I started out with something entirely different this morning. I was intending to go on where I left off last week, but the Lord steered this whole thing in a different direction this morning. I mean, He really did. And any question about it, I don't know whether He's trying to talk to me or you guys, I'm sure He's trying to talk to somebody here. You realize over the last two years, God's been working in this congregation, don't you? And when you see His hand at work, For example, Moses brings the children of Israel out to the Red Sea and he stops them right there. Moses ought to have had enough experience to say, God, I don't know what you're doing, but I know you're doing something. You didn't bring me clear out here to drown us here, get us killed on the edge of this water. I have no idea what you're doing, but I know you're doing something. Instead of getting out there and being so fearful and without faith because I don't know what's gonna happen next. Well, when you find yourself in a place where God's doing something, the first question that ought to come to your mind now is, Lord, how do you benefit from this? That ought to be the first thing in your mind, really. I mean, if you really believe he's got the hairs on your head numbered, and he's more aware of you than anything else on this earth, because you, personally, he redeemed. with the blood of his son, I mean, yes, there is benefit, you know, from the cross that covers all nature eventually. But you're the ones he loved. I mean, you're the ones he was after. That fellowship with that highest level of his creation that originally was made in his own image. You know, I mean, it's one thing to fellowship with a dog. We got a dog, poor old thing, man. She can hardly get around anymore. Our job is to do nothing more than make her life as comfortable as I can for the rest of it. She made ours happy for a while. But that fellowship with that animal is nothing at all like somebody just like you. There's an interaction there that's totally different. Of course, sometimes a dog's fellowship's better than man, you know. My favorite thing about a dog is he'll never pretend to be your friend to get something from you. That dog's either gonna wag that tail or start biting. There's no fooling around with him. Anyway, what's God got in mind? I don't know what he's got in mind. I can see clearly now looking back what he had in mind with Joan. I can see that real clear. And that had to do with the glory of God, he himself. You go back and look at the guy that was blind from birth. You know what that was all about? You know what it was about? The same thing. He said, was this man born black? The works of God might be manifest. He does those things to draw attention to himself. You realize that? Why was the storm out there and he's down at the bottom of the boat asleep to draw attention to himself? Why is he walking on the water? Don't you realize he could have been on this side of the thing and just instantly over there waiting for him? You think he had to walk across there? Why did he do that? Draw attention to himself. Why did he heal all the people that he healed? Draw attention to himself. Do you know he didn't heal them all? Why did he have that one woman come up and touch him like that and say, virtue's gone out of me? Draw attention to himself. You know why he's doing what he's doing in your life? You still have a question in your mind? He's drawing attention to himself. He gets your attention when things start going bad. Now, some of those things he does on purpose. Does he do all those things on purpose? I mean, you know, is every single bad thing that happens to her God lets happen to us? Is every one of those just to draw attention to himself? I don't know. Sister Helen, gonna go in and get this surgery real soon. I bet you God's gonna have more of your attention through that than he did without it. Of course, that could be just growing old too, you know that? I mean, you stop and think. Do you need him every hour? You need him every millisecond. That's how often you need him. You realize without him, you would not only stop breathing, but every molecule in your body would come apart. All things are held together by the word of his power. Disintegrate, go into what? Back into power, I guess. So when something happens to you, instead of fretting and worrying first, and whining and crying and saying, God, give me some relief, maybe you ought to stop and say, God, how do you benefit from this? What's in it for you? If this isn't happening by accident, then it's happening on purpose. If it's happening on purpose, it's not happening because God just turned the devil loose on you. You know how often God turns the devil loose on his children? He doesn't do that. I mean, that song, Day by Day, the protection of his child and treasure is a charge that on himself he laid. You don't think he's taking care of you? You bet he is. Well, if he's taking care of you, then everything else has purpose. And the purpose is not near as much for your training and your discipline as it is to draw the attention where he created you for, which is recognize who he is, be in awe of him, learn to appreciate