Been studying, been praying, been thinking about what the Lord would have us to do. And then just a few moments ago, He changed it entirely and completely. So I'm as excited about it as you are, alright? Amen. Y'all pray for me. Every once in a while He does me that way. But that's okay. I'd rather preach what He wants me to than preach what I've got. Amen? I've tried that a few times. I didn't like it, so I quit doing it. Amen. I just started doing what He told me to. I said, well, Lord, you know I ain't prayed about this and I ain't ready for it. And he said, well, you just do what I tell you to. And so that's what I'm going to do. Amen. Luke chapter number 2 in your Bible. Luke chapter number 2 and we'll begin our reading in verse 41. Again, it's a blessing, always a blessing to get to come to the Ridgeview Baptist Church. And I appreciate you, Pastor. He's precious to me. And over the years, we've had opportunity for our friendship to grow. And he is a dear, precious friend to me. And I thank the Lord for it. And I know I'm not here because I am friends with him. That's not why I'm here. I believe that the Lord dealt with his heart to have a scum, and I don't believe he had a scum just because I'm his friend. Amen? I just don't believe that. I believe your pastor wants God's will, and I believe he prays about who he'd have behind this pulpit. And I do not believe for one second that he would just have a scum just because he knows us, but I believe it's because he believes it's God's will. And so take it seriously tonight. Luke chapter number 2, and let's stand together. Verse number 41 is where I'll start our reading tonight. And the Bible says, now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. When he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kindred and acquaintances. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. I want to preach this a little while out of these verses concerning this thought, what to do when you can't find Jesus. What to do when you can't find Jesus. Now you say, preacher, you're surely not preaching anybody in here. We've all found Jesus. We know exactly where he's at. Well, you might be surprised at how many people that do know Jesus. Do y'all think Mary knew Jesus? Well, of course she knew him. Do you think Joseph knew Jesus? Well, sure he did. Had they spent time with Jesus? Did they have a relationship with Jesus? Was Mary saved? Yeah, I believe she was. I believe she is a believer. It'd have been hard not to have been a believer if you was Mary, all right? She wasn't God like the Catholics think she is. She was a woman that God had chose, but I believe that she was a believer. Somebody say amen right there, right? Amen. She had a little bit of help on the believing part, too. If you had babies without no husband, you'd believe a lot better, too. Amen? But here they are, and they know Jesus. They have a relationship with Jesus. Amen. They're family with Jesus. But they left him, and according to what I just read, they didn't even know they left him. So what do you do when you can't find Jesus? Let's pray, and you can be seated. Father, we love you. Thank you, God, for loving us tonight. God, it sure is a blessing to be here again. How we love to come and be amongst the people here at this church. And God, I pray, Lord, that your blessings be upon us. Lord, if there's somebody here tonight, that they're saved, Lord. They're your children. God, they're birthed into your family. But God, they've just left Jesus. God, I pray, Lord, that you would please help us tonight to be an encouragement to them. God, there might be somebody here tonight, Lord, they've got a great relationship with the Lord, but they may be coming into a place in their life to where a situation, maybe a sickness or maybe a storm of some kind, maybe a temptation, something may happen in their lives, and you're giving them this message in advance. God, you often do that. And God, you're gonna tell them how to find Jesus. I got in advance and Lord, I pray God that if there is somebody here tonight that's lost, just don't know Jesus, don't have a relationship, I don't know anything about Him really, they've heard about Him, they've heard the testimonies of others, they've heard the singing and the preaching, but God, they've never truly accepted Christ. God, I'm praying that tonight would be the night that they'd know Jesus. then accept him, then find him. God is our prayer. And Lord, we'll thank you for it. Give me unction and power, God, that only you can give. I realize tonight, Lord, if I was to say everything right, and you don't touch it, there won't be nothing done. But God, I know, Lord, if you'll empower it, God, if you'll put your touch upon it, God, if you'll put unction upon it, great things can happen tonight. And Lord, we'll never be the same. We'll be closer to you when we leave the building than when we came in. and Lord, we'll thank you for it. Use my body now, I pray, in Jesus' name, amen, and amen, you can be seated. Now, I wanna say a few things just by way of introduction real quickly. Amen, I do believe that Jesus' parents were saved people. I believe that they were coming to the very feast of the Passover. Amen, the Bible says here they'd come to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast, and they had actually come And it actually went through what Jesus was all about. In case you're not familiar with it, but this Passover meal, this whole celebration is all about Jesus. The Passover, of course, is referring back there in Exodus when Moses, amen, and the people of Israel and God brought them out Now, with that