and all God's people said amen and amen nothing but the blood amen nothing but the blood the scripture says in revelation 12 11 that they overcame him the dragon by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and that they love not their life even unto the death That's how the blood is applied, amen? That when your testimony matches your life of living in a way that you are not afraid to speak up, live out, and stand on the blood of Jesus, amen? To God be the glory, to Him be the glory. I was thinking as you was leading this, and I was thinking about Hebrews, and I'm gonna read this passage to you. This passage says in Hebrews 1, God who at sundry times and in diverse manner spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us whom he has appointed heir of all things by whom he also made the worlds. I don't know if you ever thought about the fact that Jesus has inherited all things from his Father. In John 17, in verse number one and two, he says, Father, glorify me that I may glorify you. And then he says, you have given me all authority over all flesh that I may give eternal life to as many as you have given me. That authority that has been given unto Jesus, that in everything good, everything holy, everything right, everything precious from God's point of view, He has given it as an inheritance unto His Son. Why? Because His Son was obedient even unto death. And God has given him a name which is above every name, amen. That every knee will what? Bow. And every tongue will confess that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, amen. Why? Because every good and gracious thing, he's inherited it. Why? Because everything that was ugly and nasty and unholy and impure and completely and entirely sinful was placed upon him at the cross of Calvary. And because he took our ugliness, I don't know about you, but I'm ugly without Jesus. He took our ugliness. He took our missing the mark. He took our sin. He took our enmity, took our rebellion. He took all that to the cross and God nailed it there, amen. And because he was righteous, because he never missed the mark. because he never failed in taking his father at every step of his life, every thought of his life, every temptation in his life. He always said yes to his father. And he lived a life that qualified him to die the death that he died. And the death that he died qualifies ungodly sinners like myself. to receive the life that he lived because of the precious blood, amen. Because of the precious blood of the lamb that God declares us not guilty, innocent. We become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus as 2 Corinthians 5 says that because we have been made new creatures in Christ and been given a new message in life that we plead with men because God was in Christ pleading with men when God was reconciling the world unto himself in Christ. The reconciliation's been done. Now the blood just needs to be applied. And how is it applied? When we place our full trust and confidence in His life, His righteousness, His gift, His faith. Jesus believed this, Father, amen? You know, the Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews, chapter number two, that Jesus, by the grace of God, by the grace of God, Jesus lived by the grace of God. In fulfilling the law, he was the answer to what the law's been telling us, what the word's been telling us. For thousands of years, the Messiah was coming. He fulfilled what the word said, but he lived by grace. He lived by faith. Because he said a man shouldn't live on bread alone, but what? Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Father, amen. What does that mean? That means that whatever God says about a thing is more important than the thing. What God says about a thing is more important than the thing. You remember where that comes from, right? That comes out of the times when the children of Israel was walking through the wilderness, and what did God feed them? What did he give them? What is manna? I don't know, that's what they said. What is it, right? It wasn't bread pudding, amen? And just a little disclosure here. I did my best to elevate Jesus last night, but I did a dishonesty to my bride. I made sure when people were going out, I was telling them she's the best cook in the world and she does all the cooking. But last night, I didn't give her no credit, did I? You know why? Well, I did do the cooking, but I did the cooking to help her out. We've got a daughter and three grandkids on their track coming from Germany to come stay with us for several months as she has a baby while she's with us to be in the States to have the baby, and then probably be with us for a few months after that before they ever make their way back to Germany. So she's been getting a house set up for nearly a whole family coming to live with us again. So I told her to take a break, I'll take care of everything. That's why she didn't do no cooking. She was doing something more important, amen? But you see, the scripture says that God gave them manna in the wilderness. They said, what is it? And he fed them that for those 40 years. But what did God give them? What was the instructions that God gave them concerning the manna? He says, every day, In the morning, you go out and collect