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Thank you, Josh. Thank you. Very
good. Everybody say happy birthday
to Pastor Matt today. All right. Let's do this. All right. Just turn around.
Point your finger and go. Happy birthday, Pastor Matt. All right. Very good. I like
that. I like that a lot. OK, take your
Bible. Turn to First Corinthians chapter
15. First Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You've
been so attentive. Appreciate you very much. Your
attentiveness to the word of God. And that was a good session,
last session with Brother Young. I appreciate that so very much.
And those are truths that will help you. You know, the devil,
he's such a, he's such a stinking, sickening deceiver. You understand
what I'm saying? I mean, he will try to get you
to think that There's no punishment for sin, but there's always punishment
for sin. How many of you have made a decision
this week? Made a decision this week. Hold
your hand up if you made a decision this week. Very good. Amen. Everybody say amen with me. Amen.
Isn't that great? How many of you intend on keeping
that decision? Would you sit up here and say,
you intend on keeping that decision? Amen. Appreciate that. What can
you do to help yourself keep that decision? To keep on keeping
on. Well, that's what we're gonna
look at this morning just for a few moments. I want you to stand
with me and let's look at 1 Corinthians 15, 57 and 58. The Bible says, but thanks be
to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's all read that together.
Ready? Verse 57. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abound in the work of
the Lord for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord. So the Apostle Paul is saying,
okay, now Corinthians, this is near the end of this letter,
he said, I'm giving you some great truth now recognize you
just heard again about the resurrection how wonderful the resurrection
is and how there's great power in the resurrection and so you
just need to keep on keeping on until the Lord returns keep
on keeping on while you're serving the Lord you can keep on keeping
on because God will give you the power to do so It's important
for you to realize that. You don't have to keep that decision
all by yourself. God will help you keep that decision
you made or those decisions you made. Father, I pray now that
you'd continue to use your word to challenge our hearts. Again,
I thank you for these young people and their attentiveness to your
word. Thank you, Father, for not only their attentiveness,
but the way they've been comprehending the word and apprehending the
word. Father, as they put the word
into action, I pray, Father, you'd help them to keep on keeping
on in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. The
cause of Christ needs your energy and your enthusiasm. You are
young people with high energy. We need that in our churches
today. We need that for the cause of
Christ. We need you to be excited about living for the Lord Jesus
Christ. We need your enthusiasm for the
Lord Jesus Christ in 21st century Christianity. We need Christian
young people with tenacity and fervency that keep on keeping
on, that keep on exercising themselves in godliness, that keep on keeping
on. Several years ago there was a
mother who wanted her son to really grasp knowledge about
the piano and learn to be a great piano player. And so she took
her son to a Paderewski performance. Paderewski was the prime minister
of Poland, but was also a tremendous piano player. And I'm sure if
we ask our pianist today that one Do you ever hear of Paderewski?
Do you ever hear of Paderewski? Well, Paderewski, you have to
read about him. He was something else. He was a very talented
piano player. So she went to the concert hall
to see and listen to this great piano player. And as they walked
in, they eyed the giant majestic Steinway setting up on the platform. And she soon found some friends
of hers and she was talking to them and unaware to her, her
son ran up to the platform and sat behind the giant majestic
Steinway and started plunking out twinkle, twinkle, little
star. She turned and gasped when she
saw her son on the platform behind Paderewski's piano, plunking
out, twinkle, twinkle, little star. The stage lights went on. Paderewski came out before she
could retrieve him. He was in the concert mode. He went behind the little guy,
and he quietly whispered in his ear as he filled in with a part
with his right hand. and said, keep playing. And then
he said, as he went to the other side of the little boy, keep
on playing as he filled in with his left hand. And together,
the young novice and the great master held the crowd mesmerized
with the latest rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I found in my life, as I've gone
through life, Many times I've been, you know, all by myself
it seems on the platform of life. And I've had to do more than
I could ever do. And as I've relied upon my God,
he's whispered in my ear, Doug, keep on keeping on, keep on keeping
on for me. And he's filled in a part that
I could have never filled in. And he's filled in another part
that I could have never filled in. And he has given me strength
beyond strength that I never had because I've relied upon
him. We need to rely upon our God.
