that don't you appreciate their faithfulness and I told mrs. Damascus I said you haven't aged at all other Damascus has but you haven't and it's all the stress isn't it preacher yeah I know when you were so young when you came here he didn't even have facial hair then he's grown that and I mean he's but I that's a blessing Again, most of us will never, I want to go to Scotland, right? I'm going to go see him. Because I found out, I told him, I think, again, I'm not going to pay the money to do one of those genealogy things. And the other thing, they're not getting my DNA. So I mean, I don't really care that much about that stuff. You do, and you want to send your DNA off to them. That's your business. But I don't really care that much. Probably, if I was honest, a lot of my heritage or probably convicts anyway so I don't really want to know that much but I think I did read where the McDaniels originally came from Scotland I think I read where they had that they were Mac Daniels so might have been McDonald's at one I'm going to try to claim some of my inheritance but I think there was I think there's a fallout in the family and that sounds about accurate for my family so and I think some of them moved to Ireland But however it was, I'm claiming both. The good part of both, the scotch, right? Golf was started there by old Tom Morris. I believe he was one. So we got that going for us. And Irish, I love potatoes. So either way, I'm good with all of that. But I'm glad to partner with them, and I would. There's not a lot of places. How far flight is that from here? Yes. Is there any way to stop in between? It's not four and four, you gotta go all eight. We might could do that. The older I get, I'm liking this community, right? But I was noticing, and while I'm not gonna preach long, I just wanna share a thought, 1 Thessalonians chapter one tonight. But I was noticing, as they were talking about their different ways of outreach, I think sometimes we get so hamstringed into we have to do it this particular way and we miss all the opportunities right I mean you know if you take a handful of tracks and you know if you never went on so on a visitation on Saturday and you constantly had a visitor here every week I'm pretty sure nobody's gonna say you know what you're not biblically witnessing you know so But I think the main thing is this, you got to go. You got to do something. I know this, if you don't plant seed, there's that never fruit. So I think it was Spurgeon one time, a lady mentioned him, said, I don't like the way you do soul winning. And he said, well, how do you do it? She said, well, I don't. He said, well, I still like my way better. But I appreciate that. And the other thing you learn about missions is, you know, they're not planning a North Carolina Baptist Church in Scotland. They're planning a Baptist Church. Scottish Baptist Church. One for Scotland, not for North Carolina. So they're not going to do everything exactly like we are. Doesn't mean we're right. Doesn't mean they're wrong. Right? and so I wanna just share this thought with you 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse number 9 the Bible said for they themselves show of us Paul's writing to the church at Thessalonica about them and he says for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we have unto you and notice this in how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for a son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. So the title of the message is the Christians past, present, and future. And I think one of the things that's hit me, even yesterday as we were doing Miss Roma's funeral, is that, again, we realize this intellectually, but a lot of times it doesn't register. You only have a certain amount of time on this earth. You have a small portion of eternity that you're spending here and so a lot of times what the devil will do is he'll constantly remind you of your past and will dwell so much on the present that we forget about the future. There's a lot of Christians that never get out of the past. You with me? I mean, you know, if it's under the blood, and we're going to sing it's under the blood, and God's forgiven us, then it ought to remain in the graveyard. See, you can't live for God if you're always dragging the bones out. right you say well the devil does well that's his job the Bible said he's the accuser of the brethren so here as we're studying here we're looking we know that we never completely become what God wants us to be this side of eternity and as we mentioned this morning studying the book of Romans that there was this group of Christians that says you can't eat and drink anything and if you do you're wicked and then this one is saying well you're not observing their days like you're supposed to the ceremonial law and so therefore you're not really a good Christian and Paul just kind of blew it all up and he said listen the people that you think are the weak Christians are actually the strong ones and the people you think are the strong ones are the weak ones Now we think the opposite. See, it's amazing. If you think about it, his ways are not our ways. And so what we think is strong, God's saying is weak. And what we think is weak, God's saying is strong. But here's the thing. Here's where we mess up, Brother Damascus, and I'm seeing this among our independent Baptist brethren, that they're understanding their liberty, but they're criticizing the weaker brethren. And here's what I mean. I'm seeing a lot of preachers talking about, you know, and I'm not, I think they're pretty well accurate how they're not under the bondage of legalism and they're bragging about, you know, and all