Amen. All right. The pastor asked me to kind of give testimony about my life a little bit. And I'll say this before I start, I ain't no better than nobody else. I will say that. But the Lord's allowed me to be raised in a Christian home and get to see stuff that normal kids ain't never seen. And when I was born, I was born in Natchez, Mississippi, and growed up my life. And daddy, God called my daddy to preach when I was a boy. Daddy went off to Bible school, and God called my daddy to the mission field. And I remember as an 11-year-old boy leaving in a plane, and we flew to a place which called Papua New Guinea. And that's where I grew up my teenage life. From the time I was about 11 until I was about 17, 18 years old, that's where I lived. And if you ask where Papua New Guinea is, if you'll look on a map, look at Australia, and you go straight north to Australia, there's a place called Papua New Guinea. In your history, if they're teaching it now, I don't know if they've changed it or not. you would have learned about how that we had World War II Americans and Japanese fought in Papua New Guinea. And over there, being raised over there, got to see a lot of World War II history. Got to see tanks and airplanes, and we'd go up and kick the topsoil of where I lived. I'd kick the top dirt up and find .50 caliber bullets that ain't been fired. And I mean, just all sorts of stuff like that. As far as the people, when I lived there, we came home in 1998. I was about 17, 18 years old. And at that time, you live in the city, they's about 50 years behind us. And you go out to the jungle, they a good 100, 150 years behind us. And now I don't know what it's like, because I ain't been there since 98. But I know it changed my life. And I'll tell you this, anybody, you ever get an opportunity to go on a mission trip, you take advantage of it. It'll teach you one thing. I know it'll teach you one thing. It'll teach you one thing. One thing it'll teach you is you're going to be glad you're an American. I know we're going downhill fast, but we still are one of the blessed, I mean this country's blessed beyond any other country ever been blessed. And I'm glad I'm American, I tell you that. But it's just different, I've seen me and my brother, we used to, well we still do, but we sang and we'd get together and sang and go out to the marketplace where you'd go buy your vegetables And we'd go out there and start singing. My brother played guitar. And I'm telling you, we'd sing, before we got done with the first song, there'd be five, 600 people around you. I'm talking about right now. And we'd sing about five, 10 minutes, and then a boy would jump up and preach about 15 minutes on the grace of God or something. And before anybody left, They always wanted what you had. I've given out bucket loads of tracts and I'm going to hurry up and kind of drift on here, but I lived in that situation. I was lost. I was there and Lord taught me some things while I was there. I don't wanna ever get over why, how the Lord let me go with my daddy there. But when I was in 2000, about 19 years old, I guess, God showed me that I was lost. And conviction set in on me. I'd made professions, but at that time in 2000, it was June of 2000, I was sitting in Kentucky in a meeting when we came off the field and my daddy went into evangelism. We was sitting in Kentucky in a meeting. The preacher got up that night and preached out of Revelation 22 on surely I come quickly. And sitting there that night, God spoke to my heart. I was sitting in the back. I believe I could've took that metal chair I was holding on to, I believe I could've crushed it. I was that scared. I didn't get saved that night, but we left, that was on Friday night, we was headed home to Mississippi. And heading home to Mississippi, we always looked for songs to sing. And my daddy found a song that he wanted me to learn. He put it in the tape player and began to play and said, Caleb, I want you to learn this song. And I'm sittin' there, I got three brothers and a sister and a mom and daddy, there's seven of us. Nobody in that vehicle knew I was lost. But God kept tellin' me if we was to wreck, you gonna die and go to hell. And sittin' there in that vehicle that night, my daddy put that tape in the tape player. They begin playin', are you afraid to die? And sitting there that night, God showed me. And he kept on prodding, kept on tugging. We got home to Mississippi that, when we got home, I don't know what time it was, but I got out, walked in the bedroom where my daddy was, and told my daddy I was lost on my way to hell. And I knelt down by that bed, I'll never forget it. And asked the Lord to save me. and it's been the best thing that ever happened to me. But I was raised different than most people. I've lived everywhere. Matter of fact, where I live now is the longest I've ever lived in one spot, I'll tell you that. But it's good to be here and appreciate the Lord. If you wanna ask me a question, you ain't gonna bother me. You ask me anything you want to after meeting the diet. I mean, the food, nasty. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, some of it was good, but I mean, you don't get no better than peanut butter and sardine sandwiches, I tell you that right now. So, but anyways, but I appreciate the Lord being good to me. And I'm gonna try and mind the Lord here. And take your Bibles, if you will, and go with me to Luke's gospel. Luke's Gospel, chapter number seven. And I'm trying to mind the Lord, and I appreciate the last two nights. I wasn't here Sunday, but I appreciate the last two nights I was here. And they've been a help and a blessing to me. If you're able to, stand, Luke chapter number seven, begin reading in verse number 11. The Bible says in verse number 11 of Luke chapter number seven, it came to pass the day after that he went into a city called Nain. Many of his disciples went with him and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said unto her, weep not. And he came and touched the bier and they that bear him stood still. And he said, young man, I say unto thee, arise. And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. and he delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all and they glorified God saying that a great prophet has risen up among us and that God hath visited his people. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you tonight. Lord, I pray that you'll help us for a few moments as we try to preach the word of God. Lord, as the word of God goes forth, God, I pray that you'll help it be a blessing to your people. And Lord, if someone sitting here tonight lost, don't know what it is to be born again by the grace of God, God, I pray that you'll speak to their heart. Lord, if I could go down and get a hold of them, Lord, I would, but Lord, we can't do that. But Lord, I know the Holy Ghost of God can. He can go get in the vehicle with them, go home with them, get in the bed with them tonight. Keep them up all night. Lord, I pray, Lord, that you'll speak to their heart. Lord, don't let them get away from the realization that hell's real. And Lord, one day, if they don't get born again, that's where they're gonna spend eternity. Lord, we don't want nobody to go to hell, but Lord, if they reject you, Lord, that's where they're gonna end up. So God, I pray that you'll be with us tonight. Lord, thank you for this church, and thank you for Brother Craig and his family. God, I pray that you'll help them be a light in this community. Be with each person, each individual here tonight. Lord, we'll thank you and praise you. For it's in your name we pray. Amen, amen. You may be seated. Amen. Now, here in the text in which we've read, we find there's a lad here, a boy here, and the Bible talks about how this boy, it talks about here that he had died, and you find here that this woman here, the Bible says she was a winner. And this boy, all he was doing was following in his daddy's footsteps. See, his daddy had done died and he was just following his daddy. And the Bible says that he had died. And that speaks of you and I. All we're doing is following after our father Adam. I mean, that's all we've ever done. Man can do nothing of his own. It's gonna take something of a higher power to help you and I who are lost and on our way to hell. But I'm glad that somebody came my way one day and showed mercy on me. But we find here, we find a tragedy that takes place. The Bible says that this boy, he was dead and there was nothing he could do about it. He was helpless in the state he was in. And we find that in this particular state, when you're dead, you can do nothing of yourself. It's gonna take somebody to do a work on your behalf. And I'm glad that that happened one day at Calvary. I'm glad there was a day that the Lord Jesus Christ came from the glory world and came to this earth and lived 33 and a half years and died on an old rugged cross so somebody like me would have opportunity. to get born again. But we find this tragedy, and I always tell this, and if you've heard it, it's gonna be all right, because you need to hear it again. I like hearing it again every once in a while. But I got to thinking about what it is to be dead and have no life on the inside. And when you think of not having no life on the inside, I always think about hunting, because that's what I used to do. And they have what they call is decoys, and a decoy is something that looks like a real thing, but it ain't got no life in it. And you'll find them every once in a while out in the woods. A lot of people use it in turkey hunting, and they'll use it in deer hunting, and they'll use it in duck hunting. And I mean, they'll get them decoys and they'll go out there and set them up and they'll look real good, but they ain't no lie. And I've seen them a lot of times and whenever I got to thinking about that, I got to thinking about in the church house, how so often there'll be decoys. And if we're not careful, They look good and everything looks all right, but there's no life on the inside. A thing about a decoy, a decoy can't feel nothing. You can take a bow and arrow when it's deer season, set a decoy up to get your bow and arrow right, and every time you shoot that decoy, that decoy will just stand there. one that's got life in him, and that arrow hits that deer, that deer's gonna jump. Because the live deer has something on the inside that the decoy does not have. And there's a lot of times in our churches today where we've got decoys and the way you can tell it is when God gets to moving, the people of God that have life on the inside, they'll