We believe it pleased the Lord that the men that know it would come and sing, He may never pass you away again. This pause doesn't bother God at all. A lot of folks just don't believe that. We know of three instances, including this church, three people, walked out of church in the last couple of months for the last time. Yes. I've known a few. I've heard other stories. We don't believe that, though. The old timers used to say, God's mercy ran out, but it's nothing so much that God's mercy ran out. It's the men who reject His mercy. Right. Become like a navel. A little heart just like a stone. Right. Nothing will penetrate. Right. No thought for God, no heart for God. Just inward looking. Don't let that be your heart tonight. Right. Don't let that be you tonight. Whatever it takes for God to work in your life, you let him work. Listen, if you get emotional, get emotional. Don't make decisions based on it. You can weep, weep. You can shout, shout. You can cry. Rejoice. Get angry. Get angry the way you want. People do it anyway. Whatever it takes, just get right with God. I've seen the man as his hand shakes the pew, and the preacher says, won't you come? Oh, but he says, no, I just won't go. Too many things left to be done, but that very night, came to him, and there was no more time to be saved. But what would he give in exchange for his soul? The Lord will never pass his way again. So don't say no to him, or the Lord could come for you. It makes no difference, young or old, rich or poor, when your time comes to go. You must be born again. from your sin. Come to Jesus while you can. Don't be like that foolish man. He may never pass your way again. A wooden cross. How the blood flowed down, yet Jesus gave his life for me and you. How can you turn him away after the price he paid? The perfect sacrifice, this is true. But if you're here tonight, he's calling you. Won't you just turn your life over to him? Don't be like that foolish man. God's giving you another chance, but he may never pass your way again. So don't say no to him, for the Lord may come for you. It makes no difference, young or old, rich or poor, when your time comes to go. You must be born again. Come to Jesus while you can Don't be like that foolish man He may never pass your way again Come to Jesus while you can. Don't be like that foolish man. He may never pass your way again. Amen. You know, I was just telling Dominic last night about being 14 or 13 or 14 years old. and being in a very serious car accident. And God preserved me alive. And that was the mercy of God. I should have been dead. I absolutely should have been dead. So should have my brother. Yet we lived. But as serious as that incident was, so serious is this tonight. That your life could be in just as much danger to walk out the doors to once more not consider the things that God has said in the word of God. I had a man tell me today that it's not on him to reconcile whether Jesus Christ is true and whether the Bible is true and whether he has to believe it. And he kept thinking he was catching me on my words and he'd say, right, you believe that. And I'd say, sir, that's a problem is that you don't believe it. And he would try to go around and he would try to circle talk again and think that he caught me on my words. And he'd say, right, but you believe that. And I kept telling him, it's on you. It's on you. The spirit and the bride say, come. And he said, all you that labor and are heavy laden. And I know you're heavy laden. You have to come. You have to come. It's on you. You have to come. You have to prove God at his word. He said the truth. You have to believe him. You not believing him is not a proof that he's not true. It just means you don't believe the truth. Well, I've been reading through 1 and 2 Peter a lot, and the other day God just made the verses the long-suffering of God to stand out to me. It says, God is not slack concerning his promises, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's the verse I got saved out of. But it also says, before that verse, in the last days, there shall come mockers and scoffers. That's why God says those things. And I had someone recently tell me about someone who I'm almost 100% sure they're lost, but they go, they're saved. Because look at what all they've been through. They should be dead right now, but that's God's love. That means they're saved. And I just thought, no, God's just long-suffering. God has not allowed them to die because He's long-suffering and He wants them to be saved. Because it says the long-suffering of God is His love towards us. It says that right near the end of the chapter. So don't just take it as a sign that God hasn't punished me. That means I'm saved. No, it's God's long-suffering. It's God's mercy to you. And all you're saying at those points is, nah, he's slapped concerning his promises. Stephen talked about how multiple times, or at least once, he should have died. I myself have had multiple times in my life where I should have died. Really, there was no reason I should have lived through it. And each and every time, I remember there being a still, small voice telling me how to get out of the situation. And then I would, in turn, get out of the situation, hold him by his brace, and then ignore him again. On Monday night, I was, I came into church not expecting anything to happen. Really just thinking of another church night, I debated whether or not to even come. And I came. And when I started preaching on, on God, what's the Savior? And I didn't believe that, because all throughout my life, everyone's, that I believe, has forsaken me. Everyone has left me. And I sat in my pew, fighting God, trying to prove to Him that He would leave me. That He wouldn't stay with me. And as preaching continued, God kept telling me, I won't forsake you. I, every time I was in bed, whatever he would say, you have to come, it would anger me. Because I didn't know what coming meant. I didn't know what it meant to go up there, and I didn't know what it meant to become God. And on Monday night, as I'm preaching, God told me, I could save you right now. And that was something that Peter and Stephen, on multiple occasions, have tried to tell me. And I'd hear them and brush it off, because I didn't believe it. But then God told me on Monday night, I could save you right now. And I repented of myself, and how I thought, and how I viewed God. And I ask the Lord to forgive me for not believing in Him, for not allowing Him to work with me, and for ignoring Him anyway. And God chose to save me that night. And I don't know why, I don't know for what reason, but God pressed on me to say this tonight. And God isn't going to forsake you and leave