The Bible's in turn in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter number 6. Hebrews chapter number 6. And we'll read a couple of verses at the beginning of the chapter. And the verse or two at the end of the chapter. And I'm going to take my title from two different verses. Never done that before. But we'll have part of the title from the first verse and part of the title from the ninth verse. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter number 6, if you've found it, say, Amen. If you're glad about it, say, Hallelujah. If y'all stand to read Scripture, stand up. Alright, Hebrews chapter 6, verse number 1. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ. Time out. He's not saying leave your faith. He's not saying leave the things that you were brought up on. He's saying move from the ABCs. Leave kindergarten and go on to high school. Leaving the principal things of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, then of faith towards God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of the laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. In other words, I want to talk to you about something a little deeper, and if God will let me, I'm going to do it. Skip down to verse number nine. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward His name, and that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope, unto the end. That ye be not, everybody say it together out loud, that ye be not, one, two, three, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. And I'm preaching to you from chapter 6, verse 1, those two little words where it says, let us go on unto perfection. I'm preaching to you, go on, and then verse 9, to better things. Go on to better things. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, Lord, it's a wonderful time already to hear these great preachers this afternoon, just mentors and men who have blazed a trail. And God, what an encouragement that is. And then to be honored to preach it behind the pulpit and to open Your Holy Word. And God, I just pray that You would continue to anoint this service Lord, don't let anything that's in me or, Lord, that could just hinder. God, You're working in their hearts, Lord. And I pray that You just make me a vessel. And, Lord, one day I'm going to be just like You. And, Lord, if one day, why not today? Lord, make me like You tonight. And, Lord, just speak through me and to these people, we pray. We ask in Jesus' name and all God's people say it. All right, say if you can be seated. Well, the old timers used to sing this one. I'm pressing on the upward way. New heights I'm gaining every day. Still praying as I'm onward round. Lord, plant my feet on, say it with me, higher ground. Moving on to better things. Going on. Listen, God wants us to move on to better things. I believe that some people are taking the attitude, I'm on a sit, I'm on a coax, and I'm on a sour. I mean, I'm just happy where I am in Jesus. And by the way, that's not where God wants you to be. He's always encouraging us to just go further. Go further. I tell our church this. Salvation is a wonderful thing. But salvation is not just pie in the sky when you die. It is steak on the plate while you wait. God's got some good things for you. I mean, there's a life that God wants you to live. And there's some things that God wants you to move on to. I read this in Australia. The founders of Australia, they were making their seal, their national seal. And they wanted to choose some items to put on that seal, things that represented best the spirit of Australia. And I tell you what, you think about Australia. They've got some wacky animals in Australia. Give me a witness right there. And that was going to be their seal. That's what other nations looked at. And that's what they would follow into battle. And I could think of some great animals. I mean, you know, have you ever watched that spiritual show, The Tasmanian Devil, like that cartoon when you were a kid? I mean, they've got some animals in Australia. Talk to me. The dingoes, the crocodiles. But of all the animals they chose to put on their seal, they chose these two animals. The emu and the kangaroo. And someone asked him, fellas, why those two animals? And they said, because those two animals have something about them that we like, that we want to represent Australians. And they said, what about the emu and what about the kangaroo do you like? And they said, well, the emu has a three-toed foot shaped a certain way. And the kangaroo has a large tail attached to its back. And they said, well, what does that have to do with the spirit of Australia? And they said, the design of the emu's foot makes it impossible for it to step backwards. If it does, it'll fall over. The kangaroo's large tail makes it impossible to go backwards. It can only go forward. And we as a nation aren't going backwards. We're going forwards. I think some Christians need to say, I'm going to... the emu. The kangaroos. Someone said being a Christian is like riding a bicycle. If you quit going forward, you fall. Lord Worsley said about this passage, he said we cannot escape being born a baby. Everyone's born a baby, but we can escape. We can escape infancy, but we should not remain in infancy. It means you've got to grow up. The Bible says a few pages later, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that she may grow thereby. The last word that Peter wrote and penned, found in 2 Peter chapter 3, he said, but grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone said that you're never too old to grow up. And I'm just saying God's encouraged with us. What a great challenge 2023. I'm excited. Aren't you thankful God lets you be alive in 2023? I'm not complaining about it. Listen, God made me to be pastor in 2023. And if I live a few more days and live 360 something more days or 50 something more days, I'll pastor in 2023. And God made me for that. And you young moms and dads, God made you for that. And I know it's tough raising children, but God made you, rejoiced in it, decided to move forward. Go forward. Let me show you a word. Look at verse 1. Look at this word. It says, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto what? Go on unto what? Now listen, you read that Word and you think, my goodness gracious, I know what that Baptist preacher is going to talk about. Those Christians think they're perfect. Have you ever had somebody say that to you before? Well, y'all just think you're perfect. And let me tell you something. Boy, I believe what that brother said about the Word of God. Isn't the Word of God precious? Aren't you thankful it's inspired? Aren't you thankful you've got to wonder about, well, I wonder what God really wanted me to know? We know what God wants. We've preserved His Word. But he has not always preserved the English language. And words change sometimes. And that word perfect, it means mature. It means developed. I'll give you an illustration. I don't know about you. One of the blessings about living in Georgia is driving down the road, and you see a sign on the side of the road. And it says, fruit stand ahead. And you pull into that fruit stand, and they're selling peaches. And not these store-bought, puffed-up, gassed-up, fake, live, hard-as-a-rock peaches. But I mean one you've got to cradle. You've got to just know how to hold. And you get that peach, brother, and if you're wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, it's going to ruin it. And I baptize you. And it goes right down you. You better have a brawl in that because talk to me. And I bite into that thing and I said, this wasn't bought at Walmart. Some farmer in Georgia grew this on some clay hill. Praise God! That's perfect! But several months before, that farmer went walking in that orchard. And it wasn't a beautiful, juicy, it was just a little green bud. And that farmer looked up and down and he said, it's going to be a good crop. Those peaches are perfect. And what he meant was just right for that stage in their life. They were what they're supposed to be. And that's what that word means. And everybody in this room, no matter where you are spiritually, God has a place that you're supposed to be. Move on to that place. Get to that place. You break your arm. You go to the doctor and he says, we've got to do surgery. And they put screws and they fix your arm. And you go back about four weeks later. He's got to check up. And he looks at it. And the arm still hurts a little bit. You can't lift like you used to. But it's getting there. And he looks at the x-rays and he goes, perfect. What he means is it's getting there. It's where it's supposed to be. Some of you, you've been broken. Some of you, you've failed. Some of you, you're not where you're supposed to be. But you're getting where you need. Are you moving forward? Don't stay where you are. That's what he means. Now, he gives us a great illustration. And we're talking about going forward. Alright, so let me show you something. Alright, watch this. In the Bible, many times when you get a passage, I'm going to tell you something. Now, that brother right there, he'll tell you this. Hebrews 6, man, it's one that makes preachers pull their hair out. And these difficult passages, I'll show you something amazing. God puts a book in. God kind of, a thought starts here, and a thought stops here, and He gives you a clue. Okay, this is where I'm going. Alright, so look at chapter 5, and look at verse 6. Now watch this. Are y'all ready? I've got to keep my crowd awake. Alright, look at chapter 5, verse 6. And He saith also in another place, Thou art a priest, talking about Christ. How many of you think He's a prophet, priest, and king? Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. What a name! Melchizedek. And so he says, I want... I want to tell you something. Jesus is... He's an unusual priest. He's not like an earthly priest that you would know. He's not like the high priest down there at the temple. He's a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And that name pops up in the book of Hebrews right there. Are y'all with me? Right there. You saw it in Genesis. And when Abraham went and met him, you ran into it one other time in Psalms, and you don't see it again until right there. He mentions Melchizedek. He pulls Melchizedek from the volume of Genesis from ancient times and puts him right there in the book. He says it again in verse 10, calls of God and high priest after the order of... say it out loud. Melchizedek. He said, I want to talk to y'all about Melchizedek. Is everybody with me? That name itself. I mean, here's how God describes Melchizedek. You ready for this? Without father. Without mother. Without descent. Having neither beginning of days nor ending of life. Made like unto the Son of God. And I read that and go, ooooh. I mean, we're getting deep. And we're going to the unexplainable parts of the Bible. Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. Kind of sounds like He always was and always will be. Yeah, that's the guy I want to talk to you all about. I mean, I know somebody that always was and always will be. You see, when Noah built the ark, God said, it's about time, Noah. And God didn't say, go into the ark. He said, come thou into the ark. Somebody was already in that ark waiting on Noah because he always was. There never was a time when he wasn't. when Moses went up on a mountain and saw the burning bush. The Bible says the bush spoke. And then later on it says the Lord spoke. Because the bush wasn't speaking, but somebody was inside the bush speaking. He always was. Moses met him. The Bible says Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you can't pray. You better bow down to the idol. We're not going to bow down. We're going to stand if a whole nation bows down. We'll throw you in the fire. Bound Him and threw Him in the fire. They get in the fire. They're not three in the fire. They're four in the fire. And the forces likened to the Son of God. Because He always was. But just as He always was, He always will be. Put Him on a cross. Pull Him off the cross. Put Him in a grave. Go back three days later. He ain't in the grave. Watch him ascend up into heaven, you men of Galilee. Watch him, ye gazers. This same Jesus which you saw going up shall so come again in like manner. He's alive in heaven. The priest Aaron is