Good to be in church tonight. Revelation chapter number 19. Brother Bert, I need to ask you one favor. Make sure that Miss Lisa got that, and if not, then be glad to sit down with her and go further with that. Yes, sir. My privilege. Revelation chapter number 19. Now if you'll remember last week we left off with verse number 8. Her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. If you remember we got to the end of that and we were talking about the doors opening up in the back back there and the Lord looking at his bride and saying, Honey, you couldn't have at least taken the curlers out of your hair and why you got your house coat on. Remember that? Wasn't that a blessing? Okay, well, anyway, and then he says this, verse number 9, And he saith unto me, Right, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant. and of thy brethren that have testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Father, I pray that you might help us to be over a couple of verses here tonight. Thank you, God, for the privilege of being here. Thank you, Lord, for having this church to come to, still being able to come and freedom and worship you. Ask God that we'll take advantage of it while we can. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. I think you may be seated. There's two things here I want you to see right off the bat. First of all, verse number 9. Now, here's where there are differing opinions, and I'll give them both to you, and you can make your decision. The bottom line is, come to the book of Luke, chapter number 14. Some people say that the marriage supper of the Lamb is up in heaven. Some people say that the marriage supper of the Lamb is on earth. Here's what you need to know about it. You will be at the marriage supper because it will be in your honor. So whether it's going to be there or here, you're going to be there because you're the guest of honor. There are guests that are invited to this wedding supper. Not to the judgment seat of Christ. They don't get invited there. They don't get invited to when you get up there. They're not in the Bride of Christ, but they're guests that are invited to come to the supper. If you get invited to come in, you can come in. It is possible that it happens after the Battle of Armageddon, when we all sit down there in the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom, because he says to the apostles, that I'll knock when he takes the cup, I won't drink it again with you until I drink it new, meaning new wine, grape juice, in the kingdom. Now that could be a separate event or that could be the marriage supper of the Lamb. There's a couple of passages that seem to indicate that it might take place up there. There's a couple of passages that seem it may indicate that it take place down here on earth. Either place, know this, it's like the tribulation. You don't have to worry about whether there's seven or three and a half left. You're not going to be in any part of it. And so the marriage supper, you're going to be there because you got an automatic invitation the day you got saved. This is for everybody that's saved. It's not just for people that pass muster at the judgment seat of Christ. Everybody in the body of Christ gets to come to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And that's a lot of times where I paint the picture of the Lord going around there like he did in John 13 there and he's got a towel and he's the maitre d' there and he's asking you, what would you like? And you get to have whatever it is you want to eat. Probably everything that you can possibly imagine minus the calories. one thing that we can do. There's three things as Christians we like to do. Really, we like to sleep, we like to eat, and we like to fight. We could work on that last one there, but we definitely like those three things. Well, when you get up to heaven, here's what it is. What you see down here is a perversion of the real thing up there. So when you're talking about a marriage supper, there's nothing like when we have a wedding or something around here, they have a big reception and they doll it all up and they fix it all up. That's a biblical thing that takes place. You go to the reception after the bride and groom are married. They want all their friends, they want all their family to have a sit down with them and to enjoy fellowship around food. And so as a result, that's something that's going to take place. The Lord knows what we like to do, and it's a natural thing. What happens? In the garden, what does He do? He creates food for them. One of the most enjoyable things in the world there is to do is eat. I mean, it's a drag when you have to eat, you know, fast food and snack food and all that other kind of stuff. But if you've got really good food, I mean, somebody that can really cook, and even occasionally a gourmet kind of a meal, there's something about your taste buds, man, that just stand at attention. Well, imagine what it'd be like when your taste buds are not tainted by sin. Imagine what it'd be like when the food you're eating has never been tainted by sin. You think you've tasted lobster now? Wait till you get a lobster that's never been touched by sin and he's always swum around in sin-free waters. You never had, you know, he said, well, I eat organic grass-fed beef. You never had the kind of beef he's got. They're called beefs in the Old Testament. You never ate the kind of beef he's got. And the kind of beef he's got has got no hormones and no steroids and no, it's not corn-fed, it's grass-fed, it's not GMO-fed and all that other stuff. And it'll be dry-aged for, oh, I don't know, 1,000 years before you sit down to eat it. Oh, my goodness, man, you're talking about really, you say, why do you say that kind of stuff? The wilder you make it. The wilder he makes it, I have not seen neither heard in the heart of the man, the