or go to tonight, but one verse in the Bible, if you're physically able to stand, we'll stand. Amen. Man, I ain't telling you, it's been great. The meeting's been great. Now, I go back home and they say, preacher, how'd the meeting go? I said, the singing was tremendous. That's what I tell them, amen. Preaching, man, the singing has been tremendous. I am telling you it's been tremendous. Praise God. And I love preaching. I am a preacher. I know preaching saves lives. I tell you, I love singing, amen. Praise the Lord. Then, of course, preaching after that. I guess I always think when I'm preaching, I think the singing's better than my preaching. But anyway, I always say the preaching's won. The singing was wonderful, and it was, amen. Thank y'all, choir, young people, groups. Oh, thank y'all for all the good singing. I hadn't heard that song. I asked Brother Roloff. I went to Brother Roloff down in Culloden, Georgia. And he, Brother Roloff, used to sing that song. Once in the stillness, amen, of the late midnight. I said, man, I ain't heard that great. Let's see, about 55 years. I hadn't heard that song probably in 50 years. Amen. Man, that was great, wasn't it? Let the church say amen. God's good. All the time. All the time God is good. Praise the Lord. Thank y'all for letting me come. I'm so honored. I'm so honored to be here. Man, I love you, pastor, his wife and family. Dear God, I highly esteem them in the Lord. Amen. All right, one verse. I don't normally do that, but one verse tonight. Very simple verse. All of us know it by heart probably. Verse number 14 of chapter, Proverbs 14, verse number 14. The backslider in his heart shall be filled with his own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. I want to preach on this. Beware a backslider. Beware Backslider. Let's pray. Father, thank you tonight for letting us come to church. Lord, it's been good. I could have sat in that pew all night. I literally could feel like I could have sat there all night and listened to those great choir songs and specials and people testifying. And Lord, it's just been good to be here. Thank you for that, Lord. Thank you for a church that still stands, Lord, for the old time religion. And Lord, we could be here tonight and experience, God, the good things you're doing here at the church. And Lord, we give you praise for it. And Lord, I am keenly aware, I've preached a little while, I don't really claim to know much, but I know even among all this good spirit of God, there could well be somebody here tonight away from God. And I pray somehow, someway, that Lord, you let them know you haven't forgotten them, you haven't given up on them, and Lord, you want them to come home. and Lord, enjoy the good presence of God again in their heart and in their life. Please help me to relate that truth. I know the message tonight doesn't have really a lot of content to it, but Lord, you have really put an end to it in my heart to preach on this tonight. So help me to do that to the glory of God. I pray you'd get the glory for anything done. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. You may be seated, amen. Just a little short introduction tonight about that word backslider. Backslider in heart is filled with his own ways. And I understand that's the only one time that word particular word backslider is used in the Bible. Now, it's used over in Jeremiah chapter number 3, amen, I think some nine times. It says backsliding or backsliding is plural. But the only one time in the Bible that I can reference, amen, he's called a backslider, amen. Then in the book of Hosea, Hosea talks about that situation, amen. He talks about it in chapter number 14, verse 4, I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely for my anger is turned away from him. So, Jose talks about it, I believe in three different references, Jose refers to the backslider. So, backslider is used some 17 or backslidings or that word in different forms, backsliding, backslidings. Backslide, er, is used some 17 times referenced in the Bible, amen. It's an Old Testament term that we don't read in the New Testament, but I surely know the principle is there, that people that got saved get away from God, amen. Or they backslide on God. Now, you don't read that word in the New Testament, but certainly we see the principle there. And I reckon, I don't know that I can exactly say for sure what got me to think about this or start looking at this, but I was reading about the kings of the Old Testament. And these great men that God used to get their nation back to God, every one of them, after he was used greatly to get the nation back to God or to bring about a revival, then they got away from God. And that really overwhelmed me. You think about men like David. You think about men like Solomon. You think about, and I know he wasn't a king, you think about men like Samson, that God used all these great powerful men, and yet after they were used of God, they got away from God. That seems almost unbelievable. You take Solomon. God visited Solomon in power and the very presence of God. So much that they couldn't even minister in the temple. And yet Solomon got away from God and brought heathen gods into the city of Jerusalem and they worshiped heathen gods. So here's what I'm trying to tell you. It don't matter how saved you are, you can get away from God. And to me, that's what revival is all about, amen. I know, thank God, revival, we wanna see people get saved, amen. But really, if you really get technical, then I don't wanna do that. But revival is not for the sinner. Revival is for the saying of God. Everyone in this room tonight stood to the fact that on one day or one night, you got saved. Thank God for that. But I'm gonna tell you what, that just begins the journey. Amen. And there's a lot of pitfalls and there's a lot of things will come in all of our lives to try to cool us off or get us away from God. And so that's just a fact in the Bible, amen. Can I say first of all, our country's backslide. Amen. The wicked shall be turned in hell, and all nations that forget God. America tonight, God has turned us into hell. If our nation does not, there is no solution to our nation other than revival. I don't care who we put in office, I don't care what man we vote for, and we ought to vote for the best man, but he can't