Please, the book of Isaiah, chapter number 40. Open up your Bible and open up your heart. Open up your ears. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. There's power in the spoken Word of God. If you love your Bible, say, Amen. Thank God for the Word of God. I appreciate the Lord giving us a book. Amen. And I love my Bible. We were in the country of Albania back in September. I took my oldest daughter and we were over there and we were handing out copies of John and Romans and it was in Albanian. I don't speak Albanian and they don't speak Alabamian. Say amen right there. And so there was a bit of a language barrier. And they told me, they said to say, Biblia erst falis, when you hand it to them or they won't take it. And I said, Biblia erst falis. And they took it. And Brother John, they sat down where they were and read what we handed them to read. We had highlighted John 3.16. And there was a gospel track inside there showing them how to be saved. It was loaded. Amen. That's what I told that missionary. They've got to be loaded. Amen. You can't just give a lost man a Bible. It's like handing my three-year-old a deer rifle. Say amen right there. This ain't a lost man's book. It ain't a lost man's book. There's been many a heresy, many a false doctrine, many a religion built because a lost man, he can't understand it. The Bible said it's foolishness unto him, spiritually discerned. You can't understand it unless the author lives inside your ribcage. Amen. And so we loaded them Bibles, hallelujah, and highlighted John 3.16. And we said, Biblia Urs Follis. And did that all day long, several days. And I wondered what that meant because there was something to that statement. You hand somebody a Bible over here and you'll be picking it up out of a gutter. and not one time. I think one time somebody threw it down, and he was a Muslim, and he threw it down. I picked it back up and handed it back to him. Amen. Biblia urs falis, they say. Now take it, and they did. I tried it without it. Brother Jared, you've been over there. And they wouldn't take it unless you said, Biblia urs falis. I had to know. I asked the missionary, Brother Theokia, I said, what does that mean? Biblia erstfalis. He said, it means the Bible is free. Hallelujah. Ain't you glad the Bible's free? Thank God, the Word of God. Hey, if you got the right one, it's free. There's no copyright in this King James Bible. Amen. It's free. Thank God. It ain't cheap, neighbor, but it is free. Hallelujah. Isaiah chapter number 40. It's good to see one of my heroes, Brother Jay Glass, in the house. I love you, preacher. Amen. If you enjoyed the good singing, say amen. If you're ready for camp meeting to get started, say amen. Well, it's done and got started, so if you're waiting on it, you're backing up. Amen. Amen. I appreciate the opportunity to be here, Brother Dale. Thank you. This is one of the friendliest churches that we get to go into, and I know why. It's because you've got one of the friendliest pastors. And thank God for Brother John Dale. Say amen. Amen. It's not very often that you find a man who is a great pastor and a great preacher. Usually you get one or the other. Say amen right there. It's very rare that you find somebody and he's a great pastor. You say amen or the message is going to totally change. We'll have to go over to Timothy. You don't say amen. I preach on the fly all the time. It bothers me a bit. We can change everything right now. I'm starting to get a little mad at y'all. You've got a great pastor. He loves you. Don't you feel like you're loved? Amen. Hallelujah. Where did Jamel go? Where did he go? Smoke? There you are. Get that cigarette out. Jamel, I'm glad to see you're still here. You know somebody loves you here, don't you? Amen. You've got a great pastor, and he's a great preacher. You don't find that very often. You've got that here, and if I was you, I'd never, never leave. Amen. In the rapture, it'd be okay, but then other than that, death, probably not even I wouldn't. Isaiah 40, is that all I need to say, or was it more I needed? Okay. Isaiah 40. Isaiah chapter number 40. And you can remain seated while we reverence the reading of God's Word. Ain't that a strange turn of events? Just sit down there. And let's read it together beginning in verse number 28. I want to preach on Isaiah 40, 31. That very familiar verse of Scripture, one of my favorites, always has been. And you've seen paintings of eagles with Isaiah 40, 31. I've seen Bible covers with Isaiah 40, 31 and the eagles on it. I know my pastor is a, he loves eagles because of Isaiah 40, 31. And his office is decorated in eagles. Mine is decorated in three stooges. Amen. You know where our priorities lie. There's something wrong with this next generation of preachers. eagles everywhere. And I know preachers that have built series of sermons on eagles. And I have not studied eagles, but I have looked at this verse. Amen. Now I want to preach a little bit out of Isaiah 40, 31. But let's begin reading in verse number 28. In Isaiah chapter number 40, verse number 28, the Bible said, Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, The Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint. And to them that have no strength, have no might, He increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. Here we go now. Here we go. Here we go. Isaiah 40, 31. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mound up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Father, bless the reading of your word and help us, I pray, this morning. You know and I know and probably they know that if you don't do it, there'll be no preaching and nobody will get any help, oh God. And it'll be a sounding brass and a tickling cymbal and oh God, I pray you'd prevent that. And I pray the sweet Holy Ghost of God would take this passage and say something to the heart of your people. We'll give you all the credit and all the glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Isaiah 40, 31. Let me share with you, just by way of introduction, some thoughts out of the verses that we've read. And I want to preach on the subject, a simple this, living the Christian life. If you're here this morning and you're not saved, you're missing out. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking you've got to give up a whole lot in order to become a Christian. Well, that's a fact. You've got to give up suffering. and sin, and eternal sorrow, damnation, and life in hell. You've got to give up a whole lot to be saved. Amen. But you don't understand this morning that the best life possible is a life lived in the will of God. It's God's will. He said, I come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. It's the will of God. He said He's not slack concerning His promise. He said His longsuffering not wither that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It's God's will for you to be saved and live the Christian life. Somebody ought to say amen like that. Amen? I want you to notice here with me in these verses that we've read. There are several things here. And aren't you glad this book is a road map on how to do it right? If you're saved by the grace of God, say amen. Well, if you're saved, then you want to know how to do it right. And this book that you hold in your hand is a how-to manual on living the Christian life. And no matter where you turn in the page of the Word of God, you can find principles that'll help you on living the Christian life. I find that in Isaiah chapter number 40. Notice with me in verse number 28. We find the pattern for living the Christian life. He said, I still not known, I still not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. In the passage that we've read, there's a whole lot of fainting and a whole lot of getting weary. Can you say amen right there? There's a whole lot of folks that are becoming weary in the way, and they're fainting and falling out. Somebody say, Amen. Amen. And you can put your confidence in just about anybody in the church, but if you put your confidence in man, remember that they're just a man. And they are out to become weary, and it's possible for them to faint. or to fall out of the way. But in verse number 28 we find a pattern for living the Christian life. God does not get weary. Somebody ought to help me write. God does not become faint and He does not fall. Your pattern for living the Christian life It's not your godly grandmother. Although she may have been a saint of God, she could have failed. Amen. And as good as the preacher is, your pattern for living the Christian life is not based on the preacher and the performance of his life. But, oh rather, there is one that I'd like to point you to this morning. that want the best heroes of Galilee. And he was a perfect man. He was God manifest in the flesh. And listen, he might have got tired and weary, but he did not get weary in the way. He did not faint. He did not fall out. He did not quit. He made it all the way to the end. And he lived this life that you and I are supposed to live. And he did it right. Our pattern for living the Christian life is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to be like Him. Amen. And God expects us to be. And if it were not possible, He would not expect it. But it is possible. And so God expects us to live like Christ. Somebody say, Amen. Verse number 29, we find the provision for living the Christian life. Thank God. It says it gives power to the faith. And to them that have no might, He increases strength. Aren't you glad that just about the time that you think you can't make it another mile, God somehow or another miraculously touches you and helps you and helps you go on just another day. Amen. The Bible said He'd give us power, He'd give us strength. Thank God there's the provision. He's given you everything that you need in