♪ No home in this world ♪ Not a thing I own ♪ But I'm saved and I'm happy ♪ And on my way home I've started toward heaven ♪ I'll not complain ♪ Cause I'll have a new home designed by a king ♪ Designed by a king ♪ In the beautiful somewhere ♪ My father is rich ♪ He owns everything ♪ I'm an heir to my father ♪ Joint heirs of Jesus ♪ I'll have a new home designed by a king ♪ Well I believe that my home will sit high on a mountain ♪ Beside mother and dad overlooking the sea ♪ One beautiful day I'm going home to meet him I'll have a new home designed by a king. Designed by a king. ♪ In the beautiful somewhere ♪ My father is rich ♪ He owns everything ♪ I'm an heir to my father ♪ Joined heirs with Jesus ♪ I'll have a new home designed by Jesus It's Father's Day. I was thinking about what a wonderful father. I said, what a wonderful father. Amen. Romans chapter number 12. Romans chapter number 12. We'll begin our reading in verse one. uh... anybody that after the service would like to try and all using our face book cameras and troubleshooting get through i'd love i'd love you to do that after service like i'm getting continual messages yelling online yelling online or guess what I'm up here, there's nothing I can do about that right now. So anybody like to train on how to do that, I'd love to show some people how to troubleshoot that so we can work some people in, because we're in a shortage of sound people right now. All right, Romans chapter number 12, and we'll begin our reading in verse number one. These are familiar verses. I'm preaching, I'm gonna preach a series Y'all might, I'm gonna turn this off, because y'all might think that's the final count down. And I've either got to stop at nine minutes or Jesus is coming. We ain't sure which that is, or the bomb's going off, I don't know. But I'm gonna cut that off. The Lord has laid a series of messages on my heart. I'll get to the verse here in just a minute. He's riding to the church at Rome. Verse one, he tells them, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. So what Paul is saying here, She said, I'm fixing to ask you to do something, church, and what I'm asking you to do is not unreasonable. It's reasonable. When you think about what Jesus did for you at Calvary, what I'm about to ask you to do, it's reasonable. I want you to present your bodies. I want you to lay out on the altar and say, here am I, Lord, what would you have for me to do? then look what he says in verse two. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Let's pray together. Father, I pray God in Jesus' name, Lord, that you'd help us this morning to share the word of God. I pray, Lord, that every word that would be said would be seasoned with the salt of heaven. I pray, God, that you'd speak to our hearts during these weeks, Lord, as we think about what you'd have for us to become and what you'd have for us to be. Touch us now as only you can, help us in this place. We'll thank you and praise you for all that's accomplished in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. I want us to look here in Romans 12 too. I'm gonna be here probably several services. I'm preaching on transformation. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever looked in the mirror and just been dissatisfied with what you saw. I began to think about this. I was thinking on it yesterday afternoon about transformation. You get on the TV at night and about every other commercial, is something for transformation. Oh, it's get on Weight Watchers, or it's get on Nutrisystem, or it's do this. It's a total body transformation again and again. Late night TV, you're sitting there eating your tater chips and popping bonbons in and drinking Dr. Pepper, and they're saying, you need a brand new body. And you're saying, oh boy, that's right. I know that's right. I remember about 10 years ago, I was watching one of those shows, they came on there for P90X. I said, that's what I've been looking right there, that's me. Transformed my body in 90 days. And so I got P90X, I paid a lot of money for it at that time, and it came with a bunch of DVDs, and I put them in there. I was sitting in front of the TV sweating and trying to keep up with that fella. Boy, he's cut, he's ripped, and he looked so good. They said on that package, get a little book with it. Said, on the book, said, make a picture of yourself on the first day, because when 90 days comes around, you ain't gonna believe it. So I got Rachel, I stood in front of the wall and got Rachel to make my picture, and I said, look, y'all, I'm gonna look like a puny little fella, but I'm gonna look like Popeye before this is over. And I sweated, and I worked, and I did push-ups, and I did pull-ups, and I'll just put it