last plague, you remember the last one, the last thing that God did is that he took the lives of the firstborn in each family that did not have the blood applied to the door. And the blood, of course, was applied to the top of the door and the sides of the door, amen, and no doubt dripped to the bottom of the door. But if you didn't have blood on the door, then God came in and God killed the firstborn. but God allowed them, amen, to put blood on the door of an innocent animal, and God, when he would see the blood, according to the Bible, he would pass over their house and go to the next one. And if he saw blood, he'd pass over, amen, and so it become a celebration, much like we have the Lord's Supper in remembrance of him. They had a supper, amen, in remembrance of the Passover of when God, amen, passed over them, amen, and allowed them to live. a great picture of salvation, a great picture of the cross, a great picture of the blood. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. And so then God, amen, had them to come together, and Jesus and his parents came to this meeting, amen, they went through the whole process of the eating and the drinking, and the remembrance of this Passover. Oh, if there was ever a time I had to be close to Jesus, brother Bud, it would have been during the Passover, don't you think? I mean, man, here you are going through this whole thing, and it's all about Jesus, amen. They're hearing it, they're tasting of it, they're actually involved in it, and they're on their way back home. Let me give you a few things real quick, and then I'll give you an outline in case Brother Stimet Blue ever sees this, and that way I'll be okay with him, all right? Amen. But I'll give you this little introduction. First of all, I want you to realize that they left Jesus. They couldn't find Jesus on their way home. And let me tell you something. Hey, man, if you've been saved by the grace of God, you're on your way home. Amen, we're going home, praise God. I was up in the choir the other day, and there's a shouting going on. We're singing a song, and in that song, it had a line about a table being spread, and they're waiting on us. And man, I couldn't help it. I had to jump up and say, they can't take a bite till I get there, amen. Amen, I'm talking about, I'm on my way home, amen. You're on your way home. Amen, I'm on my way home. But did you know you can, you can, You cannot find Jesus on your way home? You can leave Jesus behind? Did you know you can be saved, born again in the family of God and not be able to find Jesus even though you're on your way home? Now I'm gonna be honest with you, I believe with everything I got these people in here, amen, right now that are saved, amen, and they may have left Jesus and don't even know it. I'm not talking about losing salvation, preacher. He don't have to get nervous, amen. Every fiber of my being believes that once you're saved, you're birthed in the family of God, amen. It's not up to you. It's not whether you perform good enough to stay saved, amen. You're saved by the grace of God, amen. Jesus did it all, amen. Amen, you can't claim any of it. It's not by works of righteousness, which we've done, but it's according to his mercy. Amen, for by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourself. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We'll never brag about how we did it. When we get to heaven, we'll not stick our chest out and stick our thumbs under our suspenders and say, boy, didn't I do good? Amen, there ain't nothing good about you or me, the one. There's none good, no, not one. Amen, where all is an unclean thing, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. So now we've settled that. So preacher's not talking about losing your salvation, but preacher is talking about that on this walk home, You can leave Jesus and not even know it. Now, was Mary and Joseph still part of Jesus' family? Well, of course they was. So then we're not talking about losing your relationship with Jesus. But they did lose him and they couldn't find him. And I believe this, and I'll tell you why I believe it, because I believe there's been times in my life, amen, since I've been saved, Brother Donnie, and I'm just being honest with you, amen, that I'm so consumed and so busy and so excited about doing something for God, amen, and so, I mean, just, I mean, I'm thrilled about getting to do something for God that I find myself stepping away from Him every once in a while. You say, preacher, how could you be in God's will and step away from God? Amen, sometimes we think God's will is something different than it really is. Amen, amen, you can get so busy and so caught up, amen, in serving God that you can leave Jesus behind. You say, preacher, I don't know about that now. Our preacher's always encouraging us to do more. I do want you to do more praise, God, do more. Amen? But make sure you're walking with Jesus as you're doing it. They're on their way home. Now somebody listen to me. I promise you, you'll need this message. If you don't need it right now, hey, why are we having revival anyway? People come to our church, sometimes preachers will come, and the first night we're shouting and running, people taking laps and turning cartwheels and going outside with flags and getting on the roof. I mean, and then the preacher says, why did you have me come? Hey, y'all don't need revival. My goodness, if there's any church that don't need revival, it's not yours. Hey, let me tell you something, you can run and shout and sing and preach, and you've left Jesus. Amen. I said a little bit about it last