Church. God's been good to us. I was thinking Brother Don was getting up there talking about what his boy had wrote. Man, I tell you that God dealt with me and I said this is pretty amazing here. I appreciate the Lord. I want you to turn to 2 Kings chapter number 20. I thought about what he wrote. I just said it right over there. God has been so good to us. And I really, it amazes me now for the years that I've been into evangelism and preaching and still see God touching people. I was in a real good meeting this last week preaching the revival and seeing people going to one another that hadn't went to one another probably in 20 years. Getting things right, taking the Lord's Supper, taking it all wrong. But they got right with one another and they begin to weep and cry. prior to seeing him burden begin to lift, that old bitterness getting defeated. You know that bitterness will kill you? I talked to a medical doctor one time and he told me, he said, that bitterness will kill you. He said, it'll mess you up so bad and put so much into you. He said, I believe it's a starter of a lot of bad things in the body. Amen. I can believe that. I can believe that. and I could see God deliver. Well, Friday night, I was going to leave and go home because I had to catch a plane and come over here yesterday. A lady come to me and said, I really need you to stay. She said, I got, we got something here we'd like for you to help us with. So I stayed. Boy, I saw God reach down and save a little girl there Friday night. Boy, it was a blessing. I'll tell you, it was a blessing. I was glad I had my colors on. Amen. I jumped up and started shouting and said, Lord, thank you. Amen. I had victory clothes on. Amen. I'm just kidding. Y'all will get that in a minute. My LSU colors. You liked that, didn't you, Cornbread? I ordered you a tie because I felt like you needed one. Well, we better get to reading the Bible here. Cornbread gonna grieve the service. Amen. Verse number 1 in chapter 20 of 2 Kings. Boy, the Lord's been good to us. In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live. That'd be kind of a discouraging thing. First thing, you did open the door and the preacher said, God told me to come tell you, you're going to die. That's what it took. Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech thee, O Lord, Remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. Hezekiah wept sore." Do you know he didn't pray a whole long time? You know, I'm beginning to see in the Bible some short prayers with supernatural results. I'm going to tell you what, I believe sometime we can shorten them down a little bit. We might see some supernatural results. It's just a thought. I mean, if you want to pray a lot, I pray a lot. I don't even know what I'm saying. And it came to pass before Isaiah was gone out into the middle court. He hadn't even made it very far. that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Turn again and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people. Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father. I have heard thy prayer. I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will heal thee. On the third day thou shalt go up to the house of the Lord, and I will add unto thy days fifteen years, and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake. Our Father, Lord, I pray God that you'd help us this morning. I pray, Father, that you would magnify thy name. Lord, there's people in this service this morning lost as a ball in high weeds. Lord, there's people here, God, that's struggling. It's your people, and God, I pray, God, you deal. I pray, God, somehow this morning that you just, Lord, give a hold to the whole thing. Everybody in here speak to their heart. I pray, Lord, that you would just get me out of the way. God, you'd manifest yourself. Lord, we need that all. We need that power. We pray, God, you'd grant it in Jesus' name. Amen. I'd like to preach today or this morning on this thought. I would not want to die if. The world was all traumatized last Sunday morning about this time. The news was coming out out of California that a helicopter crashed killed a professional basketball player and his daughter. There were seven other people on there. That man had went to the Catholic church that morning and had mass with his daughter. They got on that plane. They didn't realize. About seven o'clock in the morning while they were partaking at mass, by about nine o'clock in the morning, he's going to be out into eternity. The Bible said, and it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment. You're going to die, I'm going to die, while we're not guaranteed we'll get out of this service this morning. You're not neither. Some quack could bust through them