enough for you and your household, right? What happened if they were to collect more than what he told them to collect? What did he say? If you collect any more than worth a day's household, what would happen to it? It was gonna spoil. But then on the sixth day, God said, if you go out and collect enough for the sixth day and the seventh day, the extra you collect for the next day won't spoil. What was God teaching them? That the manna is not near as important as what he says about the manna. The instructions of trusting Him, I guarantee you they had some hogs that picked more manna up front, right? You know what I'm talking about? How many of y'all ever been a hog? Y'all tell me. How many of you ever over ate? Just admit it in here today. Revival begins when we get honest, amen? How many of y'all were hungry when you left last night? I was too. We stayed so late we couldn't go eat nowhere but Hardee's last night. And it was good though, it was good though. But remember what God says about a thing is more important than the thing itself. So you know what that means. What God says about your life is more important than your life. What God says about your marriage is more important than your marriage. What God says about your mission and ministry are more important than the ministry and mission that you do. Why? Because if I'm not acceptable unto the Lord in what I do, if I'm not, if my heart's not acceptable, God doesn't accept what I offer unto him. Remember when Cain and Abel brought an offering to the Lord, and Abel brought his offering, and God accepted Abel, and because he accepted Abel, he accepted what Abel offered unto him. But the scripture says he didn't accept Cain. But God stepped in and said, look, if you will be acceptable, I will accept your offering, but sin lies at the door and it's waiting to what? Pounce on you, why? Because we sang about the blood tonight, but you know that we're all kinfolk in here. Y'all know everybody's connected with everybody, amen? Now it goes way down the line, but there was a time in our past when God destroyed the world that we live in. And he flooded this world with water because of the wickedness of mankind, humanity in that day. And he saved Noah and his children and their wives. So eight people were rescued by the warning of God. And the scripture says, Noah received that warning by faith and by the fear of the Lord, he prepared an ark for his household. And it was through that preparation and that preaching. See, Noah preached while he prepared. So he just didn't preach and didn't act on it. No, he was acting on what he was preaching, that waters were coming. The waters of judgment were coming. The flood water was coming. And you know in the book of Isaiah in chapter 54 and about verse number nine, that the Bible attributes those waters to Noah and calls them the waters of Noah. Why? Because Noah was known for what he preached. He was known for what he lived. And he lived and preached that the righteousness of God was being manifested and that they were to trust him and follow him and get involved in what he was doing. But you know what? Nobody trusted him, did they? They didn't trust him. They didn't trust him. And when he preached, those daddies and those grandpas and those mamas and those aunts and uncles and those living in that day told those little boys and little girls that they didn't need to pay attention to that preacher. They didn't, he was out of his mind. They couldn't fathom a coming judgment upon the world. And every man's heart and intent was wicked in him. And he kept preaching and he kept building and he kept preaching. And one day God told him, Noah, I'm gonna bring the animals to you and it's gonna be up to you to keep them alive. Very similar picture of what he told his son. I'm gonna draw men to you, and those I draw to you, you're gonna lay your life down for, and you're gonna spill your blood to bring them in to the family of God. And just like Noah did what he was called to do, Jesus did what he was called to do, but when he built that ark, and God told him to come into the ark, and who shut the door on that ark? God shut the door and sealed that door on that day, and the rains started falling and the rain started falling. And before they know it, the rain was up to their, the waters was up to their ankles. And then it got up to their knees. And I can imagine they had not ever seen anything like this and wondered what was going on, but I could hear in their mind, those that got to hear that preacher preach, they kept hearing, he told us this was happening. And those little boys and little girls are running toward the hills with mom and daddy and said, I thought you said he was not worth listening to. Before you know it, they're picking up those little boys and those little girls and they're putting them on their shoulders and they're doing everything they can to save them from the judgment and the wrath of God. But they failed to give heed to the warning. Why? Because what God says about anything is always more important than the thing itself. Noah prepared that ark, got in that ark. What was three things that made that ark different from another kind of boat? That's why it's referred to as an ark and not a boat or a ship. It