him more every day. Brother Joe says, you know, are you actually happy all the day? I'm happy when I'm thinking about God. I'm miserable when I'm thinking about my problems, and I'm confused when I'm thinking about some of you. But the truth is, if you wanna be happy all the day, you can't be just thinking about yourself and do it. Anyway, that was just commercial interruption here. Now this is what the Lord really had in mind here this morning, for some reason. There's basically seven types of people or seven categories of people that are gonna be in church today around the world. I mean, we think of American churches. Man, they're having church down there in Africa, out there in the woods right now. I mean, where the lions and the tigers live with no roof, no nothing. And somebody's standing out there and people are either coming up and sitting down or standing up in front of them. There's stuff going on around this world, as far as God's concerned, that none of us even suspect. There's secret stuff going on where people are in fear of meeting. There's one and two meeting together, have nobody to teach them the word of God. They don't even have scriptures down there. Somebody just got saved over here and then moved over there and they're doing the best they can. I remember hearing about that one service, old hillbilly church, you know, no preacher. And the people had come in and meet together. And this guy got in there and he was bad, man. This guy was bad. He ended up preacher. But he comes in there and nobody to preach. One kid gets up and goes up, reads a verse of scripture and go sit down. Everybody sits back down and wait for somebody else to do something. There's stuff going on around this world that we have no appreciation for because you don't know what's happening. We got it made here. I mean, number one, we got some good people to meet with. We really do. I mean, I've been in some churches where there's some real trouble. The only real trouble in this place is between us and what's out there most of the time. But around here, this place is pretty calm. Anyway, there's seven kinds of people in these churches that are gonna meet today. And the question is, and this is for you to answer, which one of these categories do you fit into? And it's between you and God, but mostly for your learning at this point. First of all, there's a critic. Now, the critic comes in to find fault. There's Pharisees, you know, that used to come to Jesus Christ and try to entangle Him and get an edge up on Him, you know, and trap Him in His words and all this stuff and entangle Him. There's also a bunch of people just like that that are in the middle of a church split that are coming to church just to see what they can get on the preacher so they can go criticize Him. There's another one of them that's a show-off, and they come to display their self-righteousness. Now, that could be almost anybody. The show-off doesn't have to be just to display their self-righteousness, but there's a ton of people that are gonna stand in pulpits this day, get in front of a Sunday school class this morning, just to show the people in front of them what they know. That's what it's all about. And most of them, unfortunately, are displaying their ignorance to the ignorant. And if the blind lead the blind, they both fall in a ditch. They have no clue what they're doing or where they're going, but it's all about, man, here's what I know and why, and this is why I'm right and we're right and everybody else is wrong. That stuff has nothing to do with the reason God created you. Nothing at all. What you need to do is recognize God in all of his awe and wonder and majesty and magnitude and magnificence. That's my favorite word for him right there. Magnificent. I don't know that you can get beyond that. I mean, you can be in awe of him, but to actually describe him. Anyway. Some of them come to be seen of men with their clothes. I got new clothes on. Some girls come to show off what they just got. Some guys come, here's my new tie. I got some of these new ties just to keep Brother Mark from getting so upset. He hated them ties I'd wear. And rather than offend a brother, I was compelled, but anyway. Then there's also the needy. They come to get something they need. It's like going to the grocery store. You know, you go to the grocery store, the gas station, the restaurant, or a doctor. You got a need. You go to get it, you know? And you may or may not get it, right? I mean, you ever go to Walmart and not find what you're looking for? Did you find everything you want? No, I didn't, but there's no point in telling you because you're not going to do anything about it. You're just being told to say that to everybody to try to make them feel better about shopping there. Love of money, still the root of all evil. Anyway, then there's the friendly people. They come for the fellowship. They usually break off in groups, the young preteens, you know, they'll meet with their friends, the teens will come to meet with their friends. Sometimes the elderly come to meet with their friends, you know, and of course, you know, the difference is the teens are talking about what's fun and exciting