order to live this Christian life. I know folks that won't turn, won't give in and won't say yes to the gospel because they're afraid that they cannot live the Christian life. Well, that's a legitimate concern because you can't. Somebody say amen. You can't and I can't and the preacher can't. And can't nobody live the Christian life outside of the power that God Himself shall impart to you. But He has given us a promise in His Word. He has bound Himself by His Word to give us power and increase our strength and to give us everything that we need to live the Christian life. You've been provided everything you need. Amen. But don't you notice, verse number 30, there's a problem. The problem of living the Christian life, He says, even the youth shall faint. and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall." The problem with living the Christian life is there's not very many people doing it. Now, y'all, come on. Now, see, I preach by myself, but I don't really want to. Not in camp meetings. So help me out every now and then, and it'll go a whole lot smoother and easier. And the longer it takes y'all to listen, the longer it's going to take me to preach. Amen. Don't you notice here that there's some folks that are fainting and are falling out. And, Brother John, isn't it interesting that it's the very ones that you would think that had enough strength and had enough power to stay in this thing until the end are the very ones, oh, the ones we put most confidence in, the ones that we put the most stock in, the ones that we think are the ones and I'll stay in this thing for the whole of the very ones that are getting faint and the very ones that are falling out. He said even the youth shall faint and the young men shall utterly fall. There's a problem with living the Christian life and the problem is there's not very many people doing it. Amen? Don't you notice in verse number 31, this is where I want to get to this morning, there's the progression of living the Christian life. I want to point out to you the verbs, action, words in verse number 31. I want to say three things about it, but I want to show you this before I do. I want you to look at me. There's three. It says, first of all, they shall mount up with wings as eagles. Now watch me now. Watch me. This is the progression of living the Christian life. This is the secret. It ain't a secret, but there it is. It's a secret of living the Christian life and doing it right. Are you all with me this morning? I don't know about you. I may just be preaching to myself. But I want to live this thing right. I don't want to just start well. I want to finish right. There's a whole lot of them starting good, but there's not that many that are finishing right. Brother Glass, I want to go to the end of my days and say with the Apostle Paul, I have finished my course. I've fought the good fight. I've kept the faith. I want to finish. this thing right. And in verse number 31 we find the secret of living the Christian life. And it is a progression. There is a progression in the Christian life. The Bible said that we're to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. There's a progression. In 1 John chapter number 2, he talks about three classifications of people. He mentions first of all the little children. Are y'all with me? He mentions little children. He said, I write to you little children because you have known Him. Wait a minute, let me get that right. I write to you little children because you have known the Father. Aren't you glad that you have a Father? Hey, hallelujah. Hey, when I first got here, I didn't know a whole lot about a whole lot. I just knew that I had a Father. Somebody say amen. I knew that God was no longer my judge, but thank God He was my Father. In the entry level of Christianity, you don't know a whole lot. There's just a relationship. There's a loving relationship of a Father and a Son. He said, I write to you young men. That's that second level. He said, I write to you young men because you're strong and the Word of God abideth in you and you've overcome the wicked one. Thank God they're not little children any longer, but they've grown up a little bit. You don't know how, because they got in the Word of God, and the Word of God got in them. And when you get in the Word of God, and the Word of God gets in you, it'll bring you up strong in the faith, and you'll experience victory over the wicked one, and growth in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Then He said, I write unto you, fathers, because you have known Him that is from the beginning. Thank God. That's where God wants us all to be. Amen. There is a progression of living the Christian life. And here it is very quickly in a nutshell. Now preach it. Watch me now. He mentions mounting up, mounting up on the wings of an eagle right there. And then it says they shall run and not be weary. And then it says they shall walk and not