was a big vessel now. It was a big vessel, humongous vessel. But you can't call it a boat and you can't call it a ship. You call it an ark, why? because it was missing three things that a ship and a boat has. What was it missing? It was missing a power source. It didn't have anything to drive it, it didn't have sails that they could have put up in that day. Unlike in our day, we can put an inboard, outboard, we can put a trolling motor on something, we can put oars on it, you know, and move a vessel through the water if we wanted to go primitive these days. Oh, paddle, we can do that. Well, there was no oars, there were no paddles, there were no sails, there was none of those things on that ark. What else was missing? There was no rudder on that ark. You know what a rudder does, as the book of James talks about and compares our tongue to a rudder, how a rudder is just a small thing on a humongous vessel, but that rudder has a way of what? Steering that vessel as it goes through the waters. It didn't have that. What else was it missing? It was missing anchors that you could secure it and stop it and slow it down and isolate it. So you and I have a testimony of the Word of God that Noah built this ark, stepped into that ark in trust of God, and he was entirely at the mercy of the Lord. He couldn't power it, he couldn't steer it, and he couldn't stop it. And we all know the danger of a torrential floods. Water is deadly. If you could breathe in it, you could survive it, right? But you can't breathe in it. And you can't hold it back with its force and the foot pounds of pressure. We know what rivers have done when they flooded the banks and they've taken homes and everything in a community totally away. Can you imagine the most? Tragic event in a environmental event, an atmospheric event in history, when God opened the floodgates of heaven and the floodgates under the earth, and in 40 days, the entire world's covered under water. How violent that had to be. But you know what? Noah was in the safe hands of an almighty God, wasn't he? And God rested that ark right where he wanted it. You know, that's the picture of when the blood is applied. Last night we talked about allegiance on the Jesus. Paul told the church there at Corinth, he said that we are to be of what? One mind, of one voice, and of one judgment, one verdict. And we saw how that judgment was surrendering our allegiances unto Jesus, that we surrender to him. Why? Because when we come in under the blood, this is the thing now, this is why this is so important for us, that when I trust Jesus, I'm not making the rules here, amen? I don't trust Jesus and say you can do this with me or you can do that with me. You can take me here, you can take me there. No, it's like getting into the ark and God takes you wherever he wants to take you. He does with you whatever he wants to do with you. If he decides to take your head off, he takes it off, amen. Why? You can't overcome the dragon unless you're covered in the blood. And you got a testimony that stands on the witness that you don't love your life to the point of death. Amen. You will die for the King who died for you. Why? Why is that? Do you know that the Bible says that when Noah and his sons got off the ark in Genesis chapter number eight, around verse 20 and 21, that when they got off that ark, the Bible says that the heart of men was still wicked and evil, even after that judgment that wiped out the entire world. Why is that? because the judgment that falls upon this world, whether it was in Noah's day or somebody dies without Jesus and one day they're gonna stand before the great white throne of judgment, when they stand before the judgment of God and they are cast into the lake of fire and the second death, you know that the Bible says the worm and the canker never dies. Why? Because that judgment, like the judgment in Noah's day, doesn't transform or change the heart of man. that when men die in this world without Jesus, they'll still have the same cravings and the same longings and the same desires and the same lust and the same way that they had when they lived on this earth, but there'll be an everlasting torment and never have those satisfied. Why? That judgment doesn't change the heart of men. The only judgment that changes men forever is the judgment that took place at the cross of Calvary. When Jesus took your judgment on your behalf, that God may grant you his justice because of what he's done for you. And that, my friend, is the only judgment in this entire world. that will change and transform the heart of a man and make him a new creature in Christ Jesus, amen. You have to come through the cross. You have to come through the shed blood of the lamb. And without that judgment, you receive that Jesus condemned sin in the flesh upon that cross. It's a testament that God hates sin. That God hates sin. And that all are sinners. and all must be redeemed under the blood of the Lamb and transformed through that judgment. That's why the Bible says in the book of Peter, and we've been talking about it tonight, you know how we refer in the Veterans Day, the scripture says, and even Jesus said, scarcely will a man die for a good man. Paul said that, right, in the book of Romans. Scarcely will a