We need to rely upon our God as he will whisper in our ears,
don't quit, keep playing. And as we do, he will augment
and supplement until amazing, amazing beauty and worth is created
in our lives. Young people, that's what we
want for you. We want God's best for you. We want you to be able
to leave here in victory and stay in victory. We want you
to leave here recognizing that you have the power of God upon
your life, and with the power of God upon your life, you can
live a Christian life and not be defeated in your Christianity,
but you can keep on keeping on for the Lord. I want you to notice,
and again, I tell you, we need this mentality, don't we, Doug,
in our youth group? We need this mentality, don't we, Pastor Tice,
in our churches? We need it. And I tell you what,
when young people are excited about the things of God, it is
exciting to the entire church. One of the greatest revivals
I was ever in. And I was just there, Brother
Young, I was just there. I was the speaker, but I was
just there. It was in my brother-in-law's church and Steve Pettit was a
youth pastor. And I was speaking to the youth
group at a Christian school camp, winter retreat. And God got a
hold of hearts. And I remember the first service,
the teachers came forward. I wasn't preaching to them. And
then the second service, some of the adult counselors came,
and then the next service, the teenagers, and then the next
service, more teenagers. I'll tell you what, we were in
a revival. And they took that back to their
church, and their church had a revival. If you were to talk
to Brother Petty, he'd tell you it's one of the best revivals
he's ever been in his life. It's because young people left that
place excited with new fervency and tenacity for the cause of
Christ. Well, let's notice, first of
all, three simple points. You know, I just have simple
points because I'm a simple guy. First of all, the reason, the
reason we need to keep on keeping on. All right, what's the first
point? all of But thanks be to God which giveth
us a victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore whenever
there's a therefore you look what it's there for and it's
normally pointing back to something we read before. So he says therefore
the reason that we need to keep on keeping on for the Lord is
what or who it is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the reason. Now,
I tell you what, in Hebrews chapter 12, take your Bibles and turn
there. Hebrews chapter 12, Paul would often get his readers to
think about the Lord Jesus Christ or consider Jesus. The Bible
says in Hebrews chapter 12, wherefore, seeing we also are encompassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us
run with patience the race that is before us, Ready? Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus Christ was his inspiration. Jesus Christ was his motivation. Paul is not just reminding us
of a historical fact, Jesus Christ went to the cross, but he wants
us to recognize like Like like a war cry remember the Alamo
remember the Alamo remember the Lord Jesus Christ So often we
fail to remember what Jesus has done for us Guy in the orange
shirt right there next to the pretty girl what Jesus do for
you? Save me. What do you do for you? Save
me. What do you do for you? Come
on, what else did he do for you? Made it so I could live eternally
for him. How about a guy right there? He died for you. How about you young lady? He bled on the cross for me.
How about you Mountain Dew? He gave you a purpose in life.
How about you pretty girl? He gave you family and friends.
How about you? He loves us. Have you thought
about what Jesus has done for you today? Huh? He died for us. He lives for us. He's given us
life. He's given us heaven. We have
so much to be thankful for, don't we, in Jesus Christ? It's so
wonderful to recognize what Jesus has done for us. Jesus Christ
has done so much for us. He left the splendor of heaven.
He went to the cross and bore our sins on Calvary Street, shed
his precious blood for you and for me. He went to the grave
and came forth in three days, victorious over sin, victorious
over death to give us the hope of eternity. In the Middle Ages,
Robert Bruce, the King of Scotland, vowed to make a pilgrimage to
Palestine. Seeing he could not make it,
he pleaded with his general, General Douglas. I like that.