night. Amen. Jesus talking about a church over there in Revelation. That's doing everything right. And he brags on them. And then he said, but there's one thing I got a problem with. You left me. You don't even know you left me. There are churches, brother Bud, amen, in this area right here. Amen, they're going through the motions. They come in, they take their place, they go to the choir, three songs, back out, prayer, three minute prayer, take out the offering, amen, preacher gets up, anybody got a special song? You got one? No. You? No. I forgot my book. I'm sorry, I didn't pray about it. I've got a sore throat. Somebody finally comes up. Don't listen to the way I sang it. I'm gonna get in trouble right now. Sorry, but we're going to listen to how you're saying it. So you can go ahead and quit saying that, because we're all going to listen to how you're saying it. Amen. Amen. But anyway, then the preacher gets up, and the preacher preaches, and then they dismiss in prayer, and they leave. And Jesus might not have been nowhere around there. Said, no, preacher, if you did all that, that's the Baptist one, two, three, four, five service, amen. Let me tell you something, I believe it with everything I've got that sometimes even though you're living for God and you're praying and you're reading your Bible, amen, and you're walking with God, amen, you can be doing it right. But you've left him somewhere. They were on their way home and they left Jesus. They'd just been in one of the greatest meetings they've ever been in their life, and they just left Jesus. So involved in the incidentals of going home, and the packing, and the getting ready, and the excitement, and the crowds, and the movement, that they left Jesus. Verse number 43 says they left him and they didn't even know it. You say, preacher, that's ridiculous. You cannot leave Jesus behind and not even know it. There's no way. Oh, hey man, Brother Harvey just said last night, he stood up and testified and said, oh, preacher, I don't know how long it's been since I prayed. Well, common sense said, wait just a minute, you just prayed, Brother Harvey. Are you losing it? Come on, y'all can smile, it's scarcastic. Hey man, what does he mean? He just prayed 15 minutes, he gets up and says he ain't prayed in a long time. What's he talking about? There's a difference. He's not talking about saying words. He's talking about, hey man, having the presence of God in his prayer. He's talking about praying until God, the Lord Jesus is so present. You have no doubt, he's right here. Y'all know what I'm talking about? Amen. So then, they left him on their way home. They left him and didn't know it. They left him in the crowd, supposing him to have been in the company. Got so big. The company got so big. And they went a day's journey. They left him a whole day and didn't even know it. How could you have just went to the Passover supper? Brother Jerry, how could you have just went to the celebration of the feast? Amen. You've got God, son, and Mary knew it was God. Mary did not have to have faith like we have. Amen. Hers, God, come on now. You know hers was a little easier. Amen, an angel comes down, comes into the room where I'm at, amen, I'm a woman, and says, you're gonna have a baby, and I say, no, can't be me, I've never known a man. He said, God's gonna do it all, and then a few months later, amen, I've got a belly sticking out here, and it's not cause I swallowed a black seed of a watermelon, it's cause I got a baby in there. I go tell my cousin, and John the Baptist turned cartwheels inside of him. Are y'all listening? Hey, she knew, she knew. She had that baby. Amen. Shepherds showed up. Angels floating around. God on the scene. Hey, there was no doubt. Amen. Don't tell me, amen, that you got such a relationship with God that you can't step away from Him. Amen. When Mary went a whole day's journey without Him. Oh man, isn't that embarrassing, ladies? Have y'all ever left your kid? Have you? Some of you are rocking your heads. Some of you would never admit it. Tell you what we did one time. We had church meeting. Man, it was on. And people was worshiping and shouting and praising God. And our little grandson, Brandon, he had went to sleep. He's just a little feller. He had went to sleep on the second pew right over here where Linda's at on our church. And he had went to sleep. A little feller. I don't know how old he was. He's just a little feller. And he went over there and laid down and went out to sleep. And boy, we shouted and worshipped. And man, it was a great meeting. And then we went to the back door and we dismissed and everything. And people all left. And I reached over and cut all the lights out. and we went and got in the car and we went and somebody had invited us to go over and eat at their house, Brother Harvey, and we went over to their house and we was all sitting around fellowshipping and talking and laughing and cutting up, and my son, Greg, he said, well, I don't think we've got enough and so we're gonna go get some Dr. Pepper Coke, whatever it was. They said, we're gonna go get some drinks, we'll be right back. And so they left and we're all sitting around just having a time. The ladies are all in the kitchen laughing and preparing the meal. And all of a sudden somebody said, where is Brandon at? Where is he? Where's Brandon at? We glanced around the room real quick and I thought, what do you think I thought? What if that little feller... It's over there in the dark. Now when you turned out our church, see our church we had to build on both sides. You've been in our church, at that time we built on both