start moving. They'll start coming to the altar. They'll start raising their hand. They'll start testifying. And if you're not careful, you may be a decoy, I don't know. But if you are a decoy, a lot of times you'll find that they're sitting there and it's almost as if why in the world are they happy? And I'm not feeling what they're feeling. It could be because you're a decoy. And then another thing about a decoy, about being dead on the inside, another thing you find is a decoy cannot eat food. They never eat the corn or the rice bran that's put out. The acorns, but a live deer will always go around feeding. Same way in the church house. A lot of times when the word of God's given by the man of God, word of God goes forth, people beating up like, I'm telling you, it's the best thing on earth. But every once in a while you'll find some people, they will not touch anything that is given out of the word of God. It's because there's no life on the inside. And then something else about a decoy, when you get to thinking about a decoy, especially about a deer and turkey, they can't follow. When you get to thinking about it, a decoy, wherever he is sat in the woods, no matter where it is, when the other animals take off down the deer trail or whatever they do, that decoy stands right there and will never move. In the same way in church house, when the man of God and the church of believers has a vision to do something for God. And everybody will get in line and they'll start following. And you'll always find somebody that they're standing there and they'll never follow. I'll tell you this way, and I hope I don't offend you, but this is simple. If you can't get a hold of this, it'll be all right. This is something, when you think about a pregnant woman, woman that's gonna have a baby, they've got something on the inside that a woman that ain't gonna have a baby is something different. The woman that is carrying a child on the inside, there's life there. but a person that does not have a child on the inside. There's no life there, they're barren. And you'll find it in the life of Hannah, the life of Elizabeth, and you can even find it also in Sarah. And you look at a pregnant woman, and you can find how that it's almost a picture of a woman that is barren is a picture of a lost person. but one that has child, it's a picture of one that's been saved. And when you get to looking at it, in that aspect, you know, you think about it. My wife, she's had three babies. And you know, when you have a baby, when you have life on the inside, your appetite changes. How many women are here that's had children? You'll agree with me. I mean, food, just there's cravings for certain food. And it's the same way in the child of God's life. When you get life on the inside, there'll be a craving for the things of God. No longer will you desire the things of the world, because there's life on the inside. Not only does your appetite change, but your appearances change. You know it. Is that right? One's gonna have a baby, gonna get a little bigger. Same way a child of God's life, their appearance is gonna change. No longer are they gonna look like they used to look because they got life on the inside. When you think about a woman that's gonna have a baby, and you get to thinking about it, and I can't do it because I ain't never had a baby. But when you think about it, their walk changes. It's more of a waddle. because of the life that's on the inside. And if somebody said, okay, I'm gonna have a baby, and next year the Lord works it out where I could come back, and that woman was still pregnant, she said, oh, I'm gonna have this baby, I'm not gonna believe her. Because there's no growth. And it's the same way in the child of God's life. When you get life on the inside, you're gonna start growing. There's gonna be a change. But we find here in the text, the Bible says that this fella, he was dead on the inside. We see a tragedy in this fella's life. I'm gonna ask you tonight, is there any life? Is there a craving? for the things of God? Is there a desire for the things of God? A lot of people, they holler it, but there ain't nothing there in the world. God help me, God help you to have that desire. As sincere babes desire, as babes desire the sincere milk of the word. You can't grow if you don't read your Bible. You can't grow. And so we see this tragedy, this boy, the Bible says that he was dead. But not only in verse number 15, the Bible says, and he that was dead, we see the tragedy, but next we see the Bible says, and he that was dead sat up. We see the transformation. See, when a person gets saved by the grace of God, there's gonna be a change. There's gonna be a transformation that takes place in somebody's life. So many people, they claim that there's been a change, but there's not been a change. If you get changed, people are gonna notice. You tell me this, if a dead person come in here and sat up, you gonna get out of here. I am too, everybody. And if somebody says they ain't, they lying. You bring a dead body in here and it sets up. We all leave in the building, right? Amen. It's because there was a transformation. And it's the same way spiritually, when somebody dead comes down to an old altar, or anything ain't gonna come to the altar. But when God deals with