He pleaded with his general, General Douglas, to remove his
heart after his death and carry it into the Holy Land. Well,
he died and General Douglas did as his king requested. His heart
was encased in a golden vessel and he carried it into the battle
of the Moors of Spain. Can you see this? Can you picture
this? Are you following along with me? As they went into the battle
with the Moors of Spain, it looked as though they were going to
lose. But then General Douglas rose up in his saddle, and he
took the vessel with the king's heart in it, and he took it off
his horse, and he flung it as far as he could into the crowd
of the Moors. And he said, there goes the heart
of your king. Who will follow? And that's exactly
what the Apostle Paul is saying here, as he's saying, will you
follow the broken, bleeding heart of your Savior and keep on keeping
on, always abounding the work of the Lord. Hey, people, it's
wonderful to know that we have a Savior who went to the cross
for us and died for us. Let's remind ourselves of the
great reason why we should keep on keeping on. It's because of
Jesus. Jesus is the reason. He made
life worth living. We must always be abounding,
consider Jesus. Well, secondly, I'd like you
to notice the responsibility, the responsibility. We see in
verse number 58, a threefold responsibility and always abounding
or keeping on for our Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, he says,
notice if you would please, therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast. Now, steadfast is not a word
we use a lot today. So what does steadfast mean?
Well, it means loyal. It means unchanging. There's
the thought of stable purpose. And so we need to be steadfast,
loyal, something that will not be easily disturbed, something
that is wholehearted. You're wholeheartedly involved
in it. Some of you guys, you're playing on the balls. I saw a
guy who had a hurt hand. Where's he at? A big guy with
a hurt hand here, right there. And I talked to him last night.
Actually, I bought him ice cream last night, didn't I? Yeah. Was
that good ice cream? Yeah, that's good. And I said,
man, how'd you hurt your hand? He started telling me, I'm not
sure. He said, but it's not gonna stop me from playing tomorrow. I'm gonna play tomorrow. He's
a sinner. A sinner, that's C-E-N-T-E-R. You're a sinner too, aren't you?
You're a sinner and a sinner. What? The pain from his hand is going
up to his head. It's cramping his brain right now. It's cramping
the brain. He says, I'm going to play no
matter what. You know what I'm saying? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? I
was a little guy. My mom said, Doug, everything
you ever did, you did wholeheartedly. I said, really, Mom? She said,
yeah. She said, I remember a time. My mom's going to be 80 years
old this year. She said, as I mentioned, I'm the oldest of six. I'm her
favorite. And anyway. She said, when you
were just a little guy, you weren't quite five yet. She said, you
were playing marbles next door on the side of our house. The
next door neighbor, Dennis Pettis came over and he was playing
marbles with you. And you had a whole thing of Quaker old marbles. How many ever played marbles?
Good. How many ever played jacks? How
many ever played jacks? How many ever played pickup sticks?
How many ever played chicken and trucks? Okay, no, no, okay
now. So anyway, Dennis Pettis was a couple of
years older than me and he was cheating me. I was only a little
guy. I didn't understand the rules
but I'd hit his marble and he'd take two of my marbles. And so,
he'd hit my marble and he'd take five of my marbles. And then
I hit his boulder and he'd take my boulder. And he was bigger
than me so, you know, I couldn't really, yeah, I was smart. I
was smart. This guy is bigger than me. I'm not going to wail
on him. You understand what I'm saying? at least not while he's
looking at me, okay. And so, I'm thinking to myself,
he's cheating me, what can I do? And I looked over there, he wore
glasses, I looked over there and there's a hose. And the old
kind of hose is they had a brass nozzle, you know what I'm talking
about, with a little bead, sprayed out. I mean, you know what I'm
talking about, you know what I'm talking about, yeah. And so, I got the hose and I
went over there and just kind of backed up to the house, turned
the hose on, as much as I can turn the hose on, and then I
took that thing, And I'm over there, hey Dennis, you've been
cheating me, man. Right between the eyes, those
two glasses, just like that. And his eyeballs are, he's crying
because I'm hitting his eyeballs. Spraying it right in his eyeballs.
I mean, you ever had a bead of water sprayed in your eyeballs?
I had no compassion on him at that point in my life. I wanted
to punish him for cheating me. And so, I'm, and all of a sudden,
his mom comes running out of the house. She had glasses. Back in those days, if you had
glasses, she had what we called Coke bottle glasses. How many
remember it? You remember Coke bottle glasses? And she said,
Douglas Jackson, what are you doing to hurt my little son,
Dennis? Your little son, he's a head
taller than me. He's been cheating me to death.
