I think the question I get asked the most recently is, how does it feel to be back? And I'm not sure how to answer the question because technically I never left. I just hung around here and hung around here for four years after I came off of staff until they said, ah, just take him back on staff. but I am glad to be back. It is a little bit of a change from a rescue mission to a church, but the needs are pretty much the same. You ever notice that the needs are pretty much exactly the same. Just the circumstances are a little different. We, we just came back from a vacation and we were able to visit a couple of different churches while we were on vacation and had a wonderful time. We were in a small church in South Carolina. And then we were in a large church. The church in South Carolina probably was well under 100, I'd say about 50, 60 people. The church we visited in Tennessee on the way back was well over 3,000 people. And so it was quite a different circumstance. Every church is a little different. And I would say that about Faith Baptist Church, wouldn't you? We're a little different. Take that any way you think you should. Romans chapter 12, verses one, two, and three. A tremendous passage of scripture. I guess I could go in a lot of different directions from that passage, but there's really one word in those passages that I kind of want to emphasize this morning. You know the verses, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. I'd like to preach a message sometime just on that concept, by the way, by itself. What is reasonable service? Amen? You need to stop and think about that for a minute. But anyway, verse two, he said, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Word I kind of want to emphasize this morning is that simple word transformed. I don't know if you ever thought about it, but it's a very simple word. It literally simply means to be changed, to be changed in the way you think, changed in the way you act, changed literally in the way and the person that you are. In fact, if you attach verse three to that passage, which you should, for I say to you through the grace given to me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. We have a tendency after we get saved, we have a tendency as Christians to think After a while, we've got to the place where we're comfortable in our Christian walk. We're comfortable where we've grown spiritually. A lot of things have changed and don't need to change a whole lot more. Can I tell you something? That is absolutely never true in your life. I think I can say this and be honest this morning and say it and not be in the least bit incorrect. Everybody in this auditorium has something in your life that God wants you to change. And think about that for a moment. I told my wife I was going to do this, I probably won't do it, but I told her I was going to put my hand over my eyes and I was going to say this, I'm going to point randomly in the auditorium at somebody who needs to be changed and I guarantee you I will hit the right person. Do you know why? Why can I say I can do that? Because everybody in here needs to be changed. Nobody in the auditorium, to my knowledge, has reached the level of Christ-likeness that God wants you to be at. I mean, if there's some perfect people in here, you need to introduce yourself to me, because I've met most of you. And nobody really qualifies. I remember when I got saved back in 1973 in high school, I was going, it was the summer between my junior and senior year of high school, and I accepted Christ as my personal savior. My youth pastor emphasized Romans chapter 12, verses one and two. And he emphasized 1 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things passed away. Behold, all things have become new. He talked consistently and all the time about Colossians chapter three, putting off the old man and putting on the, the new man which is renewed in the spirit of your mind. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 22. Put off the old man. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Put on the new man. Over and over and over those passages. And my youth pastor used to tell us when we first got saved, you need to change. I mean, let's just be honest. I really wasn't a bad kid. I mean, I had problems like every kid did. I disrespected my parents, occasionally lied, occasionally stole. I don't sit there looking pious. You stole something somewhere along the line. Or you cheated somebody, which is sneaky stealing, which, by the way, I think is worse. And so I had problems, but it wasn't really what I'd call a bad. I didn't smoke. I didn't drink. I didn't run around. A lot of things a lot of kids do I didn't do. And so, you know, when I first got in the youth department, he's talking about change, change, change, you need to change the way you do and change this and that. I was like, well, I don't have to change much because I'm pretty good. And I'm afraid a lot of us think that way. My youth pastor finally convinced me that did have to change and there were a lot of things in my life that have to change. He preached a message one time and I still have it in one of my old Bibles. He said, you need to walk tall like a Christian. And I was like, what does that mean? So he alliterated that and he said, you need to talk like a Christian T, you need to act like a Christian A, you need to look like a Christian L, and you need to live like a Christian. And I've never forgotten that message. Because I remember when he preached that message, I was sitting in the auditorium, in the youth auditorium, and I remember thinking, he's talking to me. He's talking to me. You ever feel that way? You feel like, why is he talking to me? What's wrong with the other? Why are you after me? And so I began to really make some changes in my life. In fact, it got to the point where I started coming to church Sunday morning, Sunday night. I started coming on Wednesday night, started going on Thursday night visitation. I'd go to activities on Friday night and went to bus visitation on Saturday morning. and uh... wasn't long after that about three or four months after that idea had a little motorcycle suzuki one eighty five a