get us back to God. He might can improve the economy, but he can't get us back to God. And that's why we like Trump. I liked him for his patriotism. I liked him that he got, you know, things going in the financial rim. Really, that's what a lot of, now I'm not talking about us, that's what a lot of people like about Trump. He got their pocketbooks full of you. And if we're all careful, we look more to Trump than we did to God. Somebody help me. Amen. But I'm just simply saying, I'm not running him down. I think he needs to get saved. Amen and amen. But my point is this, countries get away from God. Matter of fact, that was the message of the old, God sent the prophets in the old times to preach to the leaders of the nation and to the people. You need to get back to God. So countries get away from God. Churches get away from God. I preached a little bit, amen, but I'll tell you, I preached in churches that had the revival. They've had revival. And tonight, they're cold as a cucumber. Now, that's sad. One of the greatest prayers I got a pastor like that in the church, that hey, God one day would leave us alone. There ain't nothing deader than a dead church. I want to say that again. There is nothing deader than a dead church. Amen and amen. When you got to sit on the service and endure it for an hour, amen, or in our case, two hours, or in some case, three hours, somebody help me. Ain't nothing deader than a dead church. Probably if it's going to last three hours, it ain't dead. Amen. Is anybody listening? It's probably dead if it only lasts 45 minutes. Somebody help me. Y'all know what I'm trying to say. But churches get a, I think I referenced that one night, the church at Ephesus, God. One of the greatest books in the New Testament on the church was the church at Ephesus and God bragged on them in chapter one. And in Revelation he said, you left your first love. That's possible. It's in the Bible. Amen. And then certainly Christians backslide. Christians get away from God. What does the Bible say? What does the Bible say? The Bible talks about demons. Demons hath forsaken me, having loved this president of the world. Amen. And this is nothing new, but everybody I've heard preach on demons preached it backslid. I don't know if he ever slid in. Now, I would tell you Locke wasn't saved, but I got Bible and Peter that says Locke was a righteous man. I don't have no scripture to tell me demons were saved. But I don't think I've ever heard, and that don't mean it, I'm just saying what I'm trying to say, I've never heard anybody preach on Demas that he was saved and got away from, they always put him in a backslide, did he ever get saved? I'll tell you what I'm gonna do, if a man left our church and goes back to the world, that's where the Bible said he went, a man leave your church and go back to the world, I'm not gonna try to assure him he's saved. Amen, who knows if he's saved if he's living in the world you go try to assure him He might have made a profession. He might have got saved, but when you have his funeral what you gonna say? When he died living in the world, what you gonna say at his funeral? Well, I want y'all to know this man was saved And he's living in the world Y'all mighty quiet I hope demons were saved, but I don't have no absolute proof. I got proof a lot was saved because I got a Bible on it. Amen and amen. Amen. Isn't it sad that people come to church, make a profession, let's even say they get saved, but they die out of church. Man, that's hard on the preacher. They have to get up at a funeral and try. They're living in the world, they died in the world. Listen to me, that's hard at a funeral. Amen. So my point is Christians, do you know why our country's in bad shape tonight? Do you know why our church is in bad shape tonight? Because Christians are in bad shape. It starts with us. Half everybody was living like you. Somebody hip or like me. So I want to say, first of all, this is real simple. I see the definition of a backslider. One who falls away from the faith gradually. James 5, 19. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that he converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death. I believe that was a man got away from God, and he said if you don't get him back to God, he's going to die. Are you listening physically? So a person that falls away from the faith gradually is what we refer to as a backslider. Then also one who neglects his vows and obedience and falls into sin. That's a backslider. If you look it up in Strong's Concordance, he even says apostatizes. I don't think a person that goes into apostasy was ever saved. Because he is deliberately rejecting the revealed truth of God. But a Christian can get away from God and what we refer to as being backslidden on God. We mentioned Hosea a while ago in Hosea chapter number 4 verse number 16. Here's what he said. He said, for Israel saw his back as a backsliding heifer. He said, Israel slides back as a backsliding heifer. Now, my daddy raised livestock, raised hogs, raised cows. We used to go to the market, amen, and they would load them cows in the trailers, and I literally saw that. I saw them pushing those cows up the ramp. That's dangerous. I've seen people get kicked doing that. I'll tell you what I found out about a backslider. Not only is he away from God, he'll hurt you. A person getting away from God will hurt a Christian. Amen and amen because when they look at you they represent what they know they ought to be Amen, and I'll be honest with you. I'll be honest with you. It's harder to work with a backslider than it is to work with a sinner It's hard. I had a man in our church got saved, got away from God. He worked for the police department. He was a deputy sheriff. And literally, I got time to tell all that story. And he got away from God. And God, literally, God broke his shoulder. They set up a trap for him. And his own people on the police force, they was on a drug case. And he was getting close to finding out who it was. And they didn't want the people to find out who it was because they were connected with the department. And they set a booby trap for him. And they rigged his car and his car wrecked. And he ended up, this whole side was nothing but metal. Because his own associates tried to kill him. And here's what he told me. And he died not so long