imagination, the heart of man, the things he hath prepared for them that love him. So the wilder you make it, he's like, I've got to up my ante again, man, there he goes on. So you've got a thousand year old stake, a two thousand, I'll up in two thousand, two thousand year old age stake, that kind of thing, that's how it'll be. All right, now look here, if you will, please, in the book of Luke. You've got to dream about that stuff, ladies and gentlemen. You have to think. Listen, if all you're thinking about is what's going to happen, who's going to win the election in 14 or 16, and what's going to happen to your money, and what's going to happen to your insurance, what a drag, man. If that's all your life is comprised of, you ain't got much of a life. You've got more to live for than that. I mean, enjoy life a little bit. I know we have to work, but you should be working to eat. You should be working to live, not living to work. Enjoy yourself a little bit along the way. You know, if I can get enough nuts sored up for the winter, about the time you do, somebody will come cut your tree down. They'll haul off all the nuts you've got stored up. It's like, wait a minute, man, that's why I had them stored over there, you know? You think I got this stashed here, and I got this stashed here, and I got this stashed here. Hey, man, cut it loose. Don't worry about it. You don't know what's going to come. Listen, if you're saved, you're eternally secure. Enjoy it if you got it. Smoke them if you got them. That's what you need to learn to do. For those of you watching, I don't mean literally, you know, they'll be, okay, man, fire it up, baby. Loop chapter number 14. Yeah, oh boy, there he goes again. You folks are starting to grow around here as a church. You're starting to have a lot of visitors come. And with that also is going to come, you know, some fruits and nuts will come along the way. And they'll have their agendas and things like that. Just let it roll on you like water off a duck's back, man. They're going to come in. I've already gotten some letters from some people. Well, I just believe, you know, if you're going to do a church, you ought to do it this way. And I just believe that. And I don't know, you know, it's like, okay, all right. Well, we've been here 23 years, so, you know, we'll still be here long after you're gone to your next church, hopping around, trying to find out who's going to do it like you think they ought to do it, and nobody does it the way you do it, and that's why you're never in a church nowhere. Or a marriage or anything else, for that matter. Verse number 16. Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many, and sent his serpents a suppertime to say, We are bidden come, all things are now ready. Now you know how this whole thing goes right here. They come down here and they got all these excuses that there's something that means more to them than God does, and so they can't come. Now this is a tight picture of the supper that the Lord's made. Now those that are bidden to come are you later on in the passage. The ones that were originally bidden to come were the Jews. But they got too busy for him. They said, well, I got a wife that's more important than God. I bought some oxen here and I hadn't tried them out yet. What'd you buy them for? You wouldn't buy a car without trying it first, would you? Well, right? Thank you, Brother Mike. You wouldn't. You would at least make sure it cranks up, right? Some of you act like, well, yeah, I did buy that one time. I bet it was a lemon, too. But you wouldn't buy corn. Well, that's like somebody buying some oxen, and they don't even know if the things can stink and plow. Well, that means they're nothing but good to chop them up and use them for hamburger, and that's it. So he says, I got to go try some oxen. You're lying. You wouldn't have bought them if they weren't already tried. I bought a piece of land, I got to go see it. I got some swampland to send you underneath the Matthew's bridge, how about that? You're going to tell me you bought a piece of land and you got to go see the piece of land? Am I aching back? You're kidding me. You say, what is it? It's silly excuses that the Lord said, listen man, you had a chance to get in, but you blew it. Because anything, He's saying this to make this point, anything that you think is more important than God, Don't make no sense at all. And then what he does, he comes down there and because they reject it, he says, we'll go get the blind and the lame and the halt and the misfits and the leprous and all those people. It's like him walking down the alley in the sense, here's an old drunk over here that his breath of blister to paint off a wall at 50 yards. And he's got no teeth in his head and he's nasty and dirty and stinking and filthy. And he walks by over there and he says, hey, you wanna come to a wedding? And the guy says, I don't know, man, who's getting married? He said, oh, the son's getting married. Father's gonna be at the wedding presiding over it. got his bride coming up there. I asked you, Do you want to go? Well, yeah, but you know, like he says, Well, you have to do is wear this robe. You know what them said before? I don't wanna wear that robe is not fashionable. Yeah, I don't wanna wear that robe. I don't really like the way it looks on me. Yeah, I don't wanna wear that robe. It's not a kind to my figure. You know what that old snaggletooth guy says? You mean all I gotta do is put that thing on? He says, yeah, if you put that on, that gives you an automatic in. You mean looking and smelling like this? Yeah, don't worry about it. It has a funny way of cleaning you up as soon as you get on it. As soon as you put that thing on, you'll feel like a whole different person all over again. And so he grabbed that thing and I said, man, that sounds like a good thing. He puts that