used to drive back and forth the church arrived with a friend and my motorcycle broke down uh... actually i broke it but you know it's not a story uh... but my dad i thought my dad one night and my dad was not saved that time uh... nor my mom or my brother or my sister uh... and they were getting a little What's a good way to say it? Freaked out by me. Like, what is wrong with you? And I asked my dad, could he drive me to the church on a Sunday night? And he said, sure. So we got driving to church and my dad's kind of at least for the most part back then was a very quiet man and very straightforward. He's changed a lot since he's got saved. He's a crazy man now and just a tremendous exciting guy to be around. But back then it wasn't so much. And on the way to church that night, he kind of got serious with me and started talking about the church and what's going on in the church and why are you going to the church. And finally I said, you sound like you're worried. And he said, I am. And I said, well, what are you worried about? And he said, well, I'm afraid this church has brainwashed you. I didn't have the answer. I don't remember how I responded to that back then, but I know how I would respond to it today. I would have said, yes, they have, because my brain needed to be washed. Amen? I need to be renewed in the thinking the way that I thought, the ways that I thought were worldly ways, were selfish ways, were foolish ways, and that needed to change. And everybody needs to change. Now, again, I'm not going to do this, but I could ask since this morning, I could ask real simple. How many of you have something in your life that God has convicted you or you just feel guilty about it, and you can say it's you or God, I don't care who you say, that you need to change. And I'm pretty sure that if you were honest, every hand in the auditorium would have to go up. There's some things that you could do better, amen? And there's some things that you do that you probably need to stop doing. Correct? Can I get an amen on that? Is that true for everybody? Okay, I'm gonna have to get the hands up because you're not gonna talk. I'll make you work then, fine. Okay, how many people would say, in my life, there are some things that I absolutely, completely understand, whether it's scripture or whether it's just something socially or something physical, there are things that I need to change? How many of you would raise your hand and say it? All right, pretty much every hand in the auditorium. If you didn't raise your hand, there's something I'll talk to you later that you need to change. That's the concept of humility probably, gum falls real good with you. Now here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna answer a question. Here's the question. If that's true, if that's true and I believe it is true, why don't people change? Everybody in here would admit readily, you did, I need to change, okay. I'm not gonna ask you to do this. I could ask you how many people have whatever that thing is you thought of, how many of you have that's happened and you've thought for the last year, two years, four years, 10 years it needs to change and it hasn't changed? How come it hasn't changed? If you know it needs to be changed, and you're convinced that it's God who wants you to change it, the Holy Spirit's convicted you of that, or the word of God's convinced you of that, and you have, that's already, why don't you change? I used to go, I go through this concept all the time when I worked at the mission with men of the mission. They would tell you regularly, I need to change, I need to change, I need to change, I need to change. And then they don't change. So here's, let me, don't get scared at the next statement. Just relax, it's gonna be okay. I'm gonna give you eight reasons why people don't change. Now, I know some of you are about to panic. Morris is gonna preach a message with eight points, okay? But don't worry, the missionary will have his time tonight. We should be done about 5.30, he'll be down at six. It'll work really well. Now, here's what, and let me ask you to do this for me, will you? I know a lot of you like to take notes, and that's great if you wanna take notes, but you will not be able to do that today because I will go lightning fast. But I have written those eight things down, They're in my box, about 45, 50 pages, so you can get the notes after the service if you want to get the notes. So don't complain and say, I couldn't keep up with you. Don't try, okay? It's your best bet. Now, let me just go through, I'm gonna go through real fast, okay? So this is gonna be kind of a shotgun message. I should say machine gun. I was accused one time when I was a single adult pastor of putting an invisible machine gun on the pulpit and said, all the way you like to preach is. And sometimes that is true. I like to preach like that. It's just my style. So just hang on. If you're older, take a nap, okay? But you'll get through this. It'll be okay, all right? Everybody needs to change. Let me give you reason number one. Proverbs chapter 14, verse 22. You probably know the verse. Proverbs 14, 22. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. Here's number one. Here's the number one reason why people don't change. They simply don't believe that they need to change. I don't know if you heard the whole verse, but let me emphasize one word in that verse. There is a way that, what? Seemeth. It seems right. You ever heard anybody tell you, well, this seems right to me. Now, I can point you from the scripture where it is not right. It is unbiblical. That is not the lifestyle you should choose. But for me, it seems right. I don't care if it seems right. We all have things in our life that need to change. People simply say, well, I don't think it needs to change for me. Their way seems right. In a sense, they do exactly what Solomon said we shouldn't do. They lean unto their own understanding, right? You know the verses, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and all thy ways and lean not to your own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him, right? And he shall direct thy path. Did you know what the next verse