doors and amen for you know it, we'd all be gone. Am I telling the truth? Votes not thyself a tomorrow, the Bible says, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Is that what it says? Bible said to grace, said it comes up today but tomorrow it perishes. Where's? You know not what's to be on tomorrow. James 4.14. For what is all I? It's the vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. I mean, you see that little puff of Adenine comes out of the steam out of a coffee pot, you see it one second and the next it's gone. That's the way your life is. That's the way my life is. In the light of eternity. You can live a hundred years, but still it's just a little plus. Here's the cause of a great king and a good king. But all of a sudden, there's a preacher comes and says, I got a word from God, and you're going to die. And I got to thinking about that. Are we alright with this? I got to thinking about this thing. It's really been burning in me. I got to thinking about there's some ways that I wouldn't want to die. There's some ways that I would not want to die. I'll give you a few of them this morning and we'll be done. Number one, I would not want to die if I did not have the right faith. To believe! And the day takes you after it! And then when you die, Realize you went to hell. You had the wrong faith. You had your faith in Amen. Amen. There's a way that's free from trial unto man. And the way is death. These people are good people. And they went to hell. by the boatloads, and they didn't want to die that way. They didn't even think they was going to die that way. Amen. But they died lost. I had a friend and his wife, they're hospice nurses, and they were working by this Catholic priest. And I'm not, it could be anybody. Amen. And And this guy, this priest had been a lawyer. And then he, I guess he found out after being some crooked, he needed to get some religion, but he went the wrong way. And he become a father and changed his name to Father Prosperity. And he was telling that boy one day and telling his wife, sitting at his dying bed, he said, the Lord knows who's His. But he said, I'm not His. His son, that man, went to scrape him and said, they're pulling me in the fire. I'm going to hell. That old boy told me, he said, I don't want to ever die by nobody that religious again. The things he said, had the wrong faith, full of unbelief, undecided, never able to get started on what you believe. I was going by that way, be unconverted. I mean, I thought about this. Well, Don, you know people, and I know people, and they're good people, but they lost. And I ain't talking about recaptured. I don't like that stuff. I'm talking about Ameanstrian people in their full religion. Amen. And they never, they never, they never listen, turn loose from their sin. And they never complain with God. And they never saw their self before God. Oh, we're going to die that way. I told that little girl the other night, She said, I'm bitter, and I don't want to give it up. 13 years old. She said, I believe the Lord can save me, but I ain't ready to get saved. I want to hold on to my bitterness. I had people tell me, well, people like that said they can get saved. No, they can't. You got to turn loose of it. Amen. And I said, you know, little lady, I can't help you. I said, the Lord can't help you. I said, not until you're willing to turn loose from that sin. You can't stay in that sin. I said, you done stroked that bitterness so much that you fell in love with it. Amen. And I said, you got to be willing, you got to be willing to lay that bitterness at the Lord's feet and say, I love that more than I love you, but I need you to release me from that bitterness. I'm giving it to you. And I said, until you do, you'll die in your sin and go to hell. 13 years old or not. Are we all right with that? I wouldn't want to die. Boy, I got ready to get up and leave, and I walked her, and she come over, and she said, I know you love me. I said, please don't leave. I don't want to go to hell. I don't want to go. And I said, well, are you ready to talk? I'm willing to give this bitterness to the Lord. I'm willing. Son, she flopped down there, boy, on her knees, and she went to calling on God. Amen. She said, Lord, deliver me! And Lord, help her! My unbelief. Son, I thank God. Amen. Chained, transformed, that little old girl right there. I said, what happened to you? Boy, she got up and she said, I got saved! I got saved! I got saved! I wouldn't want to die if I didn't have the right faith. I wouldn't want to die, amen, if I was in a hog pen. There's a lot of them. There's a lot of them that get in a hog pen. They don't get out. They die there. Some of them hogs in this world will kill you. I don't know if you ever