like this, I'm still not real, amen. 10 years later, there has yet to be that total transformation that I was promised would happen in 90 days. Well, apparently 90 days never has come. But again and again, tri-neutral system, total body transformation. Do this, do that, total body transformation. But you see, what the world offers as transformations is temporal. It don't last. There's always a problem. But aren't you glad this morning that when God offers a transformation, you can be transformed. You can be made different. You can be, my friend, made better through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me ask you this. When you look at yourself spiritually, how many of you could say, boy, I'd like to do better? Maybe some of you on Father's Day would say, I'd like to be a better dad. Maybe some of you moms, I'd like to be a better mom. Maybe you'd like to be a better Christian, a better Sunday school teacher, whatever the case may be. You aspire to be something better. You wanna be more committed. You wanna be more sold out to the Lord. And you aspire for better. Well, can I tell you? that God offers a transformation. I believe the answer is found in the Bible. If you'd like to be a new creature, I believe God offers that to you this morning. If you'd like to be a better daddy, I believe God offers you the chance to be a better daddy. If you'd like to be a better brother, I believe God offers you a chance to be a better brother. And he can transform you. Now watch this. Be not conformed to this world, Paul said, but be ye transformed. The Greek for that word transformed is metamorpho. That's where we get our word metamorphosis. In other words, an old ugly caterpillar spins a cocoon, suspends from a tree branch, goes through the struggles of metamorphosis and comes out an entirely different creature. Can I say to you this morning, friend, that all of us should be striving continually to morph into something else, to be a better Christian, to spread our wings for the Lord, to transform into what he would have me to be. And I'm gonna tell you, that's a process that never ends. I don't care if you've been saved 10 days or 10 years or 50 years. God is always working on you. God is always doing something in your life. God is always transforming you. God has always got another horizon for you to cross. And that ought to be our desire this morning. Lord, help me to get it to another level. Help me to be a better Christian. Help me to pray more. Help me to study more. Transform me into what you'd have for me to be. Now I've got several messages the Lord's led on my heart in these areas of transformation. But this morning I want to start at the very beginning. I want to preach a little this morning on the transforming, on a transforming conversion. Now let me say this to you. Everything that I'm gonna talk to you about, about how to transform your mind, how to transform your conversation, how to transform your daily life, I'm gonna pull it right out of the Bible over the next few weeks. But none of it will work if you've never been born again. You must first be born, you can't change without being saved. That's the problem a lot of people have. They try to change, but they've never been made new on the inside, and if you've never been made new on the inside, you're never gonna be able to be made new on the outside, amen. There must first be a transforming conversion. I was reminded yesterday, as I was getting ready for this, I was thinking about a man, you've heard me tell this before, a man by the name of Goose Goslin. I love that name, Goose Goslin. He played baseball in the 20s. As a matter of fact, Bobby, do you know what World Series Goose Goslin played in for the Senators? I thought you was a baseball fan. 1924, 1924 he played in the World Series for the Washington Senators. It was a, the series was tied. There's two outs, Goose Gosling steps to the plate and eventually works his way to a full count. The pitch comes, Goose slings and sends the ball over the fence for a walk-off home run. He lays his back down, starts to trot around the bases. Everybody's screaming, he's waving his hands. I mean, he's the hero of the hour. He comes in and trots in, puts his foot on home plate, the bench is clear, they lift him in the air. The catcher, actually it was an in-the-park home run. It hit the wall, but he got an in-the-park, waved him around third, he got an in-park home run. The catcher gets, finally they get the ball, they'd made a couple of errors, and he just does his usual thing of throwing it around the bases. Brings it back to home plate. The game's over. They're celebrating, they've got Goose Gosnell on their shoulders. Everybody is saying, woo, we won! The