ago. His wife's still in our church. And here's what he told me. He said, Preacher, I got away from God. And God did this to get me back. And here's what he said. It was harder to get back than it was to get in. I want to say that again. He said it was harder to get back. Every time he shook hands, he shook hands like this because he couldn't raise his arm to shake. He said it was harder to get back than it was to get in. Somebody help me. I'm simply saying that to say this, amen. A backslider, amen. A backslider hurts you. Amen. So I see the definition. Can I hurry on and say, I see the detection of a backslider. Proverbs 14, back in our day, said a backsliding heart is filled with his own way. Here's what he said. It's in his heart. It starts in his heart. Before he ever leaves the church, it's already in. You can be backslidden sitting in the pew. Before you ever leave, it starts in your heart. It don't start in the nightclub. It don't start in the junk joint. It starts in your heart. Amen. Your heart gets cold. Oh, I believe I got the right message now. I don't mean nothing, but I believe I got the right message. Hey, when you get cold on God, you're heading to be backslidden. Amen and amen. It says it starts in your heart. Your heart gets cold. Amen. Amen. What are you trying to say? Hey, listen to this. The heart's not in it. Amen and amen. I'll tell you something else. I give you about three or four things I see in the back. It's been my experience. They become passive about church. Are you listening to me? They become very passive about church. They come late and leave early. I'm telling you, I have literally seen people who used to be there early, but then they get cold in their heart, and they come in late, and they don't hang around the fellowship, and they leave early. I'm just simply saying they get passive about church, amen. Half we went to work like we go to church. Or half we went to church like we go to work. Amen and amen. Now this is no reflection, I'll be honest with you. I was riding down the road talking to my wife I think day before yesterday. I said, you know what, and thank God people, not thank God, people do get sick and people can't come to church. But here, I told my wife, here's what I'm gonna say about that. Would you go to work the next day? If you was this sick, would you miss church? Would you miss work the next day? You will miss church. Somebody help me. And I know people, I know people get sick. I know they can't. Matter of fact, some people don't come when you're that sick. But I am saying this, would you miss work for what you miss church? Amen and amen. I tell you a lot of people, they're sick on Sunday. Somebody calls it Sunday-itis. But they're well on Monday. Amen, somebody. Preacher, you better hold that message to the last night, amen. We ain't coming back to hear you. No, I'm just trying to tell you, they get passive about church. I want to go to church. Thank God my heart has never been cold enough, I didn't want to go to church. But I'm going to tell you, when you get backslid on God, you become passive about church. Number two, that they're contributing is not punctual. They're not punctual when they're contributing like they used to be. I got a call some years ago. A man called me up and said, Brother Willis, I want you to come preach revival. I didn't know to preach it. He said, I want you to come preach revival for us. I said, OK, whatever. He said, we're in a three-week meeting. I said, do what now? He said, we're in the third, we ended up the third week, and the next week the preacher that started the revival can't be here. And he said, I want you. I said, sir, you don't know me? He said, and you want me to come and start the fourth week of a three-week revival? He said, yeah, Joe Arthur's been here, and he's been preaching three weeks, and revival's broke out. I said, man, and you want me to come, and you don't know me? I'm not trying to act humble. I'm trying to be serious. He said, yeah, I want you to come. You know, pick it up and go. I said, Brother Joe Arthur, I can't. You're talking to Alfred Willis. He said, come preach for the Bible. So I got there on Monday night. I'm talking about their giving is not punctual. I got there on Monday night. They sang a few songs. The choir sang. Preacher walked up to the pulpit. He said, all right, it's time for the offering. And I'm telling you, when he said time for the offering, I believe literally the whole church jumped to their feet and said, glory to God! I said, what? They are, yeah, they're in revival. Come back Tuesday night, fire sang, special sang, let's take up the offering. The church jumped up and said, glory to God. I said, man, they're having revival. What am I doing here? Wednesday night, they come back, hey, sang, said, let's take up the offering. And they don't know me who the offering was for. I jumped up and said, glory to God. Somebody help me, man. They were punctual. This church was punctual in their giving. But when you get cool on God, you know what you ought to be. The Bible says God loves a cheerful giver. I know I'm preaching in a giving church. I understand that. God bless y'all. First time I haven't heard about this church. My son and his wife and my grandkids come here. I'd never been here before. My son come home, my grandchildren come home. I'm telling you with tears running out of their eyes. I said, Granddaddy, you wouldn't believe the church we was in. I said, what? Tell me about it. He said, they brought us all up front and gave us pocketbooks. The girls, you gave the girls pocketbooks. And then they come by, y'all come by, and started stuffing money in their pocketbooks. And they said, Granddaddy, look what the money they gave us. And I said, oh, God, I'm going to pray Brother Sexton come in. Somebody, not for the money, not for the money. I just want to be in that environment, amen. Somebody give me an amen. Hey, I want to tell you, this church, hey, when you get cold on God, that won't be, hey, God loves, we ought to get happy about giving. I'm glad I got somebody to, I'm glad I got something to give. I'm glad I'm not, they don't have to give to me, I get to give to them. Somebody help me. Hey, you get, you get, you get, you're not punctual, but you're contributing when you get back to it. Your carnal and your pleasures. I was