Amen. Good evening. Please stand. We're going to sing number 50, There's Power in the Blood. Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you over evil a victory win? There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power In the precious blood of the Lamb Would you be wider, much wider than snow? There's power in the blood, power in the blood Lost in its life-giving flow There's wonderful power in the blood There is power, power, wonder-working power In the blood of the Lamb There is power, power, wonder-working power In the precious blood of the Lamb Would you do service for Jesus, your King? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you live daily? His praise is to sing. There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Blessing on the service this evening be with our folks that are homesick. And Lord, thank you for everybody that made it here tonight. And I pray, Lord, you give us a blessing through the singing and the special, and then the priesthood of the word of God as well. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Amen. Number 149, Because He Lives. God sent His Son. They called Him Jesus. He came to love, heal, and forgive. He lived and died to buy my pride. An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives Because He lives, I can face tomorrow Because He lives, all fear is gone And life is worth the living just because He lives And then one day I'll cross the river I'll fight the fire No war with pain And then as death Gives way to victory I'll see the lights of glory And I'll know He lives Because He lives I can face tomorrow Because He lives All fear is gone Because I know He holds a future And life is worth the living just because He lives. Amen. It is always a joy to have folks visit with us here for the first time, and the first time in a long time if you'd slip your hand up. Then we have a young man over here, Brother Moss, all the way over. Carl, won't you tell us who that young fellow is? Good. Glad to have you tonight, sir. Anyone else? Mrs. Milliken or Brother Milliken, tell us the update. Do we know anything at all? So we're waiting on the MRI results? Okay. Yesterday, Natalie had a four-hour MRI, and they're waiting on the results. Also, Brother Moss had an MRI. He has a... If you think I'm going to take someone off, I usually don't, unless someone's been on there for a long time and no one said anything one way or the other. But typically I don't take people off unless you let me know that I can. So if you can look over the prayer list, if there's someone that can come off, let me know that. We always have new folks to add. And then when I don't have room to add, I just ride to the side and try to remember the stuff that's there. This Saturday is the Half a chicken, rice, beans, potato salad, and fixings. That is at Gateway Christian Church and School over on Five Palms. It's 6623 Five Palms Drive. And again, it's $13 a ticket. If you want one of those, see this young lady. She'll have some after church. She's been selling that. And again, we appreciate her doing the piano for us on Wednesday nights. So if you can help her with that, that would be great. As far as all the events coming up, the next thing on the calendar as far as the big church event would be Fiesta. It starts on a Thursday night. I think that's the 24th. I don't know. I already shut my phone off. Yeah, the 24th starts on a Thursday night. Now, they've got every other night there. We have it every night. So, we start on the 24th, which is a Thursday night. All weekdays go from 5 to 10 o'clock. So, if you're wondering what the time is each day during the week, it's 5 to 10. Saturday and Sunday. Sunday's after church until those that can stay until 10 o'clock at night. Saturday is, I believe... There's a save there, I think it's two. I have on another card and I forgot to, I took all my cards out of my Bible, so they're all at the house on my desk, which is a great place for them. But I don't have them here. I believe it's two to 10, I believe as well on Saturday. And then that Saturday of Fiesta. which is the 26th. There is a piano recital here in the auditorium at two o'clock in the auditorium. And then again, normal stuff going on this week. We had main event on Monday night, had several folks that went there. How many of you remember when we used to go paintballing? Few of us did, but the block used to, I used to go to a chiropractor, and when he would do my, now that, the chiropractor I go to now doesn't have me take off my shirt, but back then, the chiropractor sometimes would just, just even pushing sometimes my t-shirt or something would go up, and he'd go, you've been paintballing, because if you know anything about paintballing, you get hit in the right places, you'll get a bruise about that big, especially if you get shot up front, but Main Event has a thing now, I don't even know what it's called, we did a laser quest a time or two, Then they have something, it's like a little mini paintball. So they don't hurt, what's it called? Gel blasters, so we did that. Had to pay extra for it, but the kids all wanted to do it, so we did gel blaster. And you could see them coming across the arena, because when you just pulled the trigger, it's like a machine gun. You'd see like 20 of them coming at you. And they could hit you everywhere. I didn't get any bruises, so I guess maybe if it was up close, it might hurt a little bit. They said sometimes people bruise, but it reminded me of paintball, but a much Lighter and easier version of paintball because the paintball when you shoot when you get hit with a paintball Especially if you get hit on the hands or the neck or someplace like that where you don't have any meat it hurts And in paintball if you take your mask off you could end up getting your eyes shot out I don't know that that would happen with these little things Let's use up close. But again, they we had a good time on Monday night. Everybody behaved it by survived anytime We come away without it without anyone getting hurt. It's a good activity. And so Appreciate all those of you that went over there on Monday night And then, again, you're in the right place tonight. Thursday, which is tomorrow night, we have So Winning at 645. Saturday, bus visitation and So Winning at 1045. And then Sunday school and church, Sunday morning. Don't forget to be in your place for that. And again, don't forget to continue to pray for all the folks on the prayer list. And then, again, they put folks up here that I don't have on my prayer list because people have turned it into them. So always keep those folks in prayer. Remember to pray for our loved ones. Amen. Please stand. Number 174, faith is the victory. Encamped along the hills of light, ye Christian soldiers rise. And press the battle, ere the night shall veil the glowing skies. Against the foe, in veils below, let all our strength be hurled. For faith is the victory we know, that overcomes the world. Faith is the victory! Faith is the victory! O glorious victory that overcomes the world! To Him that overcomes the foe white raiment shall be given. Before the angels he shall no name confess in heaven. Then onward from the hills of light, our hearts with love aflame, we'll vanquish all the hosts of night in Jesus' conquering name. Faith is the victory. Faith is the victory. Oh, glorious victory that overcomes the world. Amen. These offerings go forward. We've got Brother Coral coming in the future. We've got Brother Ross coming in August. So all the Wednesday night offerings go for those big preaching events that we have coming up. Well, as always, I want to thank you for all the many blessings that you've given us and for this opportunity to be in church and hear Brother Block preach. And Lord, we bless you. Bless this offering to be sufficient to meet these needs that we have. