Well praise the Lord for the opportunity to be here today. Glory to God that he's given us the health and the strength and the breath to live and to move and to have our being. But praise the Lord that the Lord Jesus Christ seemed fit to go to a cross to save us from a devil's hell that we deserve. I'm thankful today to be a saved, born-again, blood-washed believer in the book and in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. And I just want to praise the Lord that the book that he's given us. So if you've got your Bibles today, we'll turn to the very first book of the Bible, which is Genesis, which is probably one of my favorite books in all of the Bible. In fact, it should be probably every Christian's one of the first books of the Bible. favorite books, first five favorite books of probably the Bible because you can't understand the Bible without it. So if you would stand to your feet, we'll be in Genesis chapter number 50. Chapter number 50. Now in children's church the past couple weeks, we've been looking at the life of Joseph. And so yesterday, I got the opportunity to bring a message on the life of Joseph in Children's Church, and so I'll continue that thought today. So some of you that may have heard that message, this will be round two. You'll get a double dose. And so in Genesis chapter number 50, we're just going to read three different verses, starting in verse number 19. The Bible says, and this is a reply from Joseph to his brother, a brethren, it says, And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for I am in the place of God. But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring it to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. And then he goes on to say in verse 21, Now therefore, fear ye not, I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spake kindly unto them. So let's pray at this time. Heavenly Father, Lord, we are all joined together in thy presence just praising you and thanking you for what you have done. And Lord, what a privilege it is just to read it. But Father, now I pray that, Lord, I surrender my lips to you. I surrender this body to you as a living sacrifice. And I pray that you would give me the mind of Christ in regards to that. Lord, you would give me your wisdom and a clarity of mind and Holy Spirit, we ask that you would give me the mind of Christ. that you would bring back up those things that you have told me, you've revealed to me, that you've showed me in life, and that, Father, you would reveal them unto us today in the scriptures. And help us, Lord, to draw ourselves near and close to you. Help us glean some things from your word that would be needful for these times. And we give you glory for great things you're going to do and have done and will do. We thank you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, you can be seated. Genesis chapter 50. If we read the whole book of Genesis, we will find that there's probably more trouble in the book of Genesis than there is triumph. More trouble. You find trouble even in the very beginning after God has done all of the good work that he has done in the creation. We find that man messes it up in Genesis chapter 3. And then from that point, it's just a couple chapters over in chapter number 6 that God decides to destroy the whole world, save one family. We also find that even in chapter number 10, just a few chapters after that, that the whole world is now divided and in confusion because of the diverse languages. And it continues even with Abraham and how God pulls him out and begins a nation with Abraham. And then we see even after Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, more trouble arises. And then we come here to the very end of Genesis and we see that there's a reunion day here after all that has happened and all the trouble that has come to pass. There's a great reunion day in the latter chapters of Genesis. And in chapter number 50 here, we see Joseph has now risen to prominence. He is now second in command. He is basically running the show under the authority of Pharaoh. And I'm not going to go back and rehearse all of the great details in Joseph's life. I would ask you to read from Genesis chapter 37 all the way to the end of Genesis to get all of the details. But we see how everything come to pass is that Joseph began in his life about 17 years old and God gave him a dream. It was an extraordinary dream, and this dream started the process of his life. In fact, we read in the Bible that a little bit after that, that his brothers, they didn't like this dreamer boy. They didn't like this dreamer coming around speaking the things of God and they did not like him always spying on them. And so that brought about some situations where they hated Joseph in their heart and they got rid of him because of the hatred in their heart. And that was the reason, and that was the very thing that God used to move Joseph into a place where we find right here in Genesis chapter 50, where he says in verse number 19, where he says, Fear not, for am I in the place of God? And that brings us to the text. is that now God has done a work in Joseph's life, bringing him to the place where the Bible says in verse number 20, to save much people alive. And I'm telling you today that that's what God has done for us. He's done that for us in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. God sent his only begotten son into the world to give him as a ransom for many. And God gave his son in such a way that there was no man to die a death like the Lord Jesus Christ. He took upon himself all of sinful man and all of the sinfulness of man, and that penalty that was owed to you and I, and all of the world, and God placed it upon his only son and he punished him there. For you and for me. What an act of God. What an act of love. And we see that there's no greater act of love than that. And there Jesus is here today proposing the question even to us and also the purpose behind this question is simply the purpose to save much people alive. And that's the purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ as He come into the world is to save sinners. And I'm so glad as a nine-year-old boy I was one of those sinners that he came to save and I praise the Lord for it. So let us look at the context for just a second before we really get into the place of getting to the context of the question itself. Why was this question arising from Joseph replying to his brethren? Well, first of all, the question comes from, if you back up a few verses in the text, it says this, verse number 15. And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, Jacob had just died in the chapter. You will find out that there's two deaths in this chapter, one being Jacob and the other being Joseph. A little bit later at the very end, it says that Joseph