I am thankful, I know we're small, I realize and understand all that, but boy, I'm glad you guys can sing. Because it is horrible trying to preach after people that cannot sing. It's awful. All right, now this morning we're going to be in Philippians chapter three. And remember, this week is Wednesday. Thank you, Kevin. We couldn't get the annex for Tuesday because they're having a Shriners thing or something, I think, here on Tuesday, I believe is what it was. And so we're gonna have to meet on Wednesday this week. So it'll be Wednesday at seven instead of Tuesday at seven. That'll be for two weeks in a row. We've got to do that. And then we'll go back to our normal Tuesday. Man, just think, we'll almost be like a normal church. It'll be on Wednesday. That's amazing, isn't it? All right, Philippians chapter three. And I've kind of got in mind this morning probably something that you may have heard but, I want to keep us headed in the right direction, you know, and make sure that you're headed in the right direction and you're thinking about the things that you should be thinking about and doing the things for the Lord. So kind of Sunday school was kind of setting us up for this, you know, so that we can be focused on doing what God wants us to do without having the sins of the flesh in our way. Now, how many in here are sinners? Okay, half of you. Yeah, we're all sinners, man. Let me try that one more time. How many in here are sinners? Okay, how many are... Let's see now, I'm gonna be like Brother Wayne back there. I'm a double sinner, okay? I mean, we got sin all over us, man. I mean, we got it. But the thing about it is, don't let that sin stop you. And see, a lot of times that's what people do is they get to the place to where they mess up and they do wrong and they think God won't forgive them and God will forgive you of anything. God will forgive you of anything. God will forgive you of anything. And they get to the place to where they don't realize that God will forgive them and they just stop. And they get out, and they won't have fellowship with other Christian people, and they don't do right, and so they're just gone. And then when you go talk to them, they're frustrated, they're mad, they're upset, they're angry. They're not really angry at you, they're just angry. You know, and they don't wanna have anything to do with you. They just, don't talk to me about that Jesus fella. Well, are you saved? I've got a new line. I came up with a new line this week. I'm gonna, here's my new line. Are you a homeowner? Well, yeah, I have a home, you know. I was watching these homeless people in Morganton, you know, and I thought, boy, it's sad, you know, homeless people. So give them a track and say, are you a homeowner? No, I don't have one. Well, boy, you can have one in heaven. Would you like to know about that mansion in heaven that God's prepared for you? See, that's a good line. Start them off, then you got a way to go there. See, I can even think of stuff like that every once in a while. Come on now. All right, so now I want to get us on track here, and I want to call this Don't Miss the Mark. Now, when we were young, we shot a lot. I mean, I guess our family was, you know, they had guns. My daddy had guns. He had all kind of guns, you know, and there were some of them we wouldn't shoot because they were so big. He had some nine millimeter, seven millimeter rifles, you know, or whatever they're, nines or sevens, I don't know what they are. I'm not a big gun guy, but, I mean, he had all those things and we would shoot them. We'd shoot 12 gauge shotguns. I thought I had arrived in life. the day that I was able to shoot a 12-gauge shotgun. I thought, man, I have done made life here now. There's nothing else to live for. I'm good. But now, when we were growing up, the thing that they would try to get us to do was focus down those little pinholes, you know, on the front of the rifle and the back of the rifle there or the shotgun, whatever it was, and we focused trying to get that thing just lined up just right so that when we shot, we hit what we're shooting at. A few years ago, as a matter of fact, it was back in 93 that me and Karen, we went to Beeville, Texas, and we went to Brother Welder's ranch. He had a big, huge ranch. There was deer and turkey and bobwhite quail everywhere. You know, it was a hunter's paradise, you know, but I'm not a big hunter. I didn't care. I did kill a hog while I was out there. But we came back, and one evening, they cooked out for us, and they had these high and low houses where they shot skeet. And so they took us out there and they let us shoot skeet that night, you know. And the man and woman that came down was Barbara and Jerry Dunson. I think her name was Barbara, wasn't it? Jerry Dunson and his wife. I think his wife's name is Barbara. She was ranked number one in the nation of skeet shooters. And he was ranked like number two or three, whatever it was, you know. And so they came down and they had their shotguns and these, you know, they were all wrapped up in these nice cases and everything. And they got them out and they gave one to me and gave one to Karen. And we were like, wow, we get. shoot skeet with these national hunters, you know, these national skeet shooters shotguns, you know, it was cool, you know, we felt kind of privileged, you know, and so we were, you know, they'd shoot them out of the high and low house, you know, we'd shoot, and Brother Dunson, he stood behind me, you know, and he'd watch me shoot, and he'd say, you're missing, and I'd say, yeah, I'm right behind it. And so they'd pull again, you know, and I'd shoot and I'd be right ahead of it, right behind it, right over it, right below it. You could see because the wad would go out, you know, and you could kind of watch where that wad went and see where it was kind of hitting. And he looked at me and he said, do you see where you're missing? I said, yeah, I see you every time. He said, then why are you missing? He said, if you'll aim like I told you to, he said, you just lead that just a little bit. He said, you'll hit it. Man, I started leading that like he said, and I hit it every time. And I believe there's a lot of Christians that are like that. They're close. You know, they're shooting, but they're off just a little bit. And they're missing the mark just a little. They're close, but they just ain't quite got the thing figured out yet. And that's what I want to try to help you with this morning. I