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Number 185, Rock of Ages. Rock of Ages, left for me, let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy womb inside which flows Not a labor's of my hands can fulfill thy lost demands. Could my zeal no respite know? Could my tears forever flow? All for sin could not atone. All this fleeting breath When mine eyes shall close in death When I soar to worlds unknown See thee on thy judgment throne Rock of ages, cleft for me Let me hide myself Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling, Come, follow me. And we see where Thy footprints falling Lead us to Thee. Footprints of Jesus that make the path We will follow the steps of Jesus where they go, Though they lead o'er the cold, dark mountain, Seeking His sheep. Or alone by Samoan's fountain helping the weak. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus If they lead o'er the temple holy, preaching the word, or in homes of the poor and lowly, Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus where they go. Then at last when on high he sees us, our church We will rest where the steps of Jesus, and at His throne. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus where they go. If you still need verses, if you hold up your hand, the fellows are ready to bring you some verses. If you did not get the verses, we'd like to have them. Go in your Bibles, if you would, to Psalm chapter 33. We'll read a verse out of 33 of Psalm, then we'll read one verse out of chapter 42. We'll finish what we started last week. If you need the verses, just hold up your hand, the guys will get by. Notice we'll start first with Psalm 33, verse 20, and it says this. Okay. Our soul waiteth for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. Now in that case, David said, again, God is our help and our shield. Notice Psalm 42, verse 9. Psalm 42, 9, I will say unto God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? So in Psalm 33, David, and again, we gave you last week, four Psalms were David talked about God being his helper or his protector or his shield. Then four verses where David said, God, where you at? Why have you forgotten me? Why have you forsaken me? And again, you'll find David was a man after God's own heart. So if David said that, there'll be times you and I are probably in the same position. But the main thought was this. There may be times that you ask God for something. And God doesn't give you what you want or what you prayed for. And then sometimes He doesn't give it to you right then, He gives it to you later. I appreciate this. Someone sent me some stuff this week, and it was some great stuff. They mentioned this. They said that the Bible mentions that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And then they made this statement. We have some people in the church, and they mentioned Anne in particular and some others. We have some people in the church right now that need some effectual prayer. So then they said, I wanted to look up and study what a righteous man was. Because what their statement was, I'd like to be a righteous man so that my prayer is more effectual. Again, all of us pray. Not all of us get the same results when we pray. Not all of us get the attention of God when we pray. We've often mentioned, I know Brother Nicholas has mentioned it, so have I. One of the reasons I think Brother Winn has all the power of God that he has is because of the fact that he spends a lot of time talking to God. He spends a lot of time praying, hours every day. Now again, you and I have the tendency to do what most Christians do. We pray when we're in trouble. We pray when things get dark. We use God like a parachute sometimes. That's how a lot of Christians pray. We ought to pray God whether things are going good, whether they're going bad, whether we need anything, whether we don't need anything. We should just talk to God. Husbands and wives, if they have a good relationship, they talk every day. Now they may spend some days more time than others, but they speak every day. Now if they're not speaking, that's probably because there's a problem. And the same is true with us, with God. Our relationship with God should be that we talk to God every day. It doesn't hurt us some days to spend more time with God than others, but again, talk to God every day. So the thought that we mentioned, and again, I had found this and I just thought it was kind of unique. I asked God, and there were several things I asked God for. The first thing we covered last week was, I asked God to take my habit away God said, no, it is not for me to take away, but for you to give up. Now again, I can tell you this in the Christian life, there has been some things that have changed in my life, I'm sure the same is true of your life. You've given some things up. Now I can tell you probably if the same is true in your life as in my life, there's also some things that we haven't given up. Now, would God like for us to give them up? You bet. does He usually take them away from us? The answer to that is usually not. Again, we are servants of God, not slaves of God. Now, we can lose God's blessing, we can lose our prayers being answered, we can lose power with God if we're not surrendered to Him. But the truth is we even have a better attitude. Someone asked me one time, they said, I don't like being told what to do. They were talking about some school rules. They said, I don't like being told what to do. I said, well, first off, realize in life, you're going to probably go through, no matter how old you get and how old you are, you're probably going to have someone telling you what to do. But I said, here's a good thing to do. I said, if you don't like being told what to do, then do stuff stricter than the rules. And here's what I meant by that. I said if the rule says you've got to keep your hair off your ears, cut it shorter than that, then the school's not making you cut your hair, because you're cutting your hair shorter. If the school says wear your dress to the knees, ladies, wear it two inches longer than