dead. The priest Phineas is dead. The priest Eliezer is dead. The priest Eli is dead. He ain't dead. He's alive. And he ever lives to make intercession for us. He's up in heaven praying for us now. The Spirit maketh intercession with warnings that cannot be uttered. We have a high priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, what was in all points. Let earth come boldly unto the throne of grace. Now that's what I want to talk to y'all, Hebrews, about. I want to take y'all back into Genesis all the way out through eternity and let you know a million years from now, those same angels that Isaiah saw around the throne saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, they're still saying it today. And a million years from now, they'll still be saying, holy, holy, holy. Listen, Isaiah said this, unto us the Son of God is born, unto us the Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the everlasting Father. So now I want to talk to you about Him. But guess what? He don't talk about Him until chapter 6, verse 20. whether the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus. May the high priest forever after the order of the Bible get Melchizedek. Don't hate it when a preacher gets up and says, I want to tell you a story. And he starts the story, and he says, I'll tell you the end of the story at the end of the sermon. Well, you've got to stay awake then. And the writer of Hebrews says, I want to tell you about Melchizedek. He's the great high priest. And he doesn't tell us about Melchizedek until you get to the end of chapter 6. Because if you don't move on to better things, he says you gotta know about your food. And he starts talking about Melchizedek in chapter 5. And he talks about him in 5.6. And he talks about him in 5.10. And look what he says in 5.11. Now we're talking about moving on to better things. Everybody with me? Why don't people move on? Where it says, of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing you're dull of hearing. For when the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you. again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become as such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belong to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of Jews have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. He said, I want to talk to you about these deeper things. I want to talk to you about strong meat. I want to talk to you about what Jesus is doing for you now. I want to talk to you about how He's the great high priest. He's not just the Savior that came to earth. But I want to talk to you about the fact that He's alive. He's alive. He's interceding for you. He's a better priest than you've ever known. You Jews that want to go back into Judaism, I'm telling you something, there ain't no priest like Jesus. He's a better priest. I want to talk to you about that. But I can't. You can't handle it. Why do Christians keep falling off the bike when I'm moving forward? Why are we moving forward? It's the milk of the Word. Isn't the Word wonderful? I read a story the other day, brother. There was a missionary and he was given a testimony. He was preaching to a great congregation. in Zimbabwe. And while he was preaching, after he was done, a man came up to him and said, Sir, were you a missionary in this village 15 years ago? He said, Yes. He said, Did you give out Bibles in that village? He said, Yes. He said, Do you remember me? He said, No. And he said, Man, I was lost. And he said, You were giving out those Bibles. And you tried to give me one. And I said, I didn't want it. And you insisted I take one. And I told you that if you gave me that little That little New Testament, I'd use that good thin paper to roll tobacco and smoke it. And you said to me, as long as you read the page first. He said, I smoked Matthew, I smoked Luke, I smoked Mark. By the time I got to John 3, he said, I didn't smoke it anymore, God save me. I'm a preacher now. Isn't the Bible wonderful? But God wants us to move on to deeper things. Salvation is a wonderful thing is what He's saying. Knowing Christ, the Gospels, the milk, what Jesus did on this earth is the milk, but the meat is what He's doing for us now. And I like what He says. He says strong meat. Strong. One other place He said meat. There's milk, there's meat, and there's strong meat. And I'm telling you something. You've got to get your mind set. We have to get our mind set around the need of the Word of God. Unless you're challenged by the preaching of the Word of God, you'll never go forward. The Word of God ought to be a challenging thing. Don't come to church and say, well, the preacher stepped on my toes, I'm not going back. Listen, let's... Don't just step on their toes, crawl up in their lap. We've got too many preachers tiptoeing through the tithers, dodging the deacons. Challenge me with the Word of God, pastor. My friend was preaching in the Philippines, and don't you love these? One of the missionaries said the problem with Christianity is that the Christians in America, they have soft hands and calloused hearts. And on the mission field, we have calloused hands and soft hearts. Brothers, I've seen that. My friend was preaching the Philippines. He said, I was preaching as hard as I could preach. He sat there on the front row going, preach harder! Challenge me! You're never going to go forward until you're challenged by the Word of God. Vance Hadner said this. He said, you ought to preach like Jesus died yesterday, rose this morning, and is coming back tonight. Abraham Lincoln said, when a man preaches, I like him to preach as though he's squatting bees. Give me that strong meat. In Hebrews 2.1, he said, take heed that you don't let them slip. The Word of God. He said if the Word that was spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of the Word, you know Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed from the Word of an angel? All God sent in His life in that city were the Word of an angel. And then he says in the next verse, but we have more than the Word of an angel. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord Himself? The gospel that we believe and that saves us from eternal judgment was spoken by the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came preaching the gospel and preaching the kingdom. And if a city was destroyed on the word of an angel, how much moral judgment? How can we escape if we don't believe the word of God? He said, don't you let it slip. It isn't easy to let it slip. The gospel. The way we receive the word of God in our hearts. Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness. One lady came to the preacher, and she said, I don't like your loud preaching. And he said, ma'am, what I'm saying, you wouldn't like if I whispered it. One guy was, him and his fiance had been engaged for about 10 years. And she was waiting patiently. And he was a noncommittal type of a guy. And so he was riding down the road, and they had this conversation dozens of times, and she jilted him into it, and he finally said, will you marry me? And she said, yes. I thought you'd never ask. They were going somewhere about two hours away. He didn't say another word the whole trip. Finally, they got there. She said, well, are you going to say anything? He said, I think I've said too much already. And brother, you say some things, and I get in my car. And the way they look at me, I think I've said too much already. We don't want to be challenged by God's Word. One old preacher, he didn't go to many entertainment things, but his family convinced him to go to the carnival. The carnival was in town. And they said, you've got to go. You'll love it, Papa. You've got to go. And he said, I'm not going to that thing. The word carnival means flesh. They said, no, Papa, you've got to go. And he said, well, fine, I'll go. He was walking around, and he was just looking at all the different things, the guy swallowing the swords, blowing the fire, and finally he saw this real pretty girl, and she was tied up to a wheel. And the guy went over there and spun the wheel, and he took knives, and he started throwing them at her. The preacher couldn't believe it. He said, he's going to kill that poor girl. He threw about six knives at the girl, and finally the wheel stopped spinning. He was in trance. He said, man, I just witnessed a murder. And to his amazement, the thing quit spinning, and she wasn't touched. And the preacher walked away, and he said, I don't know a lot of preachers like that. There's no blood on the sword. When Satan raised up an evil man named Ehud, and Ehud was wicked. He oppressed the people of Eglon. And Ehud was raised up by God to defeat him. And God said, listen, you've got to take care of Eglon. And he was a big man, the Bible says. And Ehud made him a dagger, a two-edged dagger, a cubit in length. He put it on his thigh. And he said to Eglon, I have a message from God unto thee. That's the type of the Word of God if I've ever heard one. This is a two-edged sword. It's a message from God Almighty. And when Ehud went unto Eglon, the Bible says, he hit him with it so hard, brother, it went into the shaft. I mean all the way. Brother, when you hit him with it, hit him with it hard. And one thing you read about that story, the Bible says that when he stuck him with it, the dirt came out. And the only way you can get the dirt out of your life is put the Word of God in it. And by the way, you know where he stuck him? Right in his belly, right where his problem was. Strong meat. Strong meat. I mean, just take it! Receive it! God, I want it! In Hebrews 2, 1, he said, you've drifted, you've slipped. In Hebrews 3, he said, you've doubted. We've got so much doubt, because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The only way to build your faith is through the Word of God. Neal Moody said, I prayed and prayed for God to give me more faith, and God seemed to never answer that prayer. He said, finally, I was reading my Bible one day, and I read that verse, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And I realized faith doesn't come through prayer. It comes through the Word of God. If you're doubting, and if you're troubled, and if you don't believe, put the Word of God in your life. So, how's your food? I mean, do you read the Bible as a book of promises from God? And what is the Word of God to you? What does it mean to you? Feast on it. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. It's sweeter also than the honey in the honeycomb. Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor seateth in the seat of the scornful." It's the light. It's in the law of the Lord. It's the law. Does he meditate day and night? I mean, listen. I tell people all the time, God had to call me to preach, because I can't sit still. My mama said, son, you make coffee nervous. I can remember sitting in church as a child, but listen, don't, one of the most dangerous things in church, and if you just yawn, I'm not talking, it's a yawn, but don't get bored with church. I mean, some of y'all know how many ceiling tiles are in this church. Brother Dixon, if you're preaching, you know, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. That one's crooked, that one's straight. They've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 circles, 5, 10 circles. The cross is not, somebody chopped the cross off. They didn't plan that that well. That vent is larger than that vent. Did y'all notice that? That one's larger than that one. Right? I mean, I got all that in the song service. I got to work at it. And I noticed this. That one's a different brand than that one. And I noticed that your daughter, she turned that one down in the middle. It was too loud or somebody was singing off-key. She made a really weird face and turned that one down. Somebody was off-key. And y'all got balls and not eagles on the top of your flags. If you do it all the time, you can get used to it. Give me the Word of God. Give me that strong meat. Put it in my life. Then he said this in chapter six, verse one, leaving therefore, so we talked to him, he talks, he challenges them about their food. I mean, you could say, we could say all kinds of things, could we not? What do you put in your life? I mean, pour the word of God in it. I want to go forward, going on to better things, moving on to