you, even if everyone else in the world absolutely has. Joshua, I read people like a book. I heard you pray the other night. I sat and watched you pray. And I said, admit it, but for the first time in years, I voiced serious. And I watched people's faces of skeptics. They've heard it before. But I'll believe it because you said it. I thank God for it. So you need to prove the skeptics wrong. You live for God all your day. If you would, if you could speak to Joshua, just give him some words of exhortation. Like some of the other men, just go speak to him, shake his hand, hug his neck, give him a word of exhortation. These young men are going to sing that last verse again while some of you men go shake Joshua's hand. We're so dead about it. Almost the entire 17 years I've been there. I watched when his mother came in. There's nobody who's ever been to Iraq or Vietnam or anybody else who's had PTSD like his mother. Lived with the consequences of bitterness and hate all her life. Raised this young man and he's been raised in the shadow of that. Yes. Yes. Abandoned. Fathers abandoned him. When his mother got saved, Joshua came to me about 30 days later and said, Pastor, my mother has become lonely. I was 15 before he ever knew that. He grew up in the wake. that PTSD, that bitterness, that hatred, that abandonment. His mother has been one of the slowest people I know to grow in Christ. Yes, she grows. Amen. Amen. This young man here has come into the house of God. I believe God has worked in him. Amen. Amen. I thank God for each of these men as we learn to learn. Hallelujah. Amen. A wooden cross, how the blood flowed down. Yet Jesus gave his life for me and you. How can you turn him away after the price he paid? The perfect sacrifice, this is true. But if you're here tonight, he is calling you. Won't you just turn your life over to him? Don't be like that foolish man. God's given you another chance, but he may never pass your way again. So don't say no to him, for the Lord could come for you. It makes no difference, young or old, rich or poor, when your time comes to go. You must be born again. Free from your sin Come to Jesus while you can Don't be like that foolish man He may never pass your way again Come to Jesus while you can. Don't be like that foolish man. He may never pass your way again. Amen. All right, you all go sit in the front row with Josh. Excellent. For the life verses of Isaiah 32, 17, the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. How do you know you're saved? Cause your life will be quiet. You'll have peace. He will give you assurance. You put your head in your pillow at night, and you can sleep soundly, knowing that you have eternal life. Who should believe that Jesus is the Christ is. That's pretty positive, present tense, born of God. Sam, you need your wife too? Come on, charity. Come sit with your husband. Amen. Y'all make room. You have to do some finagling. Newlyweds. Amen. I like it. When it gets bad, they bring their ex-wife and their wife up. He said, is, present tense, born of God. The new birth. been born again, not of corruptible seed, but the incorruptible by the word of God. And he said, and everyone that loveth him, that begat loveth him also is begotten of him. And Joshua look at verse two by this. We know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments for this is the love of God. That we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous. There's nothing God commands. There ought to be a grief to those that have been born of God. It ought not trouble you. It ought not bother you for whatsoever. Joshua's profess faith. And I watch people. They say, Oh, he's done that before. a long time ago. He's cold, dead, indifferent, could care less for the last couple of years. I spoke to him, said some sweet words to him in Wellsville a couple months ago, and I said it probably a little too plain for some, but I didn't know what else to say. It just came out and it was too late to take it back, Josh. I won't say it here because it would bother him. those old Puritans. It's about time. Amen. Amen. Amen. A lot of folks just go on living their life. They're clueless. They could care less. They're indifferent. They're cold. And they sit in the church pew, not the slightest bit concerned about the things of God. And we have those troubled over their lost condition, trouble over their estate. No less than three people today have reached out to us at various times, just troubled, troubled without faith, troubled without hope, asking for prayer, asking for God to give them relief. And they know not why. They don't know why they can't find that relief. And people say, well, why don't they just get saved? No, they want something more than what most people have. They want salvation. They don't want penance and they don't want the rosary and they don't want a profession. They want Jesus Christ. They want relief. They want peace. They want the joy of the Lord. That's the only thing y'all to settle for. You have that joy. It comes from within. You can't even drum it up. It just comes. We started out Saturday night. It's great rejoicing. Hey, here we are Friday night, some seven nights letter as dead as could be. Hey man, you heard I said, Hey man, good thing we got to rejoice last Saturday. You never know. It might be a time. It just dries up on you. You go into that secret place, you rejoice in the secret place, you'll have no trouble rejoicing in the public place. You see, joy comes from within. Happiness, with Sammy Allen, happiness comes from happenings. Your circumstances drive your emotional state. If you're happy, your circumstances are good. You can have joy at a funeral. You can have joy in calamity. You can have joy in your darkest hour. Because it's a work of God inwardly. And it's made manifest outwardly. And a lot of people just don't have joy. A lot of people just don't have that inward joy. They don't have that peace. Let's define peace. I've had the privilege. over the years of travel to walk several fairly significant battlefields, whether it be Revolution, 1812, Civil War, had opportunity to walk some of the battlefields of Europe, battlefields of the Pacific. And you know, one of the great rejoicings when peace would come, you know what it meant? Nobody else was going to die. There was no more war. No more bloodshed. Enemies would cross the line, shake hands, and hug necks, trade swords. There's a famous photograph on the 50th anniversary of Gettysburg. And the president, I believe it was Wilson, was there to dedicate one of the monuments at Gettysburg. And they went to the Bloody Angle, also Houck Ridge. I say that because the Vernon's are Houcks. And the North Carolinians got slaughtered