you as a sinner, and life comes in on the inside, there's a change that takes place. And people will notice. You only have to say nothing. They'll look at you and say, there's something different about that fellow. Don't know what it is. but there's something different. But we see, and he that was dead sat up. We see the tragedy and we see the transformation. But then the Bible says, and began to speak. And this is the thought, I guess, get across to you. Preaching on dead, but living to tell about it. You think about this boy. The Bible says, and he that was dead sat up and began to speak. We see a testimony that was given. This boy, you're talking about a conversation. I'm telling you, I'd love to have been there. I'd like to be there when Lazarus got up. You know why God had to say, Lazarus, come forth? Because if he just said, come forth, the whole graveyard got up. He said, Lazarus. In the same way he said unto him, I say unto thee arise, talking to this young man. The Bible says, and he that was dead, set up and began to speak. When you think about that in Ephesians chapter number two, the Bible says, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. Where in times past you walked according to the course of this world, that's the way we used to walk. but this testimony that's been given to you and I is something that this world knows nothing of. All they can see is where you are and how you are in your life and that's the only thing they see. A lot of people that I know, that I've been around, been able to meet, probably, as far as in the world since, probably will never darken the door of a church house. they'll probably never come in. That's why it's so important for your testimony to be right. Because you are the only thing they see that has anything to do with God. And that's why it's so important as a child of God. Yeah, we can't live perfect, I know that. Everybody has problems. I understand that. But they're watching you and they're watching me. And they're seeing how we handle things. Now, I'm gonna show you something, how we look at stuff. Hey man, brother, what do you see right there? Look again. That's what I'm talking about, all right. What do you see right there, just holler that, what do you see? A black dot, is that what you see? What do you see? What do you see, babe? All right, preacher, what do you see? All right, everybody's looking at a black dot, and ain't nobody looking at the white around it. In our life, as children of God, we go through life, and this is what we always look at. We're always looking and pondering on the bad things in life. And we forget, compared to what God has done for you and me in our life, we're always stuck on the negative. but the positive far exceeds the bad that's ever happened in my life. And in our testimony, they're watching you and I. I always think of this. There's a guy that I know, I'm good friends with him. His wife, she's in heaven now. And I'm talking about how people watch you and they're watching your testimony, and they're watching how you respond. And his wife was almost like my wife's second mom, real close. Called her Nino, name was Miss Linda. And Miss Linda, she died, she had heart problems, and she went home, be with the Lord. Now I'm talking about people watching you that'll never come in this place. And Donnie, whenever Miss Linda died and went home with the Lord, I worked with Donnie. This is before my job left. And I would go into work and Donnie worked about 500 feet away from me on the other side of the building. I could see Donnie, but as far as talking to him, you couldn't hear him, I couldn't hear him. But I could see him. And Donnie would walk into work in the morning. and he'd be whistling a song, singing to himself. Donny witnessed to everybody in that building. And everybody in the building knew that Donny's wife had died. And it blew their mind why Donny hadn't went crazy. It blew their mind, why in the world ain't Donny just gone completely nuts? And they would come ask me, how come Donny's doing what he's doing? And the Lord would open doors up and allow me just to say, hey, what Donny's got is what's allowing him to keep doing what he's doing. And it would open doors and give opportunity to witness. And you'd be surprised in your testimony And when people watch you and they watch me in our life, no matter how big your life may be, as far as wide range, I mean, the Lord has everybody different. I mean, if we was all the same, it'd be robots and it'd be terrible. I mean, I'm the best at being me there is. And you the best at being you there is. I couldn't be you if I had to. But God made me and I'm gonna be me. I ain't gonna try and be nobody else. But in life, when you're going through life, in school, when you're in school and people are watching you and they're watching me wherever I'm at, doing whatever I'm doing, if you're at work, at home, no matter where you're at, they're watching you. And they're seeing how you react to the problems that come your way. And they're seeing how you deal with them and react to what happens, and you'd be surprised. They may never talk to you for 10 years after it happens, but one day they'll come up to you, and they'll say, I want you to know, I saw how you've been all these years, and there's something different