these Pharisees over here. But according to that scripture, they are the stronger brethren who should bear the burden of the weaker. Does it make sense? See, we think, we've always thought that the stronger brother was the one that had the most standards, right? Well, Paul's saying, listen, if you have the liberty to do it, you're the stronger one. You'll say, hallelujah, that's me. Here's the problem. He commands you to restore the weaker. and to bear his burden. See, we don't want that part. We like to say, I'm the stronger Christian because I don't have all this yoke of bondage on me. But he also says that you should not, watch this, this is good. He said, don't use that liberty to be a stumbling block to a weaker Christian. Right? Now automatically, and Brother Jimmy, I struggle with that. I'm reading, I'm going back and it's like reading Song of Solomon, trying to figure out who's speaking, right? I'm going, yeah, that's right, you ought not be a stumbling block. And God said, no, you don't be a stumbling block to the legalist. Whoa, right? You know? It's like our whole mindset is messed up because we're We're not reading Scripture through the Holy Spirit. In other words, when we look at this, Paul's saying, listen, when you look at this church at Thessalonica, I want to make them an example. They're not a perfect church, but they're a progressing church, and they're a prospering church, and they're a growing church, and we should be aware that whatever God starts, He completes. And so, He completed creation, He completed His Word, and He'll complete us. I mentioned, as they mentioned, saying Jesus never fails. He plans for our life and he's not only the author of our faith, he's the finisher of our faith. So if he started it right, he's gonna finish it right. We're just in the middle part of it right now. So here's what I wanna share with you. The past, present, and future of a Christian are shown in our text. And here's what he's telling us. We're to do three things. Turn, serve, and wait. That's all he's saying, right? In other words, notice what the Bible said. He said, how ye turned to God from idols. That's in your Bible. I didn't add it and didn't take away. I'm not reading out of context. So first thing they did, and notice what he said, they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you. And he's making them an example. He said, I want you to model yourself after them. And the first thing he said is that they turned. Here's the problem, okay? I mentioned this, I've been an independent Baptist my whole life, right? Paul, how long have you been an independent Baptist? Born into it, right? Many of you, born into it. Now, if I'm wrong, I can be corrected. All I've ever heard is that we have to turn from something. Right? Got to turn away from the world. Turn away from the wicked music. Turn away from them wicked movies. Am I right? Come on. Well, I'm not saying that's wrong because here the Bible says we're to be turned from something, right? So the first thing in this turning, we have to be turned from something. If you're going in the wrong direction, you have to turn, okay? So here the Bible said they turn to God from idols. So you have to turn from idols. Right? You have to turn from. You can't get saved unless you turn from sin. Right? You have to admit that you're a sinner. You can't come to God and say, well listen, I want to be saved and go to heaven, but I don't want to change anything. Right? It's not going to happen. You have to admit you're a sinner. And so therefore, this turning from something, we have to turn from idols, turn from sin, and then turn from self. Well, I know all that, man. Listen, I went to every youth revival and youth meeting and burn your tape. Y'all don't know what tapes are. Tapes are like this music thing that stuff used to come on. They'd have a big tape burning and all this stuff. And it's like, get all the wickedness out of your life. Well, this scripture said we're to turn from something but then we have to turn to someone. You can't leave empty. You have to put something in that you took out. Right? See, the frustration becomes that we turn from something and there's a desire there. We mentioned this morning, there's a hole there. And if you don't turn to God and just turn from, all you did was abstain from something. There's a lot of good people that aren't Christians in this world, right? There's a lot of philanthropists. There's a lot of people that are going to give to the cause of helping those in Western North Carolina that aren't Christians. So it's not good deeds. It's not just turning from wicked ways. You have to turn to someone. I didn't say turn to something, someone. That's what this scripture is saying about this church. They're not who they were, friend. I'm sorry, I don't have confidence in anyone. I'm not the Holy Spirit. Brother Matt, I don't have any confidence in someone who says they love Jesus and they're saved by the grace of God, but nothing ever changes about them. They're just saying Jesus never fails. Well listen, if he's that big in your life, he's going to change something in you and you're not going to want to serve the idols anymore. You have to turn from something, turn to someone. It's not enough to turn from, you have to turn to Jesus. Listen, it's not just about being saved every morning. Listen, someone said, do you need Jesus to go to heaven? You need Jesus to go to Walmart. I mean, you do around here, right? I was up there yesterday, Walmart. Jeff Bezos may be the most intelligent human being because he developed Amazon. Not only had to leave my house, I mean, I technically never have to go to Walmart another day of my