there. So I remind them of that frequently. I take them to the Bloody Angle and show them where their relatives perished. This is true. And you go there. what they call the high water market Gettysburg where Pickett's charge ended in defeat. And they came there for the 50th anniversary of Gettysburg and the South walked up to the wall and the North met them at the wall 50 years later. And fistfights broke out. Little skirmishes broke out. There were handshakes. There were tears. There were men in their seventies throwing punches. The war wasn't over. If you don't believe me, travel South Carolina. You'll find out. On the other hand, I've seen the Arizona memorial. I've seen Japanese go there with all respect where that great ship was sunk and all her dead are there. I saw the other day the last Arizona veteran perished. He was the last survivor of the Arizona. They're all gone. And I've watched those Japanese drop a wreath in the water and say a silent prayer, tears in their eyes. You know why the war was over? There was peace. There was no more fighting, no more strife. All of a sudden you could get along. That's what peace means. There's no more fighting with God. No more wrestling with God. No more war with God. You've made peace with God through the blood of his cross. The peace of God that passeth all understanding. You can't explain it. You can't understand it, but God gives it. Last night we spoke with the birthmarks of belief. I call it the checklist. Some 17 years ago, the Lord gave me a checklist and second Corinthians chapter seven. Again, take your piece of paper mentally or physically. There are seven little boxes that need to be checked for every believer. verse nine of second Corinthians seven. Now I rejoice not that you were made sorry, but that you saw her to repentance. And I understand the context, but when did you saw her to repentance? When did you sorrow until you came in agreement with God? Joshua made a great statement tonight. Some of you caught it. Some of you didn't. Some of you would never catch it. He talked about his thinking. Now, if you know the mind of Joshua Spencer, you would have to be God. Everybody knows Joshua gets that quizzical look when you deal with Joshua. But he's dear to me. Years ago at Youth Week, we had young people stand up on the platform. We asked for people who said they would pray for that young person. That night, some dozen years ago, I raised my hand. I said, Joshua Spencer will be the young man I pray for. Amen. I thank God. Every time I'd see him in church, my heart would rejoice he was still in church, because there's many that are not. Every time I'd see him sitting there in his side chair, just staring at me while I preached, and would I rejoice he's still here preaching. As we testify tonight, I rejoiced. God's brought him to life. God's awoken him out of his slumber. When did he awake you? When did you quit wrestling with God? When did you surrender and just say, you know what? I'm done. It's God's way, not my way. I've tried my way so long and I failed at every turn. We're talking today about how sin just takes you so far. And you watch these people. I mentioned the other night, you say, well, when folks get out of church, they, you see them go into sin. I said, no, they go into sin long before they get out of church. It just manifests in the fact that they went out from us. It's manifest. Their hearts were far from us this entire time. And I've watched hundreds over the years get out of church, get out of sorts with God, and there's no end to sin. Sin will bring you low. But you know what God does? God is merciful, as we heard tonight. God is merciful. God will send the police by in mercy. God will send the law by in mercy. God will send a preacher by in mercy. I want you to listen to me. God will send you an ambulance in mercy. Just wake up, call. You better wake up. God will put you in the operating room in his mercy. God will put you so low in his mercy that people will be in that low place cursing God. Amen, brother Bob. Amen. You say, Bob, bottom of the barrel. Amen. Brother Askew was one time preached. He said, hey, he said, God's saving people out of the bottom of the barrel. And he named Brother Ronnie Skull, so we just call him Bob. Amen. A man dead and trespassed in sins. Came into the house of God religious. Weird, creepy, strange, goofy religious. Then God saved him. Amen. The mercy of God. My church was at Youth Week last year over at Black Creek. He testified to the mercy of God of flipping that car and breaking his neck, putting him in a state of coma. They said he'd never walk again. They said he'd be a quadriplegic. In his mercy, God broke his neck. And I've heard that man, if I've heard him once, I've heard him 15 times, stand up out of that wheelchair and lift up those crooked hands about this high. And you just say, I thank God for this wheelchair. If it hadn't been for this wheelchair, I'd be dead in hell tonight. That's a merciful God. If God would put you in the jail, somebody come preach to you. God put you in divorce court, somebody come preach to you. God destroy your marriage, you have nowhere to turn but to God. That's the mercy of God. grace of God that would bring you out of a place, a land far away and bring you to the grace Bible independent Baptist church and put you under the preaching of the word of God. That's the grace of God. God would take you and put you in the right place with a man of God stands and preaches the word of God. That's the grace of God. Young couple sitting over here. I remember they came for the first time on a Friday night. And I mean, it was pretty wild, amen. None of these folks were saved back then. It was just, well, me and Brother Maury shouting, probably nobody else, amen. Brother Ronnie was about miserable, hating life, hating God. And I'll tell you how weird it got that night. I got a phone call at 1 o'clock, said, there's two people fighting outside the backside of the church. I said, who is it? They told me who it was. I said, ah, let them be. I hung up the phone, went back to sleep. John Mark said the next day, he said, man, everybody's been wanting to punch him. I'm glad somebody finally did. Amen. That's true. So you remember saying that? One of the craziest times we ever. I tell you, it's so crazy people were leaving the meeting. On that Saturday morning, Nate and Chelsea walked into Madison's home. We had one of our pork fests. God got a hold of their hearts. God began to deal with them. The grace of God. He's merciful and long-suffering to us, but the grace of God hath appeared to all men. Those of you who live here in Shinglehouse, you know the grace of God to put a church that preaches the