says? The next verse says, be not wise in your own eyes. It's not your way. I don't know how many times I sat at a desk at Good News Ministries where men come in from the street looking for a place to live, looking for everything they need, and they'll sit across from the desk from me and I will say to them, here's what you need to do. And you know what the comeback a lot of times is? Hey, don't tell me how to live my life, I know what I'm doing. I don't know how many times I sat there and was kind of like, you're in a mission. You don't have any clothes. You don't have a house. You don't have any money. You don't have any food. But you know what you're doing. I can, quite capable, I got so mad one day, I probably shouldn't say this in the pulpit, but I'll tell you the truth. I got so mad at a guy one day, he was saying he could run his own life, and I said, listen, stop that nonsense. When you came in here, first thing you asked me was for underwear. You can't even get your own underwear. You cannot run your life. You laugh, but you know the truth is there are a lot of Christians just like that. You will sit there and tell me, I know what to do, and I know what I should do, and I know how to run my life, but I'm just not doing it right now, but I know what I'm doing. No, you don't. There's something in your life that the Lord has convicted you about. You need to be working on making that change. I need to be working on making that change. Change is necessary for you to grow as a Christian. You cannot continue to be the same that you are and be more Christ-like in the same, those two will not fit together. That's incompatible. Either I have to be different than I used to be or I'm not changing. Doesn't that make sense? We continue to live our life exactly like we have year after year, day after day, month after month, hour after hour, and we never change, and we say, we need to be more Christ-like. Well, if you're going to be more Christ-like, then you're going to have to change. There's some things that you're going to have to put away, amen? There's some thinking that you're going to have to be renewed in your mind, you're going to have to take on, you're going to have to say, you know, if the scripture says that, and I believe it, then that settles it for me. And then there's some things you're going to have to then put on. There's some things you're gonna have to do different that you haven't been doing and stop doing that you have been doing. That's what change is and everybody needs to change. So if you're sitting here this morning and say, well, I'm glad he's preaching on this message of change, and I'm glad he's talking about what needs to be changed and why people don't change, because I've changed, well, I got a message for you too. In fact, you know why that happens, right? I believe one of the greatest sins, if there is such a thing in the Bible, is a sin of pride. I struggle with it, just like you struggle with it, everybody struggles with it, right? I wrote this little note for myself one time. Let's see if this makes sense to you. I wrote myself a note. I write these little sentence sermons to myself all the time. And I wrote this down. My greatest problem is not a lack of faith in God. My greatest problem is an abundance of faith in self. Amen? I think that's true of most of us. I got this. You know that concept? I got it. I can do it. I tell you, when last week Pastor Monty asked me to speak this morning, and immediately, you know what I did? Immediately I started studying and praying. And I mean, I'm really, and this morning, of course, you know, early this morning, I'm running over a message, I'm really praying. A while ago, as Riley was singing, good job, by the way, Riley, really appreciate it. Boy, did you grow up or what happened, but good job. And I'm sitting there listening to him, and then immediately, as he's nearing the end of the song, or at least what I thought was the end of the song, you know what I was doing, right? Lord, please help me make sure it's not about Morris, it's about you, it's about helping people to understand the truths of the Bible. Can I ask you a question? Shouldn't I be doing that all the time? Whether I'm preaching, or whether Pastor Monty's preaching, or Pastor Wall's preaching, especially if Pastor Scotty's preaching. No, just kidding. But you understand what I'm saying. When I really need God, then I really start begging, right? No, no, that's regular. That should be my regular prayer life because I really need Him all the time. Amen. One of the main reasons people don't change is because they don't think they need change. Here's number two. You can flip over there if you want to. I won't read the whole story, but Luke chapter 18, if you want to read that story sometime, Luke chapter 18 is a story about the rich young ruler. You remember that guy who comes to Jesus, and he asks Jesus, what must he do to go to heaven? What must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says, he basically lists the commandments to him, and the guy says, I love this answer, those have I kept from my youth. Liar. No, you have. Aren't you glad Jesus, I'm not Jesus? Because I'm a little more cruel than he is. I would have probably said, get out of here, you idiot. That's not true. You've never done that. That's not true. But that's not what, here's the second reason. I think this guy had this reason. Number one is they simply don't believe they need to change. Number two is they believe they've already changed enough. Most of you this morning don't have a problem with number one. You know you need to change. But here's the problem. You think you've already changed enough. You kind of see yourself as good enough. Or at least you see yourself as good as most. It happens in every church. I've never been in a church that this hasn't happened to somebody. We make the mistake that Paul warned the Corinthian church about, 2 Corinthians chapter 10. You remember what he warned them about? Somebody remember that concept? Let me read it to you. He said, they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. You know what that mistake is a lot of us make? We judge our spiritual level by the people