man die. Rarely will the man die for a good man, much less dying for sinners. But you see, if you don't see yourself as ungodly and a sinner, you'll never receive the judgment that Jesus took upon the cross for you. Because he died for the ungodly, amen. And when you receive his declaration of righteousness, you were ungodly when you put your trust in him. and he declared you righteous, took that heart of stone out of you and put a heart of flesh in you so that now you could be sensitive to the Spirit of God, to the Word of God, to the ways of God, amen? Brother James, let's see. If I took this pulpit, you keep your hand right there, brother. Keep your hand right there. You hold it there for a minute, okay? I heard you was one tough joker. You gonna keep it there for me? Don't move it. Oh! Now, I wouldn't hit him. Y'all know that. Let me see, I got a phone right here. I'm gonna use Brother James. Y'all don't mind me using you, do you? All right, I'm gonna turn, I got this light on. I want you to look. When I open up this, pick this phone up, I want you to look directly in that light. Now y'all watch him when I do this now. You ready? I'm not gonna do it to you. He was already flinching a little bit. He was already flinching. I got any smokers in here that admit it? Man, I love, this is good stuff, right? I rarely go to church I ain't got a smoker in. I'm not gonna pick at you, I promise you. Smoking won't keep you out of heaven, amen? Only the blood of Jesus allows you in, right? No, what I need is a lighter. Anybody got a lighter? Now they ain't giving up their lighter, right? Come on, your wife knows you smoke. She know what you got. Matter of fact, that lighter might be in her purse tonight. She ain't getting off of it. But let me pretend that I got a lighter. Y'all ready? I'm gonna pretend then. Let me see that arm real quick. You ready? Now he'll hold it there now because there's no flame, right? But if I had a flame, he wouldn't hold it for very long, would he? Not at all. Why? Because he's made of flesh. in his flesh is sensitive to a blow of a hammer or a pulpit or to his eyes are sensitive to light. We want to protect our eyes. We don't want no bright light getting us. Why? Because, I mean, we only have our two eyes. We want our eyes and we don't want our eyes damaged. They're sensitive. And the same way with with that blow or whatever it is, a flame or whatever it is. That's why in Ezekiel, God refers to the heart of stone that we once had. Now if I had a stone rock or even this pulpit, I mean this pew right here, if I took this and I banged this pulpit on that pew, all you would hear would be the echo of me hitting it, but that pew would not flinch, it wouldn't cry out, wouldn't say a thing, why? It's dead. It's dead, it's lifeless. He's alive. In anything that would damage his flesh, he's sensitive to. That's what happens when God makes a new creature in Christ. When we take the judgment that Jesus took for us at the cross, put our faith in him, this is what God has done so that we can do this. He takes the heart of stone that was unsensitive, unmoved, couldn't hear him, dead in trespasses and sins, in that ungodliness, it couldn't respond and wouldn't respond to the Lord because it's dead. There's no life there. It's not sensitive to God's voice. So he takes that out and he puts a heart of flesh in it. Now that heart of flesh becomes sensitive to the voice of God. sensitive to the work of God. That's the picture of being made a new creature in Christ Jesus. Now, supernaturally, by faith, I can hear the shepherd's voice. Why? Because now I'm of the truth, and those who are of the truth hear his voice and what? Follow him, amen? That's when the blood is applied to you. Everything has been paid for when Jesus lived this life of righteousness and died on your behalf. But the gospel, the good news of God had to come and penetrate your heart. And God began by the Holy Spirit working in you with his conviction, changing you from within so that you can say, yes. to Jesus, amen. Yes to Jesus, yes to Jesus. And then Ezekiel 37, y'all know the picture of the dry bones that were there. Now that's a picture of Israel and the future work with Israel, but you know that future work with Israel about that stony heart and about that flesh and about those dry bones, that's what he's doing in the church today. He's taking dead men and making us what? alive, amen, alive, alive. Why? Because the judgment was sufficient at the cross. And his justification is sufficient for saving a wretch like me. Glory be, amen. That's why Peter would use that same word scarcely. He says that judgment must begin in the house of God, and the house of God, speaking of the family of God. You see, judgment's gotta begin with the family of God, and you can only be family with God through his Son. Why? Because you inherited a bloodline from Noah. Everybody in the world comes through Noah that lives today. We're all connected through Noah. And we inherited the ugliness of humanity through Noah, but you could only inherit the goodness and the righteousness of God through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We inherited everything wrong from humanity, but we inherit everything right. through the blood of Jesus, amen. And