sides and the front doors were solid like this. And when you turned out the lights, it was dark. I mean you couldn't even hardly see. I had to put the switch at the back because if you turned them out up here, you couldn't even see how to get out the door. And so here we turn the lights off, this little boy, I mean little fella is asleep in there. And the first thing hit my mind, what's gonna happen if he wakes up? and there ain't nobody in there and he's in the dark. And so, man, I jumped in the car and I drove back over to the church real quick, slid in the gravels, ran up to the front door and unlocked it. I was afraid he might be standing in there crying. I opened up the door, I ran down the aisle, didn't even turn the lights on. I was in such a hurry and I looked over there and I could see him laying over there. I picked him up, little fella, didn't even know nothing about it. We told him about it later, he don't know. I put him on my left shoulder. I walked him back out. I spent the rest of the day with him. It bothered me. Would that bother you? I mean, little fella, what if he had woke up? I took him back over there and we sat him down and everybody was showing him special attention. He was still like... He finally woke up and everybody's standing around him, petting on him. The little women are crying and he's like... What's wrong with y'all? His daddy come back, they brought in all the stuff and set it down, and Linda turned around and said, Greg, did y'all know that you left Brandon over at the church? Greg said, what? I mean, I remember one time Sammy Allen was preaching a revival for us, and Brother Allen, a lot of times he'll come up and he'll bring a bunch of people with him, and I remember one time he come up and preached, and we took him out the fellowship building and we ate a meal and everything, and then Brother Allen loaded all up and they all took off, and I remember, the car and it was late, I mean it was 11.30, 12 o'clock, and I come pulling around the front of the church, there's a little porch on the front of our church, and I come around and I'm driving around through there and there's this little boy standing out in front of the church like this. And I pulled around through there and I seen him and I said, well who is that little boy walking by here this time of night? So I just backed up and pulled back in there and I said, hey buddy, I said, what you doing? He said, they left me. I said, what? He said, they left me. I said, what do you mean they left you? And he said, they left me. And I said, it's okay. I said, it's okay, buddy. I'm not gonna leave you. I said, come over here with me. I just got out of the car and we went over and sat down on the steps, you remember, Lynn? And I sat down with him and I said, tell me what your name is. I said, who'd you come with? He said, I come with the preacher. I said, who's the preacher you talking about? He said, I come with Brother Sammy. I said, well, they left you, son. They left you. I got on the phone, I called and called and called, and finally I got a hold of Brother Allen, and I said, Brother Allen, how you doing? He said, it's a good meeting, Brother Frazier. I believe that function was there. He said, I felt virtue go out. I was trying to get him to stop by. I said, hey, talk for a minute. And then I said, Brother Allen, I said, I believe I've got somebody that you left back here at the church. And he said, hold on just a minute. And he talked to some people, and he said, yep, yep, you do, you got one of them. He said, we're turning around. Have you ever left somebody? Amen. Some of you are shaking hands. I mean, my goodness, can you imagine what it would be like to leave somebody behind? But especially... to have been Mary and Joseph and their responsibility of watching out for God. Joseph, y'all remember Joseph. Man, he thought about probably putting her away, cause she's with child and he know he ain't been with her yet. But the angel come, an angel come and appeared right in his face and told him, it's okay, go ahead and marry her. God here is of the Holy Ghost. She has the Savior living on the inside. Hey man, he's gonna be born. Call him Emmanuel, God with us. Joseph knew that it was God, and they left him. They left him. What about that? If they could do it, don't think for a second you can't do it. And you'll say, yeah, but preacher, if I left him, I'd know it. They didn't know it. They did not have the presence of Jesus, and they didn't even know it. A whole day went by while they traveled. I can just picture it. Here's Mary and she's talking. They're probably talking about lady things and what have you made lately? Well, I made this beautiful dress and so forth. And they're talking about how I cook and what kind of a recipe have you got? Perhaps they're talking, the men are over there and they're on their way. They're talking about them eating back there perhaps. They're talking about the great Passover or whatever. Hey man, perhaps maybe the ladies are talking about Passover and the men were talking about deer hunting. I don't know, but anyway, while they were on their way, all of a sudden, somebody might have said, hey, by the way, Mary, where is Jesus? Wait just a minute. She might have went over and said, Joseph, where is Jesus at? And he said, well, I thought he was with you. She said, he ain't with me. I thought he was with you. And so they probably turned around and let me ask you a question. Does anybody in here think that they might have got excited? Does anybody in here think their heart might've went up a few beats? Perhaps their blood pressure jumped from 120 