umpire stands out and says, halt! The whole place comes unglued. Kill the umpire, they started shouting, and for a minute they thought they might kill him. He finally gets everybody calmed down. What has happened? Goose Gosnell was safe at home, there's no question about it. How can he be out? The umpire got the crowd settled down and he said, Goose Gosnell failed to touch first base. In his rush around the bases, he had failed to touch first. He had touched second, he had touched third, he had touched home, but none of that counted because he hadn't touched first base. Can I say you can carry a Bible? You can talk a Christian talk? You can wear a suit and tie? You can do everything that you think a Christian should do. You can imitate in every way that you want to imitate. But if you've never been to Calvary, if you've never been born again, If you've never touched first base, none of that's gonna do you any good. You've gotta first go by the blood-bought way of Calvary, you've gotta be converted, or you'll never be made different if you've never been to Calvary. Now watch this. Many are trusting in reform rather than repentance, and it doesn't work. Across this country, There are places where men can go to reform. whether it be the jail, or whether it be the prison, or whether it be rehabs across this country, this country is absolutely full of areas where men are going to reform. But those of you that work in law enforcement, you'll say, man, right here, it's a revolving door, you see the same old crowd over and over again, why aren't they reforming? If we've got all these systems in place to make a man do better, and to get a man straightened up, and to get a man reformed? Why is it that it's the same pictures on the blotter every week? Why is it it's the same crowd? It's because man's reform does not work. Man's reform can straighten you up for a day or two. It can get you clean for a day or two, but it requires the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to straighten a man up for eternity. Amen, that's exactly right. Reform don't work, it requires the blood. And can I say to you this morning, there is a reforming and transforming conversion, but it's only through and by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen, how many of you are glad this morning? Jesus saves, Jesus saves, and he makes a difference. He transforms through his conversion. Now listen to this. There are many this morning that are trying religion instead of a relationship, and it only makes things worse. Let me say to you, reformation is one thing, we can put a man in a penal institution, we can put him down in San Quentin, give him a life sentence, teach him how to make license plates, sew together blankets, whatever you wanna do, give him a job, get him cleaned up, he'll walk out of the prison and do good for two or three days, and then he's right back in it. But let me tell you what's worse than prison, and that's when you get a man religion. See, religion, you get mad in religion and you say, well, you do this and jump through that hoop, but what does religion do? We see it again and again. I think about the priests of the Roman Catholicism, all of the molestation, all of the scandals. You see, religion don't make anything any better. Religion only makes a man worse because it teaches him how to hide his sin. It teaches him how to cover up his sin. That's all religion will do. And there's a lot of people around this country, they think religion's gonna get them to heaven. They think religion's gonna be good enough. I'm gonna tell you something this morning. Our religion never got nobody. Why am I preaching today? Our religion never got anybody to heaven. It takes a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. It takes a personal knowledge to have a transforming conversion. A lot of people try religion, but it just makes things worse. Then let me say to you this morning that there's a lot that trust in their resources, but they find that it wastes away. A lot of folks think, well, if I've got money. If I've got money, boy, I can do it. Hey, I can do anything I want to do. I've had my resources, buddy, I've got it made. I made this statement yesterday. We were coming through. Biltmore yesterday evening, and they were talking about the Biltmore house, and they were talking about the Vanderbilts, and here's what I said, and I want you to think about this. I said, I've been to the Biltmore house a lot of times. I've seen them Vanderbilts pictures on the wall, and I want you to think about this. I said, I don't ever recall seeing a picture where I thought they were happy. Every time I ever seen one of them Vanderbilts pictures, Have you ever been to the Biltmore house and