you know, God's only got one standard, one standard that he judges men by that all men will give an account to one day, one standard. And you know who the standard is? It's Jesus. It's Jesus. It's Jesus. It's Jesus. So his standard in glory to be made right with him is Jesus, and his standard upon this earth is the same standard, the life of Jesus. And the only way you and I can be as righteous as Jesus, we gotta put our trust in him. We gotta put our faith in his faith, that we believe he believed everything he said. in everything he done. And I can trust that his faith never failed. I don't know about you, but since I've been a believer, I have not always been faithful. My faith has wavered at times, my faith has faltered at times, my faith has been fickle at times, and I am glad to tell you in here today that I am glad my eternal salvation isn't dependent upon the faithfulness of my faith, it's completely dependent on the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, I take my imperfections and throw them upon His perfectness, amen? That's what salvation is. Now, for some of you in here, you haven't done that. You have not entered into Jesus and said, Lord, take me, use me, make me, do whatever you want with me. I'm moving into this ark. You gonna seal the door and I'm going with you, amen. I'm going with you wherever you take me. It might be to the neighbor. here on 15, or it might be a man or a boy or girl down on 18. It might be somebody on that campus at school that, Lord, you want me to bring your good news to them. But Lord, I can't do it without you, amen. And I need you to live your life through me. And I know we'll do it, amen. That's just what he does. That's just what he does. I mentioned last night, if we're preaching a message we can live, we're preaching the wrong message, right? We need to be proclaiming, thus saith the Lord, by the oracles of God, a message that none of us in here can live, if by the Spirit, Jesus doesn't live it in us, amen. We can't live this. That's why he came, that's why he died, and that's why he came out of that grave. And if I wanna be like him because God has predetermined that I'll be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he said he would work everything together for my good and his glory, amen. Well, what's that good? That I'll daily look more and more like his son, like his son. How? Because I fixed my gaze upon Him. I trust Him. I believe Him. And I surrender myself over to Him. I mentioned to y'all last night that it wasn't too many years ago, if somebody told me to turn to the book of Genesis or the book of Revelation or Matthew or Corinthians, I wouldn't have known where to go. Because I didn't know. I didn't know Him. I didn't know anything about his word. But if somebody was asking me if I was saved, I would have told them I was saved. Why? Because I had a father-in-law who was a preacher. And my father-in-law sat me down one day after 100 different times asking me if I've ever given my life to the Lord, and I finally just got tired of him asking me. So I told him I would trust him and trust the Lord. And he led me in a sinner's prayer. And he told me when I prayed that I was saved because I prayed and he told me never to forget that day. I hadn't forgot that day, but I want to tell you Jesus didn't enter into my life. Why? Because I didn't put my faith in Jesus. I put my faith in a father-in-law and a prayer that I said, even a decision that I made because everybody I talked to said that if you got a decision, when you made a decision, you hold on to that decision and don't let the devil try to talk you out of it. You always go back to that decision. Well, I wanna tell you, decisions don't save, but a deliverer does, amen. Prayers don't save, it's a person who saves. You may know the Roman road, God's plan of salvation, there is no other plan, but it's not the plan that saves you, it's the person that saves, amen? And when he saves you, he delivers you. He delivers you to follow him. I can remember in 1997 at North Crest Baptist Church, struggling in that pew right where you are today about my salvation. Brother Malcolm Lewis preached out of Matthew chapter number 16 and he said, if a man gains everything there is to gain, which is an impossibility number one, but if he could, if he could, but he loses his soul, everything's a loss. And I just, it was if, I knew that was me. I went down on the altar and I said, Lord Jesus, everybody I know and put confidence in would tell me that you saved me. Eight years ago. If you did, you did. But if you didn't, today, my life is in your hands. I trust you with my life. Save me, Lord. Work in me. Take me and do whatever you desire to do with me. And folks, I want to tell you, I left that altar that day and took that pretty girl home that day, a different man, a different man. And it wasn't long after that, we were going to Sunday school classes and I'd listen to these guys talk about Jesus and I didn't know anything. The only thing I knew is he just saved me. And then God began to show me a word out of Proverbs. It was Proverbs 16, three, and this is what he says. Commit your works unto the Lord, and he will establish your thoughts. I said, I could tell you where I was at when I read it