I'd like you to read with me what this says up on the wall. They got responsive reading in the back of these books. Preacher's supposed to read one, the congregation's supposed to read one. Fact is, we're all supposed to read it. And we're supposed to take heed thereto according to the Word of God. He didn't give us this just for entertainment. He gave us this stuff for us to respond to Him. That's what it's really all about. That thing says up there, say it with me. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts. You told anybody this last week anything that your creator did for you? I get a real blessing, I get a chance to get up here and actually talk about this stuff. And most of it, fortunately, I just stirred my heart to where it comes right out of my heart. This doesn't come out of my head much anymore. There's a few things that kind of, oh, that's neat, that's interesting. But then immediately that goes right back and connects the one that did it. Anyway, we're gonna talk about something here today out of Genesis 1, 23 and 24 again. Of course, there's an awful lot in those two verses you could talk about. And God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping things, and the beast of the earth after his kind. And it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. And God saw that it was good. When you can make stars with the breath of your mouth, and then you say, that's good. you better believe it's good. If you don't understand that, it's because you underestimate God and overestimate yourself. And I think that's our problem. I think, first of all, we don't underestimate God as much as we overestimate ourself. I think that's really the truth. I think we get thinking God owes us this and God should do this for us and do that for us, you know. You think about this a minute, and I'll just touch on this. Have you ever been upset with God? You ever been frustrated with God? You ever been mad at God? I told Brother Mark about a time that I got mad at God and actually cursed him. After I was saved, after I was saved. I won't go into all the details or anything like that. That's crazy. That is a crazy thing to do, you know? That's like spitting on somebody that's got a gun pointed at you. I mean, that's just nuts. And then the other thing to really consider in your anger and your frustration toward God How in the world will you ever be able to justify those feelings toward absolute perfection? I said, remember the time you were mad at me? And what makes you think you're right? I'd hate to have him ask me that, I would. So anytime you get to feeling like you're being mistreated or God's not doing something he ought to do, you're angry with somebody who's absolutely perfect. And there isn't any way to justify that. If we understood ourselves like God understands us, we'd be in a whole lot better position to grasp a hold of God's greatness. I'm gonna glance over at Daniel, Daniel 12, four. Daniel 12, verse four, it says, but thou, O Daniel, shut up the words of this book and seal them even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. Now that's some important stuff because we're living in the last days. And somebody sent me an email, and we forwarded this thing around. I'm sure that most of you, if you got it, you glanced through it, you know, were kind of entertained by it. But I want you to think about this. 100 years ago, what was life like here in America? You realize 100 years ago was only seven years before Sister Miller was born, and they actually had gas engines. 1867, they invented that car. By 1967, they were on the moon. But just to give you some kind of a feel for what's going on and how things have changed around us, the average life expectancy was 47 years old. Guys were short time, weren't they? They were working harder, I know that. Only 14% of the homes had a bathtub. That means 86% of Americans were unwashed. I had a brass tub. I remember taking bath in that tub when I was a kid and heating water on the stove and then pouring the water in. You don't want to be last. Unfortunately, the kids all got in there last, you know, the last of the last of the last, you know. Why is that? Because the kids were outside playing and were dirtiest of all. But anyway, 92% of the homes didn't have a telephone. 92% only 100 years ago? Man. I mean, you think about this stuff, we've become so familiar with it, we've become used to it. We don't realize how things are changing around us. There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads. Well, that is some kind of a change. You got probably 144 miles of paved roads just in the city limits of Pensacola. Maximum speed limit was 10 miles an hour. I'm glad they didn't have radar, you know. People can run faster than 10 miles an hour. He got you for speeding, you know, he's out jogging. 10 mile an hour speed limit. The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower. The average wage in 1908 was 22 cents an hour. You think you're underpaid. Average worker made between 200 and $400 a year. Anyway, more than 95% of the births took place at home. How many of you in here born in a house? Besides me. I was born in a house. I mean, I'm not that old. 90% of the doctors had no college education. Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and the government as substandard. And they're still practicing today. That's the only group of people that I know of on this planet that gets paid even if they kill you. Brother Jack can't get away with that. If he don't fix it, he don't get paid. Sugar costs four cents a pound. Eggs were 14 cents a dozen. Coffee, 15 cents a pound. You say, ah, well, that's just prices. You know, prices change, wages gone up. If you think that value has gone up, you are totally mistaken. What's happened is that money has become worth less and less and less and less, so it takes more and more and more to buy the same stuff. And when the price of your house goes up, you didn't make any profit. All it did was just take more of that stuff to buy it. That's all that's really happening in the world. And with what's going on coming up, you're gonna see some things start changing. It's gonna start changing drastically. Most women only wash their hair once a month and use Borax or egg yolks for shampoo. That doesn't say anything for the rest of us guys, let alone the kids. I mean, you gotta think this may be a little bit crude, but I only took a bath once a week. That was Saturday night. You have to go through a big old ordeal to take a bath. You didn't just pull the plug, you had to actually dip the stuff out of that thing and haul it outdoors. I mean, that was an effort. It wasn't like jumping in the shower 15 minutes, get up 30 minutes before I have to be there, get washed, shower, get something to eat, head down the road and be there on time. It wasn't like that. Anyway, five leading causes of death were pneumonia and influenza, better known back then as the death of cold, Tuberculosis, diarrhea, diarrhea, they died from that stuff. Heart disease and stroke. American flag had 45 stars. The population of Vegas was only 30. You know why it's grown so much? Because people have changed. I guarantee you they have changed. Things are different than they used to be. There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day. Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write. Two out of every 10. Seven out of 10 can read now. Three out of 10 can't graduating. Marijuana, heroin, morphine were all available over the counter at local corner drug stores back then. Pharmacists said heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is in fact a perfect guardian of health. Look, this one that I'm holding right here is at least 400 years old and there's never been one proven error in it. And only 100 years ago they were talking like that. You go over to the Louvre in Paris and you see how many books are obsolete. This book is different than anything else you ever put in your hand. According to what it says, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, they are life. According to that, this is a living book of the living God and it's capable of bringing life. Wherefore, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This thing ain't like anything else. You can see that when you walk around. If you get out there in public with one of these things, you start carrying around people. What are you doing without yours? Well, they didn't tell me about any of this stuff up here behind me, you know? I mean, God's just kind of a figment of somebody's imagination nowadays. Anyway, things have changed, and they've changed a lot. 18% had at least one full-time servant or domestic help. Things have changed. Not all of them have been for the better either. We got domestic help. The people that are the help own the house. I was over there at Trailer Park one day and somebody came along and says, do you live here? I said, no, it's worse than that, I own the place. Anyway, one other thing over here in Timothy. 2 Timothy 3, one to five. This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of them own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. You don't have any kids disobedient to parents these days, do you? Disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Now, you're describing something that's gonna happen in the last days that is in contrast to everything that precedes the last days. When God tells you these things, it's like, weren't there always fierce men on the earth? Well, yeah. Proud, boasters, disobedient, blasphemers, yeah. Unthankful, unholy, yeah. But not like this. What's gonna happen is that thing's gonna grow on an exponential level. You want some proof? A hundred years ago, there were 230 murders in the entire United States. I remember one time when I was a kid and they were talking about the murders from the year before, and I mean, I was a little kid. And they said Los Angeles County had 52 murders, one a week. And I'm like, whoa. In 1990, the murder rate for the whole United States was 9,165. And those are only the reported murders. There's a whole bunch of them just missing people. What's happening? Lovers in themselves. That's what's happening. Only by pride cometh contention. What's happened is, everything God said is beginning to come to pass. But it's coming to pass so slowly through our lifetime that we don't see the contrast. And where are we at? We're on this planet. We're created by a supernatural being. He made us. And he didn't just make us, he actually formed us from the dust of the ground. And then he breathed into our nostrils a breath of life, and man became a living soul. And I'm three parts. And one part of me, as soon as I sinned, died. And that was my spirit, man, that thing died. And my soul's connected to this body at that time, and the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And because my soul was connected to my body, my sins of the flesh got connected to that soul, just like it says. That's the way things really are out there in the real world. The rest of that stuff, the things that are seen, they're temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal. And when those things begin to reach you on this level