over 80 to maybe 145? Y'all believe that? I mean, something happened. Now, bud, wait a minute. Wait just a minute. We're still on our road home. We're still part of the family of God. Amen, we still are believers. We're still going to heaven when we die. Everything's still the same, but the only problem is we can't find Jesus. And so immediately, I believe they got a little bit hysterical about it. Now if y'all don't believe, oh well, he'll turn up in a few days. Mary said, oh it ain't no big deal. He runs away all the time. No. First time. First time they'd left him. You believe it? First time. Amen? First time. What did they do? I believe she turned around and she ran over back to the ladies and she said, has anybody seen Jesus? Has anybody seen Jesus? And they began to look. Have you seen him? When's the last time you seen him? I believe Joseph ran over to the men. Men, hey, let's forget about everything else. We can't find Jesus. Help me find Jesus. And they began to look around. They began to talk through the crowd. Hey, men, they've left Jesus. They left him for a whole day. According to this Bible, it took them three days to find him. And they left him. They left him. You know, it's easy to backslide, but it's hard to slide back up. Let me give you this outline. Number one, if you're taking notes, what do you do, preacher, when you can't find Jesus? Number one, look at verse 44 with me. And they supposing him to have been in the company when a day's journey, and they sought him among their kindred and acquaintances. Number one, and it's not going to take me long, but the first thing, and this is not deep, this is just real. Realize it. Just realize it. You don't know where God's at. I mean, come on. Hey, you say, well, that's embarrassing. How embarrassing do you think Mary was? Hey, man, she's got to turn around to all the women and say, I can't find Jesus. That's embarrassing. But you've got to realize it. I have preachers call me every once in a while. Preacher, pray for me. Great men. Great men of God. Pray for me. Pray for me. And though they don't say it exactly like this, but what they're really saying is, I'm preaching every day of my life. In my prayer life, I've been praying. I read my Bible every day. I pastor a church. Maybe it's an evangelist. But they'll say, Preacher, pray for me. What they're really trying to say is, I can't find Jesus. Buster Seaton. Buster Seton sat down with me one day, tears dripping off his face. Y'all loved him. You knew him, didn't you? You didn't know him, you loved him, I know. Tears dripping off his face, he looked over at me and he said, Bridget, I ain't got nothing fresh from God in years. Not Buster Seaton, no way. He was one of the greatest, say amen if I'm right. Amen, he was one of the greatest evangelists this area has ever known. Power of God on him, get up, I mean touch of God, glow on him, amen. Powerful preacher, amen. But he told me, he said, I ain't had a fresh touch from God. for a long time. What is he saying? How can you be a preacher? How can you be reading? How can you be praying? How can you go to church every night of your life? How can you be preaching revivals constantly, looked up for years, and say you ain't had a fresh touch from God in a long time? I'll tell you how. You left him. You left. Why do we need a revival? They left him. First thing you do is realize it. Look here, in verse 44, number 2, they requested help. Pray for me. They requested help. They sought him amongst their acquaintances. You got any friends? It's kind of quiet in here, brother. Listen to me. Brother Bud, you can get up here and sing, and you can live for God, and you can do everything. But you know it ain't like it used to be. You got to realize it. Oh, you can go on the rest of your life. You know what they could have done? They could have just kept on their journey. Somebody said, where's Jesus? Oh, He's right here. No, He ain't. He's not right there. Where is He? Oh, He's right here. Joseph could have said, oh, He's here. He's amongst us. That's enough. I know I ain't seeing Him right now, but He's here somewhere. I believe there's churches saying, yeah, He's here. A believer's preacher, yeah, he's here, he's still here. So they realized that number one, and number two, they requested help. I don't believe they went around and said, have you seen Jesus? Have you seen Jesus? I believe they run around and said, could you help me find Jesus? Can you help me find Jesus? Hey, can you help me? I believe they went to their very best closest friends and said, we got a problem. And they said, how could you have a problem? We've just come from Jerusalem. We've been in the very city of God. We've just been through the celebration of the feast. How could you be having problems? They said, we have lost Jesus. Would you help me find him? He said, nobody can help you find him. Well, then why are we praying? Preacher just said a few minutes ago, he said, Brother Fraser, 90% of these prayer requests are for people's families that are lost and they're on their way to hell. And if we don't pray for them, amen. You know what he's saying? He's saying that's you, asking your help, amen. Ask your acquaintances, your family, your church, amen. Help me find God for my family. So they lost him on their way home, but they realized it. Number two, they requested help. Look at verse number 45. The Bible says, and when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. Repent. Now here's a word, you're not gonna hear it very often. You probably hear it here. You got a man of God that's the old way. But I go to some churches, I preach in