Bible in your backyard. Amen. Those of you from Black Creek, New York, the grace of God to put a Bible-believing preacher in your backyard after all those years. Those of you from Blaine, Pennsylvania, the grace of God to put a Bible-preaching preacher, double entendre, in your backyard. We got an old gal down there, well she's not old, younger than me, but a gal down at the church, raised in the ghettos of Harrisburg. She married a logger from the hills. He drug her out of the ghetto. And at some point, not long after they got out, he said, you know, let's start going to church. They walked to Manassas Community Baptist Church. They both sit there and glare at Brother Ricky when he preached until they went to sleep. But I watched the grace of God bring them out of the ghetto and put them in the house of God. Two years ago, November meeting, she was home, couldn't be there. And it was a Friday night we had, and if you could have been there, you should have been there. Amen and amen. There are people I've never seen testify, stand up and testify. There'll be rejoicing, talk about God saving them and God being merciful to them. Some would stand up and testify about how God used things in their life to show them they were lost and asked for prayer. And we were there probably about three hours that night. I come in Sunday morning and everything was just kind of hushed. We had a Sunday, we're getting ready to have Sunday morning service. It was just unusual. It was hushed. And old Tiffany, in the ghettos of Harrisburg, passes, says, but do you have any testimonies? And Tiffany Miller said, I do. The grace of God. Amen. She said, nobody probably wants to hear this, but I believe God saved me Friday night. I turned around and said, speak up. I want to hear it. And she didn't hesitate. Just poured out what God had done for sitting by the campfire. She couldn't even be at the church service on Friday night. She said, well, you all in the church having a good time? I was by the campfire. She was listening to preaching. She was reading the Bible. I was just weeping. And she said, in the middle of all that, God gloriously saved me. Amen. Amen. The grace of God that some of you would be raised in a Christian home. The grace of God that God would put you under a preacher. The grace of God be raised with the Bible in your lap. Don't you ever take that for granted? Verse nine, now I rejoice not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrow to repentance. If you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. but the sorrow of the world worketh death. Godly sorrow. Now there's a lot of thought on that. I'm going to tell you what I think about that. This is my opinion. Godly sorrow is the sorrow you have after a godly manner. When you see yourself as God sees you. You will sorrow. When you see you as God sees you, there'll be no more show. There'll be no more puff. There'll be no more, no more putting on. Because when you see, as God sees you after you've been saved, you'll still fall on your face. We truly saw what God saw in us tonight. There's not a one of us would not be in our face. Sorrowing. Wasted years, wasted time, wasted life, wasted words, wasted opportunity. A life of indulgence, a life of lust, a life of sin. We realize what we've missed. but godly sorrow. There's seven birthmarks in repentance. I had to preach in Amory, Mississippi over 17 years ago. The first time I was out on the road preaching somewhere. I stopped by and preached for a dear man, Brother Cecil Newton in Oxford, North Carolina. I only met him one time. Drove the whole way to Amory, Mississippi to be in a Bible conference. They put me up on Tuesday morning with the big preachers. Brother Sutton said, this young man's just starting out in evangelism. Let's just hear what he has to preach. And I didn't know any better. And I just got up and preached the doctrine of repentance. And I alliterated it in an unusual sense 17 years ago. And I've never changed on it. I've never wavered. I've never waffled. This is old school, novice evangelism. Behold this self-same thing as you saw it after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you. I simply put this, that's an examination. What carefulness. That's where some of you are right now with God. Slowly overturning every stone slowly looking at every piece slowly examining everything that God brings your way To make sure you don't miss What carefulness You proceed with caution because you're an examination secondly He said, yay. What clearing of yourselves. I don't know what else to put back then. I just put this justification, the clearing of yourselves. It's no longer on me. It's all on him. There's nothing else I can bring. I just simply need him. The clearing of yourself. I'm empty Lord. Fill me. Thirdly, this was a tough one. What indignation? Now for that, I wrote down, well, indignation. You see your examination, the justification, now it's indignation. What does that mean? You get indignant. You saying repentance? No, you're not indignant with God. You're indignant with you. I'm tired of me. Can I say it on this one? What a fool I've been. How wrong I've been. I've completely missed everything. I'm such a good person. I'm such a spiritual giant. And then God steps in and shows me what I really am, and I was indignant about it. I got to the place, I said, oh my goodness, I've been a fool. You know why? I believe every person that comes to repentance gets to that place. It's all Him, not us. I've been lied to. I've been deceived. People have told me I'm a good person. People told me I got saved. Everything under the sun. And now I'm looking at it in God's eyes. And God has revealed himself to me. God has revealed me to me. And I've fallen short. And then fourthly, he said this, yea indignation, yea what? Fear. When Ruth came and laid at Boaz's feet, what did she do? She feared. Why did she fear? She still didn't know if that man would take that mantle. She didn't know if he'd take those garments and cover her. She crept in there in the night as he laid there. wishing no ill repute on him, wishing no reputation upon him, just in humility she creeps in and lays down at the feet of Boaz, that kinsman redeemer. And when he awakes, oh the trembling, oh the fear. But what did he do? He took it to himself. He redeemed her. The fear was gone. You know the marvel? She came to his feet trembling. By the way, that's trepidation. She came to his feet trembling. But she never had the latest feet trembling again. Because now she belonged to him. He took her in, he clothed her, he fed her. He raised her up, redeemed her for a price, and she never had to fear again. For 27 years, I've been able to put my head on my