talking to the preacher today, and what can a church offer people? I know we get to play some ball, but I'm going to tell you, church is not about, this is our pleasure. This is what it's all about. Hey, if you can't get play, we can't entertain. The world's got so much more to offer. Hey, what do we offer? We offer you preaching, singing, shouting, going to the house of God. If that'll work for young people, it'll work for old people. Is anybody listening? Hey, you're looking for pleasure and carnally, and when you get backslid on God, this don't satisfy you. Amen. Well, we need to get up a ball team. No, no, you just need church. If this don't excite you, playing ball ain't gonna excite you. I'm for playing ball. But I'm saying, hey, it's all about pleasure. It's in the things of God. Amen. Lord, I got to hurry. Y'all done got me all bogged down. Conversation's not pleasing. You begin to say off-color things. Man, I've been around that. Y'all been around that. You be around somebody says their say, and then they're telling off-color jokes. No, he's backslid. Amen. I've been around preachers. I think I said that one night. I've been around preachers who cuss. I've been around preaching who's preaching in the pulpit and cuss. I said if a man is standing in the pulpit and cuss, what is he doing behind the barn? I have no time for cussing preaching. Amen and amen. I was preaching one night. I won't tell you where. I was preaching one night. It was a pretty big meeting. Amen. Well, I call a big meeting. I don't want to tell all these stories, but I was preaching. I call it a pretty big meeting. Lots of preachers there, and they had me preaching that night for some reason, and a preacher walked up to me and patted me on the back. He said, Brother Willis, I just pray you give them a cuss. And I got up, and I said, I don't like cussing preachers. Dear God, it killed the meeting. It did. And I really didn't, I didn't say that to rebuke him. I just forgot where I was. I think God let me lose my mind. I wouldn't have said that ordinarily after he cussed in front of me. But I'm glad he come out. It killed the meeting. Because they believe in cussing preachers. Thank God, I ain't heard no cussing around yet this week. But I gotta say, if I quit cussing, Anybody listening? Hey, when you're still cussing, you're backslidden. Praise God. Isn't this deep? This is deep, isn't it? Your concern for people is lacking. When you get backslidden, you don't care. When you get backslidden, you don't care about your family, you don't care about your friends, all you care about is yourself. That's why people get away from God and do what they do, because they don't even care about their family no more. Amen. Well, anyway, I'm just simply trying to say, hey, the detection of a backslider. Could I be describing somebody tonight? I hope not. Psalm 51, Psalm 51, we know that's the Psalm of David getting right with God after his serious sin. I'll tell you what happened to David. He lost his spirit. Here's what he said over there in Psalm 51. Created me a clean heart, O God, and renewed within me a right spirit. Sounded like his spirit had got bad. Are you listening to me? He lost his spirit, amen. Amen. He lost his security. Look in verse 11. Cast me not away from thy presence, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. I know that's Old Testament. I know the Spirit of God came on men. It did not come to indwell men like the New Testament. But nevertheless, he lost his security. I really believe this now. You may disagree with me, but that's all right. I believe when a man gets away from God, he don't have a whole lot of security. I believe the Holy Ghost will use that to convict him to get him back right. Amen and amen. I've talked to some people back so back and slanting so far from God, and they're more sure they say that I am. I believe that might be a false assurance. All y'all listen to me. He lost his satisfaction. Look at verse 12. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation. Hey, it didn't say restore my salvation, it said restore the joy of it. Amen, amen. Lost his satisfaction. There is nothing like serving the Lord. Man, I am, I love, when I'm right with God, I tell you what, there's nothing better than serving God. Amen, amen. Lost his burden for sinners. Look at verse 13. Then, then, then will I teach transgressors thy way, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. He said, when I get my joy back then, I'll be telling than you, and sinners will get converted. Could that be where our churches are tonight? Maybe that's why we're not seeing what we ought to see. We don't have that joy we used to have. Somebody help me, amen. Somebody asked Mr. Spurgeon, said, Mr. Spurgeon, do you really believe those that have never heard the gospel are lost? He said, do you really believe those that never share it are saved? Something about getting saved, you want to tell somebody. You may not tell them, but you want to tell them. And if you don't want to tell it, you might not be got it. I remember the night I got saved. We had a babysitter sitting with our children that night. And I walked in about 12 o'clock that night. And I said, Miss Bird, guess what just happened to me? She said, what? I said, I got saved tonight. She was the first person I talked to. Later after that, I got to lead her son to the Lord. Somebody! You want to tell it when you get saved. And if you don't want to tell it, either you're not saved or you're backslidden. Amen and amen. I don't always tell it, but I want to tell it. I don't always give a track, but I want to give a track. Amen. Oh man. Then you lost your song. Look what he said, look what he said, look what he said. He said what? Then when I teach transgressors that way, deliver me from blood guiltness, O God, thou God of my salvation, my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lip, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. Now I tell you, we sing you ought to get your hymn book out. Amen. I, I, I, I don't, I ain't gonna spend a lot. I was preaching revival, I was preaching revival. And I, I preached over there in Psalm 40. He got me out of my, put it out of the harbor, put a new song in my mouth. He even prayed. I was preaching on that text. And I preached that text. And then the song needed to come forward to