faint. You say, Preacher, you did that backwards. Well, you say, Preacher, that is a digression and not a progression. You see, that's where a lot of them are fainting and falling out. They fail to recognize the progression. You say it might look backwards, but that's the way God does things. Oh, let me rephrase. God don't do things backwards. You and I do things backwards. He said, he that saveth his life shall lose it. But he that loseth his life for my sake shall save it. Honey, if you want to keep something, give it away. In God's economy, if you want to have, you better give. Somebody say amen. If you want rest, He's got a yoke. He said, take my yoke upon you. You'll find rest for your souls. Honey, I know it don't make no sense to you and I, but that's the way God does things. You're looking at it from your point of view. He's looking at it from His point of view. Mounting up the wings of eagles. Run and not be weary. Walk and not be faint. Is that not the key to the Christian life? Did we not state that earlier, that the goal of living the Christian life is to not faint or fall out of the way? You and I know people this morning that are no longer in the house of God, that used to be here, but are no longer here. They fainted and they fell out of the way. And the Bible said a brother offended is harder to be warned than a strong city. You'd be better off trying to win some drunkard than you would some religious person that got offended at the house of God. Are you all with me? Amen. There's a progression in living the Christian life. Let me give it to you very quickly and I'll preach just a few more moments. I mean that. Isaiah 40, 31, and I'm going to give you this progression. First of all, notice what we hear. He mentions they shall mount up with wings as eagles. That's that entry level. That's level number one. Do you remember when you first got saved? Come on with me. Can I borrow your imagination this morning? I want to take you back to that evening when you walked an aisle and you bowed down and got born again. For me it was not in a church house, but it was in an old gray Oldsmobile in the backseat of an old gray Oldsmobile in Crossville, Tennessee. When God came down, somebody say amen. I remember it like it was yesterday. Oh, the joy of knowing who Jesus is. When I first got saved, the sky looked bluer, and the grass looked greener, and life was sweeter, and everything was wonderful. I thought, Lord, I've died and gone to heaven. Somebody say amen. That's that entry level that we're talking about. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. Thank God that we do, because some of us were so bound down with sin. Somebody say amen. Some of us were so bound down with sin that a 12-step program couldn't get us out. But thank God He swooped down and snatched you up. David said, He brought me up also out of a horrible pit. Hang on. Set my feet upon a rock and establish my going. Put a song in my heart, even praised unto our God. Honey, thank God David said, when I come up out of that pit, I was mounted up on the wings of an eagle. Somebody say amen. You take that old horse that's been tied down and let him out. Honey, he's going to run. And he thinks he's flying. Hallelujah. When I first got saved, I subailed down with sin. I was so tied down with iniquity. When God came to where I was and He saved me and He snatched me up, honey, I was flying. I was flying on the wings of an eagle. Hallelujah. Glory to God. I call it the miracle stage. Amen. That's when miracles take place. And it was a miracle. How else can you explain a man who's a drunkard all his life until one day God came to where he was and saved him and he goes home and he pours that liquor down the sink and he throws away the bottle and he's flying, hallelujah, he's flying over that old sinful life that once held him down, that old captivity that used to bind him. He's flying high over that. Amen. The old crowd said, I'll give them three weeks, they'll be back. I beat them. It was three days. Except this time I was coming to tell them about what happened to me. Amen. Amen. Thank God, the miracle stage. That's when miracles take place. When you first get saved, When God pulls you up into His bosom, has that ever happened to you? Oh, I fear if it ain't never happened to you, you're still in your sins. If God ain't never snatched you up out of that mess, if you're still bogged down in the mire of that old iniquity, and God has never brought you up, I fear that you're still in your sin. But for those of us, hallelujah, and we remember it well, when God reached further down than we were able to reach up, and He snatched us up out of that pit, And we were soaring on the wings of an eagle. Hallelujah. Miracles. Miracles taking place. Amen. I'm talking about miracles. That's at the moment of salvation. Salvation takes place at the miracle. Amen. Separation takes place. That's a miracle. And I didn't choose