He probably learned the cheating from you. Wah! Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah,
wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. My mom comes out from behind
me. She hears the commotion on the side. Mrs. Pettus is crying,
I can't believe you squirted me. Can we put that hose down
right now? Wah! Wah, wah, wah, wah. My mom came behind me. She said,
Douglas, and went, wah! I held everybody down for about
a minute. You know my mother, she's determined. I know where
I got my determination because she ran right through that hose
and grabbed me and wailed on me. I had to apologize to Dennis
and Mrs. Pettis never liked me after that
day. I've never got a card from her, a nice note or anything
of that sort. But enthusiasm, you know what I'm
talking about. How many of you know what I'm
talking about? Come on, say enthusiasm, the best you can possibly say
enthusiasm. Go ahead, say it. I want to hear it. I want to
hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to
hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I
want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it.
I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to
hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to
hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear
it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to
hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want
to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. I
want to hear it. I want to hear it. I want But I gotta tell ya, I gotta tell
ya, stiff rules at my church. You get married in my church,
you ask my wife, stiff. You gotta dress right, it's gotta be the
right music. I meet people all the time, I
hand them this little, I have more rules to get married in
my church than I do to get baptized in my church. I have my daughter
write up this little thing. I don't wanna have to be marrying
somebody and go like this, will you take this, I can't do it, I just can't do
it. I'm in the house of God. You don't need, you don't need
to show all that flesh, by the way. You can do that in your
honeymoon night, not on the platform, you know? And then I always think
it's funny, big girls getting the little girls' dresses. And they're miserable, because
they can't hardly walk. They get up to the platform and go, And then they get ready to go
off the platform, and they go. You know, I just know one time
they're going to explode. Anyway. By the way, you want one of those
packages for marrying? You can go to my church's website
and request it, and I'll send you one. And it'll be good for
you. You should look over that. But you want to get married someday.
All right. All right. You want to get married someday?
You do? You'll make a great bride. You
will. What's your name? Yeah. Who? Hey, he's a little short. He's a little short, but he'll
grow. How old are you, Jeremiah? 12? How old are you? How old are you? 16. He'll grow. OK. You're all right, Jeremiah. You're
all right. And I can tell you're not the
weeping prophet. I can see that. All right, now. All right. You want to get married, all
right? You're looking for a tall, strong, muscular man like my
wife looked for, aren't you? Huh? Huh? Or you want to marry
some wimpy-looking thing that looks like he dates some boy.
What do you want? Huh? What do you want? The first
one. All right. You want the first
one. Strong, tall, dark, handsome. I love you, I love you, I love
you type guy, huh? All right, let's say you get
to the wedding, you get to the wedding and you're at the wedding
altar and the pastor says, you take this woman to be your wedded
wife to have and to hold from this day forward. And he says,
well, I do halfheartedly. What are you going to do? I'll
tell you what you're going to do. You're going to take the
bouquet of flowers and you're going to cram it down his throat. You're going to take every hat
pin that everybody's got and you're going to just jab him. Then you're going to
go look for a hose with a little brass nozzle and you're going
to... That's what you're going to do. You don't want nothing
to do with that guy, do you? No, you're going to take your
high heel off and put it right in the middle of his head. All
this is godly, righteous indignation, of course, but no. No, you want
somebody that wholeheartedly loves you. How many girls want
to get married? How many girls want to get married?
Rebecca, you want to get married? Yeah. You want a half-hearted love?
You want a wholehearted love. Why do we want that? And yet
we live, many teenagers live for God half-heartedly. God deserves
our best, doesn't he? wholeheartedly enthusiastic,
we ought to be loving our God. And what shall we do? Do it heartily
as to the Lord and not unto men. Jesus said unto him, thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
with all thy mind. How much? All. That's all. You got it? Keep on keeping on. Steadfast. And then we're to
stand. You see that? We're to stand. The Corinthians were prone to
fickleness, shifting from one position to the next. He says,
steadfast, unmovable. Paul says, get a firm grip on
what you have. and become unmovable, which means to endure if necessary. Actually, the word is picturing
a pearl diver. The Arabic word
is picturing a pearl diver that can go down the deepest and stay
the longest to get the best pearls. Stamina. It's called stamina. It's like the Packers against
the Steelers. And the, huh? That's disgusting you're wearing
that shirt. I'm a Steeler fan. I'm disgusted in that shirt.