want you to see something. Look in Philippians chapter 3, and look first of all, look down in verse 4. Now next week in Sunday school, whenever we get to this in verse two, we're gonna show how that the natural man compares with an animal. Because really that's all that a natural man is. He's nothing more than an animal, but he is a human. And there's a difference between a man and an animal. They are not the same. But God compares them and shows how that a natural man is just really just like a beast of the ground. As a matter of fact, one time he compared a Gentile to a dog. And so he compares a natural Gentile man to a dog, and that's how he looks at a lost man, just an animal. You know, they really are no different. They're going to spend eternity somewhere, and it's not going to be with him, and he looks at them just like an animal, just like a dog. And that's a sad state to be in. Look at what Paul says in verse 4. He says, "...though I might also have confidence in the flesh." You know, this morning I gave you a verse in Philippians 1, verse 6, it says, You see, but it's not in the flesh. That confident is in the Holy Ghost of God, Philippians 1, 6. But this confidence, Paul said, though I might also have confidence in the flesh. And then he begins to give his credentials. He says, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. He said, "'Circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law.'" I was a Pharisee. "'And accept your righteousness, exceed that of the Pharisees.'" That's what the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said. So he was a Pharisee, Paul said. He's touching the law, I'm a Pharisee. I've got as good a testimony concerning the law as any man has ever. As a matter of fact, he said, I'm more. Look in verse six, he says, concerning zeal, persecuted the church. Touching the righteousness, which is in the law, Paul said, I was blameless. How many of us could say that we were blameless concerning the law? Not one of us sitting in here. But Paul said, these are my credentials. He had a good heritage. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. That was his heritage. Do you know that you and I up here in the mountains, we have a good heritage? Because most of us have been brought up in church. And it was a rare occasion that we didn't have something to do with a church somewhere just because of our heritage. We have a rich heritage in this part of the country with Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean that everybody up here is saved. And I realize that people in the South, they think that God guns and guts at what bought the thing. And as long as I fear God, I'm fearing God now, that's going to get me to heaven. Fearing God ain't never got no man to heaven. You've got to trust Jesus Christ to get yourself to heaven. And that's the only way you're going to get to heaven. Fearing God, that's a good thing. I'm not knocking it. Matter of fact, that's what got me in, is because I was afraid of God, I feared Him, and that is the reason that I got saved, because I did not want to go to hell. And so that fear that I had, that's what got me in. So I'm not knocking fear. You know, I used to drink this energy drink. It was called a Sobey No Fear. That was the name of the drink. And boy, I tell you what, after you drink one of them, it wasn't that you was not afraid of things. You just had the jitters like this and it didn't matter. There was enough caffeine in that to run us all for three days. It was terrible. And so he had a good heritage. He had a good history. He had all those things. He had a good hope. But Paul's hope was in himself. It was in his confidence. He had confidence in the flesh. I ain't got no confidence in the flesh. If I have to live after the flesh, there is no way that I'll ever make it to heaven. If I have to keep the law in order to get to heaven, there ain't no way I'm going to get there. I cannot keep the law to get me to heaven. I am guilty of that law and there's no way I'll get there. So Jesus Christ, He came to die to redeem us from the curse of the law so that we don't have to keep the law. Man, them four folks in the Old Testament, I hope to God none of you are saved like they was in the Old Testament. Those folks in the Old Testament, they had to keep the law. They had to do, do, do. In the New Testament, it's done, done, done. And thank God it is. Thank God that Jesus Christ died and paid the price for that. He had honor. He was blameless concerning the law. Well, I'll tell you what, as a pastor, my testimony is supposed to be a blameless testimony. I'm not supposed to have anything that marks me to where that somebody could accuse me of something. And if I do, then I'm not blameless. I'm not perfect. But as far as the testimony goes, I should have a blameless testimony. I think I could ask my mother-in-law, have I lived a pretty decent Christian life in front of you? Maybe not the best. I know I'm the best son-in-law she's ever had. I am her favorite son-in-law. She's never had a son-in-law that is as good as me, nor will ever have one as good as me. She's never had one that has worked as hard for her as I have worked for her. So that's the reason she's shaking her head is because I've done all this stuff for her. That's what it is. But now I've got to have a blameless testimony. Listen, if I leave out of here today and I go down here to the brewery and I drink me a pint or two, you know, and have me a burger and a fry, you ain't going to think a whole lot of me. And then if I leave there and I go to Maggie Valley and I dance at the Maggie Valley Hall up there where they used to when I was a kid, I don't even know if that thing's still open anymore. Is it even open? I don't even know the name of it, whatever it was. But if I went up there, you wouldn't think too highly of me because you think that I'm supposed to live different than that world lives. And that's exactly right. I should have a blameless testimony. Paul said he was blameless concerning the law. I mean, whenever the Lord came up, do you know that there's three men in the Old Testament, Noah, Daniel, and Job, that the Lord said that by their righteousness, their righteousness, three men in a whole Old Testament, that God testified by their righteousness they'd be able to get to heaven. Now that's a testimony right there. That's something you and I have never done. Boy, I thank God for Jesus Christ and I am thankful that He died on the cross for me