you All hail King Jesus! All hail Emmanuel! King of kings, Lord of lords, prime morning star! eternity. I'll sing your praises and I'll reign with you throughout eternity. All hail thee, all hail thee, Jesus. Amen, thank you for joining us this morning. If you would stand we'll continue with our song service Ephesians chapter 5 verse number 1 says be there for followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also had loved us and hath given himself For us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor It's good to be in the Lord's house today brother Benson. Would you open us in a word of prayer, please? Would you please join us in singing hymn number Jesus lives today. He walks with me. He walks with me. How long has there been rain? Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me. Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! Praise Jesus, he is today. He walks with me, he talks with me, and all of us hear the way. He lives, he lives, he lives. He lives within my heart. Hear the cries of the shepherd From the onset of time For the chains of defeat, there's no key. See the tears of the broken, the cries of the slaves. Is there no one worthy to set us free? Worthy, worthy, worthy in the land that was slain. Worthy, worthy, worthy in the land Riding his tail as the chorus rings out, the shackle released from that chain. voices are swelling the song. Worthy the lamb that was slain. And all the archangels, the saints of all time, holding their crowns in their hands, Joining the song, worthy, worthy of them. Worthy, worthy. O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? as we sing hymn number 179, ♪ Such love, such wondrous love ♪ ♪ Such love, such wondrous love ♪ ♪ When man should love a singer such as I ♪ ♪ How wonderful his love I feel ♪ ♪ When man should put a queen to love a king ♪ ♪ Such love, such wondrous love ♪ ♪ Such love, such wondrous love ♪ ♪ With passion, love, and sincerity ♪ ♪ How wonderful your life is ♪ ♪ And for a winter, how can such a time come ♪ ♪ When the spirit of redemption for us is set free ♪ Now he tears me to his heart of stone. He has seen my tears, he'll soon explain. Oh, part of the dream of Victoria, I hope tonight starts a praise. That's right, that's right, my dear. I just want to say that we received word, and I failed to mention earlier today, Mrs. Swearingen, our missionary in Mexico, has been extremely sick, and she has been in bed for 15 days now, unable to get out of bed. And so if you would pray for her, laboring there in Mexico, they live in El Paso, they pass over into Mexico, minister there in one of the most dangerous parts of all of Mexico. And so if you would just lift Dolores up in prayer, I know that she would appreciate that, her husband, brother Don. And they've been faithful, faithful servants of the Lord all these years. We sure want God to lead in their lives. And of course, in case you haven't heard, brother Tom went home to be with the Lord. yesterday, and so please remember to pray for Patty. Matter of fact, let's pray for that in the offering right now. Dear Lord Jesus, we love you and we thank you for your great love for us. What a wonderful thing it is to be able to come to you with our needs and that you hear and answer them. We don't have to go through a man or through some organization. We have direct access to you. God, we thank you for it. We lift up our dear sister Dolores before you and ask that you would touch her body. We thank you for their faithful service all these years in Mexico. Her and brother Don paid a great price, not only financially, but physically. It's taken a real toll on their bodies. And Lord, I just pray that you lift our dear sister up, that your will would be done in her life. And God, you would just have your hand down and all is there. We pray for sister Patty and the family. We're sure thankful to know that Tom is in your presence. But God, we sure miss him. And we pray that you would be with the family, and of course, church family, Miss Patty, as we walk through these next days. God, our comfort, our strength comes from you, which we rejoice in. We're so thankful to know that he's there with you. We thank you for our blessed hope. We thank you for an opportunity to give to you of that that you have blessed us with. Lord, thankful to be able to give of our tithes and offerings that we might be able to not only support the work here and not only be able to have special speakers in and things like that, but also Lord, that we can give to others and we can be blessings to missionaries and others that are out serving you. So Lord, we pray and ask that you would bless this offering. Lord, that be bountiful to be used for your glory. Lord, you'd be exalted to all that we say and do. And in this offering that you would be pleased to do it. We love you and we ask these things in your blessed name. Amen. Yeah. The hour of Christ's coming is now drawing nigh. The church feels a stirring as we're seeing the signs. So much to accomplish, not a moment to lose. We must remain faithful in all that we do. Redeeming the time. In this evil day Proclaiming the message That Jesus still says To a world lost in darkness Let His light shine Trust and obey Fervently pray Redeeming the time Now more than ever we need to stand true As a bride pure and holy awaiting her groom ♪ Filled with His Spirit ♪ ♪ Believing His Word ♪ ♪ Believing His Word ♪ ♪ Watching and working ♪ ♪ Watching and working ♪ ♪ Until He returns ♪ ♪ Until He returns ♪ ♪ Redeeming the time ♪ ♪ Redeeming the time ♪ ♪ In this evil day ♪ ♪ In this evil day ♪ ♪ Proclaiming the message ♪ ♪ Proclaiming the message ♪ ♪ That Jesus will save ♪ of a ♪ Trust and obey ♪ Trust and obey ♪ Fervently pray ♪ Redeeming the time ♪ Redeeming the time ♪ Redeeming the time Good, stand once again. We'll sing hymn number 121, Like a River Noise. ♪ Like a river glorious, it's God's perfect peace ♪ ♪ A prayer of victorious, with its mighty grace ♪ ♪ Perfect yet it floweth, over every land and sea ♪ ♪ Yet in Provence, we were all aware ♪ ♪ Straight up on Jehovah, hearts are fully blest ♪ ♪ Binding as He promised, worth it, peace and rest ♪ ♪ Never broken water, never traitor's sand ♪ ♪ Not a shade of red, not a part of gray ♪ ♪ State of Honduras, hearts are calling to you ♪ as he promised, perfect peace and rest. An idol, calling from above, traced upon our dial by the Son of God. He gave trust in us. all for us to do. May you trust him wholly, like him only true. Stay upon, Jehovah, hearts are fully blest. in ways. ♪ From God's heaven to a manger ♪ From great riches to the poor ♪ Came the Son of God to seek and save ♪ From the azure halls of heaven ♪ To a rough and rugged cross ♪ Came the song along his life ♪ For all he gave ♪ Redeeming love ♪ A love that knows no limit ♪ Redeeming love ♪ A love that shall not die ♪ My soul shall sing ♪ Mirrored the endless ages ♪ With parts extolling his great love on high ♪ From a loving Heavenly Father ♪ To a world that knew him not came the man ♪ Of sorrows cries the Lord ♪ In my wandering he found me ♪ But my soul with his own blood ♪ Gave to God a forth ♪ A redeeming love ♪ A redeeming love ♪ A love that cannot die ♪ My soul shall sing ♪ Throughout eternal ages ♪ With choirs extol ♪ My soul shall sing throughout the endless ages ♪ ♪ With Parsif still in his great loving arms ♪ Well, amen, it's good to be together today. We do have Brother Gibson preaching for us. His wonderful wife, Lori, there by his side, so he will behave, kinda, maybe a little. Brother Gibson, why don't you come preach for us? My wife meets all these different pastors, wives, and stuff, and she came to me a couple years ago, and she was talking about this Emily Gibson, and I'm like, okay, Emily Gibson, don't place that, and so then I got to meet her husband, Tom, and Brother Tom is Brother Mari's son, and they have a workup in Iowa, and really grown to love and appreciate your son, and then I met his dad, and I go, well, I know why the son can preach so well, it's because he's a chip off the block, right? So I'm glad to have Brother Gibson with us today, I know it'd be a blessing. I say self-proclaimed, yeah. God's blessed us three sons, three daughters, and 27 grandchildren, and one great, and he's a good God. I'm just telling you, he's a good God. And I wasn't brought up in church, never owned a Bible growing up, and my wife was raised Mormon. And we got married at a young age. I was like 14, she was 12. It was Arkansas. It wasn't that young, but pretty young. And we run off to get married and had a baby. Our first child on our second anniversary. Serious mental problems, ended up separated. We moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma. Figured we should just sell everything, move, new start somewhere. Only to find we took our problems with us. She ended up going back to Illinois, where she was from. And her grandmother got cancer. And my wife had a cousin that rode a bus to a Baptist church, told the children's pastor. He told the pastor, the pastor ended up winning my wife's grandmother to Jesus. And everybody noticed a big change. And he ended up doing the funeral, followed up on family. They come to church service out of respect. He got visitor cards filed up, won my mother-in-law, my father-in-law to the Lord. My wife made a profession and they invited me to watch her get baptized. So I drove from Muscogee, Oklahoma to Danvers, Illinois to watch my wife get baptized. I spent the night in jail in Missouri on the way there. That's where I first met your pastor. He had a prison ministry. But it was obvious I was not a church goer. And the thing that overwhelmed me is how welcome they made me feel when I got come in. You know, you don't know how important that is and how vital when visitors come in. And they weren't looking at me like, what's this guy doing here? They really made me feel like they were just thrilled that I was there. My daughter sent me a text a couple of years ago. And she said, dad, her husband, they do the bus ministry in the church where they're at. And her husband had security that day. She was sitting in church with the children and said a man come and sat on the same pew as her and said, looked over and said he's just kind of long hair and scringy and you could just smell cigarettes, smoke and all that was your daddy not many years ago. And she said, thank you for responding to the gospel. Thank you for the way you raised us. And then she said she just started crying and went over to the man and said, today, just know what he could become if you just let Jesus get a hold of his life. But I sat in church that day and come and sat on the back pew. I draw them back so that people see it. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm just teasing. I'm teasing. I sat on the back pew. And she talked about a savior that I've been trying to fill a void that I couldn't fill. And I really don't remember how I got to the altar. I just knew I had to get there. I don't know if I climbed over pews. I don't know if I pushed people out of the way. I don't know if I walked or ran. I just knew I had to get there and fell on my face and begged God to save me, and he did. When you talk about a burden lifted, I was so excited I kissed my mother-in-law. Then God began to work on our hearts about putting a marriage back. I never saw a book like that. My wife and I, God being the work of the heart about putting a marriage back together. I don't know how many times as an altar saying, God, I don't know how to do this. I've made a mess of things. I don't know how to be a husband. I don't know how to be a daddy. Please teach me, help me. I wasn't brought up in a home that showed a lot of emotion. There were no hugs, no I love you's. Headlocks once in a while, but if you say to your parents I love you, I would say yeah. It's not like we're mistreated or abused. Just wasn't a lot of affection shown. I do one of two things. I could either say to my wife, look, that's not me. It's not the way I was raised. Or I could say God changed me. Helped me to be the godly man my wife deserves to have as a husband and the godly parent and daddy my children deserve to have within their home. The next year on Father's Day, I got saved in November. That next June, we're trying to get our marriage together on Father's Day. My wife gave me the greatest tool any man could ever have to fix any problem in his home. She gave me my first whole Bible. It's not a book like this anywhere. It's a wonderful book. Preacher, thank you for allowing us to be here. We're blessed, our children serving the Lord and things, and we're just, we're so blessed, and we've got grandchildren now that have surrendered to preach, and it's just, he's a good God. I'm just telling you, he's a good God, and I'm thankful for my wife. We've been married 48 years in January, and I mean, I've been married to her 48 years, she's been married to me 48 years, that's 96 years altogether. We've been married, she thinks it's longer, but anyway, it's just, but I'm thankful, you know, God, if I could handpick everything I needed in a preacher's wife, I could not have done better than what God gave me while I was still a lost man. And he's a good God. He really is. I'm tossed between a couple messages this morning. That's usually the way I am. I'm kind of one way or the other. And sometimes I'll ask my wife, what do you think? And she'll say, I'm not the Holy Spirit. And I think, when did that happen? Anyway. She said, you're going to have to get this one from God, you know. But it's kind of some Sundays you feel that way. I don't know. But anyway, take your Bible to Mark, chapter number two, if you would. And it's all good. I'm telling you, it's just a good book. You'll never go wrong with a book. And I tell you, it's just an amazing, amazing book. How many of you would rather be in church this morning than in the hospital? How many of you would rather be here than in jail? How many of you ought to be in jail? How many of you ought to be in jail? And there was a man that just got out of prison that Saturday. And his grandfather took him to that church when he was a little boy. And he made a mess of his life, ended up in prison. And while he's in prison, he's got two boys. He said, my boys deserve better than this. So he was committed as soon as he got out. So he came back to that church and I said, how many of y'all be in jail? He told me after, I was thinking, who told him? And