churches last year, I talk about repentance and they looked at me like the first time they ever heard the word. What is it? It's a thing of the past. It's not, except it's not religiously correct. Hey man, in this generation, hey man, to use the word repent, they think it's a bad thing. Repentance is not a bad thing. Repentance is a gift from God. Amen. God grants repentance. He allows the span for you to repent in. Amen. God even repents. It's not sin to repent. It's a good thing to repent. And so preacher, repent. How'd you get repent out of that? They're on their way away from God. and they turn around and they're coming back toward God. Amen, ain't that repentance? Amen, ain't that repentance? Amen, brother Cheryl, ain't that the best example of repentance you can give? Amen, you're walking farther and farther and farther away from God and now you're turning around, amen, and you're walking back toward God. That's repentance, amen. So what did they do? They realized it. They requested some help. Pray for us. Help me look for him. We can't find him. And then they repented. They turned and they started back where they saw him last at. Amen, where they saw him last at. So what I see here, amen, I see not only did they repent, but they repeated. They went and looked for him for the first whole day. And according to this Bible, it took them three days to find him. Now, preacher, I'll be honest with you. I don't know, and maybe you do know, but they went a day's journey and they couldn't find him. Then it says they took three days to find him. I don't know if that included the day or not. Amen. But I know that when Lazarus was in the tomb, amen, in those days, I mean, it was hopeless. By now, he stinketh. Amen. He's lost and you're not going to find him. Days went by. What about after the first day, and they couldn't find Jesus? Well, why didn't they just quit? Two days went by. They're still looking for him. I mean, they're looking for him everywhere. Y'all don't believe me. They just walked into town and said, hey, has anybody seen Jesus? If you don't, tell him to come over here. We'll wait out here at the gate. No, no, I believe, I believe this with everything I got. Brother Bud, I believe her heart was broken. I mean, there was a lump in her throat. All she could do was cry and weep. I believe she walked the streets. I don't believe they slept at night. Come on now, help me for a minute. I don't believe for a second that they slept that night. I believe when they got back to the city all night long. Mary was going up and down the back alleys. Have you seen Jesus? Have you seen Jesus? Do you know where Jesus is? Can somebody help me find Jesus? I've lost Jesus, I can't find him. Somebody might have said, I know you, you're Mary, you're his mama. How can you say you don't know where he's at? I can't find him. Joseph running up and down the streets, hollering, has anybody seen Jesus? Has anybody seen Jesus? And for three days, they sought for Him. They sought for Him. They didn't give up. It's a great job, let's be honest with you. There was a time when I felt like I was so close to God. I felt like I was holding on to Him right here. I felt like I had my arm around His leg. I felt like I was in His presence. I felt like He was in the car with me when I drove down the road. Am I the only one in here like that? Amen. Amen. You know what I'm talking about, preacher. Amen. They get in the car and start down the road and it felt like God crawled in the other side and shut the door. Amen. You can't even hardly breathe. Amen. You don't brag about it. You don't tell somebody about it. Amen. But y'all know what? I've been in the car, Brother Harvey. I've been in there all by myself, driving down the road. Felt God crawled in the car with me. Amen. I'm telling you what. I have the glory in the car with me. Got off praying by yourself somewhere. And you felt like Jerry, he slid in right beside of you while you was praying. You felt him breathing on your neck. Some of y'all looking at me and you're saying, Preacher, I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, you're missing it. This is not just a form. This is real. I'm talking about prayer. I'm talking about being in the very presence of God. It's not something you read about. Some other preacher done it. Some great Christian of old had an experience with God. I'm talking about having it yourself. I've been down to pray with Brother Harvey, and I felt like he slid in right beside of me right here. I was afraid to open my eyes and turn around. I believe they walked those streets. Has anybody seen Jesus? Oh God, we've lost him. Oh God, what are we going to do? A day went by, another day, a night, another day, a night. Oh God, we can't find him. Oh God, help us. And then all of a sudden, they began to reason. I don't know who thought of it. But all of a sudden somebody might have turned around and said, wait just a minute, I think I know where he's at. They said, where? Where do you think he is? They said, he's down at the house of God, that's where he's at. He's down at the temple. Well, sure, that's where he'd be. So they realized it. They requested help. They repented. They repeated they're looking for him. Amen. They reasoned. Jesus, where would he be? He's always busy about the father's business. So I see here they ran to the temple. You see, it doesn't say they ran to the temple. They ran to the temple. Found out in the LDF commentary. The Bible says, came to pass that after three days they found him in the temple. Jesus sitting in the midst of the doctors. Sitting there talking to Brother Harvey. He was both