come from Believers Baptist Church. I told our church before we came here we will not be a church inside a church we will be one church We'll be Fellowship Baptist Church. We will no longer be identified as Believers Baptist Church members. We will be Fellowship Baptist Church members. That's what we are and what we will be. And that must be, by the way. Can I also mention this to you? Be a little patient with us. This is a pretty big transition for all of us. When you look at it from your perspective, it's not so hard. But when you look at it from our perspective, It's a tough road to hoe. And so I hope that you'll be a little patient with us and understand if we are, and by the way, if we don't remember your name next week, don't get offended. And if I don't remember your name six months from next week, don't get offended. It's just one of those things that I struggle with. I wanna ask you to do this. Every time you shake my hand, tell me your name. And whenever I shake your hand and tell you your name, then you know I got your name. Does that make sense? And that's the only hope I've got. I mean, it is the only hope I've got, because I am terrible with names. But I do appreciate the fact that we're able to come together as a church family. and hopefully be use of the Lord to accomplish things that are eternal. I believe that this is a day in which we need to be busy about the Father's business. And as Brother Chris had told Kathy those same words this afternoon as I was going home, I said, I use that same phrase, many hands make light work. And what we need to do is we need to band together and work as best we can. And to be honest with you, we want to work but we want to step on your toes and we don't want to start working so you can quit. I'm going to say that again. We don't want to start working so you can quit. Amen? So if you're getting ready to quit, we ain't going to start. Amen? That's good preaching. Amen? So you say, but I need some reprieve. Can I tell you? Y'all got 50 people in your church and 50 people been doing the work. We've had 12 in our church and 12 been doing all the work. So we're a little tired too, amen? We're all a little tired. So let's just work together and accomplish that which is eternal. I would ask you to remember this as we make this transition, as Brother Chris has no doubt made you aware of. There are a lot of things that have to be resolved, a lot of situations, and as far as our buildings go, I would recommend and encourage you to pray daily for God to send the purchaser of those facilities. It needs to be sold. It needs somebody else to own it so that that money can transition to Fellowship Baptist Church to be used for God's kingdom and God's glory. Our church is planning to do that, or planned to do that before this ever took place. We voted to merge and all the assets of Believers Baptist Church now belongs to Fellowship Baptist Church. And so we ask you to pray. And if you've been out to our church, we've got some beautiful facilities. We really do. We've got an auditorium that is just gorgeous. And so if the Lord could be gracious to help us get it sold, it'd be a blessing to all of us. I would ask you to remember one more thing and then I want to read some scripture to you. And I would ask you to pray for me on Tuesday. I had a pastor call me, I guess it was last Thursday, I think it was. He asked if he could meet with me and he and another pastor in our area and they're desiring to merge their churches as we have done with your church. And so I thought that quite interesting. I've not heard of that done in Chattanooga area in a long, long time. And now we've got two just getting serious about it now. And by the way, I think it makes sense. I believe it makes a lot of sense. When you take a handful of people here and a handful of people here, the ministry suffers. But if you can put those two handfuls together, then you can do more for the cause of Christ. And so help me pray about that. I want to try to encourage them as I talk with them about some things, especially from the perspective of the church that's leaving their facilities and going to the other facility and merging with the other church of what the people's heart is like. And I know what the people's heart is like because I are there. I know what it's like. I know what it feels like. And I'm honest with you, I'm excited at the same time It's been difficult for me. I have, I have wept. You never know how many tears I've wept over this and broken my heart because I wanted God to do a work where we were at. And I told the church, when he's in our last service there, I said, the only explanation that I have, and I, I'm not sure this is God's plan, but this is all the explanation that I have is that God put me there four years ago to bring the church to this place. so that we could now merge with Fellowship Baptist Church and take the assets that God has blessed us with and transform into the work of God, where it can be done for eternal things. That's the only explanation that I've got. I'm serious about that. I have, well, I don't go there. All right, take your Bibles and turn to the book of 2 Peter chapter three, and it is my custom. I know it's probably not yours, but if you would humor me, I'd appreciate it. If you find your place, stand to your feet, I want to read this entire chapter. One of the things that I found interesting this morning whenever our Sunday school teacher was telling us that he begins short series and they don't end up being short series, I thought it was quite interesting that one of my members busted out with the fact that they're used to those kind of things. So I think that's probably true. And as I was studying this several months ago, as a matter of fact, and I began to look at this, God gave me a thought, and as it always is when God gives me a thought, and I go back and begin to dig into the principles of that chapter or that passage of Scripture, It just gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. Now I don't have the luxury that I had when I pastored to where I could say, now I'll finish this up next service. I don't have that luxury anymore. So I'm going to just hit the high spots and hope that the Lord will use it to speak to your heart. Let's look in verse one and we'll read down through verse 18. The second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of its coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue. as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved under fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all, should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, into which the heavens shall pass away with great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of person ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Now, Father, we come to you in prayer tonight as we have many, many times, as we have stood before. a congregation of people and read scripture. and preparing my heart to deliver a message to their heart, knowing that without the touch of God and without the fullness of the Spirit of God, it will all be, as the Scripture says, sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. The last thing that Fellowship Baptist Church needs tonight is just another sermon. God, they don't need just another outline. They need a message from heaven. And I pray tonight that I would be the tool in your hand to deliver that message that you would have them to hear and have them to embrace and have them to learn and God to long for in their lives. Lord, as we begin 2023 as one church, and I pray that you would help us, Lord, to have a heart that is knit together. Help us, Lord, to have a passion for the souls of men. Help us, Lord, to be concerned about the people in our community that is lost with undone without Christ. And help us, Lord, to be honoring you in everything we say and do. Give us a desire to worship you and to glorify your name, and we will thank you for asking in Christ's name, and for his sake we pray, amen. You can be seated. As we enter into 2023, God has given us, I believe, a great door, an open door to make some life-changing decisions. It is no accident that God burdened my heart to begin this new year here at Fellowship Baptist Church. It was a natural break, if you will. It was a natural place to make that decision. And I believe it's a natural place in your life, as well as in my life, to make some decisions about our future. Someone has said, if we keep doing what we've always done, we're going to keep getting what we've always got. And I believe that that is what is our problem in our Christian churches. I was thinking as Pastor Chris was preaching this morning, that man he and i must be in the office together studying together because what he is preach this morning just dovetails with what i'm preaching tonight and so he was trying to burden our hearts for the desire to build the work and to do the work and i believe there's some things that we can do to help do that to get that work built and i believe that we'll see it from this passage tonight i'm i'm i'm convinced of this that we christians are so afraid of change. We want to keep doing what we've always done. And as I said earlier, when we do that, we keep getting what we've always got. We want the same old, the same old, same old. We prefer not to rock the boat and just keep things kind of in the status quo, because this is what we're comfortable with. This is our comfort zone. I'm honest with you, I like my comfort zone. I really do. I am different from a lot of preachers. I am an introvert by nature, and it is difficult for me to step out of that comfort zone. It's just one of those things I have to work at constantly in my life. I want you to understand this, that the Christian life is described, however, as walking with God. The phrase indicates that there must be progress. The phrase indicates that it must go forward. We must be taking ground. You and I, as believers, as we walk with God, it means that we're going somewhere. It means that we're taking ground. Now, here's the sad reality. The Christian life is not a static life. In other words, it is either taking ground or you are losing ground. You're not going to stay where you are. You say, well, why would I lose ground if I'm not taking ground? Here's the reason. We have an adversary, the devil, that is fighting against us every moment of every day. And if I am not fighting to take ground, He is going to overcome me and I'm going to lose ground. And the thing that troubles me about Christendom today in this 21st century is that we've got Christians who think all they need to do is go to church on Sunday to read their Bible every once in a while and to give an offering every once in a while, and go through the routine and motion of worship every once in a while, but they're not taking ground in their spiritual life. And they cannot get it through their head that they're fighting a battle with Satan, and Satan is taking away from them every day of their life that ground that God wants them to keep and to take more of. A Christian cannot stand still. in their relationship with the Lord. The reason we cannot is because we have an enemy. As we come to 2023, I believe that we need to be stirred to not be as we've always been. I believe that's the greatest problem that I find in my life, is just staying as I was and staying as I am. But here as we look at this verse of scripture, the Bible says in verse 1, this second epistle, beloved, I'm now writing to you, in both which, look at this phrase, I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. Here we find that Peter is telling us And through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, He said, I want you to stir up your pure minds. I want you to stir your heart and stir your mind. I believe that we need to be stirred to want to accomplish those things which are eternal