because without Him, there ain't no way I'd have got to heaven. No way I'd have made it to heaven. And I guarantee none of you would either. I'm just telling you. I'm using me as an example. None of us would have made it to heaven without Jesus Christ. Well, I know we're not there yet. That almost sounded like we're done there with the door shut, and we are, essentially. Look down at verse 7. Paul says, "...but what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." for whom I have suffered the loss of all things that do count them, but dung that I may win Christ, and be found in Him." You see, there's the key, is the in Him part. Because in order to get Him, I've got to be saved. That's how I get in Him. That's how I get in the body of Christ. Are you saved? Then you're in Him. He says, "...be found in Him, not having," what? "...mine own righteousness." but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." We have the righteousness of God imputed to us because the faith that we have in Christ Jesus. Boy, thank God for that. You know what he did? There's a song. It's kind of like this. I'll never get it, but it's kind of like this. There was an old coat and a new coat. And my old coat was tattered and torn and worn and all that stuff, and it kind of rhymes through there. And he says, and the Lord come along, and He said, how about you take off that old coat and put on the new? And when He did, He wrapped us in His righteousness. He looked at me and He said, hey, look here, bud. He said, your righteousness are as filthy rags. He said, I've got pure righteousness. Do you want my righteousness? Yeah, I'll take that. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me. And so what he did was he wrapped me in his righteousness and you cannot see my righteousness nor my sin. And he wrapped me in that. And then he said, he said this, he said, I'll take your ungodliness and your unrighteousness. And he said, I'll put that on me. And he suffered that on the cross of Calvary. And all we got to do is trust Jesus Christ and we get His right. Man, what a deal. Why wouldn't anybody take that as a deal? Best deal you ever heard of in your life. They've never had a deal like that at Sears and Roebuck. They've never had a deal like that anywhere in life that where God imputes righteousness to somebody for no reason. He even said in Romans chapter 5, He said, yeah, when they were with that... I just turned there. I'm losing that one. Look in Romans 5. That would have been a good one if I could have quoted that, wouldn't it? Yeah, come on, Brother Wheeler. Look in Romans 5 and look down at verse 8. But God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were sinners. Look down at verse 6. It says, Romans 5, 6. For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the who? For the ungodly. He didn't die for his friends and his family. He died for the ungodly. That's who he died for. He died for me and you. Man, I wish I could have quoted that. Would have made that sermon so much better, wouldn't it? All right, look back in Philippians 3 and look down at verse 10. Now we get to the meat of this thing. I want you to see, first of all, I'm just gonna try to move through these points this morning, but I want you to see, first of all, Paul's earnest desire. And he says this, he says, that I may know him, that I may know him. I wanna know him. Now it's one thing to be introduced to somebody. Good morning, my name is Brother Wheeler, how are you today? That's an introduction. And it's another thing to know someone. It's one thing to be introduced to Jesus Christ. This is Jesus Christ. He died for the sin of the world. Would you take Him? That's an introduction. And it's a whole different story to know that person. So when we get saved, we know Him. We are bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh. We know Him. So when I got saved, I'm part of Him. He's part of me. We're together. When I die, I go with Him. Neither can any man plucked Him out of my hand. You read that verse before? You know why He can't pluck you out of your hand? Because you're bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh. They can't get you out because you're in Him. Isn't that a blessing? Should that not just encourage you just a little bit that you're part of Him and you couldn't lose your salvation if you tried? How many of you tried? Amen, hallelujah, glory to God. You didn't even mean to and you've tried. But boy, thank God you are eternally secure in Jesus Christ and you couldn't lose your salvation even if you tried. You know, you fellas are young and you're young, Will, and you're not old yet. Man, you guys, to us, us older folk, you got a clean slate. Don't blow it. I regret so many things when I was your age. And I wish I could go back and change those things. I can't change that stuff. All I can do is fix the future. The future's out ahead of me out there. I've got an eagerness. I've got an earnest desire to do something for Jesus Christ. I don't care if it seems stupid to everybody else or not. I don't care if anybody's with me or not. I want to do something for Jesus. I was talking to my good buddy yesterday, and you know what I have enjoyed, really enjoyed about our little group? is the liberty that I have to tell you the truth without worrying about what somebody else has said. And it doesn't matter to me what somebody else has said, or what they've taught, or what they've preached. I have got the liberty that God has given me to be able to teach you correctly from the Bible without worrying about what somebody else has said. I don't have to worry about the history of the church, because this church ain't got no history. We ain't got nothing. We ain't got a piano. We barely got songbooks. And I am so thankful that God's given me that liberty. What a blessing that is. I don't have no chains, man. I'm not associated with anybody. I ain't affiliated with anybody. It doesn't matter to me what anybody thinks about us. I could care less. But boy, I'm glad that I've got that liberty in Jesus Christ. I got a newfound freedom that I haven't enjoyed in 30 years trying to live up to somebody else's expectations of what I should be doing. But now, I get to do what God wants me to do. And man, I'm having fun doing this. You may be miserable as a skunk out in the middle of the road out there on I-40. You may be miserable, but I am not. I'm having a great time. I'm eager to get acquainted with Jesus. I'm eager to know Him a