the first time. I was sitting at the back gate on the Navy base north of Meridian, Mississippi. And when I read that, Jesus came off of those pages. And I said, if anybody in the world needs his thoughts established, it's me. I trust you, Lord. I believe you. If you commit, I entrust my works to you, my life to you, what I do. I give it to you now, I'll give it to you later, I'll give it to you tomorrow if I have the more, I'll just keep giving them to you. You promise me you will establish my thinking. And I wanna tell you, God began to show me the wondrous things throughout his message, amen. He began to show me himself in that living word. And I began to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord. And it wasn't long after that, those men that I so looked up to and honored and respected and thought they were spiritual giants teaching me all kind of things, those men, it wasn't long, they started coming and asking me questions about the message of God and what God was doing. You know, but it wasn't me, it was Jesus in me. And I just believed him, amen. And if you in here today where you are, I don't know where you are. First off, the only way to know Him is you gotta trust Him. The only way to grow in Him is you gotta trust Him. The only way to go for Him is you gotta what? You gotta trust Him. Life in the kingdom is a life of trust. Noah trusted Him, didn't he? And he preached. And he built. And he pleaded with men to come because he trusted him. Jesus trusted his father. And because he did, you and I can have his righteousness tonight. And if you are ever gonna do anything in the kingdom of God, it's always gonna start with you trusting him. With you just simply trusting him. Just trusting him. Trust Him. He's doing things you can't even fathom right now for your life. He's always at work, amen? He's never not working. And when He's working, He's working everything. How many of y'all got some ugly stuff in your life right now? Be honest. You say, well, not me. You got any family? Y'all got any dysfunction in your family? How many of y'all got grown kids that are dysfunctional? If they sitting by you, raise two hands, amen. How many of you got grandkids that still need Jesus? How many of you need Jesus to do things you cannot do for yourself? Everybody, right? If you can do it, it ain't worth being done, amen. He's gotta do it. He's gotta do it. Trust Him. Trust Him. Trust Him. Trust Him. I'm gonna close with this before Brother Keith comes. It's something that means a lot to me and has helped my family out and has been a means of helping others through the years. But it's an Older Testament picture that can really be a great of encouragement to you. You see, when you do trust the Lord, and you entrust yourself to him and his gospel. Because believing him, Jesus said, if a man believes him, he must believe me and my gospel. His message becomes my message. It's in Mark 8, chapter 8, verse 34 through 38. But if you trust him, that means that the world you live in is not always gonna value you. There's gonna be a cultural clash going on. You're not against them. Matter of fact, because you're with the Lord, walking with him, you for them. But they're not gonna appreciate you. But I wanna tell you, he's worth walking with, ain't he? He's worth walking with. Well, Jeremiah was a prophet. and they didn't like his message. But Jeremiah said, thus says the Lord. What did they do with Jeremiah? Jeremiah kept telling them who were sold out nationalists. I mean, if they were anything, that's what they were. They were more concerned about the nation of the Jews than they were the God of the Jews. And it got them in all kinds of trouble. They would fight for their rights, but not to be right with God. Got them all kind of trouble. Well, Jeremiah told them they had to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. Verbatim by God. Well, the people wouldn't trust the word of Jeremiah. So what did they do? They couldn't stop him. They couldn't silence him. So what did they do with him? They threw him down in the mire. They threw him in a pit. in the bottom of a prison that had feces in it, had urine in it, and he's down in this hole, stuck in this hole, and they left him there to die. They wanted him dead. And there was a man, a eunuch from Ethiopia, his name was Ebed Melech, had compassion for Jeremiah. And he went to the king in secret. And the king told Ebed-Melech to go take 30 men and go get Jeremiah out of that muck and mire at the bottom of that hole, pull him up out of it and just keep him in the inner prison. And he showed compassion. And when he got there, he threw some rags down in that hole and told Jeremiah to put them under his arms. And he threw a rope down there to him and he picked him up and pulled him up out of that pit. Now, Jeremiah didn't do anything to deserve that, but he did what he did because he trusted in the Lord. Well, while he was in that prison, God gave him a word for that servant. Jeremiah's locked up. He can't get out, but this is what God told him. I want you to go tell Ebed-Melech that he doesn't have to worry about the Babylonians. that because he trusted me and showed favor to you, my prophet, I will keep him and preserve him and he will be safe when the