that, because see, we didn't tell you how to do that. So the truth is, it's always much better for us, our attitude is better when we want to do something than when we're made to do something. And all of us as parents realize that our kids have a lot better time when they wanted to do something than when we made them do something. And the same is true in the Christian life. That's why it's nice if we would surrender. When we sing that song, I Surrender All, it's a good song to sing, it's a hard song to practice. Because it's not always easy to surrender all. Now it isn't hard to surrender some. It's just hard to surrender all. So we look first at, I asked God to take my habits away. God said, no, it's not for me to take them away, but for you to give them up. The second thing we talked about last week was, I asked God to give me patience. God said, no, patience is a byproduct of tribulation. It isn't granted, it is earned. Now I can tell you, when you earn something, you appreciate a lot more. I have never been for these, given every kid a participation trophy. I've never been for that, still I'm not. Now, even as I've got older, I mean, and I've got, I'm a lot more mellow than I used to be. I'm a lot less competitive than I used to be, but I still don't think that's a good thing to teach kids that no matter how well you do or how poorly you do, you still get recognized, you still get noticed. When you do that, It's similar to combination. When you have no reason to earn extra money because they're going to take it away from you anyway, then you just quit working so hard. What's the use? And when kids are going to get a trophy, regardless of how hard they play, they'll quit playing so hard. Again, there's always going to be winners and losers. And if you don't like losing, and again, I never liked losing, but if you don't like losing, then work hard and win. And I always told the guys, win or lose, it's much more fun to go home after a win than it was to go home after a loss. Now, as a coach, I play over and over in my mind. I can remember almost every play that I wish I had done something different or wish we'd have done something different, wish I'd have made a different call. So it now used to do that with the Spurs as well. I used to after I mean, I used to get a bad attitude when the Spurs lost. You say, do you care anymore? I do not. When Popovic got into the politics, and then I got where I didn't know any of the players, I don't know if I've even watched the Spurs game this year. And the truth is, I don't know if I know hardly any of the players. I'll hear them on the radio sometimes going home on WAI, but I don't think I've even watched the Spurs game. I don't watch much basketball. I actually watch more football, and I didn't used to watch football. I watch more football than basketball, but the truth is, It is important for you to understand patience is something that's earned. Which is typically why older folks are more patient than younger folks. You know why? You haven't earned it yet. You haven't paid the price. You haven't went through the tribulation. Now I'm not talking about the great tribulation. I'm talking about troubles and trials in our lives. That was the second thing. I asked God to give me patience. God said no. Patience is a byproduct of tribulation. It's granted. It isn't granted, I'm sorry, it is earned. The third thing we looked at last week was, I asked God to give me happiness. God said, no, I'll give you blessings, happiness is up to you. You know what's amazing? You can have two people get the same thing, one's excited and happy about it, one is not. That's why it's much easier to go to do a bus route on the poor side of town. It really is. Because the poor side of town, you can offer them a small prize and they're excited. On the rich side of town, you offer them a small prize, they're not interested at all. They got better stuff than that. Now, understand, that's why those of us who grew up poor, and many of us grew up poor, it doesn't take much to make us happy. I don't have to eat at a fine restaurant. I don't even know what you'd consider. I don't even know what you'd define as a fine restaurant. Usually they're a lot more expensive. I don't know about anything else. Maybe you have to, you say, bro, do you know what fork to eat with? Yep. The one that's closest to my hand. Okay. You say, do you use the salad fork? I do. I use the salad fork for my salad and I use the same salad, whatever that fork is for my steak as well. By the way, the salad fork works just as good on the steak as it did on the salad. Amazing. A lot less washing up in the dishwasher as well. But the truth is, I grew up poor, so it doesn't take a lot to make me happy. Now, when I went after the wreck of the vehicle, I had to go look at new vehicles, and that's the reason I didn't buy one for several weeks. I had not had a car payment for several years, and I did not want one. I liked not having a car payment. And I already knew that cars were expensive. I mean, the cheap ones. Cost half as much as my mobile home did 26 years ago. The expensive ones cost more than my mobile home cost. When my brother said, well, you ought to get one of these trucks, I went and looked at them. They were $50,000. And I said, it's nice. But I said, I got a $50,000 mobile home, because that's what mine cost 26 years ago. I said, it has bathrooms and bedrooms and a fridge. And I mean, it has a lot more stuff than that pickup has. Now, that pickup was nice. Trust me, that pickup was nice. They've even got vehicles now that drive for you. Mine does a little bit of that. If you put the cruise control on, unless you turn your blinker, it makes it a little harder to turn lanes, I mean, get in the other lane. And if you've got cruise on, I didn't know if it would stop, so the other day I tried it. I knew it did slow you down. It will actually even stop you. But it makes me even have my knee or my hand on the steering wheel, so it didn't take me away. I mean, it didn't solve all my issues. But the fact is, I didn't want... Sir? I know, but I don't have no idea how much those cost, but a lot more than that pickup probably. But the truth is, I just didn't want to spend that much. It's a lot of money. I don't have to have. Now, one of the kids years ago said, Bill Block, what's your dream car? And here's what I told them. I don't have a dream car. I don't, because I've never had the money to buy whatever I wanted. I always bought it based on gas mileage and car payment. My wife got to pick the color. She got to pick the interior. She got to pick anything. She always checked the trunk. How many of you women check the trunk when you buy a vehicle? I just want to make sure my wife was normal. I mean, because she always checked the trunk. Same thing with a house. She always wants to check and see how big the closet is. Not necessarily how big the bedroom is, but how big is the closet. And I did not realize how much of