little more. I'm eager to have better discipline in my walk so that I can be a better Christian for Him. See, that's an earnest desire of mine. I've always wanted to be a better Christian. I remember whenever Carolyn was gracious enough to allow us to move into her basement, and it was good that we were able to do that because otherwise we'd have been living outside the bridge out here on I-40 out there under the bridge. But we lived up there, and they had always told me stories of how Papa Rogers would pray in the valley up there, and he'd pray, and everybody in the Vatican could hear him pray, you know? And I thought that was the coolest thing, you know? And so one day I got my Bible, and I went up there, you know, and just climbed as far as I could up on the mountainside, you know, and I started praying. They couldn't hear me praying down the valley, because I was just quietly praying, you know? I wasn't going to do that stuff. But I was praying and I was saying, God, if there's anything to this prayer stuff and you can do something for me, God, would you help me? I mean, God, those old fellas, they're dead, they're gone, they ain't around no more, we appreciate their testimony, but they ain't here anymore, God, can you help me? And man, I'd go up there every once in a while, I think I went up there three or four times and prayed, and man, you talk about good, it was just good. And here I am, I'm sitting in her house, in the back corner of that house back there, and I'm looking down that valley every Sunday morning. What a blessing that is to me to be able to look down that valley where so many prayers have been sent up before. What a heritage that is. And I want to be acquainted with that heritage. I want to know what it feels like for the Spirit of God to move in a place and the Lord get a hold of hearts and convict them and convince them to do something for Him. I want you to have that same earnest desire that I've got. And I want to see God meet us in prayer and deal with our hearts and show us how to live for Him. Man, what a blessing it is to be saved. Do you know how fortunate you are to be saved? And that God has put us in such a place around here that we could hear about the gospel all of our life. How fortunate we are to have that. Because man, up north, they ain't got that. I mean, I've talked to a bunch of folks up north over the years. Now, Ohio, they got it pretty good in Ohio. But like Michigan, and Philadelphia, or Pennsylvania, I was giving you a city, not a state there, wasn't it? And Maine, and New York, and all those places. Man, those folks, they don't have that. They've got Catholic churches everywhere, Orthodox Greek churches everywhere. There's some kind of something stuck everywhere. But they're not telling them about Jesus Christ the proper way, the biblical way, and telling them how to be saved. Man, what a blessing it is to have grown up in Canton, North Carolina. What a blessing that we've had such an influence on our life that God has been so good to us. I just want to know him a little bit more. I don't want to miss that mark. I want to make sure that when I die, I can stand before him, and yes, I used notes, Wesley, and if I didn't, you'd be in trouble this morning. But I don't want to miss that mark. I want to make sure that when I stand before him, that there's some, you know, I hope I please him somehow. And I hope that I've done something for him to where that he gets pleasure out of it. Don't you? I want to serve him that way. I'm eager to attain. Look down at verse 11. He says, if by any means, and now I'll give you the wheeler spin on that, by whatever means necessary. He says, if by any means, I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. You know why we can be resurrected and be a part of that group that goes up? Because Jesus Christ was resurrected not of the dead, but from the dead. He came up by Hisself with the power of the Holy Spirit of God and got Him out of the grave. Whenever they went back on that third day, And they went and they looked in that tomb. Jesus Christ wasn't in there no more. You can go over there today and you can find all the other false prophets or false gods or whatever they may be. You can find them and they are still in their tomb. You can go over there today and you'll find that tomb empty. It's empty today because He's not there. He has risen. That's what the sign outside of the tomb says. It says He is not here for He has risen. It's just a little wooden thing, and it got the stone rolled back. It's up the hill there, you know. And man, I'm telling you what, this big old stone is probably taller than me and you together, I guess. And it was about this thick, and that thing was rolled. And you know how many Roman soldiers it probably took to roll that thing uphill? And then here are these two little old women running up there and they're scared to death. How are we going to get the stone? How are we going to get the stone? What are we going to do when we get there? I don't know how we're going to get the stone. When they got there and the stone's gone. And they look inside. Oh no, he's not there. They stole him. They stole his body. He's gone. He's gone. No, they didn't steal his body. Man, he resurrected and he is gone. He's gone to glory. He's where he is. Wouldn't that be something there, you know, to get there and the Lord said, now calm down, Mary. Calm down. Calm down. Just chill out for a minute, you know? Wouldn't that have been something? And the Lord did this right here. See? Wouldn't that have been... Boy, that would have been a day right there, wouldn't it? To just see the resurrected Lord. We're going to get to see Him one day. Don't you worry about it. We're going to get to see Him. We're going to get to see Him in all His glory and all His splendor, seated on the throne of God. Wouldn't that be a day? Now you see, I want to kneel before Him with a clean conscience and a clear heart. You remember Jacob in the Old Testament? He's got a terrible testimony. Probably the worst testimony of anybody in the Old Testament. As far as somebody that is supposed to be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you know, I mean, that's one of the main three. And he gets up there to Pharaoh, and he's getting to the end of his life, and Joseph brought him down there, made this meeting possible. And he gets up there before Pharaoh, and he goes in before him, and Pharaoh asked him, he said, How you doing, man? What's