I preached that day and he come forward and he told me, man, I got two boys, they deserve better. Anyway, he got saved that morning and his name was Craig. And man, God got a hold of his heart. And some of his old running buddies said, Craig, what in the world has happened to you? He said, well, I went down to that church and I met Jesus. And they said, do you think we could go? He said, I don't know, I'll call. So he called me. He said, I got some buddies wondering if it's okay if they come to church. I said, tell them to come. I'm just talking big old guys, tattoos, imps with daggers and all kinds of things, just rough gang members. And they started getting saved. We called them Craigslist. They just get saved one by one. It was just amazing. I'm glad God saves anybody, amen. He's a good God. He'll save you in the gutter. He'll save you from a church period. You can be brought up in church. Take the same amount of blood of Jesus to save somebody brought up in church as it does somebody out in the gathering. So he's a good God. I'm telling you, he really, really is. Mark chapter number two this morning, beginning of verse number one. When you find it, if you don't mind standing with us, if you're able to, if you're not able, that's fine. You can remain seated and just opportunity to stretch here before the four-hour message. And it's not, we won't be long. You usually have a morning and afternoon. We're just gonna combine them one long, no, I'm teasing, I'm teasing, I'm teasing. Mark chapter number two begin verse number one. And again, he entered into Capernaum after some days. It's talking about Jesus. And it was noised that he was in the house. Wouldn't that be a good thing to be noised abroad that Jesus is here? You know, I never dreamed I'd want to spend my Sundays in church. I'm just growing up. I just, I'm not going to get deep. I'll just say I played in a band as a teenager called Satan Splendor. That just, you just throw it all in there you want to. I never dreamed I'd want to be in church on Sunday. And I certainly never dreamed I'd be on this side of the pulpit. in the church. And I love coming to the house of God. But could I tell you, I like it best when he's home. You know, wouldn't be a good thing to be noisy abroad. Man, I tell you, you just get to, I'm telling you, just God's there. We had a guy that visited one time when I was pastoring for one of the megachurch things, and he come in, and man, by the way, thank you for your music and everything. Man, that was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. The choir singing that, was that not awesome? I wanted to do a lap, but I just wasn't sure. If I had an artificial leg, I'd have swung it. I'm just telling you. By the way, that's the rule. If you want to say hot dog here, you've got to be able to have a leg that detaches. Otherwise, you can't do it. If you were in Sunday school, you missed that part. But the choir, and they looked like they were enjoying what they were singing and all. And then I looked over at the piano at Miss Cindy. Good night, man, she was enjoying it over there. I'm gonna tell you, she was in it, and I thought, man, that's exciting. It was a blessing, and then the quartet got up, and I take it that bass, your voice has changed already. I take it, so that's, I'm gonna say, so, but man, that was just, all the singing, the specials, all of it, just wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. But we had a guy that visited, and he came from a mega church, and he said, you know, when I go there, I feel good. But when I come here, I feel God. And I'd much rather go somewhere where I feel God than just to come in and feel good. I like coming to the house of God, but I like it best when he's home. And there was noise, he was in the house. And straightway, many were gathered together, and so much there was no room to receive them, though not so much as about the door. And he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And they could not come nine unto him for the press. And when they could not come nine unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was. And when they had broken it up, they let down the bed where the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certainly the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, Why does this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in the spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, He said to them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee? Or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, he saith to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion. Father, again, thank you for the privilege we had to be in your house. Thank you for the sweet spirit that's here. God, we've been at this long enough to know that the sweet spirit and the liberty that we have behind the Pope, it is in direct correlation. to the relationship the man of God that stands behind this pulpit on a weekly basis has with you. And thank you for the sweet spirit that's here. Thank you for the man of God you've led this way and his dear wife, the people you've given to them. And God, again, our hearts desires that we might be a help to this ministry. So I pray you'd help us this morning with the thoughts you've laid on our heart. Let our hearts be open and receptive. Dear God, speak to us today. I promise we'll give you the praise for all that you do, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you. You can be seated this morning. If you've been in church any length of time, no doubt you've heard messages from this portion of scripture and usually it deals with the four men and how they brought the one, they tore up the roof and led him down to Jesus. And usually it's a message on that realm of bringing people to Jesus or tearing up the roof, whatever the case might be. And certainly they're the main characters. This really stands out within this portion of scripture. And I was reading this one time, you know, the amazing thing about the Bible, there's only one interpretation, but many applications that can be made in the word of God. But I was reading this, and Jesus, of course, in his earthly ministry had established the church. And the first 150 years of church history, they met in houses or open markets, wherever they could. And then they began to build buildings that we could meet in. And aren't you glad we've got a church building to meet in today? And I mean, wouldn't you hate to get a call last night and say, hey, by the way, we're gonna meet in so-and-so's house today, but they're sick. We're coming to your house for church tomorrow. Aren't you glad we've got a place to meet here this morning? and such, but Jesus established their early ministry, and different places they met and gathered together, and here he is, he's in a house, and he's preaching, and I was reading through this a while back, and I noticed as he's preaching within the house, the different types of people that are found inside the house on that day. And then I began to think about the churches I pastored. Our ministry has been either we've started churches or we've taken churches and dwindled down and we strive to build them up. It's not what we planned to do, just kind of