the closet my wife had until she went to heaven. Then I realized, wow, there's a lot of room in this closet that I never knew anything about. Say, what do you got? I got stuff scattered all over that closet now. But the truth is, she would check the trunk. She was concerned about the interior. She was concerned about some of the doodads and stuff like that. All that stuff just, I mean, week after I bought it, I went back because the young lady that helped me that night, she said, if you have any problems, bring it back. I bought it like on a Thursday or Friday, I don't remember what day it was, and Sunday night after church I went back and I said, can you help me? I haven't figured it out. It worked for a while with my Bluetooth, and now I can't talk on the phone with the car. And she went, oh, and she punched a bunch of buttons, and I said, thank you, and I've been good since then. But the fact is, I didn't want to buy a car. And so when that young person asked me, what's your dream car? I said, I don't got a dream car. Don't really care. Now, again, there are folks that, I mean, trust me, their car is their baby. I mean, you walk up and brush up against their car, I mean, you think they is going to die. I mean, they pitch a big fit. Now, I wish who it was, I'm sure it was a cat. I think it was Mrs. Sanders that pointed out, or Mrs. Milliken, they said, some animal scratched your car. Now, this was like a week after I got it. And I thought, no, I don't think so. Then I went out and looked at it, and sure enough, it was. I mean, they tried to jump up on the car and course with the racks, and they slid right back off. But they left a scratch mark on my brand new hood of that stupid car. You say, if you knew what cat it was, what would you do? Well, I know it's not Fluffy, because Fluffy doesn't have any front claws. So it must have been the stray cat. And the stray cat, I can't catch anyway. But the truth is, I'm not one that cares. Now, do I really want dents in the car? No. But do I really care about dents? Not necessarily. I'm not in love with my car." But again, he said, I asked God to give me happiness. God said, no, I'll give you blessings. Happiness is up to you. So again, when God gives you and I blessings, whether they make us happy or not, that's up to us. Whether we can praise God for them or not, that's up to us. Now there are some of us that wake up in the morning and we say, thank you God for letting me live one more day. Because sometimes that has been in doubt. And there's some days we have a hard time. So sometimes we just can get out of bed and walk. We say, thank you, God, I can walk today. Because sometimes, I guarantee you, Brother Perry, thank God the first day he was able to walk. I mean, and he wasn't the only one thanking God. I was thanking God when he was able to walk. I really pictured, I really thought Brother Perry was going to be in the wheelchair for the rest of his life. Now understand, until you've lost something, you don't usually appreciate it. But God said, I'll give you some stuff, whether you're happy about it or not, it's up to you. Now we're going to look at number four, and let me pray, and then we'll get into the new stuff tonight. Father, help tonight that we might learn something, it might be a help and a blessing. Lord, especially if there's anyone lost here tonight, touch their hearts, help them to get saved. In Jesus' name, amen. Notice the fourth thing is this, I ask God to spare me pain. God said no. Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me. Notice Mark chapter 8 in your notes. Mark chapter 8, notice verse 31. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things. be rejected of the elders, of the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." Mark 9.12 says, "...and he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things, and how it is written of the Son of Man, that he must suffer many things." Now he didn't suffer a few things, he was going to suffer many things. Notice Luke 9.22 saying, "...the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, of the chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day." Now think about that. He was the Jew. He was a Jew. He came to reach the Jews. He loved the Jews. They were God's chosen people. But guess who it was that put Him on the cross? The Jews. I mean, notice it was the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. It was the leaders of the Jewish religion and the Jewish movement that were the ones that were behind most of it. They're the ones that wanted Him crucified. Now, understand, when it comes to suffering, When I said it draws us apart from worldly cares, when you're really hurting, some of you've been there, you've really been hurting, whether you're really hurting physically or you're really hurting in your heart, you know what doesn't matter most anything else. Doesn't. If you're really hurting, you're not all that worried about eating. Food's not all that big a deal. If you're really hurting, you're not thinking too much about the bills. If you're really hurting in your heart, Truth is, there's not too much that matters to you at that time. Some of you have been there when you're heartbroken. You know what? Worldly cares doesn't matter anymore. Now, he said, again, suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me. Now, when you're really hurting this way or you're really hurting physically, guess what we have the tendency to think about and to do? We talk to God. My dad got saved probably because of the fact that, now again, my dad had some back issues. Back then they didn't, now my dad went to a chiropractor or something, but medical doctors usually put you on what they call traction. I don't know if they still use traction or not. How many of you know, have heard the word traction? What they do is they put you in the hospital bed and they put weights, they attach something to your feet and put weights at the edge of the bed to, apparently to stretch you out or pull you out. That's, I mean, that's, I mean, that's what traction was. And while my dad was in the hospital, the preacher came by and visited him and talked to him. And it's because of that, that my dad got saved. Now he'd been witnessed to before. But my dad was down, and when you ever get down in the back, if you've ever been down in the back and you can't hardly walk, you can't hardly get up, that's when you talk to God. When you're sick and in your bed, and when you're sick and in a hospital bed, you've got a lot of time. You're looking up, and you've got a lot of time to talk to God. So sometimes suffering has a tendency to draw us closer to God. Notice there in your notes, I said, we already looked at Jesus as the example. Notice the second thing, He is there with and during our suffering. Notice Romans 8, verse 17. It's always nice Suffering is not as terrible, not as bad, when you have someone with you. And we mentioned last week, misery loves company. So when