Once a man named Stephen preached about the Lord. Folks were saved and folks were healed as they heard his word. Satan did not like it. Soon he had his crown. And as he was tried, they heard Stephen cry aloud. I see Jesus, standing at the Father's right hand. I see Jesus, yonder in the promised land. Work is over, now I'm coming to Thee. I see Jesus, standing, waiting for me. As the stones fell on him Beating out his life Stephen knew he'd soon be through With all toil and strife So much like the master With a heart so true He prayed, Lord, forgive for they Know not what they do Through the gates of glory Down the streets of gold Marched a hero of the Lord into heaven's fold When he met the Savior at the judgment throne I believe he smiled and said, Stephen, welcome home I see Jesus standing at the Father's right hand I see Jesus, yonder in the promised land. Work is over, now I'm standing for Thee. I see Jesus standing, waiting for me. All right. You want to take your Bibles and turn to Acts? Chapter 9. So glad to have all of you out this morning. As pastor mentioned, we're certainly looking forward to you to come out tonight. You know, we've set aside these special meetings and the pastor and members of this church have worked and prayed that God would bless. And the final analysis is it's not going to do you much good if you're not here. Truth is not going to do you any good if you're not here. So come on out tonight and we'll be preaching. Amen. I hope you have a heart for preaching. The Bible says despise not prophesize other words. Don't don't don't have this attitude that you just kind of endure preaching. You ought to love it and we'll be preaching you come on out tonight to be some singing and some other things going on. But the main course, there's going to be some preaching and you come on out tonight. And if you think you don't need it, you just lying to yourself. Amen. That's not very nice to say brother McCoy. Well, I didn't come to Milwaukee to be nice. I came to preach. Amen. And if you think you don't need it, there's something wrong in your life. Now, Pastor mentioned that they had some trouble the other night, and I don't think you come out tonight and you're gonna get your car destroyed. Now, there's gonna be some men watching tonight, so we're not gonna let the devil slip up on us tonight. So just don't even worry about that. God will take care of your little body, and we'll take care of your little car. You just come on out here and get some preaching, and let the Lord work, amen? If you're real worried about your car, just leave your Mercedes at home and drive your Chevy. Amen. But it is good to be here. Always enjoy coming to Souls Harbor Baptist Church. There are good people here that love the Lord. And of course, Pastor Hoover has done a tremendous work. When I first came to Souls Harbor, he and I went out, soul went out, did some visiting. And I said, brother, because he told me he was in the inner city. And I said, brother, you're not in the inner city. You're in the inner, inner city. You're in the inner city of the inner city. And of course, I grew up in Gary, Indiana, and it's all inner city. And when I came here, I said, I finally been to a place worse than Gary, man. Come on, laugh, baby. Come on. I'm sitting there, oh, he talking about my city. It's bad all over. It is. It really is bad all over. And even in the suburbs and places like that, crime and drugs and gangs are not, you know, they're not exempt to it. But yet, man alive, you ought to be able to laugh. Some of you, I think you think your face is going to crack and fall off if you smile. Let me tell you, it's not going to crack. It's not going to fall off. You might even enjoy it. Amen. Amen. But, all right. Hope you look at the things we have on the table back there. There's some free things. There's a brochure that has a picture of me on it, some information about me, me and my ministry, my family. It's a nice picture of my family on the inside. And I hope you'll take one of those cards and use it and remember to pray for the McCoys. We need your prayers. And I want you to have one of those. I also have a card that our church and Bible college there at Fairhaven puts out a publication called the Fairhaven Fundamentalist. And it's a publication that comes out, I guess, maybe three or four times a year. And you can have that if you fill out the card and drop it in the mail, if you want to leave it with me. And it's free of charge. There's always a sermon in there. There's always something pertaining to youth. There's always something pertaining to some issue of the day, something that you'd be interested in and it's free of charge and there's no appeals for money, anything like that, but just something that would be a blessing to you as far as reading material. And so take a look at those. Also have some other brochures and things and pray to be a blessing to you. Acts chapter 9 is where we're going to look we're going to start reading in verse number one, but we're going to pray first father We thank you this morning for your word and father. I pray that you'll speak to our hearts lord Thank you for the people that went forward to get to get saved this morning in the nine o'clock service And lord, we pray that there'll be others today lord that will also uh come to Jesus and be saved. And Lord, we pray for Christians this morning that you'll work in every heart and that your word would have free course and that, Lord, none of us would resist the Holy Spirit or resist the word of God, but that we would yield ourselves and open ourselves to receive your word and allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts, bind the devil, God, and give victory today to thy people. In Jesus' name, amen. Acts chapter 9 in verse number 1, it