in our lives. Now, thinking along this line, I want you to think about what we find here in verse 1. First of all, notice what He did not say. He did not say to stir up our hearts. He did not say to stir up our emotions. He said to stir up our minds. That's what He said. To stir up our minds. Now, we must act not on what is in our hearts or how we feel. We must act on what the Bible says and what has been implanted in our minds and in our hearts. If I act on what is in my heart in 2023, then there will be times that I won't come to the house of God. If I act upon what's in my heart, I'm not going to be encouraged. I might be in a time of discouragement or even time of depression. I will not pray. I will not read my Bible if I go on what's in my heart. But if I live on what is in my mind, that I have been taught that every day of my life I should be in the Word of God. Every day of my life I should spend time with the Lord in prayer. I've been taught in my mind that I must every week come to the house of God and worship and tithe my income. When I do that and I act on what's in my mind, then all of a sudden things change in my life. The reason that we lose ground in our Christian life is because we live on the emotion instead of on what God's Word says. I love the emotion. Man, I got emotional this morning when the choir was singing. I enjoy the emotion, but I want you to know this, that your emotions can deceive you. Your emotions are up and they're down. They're on, they're off. They're hot, they're cold. But there's one truth that has remained, and that is that the Word of God has said what it says. And regardless of how I feel, I am to do what the Bible says. One of the greatest difficulties that I have had as a pastor is trying to convince people to act on what the Bible says instead of what they feel. That is a difficult task. And whenever you do counseling, they come in and say, well, let me just tell you how I feel. Now, I'm not really a very good counselor, I guess, because here's what I want to say. I don't care how you feel. I want to tell you what the Bible says, amen? Now, I know we have feelings. By the way, I got them, I mean, I got them as deep as anybody else. But the reality is this, I had to come to a place in my life where I decided what was in my mind was more important than what was in my heart. And I decided I was going to live on what God's word said instead of what I felt in my heart. That's good preaching. Notice first of all what he did not say, but notice that Paul said something else in this first verse. This is all introduction, I've got to hurry, okay? But he said, stir up your, look at this word, pure mind. Now think about this, this word for pure here means a sincerity, a genuineness. I so appreciated what the brother, I told you I'm bad with names, but the Sunday school teacher said this morning about God's gonna judge us for our sincerity. I appreciated that. I believe that we need to understand we're gonna flip and flop and we're gonna mess up, but God looks in our heart. He knows if our heart desires to be sincere, If our heart desires to be pure, and God said, stir up that sincere mind, stir up that mind that is desiring to do something for God, stir it up. You see, I believe we need to take what the Bible said and flip. It's chapter 4, verse 8. He said, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things have good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise. He said, think on these things. It's time that Christians start controlling our brains and quit letting Hollywood control our minds. I want to look at this verse of scripture and see five things that we need to be stirred in 2023. Well, four things rather. Look in verse one and two. We need our minds stirred with the scripture in 2023. This second epistle, he said, Beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the whole words which are spoken before by the holy prophets and the commandments of us, the apostles of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now think about this. Here we find in these first two verses that the Lord tells us that we need the Word of God to stir us up. We need the Word of God to stir our hearts. In verse 1, we ought to be stirred by the epistles. In verse 2, we ought to be stirred by the prophets. And in verse 2, we ought to be stirred by the commandments that the the men of God like Paul and Peter and John Mark and the others wrote in the Scripture. In other words, he is saying that we ought to look at the entire Bible and let the entire Bible stir our hearts. We're living in a time when we get stirred over verses of Scripture. That's not what he said. He said be stirred over the entire Bible. Let the entire Bible stir your heart. Get to know the Word of God in 2023. Spend time in Scripture reading. Let it speak to your heart. Let it let you learn from Scripture. I've got a question for you. Does your Bible stir you? I mean, don't get mad at me, I'm just telling you what the Bible says here. He said that you stir up your pure minds by these epistles and by the prophets and by the commandments of the Lord Jesus. He said that you stir up your minds. Is your mind and heart being stirred? Did what the preacher preached this morning stir your heart? Amen. That's good preaching. I mean, I'm honest with you. I told Kathy when we were going home, I said that was a great message. And I believe it's so needed in 2023 that we get our hearts stirred and we ought to not just sit there like bumps on a log. We ought to say, Oh God, take that truth of the book of Nehemiah and speak to my heart. And God, let me be a part of building the work of God. Lord, stir my mind that I might do what pleases you. See, we've got to have that. We need the Word of God to stir us. Isn't it interesting? I'm chasing rabbit trails. I can't do that long tonight. But isn't it interesting you can have a Saturday night singing and the building can't hold them? When's