pillow and say, blessed be the name of the Lord. I'm so glad God saved me. I told that old redneck boy out there in Oklahoma, thank God for it, boy, we just hit it. I told Brother Dale Moore, I can't wait for you to meet him. I tell you, it's just a joy to meet him, a joy to know him. I beg you to come to Youth Week just because he'll mess up people's religion. I just want to see a man sitting there. I believe he probably has salvation with a ponytail. Of course, by youth, when he comes around, he might have cut it off. Amen. Don't let that bother you in a bit. Amen. Just a little tiny one. Better than some of you. I told him, I said, you know, brother, come at point in time, you don't have to sleep with a gun under your pillow anymore. He said, I'm not there yet. I said, I'll make sure I knock. Amen. I said, you know, there'll come a point in time, the police come to your house. Won't bother you. Won't bother you. That's good right there. Hey! They pull in my driveway now, I know they're looking for somebody else. I go out and help them. They said speed trap up the road. They pull people over in front of our house all the time. Children love to look out the windows. Same facts. I'm not going to drive and look over at our children glued to the glass. Look at them. It's got so bad, God forbid, once every 10 years ago, I get pulled over for a very minor crash. Like failing to yield lanes, speeding through Emporia, something like that. And they come up to the window, and they say, license and registration. And my foot's not on the gas. Amen. I handed my license. I'm not worried. They go back and run the license and I just sit there calm as a cucumber. You can ask my wife, I said, I'm sorry you had to pull me over. I just take my ticket like a man, pay it like a man. Amen. Hey, listen, we got pulled up over there in New York. Hey, that didn't bother me one bit. I mean, God bless the ladies gospel of faith. Well, they were eating it up. All them preachers got pulled over. That's what wicked people do. They revel in people's misery, especially when it's a preacher. Amen. There were eight of us in the minivan. We had seven seats, but the police officer said we didn't have eight seatbelts. And I said, well, it's hard to put a seatbelt on a bucket. And the ceilings were up there. They waited and brought one home for us. Thank God for that. Thank you. You say, why did you do that? It's a long story. But listen, nobody was nervous. Nobody ran out of the van. That's right. That's right. Nobody was hiding. Well, Luke kind of, but not for bad reasons, I guess. But the fear is over. It's over. That's it. I want you to listen to me real clear. I'm not afraid of my wife coming home and catching me doing anything. Amen! Glory to God! They don't know what that's like! Amen! Oh, this is more than thanks. Amen. Listen, if my wife comes home and I have to use Listerine before she gets home, that's the way the kids go to bed, then we do. Amen. The fear is gone. Hey, I'll tell you how much my wife needs to sleep over that stuff. Nine o'clock at night, she's usually sleeping in the chair. She knows where her husband is. That's right. She's not worried about him. Amen. That's what repentance will do. Lord. Lord. Amen. Thank God. The fear is gone. No more trepidation. He said, yea, what vehement desire. Somewhere in the midst of all of that, I got real heated. My face got real wet. I actually got angry. Not at God. I got angry with me. Somewhere in that place of repentance, I had a vehement desire towards God. I wanted what God wanted. I wanted him more than anything else. I wrote this down. It was determination. I was going to get to God. I wasn't going to stop till I got to it. I told someone today. you just go in your room and you read your Bible and you just listen to God and you talk to God and you tell him everything you know about you, everything you know about him and then listen so that he can tell you everything he knows about you and everything he knows about him. Amen. Those two get reconciled, you'll be alright. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. You know why? Cuz you can be honest with God. Amen. And I know so far it'd be real, but it bothers people. They say, you don't know how to talk to Josh Spencer like that. I said, well, he means it. You said worse. He will always outgrow the way you portrayed him. I mean, they're gonna be scared to death. Had a woman one time said, she said, she said, I don't care what you think. I'm not listening to that. He said, I don't care what you think. I'll say it again. Glory to god. Just be real and just be honest. Right. You don't have to be a fake. Hey. You don't have to put on. You just are what you are. Listen, after I got saved, I was pushing that box of religion. You know, you have to say and do certain. Then I realized everybody in the box with me was fake. They were all putting on. See what I did, I just chopped the box up in pieces, cut it with a box cutter, and decided to live my life the way I wanted to live my life. And I have people say, you know, you're so crude in the pulpit. And I go, it's worse outside the pulpit. Amen. It'd be a real shame for somebody to get in the pulpit and act like there's something they're not outside the pulpit. Amen and amen. In fact, if most people were real in the pulpit, they'd come up here in golf clubs and knickers on if they were real. That's about all they got. you spend your time studying prayer day, they're like, oh yeah. 36 holes worth. It can't be real. You know why you can't be real? Because it'll expose you. People see the real you. And you don't even like you. Amen. Brother Ronnie, how much did you like yourself when you got saved? I like you a whole lot more than you probably do. Amen. That's right. That's right. That's good. I don't know why he used to send me these goofy emails. I mean, crap. Like, man, he's smoking dope. I mean, crazy stuff. I love that man. I'm a little freaked out when you don't walk around with Thanksgiving. I got that email that afternoon that says blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah How's it work? I love it. Amen. Amen. Grandpa would say you knew that. I see. Amen. That's what I say. Amen. Amen. That's what I say. Isn't that a wonderful thing? Hallelujah. She's in the glory up here. Another thing, his wife that hated him knew that he changed. That's right. Amen to that. That's right. We can talk about where he's going to grow. Yup. Yup. He's not drunk anymore. Now, I don't tell that story because it puts me in the You don't have to be old to be a grump, I guess. What determination. And then he said, what zeal. I just put inflammation. You set your eyes on God. There's a place for that godly