says, and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the city, and they shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And I wanna talk to you about this morning, I wanna talk to you about the Damascus Road experience. Damascus Road experience. Saul was on his way to Damascus according to the scriptures with one purpose in mind and that purpose was to find anyone that he said was of this way and this way being the Christian way. Those who had trusted the Lord Jesus Christ and had received him as Savior those who are living for Christ and and his mission in life his one goal his one mission in life was to seek and and destroy anybody who called themselves a Christian anybody who followed the Lord Jesus Christ and on this particular day he was on his way to Damascus and he had received authority from the high priest and so he had authority that that if he had found Christian that he could invade their home or or take them from their job or wherever you might find them and bring them bound and chains back to Jerusalem for the purpose of persecuting them and many times persecuting them unto death. That was his mission in life. And I think as we look at the life of this young man named Saul, we could say that he was a mean fella. He was a terrible man. I don't think there's a person in Milwaukee that could match the meanness and horrible life of this man Saul. Can you imagine that? A man whose whole life's goal was to destroy Christians, to destroy God's church, to destroy God's people. And not only did he persecute them, but friend, he was instrumental in many of them being put to death. You read the seventh chapter of of Acts and and read about Stephen as I sung about Stephen and and and as as Stephen was was being stoned to death Stephen looked up and into heaven and said I see the glory of God and Jesus standing by the right hand of God and the Bible says that that those who stoned Stephen to death laid their clothes in the hands and at the feet of a young man by the name of Saul. You see, Saul was the one who was responsible. He was the instigator. He was the one who was responsible for the death of Stephen and many other Christians. Yet we see that as this terrible, terrible, terrible young man was traveling to Damascus, he had a tremendous life-changing experience. Friend, this Damascus Road experience that Saul had is an experience that every person needs to have in their lives. You see, all of us in one way or another are like Saul. All of us in one way or another, you know, maybe we didn't seek to destroy the church or seek to destroy God's people, but the Bible said before we're saved that we're dead in trespasses and sins. We're the enemies of God. And we live our lives in that frame of mind. We live our lives as those who are adamantly opposed to everything that God is and that God stands for. And if we were in Saul's shoes, we'd be just as terrible and wicked as he was. In our own ways and in our own lifestyles, friend, we've done things just as bad. We've blasphemed his name. We've used his name in curse words and foul, filthy jokes. And boy, we've cast all kind of reproach and disdain upon him who shed his blood for us on that old rugged cross. We're just as bad. We're just as wicked. And yet the Bible teaches us that we can have the same kind of experience that this man had. And boy, I thank God for it. I want to look at today three things that happened to Saul on his way to Damascus, and three things that ought to happen in every person's life. The first thing that happened to Saul was that he got saved, amen? he got saved in verse number 3 it says and as he journeyed he came near Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou Lord? And the Lord said, I'm Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. I want you to see something about the salvation of Saul. I want you to see, first of all, that it was Jesus who was seeking Saul and not Saul who was seeking Jesus. You see, when a person gets saved, they don't get saved because they're out there looking for Jesus. See? That person who goes to the nightclub and goes to the bar, they're not there looking for Jesus, but yet Jesus is there looking for them. You see? That person who's who's using the drugs that person who's who's who's you know may live in a in a nice house in a nice neighborhood But they're lost friend. I want to tell you something today. They're not looking for jesus The fact is they want anything but jesus you see they're like the crowd that when pilot offered them a murderer named barabbas or jesus the matchless son of god They said we'll have barabbas And so Pilate said, then what do you want me to do with this Jesus? And they said, crucify him. And you say, that's terrible. I want to tell you something. Every one of us friend in our natural cells would have been in that same crowd yelling, crucified, crucified, crucified. You see, thank God this man got saved. And thank God, friend, that God offers salvation to every person who will believe. I remember 20 years ago, it's been 20 years ago now, 20 years. I know some of you sitting there, you're thinking, man, he don't look like he's 20 years old. Well, I tell you what, I was, man, the pastor started talking about that hair stuff, man. I was going, man, now you meddling now, brother. Get off that hair business now. Talking about that hair now. But I used to have a whole head of hair, amen? You might not believe it. So you think I was born like this, didn't you? No, I had some hair, amen? 20 years ago, friend, 20 years passes like a watch in the night, you see? 20 years passes like a few moments. Now, it seems like no time at all, but it was 20 years ago that Jesus saved an old rock and roll singing, drug using rebel In Los Angeles, California, he saved me. Amen. Save me, amen. I want to tell you something. I didn't go to Los Angeles