the last time you heard about Saturday night preaching and it was an overflow crowd? Hello. Amen. And you see why? Because we like to be stirred in our emotions. but the Word of God stirs us in our minds and it makes us have to line up and get right with God where songs cause us to pat our feet, preaching causes us to bend our knees. That's good preaching, amen? Well, I've got to go on. Does the Bible stir you? Did it stir you this morning? Did you leave this morning and went home and ate and didn't think about it again? Oh, mercy. This one fella said I quit preaching, gone to meddling now. I mean, did you go home this afternoon and think, God, in 2023, help me to build the work of God. Help me to accomplish that which is eternal. I'm telling you, stir up our minds with the word of God. We've got to be stirred with the scripture. That song says, or that old, I guess it's a song, but it says, holy Bible book divine, precious treasure thou art mine, mine to teach me whence I came, mine to teach me what I am. I want you to understand this Bible is given to tell us what we were and what we are and where we're going and what we can do and what we can expect. That's why God gave us this Bible. I was going to sing it for you tonight, but I ain't going to because this is my first hoorah here and I don't want to run you off. But there's this old, old song and I love it. The title of the song is God's Wonderful Book Divine. And it says this, what light is this shining so brightly for me that gives me such courage the right way to see? What hope for my trusting soul shall ever be? God's wonderful book divine. I love the old Bible, the old King James Bible, the light on my path to shine. It keeps me so happy, always so happy. God's wonderful book divine. I love it, man. Second verse says, what hope for the traveler with strength almost gone. I love this part, that makes him determined to keep plotting on. What sweet consolation from heaven's bright throne, God's wonderful book divine. The third verse says, what chart Can you trust as a guide for the soul when tempest should strand you on some treacherous shoal? What compass will point you to heaven's bright goal? God's wonderful book divine. I'm telling you, let the Word of God stir you this year. Let the Word of God change your life, change your heart. Bible tells us in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 14 and 15, of these things, put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not of words of no profit, but to subverting of hearers. And I never really fully wrapped my mind around the context of this next verse, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman need not be ashamed, right and divine in the word of truth. But the context of that verse says, don't get so wrapped up in fairy tales, get wrapped up in the word of God. That's what he's telling us. Don't let the world and all the activities of this world get you sidetracked. Keep your mind focused upon the Word of God in 2023. 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. He said, For all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good work. He said, Study the Scripture. Let it stir you in 2023. Hebrews 4, 12, for the word of God is quick and powerful. Now word, that word quick means made alive, it's living. For the word of God is living, is quick, is powerful, and it's sharp as a two-edged sword, and piercing, even dividing asunder a soul and spirit, and as a joint in the marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts, and the intentions of the heart. And let me tell you why we don't read the Bible, because we don't wanna know what it says. That's deep, ain't it? If we won't know what it said, we'd be reading it. And the reason we don't know what it says, because we know what it says contradicts our lives, and we don't want our lives contradicted, so don't muddy the water with the Bible. Amen. Let the scripture stir you up in 2023. Look down, if you will, to the next verse, verses 3 through 8. Not only let the scripture stir us up in 2023, but let the second coming stir us up in 2023. When you begin looking at verse 3 through 8, in verse 3 the Lord describes, look what he said, knowing at first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts. Now notice the phrase, first of all, in the last days. Now, I understand that the Bible uses this term, last days, quite frequently. And to be frank with you, biblically speaking, we have been living in the last days for 2,000 years. However, I want to just put a little caveat into that. I believe we're living in the last days of the last days. I believe we're on borrowed time, if you will. I believe this thing is wrapping up. And I'm with Brother Chris, as he said this morning. I never thought 2023 would get here. I thought the Lord would deliver us from before this time ever came. But God has not done so. But just because He hasn't done so, don't mean He isn't going to do so. I believe we're living there. Now notice, he talks about in verse 3, scoffers. I want to look at this term, scoffers, for just a few minutes, because you know some. I hope you're not one. I know some scoffers. I don't want to be one. Notice, first of all, in verse 3, notice the walk of a scoffer. He said, they walk after their own lust. You always know a scoffer because they're walking secretly and selfishly. A scoffer always walks to satisfy themselves. They're not concerned with the will of God. They're not concerned with the work of God. They're not concerned with the worship of God. They walk to satisfy themselves. These scoffers live to satisfy the lust their flesh. Can I say this? The lust of the flesh is just not only sensual, certainly that is involved in the lust of the flesh, but the lust of the flesh also involves a societal lust, a desire to be seen of men. A desire to be recognized and patted on the back and someone to recognize all that you've done for Christ. Or what you've done to be successful, maybe