First of all, tonight I'm humbled just to even be in your presence. I love this church. I love you, Pastor. I always relate them to the Lewis Holland family. Everybody back in Tennessee and half of Kentucky has heard what Brother Lewis Holland was to me When I first started preaching, he was way up here, but he took me under his wing. And he helped me as much as anybody. And I'll always be grateful through his family for what he meant to me. Brother Lewis helped me a lot. As I stand before you tonight, I just have to shell the corn down. I look forward to this, but I have dreaded it. When I have to stand for the Lord, I feel it's an overwhelming responsibility to me. I've been trying to do this for a long time, and it's still overwhelming. I got over Being afraid of crowds, I was always shy, but to stand here with the Bread of Life, that Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, and it cuts both ways. And when it's used rightfully, it is the Bread of Life. But it can also be used wrong, and it can do a lot of damage, and I would pray to God that that would never happen. This is not going to be a good introductory sermon to those of you that don't know me, and you're going to agree with me. I've done wrestled that one out with the Lord, but I have learned just a few things, and I do know one thing, that God's ways and that His thoughts are as much higher than mine as the heavens or the earth. I'm thankful for all these children. And next to being slaved in the church, our children are one of the most blessed gifts that God has ever given. And to whom much is given, church, much is required. These children didn't come into this world at their own choosing. We chose to bring them into this world. And in doing so, we have a huge and a massive responsibility to see to it that we get them to the Lord. They're just as it was with Judas. And it's hard to say because the love that we have for our children. But if they was going to die without the Lord, it'd be better that they'd never been born. And it wouldn't leave this world without God. It would have been a selfish act to bring children into this world and not get them to Jesus. I know we all share in a concern about getting people saved and We have to sometimes be honest and just open up and look and see where the problem is. Because if we want to be honest about it, we really just don't have the power with God that we need to have in our churches. And I want that. I want conviction. But church judgment must first begin. at the house of God. If you want your children to repent and be saved, it starts with us. This message I feel like is going to sound harsh. God knows my heart. I want it to be for the good. But I guess I feel like I need to speak to the church primarily And I want to say this before I get started. Tonight, if you're here and you are separated from God, then you know you're lost. When you feel that tugging, Jesus said it this way, kids. He said, no man may come unto me unless he be drawn by the Father which sent me. Anytime that I'm up here trying to preach, if the Lord God is dealing with your heart to come to an altar, to come to Jesus, you do that. You do that. You won't hinder me. So anytime that the Lord is dealing with you that you need to be saved, you come and you seek the Lord because we're here to lift the Lord up on your behalf. if you have your bibles if you want to follow along with us we'd like to turn over to Ezekiel sixteen the sixteenth chapter of the book of Ezekiel and uh... i guess what my primary thought is going to be if the Lord will help direct me is is uh... being intimate with God uh... being intimate with God and you think, well, and intimate is like joined together, it's like close, it actually comes even from the same Hebrew word or Greek word as fellowship. God very much desires that the elect lady, the church, the bride of Christ to be would become intimate with Him. And Noel Webster describes the word intimate as in he gives an illustration as of two liquids that is completely joined and mixed together. And that's what God desires that we would be intimate And if we want to be honest, sometimes it's a little bit like it was with Hosea and his wife. Sometimes it's a one-sided love, if we'll just be honest about it all. The church and the congregation of the Lord is the apple of His eye. She is the speckled bird that sticks out from all the others in the eyes of God. And certainly, God deserves that He would be the apple of our eye. We talk about conviction, contrition, and we talk about the lack of it. Well, in the natural form, before there can be birth, there has to be some labor pains, don't it? There has to be travail. I think in Isaiah 66 and 8 it said, before she travailed, she brought forth her children. Before her pains came, she was conceived of a child. And he said, who had heard of such a thing? And you mothers know that a lot better than I can stand up here and tell it. There has got to be, in the natural form, there has got to be travail. There's got to be labor pains in order for that child. And I think Jesus, He said, once that child is born, He said, you remember the trouble and the anguish no more, because that little child is born. But, so before that a child can be born, there has to be labor pains, there has to be travail. But prior to that, there also has to be conception. There has to be conception. And that comes through being intimate with God. If there's no conception, there can be no labor, there can be none more. So it said that when Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. When we look and we see the lack of power in our churches and we all want to see more of it, we want to see the power of