around us. We rise to the spiritual level of the average person in our church and sometimes a little higher and we start doing this. I'm doing pretty good. At least I'm better than Mrs. So-and-so, because her problem is this and this, or better than him, or better, and we rise to that level, and then we become satisfied with where we are spiritually. Can I tell you something? You should never be satisfied with where you are spiritually. That's one of the things I like about Pastor Monty. I love the way he teaches. I love how in-depth he goes in some things, because sometimes I'm sitting here thinking I know it all, and then he starts preaching, and I'm going, I don't know anything. Wow, where did that come from? How did he see that? Some people are just, their simple goal, and there are a lot of people in our church, this is their goal, their goal is actually goodness, not godliness. I find that true when I'm counseling couples about their children a lot of times. You know what a lot of people want out of their children? They want good children. That's not the goal, by the way. The goal is what? Godly children. I've known couples that when their children became godly, it bothered them. Now all they want to do is go to church. And now all they want to do is this. And now they're talking about going to Bible college. They're not going to make a good living. They want good children, but they don't want godly children. And a lot of times in your life, that's really what you want to settle for, too. You want to be a good person. I don't know if I want to be a godly person. I don't know if I want everybody in my neighborhood and all my relatives to look at me and say, oh, holy Joe, I can't stand it. Here he comes again. He's going to. Listen, that's exactly who you're supposed to be. You're supposed to be an example. You're supposed to be a witness. You're supposed to be somebody who's telling the truth of the gospel on a regular basis. You're supposed to be godly. You don't settle for goodness. Most of us are only concerned how others view us. We're not that concerned how God views us. Let me ask you a question. Have you quit going spiritually because you think you've already arrived? That's the number two problem. Here's the number three problem, Acts chapter eight. Again, I'm not gonna read the whole passage, but Acts chapter eight, verses 26 through 31, that's the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Remember the story? I'm just gonna reference the stories, because most of you have them in your mind. If you don't have it in your mind, get the notes, you can look it up for yourself. But that's the story about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. And Philip goes to witness to him, and he asks him if he understands what he's reading. How many of you remember what the answer is? How can I understand unless what? And so that somebody explained to me, here's something I believe is also true. Some people don't change. Some people don't change because they don't know how to change. They just don't know what I need to do. When I got saved, I didn't go to church much hardly at all. And when I started going to church, one of the first things they told me was you need to go to church. Well, okay. And I went to church on Sunday morning, and then he said, no, you need to go on Sunday night too. Sunday night? Y'all have church on Sunday night? What kind of place is this? So started going Sunday night. Guess what? You should start going on Wednesday night. Wednesday night? Honestly, I didn't know such a thing existed. People go to church on Wednesday, in the middle of the week, really? And so, you know, and then you need to witness to people and then you need to learn how to memorize scripture so you can testify to people and you can lead other people to Christ. I do? And you need to stop doing this and you need to start doing that. And it was like over, and I was kind of like, wow. I kind of felt like I was counseling a couple one time and one of the ladies in the, well, I get ahead of myself. I better not tell that story yet. I guess it's kind of like this. Let me see if this will help you. You remember a few years back, sometimes you'll see it still, but you remember a few years back, you know, the WWJD bracelets and WWJD necklace and WWJD ring and WWJD bumper sticker. What would Jesus do? It's a concept, right? You know what the problem with that concept is? I mentioned this before in our church. You've probably heard me say this. You know the problem? You don't know how to answer the question. It's not good enough to ask yourself the question, what would Jesus do? You have to know what Jesus would do. Not what you think what Jesus would do, but what the scripture would tell you that Jesus would do. And that's how you should respond. But if you don't study the book, if you don't come to church, if you're not here on Wednesday night, if you're not doing personal devotions, if you're not reading, if you're not praying, you won't know how to answer the question and you won't change because you don't know how to change. Some of you, sometimes Pastor Wall will refer to me as a counseling pastor, that's because I went to school and got a degree in counseling and blah, blah, blah. And sometimes he says that, but technically, you do understand every pastor in here is a counseling pastor. Because counseling, I mean, don't tell anybody, because people stop coming to me. They like the idea of, I'm gonna get him some counseling. Don't tell them. You know what counseling is? Discipleship. You come to my office and you want counseling about a drug addiction problem, I'm going to disciple you. I'm gonna make you a disciple of Jesus Christ. So what if I have a marriage problem? Discipleship. What if I have a problem with my children? I'm gonna teach you how to teach them to be a disciple. That's what counseling really is. And by the way, that's what counseling really should be. Somebody asked me a while back at the mission, do you really believe that the answer to drug addiction is living a Christ-like life? And my answer was this, I believe it's the only answer. I believe it's the only answer to any addiction. You better