you're hurting, it's nice to have company. It's nice to have someone else to talk with, someone to be there with you. Our suffering, not only, again, does He share it with us, our suffering for Him has its reward. Notice, it's not in your notes, because I apparently missed it, and then I forgot about it today, but notice, I'm gonna read to you 2 Timothy 2.12, and what 2 Timothy 2.12 says, if we suffer, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. What he's saying is, you know what, if you do some suffering, you're gonna get a reward. Because what he says is, if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. But if we deny Him, He will deny us. He also will deny us. So again, there are Christians that deny Christ, they're gonna miss out on some rewards someday. There's some Christians that at down times, they do not glorify God and they're gonna lose some reward because of that. The next thing is this, make sure you're suffering for the right reason. I've often said this, if you get fired from your job because you're doing the right stuff and that contradicts the job, for instance, if the boss wants you to do something that's illegal and you tell the boss no and you lose your job, that's a good reason to lose your job. If you lose your job because you're a sorry worker and you're mouthy and you back talk and you're lazy, that's not because of the fact that you're a child of God and you're a Christian. That's because of the fact that you're lazy and you backtalk. Notice 1 Peter 3, verse 17 and then also 1 Peter 4, verse 15 makes this statement, than for evildoing. But let none, verse 15 of chapter 4, but let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody in other men's matters. So what he said is, if you get in trouble, let it be because you did right. Let it be because you're suffering because of the fact that you're living godly. Not that you're suffering because you did wrong. For instance, I've often said this, I might die of cancer. I will never die of the lung cancer that comes from smoking cigarettes. You know why? Because I've smoked zero cigarettes in my lifetime. I might get some kind of issues with my liver. Because there's all kinds of issues you can get with your liver. But I won't ever have sclerosis of the liver that comes from drinking alcohol because I've never taken a drink of alcohol. So again, there are folks that suffer, but the reason they suffer was because of something that they did wrong. Now, not everyone in jail or in prison is guilty. There are probably some innocent people in prison. But most people that are in prison, they're there because they did something wrong. Now, every once in a while, someone will get punished when they didn't deserve it. Some of you may have been in that position for something. But the truth is, most of it, when we get in trouble, more times than not, when we get disciplined. I say this all the time. I got a lot of whoopings when I was a kid. I deserved a lot more. I didn't get near as many as I deserved. There are times, years later, when we sit around at Christmas or Thanksgiving and talk about stuff we did, my mom would say, you didn't do that. And I'd go, oh yeah, we did, mom. How did I not know? I said, well, you did know a lot of stuff, but you didn't find that out, apparently. Now understand, he says, if you're going to suffer, make sure you're not suffering for the wrong stuff. And then the last thing about suffering, suffering can bring glory to God. Notice 1 Peter 4, verse 16. And here's what it says in 1 Peter 4, verse 16. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. Now there are times that, I can tell you, there's times that we've had folks in the hospital that actually brought glory to God. the visits that were made, and the prayers that were made, and the conversation, and the tracks from the person in the hospital. Nurses have been saved. Doctors have had someone, had been witnessed to. Again, because of their sickness, God got some glory. And again, that doesn't happen all the time, but that happens some. The fifth thing, and we must move on quickly. The fifth thing, I asked God to make my spirit grow. God said, no, you must grow on your own. I will prune you to make you more fruitful. The kids sing a song that's very intelligent and very truthful. Read your Bible, pray every day, and what happens? You grow. Then they also sing, forget to read your Bible, forget to pray, and you'll shrink, shrink, shrink. Now, if you've ever planted a tree, you can do all kinds of stuff for that tree, but guess what you can't make that tree do? You cannot make that tree grow. I mean, you can put it in the right depth, you can give it the water, you can give it the fertilizer, you can do all the stuff you're supposed to do, that doesn't mean the tree is gonna make it. Doesn't. I've had animals that, maybe a baby that we had to feed on a bottle, and we'd done, I mean, there's been times where we forced his mouth open and put the bottle in, and I mean, and even moved his mouth to try to get the milk, and we did everything we could, but guess what? We could not make that baby swallow. We could not make that baby live. That was all up to the baby. So he said again, make my spirit grow. God said, no. Now, if you and I are trying to do right, God will prune us. Now, the pruning is painful, but it's good for us. Now, if your trees or anything like the trees out where I live, a bunch of my trees have died in the last few years because we just didn't have enough water. Now, most of you don't have near as many trees as close together. When there's a lot of trees close together, there wasn't enough water to go around. And so the trees that didn't have as much root, and even some of the trees that had big, deep roots, some of the limbs on the tree died. You know why? Because it couldn't keep all the limbs alive. You know what helps that tree? You cut those dead limbs off, and it has less limbs to take care of. It has a better chance of surviving. We call that pruning. Now, there are some examples of that in the Bible. We mentioned, again, I said ask the Holy Spirit to point out some things to change. Notice Ephesians chapter 4, verse 30. Ephesians 4.30 says, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Now again, we need to talk to the Holy Spirit. We pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help us with some stuff. We ought to ask Him to help us to do some things. Now James is big on doing. Notice James 2.18, 20 and 26. Yeah, a man may say, Thou hast faith, I have works. Show me Thy faith without Thy works, I will show Thee my faith by my works. James 2.20, But wilt Thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? For as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. So there's some things we ought to ask the Holy Spirit to help us to do. Now, I said this before, many times I've asked the Holy Spirit to remind me of stuff, or tell me of stuff, and there's been times I've listened