God. We want to see it where hearts would just melt wherever they're at and get saved. And we can see that again. God is of no variableness. He changes not. He's the same yesterday, today, forevermore. And lost people are no more lost than they ever were. They were never enlightened. You're either in darkness or you're enlightened. They're no more lost than they ever was. But it seemed like it's sort of like the sower that sowed the seed, and it appears that the seed is not falling upon good ground. And I just pray that God would break up that old stony heart, that it would fall upon good ground. But I want to look for just a little while And church, certainly, I need your prayers tonight. And I hope and pray that I wouldn't say anything out of the way, but I hope and pray that this will be something that will be a little bit of an alarming to us. Here in the 16th chapter, God is wanting the attention of His people. He was wanting the attention of His congregated people and parallel today, He's still wanting our attention. If you don't think God is wanting our attention today, look at the news. Look what all is going on. You tell me that God does not want our attention. And I tell you what, we better be giving Him our attention. He begins over here in this 16th chapter and he starts out and he's reminding them of what they were like before he took them in, in a sense of speaking. He said, again, the word of the Lord, starting in verse 1, 16th chapter of Ezekiel. Again, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abomination. And say, thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem, by birth and i made it to you was of the land of canada father was an amirite and i'm mother was a hit that as for that made it the in the day that that was more and i'm able was not cut neither was al washed in water to supply the that was not salted at all nor swatted at all no and i know there was no one pity day to do any of these things in the day to have compassion upon the but thou was cast out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou was born." He is comparing them before they became his as a little infant child that was born and actually just cast out into the open field and left to die. And he said they found no compassion out there. But he said, and then when I pass by thee, And I saw thee polluted in thine own blood. I said unto thee, when thou wast polluted in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast polluted in thy blood, live. And then he goes on and he says that I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxed greatly. And thou art come to excellent ornaments, Thy breast are fashioned and thy hair has grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee and I looked upon thee, behold, thy time was a time of love. And I, being God, spread my skirt over thee, and I covered thy nakedness, yea, I sweared to thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. Then I washed thee with water, yea, I thoroughly washed away the blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee, and notice how he just spoils her. Notice how God has blessed us today. I clothed thee also with broadered work, and shod thee with badger skins. I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with the ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain upon thy neck. and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thy ears, and a beautiful crown was upon thy head. Thus was thou decked with gold and silver, and remnant was of the fine linen, and silk, and the broader work. And thou didst eat of the fine flour, and the honey, and the oil, and thou was exceedingly beautiful, and thou didst prosper," he said, into a kingdom. and thy renown," that was her reputation, "...thy reputation went out among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord." And then I want you to notice the next verse. After God saved them, so to speak, and took them in, entered into a covenant with them, and thou became as mine, he said, and entering in that vow, and He blessed them beyond measure, beyond any other nation, out of everyone, He blessed them abundantly. And then He said, in verse 15, But thou didst trust in thy own beauty, and thou playest the harlot because of thy renown, because of thy reputation, and pouredest out thy fornication on every one that passed by, his it was. And then if you was to go over into the 32nd verse in that same chapter, he referred to them as being a wife that committed adultery which took a stranger's instead of her own husband. And then I want to come back to verse 20 because I want us to see what the outcome was. And I want you to notice who it was that's going to do the suffering uh... in it all uh... i believe it was uh... uh... uh... solomon in the book of uh... lamentations uh... that said that we are fatherless and we are orphans said for our fathers have sinned but we the children have bore their iniquity uh... you may not think about it but There's consequences for decisions. When we drift away from the Lord, we may not think it's that bad of a thing. We're saved anyway. But we don't realize a lot of times our children and our next generation is the ones that's going to pay for our slackness. And we look today at the gap, and I think Ezekiel in the 22nd chapter, he said, I sought for a man that would stand in the gap, that would make up the hedge, that the land would be not destroyed. But the sad thing was, he said, but I found none. Today, I think it's very vital that we, as the elect lady, supposedly to be the espoused bride of church, that we would recognize God for who He is. He is the husband. He is the head. And He desires that we would have intimacy with