and kicked me right off into hell. And that's exactly what I deserve. but He keeps on loving me. Somebody says, are you perfect? I say, no, I've made a horrible mess of my life. I've made many mistakes, but I've got a good lawyer who keeps getting me off every time. Amen! We're told not to sin, but if we do sin, We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sin, and not for ours only, but for the sin of the whole world. I'm feeling about like running up and down this center aisle right now. I'm glad he's a God of a second chance. Amen. Amen. Yeah. Amen. Don't come getting in my ear telling me what so-and-so did and how bad it was. I don't want to hear it. Amen. Tell the Lord about it. Yeah. Talk to the Lord about it. And if we love people like we ought to, we'll quit throwing them to the dogs and walking all over them like a doormat. And we'll carry it to Jesus. And we'll bring it to the Lord. And we'll bear one another's burdens. If we see our brother overtaken in a fall, we ought to come together, gather around them, pray for them, and encourage them, and hold them up to God. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. Hey man, Lord said go there and tell the disciples and Peter that I'm back. Yeah. Everything's okay. Wonder why he said and Peter. I'm going to tell you why he said and Peter. Because Peter was about ready to end it. Yeah. Peter had come to the end of the road. He had nowhere else to go. His life was a mess, he made a big mistake, made a big mess of his life. But the Lord said, go tell all them boys, make sure you tell people. I'm glad he loves sinners. I'm glad he sat in the house with sinners. I'm glad he went up in that old sycamore tree at Zacchaeus and said, come down out there, Zacchaeus. I'm going to sit in the living room with you today. I'm going to sit at your table today. Amen. Failure is not final with God. I've got scars in my life that I'll carry to the grave because of my own willful rebellion against God. The Bible said if we sin willfully after the knowledge of the truth, We have nothing else. I'm summarizing that. And what Hebrews is saying there is Christ is not going to be crucified in France until he's seen. That's not how this is going to work. So all we've got to look forward to after that is the judgment of God on our lives. And there's a lot of preachers preaching a different way, but the judgment seat of Christ is right now. I'm not waiting for Him to sit on that seat. He's on that seat right now. And that is for service. That is a judgment of service for the people of God. I believe in the great white throne judgment just like the pre-millennials do. I'm not against that, but I'm telling you the judgment seat of Christ in the life of a Christian is right now. I'm not going to sin and get by with it. I know. That is right. The Lord's gonna do work on me. Amen. That's right. So we've got nothing else to look forward to after that. Yeah. Put the fiery indignation and judgment of God on our life. Yeah. So I've got scars to prove that I've made mistakes. Some of them I hope you never find out about. Don't look at me strange. Come on. Because you've got the same. Amen. You've got the same. You're right, Brother Justin. We're all cut off the same old hunk of clay. The Lord came to save sinners. It's not the amount of sin that makes people candidates for hell, it's the fact that they're sinners that makes them candidates for hell. Somebody said, how much sin do you have to commit to go to hell? It ain't got anything to do with the action of sin. It's the attitude of sin. The law of sin, Paul said, is in my members. So whether I commit the act of it or not makes no difference. The law of it is in me. I'm cursed by the law of sin. Amen. And it did not revive until the law said, thou shalt not covet. Then the law said, then sin revived and I died. In other words, I don't have an excuse. God's proved me a sinner by the law. It proved me guilty. And if you don't get a good lawyer to get you off, you're in trouble. That's all I can say to you. Amen. I'm glad I got a good lawyer. You better get you a good lawyer. He'll stand on your behalf and plead your case. Amen. Job was a perfect and upright man. Amen. But as good a man as he was, it didn't exempt him from trouble. Amen. Amen. But he found an advocate in the Lord. Yes, he did. And I've got an advocate in Jesus Christ tonight. Yes, I do too, brother. It is not final. Amen. Just because you stumble, don't mean God kicks you out. That's right. Amen. He's a God of a new start and a new beginning. Yes. Amen. He'll give you a life worth living tonight. I love you. God has burdened me to preach this tonight. I was going to talk to you, but he put a little preaching in me about it to you. And I'm thankful that he did, and I'm not taking one word of it back. I love you tonight, and if you'll take this, and you apply it tonight, God will help you. He'll revive you. Yes, He will. He'll lift your head up. He'll pick your steps up. Amen. Amen. Now, He said we're victims of the last days. He told them, He said, you're going to see some bad things. Yeah. When all these times come to pass, it's going to get bad. Yeah. It's going to get real bad, Jesus said in Matthew 24. He said, but when you see it, Lift up your head. Lift up your eyes for your redemption. He didn't say hang your head. He didn't say sing the blues. He said just look up and march on. Press on weary pilgrim. The journey's about through. We're just about done brother Jerry. And we'll wave, they'll wave the finish flag one day and we'll cross the line and God will have his reward with him. Amen. Amen. I'm glad I'm not on the winning team. I'm on the team that's already won. Past tense. Praise the Lord. I don't even believe it's present tense. I believe it's past tense. We've already won. Praise the Lord. Stand ye feet. If I don't stop now, I'll preach to the midnight hour. Stand ye feet. I appreciate you for tolerating me as your pastor. Thank you for praying for me. Amen. Brother Wes, I won't know if I gave y'all a double portion this morning because I didn't get preached last Sunday. I said, I don't know about that, but I probably preached enough to get fired. Amen. And y'all might fire me, I don't know, they might run me off. It'd be hard to fire somebody you didn't hire. Bless you, Lord. But I'm gonna treat y'all about like I do Sister Kim. If she took off down the road, I'm gonna be following her, amen. She might run off and leave me, but she ain't going to get too far down the road, because I'm going to be right on her trail. Amen. I'll be following her. Y'all may quit me, but I'm not going to quit you. Amen. Praise the Lord. Y'all may not need me, but I sure do need you. Praise the Lord. I need the church. Thank God for you tonight. We need to have conference. Let's sing a couple of verses of a song. If you need to pray, we'd love to pray with you. Go ahead. What's your program?