deal on and he says, come on, it's right over here. That's me and you. You were never intended to get in from the beginning. For God so loved the world. He loved that Jew. He came to save that Jew. But that Jew rejected. You know what the Lord said? I'm going to make them jealous, so I'm going to get the worst one there of the bunch. I'm going to get the Gentile. Thank you, Lord. If you can't take yourself among there, you're not saved. So I don't believe I'm the worst one. Okay, well then you haven't read much of your Bible. Start Genesis 1-1 in the beginning. And you go through and you get through by the time you're done with about old Kings, you'll be thinking, good night, man. We ain't no good for nothing, are we? By the time you're there in Kings or Chronicles right along in there, you'll have enough of it. All right, so now that's one of the illustrations that he gives. Come back up a little bit further to Luke chapter number 12. Luke chapter number 12. And look, if you will, please, in verse number 35. This is the second coming here that takes place. Now when I preach on heaven, I preach about the Lord setting the table up there in heaven. We have a picture that Miss Bridget drew for us up there in the fellowship hall. It's got a long table there, and it kind of runs off out into the sunset. I like to think about that's probably where the thing will take place. But it could happen on earth. If it is, it'll be the most beautiful garden setting you've ever seen in your life. With everything you can possibly imagine, I mean lattice with wisteria hanging down and grapes that are full and butterflies flitting across the daisies there and roses and lilies and beautiful garden arrangements and stuff, and no bugs over the food or nothing like that, perfect temperature. You won't need a shawl, but you won't be thinking you're going to break out in a sweat. Temperature would be absolutely perfect. Sun assigned seven times brighter. and not seven times hotter. You'll sit in that perfect environment like that and the Lord will be at the head of the table, but you'll think you're the one sitting next to the Lord. You'll feel like He's everywhere. You'll be carrying on a conversation, but you're thinking, I'm talking to the Lord, but everybody else is talking, like prayer. Like that. I like to think of it being up there in heaven with cherubims and the seraphims floating around and that kind of a stuff and angels up there waiting on you and the Lord waiting on you. But it could be on earth. If it is on earth, it'll be as beautiful as it would be in heaven. It'll be beyond anything you can imagine. You say, why? You're his bride, no expense held back. He's got a rich daddy. When you got saved, you got a rich daddy-in-law. Can I just tell you who he is? He owns everything. I mean, he owns everything. You say, no, he don't. Yeah, he owns everything. He even owns what you think you own. It's on loan to you. He owns it. And you don't think he ain't going to throw a party for his son when that time happens. And that's what that is. That supper is the best of the best. You see that thing played out over there in John chapter number 4, where the wedding of Canaan takes place. And the Lord shows up there and all that kind of stuff, and they run out of wine, and it's grape juice, and they run out of wine there. And the guy says, man, what are we going to do? And the mother comes to the son and says, son, what are we going to do? And he says, my time's not yet, mom. It's not time for me to do that yet. Not time for me. He's talking about shedding his blood. And she goes, they need something to drink here, son. What are we going to do? And the Lord says, OK. He looks over there at the vessels of water right there. And like that, turns them to the best grape juice you ever had that came right out of the Garden of Eden. You say, how do you know where they came from? How do you know they didn't? You don't know where they came from. I'm sure they were special grapes. You say, how do you know? The master of the table, the guy comes around there and you know what he says? What are you doing saving the best for last, man? That's what he says. Because the custom was, you come early. Boy, Baptists would be in trouble there. You come early because when you come early, you get the best. But here, the ones that come late get the best. I get the best. Say that I ran out of grape juice. That's okay. What are we going to do about that? I got some special grapes, man. They've been seasoning back there for a while, but they never hardened off. Anybody know what I'm talking about when I say hard apple cider? Anybody know? One or two? Okay. That's what they used to have in the mountains. When it hardens, what they do is let it sit up, and just before it turns to vinegar, it's got a kick to it. Some of y'all must have, oh, well, I know. Preacher, don't tell me that that's alcohol. Man, you're gonna ruin my Christmas and my Thanksgiving, you know? Put it in a little apple cider vinegar and burn off the liquor. Yeah, okay, tell me about it. Nothing like good apple cider, but when it hardens off, it turns to liquor. You get drunk on it. That's what happened with Noah. He put up some grape juice that had never fermented before. He didn't have refrigeration back in those days. And he gets in there and he takes a pop of that stuff after the flood was over with and everything, and then he's like, My goodness, man, what's that? And he drank the same amount he'd been drinking. The next thing you know, he's drunker and cooter brown. And he ain't never been drunk before. I don't know what that is, right? I guess I need to give y'all some real preaching for a little while. He's drunk as a skunk, man. It puts him out like a light. That had never happened before. Well, he'd been drinking that grape juice for hundreds of years and never got drunk. You say, what