and the old people are talking about what's hurting. You know, what's broken, what's not working anymore, and how I feel. That's why I dearly love this lady over here. If she's not happy and smiling, you know she's in serious pain. But boy, she usually got a glow about her when she comes in here. I hope you've been faithful praying for her. You know, out of sight is out of mind. That's not the way it's supposed to be. Out of sight is not out of your heart. If you care for the people here, you guys ought to be able to remember to pray for them when you're praying. The Lord ought to touch you about some of these things. There ought to be something going on in here rather than just standing there or kneeling there or bending your head over there or talking to God while you're driving and it just be all about you. There ought to be something else going on. And if it's not, it's because you love yourself more than you love anybody else if it's all about you. In the last days, men should be lovers of themselves. You wonder how come your prayer life is degenerated down to the point, me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of money, health, wealth, family. I need a bigger TV, God. And if you give me one, I'll watch Christian program once in a while. I'll do you a favor, God. You realize that's just how childish it gets. God, you give me a million dollars and I'll give you back such and such. Boy, do you realize who you're talking to? Oh, well, it sounded good at the time, Lord. What does he need? You know, people around thinking that God needs me. Oh no, it's the other way around. Anyway, they're friendly, you know. The worst ones are nursery workers. You say, oh, you're getting on some people now. I'm just telling you the truth. There's people who go over there and sit in that nursery and talk to each other just for the fellowship. They didn't come for nothing else. Or they came over here and it just got convenient. You know where the fastest place to backslide in a church is? It ain't the nursery. It's right up there. You say, why do you think that? I know, I've been there. I ran that thing for the church out in California and went over here a little bit. I don't like that job. We had a monster church. You realize when you're doing what you gotta do up there in a big church, now this one's a little bit easier. He can come down and sit and listen. When you're in a big church, you're on top of that thing the whole time. You can't pay attention to what's going on. You can't be listening to the guy praying. You can't be listening to the people singing. You can't hardly be listening to much of the preaching. Why, you're constantly adjusting levels, and you're trying to keep the feed back down, and he gets quiet, and you bring him up, and he gets loud, and you gotta bring him back down, you know? You're constantly doing something the whole time. If it ain't that, it's a telephone ringing over there. And that constantly happened. Then there'd be people coming into that room from the outside, because we had an outside access. They'd come in to see how far along church was, you know? Constant state of interruptions. Pretty soon, you weren't even at church, man. You just went and did your job. It's really strange. There's all kinds of things happening. But the nursery workers, they're part of that friendly crowd. Anyway, then there's the duty-bound. They come out of a sense of responsibility. You say, well, I don't feel responsible. Well, then you're irresponsible. I had a friend, Gene Varnell, before I got saved, and I went to church only because he asked me to and only because I felt a sense of responsibility to my friend. I mean, there's all kinds of reasons people come, but a lot of them just come out of the sense of responsibility. It's the right thing to do. I need to do it. Then there's the curious. Some of them come just to see what it's all about or what's going to happen or what might happen. I remember I went the first time out there when I got saved, you know, in that week, and Reverend Joe Boyd was preaching. And he preached some message, and it was easy to listen to. And I don't remember what the message was, but it was kind of interesting. I mean, he had a bunch of weird titles. That guy had one, you know, Seven Ducks in a Muddy Pond, and The Bed's Too Short, and The Cover's Too Narrow, and you know, some stuff like that. And he was gonna preach on Friday night on black magic. You know why I went back on Friday, don't ya? I wanted to know about that Mandy's goat. I wanted to find out what was going on in black magic. You say, did you get saved? No, I didn't get saved. But that was the night that Gene Varnell said, were you coming back Sunday? And I wanted out. I mean, I didn't wanna come back. I came because I wanted to hear what he had to say. And if I'd have thought somebody was gonna put pressure on me, I probably wouldn't have gone that night. It wouldn't have been worth it. But the Lord knows all that. Anyway, there's the curious. After the curious, you got the traditional. This is number seven. The traditional, they come out of habit. These become very selective over time. About what? If you're doing something out of