saw a picture and said, look, you hungry? They're playing and smiling and frolicking and they're having a time. Boy, they're so happy. No. Matter of fact, every rich man I ever see, every rich man I ever knew had that same look on his face. Oh, his riches didn't do him any good, they only weighed him down. People think if I could have enough stuff, if I could have enough resources, oh boy, if I could trust in my things, but there's never been a U-Haul behind a hearse. Nobody's ever took it with them when they win. Listen to me this morning. Them resources won't work. All that'll help a man is rejuvenation. That is being made new on the inside. I'm glad one day, thank God, at the Lawbridge Baptist Church, sitting about three quarters of the way back on the left hand side, I got made a new creature. I got in on a transforming conversion. And I've never, ever, ever been the same since the day they were. So there's the prerequisite of conversion. You can't get transformed until you've been converted. You can't do no better. Have you ever seen somebody They get in sin, and you think to yourself, why did they do that? Why would anybody do what they're doing? Why did they get theirself, you know the answer to that? They can't do no better. They're just doing what comes natural to them, like a brute beast. The other night, we'd been to Walmart. I come out of Walmart, and I'm walking to my truck. It's parked in a busy parking lot. As I'm walking toward my truck, I see that this guy has loaded some things in his truck. He has walked over to my taillight of my truck, and he's put his hand like this on my taillight. And I think, well, is this fella preying over my truck? Is he having a spell? I don't know. Me being the untrusting soul that I am, I decided to walk way around the outside so I could get a look before I walked up on this gentleman. I walked way around the outside, Brother Neal, and then I hear what he's doing. He's peeing. He's peeing in the parking lot. In the middle of a... And nearly on my truck. I don't even let my dogs pee on my truck. I looked at that and I said, you gotta be kidding me. He just walked out of Walmart. There's bathrooms in Walmart. Now me and Randall know what it is to have to need to pee, but we ain't never needed to pee that bad. I'll tell you what I told Rachel. I said, brute beasts. Mankind have gotten to where they ain't no better than the animals in the woods. They just act just like the animals in the woods. But you know what? That's what comes natural to a man. A man, by the default nature, is a sinful creature. And he can try to do better. And by the way, this fella really didn't even act embarrassed. I said, what, what are you doing? Got in his truck, drove off, unbelievable. Man tries to do better, but they can't do no better. You know what man needs? Man needs Jesus. You know what Yancey County needs? Yancey County needs the Lord. Oh man, that's exactly right. Me and Neal were talking before we come out from prayer room, he was talking about this brewery that's going down there in Michaelville and all over the county. People open up breweries and wine regions, liquor distilleries and all those kind of things. If people loved Jesus, there wouldn't be nobody to sell that mess to. That's exactly right. They need Jesus. That's what they need. They need the Lord Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can make a difference in a man's life. It's the prerequisite of conversion. Then note this. There's the peculiarity of conversion. I got a thing about this yesterday. Everything about being saved is weird. Well, you're not even pretty sure. Well, think about it. A man, God initiates salvation. It's wrought in a peculiar way. Think about the initiation of salvation. For it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe. Now here's what man says. Man says you need a 12-step program. Man says we've gotta give you a book. Man says we've gotta educate you. Man says we've gotta teach you better. But God said here's how I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna use an old country boy standing behind a pit, a full pit, spitting and hacking and sweating. and preaching the word of God. And that's how I'm gonna make a transformation in man's life. Now you gotta admit, that's a peculiar way. Don't you think about something? Come here, Noah. Let's say, Noah, come in to the doctor. Sit down there, Noah. He's broke his foot. Act like he broke your foot, Noah. The doctor walks in and here's what he says. He throws the door open. He said, hey, bless goodness, the foot's broke. And I'll tell you what you need. Oh, you need a cast on your foot. And I'm gonna call my nurse. I'll be right back. You'd say, that's the weirdest, that's