sorrow. And all this emotion, and all this strength in your soul. There's a place for your zeal. is to do whatever God wants. Amen. And you'll never sell it for less. And I remember, we go up to Newmarket, Virginia, way north of I-81, just south of Newmarket. I come up to that place about 90% of the time. I remember that trip up there that day. I grew up setting my sights on a kid who brought me repentance. I was done with my life, done with my life, done with how I was living. Amen. That zeal. Amen. That longing in my heart. Russell, I want him more than anything else. Amen. He did that. Call me a coward. Call me a coward. I know Jacob's got a hold of God. He wrestled God with his own strength. My strength is gone that way. But I made up my mind I was going to give to him. He said, how do you know you're God too? Well, everything changed, remember? Everything's different. Blessed be the name of the Lord, bless his holy name. It's Friday night and we're in church. Tomorrow night at St. Claude's, we got to use things laying down here at the gym. We plan on being there. If you had asked me 27 and a half years ago, I'd never be in a church, in a gymnasium, standing before people preaching to little children, to young people, to teenagers. I would have laughed in your face. Right, brother. Right. Until I got to God. You know, a man tried to call me to preach. They pushed me so hard. And listen, I'd get up and I'd flounder and flop. I mean, just, oh, it was terrible. And finally they quit asking me. And y'all heard me tell the story. When I first got called to preach, they made the statement, and that's a true statement. And they said, well, we'll just see how this pans out. You know, so far it's okay. We made it 23 years preaching. We're doing all right. I was such a novice. I didn't know how to preach. I didn't have instruction. I didn't have anything to say to anybody. But I do remember, as clear as I'm standing here this day, I remember in the adult Sunday school class, the Mountain View Baptist Church, 10 o'clock hour. I came in off the bus. I'd come in soaking wet in sweat. I'd run in sometimes towel off, sometimes change my shirt. I'd walk out of Sunday school usually late. And I began preaching on the spring of 11 o'clock. Isaac dug as well as his father again. It's over that water and God's seeping up. He was marvelous. Somewhere in the midst of it, God stepped in. Amen. That's what we're looking for. Yes, sir. And it's never been the same since that day. Amen. Listen, there's no formula. You can't explain You can't pray enough. You can't study enough. You can't fast enough. Yeah, although you need all three It's just God And that's kind of how salvation is to Fast you can pray You can give you can see But it just takes thoughts God revealed him and God revealed you. I had no trouble accepting who he was. But I had a lot of trouble accepting who I was. And then he showed me what I really was. And I trembled. And I burned. And I was wounded. And I was heated. Lastly, what revenge? the vindication of my life of sin. I have nothing left. I got to the end of myself. What revenge? Lord, what can I do to make all these wrongs right? What can I do to go back and help people? What can I do for all the people I've hurt? And then he showed me. You can't make it right. But I can make you right. And I started on a mission of revenge. Amen. To tell others. To preach this glorious gospel. We've seen a few over the years. We've seen a few. But you've got to come to repentance. That's where it is, brother. You've got to go to sorrow after a godly, and then God steps in. That worldly sorrow, the hurts of life, marital problems, family problems, addictions, destruction, incarcerations, those are the affairs of life. Those are those worldly sorrows. The more you see the jailhouse confessions, the gentler they weep, they cry their boo-hoo tears. I've seen with addiction. I've seen with booze and drugs. Phenomenally. They get caught. Oh, I'm just devastated. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sad. Just worldly sorrow. Right. Does that make sense? When you get to where you sorrow because of what you've done to God. Right. And God has said all these things in the book of life. Yes. You'll agree with me. Thank you. Yes. I believe. struggle is over. The pain is over. Amen. We're a new name written in glory, been changed. But it was a godly sorrow that brought me there. My sin is ever before me. David said, against thee and thee only have I sinned. Listen, I hurt people. I wounded people. against God. I lashed out against God. I stopped by my mom's on my way to North Carolina, VA, we're in Mississippi, some 17 years ago. My mom said, can I pray with you before you leave? I said, absolutely. She prayed. As I went to leave, my mother wept. She's held on my neck. She said, Tim, when you were a baby, I dedicated you to the Lord and coming into the company. And she said, I never knew what God was going to do with me. And she said, all those nights worrying about you, all those nights of sleeplessness, all those nights of pain. And she said, it's hard for me to believe, my little boy. There's probably some mamas here. I never believed that God would step into my children's life. Wouldn't you repent? Wouldn't you get to the end of you and just agree with God? I didn't say make a profession. I didn't even say repent of all your sins. Wouldn't you get sick of yourself? They just believe God. There's not a man alive that picked up that first joint and loved it. He never could forecast where he'd end up. There's not a person alive that took that first beer that could ever see the future of where their life was going to end up. There's not a fornicator that took his first wife out of wedlock. fornicated, decided to marry her, never received her, his life ended up. There's not an adulterer that ever stepped out of marriage, didn't realize where their life was going to end up. If God doesn't intervene, sin brings forth death. Now you don't have to be a Ronnie Sculton. You don't have to be a Joshua Spencer. You could be a little church girl like my niece. Raised in church. Dad is a fine preacher. All those years, struggling with peace, struggling with assurance, never went off into deep sin, never got what we would call gross, negligent sin. Do you realize first siblings raised in the same home, if they don't repent, they're going to perish? And it'll be the same hell as the liar, the fornicator, and the drunkard. You realize my children never come to repentance. They're going to perish in the same hell as every sin that's gone before. You say, well, they talk about repentance a lot around here. You know why? May I tell you, except you repent, you'll all likewise perish. That's why. When did you come to repentance? When were you done that God could step in? When did God make the difference in your life? God never uses a shotgun, you know that. He's the best shot there is. He aims straight for you. To show you what you are. He didn't hit you on accident tonight. He's the best sniper there ever has been or ever will be. There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. For the word of God is quick and powerful. and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing. And there's that accuracy. He pierces with that thing. He pierces. He gets in there into the joints and the marrow. He gets in there into the thoughts and the intents of your heart. what he showed you tonight, he's serious about. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things, all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. All things are naked and exposed. He sees it all. Why are you hiding from Him? What more can He say than to you He hath said? What more can He say? What more do you want to hear? How much more shall he prove it to you that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? He requires that this be enough. This right here. Nothing more. For the Word of God is quick and it's powerful. You know, it rained all day here today. It was cold. It was misty. It was cloudy. It was just a dreary day. As we sat here, in the glory of the Son of God, I noticed something. The sun was shining. The light was shining across the property. there was light down in this dark corner where there hadn't been before. If he can control the elements, and he can drive those clouds away, and he can drive the rain away, and he can shine his light in a place that was dark and dreary all day long today, For Him to do that in your heart is nothing for God. It's nothing for God. It's nothing for God. It's nothing for God. It's nothing for God. It's nothing for God to save your soul. It's nothing for Him. It's nothing. It's nothing for God. But he can't save a proud man. That wicked pride. That junkier pride. Give that pride. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Amen. Under the wrath of God. That shadow isn't His mercy for you. It's wrath. The other reason you're still alive is his long suffering. Don't mistake long suffering for mercy. We had to have a song to close tonight. Be how firm a foundation, but God's not done yet. Pastor Asquith, would you exhort us? I say this. have managed to fill over the years with people with good character, often excellent character, time, dress right, come to church on a regular basis, get involved, help. And too often, the people of those churches have just relied on light and trivial promises. Not ever have I been shaken to the core by my fear of God, to bring him to a place of absolutely being undone before a holy God. So we often see people, if you take my mind, bottom of the barrel, And we look and say, well, that guy really needed to get saved. Hold on. Hold on. Oh, come on, brother. Yeah. In the 17 years that I've been at Black Creek, we have seen a number of people with really disgusting lives. Yes, sir. Find grace in Christ. Amen. Amen. And we've watched them in their first few years, their lives I watch people with that good character and everything. They kind of mock those new Christians because they messed things up. They're still stumbling over things. But I've watched slowly some of those people. I've watched Dale Morey, for example. get to the place where God's entrusting him with tens of thousands of dollars and a ministry and men all over the place. And I've watched that. And yet, I remember a time with Dale Morey, you'd have trouble trusting him with a $10 bill. Not because he'd be dishonest, he'd just use it wrong. He just wouldn't do it right. And I've watched as some of these people who come from absolutely broken places What we're still having a hard time is getting a religious person saved, right? Right. So far, God has taken two people. One of them right there. Amen. Young religious girl. Amen. A counselor. There was a time when I thought there was no hope for that girl. It's good. Hallelujah. Amen. Glory. I love the fact they began to bond with Governor McVeigh. Honorable man. Yes. But when he's far away, thousands of miles away, still prays, cares for them. Another person, going back, Sharon Batch, 69 years old. Hey, y'all. One of the fellas of all her life. Hey, y'all. But they came and got a broader repentance. Amen. Glory. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. He ain't got no character in him to tie his shoes right. I expect to see failure after failure after failure, but you know what the difference is going to be? I expect the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Hey. Hallelujah. Hey. They won't believe this one. Three-quarters of the way through tonight the Lord said to have you exhort Thank you for being obedient What more do you need to hear? And to you, he has said you for Jesus. Listen there and come on up here. We're going to sing that. A services. We had eight services. Only eight. We had eight opportunities to hear the voice of the Lord. Now this is something Anchor Baptist isn't going to know about. This is something that Black Creek isn't going to know about. But I want you to know something. Grace Bible. When the Lord called us to prepare for this meeting. Do you remember what I said about Friday night? I said, the reason we fast is not so that God will hear us, but so that we will hear the voice of God. And I said, you might not hear it until Friday night. What did you hear? What did you hear? That's between you and God. Get it settled. Blue Book? Blue Book. Amen. Good. Number? 110. Take our blue handles, turn to number 110, How Firm a Foundation. Let's all stand as we sing. Number 110. Pay attention to the words. They're arranged differently than what you're used to. How firm a foundation these days of the Lord. He is waiting for your praise in His excellent Word. But more can He say than to you He has said. To whom unto Jesus your refuge have fled, In every condition, in sickness, in health, In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth, ♪ At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea ♪ ♪ As thy kids they demand, shall thy strength ever be ♪ ♪ Fear not, I am with thee, O weep not this way, I am with thee ♪ I am thy God, and will still give thee aid. Of strength and thee help me, and cause me to stand. Of help, by thy right, just love, liberty, and faith. Then through the deep waters I'm calling to go, The rivers of woe shall not be overflowed, For I will be with thee thy troubles to bless, and sanctify to Thee Thy deepest distress. When through fiery