what we ended up doing. Every place we went, we felt like we'd been there forever. And we were 12 years one place, nine years another. And God would bless and things would happen. And then he'd move us somewhere else to start all over again. Matter of fact, Last one, my wife said, I'd like to do this again while we're young enough, and we were passing a church in Arkansas, and it was running about 600, and we took a church in northwestern Illinois, they were running about 30, and we thought, we ought to do this again while we're young enough. We got there, began to question if we were young enough, but anyway, there was 30 of them, and eight of them left before we got there, another nine left after we got there, and then two of them died, you know, and so down to, but we were there nine years to build it and work on it, and just kind of being, what our ministry has been. Like I said, we didn't plan on it. We knew that would be our last pastor. We told him we'd give him nine or ten years, and we were there nine years. He'll bring another man on and so forth. But it's kind of been our ministry. But I've been looking at all the churches that we've pastored and the types of people within the churches, and I found the same types of people in the house with Jesus on this day that were in the church that I pastored. And then we've been blessed to be able to go out and preach in different churches as well and things, and even the church we've gone in. I begin to think about the different types of people that are there as well. It seems like the same types of people that are found in the different churches. And so I want to bring a message this morning on four types of people in the church house. And within this, I don't want you to sit and think about, oh, man, that's so-and-so. I want to stop and think, first of all, OK, which of these groups does God see me in? And then the second question, where would God like to see me in my walk with Him? I like the theme you've got this year, you'll love God more. That'll always be our theme. You know that phrase, to love Him with all your heart? That phrase means I could not possibly love Him any more than what I do. And yet I find that I do love you more. It's kind of like, you know, you ladies, when you had your first baby, and man, you love that child so much. And then you know you're expecting your second one. And every mother begins to question, will I be able to love this next one as much as I did this first one? I love this. And you find that your love just expands. And you've got just as much love. Now, the third one's a different story altogether. But the first two, how many of her third child, third or more in your home? See, look around. See what I'm talking about? No, I'm kidding. But you find you can't love more, but you do. And only the four types of people in the church house, and where does God see me? First question. And second question, where would God like to see me in my life? The first is probably the most obvious, and this is what I call the committed. I mean, those are committed to Christ, committed to the cause, committed to the work of the church. It's usually a small percentage. As a matter of fact, in our text, the house is full, and it's only four that are mentioned here. So it's usually a small percentage that's just really committed and involved and in. And here it's four, and they're busy, they're involved and committed. And I'm talking about committed to Christ and committed to the church. As a matter of fact, when I use that statement even about committed people, No doubt about it, right away, your pastor would say, man, that's brother so-and-so, or man, that's sister so-and-so, or, you know, or his wife might think, man, I tell you, that's sister so-and-so, brother so-and-so. Right away, people might come to mind, these are just committed. I mean, you can just count on them. They're there, they're a help, they're involved, and all be committed. You know, we take that verse, not forsaken, the assembling of ourselves together as a man of some is, and we think being assembled together means everybody here. With six children, 27 grandchildren, I bought enough Christmas presents over the years to know just because all the parts are there doesn't mean it's assembled. It's not assembled till every part is in its proper place. And to really be assembled, it means every one of us that are members, everyone here that's a member, would say, OK, where's my place? What does God have me here for? Where do I? And everybody to be involved in that realm. And if we're not, then we might be here, but we're still forsaken the assembling. We're not assembled. We're not in a rightful place as we ought to be. But there's the committed. And with the committed, there's hearkening. By that I mean they're listening. Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost. They're gonna get somebody, bring them to Jesus. They're listening to what is taking place and they're bringing him. They're about God's business. Matter of fact, hold your place there in Mark chapter two and go back to Genesis chapter 49 if you would. Get your Bible with you this morning, say amen. I don't know if I mentioned it, but this is a good book. I mean, I'm just telling you, you're not gonna go wrong with this book. Genesis chapter 49, Jacob is about to die. He's gathered his children together. He's imparting things unto them. Verse number one, so Jacob called unto his sons and said, gather yourselves together. I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together and hear ye sons of Jacob and hearken unto Israel your father. He makes a statement to hear and to hearken. I said with committed, there's hearkening. There's a difference between hearing and hearkening. Matter of fact, the words hear and hearken are found together in 20 verses in the Word of God. To hear means to be attentive. It means I'm listening, attentive, paying attention. And certainly when the preacher gets up, preaches the Word of God, we ought to be attentive. And we ought to be listening to what's taking place. But the word hearken goes a little further. It means to broaden the ear with the hand. It's written in the context of, I'm listening for the purpose of applying what I hear. We can come in and hear and say, that's truth, that's right, and not apply anything. But to hearken means I'm listening for the purpose of applying what I hear. What is said, I'm gonna apply it. I'm gonna respond to the truth that is there. Matter of fact, Zechariah, you don't have to turn to Zechariah chapter seven, verse number 11 says this. But they refused to hearken and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone. If we don't come listening for the purpose of applying what we hear, it'll be long when we come, we won't even be listening. And our hearts will get hard. The only way to keep our heart tender is to come with a mindset of preach to me, preacher. Man, I want to apply whatever it is I hear. And with the committed people, there's hearkening. I mean, the preacher may say, I'm telling you, we need somebody to do, and man, they're on it. They're listening for the purpose of applying. With the committed people, there's hearkening. Could I say with the committed people, there's harmony. They're able to work together. Now, I always pictured it this way. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I see the man in the bed. He's born of four. I've always pictured one man on each corner of the bed. Is that the way you pictured it? I mean, I don't see all four in one corner just dragging him down the road. I just kind of pictured all four in one corner. And with them, there's harmony. They're able to work together. When they get there, I don't think, when those committed people, they don't get there and say, wait a minute, you know that's my corner. I always take this corner. You know that's, no, no. They just find an empty spot, and they fill in wherever they can. With the committed people, there's harmony. They're able to work together. Amazing thing about committed people, man, you give them something to do, and they just find an empty spot. Where can I be a hit? Where can I be involved? And they're all working together. You hear about this all the time. But I was in a church. I was about the second or third pew sitting there looking over the message, you know, trying to refresh my mind and think about things. And a lady come to the edge of the pew, and I thought she was going to say, glad to have you here today or something like that. And I looked up and said, how you doing today, sis? And she said, you're in my seat. I said, okay, so I just got up and moved. One time we pulled in a parking lot in a church, just backed in a parking lot, and somebody rolled their window down, that's my parking spot! Okay, welcome to church, we're glad you're here, you know, type thing. But with the committed people, there's harmony. I mean, they just find where they can fit in. What can I do to help? And man, they just work good together. They go the same direction, they go the same speed. If they have to slow down for it, they do so. They just work together with them, there's harmony. With the committed people, there's humility. You know, not one of their names is mentioned, but they're not looking for the recognition. As pastors, often you'll try to be mindful of what people do, and your pastor may get up sometimes, and, by the way, I appreciate brother so-and-so did this, or brother, sister so-and-so did this. And you know, with the committed people, every time you do that, they just put their head down, they start shaking it, and they'll come up after church every time. Preacher, don't do that. That's not why I do that. I just want to be a help. You don't have to say something in that realm. And within those humility, they're not looking for recognition. I've had others that I've passed them. I mean, we had one man, if he picked up a piece of paper in the parking lot and he'd come in and threw it away, he would come tell me, by the way, there's a piece of paper out there in the parking lot and I picked it up and brought it in and threw it away. And if somewhere in the service we didn't stop and say, oh, by the way, brother so-and-so, would you stand over here, folks? Look, brother so-and-so found a piece of paper out in the parking lot today and picked it up and brought it in. Could we give him a round of applause this morning? Matter of fact, we have here the prestigious parking lot, picking paper, picking up a plaque. Whatever it's called, to present to you today in honor of what you've done. But it's not that way with the committed people. They're not looking. Some people, I mean, they get upset. Committed people don't. Matter of fact, they just want to be a help to the work of God. With the committed people, there's heart. You know, when they come to the house and they couldn't get in because of the press, That's what the average Baptist would say. Well, we tried. But committed people are always going to find a way to get it done. When I pastored, I had some people committed. You know, they never come back with excuses. They just always found a way to get it done, you know? Let me say here, you four guys right here, you'd be perfect, okay? Come on up here. I need the biggest man in the church to lay down here. No, I'm just kidding. You guys, all right, here's the four that are gonna carry. What's your name? Logan. Logan, that's right, just checking. You? Jay. Jay, all right, Jay. That's my middle name, Jay. Really? But I can't sing that low, and you are? Reed. Reed, all right, Reed. And? Caleb. Caleb? Huh, Caleb? All right, awesome, awesome. When I pastor, I use a lot of time to bring people up. Sometimes I just bring them up, just preach away, throw them back down again, just go on. I was preaching one time, I picked a kid up from the front row, beat him, threw him back down. Anyway, gave the invitation, he come forward and got saved. It was a visitor. He said, I had to get saved. You beat the devil out of me. So anyway, I thought I'd try it again. And this one. So these are the four here. I think they've come. And they come to the house. I can't get in because of the press. And which of these four would come up with the wildest ideas? Wow. Nobody even hesitated. It was just, how many believers read? Man, look at there, man. All right, so anyway, they get together, can't get in, and they're wondering, man, what are we going to do? We can't get in here. And Reed says, hey, I got an idea. And all of them go, oh, no. Reed's got an idea. And he goes, no, no, no, no. Hear me out. Hear me out now. What if, what if, now listen, hear me out. What if, what if, what if we were to, no, no, no, don't write me off. Listen, listen. What if we were to take him, now listen, what if we were to get him on the roof? Wait, wait, wait, hear me out. Find where Jesus is at, tear it up, and let him down through the roof. Doesn't it sound crazy? And the rest of you, you're right, Reed. That is a crazy idea. But this is Shawnee Mission Baptist Church, and crazy is what we do around here, you know? And so it's, OK, we've got to find where he's at. So he gets up here on the roof. I mean, he's looking. Listen, no, he's not here. No, we're here. OK, yeah, here he is. Here he is, right here. And they dig up the hole and let him down. With committed people, I mean, they always find a way to get it done. Y'all can sit down. Thank you. You did a great job. But I'm not sharing my love offering with you, OK? with committed people that's honoring. Look at verse number five, when Jesus saw their faith. It wasn't even the faith of the sick man when he saw their faith. God blessed because of committed people. Matter of fact, look down at verse number 12, immediately he arose, took to the bed, went forth for them all insomuch that they were all amazed. Wouldn't it be good to come to church and be amazed? No, would it be good to leave church and say, that was amazing? They're all amazed and glorified God. Not the four men. They left saying, wow, that was amazing. Did you see what God did? That was amazing. And they left, said, we never saw it in this fashion. And they put that in Arkansas terms. Ain't never seen nothing like that before. They left saying, that was amazing. Did you see what God did? Never seen anything like that. That was amazing. I love coming to church when God moves and does things and we leave just saying, that was amazing. Did