happened? The earth came off its axis after the flood. And what used to be in a perfect environment that would never rot, rotted. The ax is tilted. You ever wonder why the Bible says over there in Isaiah chapter 54, I believe it is, it's the top right-hand column of the pager in an old school field, and it'll say, the earth, make of the earth clean, dissolve, and turneth it upside down. like that. What he's talking about is that earth flips over. They call it the Jupiter effect. You got another one coming. But at any rate, what happens is the Lord moved that thing off of its axis. So now the sun will burn you. Now things will happen to you. It rots if you leave meat and stuff out. But there was a time where refrigeration and all was perfect. There was no bacteria and stuff to eat meat and stuff when you hung it out, even after the fall. But then Noah comes up there, and he squeezes them grapes into that cup after that flood. And all of a sudden, Uh-oh, this stuff's hardened off now. That's what happened. So getting back to the wedding supper, you have to imagine in your mind for just a minute if that was your son and you'd been waiting for since the beginning of creation to have a special day for him. I say since the beginning of creation. I'm not talking about since Adam. I'm talking about since the beginning. And you've been waiting that long to throw him a party? Don't you think that's going to be some kind of supper? I mean, there'll be food there you've never even heard of. There was food back in the garden you never got to taste. You say, what? After the fall's gone, after the flood's gone, there'll be food there you've never even known about. Won't that be something? You say, what do I get to do? Eat it and never gain a pound, pure energy. Luke chapter number 12, verse number 35. This has to do with the second coming of Christ now. Let your loins be girded about and your lights be burning. Matches with the virgins over there in the book of Matthew. And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord when He will return from the wedding. Return from the wedding. So this is the second coming. This is not the rapture. A lot of people read it into the rapture, that when he cometh and knocketh, he may open unto him immediately. They open, why? Because he's coming to them. That's the second coming. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet. and will come forth and serve them. So they're going to eat, not to marry, and it looks like at the second advent that the Lord says, if you're faithful, for when I come back at the second coming, you'll be one of those guests that comes in at the marriage supper, and you get to sit down with me at the marriage supper of the Lamb. That's what it looks like. Now, you can't say for sure. Now, come on back over, if you will, please, to Revelation chapter number 19. Now I can't give you that for absolute positive. It could be that it's two separate events that the Lord winds up having a feast after the city of Jerusalem is raised back up where it's supposed to be. That's a good possibility. uh... that passage i was going to give you earlier is found in matthew twenty six twenty six twenty nine when he says to the apostles now that's an earthly thing your kingdom is a heavenly kingdom so it's possible that your supper takes place up there and then he comes down here and you get to attend another supper either way you're going to be eaten until you've had enough to eat And that's about as good as I can do with it, but it'll be a wonderful time. You don't want to miss it. If you're here today and you're lost, what do you get to eat? Nothing. You'll be so thirsty that you will ask somebody to dip their tip of the finger in water and cool your tongue because you'll be tormented. You'll never know the enjoyment of sleep. arrest, you'll never enjoy the enjoyment of not having pain, ever. You'll never know what it's like not to grind your teeth. You'll never know what it's like not to weep and to wail and to cry. You'll never stop crying and bawling and squalling and grinding your teeth and being angry. You'll never know what it's like to have a full stomach ever again, ever, ever. All you'll know is pain and agony and torture. You say, why? Because of the choice you made. I don't care if you're a young kid. I don't care if you're an old man or an old woman or elderly or whatever. I don't mean to be disrespectful. If you haven't trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're a fool. So don't talk to my kid that way. If you're a parent and you haven't tried to lead your kid to the Lord, you're a fool. Now, you're in church. You do whatever you want to do with that. You say, well, I don't like that. OK, well, fine. Well, I hope I'll let them find the Lord on their own. Uh-uh. You better lead them, man. Lead them, point them to him. You can't make them get saved, but let them know, hey man, that's a good deal right there. Let me show you why. A fella asked me this past week when I was up there, he said, hey, tell me about when you got saved. And I said, well, I was seven years of age. And he said, I don't guess you knew much. I said, I knew enough. And he said, well, I guess. And I said, what do you mean you guess? I knew I was a sinner, and I didn't want to burn. And the only way out, I believe, the burning was forever was to trust Jesus Christ as my Savior. And he goes, well, I guess that's enough, isn't it? I said, yeah, I guess it is. If it's not enough, then what do you got to know? The whole Bible? How much you have to know? What point do you finally know enough that you finally get in? I know a lot of people that know a lot of things about the Bible. They just don't know the God of the Bible. Oh, man, they give you some Bible, but they can't tell you. Well, when did God deal with you personally? He just always has. What does that mean? Well, one