going on? You know, he's talking the Egyptian language to him. I mean, you know what they think about the Israelites? They don't like them because they're slaves. They keep cattle, and they think they're low people. They won't even eat with them. And so here is Jacob being able to come in before Pharaoh because he's Joseph's daddy. And he comes in there before Pharaoh, and this is his testimony. Pharaoh asks him, says, how you doing, man? He says, few and evil been the days and years of my life. Few and evil been the days and years of my life. And he comes in there before Pharaoh, and here's Pharaoh seated up on his throne, and Joseph comes in there, or Jacob comes in there, and he's, you know, like what we would do is we would go toward Pharaoh, and we would begin to kneel down because that was the proper thing to do before a king. You know what Jacob did? He goes before Pharaoh, and he gets up there. Instead of kneeling down like this, he stands up tall, and he puts his hand on top of his head, and it says that he blessed Pharaoh. And at the end of his life, he had a good testimony. He gave a blessing and he received a blessing at the end of his life. So if you had a horrible testimony all your life, man, go out good. I mean, fix the thing before you leave. I mean, if you've never read your Bible, read the thing. You say, I ain't a good reader. Don't care. Read what you can. Find you a good New Testament book like Matthew or Mark, Luke, John, whatever. Read 1 Thessalonians, what we've been going over on Tuesday night. Read that. But read. And you fellas that are so smart, intelligent, geniuses, I think, get in that book and read it. See what's in that book. And you will, you're a young man, you ain't got junk in your head. All the rest of us, we got junk in our head. We're having to get that book in here with all the rest of the stuff we got in there and we're trying to make that thing work and we got all this junk in here. You ain't got that junk yet. Man, put the book in there. Put the book in there and let that be your guide in life. and have an eager, earnest desire to serve the Lord. See, Paul, that's what he had. I wanna get close to him. Tozer said this, he said, we pursue God, and only because he has first put an urge within us that spurs us to that pursuit. Isn't that something, how God gives us? You know, I'm ashamed of this prayer that I pray to God. Lord, help me to love you more. Isn't that a terrible testimony? Shouldn't we just love God just because He's so good to us? Lord, help me to love you the way I ought to. Help me to love you more, Lord, because my flesh gets in the way. And I wonder every once in a while if God's not just sitting there thinking, man, you ought to love me just cause all the stuff I've done. Why are you asking me to help you love me? I don't say, Karen, will you please help me love you more? Will you iron my clothes? Will you wash my dishes? Will you do something for you so I can love you more? He's done enough to where we should always love him first. He finished it, didn't he? We should just naturally, supernaturally, We should just love him. I wanna get closer to him. I want to attain. I wanna apprehend. I wanna say this to you. I wanna say that if he's got a hold of you, then why don't you get a hold of him? You remember the story of Paul whenever he got off that ship and the barbarians had a fire there and Paul was gathering sticks and he's putting sticks on fire, sticks on fire, you know? And then all of a sudden here comes this monster out of the fire and latches on his hand, you know? And it says, and he shook it off. And I've always said, be careful which direction you shake that off, because it's going to get on somebody else if you throw it their way. But he shook that thing off. But I was thinking, how many times the Lord's got a hold of your heart, and that's what you do is shake him off. We don't need to shake him off. When he gets a hold of you, grab a hold of him. I mean, get close enough to you. I learned early when I was a young child and my daddy was giving me spankings. Did any of you guys ever get a spanking when you was little? Yeah, my daddy, he didn't just give me a spanking, he whooped me. I mean, he... I'm pulling on my ear because I'm trying to tell the truth here, but I mean, that man, he absolutely beat us when we was kids. He didn't beat Kevin, he beat me to death, you know, but I learned. that if I got up on his knee and I grabbed his knee, it was harder for him to hit with force. So I would run and I'd grab his knee like that, and the spanking wasn't near as bad. But if I stood out here and he was away from me, you know, and I mean, man, he could get, you know, I mean, he could rear back, you know, that belt and just, I mean, just really tear you up good, you know. But if I got up close to him, and you know what I think the Lord wants us to do? He wants us to get close to him. Why don't you get a hold of him? Has what got a hold of you, have you got a hold of it? I mean, I'm saved, I'm on my way to glory, there ain't nothing gonna change that, but do I have a hold of that? Am I fully persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day? Am I fully persuaded about that? See, do I have a hold of Him? So many folks, man, they're just holding him loosely in their hands, like I can take him or leave him. He's not a take him or leave it kind of guy. Do you know that there's some people in 1 Corinthians 16 that their testimony is the household of Stephanas addicted themselves to the ministry. It didn't say that they were addicted to the ministry. It says that they addicted themselves to the ministry. That means they got in there, they dug in, they were steady, they were stable, they were dependable, they were gonna be there when it counted, they was gonna be a part of that thing and they got a hold of something that got a hold of them. I had a good friend that was in the ministry. A man is a good guy, good preacher. I mean, all the accolades that you could give to somebody that was just a really good preacher. But you know what I noticed about him? The things that he was saying wasn't coming from his heart, it was coming from books. And the thing that I noticed was is that Jesus Christ got a hold of him, but he never got a hold of Jesus Christ. He wasn't hanging on for dear life. If I was that lady that the Lord passed by that morning and she reached out and touched His garment, you know, and her blood was healed, I wouldn't have let go. I