to separate from that old crowd. They separated from me. Amen. It's a miracle what God will do in life. Amen. I'm going to mount soaring on the wings of an eagle. Hallelujah. Brother John, I was flying. Thank God for the first time in my life. I felt free from the old bondage of sin. Satan's snares had lost its hold. I was mounted up on the wings of an eagle and miracles happened. That's when prayer gets answered. Glory to God. Do you remember the first time God ever answered your prayer? I remember, honey. I remember the first time God ever answered my prayer. And He was answering a bunch of them all at one time. Amen? He was answering a whole bunch of my prayers all at one time. And I thought there was something special about me. Amen? I thought there was something going on. I felt like I had a genie in a lamp. And I get in that prayer closet and rub that lamp and say, here's what I need this week. Amen, and God was giving me everything I asked for I went back down there both boys. I worked with it I said fellas if y'all need anything from the Lord, just let me know And I'm in it too God was answering my every prayer he was listening to everything I said there was miracles taking place in my life I could not explain Things were different in my life. I was mounted up on the wings of an eagle. Thank be unto God. I started enjoying church. I never did like church. Church was boring. I never did like church because I got saved. And thank God one Wednesday night, oh yeah, believe it or not, on a Wednesday night, I flew in the doors of Liberty Baptist Church in Chickamauga, Georgia. I landed about the fourth row back. That song leader got up, praise God, and he started singing that number 308 in that old hymn, that lifeboat song, amen. I never will forget the first time I ever heard it. He said about halfway through the fourth verse, he said, the fare is paid for one and all, the captain bid you come. Praise God, shoot, and I was flying around the church. I was flying, glory to God, I was mounted up on the wings of an eagle. I was flying by myself, but I still flied. Glory to God, I'd have flied around in buzzards, wondering what in the world they sat there for. God had filled my soul, and I was mounted up on the wings of an eagle. Miracles happen. That's that miracle stage. That's when God first snatches you up out of that mess you're in. What a miracle. Let me say this to you. You can't stay there. Do you remember when you went up? Do you remember when you came down? Come on now. Oh yeah, it's preaching time. Got it? Come this chap. It's preaching time. Do you remember when you came down? I remember when I came down. Amen. I remember when I walked, listen, Mr. Duke said, what goes up must come down. And he ain't lying. You can't stay up there. God don't intend you to live up there. Anybody can live on miracles. Anybody can live on miracles. Anybody can live the Christian life when God's answering every prayer they ever prayed, giving them everything they ever wanted. It's all about me. Me, me, me, me. God helps me. God blesses me. God answers my prayer. Me, me, me. I feel good. F-E-E-L-I-N-G. Feeling. I've got them. And if you ain't God, help you. When God moved in my soul, I felt something. Somebody's I feel a little something right now praise God and I'm talking about I'm talking about heaven came down and glory filled my soul Knock is up there. I remember when I came down You remember when you came down this a lot of people think fall out brother John They think they're supposed to stay up there And everybody lives their whole life. That's why them painters are all the time painting pictures of eagles. Don't nobody tell my pastor. He had decorated his study in free studio stuff. He'd throw the eagle thing away. That ain't where God intends you to stay. Come on now. You can't live up there. You can't stay up there. Anybody can live on miracles. You remember when you came down? I remember when I came down. I thought something was wrong with me. I doubted my salvation. Preacher, I doubted my salvation. I remember one night, and I probably ought not to tell this, but I'm going to tell it. We was living in a little single-wide trailer in Chickamauga, Georgia. It was a 220 air conditioner in the window of the living room. And a 12-inch box fan in the hallway took up the whole hallway. It was a single-wide. I could have done that right there and touched both sides of the wall. That's how little it was. Yeah, and it was August. I probably hadn't been saved two, three months, four months. My wife and I, let me see if I can say it right. We were in an animated discussion concerning, well, it don't even matter. I didn't say we was arguing now. Bless your heart. Don't call James Dobson on me. Hocus pocus on the family. That's funny right there, ain't it? Give me some. Come on. Come on. It's not, no, down. And you put it, a lot of white people can't do it. There you go. Amen. It's all