you see what God did? I can't wait to get back and see what he's going to do next time. Now, if God did that in a church for just four committed people, Imagine what he'd do at Shawnee Mission Baptist Temple with a house full of committed people. All of us would agree, whether we see ourself here or not, this is where God would like to see us, is committed. There's a second group of people, verse number six, but there were certainly the scribes sitting there. and reasoning in their hearts. Why does this man, who can forgive? There's the critics. The Bible said they're just sitting there. They're not bringing anybody, just sitting there. And reasoning in their hearts. Why? Who? Why did the preacher do this? Whose idea was that? Now truth is, every one of us are made of flesh. And all it takes sometimes is for one person to say something negative. If we're not careful, we can join in. And there's times I've found myself being critical. And could I tell you the truth? I don't even like myself when I get that way. I know God doesn't like it. I'll tell you some things about the critics. They halted growth. Verse two, he's preaching the word. Now the critics come on, and Jesus has got to quit teaching them, and he's got to deal with the situations. One of the definitions of scorner in the Old Testament is arsonist. It's like just starting little fires. And when the preacher ought to spend his time getting something to feed, he's got to be running around putting out this fire, and putting out this fire, and putting out this fire. They halted growth. Physically. Numerically. They hindered grace. The man should have picked up his bed in verse number 5. But he didn't get to do that till verse number 12. I wonder how many times God's wanting to meet a need in somebody's life. But because we might have an attitude or spirit that's not right, and some might say, well, I may think things, I never say anything. They didn't either. They just reasoned in their hearts. But there's a God in heaven that knows what's even taking place in our hearts. And the grace that should have been displayed to him back in verse number five didn't happen until verse number 12. And they're handled by God. Jesus turns and says, why reason you? Basically, he says, why do you do this? And I think sometimes when I get myself caught up, it's like he says, why do you do this? I want to do so many good things. Why in the world would you find yourself being critical instead of committed? And every one of us can find ourselves there. There's not a one of us above that. There's a third group, and I just call that the crowd. There are many there that day couldn't get in because of the press. And these are people that are here. You're not critical, but you're not committed either. You're just here. And can I say, we're always thankful for every person that's here. Because you're the hopefuls. Every time the preacher gets up and preaches the word of God, the desire is that God will get a hold of your heart, and you become a little more committed. and that God will bring you closer to Him. You're the hopefuls desiring that God get a hold of your heart, that you learn to love God more, you learn to be more committed, that God speaks in your heart, He helps your life, He helps your marriage, He helps your home, that we see God bless you and God use you. You're the hopefuls, you're also the hunted. You say, well, what do you mean? Well, not just as a preacher of the Holy Spirit of God, hunting you and wanting to get you closer to God, but you know, whenever critics get in a church, The critics will never go to the committed to complain, because they're usually complaining about the committed. So they'll kind of go to the crowd, those that aren't really involved. I just learned over the years that I'm not a garbage can for people to come Dump stuff. Garbage can ears are just as bad and such. But the crowd, you're here, you're not committed, you're not critical, but they're gonna be both sides. And I'm not saying there's a big split in the church, I'm just saying the committed people wanna see you get committed. And if there is somebody that gets critical, that's the ones they'll go to as well. And so you're the hopefuls to see you get more committed. Every one of us are in one of these three groups. Either committed, critical, or just part of the crowd. There's a fourth group. And you can be in any one of the first three and be in this fourth group. You can be committed and be in this fourth group. The fourth group is the crippled. Somebody needing something from God. Somebody needed to get to God. Somebody needed Jesus. Can I tell you something about the crippled? He was hurting. This man had palsy, and nobody else might know exactly how he's hurting. Palsy is a type of paralysis. He's bedridden. He can't move. He can't get up. But even with that, my mom, before she passed away, had several strokes, and her arms were drawn up and curled in, and we'd have to pry them open and cut her nails and clean in there so it doesn't get cut and infected. And, man, I remember every time we'd pry them open, how she would scream, The pain that was there and and sometimes there's a lot of outward pain But sometimes sometimes there's an inward pain and sometimes the inward pain is a lot greater than what takes place even on the outside Job made the statement Job chapter 23. My stroke is heavier than my groaning What Job is saying is there's a lot more going on the inside than I let know on the outside He was hurting and nobody else sitting around might even know how much he was hurting. I You could be here today, you could be amongst the committed people, and you may be here, and nobody else knows what's taking place on the inside, and you're needing God to do something that nobody else might know, just how much you're hurting on the inside. Back in, I'm trying to think, 2018, 2019, I was preaching in Duncan, Oklahoma, and got a phone call that our, at that time, 29-year-old son had a stroke. He's married, had three little girls at the time, We got a phone call, he had a stroke. He was unresponsive. The guy in the hospital had a stroke and his left side was not working. And so my wife and I were at the meeting and I went to let the pastor know that we're gonna be heading back home, that our son had a stroke. And he's six foot four. He trains horses, he shows horses. He's just a good looking young man. He got his looks from me. Mama still has hers. And so, but, and had a stroke, left side not working. So we're packing our stuff up to go, and my phone rings, and I look and see it's Noah, our youngest son, and so I answer, and he says, Dad, do not come home. Do not come home, Dad. You stay there and you preach. I said, son, you're our son, we're coming home. No, no, no, dad, you stay there and you preach. They need you to preach. Then he began to tell us that everything had settled down, the run and test, and if anything changed, he's called. But he said, you just stay there and you preach. One month and one day later, preaching in Stratford, Missouri, I get a phone call. I see it's his phone. I answer it. I hear sirens going off in the background. It's the EMT worker in the ambulance. He said, Brother Gibson, we've got