and it saved me a lot of heartache. There's been other times that I didn't. The truth is, the night that I pulled out and got hit with the van, the night that I pulled out and got hit with, I don't know what you call it, SUV or whatever you call the thing, the night I got hit in my Rogue, there was a lot of traffic on 16th and 4th, I was at that gas station, I stopped by there to get gas, And I was on my way to Christmas caroling that night. The teens and the adults were going to go Christmas caroling to a bunch of the church folks. And all that traffic was there and I was thinking, I mean, again, the thought in my head, which again was the Holy Spirit, it was, you know, there's a lot of traffic. Why don't you just go back out the other way, go up and you can come to the light and then you can turn at the light. But I was already here. So I ignored the Holy Spirit and about 10 seconds later, I wish I'd listened. You know how many times I've thought to myself after that, man, if I just did that, especially when this morning, early this morning or late last night, I looked at the email and it said, the folks that hit you are suing you. They either ask for $750,000 or the max of your plan. Now, when it said $750,000, I thought, I don't have that kind of money, and I know my insurance, I had a $30,000, 30 I think for single, for the first person, 60 for the next. So my thought, now I saw the part where it says, or max of your plan, but I thought if they're asking for $750,000, they're not going to be happy with 30,000. Then they had a list of all the stuff that they don't, now he didn't go to the hospital that night, said he was fine, but there was a hospital and all kinds of other stuff and a bunch of bills. So this morning now so all night last night it bothered me You know I did I spent some time talking to God because now I'm worried about stuff And this morning when I called insurance, he said, did you see the part where it says or max insurance? I said, yes, I did see that. And that did encourage me, but I said, if they're asking for 750,000, how are they going to be happy with how they're going to be pleased with 30,000? She said, they don't know how much your plan has. So they just want to put that 750. And the reason it bothered me more was it was from Davis and Davis. I'm of you. And you've seen the advertising on TV, the call four, four, four, 44, four. I mean, and I thought, He's one of those bad guys. He collects, he's like the other guy. He collects millions of dollars and I don't want him collecting money from me. So the truth is, me and God was talking last night. I was doing more of the talking and God was doing more of the listening. And then it was a blessing this morning when I found out that the lady says, you probably, now the fact that she said you probably doesn't assure me as much as if she said you won't have to worry about it. She said you probably won't have to worry about it. We will probably settle with him and you should be fine. But the fact is, there's some things that we should do. There's also some things that we should ask the Holy Spirit to help us not to do. Notice, again, the verse we often quote when it comes to standards and convictions, 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 22, which says, abstain from all appearance of evil. Now, it doesn't say abstain from all evil. It tells you and I as Christians to stay away from stuff that even looks bad. And again, that's because sometimes people see stuff and they assume the worst of somebody. Notice 1 Peter 2, verse 11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Now, a spiritual man wants to do right. A physical man wants to do wrong. That's why he said, abstain from fleshly lusts. We have a lot of lusts. Now, I have no idea what ladies lust after. I do know what guys lust after. because I'm a guy. Now understand, but all of us have fleshly lusts. Now all of our fleshly lusts may not be the same thing. All of us are not stirred, or moved, or motivated, or desire the same stuff. But the fact is, there are times when our flesh desires stuff. That's why it's so hard to lose weight. You know why? Because our flesh desires stuff. Some of the other day, it wasn't even someone I knew. It was a guy at Wal-Mart. Some of you, if you've ever went to this one Wal-Mart, he's a crippled guy and he sits in a wheelchair and does the outdoor stuff. And so I've talked to him sometimes, given him several tracks. And he said, my mom and dad's fussed. Now, he's a grown man, but again, because he's disabled, he said, my mom and dad are fussing me all the time to lose weight. He held up his coke and he says, they keep telling me that's a no-no. I said, no, that's a cocoa. And I said, yeah, I struggle with that Dr. Pepper. I like my Dr. Pepper. And it's not easy to give up Dr. Pepper. You say, are you addicted to it? Maybe. It's none of your business. But yeah, I like Dr. Pepper. And the truth is, I don't just want one. Because what happens, I'll put the one can in there, and I'll go in there. And for some reason, Dr. Pepper and Nuts, or Dr. Pepper and what's on TV go together. But then, I mean, I just need a little bit more. Because I mean, I had a drink, and it was only like half a drink. And so I go get another can of Dr. Pepper. If I could just stick to one can of Dr. Pepper, I'd be OK. But one can's not enough. It's like eating that one potato chip, OK? You just, I mean, so at the end, I sit back and I think, I can't believe I ate the whole thing. But again, We have fleshly lusts, and you know what he said? He said, talk to the Holy Spirit and try to fight those fleshly lusts. Again, Christ told the story of the fig tree. Again, we're talking about pruning. Notice there in your notes. Luke chapter 13 verses 7 through 9. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years, this is the guy in the vineyard talking. Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit of this fig tree, and find none. Cut it down. Why cometh it the ground? He said, why is it taking up space? And he answered him, now this is the guy that cared for the orchard, and he answered and said unto him, Lord, let alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it, and if it bear fruit, well, and if not, then after that, thou shalt cut it down. So he said, let's give it another chance. Now I can tell you this, I think there's times that the Holy Spirit and God has given us another chance. God wanted to knock us upside the head, and you know what he said? You know what? I think there's still some good in them. So again, then what he does is he does now, it's not fun to be pruned. Okay. It's not fun to have that. It's not, but in this case, he said, let me prune it. Let me, let me dung it and fertilize it. And he said, let me water it. And if it bears fruit good, if it don't, we can always cut it down. Notice also in your notes John 15 verses 2-4. Now I say this all the time, if we are spiritual we will be productive. Now, it