Him, closeness. Not just that we come to church every Sunday. The Bible talks about the church and He's not talking about the world because the world was always lovers of pleasure. But He's talking about how that in the last days that there's going to be purlist times that's going to come. And He was talking about the church would become lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Does that ring a bell? Can we, for the sake of our children, can we become honest with ourselves and acknowledge that we have become lovers of pleasures and lovers of life more than lovers of God? And he said, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, and he said, from such turn away. is a jealous God. He will not take second place. He desires that we would love Him in return and that we would have compassion and desires to be with Him. And a lot of times, if you want to be honest with yourself, He's nothing more than a lot of the people's life. He's nothing more than a spare tire. Don't even know He's there until you've got a flat. You don't even realize that tar, you go down the road somewhere and all at once, bumpity, bumpity, bump. First thing you think of, God I hope my spare is up. First time you thought about your spare in how many years? Is it not the same way a lot of times with supposedly God's people? You remember the ten lepers and how that Jesus took and healed ten lepers? I'm telling you, there was a lot to that. Not only were they healed, they got to go back into their family. That man, he would have got to went back and hold his little baby again because Jesus had healed him of his leprosy. At the end of the day, what happened? Only one. Only one come back to glorify God. And Jesus said, were there not ten? Where's the others? Where are we at in that number? I'm telling you, if we want the blessings from God, if we want our children to be convicted, we need to have enmity with God. We need to have that peer and unadulterated, true fellowship, oneness with God. Not just having a form of godliness. I think a lot of people can come to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesdays, and can be just as cold and indifferent from the Lord as everything. I like what he told, I think it was the Church of Ephesus, wasn't it? He said, I'd have you to be either hot or cold. But when you're lukewarm, that's when you're satisfied and you feel like, well, we're doing a pretty good job. I go to church every Sunday. I go to church most every Wednesday night. I pitch in to the church financially pretty good. I'm doing all right. Listen, we never need to be satisfied with what we do for God. We can always be completely satisfied with what He does for us, but don't never get in a condition of being lukewarm and being satisfied with what you're doing for God. As long, I believe it was in the book of Haggai, he said, is the seed yet in the barn? He said, has the seed been gathered into the barn? Is your children under the blood yet? Is your neighbors under the blood? There is no place to be satisfied with what we do for God. The seed is not yet in the barn. Every one of us have got neighbors or family or children or somebody in our families that's lost that needs to be saved. Don't ever get satisfied with what we do for the Lord as long as people around us is dying without God. I want you to notice how that, he talks about this, how that he said that whenever he'd come by and he saw them, he saw that after she had matured, he talks about how that he picked her up out of an open field and he took her as a little child and he cleaned her up and he bathed her and then she grew and she grew and she matured. And after she had matured, He said, then I saw that thy time was a time of love. And God said, I spread my skirt over thee, and I entered into a covenant with thee, and thou became as mine. We became the apple of His eye. God Almighty! And certainly, certainly, He better be the apple of our eye. We talk about just looking. Listen, we need to be focused on looking into the hills from whence our help cometh. He tells us that we're to come out from the world, be ye a separate people. That doesn't mean that we don't need to be out there mingling with the world as far as trying to get people saved, but we don't need to let them influence us. And if you're honest with yourself, A lot of us, in a lot of ways, have become lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. And we wonder, we wonder where's the power of God at in our churches? Why is our children not getting saved? Why is it that we can have awesome services sometimes and it seems like that lost people just sit there and chew their gum and go right out the door and nothing fazes them? We wonder what's going on. Where is conviction? Where is that true spiritual conviction that we've got to have? Got to have it. Hezekiah in the Bible was one of the better kings that Judea had ever had. He was a good one. But when he had took the throne, he had inherited a lot of issues. His father was a king and he was an evil king. Y'all have to excuse my throat. But during the reign of Hezekiah's father, he had started letting a lot of the ordinances and things go. And then Hezekiah come and he took the throne and he had a heart that was after the heart of God himself. And Hezekiah recognized some of the things and recognized how that the Passover and some of these ordinances had been left off and how that they were getting slack in these things. And Hezekiah said this. He said this day is a day of blaspheme. He said it's a day of reproach. For the children are come forth to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth. That's what he said. He said the children have come forth to the birth