from Gary, Indiana, looking for Jesus. I was looking for fame. I was looking for fortune. I was looking for a good time. I was looking for everything, friend, but Jesus, you see. I didn't want Jesus, you see. I wanted everything that God hates. But I'm so thankful that God was looking for me. Amen. And you know, often people say, boy, such and such a time. I found the Lord. The truth of the matter is you didn't find the Lord. He finally found you. He finally caught up to you. Amen. And in a little motel room called the Linda motel, room number 10 in Los Angeles, California, the old sinner knelt beside a little cheap bed in a cheap motel. and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into his heart. Boy, I wanna tell you something, that was the first step of a wonderful life. And boy, if you're here today and you're not saved, I wanna tell you something, you're missing out on the greatest thing that you'll ever experience in this life. Boy, there's people that say, boy, if I could just get a million dollars, boy, I'd be all right. Huh? You think a million dollars gonna solve your problems? Huh? It won't. Huh? You think a million dollars will make you happy, don't you? It won't, huh? But I want to tell you something that will. Jesus, amen. Jesus will. You receive Jesus into your heart, friend. He'll change your life, the Bible says. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. I'm so glad today that just like Saul, friend, God gave me a new life when I received Christ as my savior, huh? It's all heard a voice. Amen and all of that and boy some people say boy I tell you what if I just hear a voice for You know, God strike me with lightning or something. Hey, that's not the way of salvation. God's given us his voice. Here it is right here The Bible says you're a sinner, Romans 3 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says if you die as a sinner without Christ, you'll go to hell. Amen. Revelation 21 8 says about the fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. That's what God is speaking to us about right now in his word. But yet the Bible says that God loves us, friend, and gave his son to die for us. In Romans 5, 8, God speaks again and says, but God commended his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We preached on John 3, 16 this morning, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You want God to speak to your friend? My question to you is what more does he have to say? What more does he have to say than what he's already said? You're a sinner. If you die without Christ, you go to hell. But Jesus died for your sins and rose again so that you could be saved. And now all who will receive him, the God says, have everlasting life. Romans 10 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved Shall be saved. Amen It's a certainty. Oh, man The first thing that happened to Saul on that Damascus road was he got saved and boy, I'm glad I'm saved today I'm glad I know without a doubt that I'm on my way to heaven I'm glad that I know better than I know anything in this world that if I were to die right now I Well, the next face I'd look upon would be that of my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's not all that happened to Saul. Boy, if you're saved this morning, I thank God for it, and you ought to praise the Lord for it. If you're not saved, you'll have a chance to get saved in a moment, amen? And listen to me, that's not all that happened to Saul on the Damascus Road. That's the first thing, that's the greatest thing, that's the most wonderful thing, but that's not all that happened to him. Not only did he get saved, my friend, but also he surrendered his life to God. He surrendered his life to God, you see, and I think there's people in this room this morning. Boy, you got saved, all right, but you still haven't surrendered your life to God. You say, how do you know that he surrendered his life? By what he said. By what he said. Look at verse 5. And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for you to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what would thou have me to do? What would thou have me to do? You see, those are the words of a person who has surrendered to God. Those are the words of a person who's no longer fighting against God, who's no longer living in rebellion to God, who's no longer saying, I'm gonna go my own way and do my own thing and live my own life. And that kind of thing, that's a person, my friend, who said, listen, God is gonna lead my life and Jesus Christ is gonna be my Lord. He says, Lord, what would thou have me to do? And again, I say, there's people in this room, boy, you got saved. but you still haven't made a surrender to the lord jesus christ i was reading a book well i finished it probably all right it was earlier in the year maybe six months ago a book about douglas macarthur one of the greatest men that this country's ever has produced and i was reading a book about him and and he talked about the war the world war ii and And, you know, whenever I think about this thing of surrender, I think about the day when they had the surrender of the Japanese army over to the Americans. And boy, they met on this ship. I believe it was the Missouri out there, you know, just out from Japan. Man, Emperor Hirohito and all the top brass and the American brass, and they're all on board the ship. For one purpose, to surrender. To surrender, to lay down the arms and say, look, we're no longer going to be at war with the United States. And listen to me, it was an unconditional surrender. Unconditional surrender, you see. And right after that, MacArthur became the governor of that land and helped in the rebuilding of that land and really did many wonderful things for the Japanese people. But listen to me, it was an unconditional