hearing them and asking them questions. They'd say something, Jesus'd say, yeah, is that right? And now he's just, boy, he's just 12. Anybody in here about 12 years old? Around 12, 11, 12? How old are you, bud? 12, what about that? Amen, stand up for a second. Amen, I don't know if Jesus was as tall as you. So I guess you can sit back down. And he's just 12, did you say? He's just a little boy. He wasn't, he was just a little boy. Y'all thinking that boy took me to Green Beans or something. Can you imagine sitting in the temple with the doctors? Now we're not talking about Dr. Jones or Dr. Harvey. We're talking about, we're talking about the priest, the chief priest, the law, legalizers, Judaizers. Amen. Pharisees. Scribes. Men that wrote the Bible. Pinned it down and cut. They didn't have Xeroxes. They didn't get to put it on there and hit a button. They didn't have printing presses like we got and roll out Bibles or tracts or something. No. They'd take it word by word and letter by letter. They'd pin down a letter and check it again. Check it again. And again. Until they'd pin down the entire Bible. Without one error. They know their Bible. They thought. Till Jesus come in there and sat down with them. Perhaps a scribe turned around. Said, I was reading today and copying down the scriptures. And he told some big something. Jesus, little boy, sitting over there, said, is that right? What about this? Oh well, I hadn't thought about that. They were astonished. They marveled. How does this boy, this 12-year-old boy, how does he know so much? Look at the Scriptures with me. The Bible says, where am I at? Oh my goodness. And both hearing them and asking them questions, and all that heard him were astonished, astounded at his understanding and answers. In just a matter of a few moments, amen, Brother Wayne, it went from him asking questions to undoubtedly them asking questions because he's got some answers. Oh yeah? So little boy, come over here and sit down there. Then you tell us how the world was made. Okay. I did it. Well, how did you do it? I just spoke it. Now, he probably didn't tell them, but I'm having fun, okay? He probably didn't tell them, because he couldn't handle it, and we can't handle it either, really. Hey, man, he spoke it. He just spoke it. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made, amen. He is in the beginning, amen, before the foundations of the world, the universes, amen. Jesus made it all. But I'm not done, look at the Scriptures with me. The Bible says, and when they saw him, verse number 48, they were amazed. And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou dealt with us? Why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold thy father, look at him. I got a feeling that Joseph looked pretty rough. I got a feeling they hadn't took a bath. Come on, do y'all believe they went and took a bath and spent the night in a motel and probably watched TV late and probably went to sleep? No, they hadn't been asleep none of these days. I believe Joseph, and from everything I've ever read, they think that Joseph was older than Mary, amen, and he's physically give out, he's exhausted. He's give out. He looks rough. He ain't had a sleep in three or four days. Dirty clothes, grainy beads. She said, look, why have you done us this way? Says, behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. We've been weeping and crying for three days. And he said unto them, How is it that you sought me? If I could put that in Tennessee language, where'd you look for me at, mama? What made you think I'd be down the back alley? Where'd you think I would be at? See, if you've left Him behind, where are you going to find Him? God's not making it hard. You want to know why God said that? Where is it that you sought Me? He's telling me, I didn't do you wrong, Mom. You should have known where I would have been at. I'm busy about my father's business. And Mary knew exactly. You know, she don't argue and debate with him here. When Jesus said, I must be busy about my father. He's a 12-year-old. Mama, I must be busy about my father's business. He's not being rude. He's not being disobedient. He's not being arrogant. He didn't have a cell phone to call Mama. Amen. He said, why? Surely you know where I'd be at. You know who I am, Mom. Why was you looking everywhere else besides where you know I'd be? He's telling her, I didn't do you wrong, Mom. I was easy to find. They understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. Now, I put down here, remember, she kept all these sayings in her heart. If there's anything I really want you to get tonight, I want you to get this. God's not hiding from you. He's not playing hide and seek with you. He's not playing games with you, bud. I'm going to slip over here. No. No, God's walking here. And when we line up with Him, young man, oh, it can be glorious and wonderful. It can be heaven on earth. But we slip away. He talks about being the great shepherd. We're like sheep that go astray. We're walking with Jesus. Amen. We look off. I remember one time I got separated from my mom. I think I might have even told it here years ago. I remember one time I was just a little boy. We never did come off the mountain much, but I remember one time we went to, I guess it had probably been to Chattanooga or something. We went to Kmart. Back then there wasn't a Walmart, but we went to Kmart. K-Mart. Man, it was the biggest store I'd ever seen. I remember we walked into that K-Mart and there were just lines and lines of toys. I'd never seen anything like it. I remember it was just amazing. And so my mom said, now son, you