Should take that shirt off and put it on the altar. Stamina. Oh, how easily we go
back to our churches, we go back to our friends, we go back to
our room that's full of the wrong music, our room that's full of
the wrong DVDs, or our MP3s, or whatever, whatever. The devil
just dangles it for a second and you're right back. There
should be a stamina. You should stand. For no other
reasons because of Jesus and what he did for you on the cross
of Calvary. Stand, endure. To stand, well,
to stand in the face of the enemy. The devil is alive and well.
How many knew that? The devil, the world, and the
flesh, they're after you. So we need to stand in the face
of enemies. We need to make sure that we put on the whole armor
of God. Take your Bibles and turn to
Ephesians chapter six. The Bible says, Ephesians chapter
six, take your Bibles and turn there please. Ephesians chapter
six, Brad, would you please come? Doug, Pastor Doug, would you
please come? I need you two men for just a
moment. Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six. The Bible
says in verse number 10 finally my brother be strong in the Lord
and the power of his might put on the whole armor of God that
you may be able to That you may be able to what? That you may
be able to what everyone Stand against the wiles of the devil
for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities
against the powers against the rulers of darkness of this world
against Spiritual wickedness in high places. Hey, you know
what pastor Tice that first scares me. I Because I believe the devil's
alive and well. And he's just as much after you
as he is after me. He's just as much after me as
he's after you. He's just as much after you as he is me. Although I do like my hair color
a lot better than yours. All right, now. I want, I should
try that? I would try jumping off this
building first. All right, now. I want you, very simply. How
many are like Pastor Doug? How many are like him? Your wife did not raise her hand.
All right, now. I want you, just so simply, come
over here and hit me in the arm. And I want you, my strength and
power. How many are like Brad? Your wife did raise her hand. All right, now, I want you to
stop him from hitting me. Okay, go ahead, hit me. Grab him. Well, there's a bad illustration. All right, now. It's an illustration
that went bad. Truth of the matter is, there
was power there, wasn't there? You can see that power? And there
was wrestling there. And there was a lot of energy
expended there. And that's exactly why we need
God fighting for us. That's why we need God's power.
You guys can be seated. Thank you very much. Doug, you're much
stronger than I thought you were. I was looking for a wimpy, no,
I like Doug. He's a Celtic King just like
me. All right, that's what her name means. All right. Wherefore,
let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Stand
in his power. The word strength there in Ephesians
chapter six means strength outside ourselves. But secondly, we need
to stand instead of feigning. You know, I find a lot of young
people that are very depressed today. You've got so much and
yet they're depressed. I talk to young people all the
time. They're discouraged and depressed. They're going through
depression at such a young age. You don't have to be depressed.
You don't have to be discouraged. Claim the victory that Jesus
Christ has given you. Notice if you would please remember
Paul in Nero's prison. Take your Bibles and turn back
to Philippians chapter 4 and verse number 4. Rejoice the Lord
always and again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful
for nothing but in everything By prayer and supplication with
all thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God and the
peace of God which passes to all Understanding shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus Will you listen
to the Bible? Hey, did you know that? Jesus said lo I am with you always
Did you know that Jesus has told us the Word of God has told us
that he will never leave us nor forsake us. I Is God with you
now, is he? If he is, say amen. Amen. The
Lord Jesus Christ will never leave us and never forsake us. His name, Emmanuel, means God
with us. 1 Peter 5, 7, the Bible says,
casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. I remember, it's been several
years ago now, 26 years ago, My little son was born. He was
born on my wife's birthday. I was so excited. We were 11
years without children. I never thought God was gonna
give us children. Honestly, I just thought, well, that's fine. There were several people that
had willed their children to us if something had happened
to them. At one time we had 27 different children willed to
us. I was praying for those people because I knew their kids very
diligently so they would not die. But God gave us a special package
and twin daughters. And then two years later, another
special package, Clint. Clinton Douglas Jackson. And
when Clint was born, he was just the most beautiful baby. I'm
serious. You could not tell anything was wrong with him. He was much
prettier than the girls, if I could say prettier. He was a handsome
little guy. We heard the nurses talking,
we knew there was something wrong, but they really couldn't tell
by his facial features that he was Downs. But with a blood test, the old
doctor, who was the pediatrician, came in and said to us, your
son has Down syndrome. I think I know about that Down
syndrome. Actually, he did not say Down syndrome. He said, your
son is mongoloid. Mongoloid was the term they used
for Down syndrome for a long time. It was about the time Clint
was born, they started switching that term. And the more up-to-date
doctors started calling them Downs or Down syndrome. I can
tell you young people, I, Wept with my wife for a few moments.