day I realized he's just always been dealing with me. And you're going to trust that? Uh-uh, not me. If he's going to put me in hell, he's going to put me in hell over what I did when I was seven years of age. And I'm going to say, hey Lord, I asked you to save me when I was seven. Now you've got the ability to keep records. Check that record. You look and see if that ain't what I said. Well, I was kind of questioning if you really meant business and I really wasn't sure and you didn't know about the virgin birth and the deity of Christ and you didn't understand the Trinity and that kind of stuff and so I just wasn't sure you knew enough. I knew I was going to hell and I didn't want to go. The Lord said, okay, good enough, come on in. You think He's going to make it harder for you than that? The very idea. That's some scholar that thinks that when God saved him, they saved something. I think when God saved me, He got the whole of a donut. I don't mean the part punched out, I mean the donut, I mean the hole, I mean the zippo. What did I give him for my salvation? My sins? I didn't give my life to him. My life wasn't worth having. Give your life to Christ. Doesn't that sound so nice? Almost like you have something to offer him. You know what I come? Lord, here I am. Yeah, there you are. What would I like to purchase from salvation? With what? With all of my good works. You're smoking crack, son. What's wrong with you? Your good works ain't good enough. Where's your sacrifice? Well, I ain't got one. I figured, you know, you figured what? No, you know what it'll be? Lord, I'd like to get saved. What do you got to offer? Nothing. Well, what are you? I'm nothing but a dirty rotten sinner. Well, where do you go, sinner? I'll go to hell if you don't save me. But it would go over me asking. And you said you have not because you ask not or you ask amiss. And you don't ask in the will of God. You said whosoever will should not perish. You said you're not willing that any should perish. You said whosoever call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I'm calling! The Lord said, okay, I'm answering. Enter in the joy of the Lord. You say like that? Like that. I believe it. Right then, the Hebrews 4.12, the Word of God came in and cut my soul away from my body so my soul never sins. Put a live spirit inside me and that thing's got a homing beacon on it right now and it's going, deet, deet, deet, deet, deet. And when it goes, deet, that means it has departed And it's gone. You say, where is it gone? Absent from the body and present with the Lord. And he leaves you with a mess to clean up. Yeah. What are you going to do with this? You better put it in the ground and hurry, man. It stinks. It keeps growing fingernails and hair. And it perspires. And all the worms that are in you, they keep crawling around. Only now they got something to eat because it's dead. So you know what you do? You quick, you run it over there to the morgue if it's suspect, and if it's not, they take you to the funeral home. They take you in the back, in a dimly lit, stinking place back there with metal tables. They're slanted like that. So the fluid runs out. And they jam two cotton-picking rods about that long, connected to surgical tubing in your femoral arteries, and turn on the machine. Tell me about it. And they pump your blood out because your blood is what causes you to die and they fill you with formaldehyde. And all of a sudden your color goes out and that right there looks like a shirt. It's white as it can be. Your color goes out. All that pink goes out. All that blood goes out. You look like somebody hit you with talcum powder. and you swell up. It goes in all your arteries and all your capillaries until they pump all that nasty stuff out of you. And when it starts running clear on the other side, they're like, okay, shut the machine off, patch up the holes, pickle them real good. You're pickled. You're mummified. And then they dress you up in a suit and all that, and then you put you in a box, lay you with all the silk around you, and then they come by and say, don't he look natural? No, he looks dead. If that's what you look like when you're natural, you fixing to die. Yeah, you fixing to check out, man. Kick the bucket. Pop off, as they say. Toast. Out of here. Done. History. What happened to him? Gone. You say, what I'll do? I'll be up there rejoicing around the throne. Hey, dad, how are you? My goodness, man, you should be looking good, man. You're looking pretty good. Hey, my law, how you been doing, man? It's good to see you. Hey, Jim, how are you doing, man? Come on, P, let me show you around up here. We'll be up there and say, you want to see your? No, no, thank you. I don't want to see my funeral, man. Let's go. I'm telling you the truth. The Lord leaves this crate down here. You say, what? It's no good. put in a box, and when you have them lock that lid down, just that final turn they make with that little key thing, to lock that down and seal it, tell them just to leave it a little bit loose, because I'm going to be coming out of there before long. And the day will come, the Lord will say, go down there and get the body. I'll say, I don't want that thing. You've been giving me trouble the whole time. What do I want that for? It's like going back to the car dealer and saying, I want my used car back. He'll say, no, thank you. It's a rolling pile of junk. I don't want it. The Lord said, no, you ain't seen what I'm going to do with it. I'm going to give you a body like Adam had in the first creation. like mine. Lord, that first one didn't work out too good. That's because you were made in Adam's image, son. Now you're going to be made in my image. Oh, my goodness. Lord, I want to try that thing out. You think Elijah could run? Wait until you see what I can do with you. You're going to fly, boy. Yeah, heaven may be a lot