habit, you develop an absolute specific routine. You might park in the same place. You might sit in the same pew. You might be selective about which services you attend. Well, I don't do Sunday school. Why? Because we never have. You might be selective about who you like to listen to and who you don't like to listen to. You get selective about the songs that you like or the music. You get selective about how people ought to give and how you give. You just do the same thing, routine, routine, routine, routine. You never step outside of that boundary. Why? Because it became a habit. It's just monotony. They secretly feel everybody else should be more like them. That's who these guys are. usually openly critical about it, but inside they just think everybody else ought to be more like them. God did not make everybody the same, believe me. You don't have the same personality I've got. My DNA established certain things within me that I couldn't change if I tried. I can't be taller. Can man add to his stature by taking thought thereof? No. You say, can you take off some weight by taking thought thereof? No, you gotta quit putting it in there. That's the only way to do it, man. I mean, unless you wanna burn them off. But anyway, they pretty much feel the same before and after church services. They walk through those doors, they feel good about being here, and they get all done with the service, they feel good about having been here, and they leave the same way they came. Why? It's just routine. Nothing's changed. They're stirred more by somebody changing the status quo than they are by the Holy Spirit. You get somebody up here who does something different in the music, sings a different song. Brother Mark feigns a heart attack. There's people that get upset just because things aren't the way they always were. Those are the people that get in this habit. Things start to change. It's like, ooh, I'm uncomfortable. I'm a little nervous, you know? And then finally, They think showing up is enough. They think that because they bring a 98.6 body into this room, that's all that God wants. That's what they think. Just like a bunch of people that go to work for Brother Jack and Brother Jim and Sister Cheryl, and Brother Jeff for that matter. Well, I'm here, ain't that enough? You want me to do something? I didn't have to in school. I didn't have to at home. Why should I start now? and you get in that routine where you get in here and it's just the same old, same old. You realize in the last two years it hasn't been the same old, same old? Some of you haven't got it yet. You haven't got it. You don't have any idea what's actually going on, but some of you have now a desire and a curiosity you didn't have before. Some of you heard enough now to say, you know, there is something happening up here. Anyway, which one are you? It's not important for me to know, it's important for you to know. Why? Because until you acknowledge there's something busted, you're not about to start fixing it. You say, well, I can't fix it, I'm just me. Okay, that's fine. Last week watching Dr. Phil, you say, you like him? He's a lost guy with some wisdom. You say, are you smart as him? No, I'm not as smart as him. But I recognize some intelligence when I see it usually. Him and Judge Judy are pretty different. They stand apart from the rest of them. They're actually trying to accomplish something. They're not just putting on a show. And they're trying to involve what's going on on this show with the people watching. They're more focused on the people that they don't see than they are the ones in front of them. They're actually trying to make something happen. You say, lost people? Yeah, lost people. You know, there's some good people out there. Sometimes the children of this world are wiser than the children of light. Many times they are. Anyway, we're watching this thing, and Dr. Phil is talking to this one group. Pretty soon, this woman responded with some off-the-wall stuff, and he says, aren't you listening? Haven't you heard anything that's been said here? And he said, you're probably one of those people that are just sitting there, and all you're thinking about is what you're gonna say next. That's the only thing going on inside your head. You know what some of these people are like? They come in here out of tradition. Only thing they're thinking about is what they're going to do after they leave here. Only thing they're thinking about is what everybody else thinks of them. They're thinking about, well, somebody is going to upset the status quo now. This ain't right. I don't like this. I don't think that's the right time to fellowship. I think we ought to move it over here. You know what's wrong? They're steeped in tradition. The Bible says, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And when Dr. Phil says, haven't you been listening? Haven't you heard anything? That verse come back to my mind and I said, that's what it means. If you're gonna hear what God wants you to hear in this place, you're gonna have to come and do it on purpose because you are not conditioned to actually listen. How many times have you told your kids, how many times do I have to tell you? You