better things. Then he talks about their foundation. He says, I don't want to lay again. He lists six things in there. He talks about repentance. How many of you agree with me? That's a good thing. Faith is a good thing. Baptism is a good thing. Laying on of hands is a good thing. But he said, I'm came from... These are the basics. Everybody knows one preacher said, The foundation that was laid in your life should not be a parking lot, it should be a launching pad. Some people made the launching pad the parking lot. Lee Roberson, he pastored the same church for 40 years. Now to me, there ought to be a crown in heaven for that. 40 years, can you imagine that? There are literally thousands, I didn't say hundreds, I said thousands of preachers and missionaries on pastoring and in the mission field because of the ministry of Lee Roberson. He was known as a pastor to the pastors. And there's not a lot you can criticize about him. Never had a scandal with money or morality. Just a clean person. How many of you are thankful for that? And by the way, for every one that messes up, there's dozens that are faithful. We ought to remember that. But Lee Robertson was criticized for one thing. I mean, I don't know how you could criticize him, but they said he was a great pastor, except for one thing. They didn't like his counseling. They said he just wasn't a great counselor. And he was asked one time, how do you counsel people? And he said, well, it's pretty basic. He said when somebody has a problem, whether it be a rebellious child, whether it be financial, or whether it be depression. He said, I called my office and I sat him down and I said, OK, are you reading your Bible every day? And if they say no, I said, well, go home and start reading your Bible, read it for a week every day and then come back and see me. They come back and they say, well, I read my Bible every day. I said, OK, keep it up. Now, number two, are you going to church faithfully? I mean, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Well, no, no. Well, OK. All right. Keep reading your Bible and start going to church every service. Now, do that for two weeks. And so that'll be three weeks reading your Bible, two weeks going to church. Okay, now come back. It's okay now. Are you reading your Bible? Are you going to church? Are you faithful in your giving? What does that got to do with it? It's got everything to do with it. Okay, so I want you to start tithing. Now you tithe for a couple weeks, and you keep reading your Bible, and you keep going to church, and then you start tithing, and they come back. Okay, now are you a witness? Are you a witness? I mean, go to work. How many people are you working with? 20 people. Okay, take 20 gospel tracts and give every one of them at work a gospel tract. Do that. Come back. Alright, now do you pray every day? Now set your alarm. Just pray. I mean, just like, you just get on your knees whether you feel like it or not. And so you're reading your Bible, you're going to church, you're witnessing, you're giving, and you're praying. And you know, he said, and by the amazing thing was, when they started doing all five of those things, it didn't take their problems away, but it gave them the grace to get through them. foundational. Can I tell you why so many people aren't going forward, brother? You just got to keep going back and laying that foundation over and over. Get the foundation settled! Hey, one of the greatest stories, I mean, I love this story. There's a guy, now we don't, you know, we've got superstars today on basketball, but there's a guy just, I mean, a few decades ago, about a century ago, and he was a superstar, world-known. You got to think about, before internet, that's pretty good. His name was Henry Houdini. Now here Houdini was, I mean, he just blew people's minds. He thought he'd put them in a straitjacket, handcuff them, chain them around, drop them in water, and then, you know, he'd hold his breath, and a minute later, he's up and out. Couldn't believe it. And he had a, you know, great thing. He'd let any man, that's how he finally died, he'd let any man, any man, punch him in the stomach. And hundreds of men came and punched him as hard as they could in the stomach. He could take it. Finally, one guy punched him hard enough and he died. But Harry Houdini, as a way to publicize his magic show, is what he called it, he would go to these towns, and there was a ten, this is a lot of money back then, $10,000 standing bet that if you could put him in your city or county jail, and in 10 minutes he could get out. And so he would, they'd get all the papers there, and they would come in with their cameras, they would lock up the famous Harry Houdini, and every town he went in, he'd pick the lock and he was out in under 10 minutes. He knew every lock. He owned every lock. He knew the manufacturers. It was easy money for him. But people just, they thought they could get him. Finally, he was in England, Lancashire, England, just a small little town, just a small one. And they said, we want to take you up on your offer. We believe that we can incarcerate you and you can't get out. And Harry Houdini went and he said, listen, folks, this is really for the big towns, New York, LA, Los Angeles, London. But he said, I don't want to take your money. I own the lock, but it's on your jail." They said, no, we still want to try. He said, okay, it's your money. The newspapers were there. They put Harry Houdini in there. They shut the door. Harry Houdini starts working on the lock. Nothing happens. Keeps working on the lock. Nothing happens. Keeps working. Five minutes, six minutes, seven minutes, eight minutes. Finally, he's sweating. He's going, man, I'm about to lose my shirt. These hicks down here got me. Finally, after 10 minutes, he says, boys, you did it. I give up. They walked over there and just opened the door. You can't pick a lock that's not locked. Now, you listen to me. Sometimes life's most complex problems have the simplest answer. And some of you are struggling with so many things. And you're thinking in the devil's face, well, if Brother Edwards preached better sermons, or if I wasn't married to this thing