the weirdest fellow I ever saw. What is the matter with this doctor? So I say, how did the doctor visit go? That's the craziest doctor I've ever seen in my life. He's a weirdo. You talk about a peculiar fellow, he is peculiar. Well, you gotta admit, that's strange. When you think about it like that, preaching's weird. Who signs up on Sunday morning to come and sit down on a pew and let another man scream at them for an hour? But God chose that. By human thinking, It is unusual, it is peculiar, but in God's economy, it's right on time. Amen, God chose, so salvation gets started in the most peculiar way you could ever think of. But let me say this to you, not only is it wrought in a peculiar way in that it is initiated by the foolishness of preaching, but salvation is peculiar because it's invisible to the naked eye. That's weird, that's weird. How is it that a man can be sittin' in a church pew, lost and undone without God, drunk a fifth of liquor last night, beat on his wife before he went to bed, get in a church house, some man's screamin' at him and he gets under conviction and gets up and walks in an altar, gets saved and suddenly he quits drinkin', quits beatin' his wife, quits cussin' his kids. Hey, how is that possible? The world looks at it and says, that's impossible. That can't happen. But how many of you have seen it happen time and time again? Over and over again, you've seen it happen. That's peculiar, that's strange, but that's God, hallelujah. God operates in a mystery. I wrote something down, I just now thought about it. Let me call it up right here. I didn't put it in the outline. Let me call it up right here. I wanna tell you what A.W. Tozer said right here just because it's a blessing. God reveals himself, but rarely explains himself. When I read that sitting in the barbershop and I read that and I wrote it down on my notepad on the phone, I said, how true. Brother Neil, God will reveal himself but he rarely explains himself. God'll show up and you'll go, wow, somebody's saved. What happened? I can't explain it. You know why? God rarely ever explains himself, cause he don't have to, amen. And so salvation is a peculiar thing, but aren't you glad, thank God, it makes a peculiar people. It changes you in peculiar ways. It makes a peculiar people out of those that he saves. Weird. Watch this. There's the peculiarity. It's invisible, the naked eye. It's initiated by the foolishness of preaching. And then it involves miracle working blood. And you know what all that does? It starts the strangest wrestling match that ever has been. We come back from a ball game the other night. For the last few weeks, come here, Noah. Let's pick on Noah today. For the last few weeks, this has been Noah, every time I walk in. That's a little weak, that feels a little weak. Let's me and you wrestle. Let's me and you, I'm gonna wrestle. We come back from the ball game and that's what it was. That's a little weak. Let's me and you wrestle. And I said, okay. So I handed Rachel my glasses and I said, let's wrestle. Shortest wrestling match ever. Joe the rag man. When I got him in the headlock, he went down like a shot cat. And I got on top of him and I got some pressure points and I rubbed him good and rubbed it, didn't I? Now you say, well, that's a weird wrestling match out on the front porch of the church. Let me tell you what's a weirder wrestling match than that. These two men lives inside me. Some of y'all right now going, oh, I know he's crazy. but there is, there's a fleshly man that wants to do certain things, but then I got a spiritual man and they're constantly a fight. My fleshly man says, oh, let's go do this. And the spiritual man says, you're gonna do that across my dead body. And then the first thing you know, they're wrestling. There's this discontentment inside. Well, ain't no wonder Christians are peculiar. You see, the world just does whatever it wants to do. There's no battle. There's no fight. But inside of a Christian, when the flesh says, let's go do it, there's a spiritual man that rises up and says, oh no, we can't do that. We've got, we're better than that. Let's not get involved in that. Oh my goodness, they're starting to wrestle. Ain't that weird? Ain't that weird? That's weird. But how many of you this morning saved by the grace of God say, I know exactly what you're talking about, preacher. I know exactly, how many of my flesh go, oh, I want that right there, and something inside me says, you know you can't have that. You know you can't do that. You know you can't listen to that. You know you can't talk that way. Something on the inside. It's a wrestling match. You can sit down. Now, note this. It begins an unusual wrestling match. but then it produces peculiar people. First Peter 2.9, Peter said this. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now watch this. It's unusual that Peter would have said that, because Peter was the one that warmed by the fire and said, blessed Lord, I don't know. I don't know, but you know what Peter said over there? He said, listen, if you're saved, it'll show up on you and you can't have it. Because you're peculiar. Something weird about you. Two years ago, we went up there to that sight and sound theater and watched that Jesus play. I spent the whole time squalling and wiping tears, I couldn't believe it. If you've never seen it, it's worth a trip up there to watch it. I was wiping tears and squalling and crying. There's this little lady beside me. During the intermission, a little black lady, she looked over at me and she said, Lord, honey, you're having fun, aren't anybody here? I said, yes, ma'am. She said, you a Pentecostal. Oh, I said, no. I said, I'm a Baptist apostle. I'm a Baptist apostle. I'm telling you, if you get right saying, it'll show up on you. There's been times I've tried to keep it from showing up. Oh, that's exactly right. You just be right honest now, drop your little facade. There's been times that you didn't particularly want anybody to know you saved either. Hey man, but I'm telling you, you just can't hide it. It'll come out on you somehow. Yes sir, it works for the outside. Why? Because it makes you peculiar. You're not like the world. Don't look at things that the world looks at. Don't think about things the world thinks about. And that only comes through and by conversion. All washed in the blood. Let me give you this, I'm done right here. We talked to you about the promises of conversion. What do you mean, preacher? Well, one of the greatest things about being saved is exceeding great and precious promises. Oh, I've got some things, wait up. Watch it, number one, there's a promise of a home. I sung that song, designed by a king, in the beautiful somewhere. I want you to think about this. When you were lost, your default setting for eternity was hell. Nothing you can do about it. You die lost, you go to hell. But the instant you got saved, the moment you got saved, the second that you put your faith in Christ, suddenly your default setting, become heaven. And no longer being a citizen of this country, Ms. Karen, all of a sudden the things of this world seem less and less promising. I've got my eyes on a heavenly country this morning. And I have a promise of home. Jesus said in John chapter number 14, I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That where I am thou, you may be also. I'm glad to report to you this world's not my home. I'm glad to report to you I'll never die and go to hell. But I know this morning beyond any shadow of a doubt, my citizenship is in heaven. What a hope this morning. What a confidence this morning. What a promise this morning. There's the promise that comes with conversion. Now I'm just laying the groundwork. I'm preaching on transformation for a few weeks. I'm just laying the groundwork. You gotta first be saved. You can't transform the way you think until you've been saved. You can't transform the way you speak until you've been saved. You can't transform the way you treat your kids Now watch this. There is a promise of a home. But then, there's not only a promise of a home, but there's a promise of hope. What do you say in the preacher? How many of you agree with me this world's in a mess? It's in a mess. Since I went off social media, as far as having it on my phone, I don't watch the news. And so this week, I don't know, I've not looked at any of that stuff. But when I was keeping up with it, I realized we weren't getting any better. We're heading in the wrong direction as a world. But you know what? They don't have to worry me. Oh, I didn't get many amens right there, because some of y'all worried about it. You don't have to worry about it. You know why? Because I'm not a citizen of this country. I'm a pilgrim. Beloved, now are you the sons of God. And so when the world goes to falling apart, when it seems like everything's wrong, I can say, boy, I'm glad I don't live here. I mean, I'm just passing through. I just stopped by on my way home. I'm headed toward about and guess what this morning church this all to get an amen or two or maybe even a Waving a hand or a shout. Let me tell you something in heaven main anything wrong today In heaven, ain't nobody wringing the hands. In heaven, there ain't no viruses. In heaven, there ain't no doubts or discouragements. In heaven, there ain't no politics. I'm here to tell you this morning, my citizenship is in a better country. And because of that, I've got a