life, but I had to go yesterday. and it was terrible. It was awful. I used to, me and Miss Ellen first got married, I thought Walmart was the greatest place in the world. The little Mocksville downtown Walmart. I'm like, that's a good place now. See, our problem is we think we just need Jesus for certain things. I need him to go to heaven. I need him, I need him. You have kids. Lord, take care of my kids. Have grandkids. Lord, take care of the grandkids. What about everything? We need Jesus. Our church needs Jesus. This community needs Jesus. Scotland does. I really wish you'd wore a kilt. That would have gotten a lot of... I would have taken a big love offering for you. but I'm glad you didn't preach her. Amen. So we have to turn from something, turn to someone. So the first thing, did they turn? There had to be a change of direction for salvation. But here's the other thing, you may be here tonight and you're going, yeah, I'm saved, but I'm not spiritually going in the right direction. Well, turn. You can turn. Right? It's not a one-lane highway that you can turn. Second thing they did they served. The Bible said they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Well here's the thing three things when you serve first of all they serve the Savior. See if you won't serve the Lord you can't run a bus cause you love kids. This is what I'm saying. You're going to say, no, I, I'm in the bus ministry because I love kids. You won't last, right? You can't, you can't live in Scotland cause you love Scotland, right? You can love Scotland, not be called there. You're not going to stay right. Whatever it is God calls you to do, you better do it because you love God. Not because you love, I love y'all. I mean, listen, I love y'all. Y'all been my family for 22 years. Brother Gary and I were talking. He and Ms. Treece have been here for 20 years. Brother Johnny, how long have you been here? 20 years? You've been here longer than me. 20, at least 20 or 21. 21. Kristen knows. Kristen can't go anywhere because I got too much dirt on her. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I know where all, not the bodies, I know where all the parts of the car are buried. But you think about it. I don't pastor this church just because I love you. I pastor this church because I love Jesus. You sing in the choir because you love Jesus. Not because of who's leading the choir, not because of the type of music. You don't play instruments because you, well, I just love to play and that's my ministry. No, you better play because you love Jesus. Brother Eddie, you better lead that singing because you love Jesus. You better teach Sunday school because you love Jesus. See, we get so caught up. And I understand we're flesh, right? But we get so caught up in our little world, our narcissistic world of, I don't like this. Who cares? I mean, people are dying and going to hell, and we got to worry about how you feel about something. I'm going to say this. Amen. That's good preaching. Right? I mean, it's like you've got to tiptoe around everybody's feelings. No. Listen, we're supposed to be soldiers. We're supposed to be trained to fight a spiritual battle. And we're tiptoeing through the daisies because, well, if I make this brother or this sister or this child mad or this, then if I make this... No. Listen, you ought to do what you're doing because you love the Lord Jesus Christ and you want to serve Him. Amen. You know what? If you'll do that, you'll never quit. Man, I ain't quitting. You say, well, why do you stay in it? Well, listen, you ask my wife. We've been talked about, put in the paper, cussed out. Some lady grabbed my tie one day. I said, you better get off my trail. I go home. She goes, listen, she'll tell you, my blood pressure's high. You know why? Probably because I pastor. But I'm not quitting. Because I'm here because I love Jesus. You better be here because you... You better do what you do because you love... You can't even click them screens right unless you love Jesus. Amen. So they serve the Savior, then they serve the saints. Well, the Bible tells us we're to love one another, right? So do what is needed to encourage one another. Not only should we do it for the Lord, listen, I depend on you. Brother Shane depends on Brother Johnny. Brother Chad depends on Brother Matt. We're supposed to, according to the Word of God, we're a body that fits properly together. We need this family. We need them. Because you're not going to Scotland. You're not. Listen, some of you won't drive across town. You're not getting on an airplane. Right? We need them. They need us. We fit together. God has us in... Listen, if you prayed, here's what I want to tell you. If you prayed, and I don't want you to join this church if God doesn't want you here. I don't care how much talent you got. I don't care. I'd rather you not be here than to not have prayed. Right? But if you've prayed and you say, Preacher, God wants us here. I know He does. It's God's will. Then listen to what I'm saying. Don't leave. Right? Don't leave. Because you say, well, God wants me here. I prayed about this. Then why are you leaving? Well, I don't agree with da, da, da, da. Well, your kids at your home, do you agree with everything they do? What do you kick them out? Do you leave them? Brother Shane said, we tried. They keep coming back, don't they? Don't leave food out. I mean, I hope parents, you don't look at your kids and go, you know what? I've tried and I've tried and I've had enough. Y'all can have the house. I'm leaving. It's crazy. But somehow, one minute we're all happy and going and lovey-dovey and going. Then they go, we're all a family. till we ain't God put us here