know what? If God were to speak to you, he'd say, how many times do I have to tell you? You know why? Because we're not listening. Now, which one of those people are you? You know, there's only one in that group of seven that actually listening. Out of seven, it was number three. Anybody remember what number three was? No, you didn't number them all. You just jumped from one to the next. The one that's listening is the needy. People come in here with a broken heart, they're listening. They're not here out of tradition. They're not here out of habit. They're not here out of self-righteousness. They come in here wanting something. And the Lord has stirred something inside of me, and I assume my wife and brother Mark and several others, that when you come through these doors, you want something from God. And what you want is you want to get closer to Him. You want that joy and that pleasure that you feel. You want that fellowship because that is better than anything else outside these doors. You come here with a need and you come just like you come to the gas station. It ain't about the gas station. It ain't about the pump and it ain't about the gas. It's about where it's going to carry you. You go off to Walmart to buy food, it ain't about Walmart and it ain't about the food in there, because you're not gonna eat it there. It's about what happens after that. You ought to be coming here for the same reason. You're not gonna go into Walmart and take your barbecue and set that thing up and cook dinner in Walmart. What's going on in here is just like that. You ought to be coming here to get something to go out there with. To do what with? To nourish you, to sustain you, to make the days different. And if you're saved, to make them better. Because that's the good part of God, is his fellowship. You think it's his mercy? It ain't his mercy. He has to have that because of how bad we are. There's nothing good about that. You say, huh, if it wasn't for mercy, I wouldn't. That's not why he created you. Because he had so much mercy, he didn't have anything else to do with it. What are you here for? You're here for His benefit, for His pleasure, and the desire He has is for you to desire Him. You come in here out of tradition, you come in here out of routine, you come in here with that mentality of just fellowship and stuff, you have missed the whole deal. Anyway, look over in Psalm 95, you say, you're gonna finally read something? Yeah, Psalm 95, verse one to three. Now listen to this stuff. Come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms, for the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. And that's what you're here for. And if all you're doing is standing up and singing the same way you always sing, and you're listening the same way you always listen, and you come in here and leave the same way, you are a traditional Christian. You are just coming out of habit. You're not looking for anything new. You're like the guy wandering around Walmart. Well, can I get you something? No, I'm just looking. I'm just window shopping. Well, I came with so-and-so. I just came with her. She came over here to get something. You didn't come to get nothing. You just came because you're supposed to or you came with somebody. You need to change the mentality of coming into this place. You need to start looking for something. Look at Psalm 97, verse one to six. The Lord reigneth. Let the earth rejoice. Let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are around about him. Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. A fire goeth before him and burneth up his enemies around about. His lightnings enlighteth the world. The earth saw and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord. Come into his presence with thanksgiving. You realize who's here. You realize what you're supposed to be doing here. You're getting on me. I came to church. What are you getting on me for? Because you came for the wrong reason and the wrong way. Stay home. Stay home until you get to feeling so guilty and feeling so bad, you come repentant that you weren't here. He said, man, he said, not even come to church. You're better off to do that than to fall into that rut of routine and monotony where God doesn't change from one day to the next and nothing changes you, nothing moves you except somebody else interfering with what you think. That's the truth, man. And it works just the same for you as it does for me. What else? The hills melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. Is he your Lord? Is he really you, Lord? You know what that means, don't you? There ought to be some response on your side to what he desires if he's really Lord. Oh, you're the king, but I don't care what you want. It's what I want, king. You're supposed to be taking care of me. No, if he's really the Lord, you ought to be doing something for him. And then finally, Psalm 100. Now, if this doesn't stir you, I don't know what to tell you. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know ye the Lord, that he is God. It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations. In fact, don't stir yet, because you don't have ears to hear. Let's close in prayer.