hope. Because of that, I can have joy. Because of that, I can have a smile. I got a home and I got a hope. Now watch this. The instance I got saved, I gotta help her. I gotta help her. What are you talking about? I'm talking about the Holy Spirit. You see, the Bible tells me that he's a comforter. The Bible tells me that he's very present help in time of trouble. He's the Holy Spirit. So it's one thing, Brother Noah, to have a knowledge that we've got a home. It's another thing to have a hope and say, guess what? I don't have to worry about anything in this world. But on top of all that, living inside of us is a helper. Oh my. During those weeks that Rachel was so sick, man, me and God had some, we had some wrestling matches at night. I'd lay down on the couch, put her to bed and check her oxygen, it'd be low and she'd be coughing, and I'd think, oh Lord, I'm gonna end up in the hospital tonight for sure. I'd lay down on the couch, I'd say, Lord, I don't understand, what are you doing, why? Lord, please give me a break, Lord, I need a break. Anybody else ever talk to the Lord like that? I'm just telling you, you let somebody get sick or something like that happen, you go to having some real frank conversations. It quits being, our Father in heaven, Lord Jesus. No, it's Lord, what are you doing? What is the deal here? I need to know what's going on. You've gotta help me, Lord. We start having some real frank conversations. And even when I couldn't figure it out, There's somebody on the inside of me that when I get real still would whisper, it's gonna be all right. It'll be okay. Right here with you, son. You know why? Because I gotta help her. Oh boy, I'm starting to feel that right there today. I gotta help her. I got one living on the inside. He's an encourager. He's a comforter. He's a cheerleader. He says it'll be all right. He said to keep on keeping on. I tell you, in all these sicknesses, I just, I went online today, so I was supposed to pick my mind. All these sicknesses, folks out, like I was telling you at the beginning, it's hit the sound room hard. And a few Wednesday nights ago, I ran the sound, run up here up front, did the preaching, run back and back, hit the sound. Y'all know, y'all seen me, I thought that fit that Wednesday night. I felt bad about it ever since. Some of y'all missed it, because y'all don't come to church on Wednesday night, the rest of them got it both barrels. I was madder than the devil. I left out of here. Rachel got in the car. She said, it's okay. I said, shut up. No, I didn't. I thought it. I rode home. I thought to myself, bless goodness. Come Sunday, they'll just wonder where I'm at. Sunday, they'll wonder. When I ain't there, they'll wonder. Regular preachers, and I'll say, hey, y'all need to show up now. I ain't coming to that. I'll quit, sell my Bibles. I thought to myself, how am I going to move my stuff out of my office? I'm so mad and aggravated. Sorry, Bunch won't do right. And that's the way I was thinking. But when I got myself calmed down, something on the inside said, now, Bradley. See, a natural man don't think that way. Natural man gets mad and he's still mad and he wakes up in the morning. He just gets madder the next day. But when you got somebody living on the inside that goes, now, Bradley, you know you've missed church a few times. Maybe them people had a real problem. Lord, I know they didn't. Lord, I know they're just too sorry to come to church, Lord. No, Bradley, time for you to calm down. You know you can't quit. I called you to preach. See, I'm telling you about the man on the inside. That's the one that makes the difference. You know them people love you, Bradley, and you know you love them. Just calm down, son. Everything's gonna be all right. That's the difference conversion makes. I know I'm too honest sometimes, but I'm just trying to bear my heart. There's times I get aggravated and mad and all out of kilter and all out in right field, and God, through that inner man of the Holy Ghost, has to bring me back and center me and put me where I need to be, and none of that can happen without conversion. You must be born again, Jesus told Nicodemus, and it's still amush today. And if you're here today and you say, preacher, all of that is foreign to me. I don't have that inner man holding me back. My flesh just goes wild. I don't have that. Then what you need today, before you never transform, before you never change, before a new man can ever be made out of you, what you need today is to get in an altar and say, oh God, save me before it's ever lasting too late. Oh God, move into my life and it'll be the best thing that ever happened to you. It's the promises of conversion. Would you like to be better? Let's be