figure out what God, how God wants you to live or you'll never change. Quit trying, everybody tries it, oh. So many people try it their own way. I don't know how many times I've had couples in my office and I've been counseling a marriage and they'll ask me, what do you think we should do? I said, well, the scripture says this, this, this, and here's the way it should work and it is, and they'll come back and say, well, I don't think that'll work for us. What? No. You don't know how it works because you're in my office now. You're considering divorce now. Maybe you should listen to what God says because your way is not working. You don't know what you're doing. I tell the guys at the mission this all the time, and I'm gonna tell you, okay? This is not a bad thing to say, and I will continue to say it the rest of my life. I don't know how to live my life. I'm not smart enough to live my life. I have to have a manual. When I follow this, things go better, amen. When I do it the Morris way, oh, you don't wanna see that. My poor wife has seen that way too many times. But one of the reasons people don't change is because they don't know how to change. Here's number four. I'm gonna go real fast. Some of you are thinking, okay, you gotta speed this baby up. Okay, it'll be okay. Acts chapter 26. Remember the story of Paul before King Agrippa, right? And remember Paul's witnessing to Agrippa, and he gets to the point where it looks like a decision's about to be made, and Agrippa says what? You guys know the Bible very well. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Here's reason number four. They know they need to change and see if this isn't true. And by the way, I think this is going to hit most people in the auditorium this morning. So you might want to listen. They know they need to change, but they fear what change might bring into their life. Well, if I change, there's a lot of, yeah, oh, this is going to be hard. This is going to be difficult. Listen, if God wants you to change, God will give you the strength to do it. And God will get you through it. I was going to tell you a story about a couple, and I'll put it in here. I was working with a couple. Actually, we were here in this office, and we were talking, and I was having a conversation with them about what they need to do. And I think it was our third or fourth session. And I said, blah, blah, blah, you need to do this, and you need to do this, and I would like to see you do this at your house and with your children. And the wife said this. She stopped me mid-sentence. She goes, stop. Just stop. I knew it was going to be good. I didn't know what was going to come out of her mouth, but I knew it was going to be good. She said, just stop. And I go, what? Do you understand if we did everything that you told us to do, we'd have to change our whole life? Kind of that's the point, right? I mean, isn't that kind of the point of the thing? Of course you'd have to change it. You know how hard that would be? How hard is it now? Your kids hate you, your husband wants to divorce you. You've got bills that I don't know if you're ever gonna be able to pay, but that would be difficult. No, no, no. Living the Christian life is the best, and I will say it, easiest way to live. Maybe not physically, maybe not emotionally as far as persecution, that sort of thing, but it is the most blessed way to live. The grace of God and the peace of God are more valuable than anything any other lifestyle will bring you. And you better get convinced of that fact and start making some changes in your life, because I believe that the greater percentage of the people sitting in this auditorium tonight, this morning, whatever time it is, including myself, this is one of the main reasons you don't change. It's hard. I had a guy at the mission tell me something one night, and I thought that was a great thing he said. He said, well, here's the deal. It may not be the right way, but it's the way I know. And I think a lot of people really mean that, right? It's comfortable. It's what I'm used to. No, it's not comfortable. It's not easy. It may be what you're used to. Your fear is unfounded. God will give you the grace, the power of the word of God, the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, and you can change whether you believe so or not. I tell you the truth, the scripture is true, and God can change anybody, including you. Amen? Do you really trust God? Do you believe that he'll go with you wherever he calls you or go and empower you to do anything he calls you to do? When I surrendered to the ministry, that's one of the hardest things I thought about. Well, what am I gonna do? I was not a public speaker. I mean, speaking publicly, that's not gonna happen. You know, going to a mission field. When I thought about that, I was terrified. If I do this, everything's got to change. When I graduated from high school, I graduated with a D average. I mean, I barely got out of high school. And now I'm going to go to college? Are you kidding me? My dream was to go to Marine Corps. I didn't want to go to Bible college. And I ended up in Bible college. And you know, in two years, instead of making D's in high school, I was making A's in Bible college. You say, what changed? God. God can help you do anything. We were talking about brother going to England, and I was sitting here when they introduced you a while ago, and I thought to myself, boy, that's a hard field. No thank you. I better be careful what I say. I almost said, God, don't call me there. But I'll have to be very careful with that concept. But that's a hard field. They're all hard fields, are they not? My field when I first got saved was my family. Hard field, right? But by the grace of God, everybody in my family, my immediate family, and most of my uncles, aunts, and cousins have all been saved. Now, 41 years later, or 44 years later, but praise the Lord for that, amen? If you'd have told me when I got saved in 1973 that my father would not only get saved, but my father would be faithful in his church, not only faithful in his church, but would become a deacon in his church, not only become a deacon in his church, but become the chairman of