died being 110 years old. And I realize there's been a lot of deaths here in recent days around this church as well and how sometimes what happens in death, God uses death to provoke us sometimes and sometimes to get us to realize things that maybe we didn't realize before. And this is the case in Joseph's brethren. Now, I want you to understand the time frame of this is that Joseph is probably around 60 years old. They have known Joseph's blessings for about 20 years thus far. So the reunion day started 20 years ago. And look at their mindset. Verse 15 goes on to say that after their father was dead, they said Joseph will preadventure hate us and will certainly requite us all the evil. which we did unto him." They were still thinking about when Joseph was 17 years old and what they did to him, and they think in their minds they don't trust Joseph. They think he's going to retaliate upon them now that Jacob is dead. They don't trust him. And why is that? It could be possibly That because Joseph loved his dad, Jacob, and because Jacob loved his son, Joseph, that maybe Joseph's wrath was stayed for a moment. And maybe now he's dead, oh yeah, he's going to unleash that wrath on them. That's their mindset, they don't trust him. And Joseph hears reassuring them in verse number 19 and in verse number 20 and 21, he's reassuring them, listen, I'm not going to pour out my wrath upon you, I'm going to bless you because I'm in the place of God. And so the question arises here, or should I say the context arises here in helping us glean some things very quickly. I'd like to take a minute to get us to understand that prophetically this is also talking about Jesus Christ and His coming and His millennial reign and when He reigns upon the earth a thousand years and He brings the nation of Israel together. and he blesses them, and he blesses the whole world through that nation. This generation may bring one race up to be superior above another, but I can tell you this, in God's mind, the race of the Jews will be superior above all of the other races, and we've got to understand that. The world looks at it from the upside down, but looking at it from the Bible perspective, the Jew, God through the Jew, the Lord Jesus through the Jew will rule and reign this world one day. And you and I who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be in the mix of that as well. And so the Bible says here, and we propose this question as an inspirational thought, He says, fear not for am I in the place of God? And he's putting that question there. And that question is simply Joseph looking at his brethren saying, do you not see? Do you not see that where I'm at and what God has done through me, that I'm in the place of God to help you? Do you not see that? They were blinded from their hatred and even still guilt and bitterness from Joseph and the things that happened many years ago. Let's make a note right here is that what will happen in our life sometimes is that we will allow bitterness in our life and things that happened many years ago blind us from seeing that God is at work in our life right now. And we won't see it because we'll be blinded because we're looking back at the things that happened years ago. May our eyes be open to the fact that God is at work in our life. It doesn't matter today whether you are a lost individual. I mean, it matters, but I'm here to say that if you're in this building and you're lost and you don't know Jesus as your Savior and you already feel the tugging of the Holy Spirit, I'm here to say that in the body you are in the place of God. You're in the right place at the right time to get saved. Because today is the day of salvation for us, that if we will trust Christ the Savior, if you are in that lost condition, today is that day. You can be saved today. But also, also here, first of all, let's just go down through the question for a second. Let's glean a few things. Maybe Maybe here when it says fear not, look at these two words and the words fear not is said many times in the Bible. The Bible says in verse number 19, Joseph's reply, he says, fear not. He gave them the assurance that they needed. And I'm here to say that we ought to fear not. Because God in his word has given us the assurance that we can trust him. We can trust him that he will take care of us. We can also trust him for the unseen things that lie before us, the uncertain days that lie before us. We can trust him and we can say with Joseph here, fear not. And I say with Joseph, fear not. And that should be an assurance to us. I want us to look at something else here, too, as we continue. It says, for am I in the place of God. Look at those three words for a second. For am I. Now why was it worded that way? You think, well, you know, that's just the old King James, that's just the way they They worded things back then. Why did Joseph say, I am here in the place of God? Why didn't he say, for I am in the place of God? Because I can tell you this, is look at the word, I is at the end. That's a humble man. That's why. because if he would have said, I am here, that statement alone, do you not fear, feel a little arrogance behind that? I am here. But he didn't say I am here in the place of God because it's like I've brought myself into this place. Oh no. Because Joseph realized that it was God that brought him to the place here. that God led him through all of the things that happened. And we know as Joseph is that type of Christ that there was many a sorrow, many affliction in Joseph's life that probably he did not deserve at all because he was a faithful man, he was a righteous man. But you see how God used all of those things to bring him to that place. So it is with you, so it is with me. God would take those things in our life, though they may seem bad, though they may seem hurtful, though we might be confused at why these things are going on in our life, and he can take those things together and he can bring us to the place that God wants us to be. And I'll elaborate on that probably towards the end. But I want us to see something here. That for am I is not for I am. You see, there's a difference. You see, one projects that God has put me here and one projects that I have put me here. You see, one of them that things came beyond Joseph's control and God used them for the glory of God. And the other one, the other one suggests simply that the things came because of my decisions. And so very quickly, let me, let me say this. here of what I see is the difference between situations will always arise in all of our lives. Trouble will come to you whether you're saved or lost. Trouble will come to you whether you're living right for God and whether you're saved and you're not living right with God. Troubles are going to come your way. And troubles are going to come my way and we can't