would be a better way to say it. A lust to exalt oneself and take the glory that is only due to the Lord Jesus Christ. God give us a generation of Christians that are not scoffers, that are not walking out of the lust of the flesh where they want to receive glory, but they want all the glory and all the praise and all the worship to go to the Lord Jesus Christ. I get so frustrated with this Facebook Christianity. Amen! I think it's about time we get our eyes off of Facebook and get our eyes back on God's book. I get so frustrated. God knows my heart. I believe it's pure in this. I rejoice in every soul that was saved. But when someone gets on there and shows a Bible and said, last year I preached from this Bible and 635 people were saved, I want to jerk them through the phone lines. Because what they're doing is they're glorifying themselves. And not the God of this Bible. Sculphors walk after the lust of the flesh. They want to be seen of men. They want to be recognized. We see their walk. In 2023, we need to move from the realm of the nasty now now as Christians and move into the realm of the sweet by and by in our thinking. Yeah, we gotta quit looking at this world as it is. We don't always see the walk of the scoffer. Look in verse 4, the words of the scoffer. The Bible said that they'll be saying, where's the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. The words of the scoffer. Scoffers don't necessarily deny the Lord is coming. However, they deny he's coming now. Can I tell you why there was some SMOs here this morning? So what is SMOs? That's Sunday morning only. Amen. Can I tell you why? If they believe that Jesus would come this evening, do you reckon they'd be home watching TV? I'm not fussing at them because they're not here for me to fuss at. But I'm just telling you that's the reality. is when we're living in a generation when even Christians do not see the imminency of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that if we have this hope in us, we purify ourselves even as He has purified us. when we know and believe that the coming of Christ could be any moment. It'll change what we watch on TV. It'll change what we look at on the computer. It'll change the way we talk and the way we live. It'll change the activities of our life. If we believe Jesus could come back at the midst of whatever we're doing, we'd certainly want to do what the Bible says, don't you reckon? Amen? The scoffers don't. Oh, they may say, I know He's coming, just not right now. Now, listen to me. These scoffers say, we heard that Jesus was coming, and we've heard it all of our life. That's what verse 4 tells us. We've heard it all of our life, but all things continue. It'll just be this way the rest of eternity. He's not going to come. And if He is going to come, He ain't going to come in our lifetime. And that promotes ungodly living. We see the words of the scoffer. Notice in verse 5, the wickedness of the scoffer. The Bible says, and of this coming of the Lord, they're willingly ignorant. It's one thing to be ignorant, it's another thing to be willingly ignorant. Say amen right there. I don't believe God is as offended at ignorant people as he is people that are willingly ignorant. What makes a person willingly ignorant? I'll tell you what makes them willingly ignorant. They've heard the truth and they reject it and they're willingly deny the truths that they've heard. You see, they choose to doubt, they choose to disbelieve that the Lord Jesus is coming again. Think about where we are in society today. Think about this. First of all, years ago, whenever I was in grammar school and starting my great academic life, yeah, right. You can tell I got a lot of academics, amen? When I was starting my academic life, there was a battle raging even in grammar school about creation, about whether God truly created the heavens and the earth. Oh, we heard the story, you know, about we came out of the goo, we went to the zoo, and now we're a who? Yeah, we heard those. We heard, I once was a tadpole long and thin. Then I was a bullfrog with my tail tucked in. Then I was a monkey swinging from a tree. And now I'm a professor with a PhD. Yeah, we've heard all that mess. But can I tell you, sadly, that's tame compared to what we're dealing with today. Our world is willingly ignorant. They're willingly ignorant. We went from this idea of evolution to next thing we found in the 60s that woman was not made for man. That's the ERA movement if you're not familiar with it. They don't call it that anymore because we finally figured out what those letters mean. Eve ruined Adam. I don't want to make you mad tonight, but God designed the woman for the man. Is that what the Bible teaches? And ladies, the sooner you figure that out, the more joyful your life will become. and the more joyful your husband's life will become. When you recognize that God made you to complete him, that without you he's incomplete, and God made you to fulfill his needs in his heart, and by doing so, your needs will always be fulfilled and met. Boy, that's good preaching, amen? So we went from evolution to women were not made for man. Then we went from women were made for women and men were made for men. If that's not perversion, I don't know what is. I'll tell you what's happening. They're willingly ignorant. Let me ask you a question. How can a man and a man have a child? I mean, that's how perverted our world has become. I'm trying to be kind. This is kind, our nutcase in the White House embraces that mess. You say you shouldn't speak that way about our president. I'm sorry, he is a nutcase. And so is anybody else that embraces that. Then we went from that to we must now embrace same-sex marriages and relationships. It's gonna be a cold day where the boogerman lives before I embrace it. Amen. Ain't gonna happen. Ain't gonna happen. You say, well, you know, preacher, you're just too hard-nosed. I just go back to my first point. I