the deacons in his church, I would have laughed at you and said, you're an idiot. That'll never happen to my dad. Maybe he'll get saved someday. My mom will teach Sunday school. Not happening. She teaches Sunday school. You understand what I'm saying? God can do wonderful things. You just have to believe that he will. When God impressed, maybe right now God's impressed upon you some change you need to make. Can I tell you something? Do it. Make the change. You'll be amazed, you'll be amazed at the power of the Holy Spirit. You'll be amazed at what God can do in you and through you. It's not you doing it anyway, amen? And that's something I have to remind myself. I work with Pastor Monty, and dude's a genius, okay, let's just get it over with, smart man. And sometimes I say, wow, if I was only that smart. Well, God knows how smart I am, and he can either use me as I am or not use me at all. And he chooses to use me as I am. And I've always said it, and I still believe it, if he can use me, there's not a soul in here he can't use. And if you're thinking, well, not me, you're wrong. Here's number five, I gotta move real quick. Number five, 2 Peter 3. You may know the last two verses in the chapter, right? 2 Peter 3, last two verses in 2 Peter. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. Now I want you to notice a couple words here. But grow in grace. Everybody understands the growth process, right? It works like this. If I go home today and I get a little tomato plant or I get some corn seeds, I put those in the backyard. Tomorrow, I go out and harvest the tomatoes and the corn. That's how that works, right? Right, that's not how it works? What do you mean it's not how it works? I put them in the seed and they're gonna grow. There are things that grow, so they should just grow. That's not how it works. It takes time, does it not? Here's number five, why people don't change. They know they need to change, but they're impatient. They're impatient. They want immediate results and they're not interested in waiting for fruit to grow. Here's something else I wrote down for myself. Sometimes we are more interested in what we get at the end of our wait instead of what we will get as we wait. We're more interested in the product than the process. Spiritual growth is a process. Salvation, product, instant. You get saved, praise God for that, amen? But spiritual growth takes time and study and struggle. Jim Berg said it best, I love his definition. Jim Berg says, sanctification is the process whereby the Holy Spirit of God takes the Word of God and helps the child of God become more like the Son of God. Isn't that great? Let me say that again so you get that, okay, because that's not on my notes. But Berg said that. sanctification is a process whereby the Holy Spirit of God takes the Word of God and helps the child of God become more like the Son of God. Can I tell you something? That's going to take a little time for me to become like Jesus. I haven't gotten there yet and that's still the goal, but it's going to take me a little time. I read that verse to you in 2nd Peter, let me read you another verse in 1st Peter, because there's an issue I want you to get, I want you to understand. 1st Peter chapter 5 verses 10 and 11 say this, but the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, now listen to the phrase, after that you have suffered a while. Did you hear that? After that you have suffered while I'll make you perfect, mature, establish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion forever. Can I tell you this? Some growth, some growth can only be produced through trials and suffering. You gotta go through some stuff before you understand it. I, for instance, I do not understand. I can sympathize with people whose parents have passed, when their parents passed away. I can sympathize, but I cannot empathize. I don't feel with them. You know why? My mom and dad are still living. It's different for me. I don't know what, this morning on the way to church, we were in the car and I, you know, got one of those cars you can talk through your car, that's kind of weird, but I told the car to call my mom and dad and it did. And I talked to my mom and dad on the way to church this morning. I was basically telling mom, skip your church and watch me on Sermon Audio. Let me know that I didn't tell her that. I told her she could watch that later on. And I had a wonderful conversation with my parents. You know, there's a lot of people in here who can't do that. I don't know how that feels. Someday I will know how it feels. And you know what? Someday when I know how that feels, I'll be able to empathize with you a little better. I'll get it. I'm glad I don't get it, by the way. But there's a lot of struggles in my life that I have been through, and I'm amazed how God has used those to help somebody else. Isn't that amazing? Some of you know what I'm talking about, where God is taking you through something, and you've been able to use that to help somebody else. James chapter one said it this way, my brethren, count it all joy. Let's talk about some tough passages. Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but, Let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, that you may be mature. Some people just quit. They quit growing, they quit trying, they quit coming to church, they quit reading the Bible because it's tough, it's hard. It takes time, it takes effort. Listen, that growth process is a wonderful thing if you'll just allow it to happen. Let God work in your life. I know we all do this. You say, well, I'm gonna read the Bible in a year. I'm gonna do this devotion, right? And then you fail, and you quit. You say, it wasn't worth it. No, no, start again. Don't quit, start again. Start again, start again, start again, start again, start again. You say, well, I know God's frustrated with me when I keep doing that. He's frustrated when you quit, not when you start again. I don't think God's angry that you decided to get it right and start doing what's right again. That does not make God angry, stop it. Don't let the devil tell you that. There's some people in here right now, right as I'm speaking, the Holy