And then I remember driving home from Saginaw General Hospital
and saying, Lord, if you want me to have a Down syndrome son,
I'll have a Down syndrome son. Now, will you help my wife? I remember weeping. so profusely had to pull off
the side of the road. And then I started saying to
myself, you big dummy, you're feeling sorry for yourself. Yeah,
you were looking for your boy to be a ball player like you
were a ball player, your boy to be a witness in school, your
boy to maybe take your church someday. It's not your church,
it's God's church. It's not your plan for his life,
it's God's plan for his life. So the next morning I went in
and I told Kathy, well, God's helped my heart. Has he helped
yours, honey? She said, yes, he has. We're
gonna rear this boy to be the praise of his glory. I tell you, and I say this with
joy, I couldn't have a better son. I couldn't. He's such a blessing. He is a
wonderful blessing. But I want to tell you the devil
was after me that day. For about 24 hours there, a little
less than 24 hours, he had me where he wanted me. But I don't
want that position. I want to be back in the center
of God's will. People, I wanna tell you, you're gonna go through
tough times, you're gonna go through valleys, and you need
to realize that your Jesus knows exactly what you need, and he'll
help you with that need. That's why he came to planet
Earth and walked on this planet. That's why he went through some
of the infirmities he went through, some of the trials he went through,
some of the troubles he went through, so he'd experience those
things, so there'd be the compassion for you that was needed from
him. I remember reading the story.
Brother Young, I know you've heard this story. I think it
was Phil Schuller, first time I ever heard this story, about a little
paper boy who was delivering papers and he noticed on the
front porch of a house, puppies for sale. He straddled his bike
and he wrapped that paper a little tighter and he threw it up against
the back door and he hollered for the man of the house. And
the man came out and said, son, I just paid you last week. He
said, no sir, I saw the sign, it said puppies for sale. I was
wondering, could I see them? And with that, the man of the
house whistled around the corner of the house came a mama dog
and a bunch of little puppies, three puppies, cute little puppies.
Don't you girls like puppies, huh? How many girls like puppies,
huh? I'm telling you what. How many
boys like puppies, huh? Aren't puppies cute? Yeah, girls,
and that's why girls, that's why some of the girls are so
nice to you boys, because you remind them of little puppies.
Just remember, girls, puppies turn out to be dogs, and you
can turn into a dog's life real quick. But anyway, out of the
corner of my eye, I also saw another little puppy. That other
little puppy was dragging his back leg behind him. And he was
really focused on that last puppy as he was straddling his bike. He said, how much are these,
sir? He said, they're $25. He said, could I pay you like
50 cents a week for like 50 weeks? He said, son, you can pay me
any way you want. He said, I like that puppy back there. What's
wrong with that puppy, sir? Well, we're not sure. We took
him to the vet and there's some deformity in his hip and we're
just not sure what we're gonna do with that puppy. But these
other three puppies here. Now, this one, look at how cute that
one is. Look at that one, look at that one, look at that one.