Babylonians take over. Well, how can Jeremiah go tell that story? He's in prison. What Jeremiah didn't know, what Abedmelech didn't know, that Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful king on the planet at that time, pulled his general to the side and said, when you get into the city, I want you to find the prophet Jeremiah. And whatever he wants to do, you free him and let him do it. And you protect him. In Jeremiah 39, in verse number 15, it says these words. Nebuchadnezzar gave his general that message. Jeremiah's in the prison, but it says this. Meanwhile, while in the prison, God was speaking to someone else to get him out of the prison. Why? Jeremiah had a mission to fulfill, but Jeremiah couldn't fulfill that mission as long as he was in prison. So meanwhile, God was working behind the scenes to get him out of the prison to fulfill the mission. So I don't know where you are today, but I do know this, you need God in the meanwhile, amen? You may have a sickness right now in your body that you need God to be working out of you, amen? I've got leukemia. I've had it now since I was diagnosed in 2018. Had it four or five years probably before I even knew I had it. Can God deliver me? Can he heal me from this? Is it possible? But you know what's possible is not always profitable for the kingdom of God for me and those that God's gonna bring in my life. You see, I get to meet people today in places I would have never met and had the opportunity to talk with them had not I had leukemia. God just opened up another door, Brother Keith. In the meanwhile, Some of you have something going on in your life financially, and you need a meanwhile moment that you are trusting God. God's given you a mission to do, like winning this community in this county, in this state, that you'll need resources to do it, people to do it. Meanwhile, God's already at work. You just need to what, as a church? Trust Him, amen. Trust Him. Trust Him. There's a neighbor who will perish without Jesus until God uses you to go make sure they know about Him. Trust Him, Amen. Trust Him. There's a mission that needs to be funded and taken care of and God's already put it in your heart to be an active player in that. Trust Him. There's somebody at work just needs a smiling encourager, a waterer. Just trust the Lord, amen. This world we live in, don't let Washington, don't let Jackson, don't let the city council dictate what you do, amen. Trust who? Trust Jesus. Trust Him with it. Give it to Him. Give it to Him. And let Him work out the meanwhile. He's our ark. Let's get in for the ride. Amen. Let Him take us wherever He wants to take us. Tonight, you can trust Him. You can do it right where... Matter of fact, some of you may have already cried out in your heart, said, Lord, do a work in me. Do a work in me. Help me. I need you. I need you. This altar be open tonight, but the key's gonna come, but the bride's gonna start leading us in music in a moment. You make an altar right where you are. But I've always found that when people trust the Lord, you know what they do? They tell other people about it. You just can't help it, amen. You just can't help it. You gotta talk about it. We talk about people that we love, don't we? You pull up at the gas station and start talking with somebody, and you ask them if they got any grandkids, and they light up, and they start telling you about them, 20 minutes later, you're finally pumping your gas. But if you start talking about Jesus with them, they get in their car and they're ready to move on, right? Why? Because they don't love Jesus like they love their grandkids. When you love Jesus, you like him. And you're fond of him. And you don't mind talking about him, amen. You just don't mind. Do you have to know everything about him? Nah, not at all. Does your grandkids know everything about you? I mean, y'all been in some bad places before. I mean, y'all seen some ugly things. How many of y'all been places you wouldn't even dare publicly declare it tonight? You'll just keep it to yourself between you and the Lord. You know, your grandkids knows nothing about that, right? They don't know what you've seen, where you've been, what you've done, but you know what they do? They love you. Why do they love you? Because you haven't given them anything or any reason not to love you. They trust you. Why? Because you've been so good to them. and so kind to them, and compassionate with them, and they just trust you, even though they know very little about you. And Jesus said that we all come to Him like little children, amen. Just trust in Him, just trust in Him. So would you stand with us tonight? Father, we thank you. We thank you for your life. We thank you for your righteousness, your blood. We thank you that you are trustworthy. Thankful and grateful for putting our trust in you. That you are so faithful. Thank you, Lord. Now, we're asking you to do your work in drawing, redeeming, removing stony hearts and putting hearts of flesh, granting newness of life, granting repentance to those who have failed to thank you and to trust you in the little and the big things of life. Grant your grace repentance tonight in Jesus' name. Amen. ♪ The sun is shining ♪ ♪ With a new light ♪ ♪ On that fine night ♪ you