lead the invitation. He said, before we start the invitation. He said, my wife made a comment to me today. Said, honey, I notice you're not singing around the church like you used to. This is what he said now. He said, I notice you're not singing around the church, around the house like you used to. He said, I know you're singing at the church, because you're the song leader. But you used to be singing around the house, taking a shower, whatever. She said, you haven't been singing. He said, you know what the preacher preached tonight, that you lost your song. He said, but I got it back tonight. I'll tell you, when you're saved, when you're right with God, and you're not backslidden, you got a song of praise. Amen, could we do anything less than brother Jerome sing the praises of God? I'm not only enjoy singing. I enjoy watching you sing I'm gonna get up on the edge of the pew. I really am now. This is just me. Everybody ain't got to do it like me I'm gonna get up on the edge of the pew and egg you on when you sing So you ought to egg me on when I'm preaching I'll tell you how to get rid of your preachers. This Sunday when y'all come to church, get up on the edge of your pew and say, preach, preacher, preach, preach, preach, bring it on! He'll drop dead with a heart attack and y'all can get another preacher. I love them, amen, for all I'm preaching. I don't preach for them, but I sure love them, amen. Are y'all listening? To raise your kids in a dead church, they gotta have life. I'm not talking about made it, I'm not talking about put on, I'm talking about something real. We gotta have the realness of God. Our young people, what they're facing, they gotta have a place they come to, got some life in it. Matter of fact, y'all are creating the life. Praise God. I know this ain't got no content to it, but it's got a lot of intent. Hey, I'm trying to tell you tonight, we need to get right with God. We need to get up our backs with our apathy, amen? And we need to worship God even. Praise God, amen. If you got a hollow like that, turn me down, brother. I ain't got no control. Lord, she's strong. You know, sliding will make you callous. You're not going to believe this, but you can tell it's been a while. A couple of years ago, I said, you know, I'm getting old. And I said, I'm going to start lifting some weights in the morning. So I got me some weights out, two pounds. Fifteen pounds. So I started doing me some exercise. And then I looked, it wasn't long before I got calluses in my hand. You know what I found out about a callus? You can touch it and don't feel it. You know what happens to us when we get away from God and get cold and callous and indifferent? We get callous. Nothing touches you. You can come in a service where people are shouting. It's because you're backslidden. When people start talking about the goodness of God, and I got to say, it was on a Monday. Somebody tell. And they start singing that. And you say, oh man, we're going to sing that again. You know what's happened to you? You done got backslidden. You're calloused. You're cold. Amen. You look at the preacher like, man, who are you? Somebody help me. I'm your friend. I'm your friend. Amen. Hey, backsliding in his heart. That's where it begins. I want to give you a verse in the Bible. It's not new, but I tell you, it really got a hold of my heart. I'll be honest with you, I heard David, David Young preach a whole message on this. And when he read it, listen, let me read it to you. It said what? It says in Proverbs, it says in Proverbs chapter number 15, Proverbs chapter 5, verse number 4. I want to read that to you. Chapter 5, verse number 4. Here's what it said. He said, I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. In chapter 5, verse 14, here's what he wrote. I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. He said, I was about to commit evils even sitting in church. Are y'all listening to me? What are you trying to say, preacher? I'm just trying to say, your backsliding starts in your heart. Are you listening to me? Not in the world. That's where you end up. But it starts in the church and it starts in your heart. Are y'all listening to me? Amen and amen. Then notice the direction of the backsliding. He said the backsliding heart is filled with his own ways. He's filled with his own ways. If he's filled with his own ways, there's no ways for God. Everything's about him. Everything's a certain everything has got to be around him or her that's away from God He's filled with his own and he follows his own way And then notice that he's familiar with his own ways Are you listening? I had a preacher tell me I used to preach for him every year Here's what he told me. He said preacher. Let me tell you what I found and having this girl's home He said anybody who gets away from God, they always go back to what they were all set worse. I He said these girls that come in this home and get saved and then get away from God, they always go back to what they were, but normally it's worse. And the man who told me that, I preach for him every year. I would preach a week revival every year, sometime a tent meeting. And here's what happened to him, he got away from God. You know where he is tonight? Thank God he's back in church, he's recovered. But he got away from God, lost his family, lost his ministry, lost his church, and he went back to what he was. When you get away from God, that's where you go. You go back to what you were. He was a womanizer. And so he took up with one of the girls in the home and left his whole family, his wife, his children, his ministry, and all them girls that he taught. You know what he got concerned about? His own way. Are y'all listening to me? And I don't say, this is a sad commentary. I'm gonna say, I'm seeing it more and more. I know it's quiet. Brothers in Rome, I'm seeing that more and more, brothers in Rome. I'm seeing men that preach what we preach, stood where we stood, preach the same book we preach, thundered the King James Bible, and a lot of them tonight not even in the ministry. A lot of them tonight's lost their families. You can't lose your salvation, but you can sure lose that fellowship. I got a relationship that'll never be broken, but that fellowship, amen, that can be broken. Are you listening to me, amen? What happened to Demas? He went back to the