fooled anything with hogs, but if you get a cut on you, Amen, if a hog sniffed blood on you, amen, you're like a prime rib to them, they'll eat you up. Amen there. Hey, I know y'all ain't gonna believe this. I was up in Michigan one time, it's a true demonstration, this old boy wanted me to kill a chicken. And he had a, he had a, and that chicken was kind of deformed. And I shot that thing. And amen, and I was gonna, And that thing run out in his hog pen. And that thing was flopping around. And before you know it, there was about seven hogs. They descended upon that chicken in about 20 seconds. There wasn't even a feather left. The hogs of this world will completely devour your life. I would not want to be in a hog pen. I wouldn't want to die that way in a hog pen. away from God, away from the Father's house. And I'm watching a lot of people, amen, they get holding on to the wickedness. Come up and get down in there and they've slipped and they've sunk in the mire so bad that they knew some way to get up. And they can't get up because they just get... I don't know if you've ever been around hogs. Them suckers are nasty. And then you get that stuff on you, and it takes days to get it off of you. You can scrape it off with a wire brush, and it'd just be raw flesh, and you'd still smell hot. Amen. Oh, you with me tonight? I know there's some country folks in here. There'll be some others in here too, but I'm telling you, you know what I'm talking about. And I would've... Have you ever thought about that diet, where you's away from God, Now you didn't intend to get where you did, but just some things come up and before you know it, you found yourself out away from God in the hog pen. I wouldn't want to die that way. Talk about him, 41 years old. That little girl, 13 years old, just the same age as that little girl got saved. But I'm telling you, before they knew it, they was out in Eton. I'm just trying to give you what's on my heart this morning, OK? I wouldn't want to die that way. OK. Can I say this? I wouldn't want to die this morning. I mean, you think about it as a case that's at the house in order. Boy, you better clean up. You're fixing to die. That's contrary interpretation, but that's what he said. You don't die. You better make things right. You don't know when, but it's coming pretty quick. I wouldn't want to die if I had hurt feelings while I was attending church. Boy, this morning, I said, man, he's right on top of what I was thinking. You know, people all the time, they'll get feelings hurt at church, and they'll leave, but they'll go to the job, and the boss talks to them way worse than the preacher ever talked to them at church. Are we all right with that? or say more ugly, vile things to them than a preacher or anybody around the church has ever said to them. But you know what they do? They won't quit that job! Uh-huh. You won't quit that job because it benefits that job and that pay. Oh, may I remind you, you're getting some heavenly benefits while you're in the house of God. When you leave it, buddy, you're going to lose some benefits you may not never get back. Oh, I wouldn't want to die that way. I would not want to die while I had heart feelings. Oh! Proverbs 14, 37, a sound heart is the life of the flesh, but envy is the rottenness of the bones. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before envy? I'm telling you, people get mad at this, and they get mad at that. They get into this, well, they didn't let me do this, or they didn't let mine do this, Amen. Hey, Lord, just be glad we're part of the family of God. Amen. Here we are serving God together. God, can I just remind, where would you have been this morning had it not been for a preacher preaching to you? Amen. And then you coming into the house of God and getting saved by the grace of God. Your family was raveled and unraveled and amen. Some of you speaking of being in divorce court and everything else. But look at you now. No, I'm telling you that devil's trying to do everything he can do to separate and divide. I would not want to die! I had hurt feelings while attending church. Got out over something silly. We all right with that this morning? People's flesh. Your flesh didn't get saved when you got saved. Your flesh ain't gonna get saved till amen the Lord comes back and he's gonna get a new body. Amen. I mean everybody still thinks if they don't take a bath You know why? Because we're all rotten flesh. And I heard people say, well, I'm looking for a better church or a perfect church. I told an old boy the other day, I said, don't join it if you find it, because once you join it, it won't be no more! Amen. We're all little men. I'll do something wrong. I'll say something wrong. That's why we need God. That's