surrender. Unconditional surrender. And listen to me, Christian, the only way that you're ever going to be happy in the Lord, the only way that you're ever going to be useful to the Lord, the only way that you're ever going to be anything for God and your life is ever going to amount to anything for God is at the point where you make an unconditional surrender and say, God, I'm yours. I'll go wherever you want me to go. I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll be whatever you want me to be. And you know the truth of the matter is the average person in here would say, I'm surrendered. I'm surrendered. Yeah, we're surrendered. We can't even come out the church on Sunday night. I'm surrendered. Yeah, we can't even be faithful in our giving. I'm surrendered, boy. But some of us have never even tried to lead somebody to Christ. No, we're not surrendered. We're surrendered to our will. We're surrendered to our desires. We're surrendered to the fancies of this world and the pleasures of this world. But friend, there's very few that are sold out to God. Huh? And I want to tell you something today. Surrendering and selling out to God is not just for the preacher in the pulpit. It's not just for a Bible college student. Every Christian, amen. Every Christian. Every Christian. is to surrender themselves over to God. You say, how do you know that? Same way I know everything else. It's in the Bible, amen? It's in the Bible. Look at Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. It's in your Bible, unless you have one of these new perversions of the scriptures. If you have a new perversion of the scripture, here's my instructions. Trash it. Throw it in the trash and go find you a Bible. Amen? A Bible that has thou, and thou, and wherefore, and begot, and all that stuff in it. Find you a Bible, amen? Romans chapter 12 and verse number one. Look at what it says Romans 12 in verse number one. I beseech you therefore brethren. He's talking to Christians. I beseech you therefore brethren. I beg you brethren by the mercies of God God's been merciful to you Now what does he say? That ye present your bodies a living sacrifice. Amen? That word presents the same word as yield. That ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Amen? God says if you're saved you have an obligation man you have a a responsibility for toward God and you're going to be held accountable accountable for it one day whether or not you surrendered your life to God and we sing the song all to Jesus I surrender you know we sing that all to him I freely give I will ever love and trust him in his presence daily live. And yet the truth of the matter is when it really comes to it, friend, we don't give that much about what he wants. We don't care that much about what he desires. But boy, we sure care a lot about what we desire. Are you saved this morning? Are you surrendered? Young people, are you surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ? What do you think God draws people for his service from? From churches just like this? From young people who'll say, I'll give my life to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? I'll give my life to serve God. Whatever he wants me to do, I'll raise my children for him. And I'll have my home right. I'll live a right life for him. Amen? Huh? Jesus said, and why call ye me Lord, Lord? And do not the things which I say. Boy, it's easy to call him Lord, isn't it? Huh? Boy, it's easy to talk the talk. Huh? When I was a kid, we'd say, put up or shut up. And you see these guys, they talk about, boy, man, I can play this and I can do that. We just say, well, put up and shut up. Put up or shut up. Talk is cheap. Most of the time, the guys doing all the talking can't do nothing. Amen. Most of the time, the ones making the most noise can't do nothing. They talk a good game. And I tell you what. I wouldn't give you a nickel for somebody that just talks the talk. What God's looking for is somebody who'll walk the walk. Amen? Huh? Yeah. A lot of us talking cream and walking skim milk. Amen? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yes. Huh? Are you surrendered? What kind of music do you listen to? Well, now, Brother McCoy, you're meddling. That's my business to meddle. Well, you know, I'm going to listen to my music. Yeah, because you're a rebel, that's why. Huh? Yeah, amen. What kind of clothes you wear when you're not here? Yeah, amen. All you ladies look nice, and all you guys look nice. Some of you guys can't wait to go home and put on your shorts and throw up in your shirt and go around looking like one of these movie stars. Well, most of them are queers. Amen. Huh? I mean, you ladies, you throw on them mini skirts. Huh? Well, if I was going to buy a dress, I get my money's worth and get a whole dress. You just think you paying for a whole dress and only getting half of it and they taking all the half material and selling it to somebody else. Huh? Amen. Oh, we look religious. We look like, boy, everybody in here looks like they're right with God. I want to tell you something friend. You can bring a dope dealer in here and he can look like he's right with God. Amen. Huh? looking in it isn't it friend it's being amen brother mccoy getting mighty quiet now amen i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your bodies a living sacrifice your body friend Can't lay around and sleep around and and uh go from woman to woman and man to man and hey your body. Amen. That's right. It's god's body. That's right. Amen. That's good preaching brother. Yeah. A living sacrifice. Ah boy, I'd die for God. I want you to try living for him. He'll probably get more use out of you. Why don't you just try living for him, huh? I'd go anywhere for God. Why don't you try going to church? Amen. I'd give him anything. Why don't you start with your