of things that you can see, but imagine a mind that never sins and eyes that can see forever and ears that can hear the slightest little bit of a pin drop. Imagine having a perfect system and a body that never tears down and breaks down that has supernatural abilities. Superman ain't got nothing on you. That's the real stuff. And you're going to sit down in a real body and eat real food. You say, well, Mr. Camping says that this is all spiritual. Mr. Camping, PhD and all, is a nut. And maybe he is saved. I don't know if he knows for sure because he just always has been. Thing, kind of. But if he is, let us take our next caller, please. I don't know that he is. So much of that other place going on around here, I get wore out with it. Verse number 10, the Bible says, And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not, I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus, worship God, he says. Now this is most likely Daniel. I won't say that for sure, but it's most likely Daniel. Look, if you will, please, over in Revelation chapter 22. Daniel got in trouble over there in Daniel when the king bowed down to worship him and Daniel trapped the number two, remember that? And the Lord said, hey Dan, what you doing there big boy? Ain't I the one that gave you the interpretation of that stuff? Yeah, well Lord, they were just showing their appreciation. Showing appreciation is one thing, Daniel. Worship is something entirely different. The Bible tells you in Colossians chapter number two, we'll get there in just a minute, you don't worship angels or anything above God, nothing. Preacher, pastor, teacher, mama, mama, daddy, pawpaw, nana, grandma, grandpa, you don't worship nobody above God. Specific orders, even animals. You get in trouble for doing that. You know what Dan says? John says, man, I saw him, I fell at his feet in worship. And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Worship God. Don't be bowing down to me. That's what Daniel tells him. Look here in Revelation chapter number 22, if you will please look down in verse number 8, 22-8. And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, which showed me these things. Isn't that strange? Angel, but he looks like a man. Now, I ain't got time to run all the verses on it, but in the Bible, wherever an angel shows up, he shows up and he looks like a man. He ain't got wings on him, and he ain't smoking a cotton-picking cigarette either. Wouldn't you like to be that John Travolta fella? I saw a big thing the other day in the airport. It's been a couple years back now. They had a picture of John Travolta, and underneath his trench coat, he's got these big old giant wings, and he's got a can of beer and a cigarette in his hand. Now, wouldn't you like to be that bird when he shows up in front of the Lord Jesus Christ himself? Blow smoke in his face, sonny boy. Suck a beer down in front of him. You're making it like you're a fallen angel. They make him out to be Michael or Gabriel, one of the big boys. Okay, well, you guys have seen it. I hadn't seen the whole thing, but the bottom line is they make that guy a cotton-picking, fornicating, drunken slut. I don't get that. Why are you always trying to dirty up holy stuff? Unless you're just living a dirty life, I guess. I guess. Revelation 22, notice he said this, and he said, And then saith unto me, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant of thy brethren the prophets. See, he thought he was an angel when John saw him, but he said, See thou do it not, I am of thy fellow-servant, thy brethren the prophets. Well, Daniel was a prophet, wasn't he? He said, I'm of thy fellow servants. I'm with you, John. I'm the one of you. I'm one of the Old Testament prophets. And of them which keep the sayings of the book. Worship God, he said. Daniel is told not to open up the book until the time of the end. He's told to seal the book until the time of the end, right? So now the time of the end is there, and Daniel's told, seal it not, open it up. Come to Colossians chapter 2. Let me run you a couple of these things here real quick, and we'll let you take a a nap for tonight. Romans or Colossians, Colossians chapter number 2. Appreciation is one thing, but you know you appreciate the saints and you appreciate people and all that. Now Bible believers sometimes carry it a little bit too far. You know, preacher I appreciate that message, but I don't want you to get puffed up or ma'am I I appreciate that solo, but I don't want you to get puffed up. I appreciate you playing the piano or the organ, but I don't want you to get puffed up. I appreciate you working in the nursery, but I don't want you to get puffed up. You need to understand something. If they get puffed up, that's their problem. It's your job to exhort them and encourage them. Tell your Sunday school teachers every now and then you appreciate them. Tell your wife, gentlemen, when you get home tonight, thank you, honey, for washing up for me and cleaning up for me and putting up with me. Tell her every now and then you appreciate her. You'd make a surprise how much different things will be. Thank you, honey. I appreciate you, baby. I just want you to know I appreciate you. Is that the bird? Hey, bird. But listen, you try that. It makes a difference. Don't get so carried away with trying to be so spiritual. And then when somebody says, Mrs. Smith, that was a wonderful song. I really got a blessing out of that. Oh, well, I'll thank God and praise God and hallelujah and glory to God. No, just say, thank you, I appreciate that. Amen. I just heard that this week. A guy got up and he, man, I mean, whew, good night, boy. I mean, he rattled the rafters when he got up to sing. Sounded like Roger singing. Man, I mean, he really sang. I came by after he was done and I said, man, the Lord really gave you a set of pipes, man, that was a real