about you. I don't know what it is. How's your testimony? Do you wanna just live life and just go around doing your thing and ain't worried about having a testimony? Testimony's hard to build. It ain't an easy thing. Takes character. I mean, it takes some grit. And my age grouping down, I can talk about men down, but we don't have grit like these old timers. I tell you that. You're living in a day when the things of this world is so pushing. I'm telling you, I'm talking about just pushing all over. And you and I, we still have gotta do what's right. We see this boy, we see that tragedy and the transformation, but then we see the testimony of this boy. The Bible says, and he that was dead set up and began to speak. I'm glad that God's given us a voice. Now how you use your voice, that's your business. But God helped me to be willing to take a stand. You ain't gotta be mean. You ain't gotta be arrogant. You ain't gotta be cocky. But just say, hey, let me tell you what the Lord did for me. Hey, let me tell you how God has allowed me to go through the same situation you're going through and the God that brought me out, he's saying God can bring you out. How hard is it? People go through life every day and they have problems, but you and I, we've got God on our side. And I'm glad that we've got God on our side. You know, if you're not careful, you'll get stuck on that dot. You'll get to where all you see is the little black dot. and you never see everything around it that God's been good to you. You get stuck on that little negative thing that happened in your life and you forget all the good stuff that God's done for you. I'm not telling you that people mess up. People mess up every day. People have problems. I have problems. You have issues. If I stood here and told you that I didn't have no problems, I'd be lying. I'll tell you this way. If you knew Caleb Lindsay, if you knew Caleb Lindsay, what's your name? Larry, if you knew me, if you really knew me, you wouldn't be sitting there. You'd get up and walk out. And everybody else in here, if y'all really knew Caleb Lindsay, y'all wouldn't sit here and listen to me preach. But I'll tell you this, if I really knew you, I wouldn't be here neither. I'm talking about on the inside. I'm talking about down in the back end of your soul where nobody but you and God. No. We all wicked. I'm telling you, we all need help. Okay? You look at somebody and you just try to help them. Why in the world would God come to somebody like me? A lot of times we get stuck on that first appearance of somebody. We need to be careful about that. I'll tell you why. If you'd looked at Judas when he kissed the Lord, you'd say, now right there's a good feller. And if you looked at Peter when he cussed him, you'd say, now right there's a feller going to hell. That first appearance, you gotta be careful with that thing. And if we're not careful, we'll get to the place where we think we're better than everybody else and God help us to realize that if it hadn't been for the Lord, we'd be in the same situation. Now, I don't know if you're here tonight lost, and I don't know if you're here tonight saved, but maybe you ain't got a good testimony. Maybe your testimony ain't what it needs to be. Maybe you know, hey, Lord, I could do better. Why don't you come down here tonight and just tell the Lord, say, Lord, I wanna try and do better for you, not to impress nobody, but Lord, just to do it for you. See, whenever you try and impress people, if you're not careful, you get mixed up. But if you'll say, Lord, I wanna do it for you, it'll mean a whole lot more. Tonight's been different, I don't know why. Just been a little odd. People have problems. I try to get people's level. I really do. It's like a heart monitor. When a heart monitor's doing this right here, now you and I, we don't like it doing like that in our life. One mountain to another valley, mountaintop valley. But on a heart monitor, when she goes like that right there. But that's the way we want life. But that right there ain't how God's got it. God's gonna have you going from a valley to a mountaintop. Back down, up and down, up and down. In your testimony, people's watching you at how you're dealing with things. God help you and I. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, come to you tonight. Lord, I want to say that I'm sorry for the times that I have not been what I needed to be. For those times that I let my flesh get in the way and Lord, I was ashamed at speaking out for you. Lord, I want to say I'm sorry. Lord, I pray that you'll help me, Lord, to be one that is wanting to try to have a better testimony to a lost and dying world. Lord, this world, so often they won't see nothing but people that are around them. Lord, if we ain't what we need to be, God, they'll never see a Christian. So God, I pray that you'll help us tonight to be what we need to be. Lord, I pray that you'll be with this church. And Lord, I've tried my best to mind you. And Lord, I know I fell miserably, but Lord, I want to tell you, I appreciate how that you forgive us. God, I pray that you'll be with this invitation now. Lord, we're gonna give you all the honor and all the glory for it's in your name we pray. Amen, amen. If you need come to this altar, you come ahead. How's your testimony?