why we need a church. That's why people come to church. Because the church is a hospital that heals all kind of... Amen. And we're all... Am I okay? I wouldn't want to be so far away from it. God, I wouldn't want to die if I had hurt feelings while attending church. Couldn't get right with people. Well, I told Brother Don, I said, I don't copy that. I said, dear God, you could preach two weeks on that and a series, amen. Most people couldn't handle it. Amen. I wouldn't want to die. I mean, there's somebody sitting around here. If you got something, something in your heart wrong between you and a brother, why don't you get it fixed? Why don't you just get it fixed? I got a verse for you. Only by pride come you contention. The only reason you won't make it right, the only reason you won't even think about getting it right, is because your pride swells up. And I'm going to tell you, if pride got the devil kicked out of heaven, and pride is going to grieve you and stop your progression with God, amen, and if you're not careful, you'll start digressing. But if you just say, look, let's get this thing right. Let's get this thing right. I've seen a guy and his own sister. A while back, I was preaching in his church, and for three days, they had old Southern Baptist church covenants, and I preached on that Southern Baptist covenant. I know you wouldn't believe this, but most of them don't believe it no more, but there's a lot of Bible in there. It talks about loving your brother, fellowship, and keeping things straight and clean. Son, I got to preaching along them lines. And finally that old girl, and come to find out, they hadn't spoke a word to one another in 25 years. Going to the same church, she sat on the back, he sat two rows back. On the same side, their kids were divided, their kids were lost as bald and high weed. They're sitting there taking the Lord's Supper. Wrong. Amen. Wrong. Wrong. If you got off with your brother, you got off with your sister, and you take the Lord's Supper, you're liable to get sick. Amen, that's what the Bible says. You couldn't die. That old girl, I'm not out of the Bible, go read it. And they, and they, and she stood up on that back row on Wednesday night, I'm wrong! Son, her and her old brother met in about the middle of that church, and they just embraced one another. See, the father come up there, that boy that started the church when he was young, and his dad ended up dying. She blamed him for his dad dying in that fire. I'm wrong! I'm wrong! I'm wrong! Son, I'm going to tell you the power of God fell down in there. She had a 41-year-old girl that hadn't darkened a door, but she come in there that night, and that girl seen her mama and her uncle get right with God, boy, she down in that awful root around looking for God. She got saved by the grace. Oh, I would not want to die! I would not want to die if I had hurt feelings with somebody. Brother Trotter said something, I've been right and been wrong. Now you can be right and get to thinking about, amen, well I'm right, Lord. You done got wrong. Amen. The Lord said, I know you might have been right, but now you're wrong. Go get right now. Amen. I'm telling you, I've had to make things right, and I don't like eating crow, and I don't like eating all that old pride. It tastes awful. Amen. And I just don't like it, so it's better to just keep a short account and keep right. I wouldn't want to die if I was so far away I couldn't even pray. Wow. You ever thought about that? Be so backslidden, be so cold, because You got your feelings hurt or something like that, but you can't even talk to God. I wrote about Saul. He couldn't even pray. And then to be so far away to God with Kenneth Peter, don't mention his name to me no more. I'm going to say, you'd be in a bad spot. You try to pray and the Lord says, nope, nope, don't mention his name to me no more. It's in the Bible. GOD SAID NO! I'M TIRED OF HEARING YOU CALL HIS NAME AND DO NOT CALL IT NO MORE! So far away I couldn't pray because I got so tangled up in sin. I got taken over. That's what happened to Saul. No time to heed God's warning. You can believe what you want to. I mean, Samuel, Amen's in paradise. And Amen, that old witch of Endor, she's conjuring up, she thought she was gonna be conjuring up a booger. Amen, but I'm gonna tell you what, God said, I'm gonna mess her up and the rest of them, Amen. I'm gonna let Samuel, you go on up there. Amen! And I'm gonna tell you, Samuel come up there, and she realized it was Samuel, and she cried out! Samuel said, by this time tomorrow, you're gonna be with me. He couldn't get around. We all know. Oh, I wouldn't want to die that way. I wouldn't want to die. I was gonna die like a fool. Been in the Lord's work, be in