would have grabbed on, man, and He would have had to drug me everywhere He went. And that's what He's been doing for me for the past 45 years anyway. He's been dragging me around everywhere. But I'm happy in that. I'm good with that. I don't mind to be just drug around by the Lord. I'm okay with that because I got a hold of Him. And I got news for you. I ain't going to let go of Him either. I'm hanging on till I leave this life. Amen. Look at verse 13 and 14. Eagerness. You should have an eagerness. You know why? Because you've been exonerated. Look at verse 13. Wayne, you and I, we have lived long enough in this life to know that we've done some things that we shouldn't have done. We're old enough, you know, we're old enough. These young fellas, they just ain't got there yet. But man, we've lived long enough to know that the longer we live, how good that God has been to us and how gracious He's been to us and how merciful that He's been to us. And might I say how long-suffering that He's been to us And might I even say how gracious that He has been to us? And boy, I think I could even keep going with some of those things, but I'm telling you, God has just been good. And we realize it. You see, the young fellas, they just ain't quite got a hold of it yet. One day they will. One day you're gonna need God in a real bad kind of way, and you're gonna turn to Him, you say, Lord, I'm telling you, I can't get out of this one, can you help me? And you know what God will do? Yeah, come on son, let's just pick you up and patch you off a little bit and let's go down the road a little bit further. That's how good God is. The greatest day in my Christian walk was the day that I found out that God was not the high sheriff sitting on the throne waiting on some opportunity to knock me in the head and beat me. That's not God, that's the devil. The greatest day was I found out whenever he was merciful and long-suffering and gentle and easy. He is so easy with us. You know what? He says, come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they should be as white as snow. He says, let us reason together. He's a reasonable God. He's reasonable with us. He's gentle with us. He is so good to us. Amen, brother Mike. I mean, I love him so much. I don't always live like I love him. I'm not the greatest Christian on Monday morning at four o'clock in the morning trying to get up and go to work, do my 10 hours, you know, and get all this. I'm not always the greatest Christian, but I sure do appreciate what he's done for me whenever I get to the place to where I can thank him. And he has been so good to us. Look down at verse 13 and 14. I may get there in a minute. It says, "...brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended." So Paul says, I may be blameless concerning the law, but even my flesh could not allow me to keep the law enough to where I get saved. Even though he kept the law blameless, it didn't save him. He got saved by trusting Jesus Christ. Acts 9. He says, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, oh, here's the word, forgetting those things which are behind. You know what most people do? They just don't realize, they cannot get it in their brain or their heart that you've been exonerated. I mean, you've been redeemed, you've been washed clean, you are forgiven. Now, you know what you ought to do? You ought to forget it. Quit looking at the past and say, I messed up here, and I messed up there, and I messed up here, and I shouldn't have done that, and I shouldn't have done this, and I shouldn't have said this, and I shouldn't have thought that, and I shouldn't have done this, and start going. Notice what he says, forgetting those things which are behind. And then he says what? Because I can't remember it. He says, forgetting those things which are, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. He says, I press toward the mark. I'm lined up, and I don't want to miss that mark right there. I've been exonerated. You know what you've been? You're exonerated. It's just like the judge hitting the gavel down and say, case dismissed. You're clear. You're clean. You're forgiven. All is over with. You don't have to worry about nothing. I'm not a judge. I wouldn't even know what to say if that was. But everything's good. A few years ago, I had to go to jury duty. And I really wanted to go. I was hoping it was a murder trial. And I was going to have to sit there for a couple of weeks and see how the process worked. And I didn't want anybody to kill anybody, but I was hoping it was a murder trial. And so we were sitting down in the room. There was like 50 or 60 of us. It was like sardines in that room. And it got to about 90 or 150 degrees or whatever it was. And we're sitting in there waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. And so I don't even think I could text. I can't remember what I could do. You know, I think they told us put our phones up or whatever it was. So about four hours later, finally, the bailiff come and got us. They said, hey, we're going to come get you in just a little bit. You know, just hang tight. They said, you can go out here and hang out in the hall if you want to. So we did. We went and hung out in the hall. And so in a few minutes, here comes a bailiff. He said, all right, they're ready for you. So we all go up into the courtroom and here's the guy, he's sitting there, you know, and he was guilty. I could tell he was guilty. I mean, just looking at the dude, you could, man, that guy is guilty there. He's done, I don't know what he's done, but he's done something, you know. And so we all went in and we sit down and boy, I was thinking if I was sitting in his shoes, And I was watching all of us come in there and sit down, because they brought us all in at first, you know, because they hadn't picked a jury or anything. And they brought us all in, and we sit down, you know, and they began to talk among themselves, and lawyers began to talk, and lawyers talking to the judge, you know. And that guy was sitting there, and he was just as white, and I mean, man, it was like all the blood had done left him, you know. And so in just a minute, they came out there, and they said, well, you can go ahead and go on. We think we've worked out a plea bargain with him. And I think that's what they were trying to do. I think they were trying to intimidate that guy so that he would plea instead of having to go to trial. Because trials are expensive, you know. It's going to