believe this Bible. Then we were told that a person can be a male because he's, he can be a male, but because he's feeling a little feminine, he can be a female. I gotta tell you, I don't know where it's coming from because I ain't never felt feminine. I didn't get up this morning thinking, I think I'd look good with a little lipstick on. That's pathetic! That's how willingly ignorant our world has become. That is pathetic. I mean, I didn't get up this morning and say, Kathy, what kind of slip do you have I could borrow? Come on! Stupidity! But here's what it is. They're willingly ignorant. That's really the biblical term for it. Then we have people. Now, I looked this up this afternoon. We've now got 81 genders that are recognized in America. Some of them are identified as a cat. And stupidity ignorant, willingly ignorant people are putting cat boxes in schools for kids who describe themselves as a cat. Willingly ignorant. And see what I'm trying to show you is it progressively gets worse. and worse, and worse, and worse, and worse, and God said that that's what they would be, they'd be willingly ignorant. Now the next step that we must now allow people to choose which bathroom they want to use. If you feel a little feminine today, you can go into the women's restroom. If you feel masculine, ladies, you can go in the men's bathroom. Nope! Amen? God, let me just say this right here. You want me to tell you why this has become so popular? And all of these things I'm talking about is because it's a slap in the face of God. We're saying, God, you don't have enough sense to tell us how we ought to run our lives. We're going to run it the way it pleases us. It is an attack against God. And anybody who embraces this junk is attacking the God of this Bible. And now, brother, Pastor Chris mentioned this morning, we're now encouraging children to seek sex change operations. Would you have ever dreamed that? Would you have ever dreamed that we've become so willingly ignorant in America that now the most vile thing you can do is to stand up against a little child deciding or his parents deciding they want to have a little boy made into a little girl and we're now filled with hate speech because we cried against it. Willingly, that's a scoffer. That's putting their fist in God's face. And God, you were stupid. You were ignorant. You didn't have enough sense to make my child what you want him to be. I'm going to make him what he ought to have been made. That's wicked. Notice verse six and seven, we find the, we find the wickedness of the scoffer. Notice in verse six and seven, the warning of these coffers. Verse six, he said, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished, but the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved in the fire against the day of judgment and the perdition of ungodly men. In verse six, I believe, and I tried to do some referencing of this, and I find that there's some mixed bags about what people believe that verse six referenced, but I believe it referenced the flood of Noah's day. I believe that's what it references. He said, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. Now, I'm not a rocket scientist, but I do know how to read English. And when I read English, it talks about the world that was has perished. And my mind goes back to the book of Genesis, where the Bible says that God brought Noah and his family into the earth and sent a great flood and everything on the earth perished. So that's the warning to these scoffers. Nancy Pelosi, you got your warning. Chuck Schumer, you got your warning. Oh, what's the guy in Kentucky? It's a Republican. What's his name? No, the other one. No, the other one. Yeah, McConnell. He's got his warning. Hey, man. I'm no respecter person, I'll just shoot them all down. I don't care if you got an R.D. beside your name. If they're wrong, they're wrong, amen? Verse 7, he reminds them, and verse 6 reminds them what was done, and verse 7 reminds them what's going to be done. And verse 7 he talks about that there's coming another judgment upon this earth. He said right now God's kept that judgment in store, but there's coming a day that God will remove that hand of resistance and allow judgment to fall once again. Can I tell you it's coming? It is coming. Notice verse 8, the wisdom of the saint. He said in verse 8, But beloved, who's he talking to? Look what he said, be not ignorant. He said these people are willingly ignorant, but I don't want you to be ignorant. He said of this one thing, that one day is of the Lord's, a thousand years, a thousand years is one day. Go back up to verse four where they said, all things continue. The Lord, we've been hearing this all of our lives, and we've been hearing it's gonna come. He hasn't come, and it's gonna continue to be that way. Verse eight says, don't you be ignorant. Don't you embrace that idea. He said, because the world looks, it's been a long time. But he tells us, he said, but one day. is with the Lord a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. Now, there might be some Bible scholars that say, well, this actually meant, and they may be right, but can I just tell you, I've just decided to take what the Bible says and leave it there. And the Bible says that one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day, meaning that since creation, it's only been six days on God's calendar. Amen? Now I know 6,000 years is a long time for me and you. Or you and I, whatever the grammatical use is there. But it's only been six days. It hasn't even been a full week in God's calendar. The wisdom of the saint. You see, God wants us to be aware and awaken, and he wants to stir us with this truth that Jesus is coming again. He wants to stir our hearts. He wants the scripture to stir us. He wants the sacred coming to stir us. Look at verse 9 through 15. I got to hurry. He wants souls to stir us. Look what it said in verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises. Some