world. Are you listening? What happened to David? He went back to women. Just read them in the Bible. What happened a lot? He pursued wealth. He said the plains of Sodom and Gomorrah were well watered. He said it's good for my cattle. He was more concerned about his cattle than he was his children. He said, this is a good place for my cattle. Well, wait a minute, Mr. Lord. How about your children? Oh, yeah, but this is nice for my children. This is nice for my cattle. I want to tell you something. I really believe this preaching. I tell you, I think I've lived long enough that I can say this honestly. My wife is here. I would rather make $10 an hour and be in church than to make $100 an hour and be out of church. I really believe that. I've been put to the test. I have been put to the test. I take charge over a job. I know that's hard. I know that's hard. But I just know, hey, anything that'll start keeping you out of church, keeping you out of church, is working to get you out of church. I understand, I got men in my church. I understand, I preach this at home. You better be careful when it's consistently, I understand sometimes, I ain't got, y'all don't make me be political. And when it's consistently keeping you out of church, it's working to get you out of church. I know there's jobs that have to be worth saving. I understand that, but I tell you, you better be careful. I don't know if I have the authority to preach like that here in this revival, but I am telling you, I've seen it over and over and over. My grandsons, my grandsons had a job and it was that schedule. I understand that. Would y'all let me preach? And it was keeping up. And you know, they work 12 hours and then they all, and they all, you'd be off for a day. It takes three days to recover. And I noticed what would happen. It would keep them out of church two Sundays a month. I'm just telling you. And then in the church on Sunday, there were zombies. And my boys, they come to me, I'm their pre, I'm their granddaddy, but I said, don't dress me as granddaddy, I'm a preacher. You better be careful, this is gonna get you out of church. And thank God by the grace of God, God got them another job. And them boys were making $25 an hour. I don't know if that's big money up here or not, but big to me. But they got him another job, and I claimed, God help me make more money now. See, you ought to be giving me some of that money. I got you all a better job, somebody help me. It took a step of faith. Is anybody listening? I hope I, let me preach, let me preach. I'm just simply saying, Demas, hey, Demas went back to the world. David went, Lot went back to wealth. Ezra went back to being wicked. 52 years! 52 years! And what? Got mad at the preacher. Josiah rejected the Word of God. Josiah, one of the greatest kings, one of the great, the last king of Judah, got away from God because he got in a battle that God told him not to get into. And died! Are y'all listening to me? Hey, Solomon. Can you? Solomon wrote a book on love. He wrote a book on learning, Proverbs. He wrote a book on lamentation. And here's what Solomon wrote. Here's what Solomon wrote. Proverbs 14, 14. Backsliding his heart, filled with his own ways. Here's the man who wrote that who did it. Everybody's got an opinion. Whatever your past opinion, he's right and I'm wrong. But I did read some authors say they'd never seen where Solomon got right with God. His last verse, the last verse of Ecclesiastes, what? Conclusion of the matter is this, is to obey God and keep his command. It's the whole duty of man. And some say he never got right. I don't know how they know that, but I have read off and said they don't see no way where Solomon got right with God. Can you imagine God using this great man and he died away from God? Over and over we see it in the Bible. Destruction and backsliding, they lose their happiness. David said, restore the joy. Then lose the health. I want to read a verse for you, and I know your pastor reads this to you all the time, but every time we have communion, I read it to our church. Here's what it said, for he that eateth and drinketh unworthy, well, let a man examine himself, so let him eat of that bread, drink of that cup. He that eateth and drinketh unworthy, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause, many are weak, many are sickly among you, many sleep. I read that in our church. I said, church, I didn't write this. And I normally misquote it. Some are sick, some are weak, some are sick. No, it didn't say. It said many are weak, many are sick, and many have died because they took the Lord's Supper unworthily. Are y'all listening? They lose their health. I don't think just because you're sick, you're sinning, but sinning does make you sick. I'll be honest with you, I'll be honest with you. You can call it what you want. Y'all rebuke me. Preacher can rebuke me. I'm tell you COVID is on a nation that's away from God. God said y'all don't want me. I'll send a plague on you like I did on Egypt. Say what you want. And it's affected our churches. And I've heard preachers say this and I'm about to believe it. We'll never get back to where we were. Are you listening? That's just my opinion. You can junk that. But I tell you what I believe, God is sick of America. What God has done for this country, and we have like spit in his face. And now we got things, they're creating things now, they're creating, I think we're in Genesis chapter number six, they're creating monsters. They're creating beings, they're not even beings. I saw the little thing on the news yesterday. I think it was yesterday. They got that dog in New York. He's a mechanic. He's a mechanical dog. And I'm not a television watcher, but I did see that. They got that crazy thing that looked like a dog. And he's supposed to do what the dogs do to curb crime. Is anybody listening? Man, we're in a mixed up world right now. God has turned America over. Well, I'll tell you what Romans said, God says he'll turn you over to a reprobate mind. That means you're void of judgment. Anyway. Hey, listen to this, you lose your hope. I'll tell you what, 2 Peter 1 says 9, says you can forget that you was purged. You don't add this to your faith, virtue and knowledge, you don't add those things, you can get to the place you even don't even know whether you're saved or