cost them a bunch of money and time. And so that guy, he was looking, he was sitting there. I was thinking, boy, I sure am glad. that my savior stood up for me and he was my advocate. And he stood up for me and he said, oh, nope, no, I know. And here's the adversary over here on this side. And he's saying, yep, he's guilty. I'm gonna have to work on that. He's guilty on this side over here. And he's accusing him. He says, hey, listen, that guy's guilty of this. He's guilty of that. He's done this. He's done that. The other thing. And the Lord stands up and says, yep, he may be guilty, but he's one of mine. He's mine. That's my son right there. You can't have him. He's mine and he's mine forever. And nobody can take that away from you. And don't let nobody talk you out of that. I realize I got a little bit loud there. I apologize for that. I'm trying to keep it toned down, but you know, hey, sometimes you get excited. I've been exonerated, man. You know what some of you need to have? You need to have Christian amnesia. I have heard so many times these coaches of teams, they'll be on the television, they'll be announcing, you know, and one guy will make a bad pass, you know, like we could say Cam Newton made a bad pass, you know, and throwed it into the, whatever, the bleachers, whatever. And you know what those announcers will say? They'll say, Well, what he needs to do is he just needs to forget what he just did and move on to the next play. Because the next play, he hadn't had it yet. And I'm thinking, you know, that's what Christians need to do. They need to have Christian amnesia and forget what they just did, get it forgiven, forget what they just did and move on. But you know what you do when you mess up? You got to tell everybody. You know, well, I messed up, you know. And then they go to church and, man, I don't like this in church. I don't like it at all. They go to church and they say, well, you ain't going to believe this, but I, and I'm thinking, nope, and I don't want to hear it either. I don't want to believe it and don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear nothing about it. Because what that does is that ruins your testimony in His eyes right there. Because that fellow right there, he's a young man, and that fellow's a young man, and he's looking to us, and he's a young man, and they're looking to us to live right. And when you stand up and say, I drank a six-pack the other night. I shouldn't have done it, but I did, and it's over with, and I just pray the church will forgive me and go on. You know what you ought to do? If you do something like that, then confess it to God, get it out of the way, and keep your mouth shut about it, and move on! And quit living like you used to live. Amen. Put that stuff behind you. He says, I pressed toward the mark for the prize of the worst calling that there ever was. What does that say? You know, as far as I'm concerned, the greatest calling there ever was is the call to preach. I think, in my mind, and the world will disagree with me, but I think that the calling of God is more important than the call to be a president, or more important than the call to be a king. I think it's the highest calling, the calling of God. I think I'm gonna have more to answer for than the president will ever have to answer for. Because his is a physical kingdom that he's ruling over. Mine is a spiritual walk that I'm supposed to be helping people with. And boy, when I get to heaven, I know I've got a lot to answer for there. But what I have to do is like you have to do, I have to forget those things that are in the past, because they're in the past. Aren't they in the past? Where are they? Help me. Help me now this morning, folks. Help me. Where are they? They're in the past, aren't they? I can't do nothing about them. Even if I could get back there, I can't do a thing about them. It's over with. Quit resurrecting the things. Leave them alone. Let bury them. Nobody cares. You are the only one that cares. And you've got this guilt monkey on your back and it's killing you. And you won't move past that thing. We had a guy in our church. I loved him. He was a good guy. He is a pain sometimes, but I did love the guy. But I'm telling you, that guy, he had a tainted past. It was terrible. I wouldn't even tell you all the stuff in his past. And he would come tell me once why. He said, Brother Mike, do you really think I'm saved? I said, yeah, man, you're saved. I said, you trusted Jesus. What else can you do? He said, I just can't believe that God had saved me. I said, man, I can't believe God saved me either. He said, yeah, but you don't know. I said, yeah, I know what you did. I don't want to hear no more about it. You know, just let the thing lie. He said, he said, I can't believe that God had forgiven me of that stuff. I said, well, he did. It's done. It's over with. God can forgive anybody of any sin, no matter what it is. I said, if you're saved, you're forgiven. It's done. And I don't think that guy, he may have eventually gotten a little bit of victory, but I ain't real sure about that. Look down at verse 20 and 21. I'm getting close to the end. I'm exonerated, so I've got a... or I should have. I should have an expectation. You fellows this afternoon, you know what you're expecting? You're anticipating leaving here and going to work. That's your expectation for the day. You know what I'm expecting? I'm expecting that I may walk out that door this afternoon, and the Lord might call my number, and I'll be home in glory with Him for all eternity. That is my expectation. I am not looking for a raise. Probably not gonna get one anyway. I'm not looking for a raise. I'm not looking for a new home. We're happy and content in the home we are. I hope so. She's not shaking her head, but I hope we are. But we're not, that's not our expectation. Our expectation is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ while we're here. And then if he calls our number, we get to be with him. And I'm gonna be here as long as he leaves me. But one of these days, He's going to take me, and He's going to take you. So our expectation, our anticipation should be, I'm looking for the Lord's return. I remember whenever Jordan died, me and Brother Walker went and talked to her, you know, and we were sitting in her kitchen in there, and we were talking about some things, you know, and she popped up, and she was just all excited. She said, well, I ain't dying till the rapture happens. And