your son. He's had another stroke. He's unresponsive. If we're going to such and such high school, we're life-flighting him to Peoria, Illinois. I pulled, I was driving, I pulled the van off the side of the road and just, any daddy would do, just sit there and wept and prayed. My wife wasn't with me, about five minutes later my phone rings and I see it's my wife. I contacted her and I knew if I didn't have to go home for my son, I definitely had to go home for my wife. We headed home, we watched him as he would struggle, he'd fall, he'd need help getting up, speech. He's taking therapy, and the therapist said, Noah, you're sure handling this all pretty well. I mean, we just saw, you're talking about the grace of God. He handled it better as a 29-year-old man than I would as a 67-year-old man if it happened. He said, well, it makes a difference when you know the Lord. And he pulled out a track and invited her to church. And she said, Noah, you're not the pastor there, are you? Because I don't mean this in a wrong way, but it would take you three hours to preach a message. He laughed and said, no, my dad is the pastor, but you might still be there for three hours. And looking outwardly, you could see the grace of God and how he handled things. But I promise you, I promise you, as a 29-year-old man with three daughters at home, there was a lot more going on on the inside than what he let know on the outside. He was hurting. I'll tell you something else about the crippled man. He was helpless. He was unable to help himself or do anything about a situation. You might be here tonight, and you're hurting, and nobody else knows how much, and you feel so helpless. It may be something in your personal life. It may be your marriage. It may be your children. It could be a variety of things. His paralysis, he couldn't walk on his own. It could have been in his life. It was because of sin. That's the first thing Jesus said. It wasn't pick your bed. Well, the first thing was I sins be forgiven thee. So it might have been an issue because of sin. And sometimes it's that it's that way. It's like the man that brought a son to Jesus says he has the spirit. The boy has a spirit. The next person says with us wherever he the spirit taken him started off. The boy had the spirit, but ended up the spirit had the boy. And sin is that way it will start off. You have the sin, but before you know it, the sin has you. And it's got such a grip on you, and you find yourself doing things today that a year ago you never dreamed you'd be doing. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you, if something had happened, you'd find yourself a year from now doing things you never dreamed you'd be doing today. Maybe it was sin that's got such a grip and a hold, but he was helpless. And now it's to the place, I just, I can't help myself. I'll tell you something else, he was hungry. I don't think those four men just broke in the house, picked him up, and drug him to the church house. I think this conversation took place. I think they come and said, sir, you've got a need. We know somebody who can help you. If we could just get you to Jesus. And I think he was hungry enough to say, let's do it. I want some help. I need some help. Then could I say he was humble? When they got to the church house and they come up with a wild idea, you know, let's get him on the roof. Again, I think there's a conversation took place. We can't get in because of the press, but I know, I know Jesus can help you. We can get you there by 10. Here's what we come up with. We got a crazy man come up with an idea of getting you up on the roof, tearing it up, letting you down. It's going to be dangerous. We're going to get you up on the roof, find where Jesus is at. tear it up and let you down, it's going to be dangerous. But I think he was humbled to the point that he said, whatever it takes, I don't want to leave the same way I came. I need some help. And whatever it takes, I want some help. And he was helped. You'll never get help until you're hungry enough and humble enough to say whatever it takes. And it may be you're to the place you even need help getting to Jesus. This man did. It may be you come say, you know, Pastor, I just, I don't even know how to get there. I'm just trying to, things just, I don't even, I need some help. He was humble enough and hungry enough to say whatever it takes. I don't want to leave the same way I come in. I need some help. You can be in any one of the other three groups. Now, all of us, the desire ought to be, I want to be more committed. I want to be more committed. I want to be more committed. I want to love God more. I want to be more committed. Some of you maybe just come Sunday morning, pick up Sunday school, or pick up a Sunday night. I want to be more committed. My prayer life, my Bible, I would just be more committed. We find ourselves critical to stop and say, God, I don't even like myself when I'm here. I don't even know how I got here, but I don't like it. God, I don't want to be here. Help me be more committed. And when the thoughts come in my mind, I tend to be, help me to stop that and say, that's not where I want to be. I want to be more committed. But any one of us, you can be in any group and be here like the crippled man. You're needing something from Jesus today. I'm glad that day that I walked in the church 46 years ago this November, walked in that church, sat on the back, needing something from Jesus. And I'm glad I was humble enough and hungry enough to say whatever it takes to just find myself with an altar before Him. And I'm telling you, it was a life-changing event, hard-telling where I'd be today had I held on and walked out the back doors. Wouldn't have our marriage. Wouldn't have Tom. We got a son, Jerry, that's a pastor. We got Tom and Jerry. Always wonder what kind of parents did things like that. He pastors in Alabama. Got a son-in-law, prints Bibles in the Philippines. Married to our daughter. She wouldn't be. I don't know. None of the others would. No one else might know what's going on on the inside, but there's a God in heaven. It says if you'll be hungry enough and humble enough, you can get help. Father, thank you for the morning you've given to us. Thank you for your Bible. What an amazing book. Convicts my heart, it feeds my soul. Please meet needs today. It's about for just a moment. The greatest need, of course, is salvation if you don't know Christ as your Savior. How many could say this morning, Brother Gibson, I know, no doubt about it, if I was to die, heaven's my home. I'm not asking if you've been baptized. I'm not asking if you believe there's a God. I'm not asking if you're a church member. I'm not asking if you brought up in a Christian home. Jesus said, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That's what I'm asking. How many could say, preacher, I've been born again, heaven's my home, no doubt about it. Would you raise your hand as a testimony of that? No one looking around. God bless you can put them down. Is there any this morning that say, Brother Gibson, I could not raise my hand to that, or maybe I did, but the truth is I really don't know for sure I'd go to heaven, but I sure don't want to go to hell. Would