tithe, amen? Or if I tell you what, if I had a million dollars, I'd give half of it to God. Why don't you take 10% of what you got and give it to him? Does that make sense to you? That makes sense to me. We always talk about what we would do, what we could do, what we'd like to do. Why don't you do what you can right now? Amen. Surrender your life. You hold on to it, friend, it's not gonna amount to anything. Jesus said, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. Huh? And if I was a farmer, now let's just think very practically. If I was a farmer and I got seed corn, corn that I plant for other corn, and I say, man, if I put all this corn in the ground, I won't have any. I'm gonna keep it. Maybe I got a jar here, a bucket of it, or a bag of it. I'm going to put all this corn in the ground. I won't have any! And you know what happens? That's all I got is that little bit there, isn't it? Man, if I take and plant that corn, plant that corn, I don't just get back what I planted. I get back hundreds of years, thousands and thousands of kernels of corn, you see. Many of us are just that way with our lives. Man, we're gonna hang on to it. We're gonna do our thing. We're gonna live our life. And you know what you end up with? Just your little puny life. Friend, when you invest your life into serving God and living for God, You don't just get back your little puny life or my little puny life. Man, God multiplies it hundreds and hundreds. Man, God can do with your life and my life many, many more times than what you and I could do with it. You know, when I got saved, listen to this now. When I got saved, I didn't grow up in church. I was a C and E Christian. Went to church on Christmas and Easter, C and E. I wasn't a Christian. I just say see and eat. Listen to me. Listen to me. I didn't know anything about God. I didn't know much about the Bible. But the night I got saved, I knelt down on the side of that bed and I received Christ in my heart as my Savior. But I also said something that I know that the Lord had to be dealing with my heart, but I didn't know what surrender was. But I said this, I said, Lord, I've had control of my life for 24 years and I made a mess out of it. And I said, Lord, I'm gonna give my life over to you and see what you can do with it. And I wanna tell you something, man, God did more with my life in 24 seconds. that I had done within 24 years. God began to lead me immediately. I knew God's will. Immediately, I knew what God wanted me to be. Pastor, I think it was pastor or whoever, somebody was asking me up here what I do after I got saved. Oh, yeah. Did I stay there? No, man. Immediately, God spoke to my heart and said, get your stuff together and go home. Immediately. Immediately. I didn't know that. I didn't know that God could speak to you and show you things man Immediately, but you say now, why did he do that? Because I surrendered Some of you walk around in the in the dark and in the fog Feeling around for the will of God not never sure boy You don't know every if you're in the will of God man, you're feeling for you walk the will of God you never know You're guessing, and I'll tell you why you can't find the will of God. Because you want the will of God on your terms. You want it your way. You want the will of God as long as you can do some other things that you want to do, and you'll never have it. You'll never have it. until it's unconditional surrender. It's not hard to find the will of God. The hard thing is giving up self and yielding over to God. That's the part where you'll find the struggle. You don't have to wrestle the will of God from God. You don't have to hold a gun up to him and stick him up to get the will of God from him. He wants you to know his will. The thing that blocks you from knowing the will of God, friend, it's not God, it's you. Your will is in the way. Your desires are in the way. It's you, not God. God's not saying, boy, I'm just gonna hold it out from him, because I, you know, I'm gonna play a little game with him and see how long they can beg. No, God doesn't deal that way. It's you, friend. It's me. He surrendered. Are you surrendered? Are you saved? Are you surrendered? And then one final thing, and I'll be through. Not only did he get saved on that Damascus road, not only did he surrender his life on that Damascus road, and I really think that's the majority of the people in here right there. And the next thing really follows the second. If you don't have the second, you're not going to have the third. Not only did he get saved, not only did he surrender his life, but then we find that immediately he began to serve God. Serve God. Look at that ninth chapter of Acts. Acts chapter nine, verse number 18. Acts chapter nine, verse number 18. And immediately, Acts chapter nine, verse 18, and immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he received sight forthwith and arose and was baptized. And when he had received me, he was strengthened. Then we saw certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus, and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the son of God. Service, service. Listen to me, God didn't save you, friend, for you to sit. Amen? I didn't save you just so you could wear out a path from your house to the church house and back and forth. God saved you so you could serve him. And the average Christian isn't doing a blessed thing for God. except going and coming. Now, that's fine. It's better for you to be here than not to be here. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying, friend, think about it. What about at work? What if all you did at work was go from home to work? You leave home, and you go to work, and you just sit there in a chair. You didn't do nothing. You just sit there. four o'clock or whatever bell to ring. When the bell ring, you get up and go home. Next morning, eight o'clock, you're there, you're in your seat faithfully. You don't do a blessed thing. I guarantee you what? Boy, if that boss was worth anything, he'd come to you after not long and say, look, I'm glad you're at work. I got a lot of people that call off and stuff, and you are faithful to be here. I'm glad you're here. I think we need to have a talk because, you know, maybe I didn't make this clear when I hired you. That there's more to this job than just sitting in the seat. That's good. I'm glad you're here. But we do have some work for you to do. See that typewriter over there? You probably didn't figure this out. You're supposed to type on that. See this stack of things here? You're supposed to file them. Now, I know you didn't figure that out. Now, I know you thought that, you know, that we were nice guys and we just wanted, you know, this seat filled. But let me just go over it again. We hired you because we had some work that needed to be done. And if you can't do the work, I'm afraid we're gonna have to get somebody else. Now listen to me friend, I'm not saying that's a perfect illustration. You don't get, you know, God doesn't fire you, you don't lose your salvation if you're not working for God. But listen to me, God saved your friend and there's work to be done. Amen. You don't think there's work to be done? You don't think there's a job that God has for you? Listen, God hasn't called everybody to be a pastor. God hasn't called everybody to be an evangelist. God hasn't even called everybody to go to Bible college. If God has called you to do that, then bless God, you ought to do it. God hadn't called all of us to full-time Christian service. Listen to me, but God has called every one of us to be full-time Christians. Amen. Get to work, amen. Get busy for God. Get off your do nothing and get going for God. Amen. As guys in this church, you could be doing 10 times more than what you're doing. As ladies in this church, you could be doing 10 times more than what you're doing. There's young people in this church. You could be doing 10 times more than what you're doing today. We're not saved by works. And don't you ever forget it. But bless God, we are saved to work. And don't you ever forget that either. Look at Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two in verse number eight. Ephesians 2 in verse 8 Ephesians 2 in verse 8 for by grace are you saved you see it it's a gift the word grace the same as the word gift man it's a gift there's nothing you could do if you had 10 zillion dollars you couldn't buy salvation there is no you can't buy it you can't earn it it's free For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. If you're here today, don't get the wrong idea. I'm not saying, and the Bible's not saying that you've gotta do some works in order to be saved. All you must do is believe, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Now listen to me, once you get saved, though, you need to understand, though, that God has called you to work. Now look at verse 10, he says, for we are his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto what say good works good works good works Which God hath before ordained That we should walk in them. God didn't save us by works, but God saved us to work Amen to the work. There's a song that says to the work. Amen There's souls that need to be saved. There's there's lives that need to be impacted friend. There's work to be done And if we don't do it, it's not going to just magically get done. Amen. It's not going to just magically get done. We're going to have to work. Amen? Amen. Word, friend, word. Man, we got to get out of this thing of thinking we just kind of sit back and, well, you know, the pastor's going to take care of it and all of that. No, no, no. His job, and my job, is to help him do the job of training you, feeding you so that you can be prepared to do the work of the ministry. You check it out in Ephesians 4 11. I won't take time to turn to it. I think I will. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 11. Know man, we we got to get done here, but I am I am about through this is about it. But listen now Ephesians 4 and verse 11 And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. That's the same person by the way Amen, you don't come to Souls Harbor and get pastored and then get your teaching off some radio joker Amen You get your pastoring and teaching from the same place. Amen, brother McCoy. Amen. Oh man, I'll go into that later in the week, because some of y'all can look at me like a, you don't know what I'm talking about. I'll get into that later. But look at the purpose, though, of the pastor's ministry. And as evangelist, I come in to help him with his ministry. Look at the purpose, for the perfecting of the saints. That means that you would become mature, okay? for the work of the ministry who the saints the saints do the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ oh man i'm done but listen to me listen to me well three things happened to paul on that saul on that damascus road because the name wasn't even changed to paul yet he got saved he got saved he got saved He wasn't just, he was already religious. And maybe there's people in this room today, boy, you're religious, very religious. There's a lot of religious people. I wanna tell you something, religion is the enemy of salvation. Because people get so wrapped up in religion, they don't see a need for salvation. Religion doesn't save. Being a member of such and such church doesn't save you. Being a member of this church doesn't save you. No, no, no, friend, he was religious, but he was lost. And he got saved on that Damascus road. And then after he got saved, he surrendered to the Lord. He says, all right, I'm saved. Now, Lord, what do you want