and there's not strength to bring forth. Isn't that familiar today? Why? Why? are not our children being saved? Are they more lost today than they were when I was a little boy? I remember when I was lost. Listen. He reminded them over here of how that they were as that little infant child before that they were ever saved in a sense of speaking. I enjoy going back to my time and place. I enjoy being able to go back and y'all probably heard my testimony and it'll never get old to me. But I remember when I got saved on an old couch. I remember I'd been to Revival, and boy, I want you to know something, that church was on fire. That church had brought... Listen, when we really find imitant with God, you know what happens? There is a spiritual atmosphere that develops. We can't work it up, but don't think we can't pray it down. And there is a spiritual atmosphere that takes place among God's people, and in that atmosphere, it's full of warmth, and it's full of love, and it gives lost people the desire to have that. And when I was that little boy, man, I went home thinking, boy, I wish I was saved. And I went in there on my old bed and I couldn't sleep. I tossed and I turned and I couldn't sleep. I was trying to get away from that. I thought, well I'm going to go in there on the couch and maybe I can sleep. I went in there on that couch and the Lord just, that old conviction just followed me right in there on that old couch and I'm so thankful that it is. But I finally got down to the point I just surrendered to the Lord and that's all it was for me. I tried everything else, tried praying so many times and finally I just got to a point I just give up and I got saved. When I give up, when a nation goes against another nation, they give up, they throw out a white flag, they lose. Some of you kids play ball. Well, if you want to lose, throw out the white flag, you lose. But listen, God's ways is a little bit different than ours. When you surrender to the Lord, you'll have victory every time. Victory when you surrender to the Lord. And church, that goes for you and I too. Victory comes whenever we truly find submission in our heart and give in to the Lord for His will. I want to seek conviction. I desire to have revival. I hope it starts right here and just spreads off and it can happen. That's how the great awakenings began. It had to start somewhere. Why not right here? And listen, whenever we're talking about this having to have enmity as far as the human nature, there has to be a seed planted and conception, and then there has to be travail and labor. Well see, we know, adult speaking I guess, that takes about nine months, don't it? But when we get imitant with God, You know what he can do? He can bring spiritual birth that quick. That quick. We don't have to wait nine months. We get close with God tonight. We get imitant with God. We get into that locked in fellowship and we love him more than anything. I'm telling you, he can bring travail and birth tonight. Don't have to wait nine months. You remember the story about Hannah, and how that Hannah, over in 1 Samuel, 1 chapter, I guess it is, how that Hannah, her womb was closed, shut, she couldn't bear it, she couldn't have children. She prayed, she prayed, she couldn't have children, and the Bible says that she couldn't have children yearly. Not just a couple of months, but it said yearly. And you know what Hannah did? She got into it with God. She got into fellowship with God. And she went in and she began to pray because she wanted a child. And she prayed and she prayed fervently. She prayed with a sincere heart. And the high priest, Eli, even he saw her, he thought she was drunk. But she let him know, no, I'm not being in the wine, I'm not drunk, but I'm a woman of a sorrowful spirit. And I want you to know, when you get to that point, and you're low, and you realize the only place you can look is up, that's when God can work things out. And I want you to know, she went in broken, but she come out with a child. Over in Ezekiel, if you were to look over there in the 46th chapter, in verse 9 over there whenever they was to go into the temple over there to worship during the feast it said that whenever and you'll have to sort of catch this but when they would go in and you look it up yourself it's Ezekiel 46 verse 9 but it said that when they would go in he said those that entered in from the north After worship, they always exited out to the south. He said those that entered in from the south gate, and after worship, they always went out the north gate. And I remember the first time I saw that, it really caught my attention. I thought, well, God, are you trying to orchestrate something here, or what am I missing? But you know what that was all about? When you truly, and I'm not talking about just coming to church. When you truly enter into your sanctuary, right here, I'm hitting that mic again. When you truly get into your sanctuary, and you come into the presence of God, and that's when you're going to find true worship. When you worship, you will never go out the same way you come in. If you come in like Hannah did, Hannah come in humble, she had humility about her, and she left, how? Exalted. You'll never truly be in the presence of God in true worship, you'll never leave the same way you come in. You won't do it. If you come in exalted, and you find worship, then you're gonna go out humble. Humble. Lost, if you're here tonight and you're lost and you've never been saved, it works the same way for you. When you truly come into the presence of God, you won't leave the same. I don't know the hearts of anyone, but you know what? You know. You know your heart. You might be an adult, you might