They're biting the tail of each other and they're biting the
ears. But this little puppy, he's all by himself. Sir, I want that puppy. Son,
you don't understand. We're not sure what we're going
to do with that puppy. We're not sure. Sir, that's the puppy I want. And
he reached in his pocket, and he pulled out 50 cents. And he
reached over, and the man held out his hand, and he put the
50 cents in. He said, I want that. But son, you don't understand.
He said, sir, I think I do. And with that, he pulled up his
pant leg, and around his pant leg was wrapped steel and leather. He knew exactly what that puppy
needed and said, sir, I think I know exactly what that puppy
needs. I want that puppy. Now Jesus
knows exactly what you need and he'll give you the best that
he can give you. So keep on keeping on. Stand. And then he says, super
bound. He says, If you'll notice here,
he says in verse number 57, take your Bibles
and turn them, we're almost done. He says, therefore my beloved
brother be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding. He uses the
word abounding, which literally means to go beyond what's necessary,
to keep on keeping on. Go beyond what's necessary in
Bible reading. I ask you, some of you young people, you need
to make a decision right now if you want to keep those decisions
you made to have daily devotions every day. Stay in the word of
God. I was talking to one of our young
men who was in the military, and I said, now, man, how come you're backslidden?
I remember a day when you went to camp, and he said, Pastor
Jackson, let me stop you right there. The reason I kept those
decisions is camp, because I had counselors that helped me, and
I had the Bible. I was in the Bible every day. Everything was
centered around the word of God. And then when I got out in the
world, I forgot that stuff, and, Pastor, I've ruined my life. Keep on keeping on. Abound in
the word of God. But I want you to see a third,
we're done. So we get ready for lunch, the reward. Your labor
is not in vain in the Lord. We have so much, but how much
will we have in heaven? How much we have in heaven? You
know, the other day I read this, Pastor Matt, Bill Gates is worth
$52 billion, $52 billion. If you made $100,000 an hour
and worked eight hours a day, 40 hours a week, at the end of
one week, you would make $4 million. At that rate, if you work 52
weeks a year, at the end of the year, you would make $208 million.
If you wanted to make $52 billion, you would have to work 250 years
at $208 million a year. If Bill Gates lost a million
dollars, he wouldn't even know it. Brother Tyson, I'll give
you an idea. He wouldn't even know it. If
he donated a million dollars a year, it wouldn't even faze
him. You can have Bill Gates type
money, but if you're living your life without Christ in control,
you are bankrupt. You're done. You're cooked. You're finished. Oh, you might
have a little fun with money, but that's not the thing that's
gonna bring you great joy in life. It's always a bounty in
the work of the Lord. 1972, I close with this. 1972, it was the Olympics in
Montreal. The last event was the marathon,
26, 27 miles. The race started, the runners
went around the stadium a few times in the arena. Then they
went outside the arena on the countryside. Finally, the first
three runners came back. A troop of runners were bearing
down on them. These first three runners were
awarded the bronze and the silver and the gold medals, respectively.
The stadium emptied. Ground crews started taking down
the equipment. And through the gate, they see
one lone limping runner. He was disoriented. They realized
that he was looking for the finish line. He was bleeding. He had
cuts and bruises all about him. So one of the workers tried to
help him and he pushed him out of the way. And so they realized
he was looking for the finish line. So they picked up the tape
that was now pushed over the side and a couple of the workers,
ground crew, they held the tape and the runner went through the
tape and fell into the arms of one of the grounds crew. Bleeding, coughing, wheezing.
One of the workers asked the Tasmanian runner, why did you
continue running in that race, suffering the injuries you suffered?
Why did you keep on keeping on? The Tasmanian runner said, my
country sent me 7,000 miles and a great price was paid for me
to be in this race, not just to start the race, but to finish. The race of life may get tough
and there'll be trials. We need to keep on keeping on
because our Jesus has paid a price greater than any price that could
ever be paid for us to be in that race. So keep on keeping
on. Father, I thank you for this
time you've given us today.
Keep on Keeping On
Series Teen Camp 2011
| Sermon ID | 823111834276 |
| Duration | 44:09 |
| Date | |
| Category | Camp Meeting |
| Bible Text | 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 |
| Language | English |
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