to serve one another to love one another so do what is needed to encourage one another and then they serve sinners well they didn't have there was no church at Thessalonica right there were lost people lost people got saved they started a church And they won people. That's why we do bus ministry. That's why we do Spanish ministry. That's why we knock on doors. That's why we support missions. It's because there are sinners out there. The highest calling is to share the gospel. Not be able to sing, not be able to preach, right? Great, preach. But everybody can share the gospel, right? So they serve sinners. And then number three, this is the hard one. Ready? The Bible said, so they turned from idols to serve the living true God. So they turned, they lived, or they served. Number three, they waited. To wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus. They waited for the promise of His coming. They knew He was coming because He said He was. As we labor, we're waiting. We're not waiting and not laboring. We're waiting and laboring. So there's a promise of His coming. Our future is the promise of His coming. Listen, I'm just telling you this right now. Some of you are going to look at me like one of two things. Either I'm crazy or I'm a nutcase. But I'm going to tell you this. America is not getting any better. We're done. You cannot see all that's going on in this country and think, I believe we can pull this thing out. I think, I mean, if a few things go right, we're right back. No, we're, you think about what's going on in this country right now. We have, and here's why I'm saying this. There is a special place in God's heart for kids. He pretty much said this, you hurt with Him, it's better for you to have a millstone tied around your neck. It's better for you to sink to the bottom of the ocean and drown. That's what he's saying. So here's what we're doing. All this open border, all these kids coming across, all this child trafficking going on, it's going on by the way. The United States is one of the largest consumers of this in the world, right? We're killing them by the millions. We're aborting them. We don't even care now. We're not even arguing about how many weeks. It's like, well, just no. And see, here's the thing. It's not about women's rights and reproductive. It's not about all that. Because if it was, you'd say, well, you know what? Let's pass a law. I mean, if you want to go with the rape incest and health of the mother, let's just pass a law that says you cannot kill kids unless it's for that. I'm not for that. But even the Republicans who we idolize, they won't even pass that. So we're a country that's pretty much in favor of killing babies. Now it's like, well, we'll castrate you if you want to. I mean, you can't drink alcohol or smoke a cigarette, right? But if you don't really know what gender you are and you want to be permanently disfigured, we'll do that for you. Right? Amen. And then it's like, I don't know what's wrong. We can't figure out. You say, well, economics. Yeah, there's a part of it. They're spending your money. And I mean we're spending more money than we're taking in. And it just hit me the other day they're showing the Republican bill and the Democrat bill and they're arguing about who is going to add less to the national debt. Well this plan only adds two trillion dollars and this one adds five trillion. Who cares? Somebody got to pay it. These kids, you see what I'm saying? We're done. There's dishonesty, there's lying. All the way up, it's just lying. And we're like, man, maybe we can pull this baby out. We're done. Because this is a spiritual battle. It's not a political battle, it's a spiritual battle. And we're playing games with it, right? That's a whole other message. I ain't even going to get off on that. I got to get out of the rabbit hole, Brother Jimmy. I'm probably going to have hate mail now. Praise the Lord for that. I don't care. For the promise, he's coming. See, he's the only one that's going to fix it all. And then for the purpose of his coming, he's going to set it all right. That's why he said, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. I just got to do what he tells me to do. He'll set it all straight. See, some of you is like, well, I just want my revenge and I want to set things in order and I want justice. Well, what if you never get it? Because it's like, well, I don't understand how God could let good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. Well, here's the problem. There's nobody good. According to the Bible, nobody's good. So if God allows less bad things in your life, you ought to praise God for it. There's nobody good. So when you look at this, the Christian's past, present, future, here's what I'm getting out of this. You were lost. If you're a Christian, you're not anymore. That part's the past. Your present is now I've got to serve. That's where you are. You say, how can you say that's me? Because you're not in the grave. Right? God left you here to serve. I don't know what capacity that is. Maybe it's bus ministry. Maybe it's singing. Maybe it's preaching. Maybe it's teaching. Maybe it's going to the mission field. Maybe it's praying for your pastor and your church family. I don't know what it is. God left you here to serve. And then one day While we're serving, we're waiting. We're waiting for His coming. It'll be here. I don't know when, but it'll be here. So just hold on. Right? They can keep serving in Scotland. You keep serving here. I'm going to keep preaching. Jesus comes back. We'll look back and go, it was worth it. It was worth it. Because Jesus never fails. He never fails. Let's stand together by our heads.