stay right here with me. Don't you go walking off. You stay right here with mom. I said, I will, I will. I just a little, I remember mom, she was standing there and I seen something. Oh, it was awesome. It was a big plastic dump truck. So I eased over to look at it. I glanced back. Mama's right there. Everything's fine. I got over there and I got to looking at that big plastic dump truck. Man, the bed, you pick up the bed on it. I envision in my mind putting dirt in it and filling it up. It's a big enough. I was going to ride it. I mean, I was going to have fun with that dump truck. And I was looking at that dump truck. And then all of a sudden I turned around. My mama wasn't there. I ran to the next row and I looked around the next row and she wasn't there. I ran back and looked down again. I looked down the next row and all of a sudden I realized I was lost. I looked everywhere. I couldn't find my mama. You know what I did? Does anybody want to guess? I said, Mama! I screamed with everything I had. Oh, Mama! Oh, Mama! My mama stepped around the corner. She said, I did that, son, to teach you a lesson. The whole rest of the day she said, get off me. Get off of me. She said, go look at that dumb truck. I want that dumb truck. I want my mama. She said, son, get back. I want my mama. You know what that saying right there, she kept those sayings in her heart. She said, if I ever lose him again, I don't have to look three days. I know exactly where to go. I don't have to sorrow. I don't have to weep. I don't have to cry. I don't have to run all over the country. I don't have to run everywhere. I know where He's at. I can go straight to Him. She kept those sayings. Not in her mind. What's it say? In her heart. The Bible says that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. I believe they rejoiced. I believe they rejoiced. It's a preacher who don't say that, he duh. I believe when they found Jesus, I don't believe that they went up the road talking about deer hunting. I don't think she cared anything about any recipes or dress pattern. I believe they held on to him as they walked towards Nazareth. I believe Joseph and Mary were standing right there. I don't believe Joseph was over here with the men anymore and Mary was walking with the ladies. I believe they were side by side. I believe they had Jesus right in the middle. Now y'all can think whatever you want to, but I just believe this. I believe Joseph's watching as they walk. Y'all right? I believe Mary was right there with him. You need anything? Have you ever lost Jesus? Let's bow our heads together tonight. Preacher, can I take just a minute? Preacher, I thought I'd give an invitation tonight. I want to be honest with you. Why are we having revival? Why are we having revival meetings? I'm going to tell you why. Preacher, he loves you. And this preacher, this man of God right here loves you. I can't say that everywhere I go, but this man of God, he loves you. He'll weep for you. He'll pray for you. He knows your name. Amen. He calls your name out to God. Amen. He loves you. And he's called out to God, and he believes that you need a meeting. Yeah, you're coming to church, and yeah, you look real good. But to be honest, we the preachers, at least some of them, though they look real good sitting on the pew, though they are tithing and singing in the choir, they just don't have God like they should. The first thing you have to do is realize it. Maybe there is somebody here tonight, And you're not going to get any help until you realize it. Would you listen to me? If you're too proud to realize... What if Mary had been too proud to have said she's lost Jesus? What if Joseph had been too proud? God hates pride. He hates a proud look. I wonder tonight if there'd be somebody just... Preacher, I need revival. I know what it's like to have God so close to me I can feel Him, touch Him. I know what it's like every breath I take to feel His presence. But I must have stepped away from Him and I want to get back. I want revival and I want it tonight. Maybe there'll be somebody. Maybe there'll be somebody that'd be willing to get up and make your way to this old-fashioned altar. and say, God, would you give us a great revival and let it start with me? God, would you let it start with me? People are coming all over the house. How about it, sir? Can you remember? Can you remember when you had God? Oh, when you opened up your Bible, And it wasn't just reading your chapter so you could say you read your Bible, but it was, you couldn't wait. It was on the job, but you couldn't wait. You couldn't wait to get home, to run to your Bible. Can you remember when you couldn't wait to get in the prior place? Say, oh God. Feel His presence. Can you remember? Can you remember? Several down here praying. How about you? Others are coming. Can you go through this walk of life and leave Jesus? What do you do when you can't find Him? I said, Preacher, I'm going to be honest with you. I haven't found Him in a long time. It's almost like I can't find Him. I give up on looking for Him. I remember the days, but I haven't had a fresh touch from God in a long time. Listen to me, He's not playing games with you. You can find Him right down here. You can find Him right down here. You know what Jesus is doing now? He's still busy about the Father's business. And you know what? Listen to me. If you'll get busy about the Father's business too, you'll find Him. You go knock on that door, and you'll find Him. He's busy about the Father's business. Several down here praying, would you come? Do you want a revival? Let it begin with you. Great job, Dad.