I'm married to, and really your problem is none of those. It's just a simple foundational basic thing. And you know why we don't go forward? Because we've quit late. We've left the foundation. How's your food? By the way, can I say this? Learn to fall in love with the things you once loved. I mean, kids. I've got three children. Now, they're pretty much grown now. I've got a daughter in college, I've got a son that graduates this year, and I've got a 13-year-old. When they were younger, they were so much easier to deal with. I mean, now they have, like, adult taste buds, you know? And, I mean, taking them out to eat is, you've got to take a loan out at the bank, you know? But when they were younger, It was McDonald's. And back then, McDonald's, you could afford McDonald's. McDonald's, Happy Meal, this is easy. Cheeseburger, hamburger, or nuggets. Now you got to do a vote. You got to call the Senate to order. You got to call the House. Got to have a majority. Got to have a quorum. And then 30 minutes later, finally everybody's happy, and mama's mad at you because you chose XBs instead of Chick-fil-A, you know? But back in the day, it was McDonald's. And I'd go in there with my kids to McDonald's, and I'd say, this is kids food. I'm not eating this stuff. That's not even a real nugget. They advertised a while back, try our hamburger. It's real beef. I'm thinking, well, what was it before that? Now, I had a friend in college, and back then, you could get cheeseburgers for 49 cents on Sunday night. He'd buy seven cheeseburgers. He'd put them in a sock drawer. and eat one a day and they never go bad. If you don't believe me, buy one when you go home. You can put it on the counter and it won't, it'll look the same seven days later than it looks like. I'm telling you, brother. That's not real food. I had an uncle that made the machine that made the nuggets. He told me how it was, just like pumping in there, baby. But it's okay. I'm going somewhere with this, brother. Now watch this. Fall in love with the Word of God. Fall in love with a church service. I mean, fall in love with prayer. Now, I'd go there, and my kids, they'd be so happy to go up there. And they'd say, oh, Daddy, you took us to McDonald's. I want this. And they'd get their food. And the lady would say, what can I get you, sir? Oh, nothing, nothing. I'm good. I'm good. And we'd sit down. A guy would come walking by, a grown man like me, double quarter pounder with cheese, large fries, no real Coke or the milkshake. And I'd look, I'd say, well, there's a grown man. And he'd be smiling. And he'd sit down next to me. And those fries would be glistening. The little salt crystals would be glistening on them. the sweat on the side of the cup would be blah blah, and he'd take that, and he'd take it and he'd dip it in his sauce and he'd... And my child's over there enjoying it, that's good stuff over there. That grown man's over there enjoying it, he ain't got real taste buds like me. And all of a sudden that little, that double quarter pounder with cheese would go there and it'd be like, it'd start talking to me saying, eat me, you know you want me. And little fries are going, eat up, eat up, eat up, eat up. How's that? That's kid food! I'd sit over there and I'd say, Lord, when thou sittest down with the king, if thou be a man of appetite, put an ice to thy throat. You know how that cheese messes my lactose up. But boy, it'd be too much. And I'd go up and say, ma'am, I want a double quarter pounder and cheese large fries. Coke and a milkshake! In the miracle of all miracles, a milkshake machine would be working! And I'd eat it and enjoy it. You know what would be good 2023? For some of you to rekindle your appetite. It's not just kids food. Reading your Bible. I went to church tonight to hear it. I need to read my Bible. Yes. The basic things, we basically don't do them. Going to church, prayer, foundation, apostles, you are never, never, never, never going forward. There are preachers that preach in churches that don't read their Bible. There are teachers that teach Sunday school that don't pray every day. Is everybody okay? Do you have a bulletproof thing here? Bad deacons that don't pray! And why can't we go forward? Because we've left the foundational. He talked to him about fruit in verse 9. Food, foundation, they're fruit. He says in verse 7 and 8, he says God sends the rain to the field and some When that same rain that produces tomatoes and cucumbers and peas and squash and oranges and peaches, it also produces briars and thorns and verse 8. The same rain. And he says, God, there are people that sit in, brother, I don't know, I'm just doing my best, brother, but I'm just telling you, there are people that sit in this church and these pews. And the Holy Spirit pours down His spiritual food. And the Word of God, which is the water of the Word, is given. And everyone in this room has got a Bible that they take home with them. And some of them, God's getting some beautiful fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, mercy. I mean, that's the fruit. And then some of them, The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these." How's your fruit? What's your life producing? What's growing out of your life? In your marriage? In your home? What's growing out of your life? 114 times in Scripture, God uses the word better. Better. God wants you to improve. But then look at verses 6 and 7. I want to close with this. Let's see. OK, we're good. Can I get 10 minutes? Who would give me 11? Who would give me 12? Who would give me 13? All right. No. But look at verse number 4. Here's what he says. He challenges us about how so many Christians will fall away. Again, this is a controversial passage of Scripture. But I'm going to tell you this. I'm going to apply it this way to us today. Verse 4 says, For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were in partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God. Notice, they were enlightened. They tasted. They partook. And then verse 5, they tasted again. I mean, it's an illustration, it's an application to a person that God is speaking to their heart. God is enlightening them. They are partaking