right. We were in a, we were having a discussion. And I got upset. And I said something I wasn't supposed to say. Are y'all with me? I said something I wasn't supposed to say. I walked through the hallway, and that poor little 12-inch box fan was in my way. Brother Dale, now, you can't tell it, but I'm a caged fighter. You know, you can't tell by looking at me. I hide all that. It's intimidation. It's a secret. It's like a concealed weapon. I got to keep things locked down. I can't go back to prison. You understand what I'm saying? I grabbed that little 12-inch box fan. I lifted it up over my head by the handle, and I smashed it into a million pieces. And I sat there in the darkness of that living room, and I heard a voice say to me, if you was really saved, you wouldn't have done that. If you was really saved, you wouldn't have said that. If you was really saved, you wouldn't have smashed that box down. If you was really saved, you wouldn't have snapped at your wife. It shook me to my core. I tell you why it shook me to my core. I got saved in the back seat of that old gray Oldsmobile, and about halfway through my second semester of Bible College, Brother Dale, I went to Bible College because my pastor told me to. And I'm glad I did. Amen. And I went to a soul-winning class, and I found out I didn't get saved right. That bothered me for about 30 seconds. Amen. I don't think you can get saved wrong. Amen. I don't think you can get saved. I didn't pray the sinner's prayer right. Well, I don't know a wrong way to pray it. Amen. Say amen. That don't mess you up now, does it? Don't call nobody else on me, neither. And I sat there and something said, if you was really saved, you wouldn't have done that. And I turned around. I doubted my salvation at that moment so bad that I turned around. You see, I didn't learn from sinners prayer in that Bible college class. And I knelt down and I said, God, I'm a sinner. Please save me. The Holy Spirit smoked my heart and said, why don't you get up and go apologize to your wife, and then me and you'll talk. Come on. Amen. Go ahead. Amen. I'm done that when I came down. I crashed. Amen. I crashed. I thought I lost my salvation. I thought God was mad at me. I thought things were wrong. I was upset. I was trying. I'd go back to them boys I worked with and I said, boys, if y'all can get a hold of God, tell him about me. He forgot. He forgot about me. I need some help. I'd tell my preacher, I think something's wrong with me. I don't know what's going on. I can't enjoy things no more. I'd sit on about the same pew, Liberty Baptist Church, same church, same choir leader, get up and sing the same song, number 308, the whole lifeboat song. And I'm back there and I'm just waiting on the fourth verse and halfway through it. And guess what? Nothing happened. Nothing happened. Nothing happened. I'm over here going, what's the matter? I'm trying to get back up there. Come on now, y'all. That's funny right there. I'm trying to get back up there with them eagles, but I can't. I'm preaching to somebody this morning. That's why y'all ain't laughing, because you want to cry. Because you came down. Well, here's the secret to Isaiah 4 to 31. Just wait. If you're up there, man, bubbling wings of eagles, I ain't going to throw no wet blanket on you. But just wait. Give me down here with us in a minute. Pray for us. Shout it out, friend. Right there, you're going to land. Right there. Amen. What goes up must come down. Amen. And oh, when I came down, let me say this, a thought dawned on me while I was up there. It dawned on me that everybody needs to feel this way. Everybody. Everybody needs to know how it feels to be saved. I was up there flying around and all of a sudden I thought about somebody. I thought about my mama. I thought my mama needs to know about this. Say amen. So I started calling my mama on the telephone. I didn't know what to tell her, but I read her John 3, 16, 75 times on the phone. Amen. Amen. She never said a word. I found out later why she wasn't talking to me. She said she laid the phone on the nightstand beside her bed, and she knelt down at the bed and said, God, if you save my son, would you save me? Hallelujah. I'm holding it all back. I'm holding it all back. I'm going to run. I'm going to run and bite somebody, because that's how I do. Amen. I just held it all back, because I don't know where y'all been. Amen. And I remember thinking while I was up there, I remember thinking, I remember thinking that there's others out there. There's others. Oh! In that miracle stage, it's all about you. But I remember thinking there's somebody else. And I got into stage two. When I came down, oh, when I came down, I hit the ground running. Amen. Here's stage number two. Number one, they shall mount up on the wings of an eagle. Everybody wants to live in that miracle stage. Amen. But here's stage number two. This is what he said. They shall run and not be