Spirit's speaking to you and saying that you get back in that Bible. That's me, that's you. Get back on your knees and start praying for the people on that prayer list and for your family. That's you, start witnessing to your neighbor. I can tell you this, that's not your flesh telling you that, that's not me telling you that, and that's not the devil telling you that. If that's happening right now as I'm speaking, I will tell you this, that is the Holy Spirit speaking to you, and if the Holy Spirit's telling you to do that, can I tell you something? You can and should do it. Here's number six, and I'm running out of time here. Number six, real quick. Romans 12, one and two. We already know the verses, right? People don't really want to change. They only want to change their circumstances. Ever met those people? A lot of people, now this is universal, whether it's church or mission, I get this. What they really want to change is the circumstances that surround their sin. They want to continue to sin, but no longer have the circumstances. That does not work. Okay? You can't do that. I hear a lot of people make the claim, I really want to change, but most often they really want to just change the circumstances. They want to keep living the same way and doing the same things, but they want different results. That's not going to happen. You want different results, you must produce different actions, different ways of thinking. I tell you what, the way I thought when I was saved at 16 is nothing like the way I think anymore. Nothing. God has changed my mind on so many things, and even today, there are things I'll think about, and I'll go, you know, I'm probably not right on that, I need to change, and my mind is slowly being transformed, and that's exactly what should be happening. Listen, you don't need a recovery program. A recovery program is getting back to what you once were. You don't need a reformation program. A reformation program means becoming better than you once were. You know what you need? You need a transformation program, becoming something you never were. That's what we need to be. I need to become something I haven't ever been before. I need to be a person who when he's faced with trial or circumstances, he responds in love and joy and peace and long suffering and gentleness and goodness and faith and temperance and meekness. That's the response I need to give. That's what has to come out of me. That has to change. If that's not changed, if every time trials come, I respond in anger and bitterness and wrath, something's wrong. Something hasn't changed. And we all need to change. Steve Currington said it this way. Steve Currington was the guy who founded RU Program. Steve Currington said this, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always be what you've always been. Isn't that good? If you always do what you've always done, you'll always be what you've always been. And pastor always likes to quote me on this one. Nothing changes in your life until something changes in your life. You can't expect something to change. You're not gonna get different results by doing the same thing over and over and over and over again. Somebody corrected me on that one time and said, well, actually you would get different results. And I said, what's that? Things would continue to get worse. Hey, you got me, okay, I'll give you that. Let me give you number seven real quick and I'll be through, seven and eight. Matthew 6, 33, you know it, right? But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. You know how many Christians live that verse exactly backwards? If God adds everything into me, then I'll seek Him. We do it backwards. In other words, they don't really want to change something, they want to gain something. I don't want to change anything, but if God would do this, if God would give me this, if God would do that for my children, then I would change. Nope, that's not how this works. Seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then these things are added to you. You don't get the things added and then you change. By the way, that's blackmail. Some of you are trying to blackmail God. God, if you do this and you do that, no, I'm not trying to blackmail. Okay, well, you're trying to make a deal with him. God's already told you how it works. Seek you first my kingdom, the things that I want to do. And then I'll add those things to you. They see their problem as a direct result of their own neediness. They have a I don't need to change something attitude, I need to gain something attitude. Another one of my little notes I wrote to myself. Let's see if I'm not right here. Getting what you want rarely gets you what you want. True. Getting what you want rarely gets you what you want. We had a week here just recently, we went on vacation. Loved it, had a great time. But it wasn't as great as I thought it might be. You ever do that? You look forward, look forward, look forward, look forward, look forward, and it's gonna be wonderful, it's gonna be, and it's okay, but it's not as wonderful. And that's typical of all things in life. What we think we want isn't really as glorious as we think we want it. Why don't you try putting God first, see how that works. You want to talk about a wonderful time on vacation? One of the best moments on our vacation, my father gave his personal testimony to his children, his grandchildren, and his great-grandchildren, sitting in a little beach house in South Carolina. And then I gave my testimony, my wife gave her testimony, my daughter gave her testimony, my granddaughter, my great-grand, and family circle, everybody gave their testimony. Let me tell you something, that was wonderful. If it rained all week and I never got to see the beach, it was wonderful. Wasn't what I thought was gonna happen, but boy, it was wonderful. I don't think you can put a value on that. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Do you really value the eternal over the temporal, really? I know you think you should, I know you know you should, but do you really? Is the eternal more valuable to you than the temporal, that which you can touch, see, or feel? Here's the last reason, and I'll close. In fact, I want you to read this. It's one of those passages that hit me again here just reading. Luke chapter six. If you want me to get through, you're gonna have to start turning some Bible pages, come on. Luke chapter six, Luke chapter six. You know the story, but I want you to look at the story for a minute. Luke chapter six, the last part of Luke chapter six, the last part of that chapter, starting about verse 46. You know the story, right? Verse 46. And why call you me Lord? And do not the things which I say. Verse seven, verse 47. Whosoever cometh to me and heareth my saying and doeth them, I will show to him who he's like. He's like a man which build a house and dig deep. and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon the house and could not shake it, for it was found upon a rock. But he that heareth and doeth not is like a man without a foundation, built a house upon the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. Let me give you the last thing, okay? And I'll explain why I read this passage. A lot of people don't change because they only want to change what they know. They don't want to change what they do. I want you to look at those verses again. Something maybe you haven't noticed before, but look at verse 47. It says, whosoever cometh to me, now I want you to notice two things. There's two things in this verse. And heareth, gains more knowledge and understanding, right? And heareth whatsoever I say, here's to my sayings, but what's the other added note there? Can I tell you something, you didn't get better, you didn't grow spiritually because you came and sat in church this morning. You'll grow spiritually if you come and sit in church this morning, and then you what? Do what you hear. In fact, I want you to take some time, when you get a chance, look at this passage again. Tell me what the difference is between one man and the other man. Somebody said, well, he built his house upon a rock, and the other built his house upon a sand, and that's why. No, no, no, read the verse again, verse 46. But he that heareth and what? And doeth not. Both heard, both built a house, both put forth effort, both, think about this, both went through a storm. The guy who built his house on the rock, did you say, well, I built my house on a rock, I don't have any storms. I don't know where you see that in the Bible. Storms are coming, you better be prepared for them. But if you know God's word and if you're doing God's word, your house will stand. If you know God's word and you are not doing it, then you're gonna have a problem. You're gonna have a struggle. I told the guys at the mission this one time, I said, truth's not presented in the scriptures as something God wants us to decide or debate over. Truth presented in the scripture is something that God wants us to discover and do. Quit talking about whether you should or you shouldn't. If God wrote his word, you should. Every now and then I'll give a testimony about my family getting saved and somebody will say, I wish that would happen to my family. Can I give you a little advice? I'll give you my poem here, okay? A little poem I wrote. If you desire the lost to reach, then you must live by what you teach. For there are walls you'll never breach until you practice what you preach. You wanna win your family, you wanna win your neighbors to Christ, you wanna make a difference in this world? Quit talking about how much you know and showing that you will know it and you will do it. When we started the R.U. ministry years ago in another church, one of the things I found out really quick, talked to several people in the class, we started the R.U. ministry to help addicted people. You know what we found out? The R.U. ministry helped us because we're all in a sense addicted people. We had a little saying for R.U. ministry and it was simply this, the Lord will never do a work through you until he's first done a work in you. You want God to do something in your family? Let him change you. I'm going to ask you to bow your head and close your eyes. Like I said, I know that everybody in the room is just like me. Everybody has some things in their life they need to change. And maybe with your head bowed and your eyes closed, maybe this is an opportunity for you and the Holy Spirit to deal. Maybe you just need to say, you know what? You're right, Lord. That needs to change. And it's going to change today. You say, well, I tried that and it failed before. Try again. Try again, try again, try again, try again, try again. I know you gotta fight the world, the flesh, and the devil, but the Holy Spirit and the Word of God will give you strength and power to overcome that issue if you'll just yield. There are a lot of people, a lot of Christians here that you need to make some decisions this morning, and let me encourage you to do that. In just a minute, we're gonna stand, heads bowed, eyes closed, we're not gonna sing. Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. You gonna let him have his way or not? Don't you sit there and hum that verse and don't let him have his way. If you want him to have his way, you can tell him to take care of that. You can take care of where you sit. There's something about a public profession that helps. But maybe there's somebody here and you're not saved at all. And you say, I could never do any of those things. And can I tell you, honestly, no, you can't. You'll never be able to accomplish the things I talked about this morning. You have to have the Holy Spirit in your life to do that. In your own flesh, you will fail over and over if you haven't figured that out already. You know what you need to do this morning? You need to come this morning, take one of these pastors by the hand, tell him, I'm not saved. And this morning is the morning that's going to change. Others, you need to come. Maybe there's some decisions you didn't make. You come as well. I'm going to ask you to stand to your feet, heads bowed, eyes are closed. Pastors are coming to the front. We're not going to hold the invitation out very long. I've already preached a long message. But if God's working in your life and you need to make a decision, you come as a music's being