men count slackness. But as longsuffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Drop down, if you will, to verse 15, an account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. You want me to tell you why Jesus hadn't come? You say, well, why has the Lord not come with the mass praying? It's because he's longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. You see, the Lord loves sinners. He wants them saved. Now don't stir our hearts that we would love what He loves. He loves sinners so much that He gave His darling son to die on the cross and be buried and to rise again so that they could be saved. Oh, we not love what He loves? We should not have to beg people to get involved in working with children and adults, trying to reach them with the gospel. Let soul stir you in 2023. I so appreciated what the preacher said this morning, and I mean that in my heart. I want my life to be different in 2023. I want a greater burden for people that are without Christ. I want to get busy about the Father's business. I want to be faithful in passing out tracts and knocking doors and talking to people about their ever-living, never-dying soul. We ought to be concerned over souls. Notice the compassion for the sinner in verse 9 and verse 15. Notice the coming of our Savior in verse 10. He said, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. By the way, verse 10 and some verses following this takes us from the rapture of the church to after the revelation of the church. And we'll have time to deal with that tonight. But what he's saying is, he said, but the day of the Lord so come as a thief in the night. What he's saying is there's no time to waste. You say, oh, I want to get involved, but just not right now. I've got a few things I've got to get taken care of first, and once I get them taken care of, I'll get involved. What if the Lord comes back while you're taking care of those things, and you're not being a tool in the hand of Almighty God to rescue the perishing and care for the dying? Notice the conversation or the lifestyle of the saved, verse 11. He said in verse 11, he said, But he said, seeing these things shall be dissolved, what manner of person ought you to be to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Look again down in verse 14. He said, without spot and blameless. As we look for the coming of the Lord Jesus and as we're concerned about the souls of men, we've got to be conscious about our testimony and our life before sinners. I don't know about you, but I get frustrated with stupidity. You know, I get frustrated when you're out in public and someone is just, they're just stupid. And you get irritated, and the next thing you know, you kind of fly off the handle and kind of make them look stupid, as they really are. And then the Holy Spirit says, that's not a very good testimony. They're dying and going to hell, and you've left a bad testimony for Christ. I don't know about you, but I hate going out to eat and be treated like a freckle-faced stepchild by the waitress or the waiter. That just bugs the life out of me. And honestly, sometimes when that happens, I want to leave a penny. But I can't leave a penny and leave a track. Amen? You say, well, you just don't leave a track. No, that's not the answer. The answer is to swallow real hard. 20% ain't worth 1%. Okay, 20%, kind of do like you do at church, you know. I made $151.25, so I'm gonna give the Lord $15 and a dime. Hello? So 20% and give him a dime over that, I'll tell you for sure. You wanna tell you why? Because they sure do need Jesus. Sinners are stupid. I don't mean that in an unkind way. I really don't. They're ignorant. They need Jesus. And we as Christians have to start acting like Christians. That's what he's telling us here. That's what he's telling us here. If you look in verse 11 and verse 14, where he talks about that we're to have holy conversation and godliness and we're to live out without spot and without blemish. He's saying be pure. Verse 12, we find the consummation of society, judgment's coming in verse 12. Then verse 13, I love it, the city of the saints. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Are you weary with what you're seeing in our country today and in our world? Well, we got a city that dwells, that righteousness dwells in. and dwelt with righteousness." I'm looking forward to that. Oh, how we need these things to stir us for the souls of men, realizing Jesus is coming. Let me show the last thing. We need to let the scripture stir us and the second coming stir us, and we need to let the soul stir us, but look at this, verse 16 through 18. We need to let our stability or the lack thereof stir us. Look what he said in verse 16. By the way, the Sunday school teacher, what's your name? Brother Dale. Now I have to ask you again next time, but at least I know it for the moment. I noticed this morning Brother Dale used a word that I've never heard any other person use. And maybe I have, but I don't recall it. But I was studying it this past week, and it's found in verse 16. It said, and as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures under their own destruction. I didn't know what that word meant, and I found it fascinating you used it this morning. By the way, I learned what it meant before you used it this morning, because I knew I was preaching tonight. But you clarified it when you were talking about it this morning, it means to twist. That's what it means. And he said, there are people that take in what all these apostles have said and preached and written, and they twist it because they're ignorant and unlearned. And the Bible says here, they do it to their own destruction. There needs to be a generation of people that rightly divide the word of God, that don't twist it. to satisfy the moment. The Lord is saying, don't be like those who are unstable in the scripture. You want me to tell you what a backslid Christian always