of the spiritual blessings. One ancient philosopher said this, he said, I do not fault a child for being afraid of the dark. But I despise an adult who's afraid of the light. This is a passage about people that they are enlightened. But notice what it says in verse 6, they fall away. They turn away from it. They turn away from the truth. They fight conviction. If I could give you an illustration to be like this, it'd be like a person that, let's say you come to church. Maybe you're a teenager, and your mom and dad make you, and they drag you. And you come to church, and you say, I'm fine, son. I'm fine. How long is that guy going to talk? I hope he tells some good jokes, because I'm bored to death. Or maybe your spouse drags you, and you say, well, I'm going to get it over with. But they better not have it on the night of the Georgia game. And you come to church, and all of a sudden, They start singing. I call it the quiver in your liver. Something starts happening. Maybe the person that the pastor calls on to pray reminds you of your grandfather or uncle. And boy, I mean, things just start happening. Or maybe just out of left field, the preacher makes a comment. And it's something that happened to you that week. You're enlightened. Maybe there's a question that you've had. for a long time. And the preacher, I mean, you partake of the heavenly gift. And the heavenly gift is the conviction of the Holy Ghost. And God begins to speak to your heart. And God begins to talk to you. And God begins to draw you. And maybe it's in the matter of salvation. Or maybe you're backspin on God. And God begins to put His finger on your heart and begins to pull at you and tug at you. And I'll tell you why we can't go on to better things. Because we fall away from that. We pull away. Oswald Chambers said conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It's called in verse 4, the heavenly gift. It's a gift from God. Joe Henry Hankins was known as the weeping preacher. He preached in Arkansas, pastor of a large church. He would just cry while he preached. One day he was preaching and the church was full and there, way in the balcony, there was a young man and it was like God just brought his attention to that young man. And he was listening and Joe Henry Hankins was preaching the salvation message on a Sunday morning. And he preached and he asked the church to stand and gave the invitation. And he looked at the young man all the way in the back. No one else could see him. He was in the back of the balcony. And he begged, he said, come forward and receive Christ. And he watched the young man holding the hymn book and not singing, but looking at him and began to close the book and began to step out, but came back in. And Joe Henry Hankins did what so many preachers have done. You've heard it. One more verse. And again, the young man, he began to close the book and he began to step out, but he went back. He said, I was watching as this battle for eternity was going on. And finally he said, one more verse. And Joe Henry Hankins said, the young man closed the song book and he said, he began to walk out and he said, he's coming. But he turned and walked out. Two weeks later, according to Joe Henry, a young man in his church said, Pastor, there's a friend of mine, he's young, but he's in the hospital. He's very serious. Would you go see him? And he said, of course I will. And he went. And to his amazement, it was that same young man. And Joe Henry Hankins said, I knew that he's here in the hospital. I said, I could win him to Christ. He said, I gave him the gospel again. And he said he understood. And he reminded me, he said, I was in church. And he said, surely, son, now there's no one around. There's no crowds. Won't you get saved? The young man said, no. And he said, why not? You were under conviction. He said, you don't understand, Pastor. He said, the moment I closed the songbook, something in me died. There is an unseen, yet very real line you can cross with God. Hey, let me show you this. And I believe this with all my heart. The unpardonable sin is not something that God does to you. It's something you do to yourself. And Hebrews 6 says you can fall away. I want our preacher friend to come up here. Evangelist Dax. Come here, brother. Can you help me out? Come up here. Are you ready, brother? Hold this end of the rope, okay? Would you hold that? All right. Now, I want to come here. All right. I need somebody bigger than Samuel. All right. Let me see here. Brother Edwards, can you come here? Can you come here? No, no, no, no, no. I preach against that. You're just going to catch me if I fall. Brother, I want you to give me just a verse, a convicting verse about something in the life of a Christian. Go, go for it. Pull on me a little bit. Gaal is deceit. It's that hidden deceit. And the Holy Spirit, pull on me a little bit. Come on. All right. And you say, watch this. You say, by the way, God's given us a free will. You know why we don't move on? is because we pull away. And when we pull away, we say, I don't like that. You know, that preacher, he's judging me. I bet the reason he preached on all that time, he probably struggles with, who is he to tell me? He's no better than I am. Give me another one. He hits it again and he says, I know what it was. He's picking on me. He looked right at me when he said it. Alright, then he comes again. Come on. And look at this guy. He's calling me a hypocrite. I mean, it's like he don't ever, he don't ever, he's like, he thinks he's perfect. He thinks he's perfect. Evil speaking. Listen, I'll tell you one thing about this. Now listen to me. If he knew my wife, now listen, I'm telling you about her. Now listen, she's a hard woman to live with. And I bet if I went home with him, the same thing, he'd go, no, no, no, no. Come on, bro. Pull a little bit, because that's a good one. Corrupt communication. I mean, he won't leave my mouth alone. He's got an obsession. He needs to preach on love sometimes. Doesn't he know God is love? Oh! You fall away. Thank you, brother. What is it in your life that God just... Look, he puts his finger on it. He just... No. I'll do it later. I'll deal with it