not. That's what backsliding does. Lose your home. You think when Adam sinned, can you imagine this? After he sinned, he was in a what? Perfect? What we would call perfect? Well, somebody said if it's perfect, then he wouldn't have sinned. I'm just saying, he was in a garden of Eden. And he sinned. He had everything God gave him. He said, you can have everything, except that one thing. Oh, don't we serve a God that won't let you do nothing. He said, no, wait a minute, Adam, you can have everything except one. Well, I don't like that Christianity so narrow. Wait a minute. No, I'm not in bondage. I've been set free. I was in bondage. I used to have to have that drink. I used to have to have that. But I've been set free. I'm not in bondage. You poor Christians, y'all don't get it. Oh, no, I'm enjoying myself. I feel sorry for you. You've got to have it. I don't have to have it. I don't have to have cappuccino. Somebody help me. Lose your home? Man, his boy killed his other boy? Because of sin? Just because his boy wanted to offer blood sacrifice? Two sons in their same home. One's a fundamentalist and one's a liberal. And the liberal kills the fundamentalist. Well, how do you reckon Adam felt? Lot lost his wife. He got away from God. I'm her, I'm quitting. God said he turned her into a pillar of salt. She became in death what she should have been in life. She should have been salt in life. God made her that in death. I know it's a little humorous, but I did think about this. Every time they said past the salt, they probably had flashbacks. What are you trying to say? Lot lost his wife. Eli lost his sons. Naomi lost her husband and two sons. Just trace it through the Bible. You get away from God, you don't know the price you're going to pay. God don't do that because he hates you. He does that because he loves you. He's trying to get you to come back. Hey, come back before he has to do that. I'm just simply saying, David lost his children. How awful. The man after God's own heart, Brother Brian, lost his children, had one son, wanted to kill him. When you get away from God, you don't know what's going to happen. Do you serve God out of fear? I have a reverence for God. You can call that what you want. Amen. I have a family in our church. I have a family in our church. I'm not comparing them to y'all. But I'm going to tell you, this family in our church, most of their songs, they sung a cappella. I mean, they had such harmony. I mean, it was a mama, and it was four girls. Dear God, they could sing the house down. I mean, they could sing the house down. Could I show you where they are today? God called them to preach in our ministry. They got away from God. Now they're divorced. The children, the beautiful children that stood on the platform, godly children, got tattoos all up and down their arms, got pictures, they're in bars with liquor bottles all behind. Used to stand on our platform and sing. Can you get there? You can get there. Are you listening? I often wonder why God lets our home get messed up. Because you know what? He's a father. And so this is just my flimsy thinking. God said, hey, you know how you love your children. I love you more than you love your children. But if you're going to get back up on me, I'll show you what it feels like to show your children to go astray. Peter lost fellowship. Demas lost a friend in Paul. Demas lost a friend in Paul. A man in our church, Brother Dyson, he lost his finances. He got saved, had a store to run. God says, all right, shut down the bear. Don't be selling no bear. He kept on selling bear. God took all his money from him. Anybody listen? Tim Lee lost his legs. I heard him preach it. I heard him tell it. He said, I was raised in a Christian home. He said, I went to Vietnam, and I was away from God. I stepped on a landmine. God took my legs. He said, I couldn't run no more. I heard him tell it in a big meeting. I had a singer I used to listen to. Oh, man, he had a voice. Oh, Lord, he had a voice. He got away from God, and God gave him lung cancer. I know y'all tired of hearing this. I'm just trying to tell you, don't get away from God. If you're away from God, this would be a good meeting to get right. I close by saying this I it was three men that we had led to the Lord supposedly and I believe they probably did get saved no way I can prove it but brother Doug Thompson was at our church in a revival and we had some three men got you know got saved in that meeting one of them had took an overdose of drugs And they had put him in the hospital, and they called us. And I went to see him, and the wife was there. Of course, I knew the wife. She said, preacher, they said he's probably not going to live. Ricky's probably not going to live. And if he does live, he's took so much drugs, it's destroyed his internal organs. So he'd be nothing but a vegetable. And so we got in to talk to him. He was able to talk to us. And Ricky called on God. I ain't got time to get into all the details of that. But Ricky called on God. I told him, no need to do it to get out of your sickness. You need to get right out of your sin. And he called on God. And to come the next day, he said, well, Ricky's going to make it. Ricky's going to make it. And he come out a few days later, and the doctor said, I can't believe this. His internal organs are functioning. And pretty soon, Ricky got out of the hospital and come to church and stood up on that side of the church, 6 foot 2, had 19 brothers and sisters. I said, dear God, I'll be jackal if I win all this family. Somebody help me. 19 brothers and sisters. And I'm so glad God saved me. A redneck, I'm telling you, six foot two, six foot three. I'm talking about a redneck, now. This is a redneck, amen. And God saves, testifies, how God saved me. And real fast forward, hey, missed a Wednesday night. Y'all wanna tell me the rest of the story? Then he missed another Wednesday night. Then he started missing Wednesday night. And I went to him, I said, Ricky, you better listen to the, no, I said, Ricky, you better, you better listen to the preacher. I'm a nobody, but what God did for you, he not only saved your soul from hell, he saved your life. And he gives you your health back. You better get right with God. He said, Preacher, I went back and I got on that crack. And he said, Preacher, I cannot, I mean crying. He