weary. Amen. Amen. I call it the ministry stage. I come down, praise God, and I hit the ground running. Amen. I remember thinking everybody needs to get saved. I set out to win every center in Chickamauga, Georgia. I went to the crack rack, Brother Dale, and I cleaned it out. Amen. Even in chip track, carpoon things. I took every one of them, and I went down to Piggly Wiggly. Say amen. On Mission Ridge Road. And I stood outside them automatic doors. And I said, they'd come out there, and they'd walk out, and I'd give them a gospel tract, and I'd say, you want to go to heaven when you die? You want to get saved? Can I tell you about Jesus? And he'd be like, hey, man, I love the Lord, but you're freaking me out. Besides, I'm the pastor. I want to win them all. I won't tell everybody. I won't tell everybody about Jesus. Oh, I was running. I was running. I hit the ground, hit the ground running. You see, when you're up there in that miracle stage, you can't stay there. It's all about you. But when you get in that ministry stage, it's all about others. It's all about others. You get your mind off yourself and you get to thinking about somebody else. Did you know that there's people out there that are lost, that need the gospel, and the only way they're going to get it is if somebody takes it to them? The only way they're going to hear it is if somebody tells them? How shall they hear without a preacher? And God was dealing with my heart about preaching. And I'd go. I wanted to go. A missionary came by the house one time. He was going to Jamaica. I said, I'm going to Jamaica. Jamaica. I'm running down to Jamaica. Amen. I ain't never been to Jamaica, but I'm going to take him to the gospel. And somebody said, Russia needs Bibles. I said, Russia! I gotta go to Russia! I'm going to Russia, I'm gonna take them Bibles. I'm gonna take Bibles to Russia, then I'm gonna go to Jamaica. I get back from Jamaica, I don't know where I'm going, and then somebody said, China. China needs missionaries. There's more people in China than anywhere in the world. There's more people dying and going to hell from China than anywhere in the world. I said, China! I gotta go to China. I'm gonna go to China, I'm gonna win China, and then I'm gonna go take some Bibles to Russia, and then I'll go down to Jamaica, and then Mexico! I gotta go to Mexico! I surrendered to every mission field in the world. Every time a missionary come by the church, I surrendered to God. I volunteered for everything. I just wanted to do something for Jesus. And if you ain't never been in the ministry stage, honey, you need to be. Just wait. There's others. I wanted to do anything they'd let me. I volunteered for everything. That's church house. They wouldn't let me do nothing. They wasn't going to give me a parking lot, dude, because they were afraid I'd steal the radios. See, they knew where I came from. They wouldn't let me sing in the choir. I still don't know why they wouldn't let me sing in the choir. They wouldn't let me do nothing. I begged for everything. I begged for every opportunity. Every job opening, we'd come in, I'd ask for it, and they'd just say, well, let's just pray about it. You know what? Let's pray about it means, no, we're not going to do that, but we're not going to tell you that, because we don't really want to hurt your feelings, but you're not going to do that. Let's pray about it. They wouldn't let me do a blessed thing. Finally, finally, the preacher said, all right, brother Bud, you can be the assistant Sunday school superintendent. I said, well, praise God, finally they have recognized the talents that I have to offer this church. About time. Do you know what assistant Sunday school superintendent does in a Baptist church? Not one blessed thing. I'd have to have a sniper on the ridge popping off our Sunday school teachers one by one on the way in the Sunday school annex before they'd ever let me lead in silent prayer. They wouldn't let me do nothing. I just wanted to do something for Jesus. I was running. It was all about others. Amen. Well, let me say this and I don't want to get nobody mad at me. When you get in that miracle stage, it's all about you. You get in that ministry stage, it's all about others. But you can't stay there. You can't live in them miracles. You do realize that most... I'm talking about apart from a couple of prophets and a couple of apostles in the Bible. Most folks only had one miracle their whole life. Some of them didn't get anything. Noah preached for 120 years. Not one time did he have anybody come to get saved. But he got his family in. And you and I will be real glad that old Noah didn't quit preaching. Because you're sitting here because he won his family to the Lord. Say Amen right there. In that miracle stage, you can't live in that miracle stage because there's somebody else out there. It ain't all about you. Let me say this to you. You can't stay in that ministry stage