me to do? What do you, I know something that you need, that you want me to do. What do you want me to do? Huh? And the Lord showed him, friend, and he got busy. Immediately, immediately, he got baptized. You realize there's people, maybe even in this room, you got saved, but you won't get baptized. Shame on you. Shame on you. Shame on you. Listen, you may have been baptized as a kid, you may have been baptized 10 times, but baptism doesn't mean anything until after you get saved. It doesn't mean anything. It's like me putting on a wedding ring before I get married. It doesn't mean a thing, friend. It only means something once I'm standing at the altar and I've said I do, and I put the ring on to show that I've done. or I'm done or whatever. That's right, when I said I do, I was done, brother. Me and my wife till we died, brother, I was done, amen. Amen. Listen to me. Say, surrender. Surrender. You gave it all, baptism, whatever, God, whatever you want me to do. And he got busy serving Christ. Immediately, he started preaching in the synagogue. Immediately, he got to winning souls. Man, he didn't wait till, well, you know, after I learned the Bible. Man, immediately, he got busy. Immediately, he got to work for God. Those are the three things that needs to happen in our lives. Now, where are you then? You say, boy, I'm not even saved yet. Well, you haven't taken the first step. See, there's people trying to work in the church that haven't even been saved. Huh? There's people that want the pastor to give them something to do that haven't even been saved, friend. Take care of the first thing, get saved. Take care of that this morning. You say, I'm saved, Brother McCoy, all right. Then my question is, are you surrendered? Has there been a place in your life, man, where you've given over to God, you've yielded yourself to God? Huh? And if everything, are you serving, are you, are you busy? What do you do? What do you do? What is your work? What is it that, man, that, you know, in the church or in the ministry here that is so necessary for you to do besides coming? What is it? What is it? You know, a problem a lot of times is that there's people, and I pastored for eight years, but I know what I'm talking about, and there would be people that I would want to use, and in many cases would want to be used, as a deacon or at some other position in the church, but I couldn't use them. You know why? Because they wouldn't be faithful to services, or they wouldn't give, or they set some other kind of bad example that would hinder other Christians. And though I would have wanted to use them, and God would have wanted to use them, I had to say, brother or sister, I'd love to, but I cannot do it. I just cannot do it. And people get mad. Oh, they get mad at me. Oh, you don't like me. No, it's not that. It's not that. But listen to me, friend, God's not so desperate that he's just, you know, just using folks that just kind of halfway in. No, God's not desperate. If he don't use you and me, he'll find somebody else. He really will. But boy, you look at the blessing that you and I miss out on. I'm glad I'm up here preaching and not my replacement. Amen. I'm glad I got to sing this morning and not my replacement. I'm glad I got to get up at 520 this morning and drive to Milwaukee and not my replacement. Amen. I'm glad it's me. Amen. Amen. I don't want to be sitting on the bench. I don't want to be in the clubhouse. I don't hey man, huh? I don't want to be on the injured list. I don't want to be on the scrap heap friend. I want to be on the front line for God. And you ought to want to be too. And if not, why not? Huh? Huh? Why not? Let's bow our heads. Father, we said a lot of things this morning. A lot of words, Lord. Yet, Lord, there's many truths packed in those words. There's people here this morning that are not saved. And God, I pray that this morning they'll stop playing their games and get down to business, Lord, and get saved. There's people in here that are saved, Lord, but they're not surrendered, only up to the point where it crosses what they wanna do. Lord, there's people in here that are saved, and they won't do the thing that will qualify themselves so that they can be of service to thee. God, help us today. Help us not to live our lives for ourselves and selfishly, each one doing what's right in his own eyes. God, that we'll live by the book and do what's pleasing to thee. Help us today to be saved, surrendered, and serve in Jesus. Our heads are bowed and eyes are closed. I'm going to ask three simple questions. Give you three simple challenges this morning. First of all, are you safe? Secondly, are you surrendered to God? Thirdly, are you serving God? Let me ask the first one. I wonder if you're here this morning. Now listen, I told the people in the nine o'clock service, we get so used to raising our hands because we just kind of people a bit and see if everybody else is raising their hands and we don't want to be odd. So if everybody else is raising their hand, then we raise our hand. Now listen, that's dishonest. and it's not going to help you a bit. I'm going to ask you a question and please give an honest answer. It doesn't matter who raises their hand, you think about it and you only raise your hand honestly. The first question is this, do you know for sure without one single doubt that if you were to die today you'd go to heaven? If you died this instant, If somehow this whole building blew up, like that Oklahoma building did, it just blew up and everybody in here died, can you honestly say that you know without one doubt that you'd go to heaven? If you can, don't think about anybody else. If you can say that, I want you to show about raising your hand right now. Don't worry about anybody else. This is a personal matter, all right? You can put your hand