said, I cannot shake it, I can't. I believe God will deliver you from anything, but I tell you, you go back and mess with it, you'll have to get off of yourself, and most of them can't. I said, Ricky, I said, and I pulled up to his house one day, and he was doing a drug deal in the yard with some black guys. And after they pulled off, I pulled up, I said, Ricky, I'm telling you now, you better get back in church. God's done too much. Well, they found Ricky. They was down there hunting in the woods, and they found him hanging from the railroad trussle, hanging from his neck. Here's what they said. They said, the drug dealers killed him. And then somebody said, no, he committed suicide. I said, I'm not trying to be a smart aleck, but here's what I believe. I believe God killed him. Are you listening? I had another boy, Haven, raised in our church. Sang in a singing group. I used to go preach. And they used to go with me, the kids, they used to go sing while I preached. So they'd preach and I'd sing. Haven knocking on my door at three o'clock in the morning. All three of these guys, Haven knocking on my door at three o'clock in the morning, beating on my door, beating on my door. I went to the door at three o'clock in the morning. He said, Preacher, I went to go out of town. It was like God told me if you go, you're going to die. He said, I can't explain that. It wasn't audible. It's like he put the fear. I said, Haven, you need to get right with God, man. And so he got down on the floor at three o'clock in the morning in my house and called on God to save him. And then after he got saved, he would go to me to meet and go to meetings with me, go to meetings with me. And then he come to me one day and he said, Preacher, I'm going to Texas. I said, well, wait a minute, Abed. That's where you told me you was going when you got the fear of God in you. He said, well, I got a job at a construction company. I said, Abed, you ain't ready to handle staying in them motels with them drug addicts and all that. You ain't ready to handle that. He said, well, I'm going. I said, I'm telling you something now, Heywood. If you go, you're going on your own risk. Well, he wasn't out there two weeks. They got him down there in the bar, got him out the bar, took him down the road, run over him about two or three times, broke all of his legs. They put steel shanks in his legs, flew him back to Charleston. And me and Doug walked in the room, that priest. And I said, I said, Heywood, I come here. He said, I know you come to fuss at me. I said, no, no, no. I didn't come to fuss at you. I come to tell you, thank God you're still alive. And you need to get right with God, brother. Well, long story short, he come out in a wheelchair. A little bit later, he was on his crutches. A little bit later, he's walking. And he was coming to church, going with me to meetings, amen. You know what happened? He went back and got on them drugs. And one day, I was crossing the tail rest canal going in the most corner. And his mama called, Preacher! Oh, Preacher! Preacher, come to the apartment! He was dead! Oh, he was dead! I pull up there. All the law cars was there. Paverly went in and took an overdose and died. His mama and daddy come to me and said, Preacher, preach the funeral. And if you've ever preached, preach. I said, all right, Sister Peggy, y'all tell me to preach then. They said, preach. I'm telling you preacher, the church was packed. And a bunch of them was drug dealers. And I tell you, I preached the message on he died like a fool. Said he was raised in an atmosphere. I said, I'm tell y'all something now. Y'all come to a funeral today, this ain't gonna be your typical funeral. And I wasn't trying to be bad. I just said this ain't gonna be the typical. Some of y'all ain't used to what's gonna happen here today. And dear God, we started singing and praising God. Amen, preaching the gospel. Brother Jeff preached, I preached. I'm telling you the drug dealers come to meet the cemetery crime. Thank you for the message preacher. Thank you for and one religious woman wrote me up in the paper That I want you to know I have not forgot that message you preached and she said that's defamation of character Wrote me up in the paper one year later wrote me up again, said, I want you to know I have not forgotten that message. I said, glory to God! I preached a message a year ago and she ain't forgot it! Most forget it by when! Say, Sir Paddy, help me! The other guy, the other guy that got professed, he got saved, drowned in his own vomit. When you get away from God, there is sin unto death. I know I preached too long tonight. But I'm telling you, God wants you to come home tonight. Somebody said, I wonder why God let the man look for the sheep. I wonder why God let the woman look for the corn, but the father didn't look for his son. I said, oh, he's looking. He saw him coming down the road. He said, hey, that's my prodigal coming home. Hey, get a robe, get a ring, get some Reeboks, we're going to Ryan's, somebody help. That boy wasn't looking for sausage, I can tell you that. Somebody, he'd been in that hog pen, he was looking for steak, friend. Anybody listening? And what did he do? He ran out, he didn't kick him, he kissed him. before he ever washed him up, before he ever got the stink off, he kissed him, not kicked him. You know what God wants you to do tonight? He wants you to come home. He ain't gonna kick you. He's gonna kiss you. The church is gonna love you. We're not mad at you. We love you. That's why we preach the way we preach. We're misunderstood. We're trying to keep you out of that far country. Let's stand. Let's pray. I will say this. If you've never been chastened and you're away from God, Maybe because you ain't a child. God's gonna chase in his children. Father, Lord, I just ask you to honor the word of God. Frankly, as far as I know, I didn't get to see everybody, but I would think just about everybody stood tonight. Lord, that means we're professed to be saved, but I know we can get away from you. Help us tonight, I pray. Touch some heart, meet some need. Lord, the whole meeting would be worth it to see one somebody come and get right tonight. Bless us now as we start to sing. The pastor's gonna come, work in our hearts, I pray. In Jesus' name, heads about, eyes are closed, the preacher's coming.