the Lord's work. Been in the Lord's work a long time. I think about old Abner. The king lifted up his voice and took a single three, 32 through 34, and wept out at the grave of Abner. All the people wept. The king lamented over Abner and said, die, Abner, as a fool dies. Thy hands were not bound, but thy feet put in feathers. As a man falleth, Fallen before wicked men, so felleth thou. And all the people wept again over him. I mean, don't underestimate your enemy. I don't want to die that way. Getting put down, getting took down, and God, amen, getting destroyed over something that I shouldn't. Am I making any sense? Man, I'm telling you, I watched God do something. This church is a blessing to me. You know why? Because I remember coming around here about 25 years ago, or better, when I started coming around here maybe 26 years ago, and I watched God take this church from where it was then to where it is now, and I just stand amazed. Are you listening to me? Oh, to think. Boy, I tell you what would be a sad thing is to come by here one day and the music's gone. Amen, and the Spirit of God's gone. And God, when you walk in this place, He's gone. And you say, Lord, Amen. Oh, I wouldn't want to die that way. I had to walk out of this sanctuary and get in the car and drive out the driveway and say, God, oh, Lord, what a foolish thing that church has done. You might have 400 here. You might not have 10 here. I wouldn't want to die that way. Brother Ed, you can get a piano player coming or whatever you want to do, brother. I'm about to give you this thought here and then I'll be done. I wouldn't want to die in the wrong family. Lord. Dr. Green was telling me years ago about a preacher he knew had pastored, preached over 40 years. He leaned over and in his last words he said to his wife, I'm lost and died. Find out that your father was the devil. You can never find your way to God. You're a form of God that's ever learning, but never able to come to the truth. I wouldn't want to die that way. Something about this old Bible, it'll give you a warning. That's why you need to come That's why you need to hear them preach it. To keep your heart right. I've been a member of Studyacre Baptist Church now 41 and a half years. I think one of the saddest things about a year or two back, this guy come to our church, had his children Had his grandchildren and two or three carloads. Come walking in that church. I remember when he was just a kid at Shady Acres. He was about 14, 15 years old when his parents left. He'd come walking in and he'd say, Got all his kids in the foyer, got all his grandkids, and they was all standing around. And I'll never forget it, I'll never forget it. He said, this is where Grandpa first knew God. He said, and this is the church I want to bring y'all to because God was here! When my mama, when your grandpa, great grandpa took us out of here. God was here! He said, I just wanted to bring y'all back to the place where I knew where God was at. He walked in there, and he walked up to Brother Farley, because he remembered Brother Farley. He said, preacher, he said, God, I want God. I want my kids to see God. I want my grandchildren. He said, I told him I wanted them to come back to the church. where they said I knew God, where God was. Son, I tell you, they got up that morning, son, I mean the Lord come down. I think my family got up, son, two or three stalls, and Brother Farley got up to preach. That old boy stood back there and wept like babies. He said, he's still in the house! He's still in the house! God's still in the house! He told his children, I told you God was in the house! He told his family, I told you God was in the house! But he'd been in the house for long. Still a-moving, changing direction, getting all into it. He went right back to where he left it. I wouldn't want to die that way. I wouldn't want to die that way. Well, I just sat there. We sat there and just shook our heads. See, his grandpa got mad because he had a Sunday school class, Brother Don, that ran 120 people each. Sunday school, that was a pretty good Sunday school class. But he wanted to be a pastor. And he didn't care if he had two people. was one of the greatest Christian trainers that I ever saw in my life. But he got his feelings hurt. Because that old preacher, Brother Jack Wood, told him, said, wait just a little bit longer. It'll come right. He was the associate pastor, but that wasn't good enough. He wanted to be number one. He was willing to take his children. He was willing to take his grandchildren where they knew God was. And you wouldn't even want to know where they wound up. I wouldn't want to die. I wouldn't want to die that way. How about you? Let's stay in together. You need to come this morning.