says when you go and talk to them? You know, you need to get right with the Lord and get back in church. Judge not, lest you be judged. I would to God dead read the whole, I thought it interesting, you're talking about, you're now in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, and I preached a whole series on that. And I tell you what, when I got done with it, I found that I wasn't as good a Christian as I thought I was. Amen. There's more in that chapter than judge not that lets you be judged. Matter of fact, the Bible said we're to judge righteous judgment. You know what they do? They rest the scripture. They twist it. I don't want to do that. I want when the preacher preaches and it skins my hide up one side and down the other, I don't want to excuse my sin. I don't want to twist it to say, well, it really didn't mean that, did it? No, I want to take it to heart. Stable Christians don't twist scripture. Stable Christians don't turn from truth. Look in verse 17. You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with error of the wickedness, fall from your own steadfastness. He said, if you don't rightly divide the word of truth, you will fall away from your own steadfastness. You ought to thank God you've got a church that preaches the King James Bible every Sunday and every Wednesday. Because that's what keeps you from becoming unstable. I'm not a lot of things, but one thing I desire to be, and that is consistent. I want to be stable. To be frank with you, when I got up this morning, it was a hard thing for me to come to church. Not because I didn't want to be here, it's because my whole world has turned upside down for a moment. And I said, for a moment. Amen? That moment's going to pass quickly, I'm confident of that. But here's the thing. I could not rebel against truth if I want to be a stable Christian. I could not do it. I had to do what I knew was right to do if I want to be a stable Christian. Notice this, and we're done, verse 18. Stable Christians don't twist scripture. They don't turn from the truth. And by the way, I've just touched on the high spots of all these verses. Man, there's just so much more in here than I could get to tonight. But look at verse 18. Stable Christians take spiritual ground. Look at verse 18. But grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen! Amen. He said, grow in grace. I got a question, 2023. Well, let me back up. Did you grow in grace in 2022? Amen. I'll be honest with you, 2022 has been a tough year. And I almost, you say, well, preacher, did you pray out the old year and pray in the new year? I might have should have, but I just went to bed and covered my head up, said I gotta get out of this 2022. Amen. I'm not as spiritual as our pastor. Amen. No, buddy. Come on, 23. Grow in grace. Did you grow in 22? It's been a battlefield. I say this to God's glory, but I have grown in 2022. God has done some things in my heart that only God could have done. I'm not boasting because it had to be God who did it. It wasn't nothing I could produce. I'll share with you something that's just a minor thing. But this helped me more in my prayer life than I could explain to you. Kath and I went to a jubilee meeting in Branson, I guess it was, or where it was at. In Branson, and the preacher that preached, he made this statement, and it just stirred my soul. He said, When I pray, he said, I talked to Charles Stanley, and I thank God for all those Charles Stanley's won. I just wish he'd stand in King James Bible, say amen right there. But he said, I talked to Charles Stanley, and Charles Stanley told me this. He says, as long as I have the ability, I will pray on my knees. He said, because I'm not as big when I'm down there as I am when I'm up here. And that, I mean, I prayed before, but I pray, and by the way, God's not offended anywhere you pray. But it moved my heart to make a decision that whenever possible, when I pray, to pray on my knees before God. I grew some in the Lord. I'm 66 years old, 66 years young. That's what Kathy says. But I'm 66 years old. And I found such a simple truth changed my prayer life. He said, well, I can pray, I'm sitting down, help yourself, I'm just telling you what it did for me. Man, I'm not telling you you gotta do it, I'm telling you just what it did, it caused me to literally turn aside from everything else and on my face before God, with my prayer list in front of me to pray. I am not a prayer warrior. I would to God I were. But I do know this, I've grown some in that. Can I say this and I'm done. I still got a lot of growing to do. I still got a lot of things that's needed in my life. I still want to make my life count for Jesus. We're in 2023, first day. By the way, I would encourage you, get those daily Bible reading schedules that are back there in the back. Because you're not gonna grow without reading the Bible. You're not gonna do it, it's not gonna happen. Get those and let them be a blessing to you. I want 2023 to be a change in my ministry to where he gets more glory, he gets more honor, where he uses me to rescue the perishing and care for the dying. What about you? You want your life changed? It ain't gonna happen accidentally. It happens on purpose. You gotta surrender and submit and be stirred. by the word of God, by the second coming, by the souls of men, and by a desire to be stable in your Christian life. Father, we're grateful for your word. Lord, there's just so much in this chapter that I would love to have just parked in and talked about a while. But Lord, I feel that I've, as best I could, followed your leadership. I would ask you now in this invitation that the Holy Spirit of God would speak to our hearts, put a determination in our souls that we are not gonna be the same in 2023 as we were in 2022. Help us to take ground. Help us to understand we can't be static. We've gotta move forward. I pray the Holy Spirit of God would grip our hearts tonight. I ask it in Jesus' name.