back here so that you realize who you are and where you are, it will begin to transform your life. It transforms your thinking, it transforms your activities, it transforms the way you think about people. Does it make you not sin? Oh, no. But you'll just realize how bad you are and how good He is. You'll start to understand a little bit about what longsuffering is and what real love is. you start to begin to understand that this creator made these people for fellowship. He'd come down and walk with Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the evening. And he gave them all those senses, you know, to be able to sense what he'd made and what he'd created so they could enjoy it like he enjoys it. And he'd come down there for his pure pleasure. And then they messed up. And then he had to have his son come and die for us. And we got in on the best thing on this planet. And we've gotten used to it, we have. We don't have those feelings of true gratitude. And as far as the thankfulness, that only goes just about as far as how you feel at the moment. You know what the word thank you means? That's an outward expression of an inward feeling. If it's just up here, thank you God for this food, it doesn't reach God. It might reach the rest of the people around you. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart. If it ain't in here, it don't count. If it's up here, it don't count with God. But Lord, we've done all these things in thy name. You make me sick. That's bad, isn't it? Well, the only way you can change from what we are into something a little closer to what he desires is to realize who he is and who we are and live, literally live in this reality that we exist in. And on the other side of this thing, when that little ticker finally stops and you drop over, you know, and you reach room temperature, you're gonna realize what all was important. But he gave us this, he gave us the Holy Spirit, he gave us other testimonies, he's given us example after example, he's given us evidence. In the last days knowledge shall be increased, men shall travel to and fro about the earth. He's given us all of this stuff so that we would know where we are. He didn't give it to you so you would be without excuse just so he could beat you up. He said, I would not have you to be ignorant, brother. And some of us are just plain ignorant. But that's not why he did it. He wants you to know who you are. And we can play games with God all we want in our mind and our heart. But he does not play games back. If he did, we'd all be in trouble. If he started treating us like we treat him, we'd be in a mess. And the stuff I'm talking about is more like, you know, some kind of a lesson. Isn't that the way that sounds? No, it's not. We're talking about some of His greatness. If you'd have been taught right, you'd have been taught that it was part of His creation. The problem is that the people that are teaching your kids and that taught you, they got no use for God. They don't want Him around. They want to get them out of their thoughts because they did not retain God in their knowledge. God gave them over to a reprobate mind and you got colleges that are full of reprobates. and God's got no use for him. He said he's chosen the simple things, the base things, the things which are not to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence, and knowledge puffeth up. I got a degree. Well, so do I. What good's that degree? It's just good enough to pat everybody on the back. You got a degree. You think a degree makes you more important, makes you a better person? You say, well, you know, I can get a better job in life. Yep, and what good does it do you if you end up at the end of your life with so much pride, God says, I got no use for you. Knowledge buffeth up. They said the two most gullible groups of people that there are on this planet are the very uneducated and the highly intelligent. You can convince those two groups of people faster and easier of something than you can the people in the middle. These people are simple. These people up here, they're open-minded. They believe anything you put in there, as long as it kind of makes a little bit of sense. And they believe it 10 times faster if they're paying a lot of money for you to teach them. And that natural way in a man is to feel better about himself. Woe unto you when all men speak well of you. Woe! Who are we talking about? We're talking about the one who made this stuff. We're not talking about somebody that you want to fool with. Let me tell you something. God does not play fair according to your rules. He says, your ways are not my ways, saith the Lord. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts. My ways are higher than your ways. He's got purpose in what he does. Our basic purpose is self-preservation, self-propagation, and self-gratification, and that's all there is. and we're vulnerable to the lust of the flesh and lust of the eye and the pride of life. And those are our problems. And we've got that deceitful heart that's deceitful and desperately wicked above all things and who can know it. So the minute you begin to start thinking that you're somebody, you better slow down, take another thought about it. I got one more thing that's real interesting. And I'm not gonna be able to get to all these verses, but this is something I came across a few weeks ago. The Bible says over in 2 Timothy 6.20, it says, beware of science, falsely so-called. So what kind of science is that? That's some of that stuff you're being taught in school by people who profess themselves to be wise and become fools. It