trials thy pathway shall wind, My grace of submission shall be thy supply. The flame shall thy word be thy only design, Thy cross to consume and Thy gold to refine. Be Thou to all age, all my people shall prove My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love. And glad, glory airs shall their temples adorn, Thy plants they shall still, in thy woods, love be born. Say it like you mean it! I wanna hear it! I wanna hear it! Amen! I'll never leave you! Amen! Glory to God! Amen! Hallelujah! Amen! Thank you, Jesus. Pastor Hayne, I believe the Lord would be pleased if you would come up to this pulpit and close our week of meetings in prayer. You're having me do that as a natural prayer. Hallelujah. I want to talk to my Grace Bible family. Black Creek is my church family. They're my people. But you're my Grace Bible people. I created you. I know the Lord's part and all of that. You know, I wasn't born yesterday. When Pat and I first went over to Black Creek, it was like a Christian cultural shock. If you're sitting on this side and on the back of that side and you've observed this, you may be thinking to yourself, what's going on? Just the Spirit of God. Just the Spirit of God. Early on, I said to Pat, and I think I maybe even said it to Pastor, I'm talking to you, my family. That if a Ronnie Skolton, if a Dale Laurie, Oh, we had a reformer's unanimous. Dale came to that. We could keep him sort of over there in that group. But if Dale Morey, Veronice Colton, and some of these other reprimands have come to us, Back when I was here, you know why? They wouldn't be comfortable. Because we weren't used to such people. Now God did a good thing in what he did here. And God used us for what he wanted to when he did it. But I'm saying to you folks, It isn't enough just to get some good Christians from other churches to come in and keep the numbers going. I mean, some will come. I mean, I like to think that Conrad, okay, when we ended up there, was not a priest. At that time, Patrick didn't want people from other churches, because he wanted to build it, just like he's doing right now. But then we came. Well, it's hard to chase away an old preacher. And then some other people saw what was going on, and they wanted in. They came in. But folks, and I know there's a lot more Grace Bible people who aren't here tonight, but you have got to communicate somehow, and pastors are trying to lead you in it, communicate somehow that you've got to make room for the people in Shingle House that have no interest or desire in going to church, and if they did, you probably wouldn't like having them here. Right. That's right. Amen. It's good. We're supposed to be reaching the world for Christ. And that marvelous mission just now, and many nice displays back there on the wall, that's what the missionaries are doing. That's not what you're doing. Our pastor often says that most preachers wouldn't know how to go into a community and carve out a people of God. The first couple of times he said that, I sat there and I thought, I don't know. But he kept saying it, and I needed to warm me down with the Spirit. Okay. I think I tried. So please, to my Grace Bible family, and to the many who aren't here tonight, okay? For the many who aren't here tonight, we've got to try to communicate. We must make room, in plain words, for the undesirables. So that God can take undesirables. And He will. I'm saying this to you because, like I said, I created you. And I was reminding one time the pastor, you know what's marvelous about all of these years? I have a pastor. He is not John Astor. And he has encouraged me when I lamented. And he said, God used you to do what needed to be done at that time. I do not deny that honor to the Lord. But friends, I have seen something different. You need it. And if you don't get it, this building could eventually become an apartment house. And you don't want that. You don't want that. I guess I said everything I wanted to say. Oh, no. I'm going to get her on my side. So I can reach your daughters. Oh, I didn't even see you was there. Oh, you're not at work. Oh, you're not at work. Yeah, that's all right. See, I think Wednesday night was a bit crazy. But, uh, I began to work. And then that opened the door. There's so much, so much that's involved. So many intertwining, over-wrapping things. And I really need to stop. I really like what time it is. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. You know, I think you asked me up here to pray. So I would do that. Before you pray. Yes. Take this. One of the first things I realized about this man has been misidentified. You know, now it's my turn. Now you all know I am not But isn't God good that everywhere my barn leans, He already saw fit to have a support there. And somehow my barn hasn't fallen down yet. But God. Yeah. Amen. Thank you. Hey, I had a fun time. We were praying back there. Well, I got here early one night, so I thought, oh, that cabinet. I remember that cabinet. So I opened it up and looked in it. Here there's soul winning booklets in a six by nine envelope. And then there's a box with visitation packets. And when pastor came in, I said, Look at this. I said, that's my printing there. That's my box of soul winning packets. That label, that red label, I put that on there. I thought by now all of that stuff would be gone. It's just fun being home. It's fun being home. And I appreciate I appreciate the welcome. Okay? But listen to me. This is my family. This is my family, every one of them. Every one of them. All of them, all over the place. I've got all kinds of kids. And all kinds of... I've even got some brothers, that means people as old as I am. Okay? Very few of those. Yeah, it is. It is. Let's talk to our Father. Thank you, Jesus. You've been good to us, and I thank you for that goodness, even to the point allowing me opportunity to talk to my Grace Bible family and to open my heart in the manner of which I just spoke. And I pray, Father, your blessing on them as they endeavor to serve you, as they endeavor, dear Father, to get your leading and follow that leading. I pray for Pastor Seeley and the other leaders of this church, the deacons and Sunday school superintendents and the ladies of the church, oh Lord, so many. I pray for them, and I thank you for them. Now, for this week of meetings, the organization of it, the scheduling of it has been fulfilled, except for the matter of the event in the gym. And I just pray, dear Father, that you'll continue to use your word In our hearts and lives, show us each what it is you want from us. I pray in Jesus' precious, holy, matchless name, for you to receive all honor and glory, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.