later. Curtis Hudson told the story about a young lady, 20 years old, and she said she understood gospel and the preacher said, won't you get saved? And she said, no, not right now. I'll do it later. And he said, well, OK. He said, how later? Do you think you can afford to wait till you're 30? A lot can happen between 20 and 30. She said, no, 10 years is too long. He said, well, what about nine years? She said, well, that's too long. He said, what about eight years? Seven, six, five, four. And finally she said, Pastor, I need to get saved now. And I'm asking you, what are you waiting on? What is it that God is putting His finger on in your life? If you're going to move on to better things, you've got to get it dealt with now. And when God says better things for us, that's the only time. It's used 10 or 11 times, the word better, in the book of Hebrews. It's the only time He asks us to be better, but He tells us how much better He is. And it's not a preach. I'm not up here trying to get you to do something. God's done so much for you. Chapter 1, He's better than the angels. In chapter 7, he says, we have a better hope. How many of you are thankful we have the blessed hope, the return of the Lord Jesus? Our message is a message of hope. We're going to see our loved ones again one day. We sorrow not as others which have no hope. Chapter 7, verse 22, he said we got a better testament and a better covenant and a better sacrifice. How many are thankful you didn't come to church on Sunday morning dragging a lamb because Jesus was a lamb slain for you? 1034, he said, heaven is a better country. In 1011-16, better, better, looking for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God. We've got a better home. I've heard of a land on a faraway strand to the beautiful home of the soul built by Jesus on high. There we never shall die. It's a land we will never grow old. He says he's got better things for us. Chapter 12, he said he's better, better than Our sacrifice is better than Abel's sacrifice. You know, Abel was willing to die for his sacrifice. And he says, if Abel was willing to die for that sacrifice, how much better sacrifice do we have? And what are you willing to do for God? I close with this story. I just think I need to tell the story. I might have told it here before, but if I have, somebody hadn't heard it. Years ago, there was a famous movie star. And his name was Telly Savalas. Now he was known as Kojak. He had a bald head. He shaved his head and always had a lollipop. And he was played, always played like a gruff, rough, tough type of guy. Telly Savalas, don't mess with me. I'm rough, I'm tough, I'm hard to bluff, I pick my nose and eat the stuff. I'm the boss, applesauce, understand, rubber band, don't be wise, beavy eyes or I'll cut you down to peanut size. But here's the thing about Tully Savalas. It wasn't an act. He played that character so well because that's how he was. He was Greek. And one day he was going back to his homeland to visit his family, and he boarded an airplane. And when he got on the airplane, he told the stewardess, he said, listen, I'm Tully Silvales. I'm on vacation. I don't want nobody messing with me. I don't want nobody asking for an autograph. If they would have had cell phones back then, no selfies. Leave me alone. People walked by and began to whisper, that's Telly Savalas. That's Telly Savalas. He just looked at him and howled. There was one man in a blue suit and stopped. Mr. Savalas. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, leave me alone. He went back to his seat. The plane gets up in the air. The seatbelt light goes off. The guy in the blue suit Gets up. He's thinking to himself, would you or not? This is probably the only chance I'm going to get to speak to him. He can't go anywhere except the bathroom. So he gets up. Mr. Savalas. Huge fan. OK. I'd like to ask you a few questions. I'm Greek like you. Hey, buddy. I don't want to talk to anybody right now. Leave me alone. Sorry, sorry, sorry. True story. Goes back to his seat. Flight goes. He watches him nod off. He's just fixed on him. He wakes up. He's had a nap. Probably a grumpy. He's got his nap now. Gets up again. Excuse me, Mr. Sposs. Really, it's about Greece. I want to ask you some questions. The people in Greece love you. Hey buddy! I said leave me alone! Bug off! Goes back. It's a long fight to grease. Scott's persistent. He knows it's about over. This is your captain speaking. We're about to begin our descent. It's been a pleasure. The temperature is 65 degrees. Looks like we're going to have good weather. We thank you for flying Delta Air Lines. I better do it now. Because Sir, look, we're about to land. One minute of your time. One minute, hey buddy, I told you once. I told you twice. I ain't gonna tell you again. Leave me alone. Okay, fine. The plane lands. When the plane lands, Tully Savalas looks out his window. He is irate because there's a band waiting for him. There's like people waiting. The newspapers are there. I just want to have a vacation. The plane stops. Really, before it stops, he stands up. You know, he's going to get his stuff out of the overhead. The stewardess says, Sir, sit down. I don't care who you are. Sit down. The plane hasn't stopped. The plane stops. He gets back. Sir, sit down. Why? What do you want this time? Sir, sit down. Why? Because no one leaves the plane before the King of Greece. The band for him. The newspaper reporters are for him. And he walks off. There's a king much greater than the king of Greece. Just trying to say, could I have a moment of your time? Could we talk about my kingdom? Bog off. Leave me alone. Don't ask me to go to the altar. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Let's stand our feet. Going on to better things. What does God challenge in your heart about? What's the step that you need to take? The altars are open. A song of invitation is being played. Come and find a place to just kneel down and say, God, this is what you're speaking to my heart about. This is what you want me to go on further with. Moving on, going on to better things. What is God touching your heart about? As the pianist plays, Brother Dixon, if you'll come.