down, okay? Now, I trust you understood the question. Now, here's my second question. You couldn't raise your hand that time, but you'd like to be able to raise your hand. You say, Brother McCoy, I'd like to be able to say I'm that sure that I'd go to heaven. I was honest with you, I couldn't raise my hand that time, but I would like to be that sure that I'm going to heaven. And I want you to pray for me. All right, I want you to raise your hand now. right now okay i see your hand ma'am anybody else i i want to be that sure okay i see your hand okay i see it all right i want to be that sure but i i couldn't raise my hand and say i am but i want you to pray for me you raise your hand right now okay i see your hand anybody else anybody else I was honest. I couldn't raise my hand to say I know without a doubt I'm going to heaven. I'd like to be that sure and I'd like you to pray for me. Would you raise your hand, please? I want to help you if I can. I'm going to pray. All right. I see your hand. All right, ma'am. I see it. Anybody else? Okay, you can put your hand down. I see it. Anybody else? I want to be that sure. I'm not, but I want to be. Anybody else? Please, please. This is what we're here for. Anybody else? I'm not that sure, but I want to be sure. Anybody else? Anybody? Okay, I see your hand. All right. Anybody else? Anybody else? Hold it up high. Anybody else? I'm not that sure. Okay. Amen. All right. Appreciate your honesty. I'm not that sure. I'm hanging on for you. And I don't know who you are, but you know, and God knows. But listen, you would say, I'm not that sure, but I'd like to be that sure. Man, wouldn't you want to be sure you're going to heaven when you die? You say, I don't know if anybody can be that sure. Well, take my word for it. You can be that sure. And we'll show you in the Bible how you can be that sure. Anybody else? You say, I'm not that sure, but I would like to be pray for me. Anybody else quickly, please. Anybody else? I'd like to be that sure. I'm not that sure. All right, anybody else? Heads about and eyes are closed. Let me ask you this. You say, I'm saved. I know it without a doubt. But let me ask you this. Are you really surrendered to God? Or are you living for self? Are you really surrendered to God or are there areas that you will not give over to God? You say, Brother McCoy, I'm saved. I'm saved and I know it. But yet God has dealt with my heart about this matter of being surrendered in this area of serving God. Boy, there's some things I need to deal with. There's some decisions I need to make today. You raise your hand today. You raise your hand and say, pray for me about that. Pray for me. Pray for me. All right. I see your hand. Anybody else? Okay. All right. Anybody else? Pray for me. I gotta make some decisions or a decision. Anybody else? All right. I see your hand, sir. Okay. Anybody else? Pray for me. All right. All right. Anybody else? All right. Okay, sir. Anybody else? Pray for me. I gotta make a decision. Okay, okay heads about now because I want to tell you something. It's not hard friend You just look at your life honestly, and you know the areas that you're not giving over to God, you know the stubbornness You know the things that God's trying to get you to yield and you fight against God You just deal with it You make a decision and you follow through on it and man alive every day you pray you ask God for strength you ask God for victory and you just do it see God will bless you. Faithfulness, you just do it. Man alive, you want to serve God. Man alive, there's something for you to do. There's something for all of us to do. Let's make sure that we don't have any hindrances in our lives. You say, brother McCoy, I'd like to serve God. I'd like to serve him more, but I know there's things in my life that would hinder me. And I want God to deal with those things. If you raise your hand quickly, quickly, quickly. All right. All right. Anybody else? I'd like to serve God. I'd like to really be more for God. Okay. You can put your hand down, but I know there's things in my life that hinder me, hinder me from being used of God. Like I know that, that, that, that, that God wants to use anybody else, anybody else, anybody else. Okay. All right. All right. Amen. Amen. Tell you what? Let's all stand our feet with our heads bowed stand our feet with our heads bowed I'm gonna pray I said I wouldn't I'm going to you stand your feet with your head bowed Now listen, here's the instructions when I get done praying We're gonna have music, the music's gonna play. And if you raise your hand for any one of those things, what you need to do is come down to the altar and find you a place to pray and talk to God. Now I'm sorry, I'm not a priest. I'm not sorry about, I'm not a priest. It wouldn't do you one bit of good to come to me and confess your sin, but listen to me, you go to God and you talk to God about it. And God will help you, friend. Listen, He'll help you every time. If it's sin, you confess it. If it's help, you ask for it. And He'll give it to you. But listen to me. Listen to me good with heads bowed. If you raise your hand and say, I'm not 100% sure I'm going to heaven when I die, you leave your seat. You leave your seat. and you come down here and you take the pastor's hand and he'll show you what to do. And if you can't do that, friend, there's something wrong. Nobody's gonna make you do anything. Nobody's gonna take you and dip you in the water. They just wanna talk to you. And so you can be sure. Now listen to me, as a matter of fact, once I pray, we're gonna give those people a chance to come first. I'm gonna pray first, and then those who raise their hand and say that I need to make sure that I'm saved, I want you to slip out of your seat first. Father, in the name of Jesus, please bless the invitation now.