says over in Psalms 118.8, it says, better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Now you know those verse and chapter references weren't in that thing when they first translated it in King James, right? So how come it ended up in the middle? That was probably coincidence. Listen, he wants you to live by faith, but he's given us plenty to believe in. You understand that? He didn't shove it down your throat, but he gave you plenty to believe in. And about the only way people can actually ignore God is willfully. This they are willfully ignorant of. When you get out there and you see the nature that God's created, nature itself proclaims his glory, and the heathen that never heard the name Jesus Christ have got enough evidence out there for them to respond to. They're without excuse. Anyway, listen to this. In 1954, our scientists decided that in preparation for the Cold War, we needed to perfect some more of our weapons to protect America against Russia. And so they set up a four megaton test. And that was done in the Marshall Islands where they set that thing up. Now they calculated that this thing was gonna be four megatons. They designed everything so that they would get all this data and information and figure out exactly what happened. So they set up their test instruments and they set up buildings and vehicles and dummies and ships. They set up a safety perimeter way outside of any kind of realm of danger, you know, and all this stuff. They get everything right and they set this bugger off. That thing went off and surprised everybody a little bit. That thing went off with a four and a half mile diameter fireball. You have any idea how far across four and a half miles is? I mean, you start thinking about that and that's the diameter. and that's just the fireball. That thing went off four and a half miles in diameter and it went up 47,000 feet. That's nine miles high. That's 24,000 feet across that fireball was. In 10 minutes, the thing had spread 62 miles and went up to 130,000 feet in the air. It blew away every bit of their test equipment, it stripped the island absolutely bare, it burned fish in the sea, and it burned native people thought to be in safe environments clear past all the people that were watching this thing happen. It left a 1.2 mile crater. That's 720 acres. I have no idea how deep the thing was, but it left a crater in the ground 1.2 miles across. They designed everything around a four-megaton bomb. But what they actually got in return was a 15-megaton bomb. That is 1,500,000,000 pounds of TNT. When you say megaton, that is millions of tons of TNT. So they got this 15-megaton explosion. That's 1,000 times more powerful than Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And that was 45 to 55. You got any idea what they got now? He says perilous times are gonna be coming. It's called the tribulation. A bunch of stuff is gonna happen. During that time, and I don't know if this is what man's gonna do or not, but he said, lest these days be short and there should be no flesh left on the earth. And in my opinion, that is man turned to himself with Satan running the thing, destroying everything that God built for his pleasure as fast as he can tear it up. And so here he is, wrecking everything he can, and if he can get men to fight against men, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities and rulers of darkness in this world. If he can get that going on and he can get men fighting with men, he can get them to destroy each other, he can just sit back and watch the melee. And so you got stuff out there that we have no concept of what it's capable of doing, because they have far surpassed that. Now where'd that power and energy come from? The Bible says all things are held together by the word of His power. By Him, all things consist. When they made that atomic bomb, they split the atom, and it released tiny amounts of energy from every atom. Boom, big explosion. A hydrogen bomb, that's putting some things together. And that's a whole lot more powerful, and that was the big surprise they got. What they're doing is they're tapping into some of His greatness. You say, well, are they tapping into God? No, they're tapping into where He stored some of it. And we do that all the time. I mean, I got a wood-burning stove. I burn some firewood in there, you know, heat my hot water, heat my house. What's that? That's just a storage battery. He sends the sunlight down here, grows the tree. What's the sun? That's fire and heat and light. I turn around and touch a match to it, what's it put out? Fire and heat and light. It's just a storage battery. But what they started messing with, all things are held together by the Word of His power. And when they start playing with that, you're playing with some of the power of God. We're talking hydrogen. That's one of the lightest atoms on the planet. What happens when you get into some really dense stuff? I don't know, but I know this, it's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. I also know this, that I was created by somebody and he's got plans for me. And his plans for me, listen, they revolve around my response to him. And when you forget that, you're out there on some quicksand. When you spend your week with all your thoughts being on what you want, what you desire, what you're gonna do next, you're wasting your time. You get to the end of this thing, you'll be like, man, Lord, if I only knew. I told you, I told you to study. I told you to talk of me from one generation to the next. But it's like a bunch of little kids, we never listen. Let's close in prayer.