be a child, but if you're here and you're lost, you know that. We all try to hide it, but if you're lost, you know that. And if you are lost, when you come through those doors, you come through those doors lost, separated from God. You're in danger, eternal danger. But if you'll truly get in the presence of God, you can leave a different way. And I'm not talking about the doors. I'm talking about right here. You can leave no one beyond any doubt that you're saved. You can find a joy that is completely unspeakable and full of glory. I mean, what a trade. All that conviction that's in your heart and all that trouble and all that old scary stuff, I call it. That's what it was for me when I was a little boy. It was just old scary stuff. I just wouldn't contend it. I was afraid. You know what God, when I just give up to Him, it's just like He pulled all of that out and He gave me peace. A lot of times people think it's going to be the 4th of July or you're going to see lights, and you may. But if you do, that's just the fruit of it. Because you know what salvation is? Jesus said it Himself. He said, Peace, give I unto thee. He said, not as the world giveth thine to thee, but he said, let not your heart be troubled, neither be afraid. I never even knew that verse when I was a little boy. But boy, the first time I ever heard it, I thought, that's my verse. That's my verse. Because he took all that old scary stuff out of here, and he replaced it with peace. Now, I'm still afraid of the sting of death, I mean, if you put a gun to my head, I'll probably tremble. But if you pull the trigger, I don't have no concern after my last breath. I can't stand here and tell you I don't fear dying. I dread the sting of death. I don't want to have to suffer. I ain't gonna lie to you. But beyond my last breath, I have no fear. Perfect love, and that's what he is, perfect love casteth out all fear. Tonight, if you're lost, You can have that. You could have walked in those doors lost and you can walk out being a child of the King. Church, find true enmity with God. Start right now. I mean, do we really want revival? But do we think that we're only going to get it on our grounds? You ain't going to get it. It's got to be on His terms. He's a jealous God. He deserves our love. He deserves it. Saved us. Put us here and give us a church to worship. Put us in a nation that we're in. Look how He's blessed our life with children and all these things. And all He wants is a little bit of love returned. Jerusalem and Israel over there. He pled with them whenever they turned. You read over in Jeremiah how that he said that he pled with them. He said, just return them to me. He said, for I am married to you. He said, just return them to me. And they wouldn't do it. He pleaded and he pleaded and he pleaded because he loved them. And they wouldn't return. And it went to a very, very end result. He took those ten tribes. And over in Jeremiah 3 it says he gave them a bill of divorce. But it was a very last result. He'd done everything within his ability to win them back over, but they would not. One of the worst things that I can't even begin to imagine is to be in a one-sided love relationship. Have you ever even began to think about just like my wife, the way that I love her and the way that I've always trusted? And the very ideal, and it's hard to even think about, but that she would step out on me. You know, I can't even imagine that. And then to get to where I couldn't trust her. You're talking about hurtful. You see, God allowed Hosea, as a matter of fact, He had Hosea to marry a harlot by the name of Gomer. And I used to wonder, why did He do that? Why did He have Hosea to marry a harlot? But then the reality of it is, he, as Hosea, was able to experience that one-sided love that God felt for his people. And that way when Hosea wrote the book of Hosea and it was inspired, he knew what he was writing about. He had experienced that one-sided love. He loved her. He'd done everything for her love. And that love was never returned to him. That's what God felt. And I hope and pray that that's not what God feels tonight with the congregation of the Lord. We, church, and I don't understand why, but we are the apple of His eye. He loves us beyond measure, and He wants children to be born into the family of God. He wants your loss of His life, but He wants that closeness with you. We've got to give it to Him. We've got to give it to Him. I know it's been short and scattered, but if you're here, you're lost. Listen, if you're lost, there is no shame in being lost. There is no shame in coming right up here. I'll get right down here. There's no shame in seeking God. But what a shame it would be for you to go out without God and an old car run over you somewhere down the road and kill you without God. That would be the shame. I've heard my pastor back at home say that there's no shame in having lice. Head lice? I think, what? but what he said was the shame is not doing something about it. If you're lost, please, please let tonight be about you. Let this be your night. Y'all sang that song, it was on a great day, it was on a Monday. Tonight can be your night, if you really want it. It's your song. Please, if you're lost, I urge you to seek the Lord. And church, let's really, really, in our hearts, fervently, fervently put God first in our life. Ask God to forgive us. There's all kind of room there and we need to bridge that gap. Why are we standing? Why are we singing? If you're lost, seek the Lord. If you're a church member and you feel like you need to get things fixed between you and the Lord that we can have revival, get it fixed. Get it fixed. Why are we standing? Why are we singing?