we've talked about that now for five years, you know, and she's still here. I can't believe she's still here, but she's still here, you know, and still hanging around. I guess the rapture, it's around the corner somewhere, you know, I hope. I hope she's right, man. I hope she's right, and I hope that she does make it till the rapture, and we all get to go up together, you know. I'm looking forward to, I am eagerly anticipating that day that He calls us out of here. Man, you ought to wake up every day thinking, perhaps today. Could be today. I've seen tombstones that had that on there. Perhaps today. Wouldn't it be something if the Lord came back today? You talk about a reunion. Wouldn't that be cool? Get up here and get to see old Papa. Hey, there's old Mike. There's Kevin down there. Look at that right there. Oh, he ain't limping no more, is he? No, he ain't limping no more, buddy. He's walking just as straight as an arrow. His back don't hurt. His knees don't hurt. There ain't nothing hurting on him. And little old Mamaw up there, she's just shouting and praising God, because I'm telling you, that woman, she loved Jesus while she was here on this earth. She wasn't perfect, but she loved our Savior. And man, I can't wait to see that woman. But you know what I want to see more than all that? I can't wait to see Jim Lentz. And I can't wait to see Jordan, but man, I want to see my Savior. I want to see Him for the first time. I mean, now it's we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face, won't that be a day? We get to see Him for the first time. And I get to ask Him, why? Why did you save me? Why would you ever save somebody like me? He's so good to us. And I am eagerly anticipating that day, and I can't wait till that happens. Remember, I got a story in my mind, and I think I'll quit with this one. I want to tell you about what psychologists say. They say, happy people, this is how you're happy, is they got something to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to. You got something to do, Someone to love, when you got somebody to love, I guarantee she loves you. She has to, she's put up with you all these years, I mean, she's gotta love you. You got something to, look, he's shaking his head, no, she don't love me. You got something to do, someone to love, I got that, I got that double right there. And you got something to look forward to, man, I've got something to look forward to. Jim White tells this story. He's an evangelist. He's dead now and gone home to glory. But he tells this story. He had gone to see Carl Lackey. He was preaching down there in Mount Airy, North Carolina. So him and Brother Lackey went to the hospital to visit one of those guys that were real bad sick. He had cancer and he just wasn't going to make it. You know, it was a bad deal. So we got to the hospital, you know, and Brother Lackey and Brother White, they were going down the hall, and they finally got to this man's room, and I can't remember his name. I've got it on, it's in my brain there, but I can't remember. And so they got down to the room and they walked in there and said, here is Brother White's name laying there, you know, and they've got him on the ventilator. You know, if you're on the ventilator, you just can't talk, you know. And so they, oh no, it wasn't the ventilator, they said he had one of those, he had a tracheotomy, so he had one of those things, you know, that he could put up to his throat and talk with, you know. And so said that, Brother Wyatt asked him, said, Brother, what's your, whatever your name is, said, how you doing? He said, he put that thing up there to his, he said, some morning you'll find me touring that city. And, man, I just keep thinking about that, and I'm thinking, man, that's me. That you're going to find me touring that city. And boy, he said that he was trying to sing that out of that little box, you know. And he said, I was standing there, and he said, I'm in the hospital. He said, and the crazy war is just one floor down. And he said, I was wanting to shout so bad, he said, my toes is curling. He said, so I was standing there, me and Brother Lackey was standing there, and Brother What's-His-Name was singing that song, you know, and he was saying, some morning you'll find me touring that city, you know, where the Son of God is the light, and you'll find me there on the street so pretty, where the, where the, something so, something, the what? the gold so pure and so bright, you know, and with Jesus, the one who gave me the victory, who led me across the divide, some morning you'll find me here." And he said, man, he said, I was standing there and he said, he said, everything in me wanted to shout. And he said, I was so afraid to shout. He said, because I was afraid they'd come get me and take me to the loony bin. He said, so I went out of that room. He said, excuse me, Brother Lackey, and excuse me, Brother whatever your name is. He said, I went out of that room, and he said, I found me the elevators. And he said, I pressed every button on that thing, you know. He said, I got me an elevator. And he said, I pressed all the buttons. He said, so nobody else would get on that thing, you know. And he said, I was going up and down the elevator. And he said, I said, glory to God! Hallelujah! Praise Jesus! And he said, when I got off that elevator, he said, people thought I was crazy as a bad bug. He said, I may have been, but he said, I had some victory that day, watching that old man die. He said, I want to go out that way. He said, I don't want to go out with a bad testimony like Jacob, you know. That'd be terrible. Gets the end of your life and say, few and able been the days, years of my life. He said, I want to go out the right way. You ready? I mean, the Bible does say, prepare to meet thy God. We're all going to meet Him. Now, how are you going to meet Him? That's the thing. Are you going to meet Him with something to give back to Him, or are you going to meet Him empty-handed? I want to meet Him right. Let's all stand for a word of prayer. Happy Christians. I'm going to apply that to us. Something to do for the Lord. I'm not just saying happy people, but I'm saying happy Christians. Something to do for the Lord. Someone to love in the Lord. And then happy Christians. Boy, we sure got something to look forward to, don't we? Best is yet to come, man. Hold your fork. Hold your fork. The best is yet to come. Dessert's on its way. Boy, I can't wait till we get there.