you please pray for me? I'm not going to call you out by name. I'm not going to come to you. I'm not going to do anything to embarrass you. I just want to pray for you because hell is an awful place and eternity is an awful long time. He said, Brother Gibson, I do not know I'd go to heaven, but I'd like to know that. Would you please pray for me? Can we see your hand this morning? Just tip it up high enough to see it. We might pray for you this morning. How many would say this morning, Brother Gibson, I don't know about anyone else, but God spoke to my heart this morning. I need to be more committed in my life. That's a crowd I know God would like me to be, but the truth is I'm probably not there as much as I ought to be. Would you pray for me that I'll be a little more committed to him, to the cause, to the church ministry here? Would you pray for me? Could we see your hands across the room? Be a little more committed. God bless you. Several hands across the building. I wonder if there might be some that say, Brother Gibson, you said it right. Man, it's so easy to get caught up and become critical. Truth is, I don't even like myself here. I know God doesn't like me. I don't even know how I got here. But I'm afraid that's where God would see me today. And I don't want that. Brother Gibson, would you pray for me that God will help me to be less critical and more committed? Could we see your hands across the room this morning? God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. How many would say, Brother Gibson, I'm like the crippled man today. I'm needing something from God. No one else might even know how much I'm hurting, a lot more on the inside than what I show on the outside. But I'm hungry enough and I'm humble enough. I don't want to continue on the way it is. I need help. Would you pray for me whatever it takes? I don't want to leave the same way I came in. Would you pray for me today? Could we see your hand across the room? God bless you, God bless you, several, several across the building. I'm telling you, there's a God in heaven that can meet your need. That's what he does. And no one else might know, but he knows. And if you'll be hungry enough and humble enough to say whatever it takes, you can get some help. And if you need somebody to help you get to Jesus, man, you ought to go to your preacher and say, preacher, here's where I'm at. But I'm hungry enough, humble enough, I don't want to stay here. I need some help. Help me. Help me get to Jesus. Father, we've seen hands all across the room this morning. You've seen beyond that. You've seen the hearts. You know the lives. Well, there might be a lot of things hid from us today, but there's nothing hid from you. Please, dear God, meet needs today. For some of us that find ourself critical, might we find, coming to the altar, saying, oh, dear God, forgive me. I don't even like being here. I know you don't like it. Help me be less critical, more committed. And maybe some that just, we need to be more committed. Might we find ourselves on an altar this morning saying, dear God, I just want to present myself. Help me to be more committed to you, to your ministry, to the work. Then, dear God, we pray for the crippled this morning, needing something from you. Might we be humble enough and hungry enough to find ourselves an altar that we desire to leave this place different than when we come in. We need something from you. Do that work only you can. Meet needs in hearts and lives. We'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. As we stand to our feet, music begins. God dealt with your hearts, you come this morning. You hungry enough and humble enough, whatever it takes. He's looking for more committed. The altar's a good place to commit yourself. A good place to come. What is it you need? Nobody else might even know what's taking place on the inside. Might be a lot more pain. Your stroke might be a lot heavier than you're growing, as Job said. And what's going on the inside's a lot more than what's going on the outside. How do you feel helpless? Things out of your control. Not a thing I can do, just hurting. But if you'd be hungry enough and humble enough, whatever it takes, whatever I need to do, let's do it. I need to get to Jesus. I need some help. Imagine what God would do in this place with a house full of committed people. People come in and say, man, I'm telling you, that's just amazing. We'd have to say, it's the psalmist. This is the Lord's doing. It's marvelous in our eyes. That was amazing. Never saw a thing like that. I remember pastoring, having services where God would move in. I remember one where he moved in. We had 12 people saved that morning. Didn't get out till quarter after one. Nobody upset. My song leader, he was very organized. He could organize the fun out of anything. I look, he's gone. I said, look back, he's sitting in the choir loft. I said, what are you doing back there? He said, I'm just getting out of the way. I said, I think I'll join you. I loved it when we leave Sandman, that was just amazing. That was just amazing. And he did it not for the sake of the crippled man, he did it for the sake of the committed people when he saw their faith. ♪ Just as I am without you ♪ The Lord's spoken to your heart today and encouraged you to come. Good challenge. You're here without Christ as your Savior. I'd love to take a bite and show that you can know how you're saved and on your way to heaven. Your tiredness, your life where it's at, I'd love to help you with that too. Whatever your need is today, I'd encourage you to come. just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of wonder but to thee whose blood can cleanse each Just as I am, though tossed about, With many a conflict, many a doubt, My dreams and fears within, It's good to be in the Lord's house today and to have you with us. Prayer area, ask that you'd remember to pray for Miss Patty and those that are listed there. Pray for Mrs. Swearingen, pray for Mrs. Clem, didn't see her earlier today, but she, of course, broke her hip, had surgery, and now trying to get home and get into rehab here. in the Kansas City area, and Sophie would be praying that God would put all that together and work all that out. And then we'll be back this afternoon. Before we get to this afternoon, one o'clock service, we're gonna have lunch, and I encourage you to stay. We're gonna have potatoes, and I don't know what else, but everything that goes with potatoes, I think. So we got a baked potato bar today, And so if you're here with us, we'd love to have you stay and enjoy a time of fellowship. I encourage you to do so. I'm gonna have the Gibsons go ahead and make their way back here. Brother Matt, show them where we'd like to have them stand. You can go by and shake their hands. If you can stay, would encourage you for that. If not, if you wanna leave, come back at one. That'd be great too. We just really enjoy having you with us. So let's go to Lord and close in a word of prayer. Reed, come on up here. They picked on you enough. They picked on you enough, I might as well pick on you too. Why don't you close us in a word of prayer, son. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you. I pray that you. you