doesn't mean you'll have someone saved every week, but it means there'll be some folks that are saved if we are the right kind of Christian, because that's what the fruit trees do. They bring forth fruit. Now, understand, Sometimes, God uses you. We have fellas in the track room, the print room. So they make up tracks. Now listen to me, the Bible mentions some people plant, other people water, and some get the harvest. Now I can tell you that planting and the watering, not near as much fun. I love to pick stuff, I do, I love to pick stuff. Now it's not as much fun to pick stuff now, because I have to bend over like green beans. It's hard to bend over and pick the green beans. That's why for a long time when I just had green beans for me, I planted the pole beans, and I put a thing, so then I could pick green beans up here. But when I plant green beans for you guys, like the five rows I got planted, that's all sprouted up now, they're down there. They're called bush beans, and that means they're down low. Say, what do you do sometimes? Sometimes I bend over, sometimes I just get down on the ground and I crawl, picking them up, because it's easier to crawl than it is to keep bending over. But the fact is, I don't like planting because I had to till it first, then I had to plant it, and to plant it you also have to bend over because you can't drop a seed from here and expect it to go in the right place. So you have to bend over and drop the seeds in the right place, then you've got to weed them, then you've got to water it. Now it's fun to pick the fruit, so if you go by and you win someone tonight, man that is a blessing. But the reason they got saved tonight, it might have been that someone else already came by and planted, and then they watered, and you got to reap the increase. Now, for those of you that plant, and for those of you that water, You also get a part of that. Brother Nicholas is referred to as clip the coupons. You get a part of that. For instance, the bus worker that picks up the folks and brings them in and then Brother Nicholas does the preaching. They come down front and someone else leads them to the Lord. They wouldn't have got saved if the bus worker had not visited them on Saturday. If the bus worker had not went and picked them up on Sunday. If the bus worker had not ran the program on the bus to keep the kids excited and continuing to come. So again, they're going to get some benefit for that as well. But God wants us to be fruit bearing. He wants us to produce. By the way, that's also how a church grows if we bring forth after our kind. The sixth thing, I ask God for all things that I might enjoy life. Think about that for a second. I ask God for all, give me these things that I might enjoy life. God said, no, I will give you life so that you may enjoy all things. You know what the dead man enjoys? Nothing. Now again, you know when we appreciate air condition? When it's hot. Now, we drink a lot, all of us drink a lot of water. But let me tell you when you really appreciate water. When you're hot and thirsty. Now normally, it doesn't have that much taste, but isn't it amazing how tasteful water is? When you've been outside working, you grab that water, and you take it, and it's like, oh man. Or you step inside to the air condition in the summertime. And you go into the air conditioning, I mean you've been outside, you step inside and it's like, oh man. Or you worked a hard day and you step into the shower. And I mean, there's just something about the shower that, I mean, reinvigorates you. I told someone this the other day, they called about the time I just got inside, it was nine o'clock, it was dark, I just stepped in the house, they started talking, I said, if I sit down now, I will not get back up. I have to go take the shower, or I will talk myself out of taking the shower, I'll talk myself out of doing it. So I said, call me later, I gotta go take a shower. Because see, after I've been working all day, if I come and sit down, I do not wanna get, if I lay in the bed, it's like, oh, I'm not leaving the bed. Now understand, we don't appreciate stuff till we've lost them. We don't appreciate stuff till we need it. But again, God said, you know what, I'm not going to give you all those things that you can enjoy. I'll give you life, and then you can enjoy those things. Notice in your notes, God warns us about loving money and things. Now again, there are people that think things will make them happy. Now, I'm sorry, I skipped Genesis 2 several words again where God gave us the breath of life and we became a living soul. That was when he was talking about Adam. But notice 1 Timothy 6.9 and 6.10. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. for the love of money is the root of all evil." He doesn't say money is, but the love of money. Now, I have known folks at Liberty Baptist Church that made, that got some money, and you know what happened? They stayed in church and used the money for the glory of God. I've also known folks at Liberty Baptist Church that got some money. You know what they did? They went out and spent the money on things they enjoyed, and they came to church once in a while. You know what happened? Money became their God. Now you have to be very careful that your car doesn't become your God, your family doesn't become your God. My wife never minded being second as long as she was second to God. Now she would not want to be second to hunting. She would not want to be second to golfing. She would not want to be second to anything else. She didn't mind being second to God. Husbands and wives, your husband and wife should be less important than God. They ought to be right under God's them, but the fact is, that's why Jesus told them that time, He said, let the dead bury the dead. He said, I mean, you follow me. I mean, give up. That's why He said, now when He said, if you don't hate your father and your mother, again, preach them against each other, it doesn't mean you really hate them. What it means is you love God so much, the love you have for them doesn't compare. Again, don't love money with things. Second thing, if we're not careful, we will be like the rich young man. Notice Luke 12, verse 19. And I will say to my soul, so thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Now, in real life, in physical life, guess what? We can retire at a certain age. In you and I's Christian life, spiritual life, there is no retirement. The truth is some of our most faithful soul winners are in their 60s and 70s and 80s. Amazing thing is sometimes it's not even the 30 or 40 year olds or the 20 year olds. It's the 60. When did you quit driving the bus, Brother Milliken? How old were you? 75. He was driving the bus until he was 75. I know because I was the bus captain on his bus. Now understand, there isn't an age for retirement in the Christian life. There's not a time that you and I can quit passing out tracts and quit talking to people about Jesus and stop trying to serve the Lord. Notice Solomon, if anyone knows anything about things not making you happy, it would be Solomon. We're going to read several things, several verses, then I'll have to stop because I want to say the last thing and I'll be done. Solomon who had everything that a person could possibly have. said this, notice Ecclesiastes chapter one, verse two. Vanity of vanity, said the preacher, vanity of vanity, all is vanity. Notice chapter one, verse 14. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun. Behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. What he says, you know what? Everything I've ever worked for, it's just been vanity and vexation of spirit. What he meant was, it's a lot of hassle. Husbands, you know what your wife is sometimes? A lot of hassle. Wives, you know what your husband is sometimes? A lot of hassle. Parents, you know what your kids are sometimes? Did I say the same thing twice? Parents, you know what your kids are sometimes? A lot of hassle. Kids, you know what your parents are sometimes? A lot of hassle. The truth is, that's true of a lot of stuff. But you know what? In all those relationships I also mentioned, those husbands, wives, and kids, and parents, many times and most times, they're also a great, big blessing. Now, Solomon had everything. He had things. There are men that think, you know, if I had some, I mean, if I could just have some hot young lady, if I were, some people even, guys say, you know what, if I had two or three women. Solomon had more than two or three. I don't know if you, if you're not good at math, let me explain to you. If Solomon went to one wife per day, every three years he got to see the same woman. I don't think there's anyone in this room that would be happy with their husband unless he's a jerk. I mean, you say, I don't have to see him for three years. I'm fine as long as he pays the bill. I mean, but most of us, we'd like to see our husband or wife more than once every three years. You say, well, if you had two women a day. Maybe when he was younger. That means he got to see every year and a half. That's still a long time. So Solomon had, I mean, he had every, the biggest houses. He had all the servants. He had the best food. He had, I mean, he had beautiful women. And guess what? He kept saying, vanity, vanity, all this vanity. He said in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 11, then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought. He said, you know I looked on all the stuff that I had earned, all the stuff that I had got. You know what he said? And on the labor that I had labored to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit. There was no profit under the sun. Again notice Ecclesiastes skip down to D, Ecclesiastes 4.8. There is one alone, there is not a second. Yea, he hath neither child nor brother, yet is there no end of all his labor, neither is his eye satisfied with it." He said, you know what? He gets a bunch of stuff and you know what he wants? Some more. He's not happy. His eyes are never happy. Now, again, if you're thinking that things will please you, You're wrong, ask Solomon. Solomon said, I had all the things. Guess what? Wasn't happy. Now, I'm not saying Solomon wasn't happy, but what he was saying is, I'm not happy because of these things. These things don't bring me happiness. I've worked for rich people. Some of them are happy people, but they weren't happy because of their money, because I've also worked for rich people that were miserable. Miserable. They had a lot of nice stuff. very unhappy. So if you're wondering today if I made a lot of money, if I got a nicer car, a bigger house, did it make you happy? If you're not happy with what you've got right now, probably not. Because you know what we've got to learn? We've got to learn that verse where it says, I have learned in all things to be content. That's what we've got to learn. And the last thing and I'll be through. I asked God to help me love others as much as He loved me. God said, You finally got the idea right. By the way, that's what he wants us to do. He wants us to love others as much as he loves us. You can see there in your notes, I'm not going to read all the verses because I'm done, but each one of them says this, love thy neighbor as thyself. What he's saying is you and I need to love other people. Now, you know what fixed most issues with most people? some more love. You know why? Because love covers a multitude of sin. You know why love? Because love is patient and kind. I mean, read 1 Corinthians chapter 13. I mean, love has some, I mean, it has some amazing attributes Typically, if we have a problem with someone, we probably have a love problem. If we have a problem not serving God, we probably have a love problem. We don't love Him enough. If we're having a problem giving something up, it's probably because we don't love Him enough. Again, what he said was, you know what, ask God, let me love others as much as you love me. And God said, you finally hit the nail on the head. God wants us to care about others. We should care about the lost a lot. Then He also wants us to care for our brothers and sisters in Christ. He wants us to care for the children. He wants us to care for the widows. There's a lot of folks we're supposed to care about, especially if we're Christians. And again, we want to make sure that we please the Lord. Again, there might be some times you ask God for something. There's times my kids ask me for something I didn't let them have. You know why? Because it would have messed them up. It would have hurt them. They'd have gotten in trouble. It would have been bad for them. I'm glad God loves me enough sometimes to tell me no. I'm glad God tells me sometimes to tell me no. Maybe later. I mean, after you've done some growing. My dad didn't give me a .22 rifle when I wanted one. He made me start with a BB gun. I shot a lot of BBs through a BB gun. And I even got the BB gun taken away a few times because I shot things I wasn't supposed to shoot with the BB gun, including my brothers. But the truth is, my dad didn't always let me have what I wanted. You know why? Because he loved me and cared about me. Now if he wanted to make me happy he could have given me a .22 rifle. It would have made me happy but it probably would have gotten me in trouble and I probably would have got hurt or hurt someone that I cared about. So again, David said sometimes, you know what God, man he's my shield, he's my rock. David also said sometimes, you know what, I can't find God, I mean, He's forsaken me. By the way, when you're not hearing and seeing God, just keep calling, keep talking, because you know what He says? Call upon me and I'll answer to you and show you great might. So again, just keep talking to God. Father, we thank you for tonight. If there's anyone here tonight that's lost, I pray the Lord you touch their heart, help them to realize that the first prayer, the