honest. Wouldn't you like to be better? Oh boy, I would. Paul, he wanted to be better. Romans chapter number seven, Paul looked in the mirror at himself and when he saw himself he said, oh wretched man that I am. You know, Neil, I'd like to be a better preacher. I'd like to be a better Christian. I'm taking these kids tonight up to youth camp, and my hope is I'm gonna bring back a better youth group. I wanna transform. But you'll never transform until you've first been converted. See, that's the basis upon which we're gonna build everything else. Everything else I'm gonna preach on over the next few services won't do you any good without the basis of conversion. Let's stand our feet. Gabe, come to the piano. Father, in Jesus' name, Lord, we thank you for the opportunity that you've given us to preach your word today. Lord, it's been our privilege, been our blessing. Lord, we'd love to see folks be transformed over these next few weeks into better Christians. I pray that you'd help them to do that. Lord, if there'd be one here today that's lost without you, I pray that you'd save them. Do that now as only you can, and we'll thank you for all it's done in Jesus' name. Her heads are bowed, her eyes are closed. I wonder if they'd be willing to service this morning and say, Preacher, today, As you was preaching, I realized I do not have that difference of that inner man. I can't do no better because I've never been made better. I've never been saved. I've never been born again. I want to come out and get out of my pew right now, come fall on that altar, and ask God to save me before it's everlasting too late. I wonder if they'd be one, say, preacher, that today, that's the situation I'm in, that's the circumstance that I'm in. I want to come and be saved before it's too late. Would they be one? Would they be one, preacher, I want to come be saved? Maybe you're here today. You said, preacher, I'm saved. But you're exactly right. I sure would like to be better. I'd like to be a better Christian. I'd like to be a better dad. I'd like to be a better mom. Preacher, I want to tune in to these transformation messages because I want to be transformed. I want to build on the conversion that God has put in my life. I want to be better. I want to be better. I want to transform spiritually. I want to be better. Father, Lord, we want to thank you for these honest hearts that have gathered around the altar for prayer. We want to thank you, Lord, for good Christians that want to do better. I want to pray for each one, Lord, down through this altar, each one. God, I pray over the next few services as we think about how to transform our life, how to live for you biblically and scripturally. God, I pray, Lord, today that you'd help us, God, to aspire to a higher realm, to be a better Christian, to live a better life, follow you more completely and trust you by faith. And Lord, everything that you do, we'll thank you and praise you. We'll honor you and glorify you. We love you this morning. In Jesus' name, we ask these things. Through his blood we pray. Amen, amen. You stay till you get done. Well, didn't the Lord bless us today? It's Father's Day. How about all you dads? Lining up right across the front here. Line on up. Gabriel. Noah. Get these water bottles. We decided the dads this year needed to hydrate. I've got some hats coming. We're gonna get some hats out just for anybody that wants them, not just dads, but for Father's Day, just walk down through there and make sure everybody gets what they want, color they want. For Father's Day, we have got some water bottles here. We appreciate godly dads. Appreciate one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Come on. I'm just gonna try to figure out who's the oldest dad here. Clarence? How old are you? How old is he, Wilma? How much? I believe you're probably the oldest dad here. Anybody older than 84? Oh, boy. Now, who's the youngest? Let's think about this a minute. Frank, how old are you? You're probably, anybody younger than 27? You don't get nothing special. I know better than to ask them women when they're standing up here for Mother's Day how old they was, but men, men you can ask. Everybody get a water bottle? Neil, that's to go on your tractor so you can keep hydrated. Hydrated on your tractor. We'll not have service tonight. Our plan is to leave at seven for youth camp, okay? What time do you get off, Coda? What time do you get off? I did that, so it's no worries. We'll still meet at seven. We'll try to leave at seven. So be here around 6.30 to load the trailer with your stuff, all right? Anybody got anything else? Glad you sang? Good day in the Lord's house, all right. We'll ask Randall to dismiss us in prayer. What is it?