blessing, hallelujah. And he said, well, thank God, you know, I just really praise the Lord. And I said, hey, brother, next time somebody does that, just tell them thank you. Because all that other stuff, you appreciate it, don't you? Lady, don't you appreciate it when your husband says thank you? Hey guys, next time you cut the grass, how come you take your wife by the hand and say, baby, come here and take a look at that. Have you ever seen a cut like that before? Yep, that's me cutting that thing, baby, like that, like that. It's pretty good, ain't it? You don't want her to say thank you, right? So don't get carried away with it, but it's okay to tell somebody thank you. There's nothing unspiritual about that. Thank you, brother. People are funny about that stuff. You get a promotion at the office. The boss doesn't say to you, now I don't want you to get puffed up. Here's the promotion. Give me the promotion. Don't worry about whether I'm puffed up or not. I'd like to give you a raise, but I'm afraid you'll get puffed up. But it's funny how you are in church, isn't it? Isn't that weird? You come in here, you kill a big deer or you catch a big bass or something like that, they don't say to you, oh, well, I don't want you to get puffed up. That's a very fine deer. It's like, man, good night. That's a monster. Knock a ball or throw a ball. But church, it's funny how Christians are about that. I'm getting too close to the corn right there, I can tell. Colossians chapter 2, verse number 18, let no man beguile you. And the Bible says of your reward, involuntary humility in worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshy mind, not holding the head from which the body and joints and bands have nourished and ministered, knit together, increasing with the increase of God. And then he goes on and talks about the rest of the stuff there. And he says there in verse 23, which things indeed have a show of wisdom and will worship and humility, neglecting the body that has to do with touch, not taste, not handle, not and all that, which perish. And then he says this, those are just individuals who have the discipline to do it. So you want to be careful about that. First Thessalonians five, I'll give you this stuff on appreciation. Just a few of them. Paul says over there in the book of Romans, you know what he says? He said, I magnify my office. You never find Paul bragging on himself, but Paul does say some things about his office. Paul does say, there are some things that I have done. And verse number, let's see, 513, 512. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly for the love, in love, for their work's sake, for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Now, it's a biblical responsibility. Thank your teachers. They're laboring in the word, aren't they? Well, thank your school teachers for, I mean, your Sunday school teachers for that. Tell them you appreciate it. Thank Brother Sam, he's up here leading the music. How about this one? Thank Tara for being a support and a help to him in a sail instead of a boat anchor. You probably every now and then you ought to tell my wife, thank you. She'll be mad at me for telling you that, but she has to put up with me. What a drag, man. Really, I know me. I live with me. That's a big deal. Y'all should be saying thank you, because if it wasn't for you, there's no telling what. that would be come over if you will the first him at the chapter 5 first him at the chapter 5 these are hard verses for me as it looks a little bit self-serving but they're here in the Bible Daniel here in the revelation gotten realize after getting in trouble in Daniel chapter 2 when that boy got down to worship him no appreciation or nothing when he got down there to worship him he said I don't learn my lesson on that one So don't do that, that's not what we're talking about. First Timothy chapter number two, or chapter number five, I'm sorry, look at verse number 17. Let the elders that rule well be counter worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. Okay, well that's what the Bible says. First Corinthians chapter number nine. So you see, it's not biblical to say to people, I don't want you to get puffed up. It's biblical to recognize the people that are helping you. If you ever told these boys, you get these boys up here. I call them boys. I don't mean no offense by that. You got to be so cotton-picking careful nowadays. Get these fellows, these men up here. They're grown men. They can all whip me and all that other stuff. And they get up here and they sing a song. To me, there's nothing greater than grown men singing. I appreciate you ladies. I like seeing grown men get up here. They're not ashamed of Jesus Christ. It just, that trips my trigger. I like that. I mean, they're big, rough, tough guys and got all kind of history and background. Mitch is standing over here the other day by the microphone singing with his little old bitty wife over here, and he gets to singing. Holy, holy, holy. I'm banging TK on the arm. I said, look at that. He got tears running down his, he's choking tears back. singing like he's looking at him like that. I said, I like that. I like that, you know. He said, well, it's not very professional. Who cares, man? I like seeing grown men up here, and they get to talking about Jesus Christ, and they get choked up. I like that. I think that's spiritual. I think it's a blessing. You ever walk up and tell them? These guys get up here and sing. You ever say, man, that lit my fire, man. I appreciate it. You ever tell them, thank you? Suggesting to you. You kind of take Miss Pat for granted. She's been around here for years. That old gal, young lady, excuse me. She'll forgive me, y'all won't, but she'll forgive me. She's at the nursing home every Tuesday for years now, playing the piano. She don't miss. Some of us miss and go and that kind of stuff. I