neither. It ain't all about others neither. Oh my. I'll clarify that in just a moment. But let me say this to you. How come it is? How come it is everybody that we know that's doing everything in the world? And I say it like I say it in Alabama. Got all them irons in the fire. Amen? Trying to do everything. They're the ones that'll burn out and quit. Amen? They're the ones that will burn out and quit. And what you're doing is you're stunting the growth of somebody else that ought to step up and fulfill that job that you're doing 17 things when you ought to really only be doing two or three and let somebody else step in and do something. And somebody that's in that ministry stage and they think that God can't live without them. I even heard a preacher say one time that you have to be so important to the Holy Ghost that He has to have you. Oh! Oh, He don't need us. We need Him. But He don't need us. He don't need us. We need Him. Then there's another stage. Let me point this out to you quickly and I'm done. Number one, they shall mount up with wings as eagles. That's that entry level. That's that kindergarten stage. Naps and juice boxes. Wouldn't that be a blessing? Well, you can't stay like that. I used to go to school. The principal got to me every now and then, but I went. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. Ministry stage. Now, here it is. They shall walk and not faint. I call it the mature stage. That's when God is everything. You see, in that miracle stage, it's all about you. And in that ministry stage, it's all about others. It ain't all about you and it ain't all about others. But when you get into that mature stage and you're just walking with God, it's all about Him. And it is all about Him. It's all about Him. You can't open up your Bible without you find out what God intends for mankind. God created man in His image and He placed him in a garden. And the Bible said that He walked with Adam in the cool of the day. God walked with Adam. God walked with Enoch for 300 years and it was not for God took him. God walked with Noah. Thank God for that. God walked with Abraham and he was the friend of God. You can't look at your Bible without realizing that God wants somebody to walk with Him. He wants somebody to walk with Him. Honey, anybody can live on miracles. Anybody can live on the ministry. God wants somebody to walk with Him every single day. I know folks that do the ministry and refuse to walk with God. They're the ones that will burn out and quit and become an arch reprobate. Somebody say amen. They're the ones that'll stop. And you let somebody that's living on miracles come down and they think God's mad at them and they throw in the towel and they quit on God. Honey, listen, the churches are full of folks that can't maintain life because they can't handle it. They're not walking with God. The secret to the Christian life is not the miracles. It's not the ministry. It's just walking with God. God wants somebody to walk with Him more than He wants somebody to work with Him. God wants somebody to walk with. every single day walking with God. It's not a hard thing. It's not a hard thing. Let me tell you something about walking with God. My mama said you can't hang around with them because you'll start acting like them. Well, there's a principle there, and she's right. Say amen. Whoever you run around with is who you're going to start acting like. Well, guess what? If you're walking with Jesus every day, guess who you're going to start acting like? You're going to start acting like Jesus. Somebody say amen. And if you're running, you're liable to trip and fall. You're liable to run past some things. You're liable to run ahead of God. But if you're just walking with Him, you're less likely to stumble and fall and faint and get out. God wants somebody to walk with Him every day. The secret to the Christian life is just simply walking with God. Lord God, give us a church full of folks that are walking with God. They'll be here when it's good. They'll be here when it's bad. They'll be here when it's up. They'll be here when it's down. They'll be here when they like the preacher. They'll be here when they don't like the preacher. They'll be here when they feel like it. They'll be here when they don't feel like it. Because they're walking with God every single day. Walking with God. Amen? In that old church hymn number 55, hand in hand with Jesus, he said, I cannot stray, for I am walking every day hand in hand. He said, from the straight and narrow way, praise the Lord, I cannot stray, for I am walking every day hand in hand with Jesus. I'm going to say this to you, God desires a relationship with you. consistent every moment and I used to say the Christian life was lived one day at a time let me back up it's one step at a time one conscious decision after the next just walking with God let's stand together I'm done preaching brother there y'all come do