hadn't been there very much in that kind of, she's still there. Plays the piano. She plays for you. Anybody in here, Miss Pat's worked with you on a solo or something? Raise your hand. Oh, yeah, just a few of you. Yeah, how about that? She's available to help you kids out and that kind of a deal. And she's up here. Can you imagine what it'd be like to have that organ? That's a high dollar piece of machinery there. We had that organ, didn't have somebody to play it. Ruth Carey's over here a while ago playing the piano. It was pretty. It was really pretty. But buddy, when that organ kicked in and gave it that bottom, man, you ever say, hey, Ms. Pat, I appreciate it? Or you just expect it? And everything give thanks. How about not only telling her, but say, Lord, thank you, appreciate it. I can remember the day we didn't have somebody to play a piano or an organ. We didn't even have somebody to play a pitch pipe. Wasn't, oh, shall we gather at In those days we sang by letter. We just opened up and let her fly. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, almost done. Verse number, oh let's see, 14 I believe it'll be. That's it, 9-14. The Bible says this, 13. Do you not know they which minister about holy things, live of the things which are of the temple, and they which wait at the altar, partakers of the altar? even so that the Lord hath ordained that they which preach the gospel should live in the gospel." So what do you do? You just say, hey, I appreciate you. If you're working in Sunday school, I appreciate you working in there. It all works together as one. We need everybody. I even need people on the pews. I appreciate you being here. Hebrews 13 will be the last one. Hebrews 13. Just to give you the balance. That spirit of prophecy we'll talk about on Sunday. I hope you'll come for Sunday. I'm looking forward to Sunday. and to see what the Lord will do. I'm looking forward to a big day. I'm looking forward to the Sunday when we walk in here and everybody's looking around going, well, somebody's already sitting in my seat. And we got to go out back here and go pick up all them red chairs so they match and line them up down the aisle way right here in the middle and line them up in the aisle way up there. I'm looking for that day. You say, oh, preacher, it'll never be that way. OK. I'm hoping it is. I'd like to see it. I'd like to see it so crowded out here that we overflow again into the parking lot over there, and we have to stop and think, well, we need to do something. We either got to be able to buy a piece of property or go to two services. Well, it'll never happen. Okay. I can still dream about it, though. I don't see why I can't. I think you can. You're living in Laodicea. Yeah. You're living in the gleanings, nobody's going to, yeah? What, you're going to tell me in a city that's well over a million people that there ain't 500 people that will come and sit in on a regular preaching service? I don't believe it. I just don't think they know where we are. I'd like to see it. Oh, and do I give you Hebrews yet? Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 13, oh yeah, verse number 17. It talks about the sacrifices and so on and so forth. Verse 17, Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they must give an account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief. For this is unprofitable for you. And then Paul says this, verse 18, Pray for us. for we trust we have good conscience in all things to live honestly." You know, the Apostle Paul says, hey, listen, man, in the context of that passage there, pray for us. Well, Paul, why would we need to be praying for you? Well, that's how you show your appreciation. Pray for me. When I get the privilege, you folks give me a real privilege to go. Believe it or not, some things get done when I'm gone. I mean, the meetings aren't just, you know, a bunch of people bumping their gums together. There's been some real things happen this year, and I'm grateful to have been a part of them and allowed to be a part of them. When I go, I'm like your missionary. I fly on the wing of your prayers. And if you're praying, I can tell. And that makes a difference. It makes a difference in how we minister. And so when he's talking about that thing in Revelation there, there's a difference in this with Daniel being appreciated for the word that he's given there, and then him bowing down to worship him. That's Catholicism. We don't worship the Pope here. We don't worship the preacher. We don't worship the deacons. We don't worship the trustees. We don't worship a position. But at the same time, we don't try to do everything to try to tear everybody down that holds a position. I appreciate your deacons. Tell them thank you. You've got good ones here. You've got Brad, you've got Richard, you've got Larry. I don't mean any disrespect calling you by your first names, fellas, but, and every one of them are different, and they all minister to you in different ways. You've got good trustees here, solid men, been here for 20 years, every one of them, 20 years or more. That's pretty faithful, wouldn't you say? I think it is. Tell them you appreciate them. They've got a lot of stuff going on here, a lot of pressure on them. You've got a lot of Sunday school teachers back here. Most of them have been teaching for years, years. Most of their kids are gone. It'd be bad. They get, by the time they get to, he's up there now, by the time they get to Sam's class, he gets them for a few years, and then they move out of here, and they're, they come into this class, so he loses them. And then they stay here until they get out, or they get married, or whatever it is that they do, but every one of these teachers promotes them, and then they're gone, and then they pick up a new batch. And that takes a lot. So just be thankful. Let's stand together. We'll be dismissed.