escape those things. But you see, it's our attitude behind it and it's what God is doing through the choices that we make in the situation. The same situation could come to your life, that can come to my life, and we can make two different decisions and have two different attitudes about it. And based on our attitude is where God takes you from there. God will either take you to the place that He wants you to be, the place of God, or if we have the wrong attitude and we make wrong decisions in the situation, then we will find ourselves in a different place. It all depends. I think of someone here, another person in the Bible, that some situations arose in his life and he was in the right place at the right time and he did right with what God wanted him to do with Samuel. Notice, you know, Samuel was one that was dedicated to the temple under the authority of Eli. Eli was not a good priest. He was a back-slidden priest. And his family was living in sin and the temple, and all of his sons were in disarray, living in rebellion against God. But yet, Samuel's heart was right, and I believe that God even heard his mother's prayer. And I believe, and what God did is he spoke to Samuel there. He did something with Samuel and began to grow him up to be the the prophet of the nation of Israel, because he had the right attitude and he did with it what would be pleasing in God's sight. We also see another fellow, he did not make the right decisions in life, and that was Sampson. Sampson is a good example of a man that God desires to do great things with, but he fumbles He puts himself in the way of what God wants done. Now in the light of Samson, what happened is you see, Samson was a very, he was a whimsical man, very whimsical. He made decisions on the fly. And also, he was a selfish man. He was a man of flesh as well. He was a selfish man. He always did what he wanted to do. He was a fleshly man that he ran after his flesh. And where did he find himself? He found himself in the enemy's camp, blinded and weak without God. That's not the place where God wanted him to be. But we do understand that even though he was not in the right place where God wanted him to be, Samson looked up. And he said, God, if you can just come upon me one more time. And God heard his prayer. And so there is still hope even after all of our bad decisions. But I'm here to tell you, the first thing that we've got to understand to be in the place of God and where God wants us to be, is we have to stop making bad decisions. We have to stop making bad decisions on a whim, and not praying about it, and not thinking about it, and just making a decision because, oh we just, here it goes, let's just do it, without thinking about it. That's how a lot of us end up in a bad place. And we've got to stop making selfish decisions. Decisions that it's all about self. We're not thinking about others around us. And we're not thinking how our decision is going to affect those around us. We've got to stop making selfish decisions because you will not end up in the place where God wants you to be making whimsical decisions, making selfish decisions, and then thoroughly making fleshly decisions that your flesh is crying out for a thing, something to do, something to experience, and you find yourself going after the flesh rather than the things of God, and you will not end up in the place where God wants you to be. And we've got to stop making bad decisions. There's a fellow that I know. Nobody in here knows this fellow. But just for the sake of it, I'm going to call his name Steve. I went to church with Steve. Oh Steve, God got on his life and he said that God was calling him to preach. And so the pastor there, you know, started to give him some opportunities to serve God. And so God put it on his heart to go into the bus ministry. And so the church bought a bus so that he could run it because that's what he wanted to do. And so he started running that bus, and I'm telling you, he filled that bus up. He lived probably 40 minutes away from the church, but I'm telling you, he filled that bus up and he would bring that bus to church. And I'm telling you, the youth program, you know, was booming at that time. We had all kinds of youth coming in. And the church was ministering to these people and it seemed like, you know, God was saving lives and God was moving. And I'm telling you, things was going well and God was using this man in a mighty way. And I was joining Steve also in this bus ministry and trying to help him out as best I know how, and we was trying to, going around visiting, and we was going around trying to get people to come to church. And guess what happened. He was offered a job in another town. It paid more money. It seemed to be great for his family, so he relocated. So he had to drop the bus ministry. And so he wasn't no longer going to the church. He made a decision. It was a selfish decision. It was a whimsical decision. I don't think he prayed about it much because I tell you the result behind it. The result was is that he lost his marriage. The result was is that he lost his children because he started the job, pulled him out of church and he wasn't where he needed to be. And so then he lost his marriage and then he lost his children and then the whole family broke up. And so then, so he first of all lost his relationship with the Lord and then he lost his relationship with his family, his influence, and then he lost his ministry that God had entitled him to do. He lost the whole ministry. He no longer was in the ministry of God. What a sad, what a sad example of somebody that made some bad decisions and that found themselves not in the place of God simply because of just simple bad decisions. If we'll start making right decisions, God can get us to that place where He wants us to be. But we go on here and let us continue. Let me continue with this thought for a second. In Proverbs chapter 27, the Bible says, one of the verses that God gave me years ago, as a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place. You can apply man and woman and child right there. You wander from the place where God wants you to be. And the Bible says here, you're like a bird that wanders from her nest, the enemy comes in and he will destroy that nest, and he will destroy everything that God began and started in you. But by your foolish and bad decisions, you will wander. If you wander away from the things of God and God's place in your life, you're like that bird wandering off of that nest. As we look at verse number 20, we also see the next phrase, not only for am I in the place of God, but look at the place of God for a second. Verse 20 says, but as for you, you thought evil against me. But God meant it unto good to bring it to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. What we find here is as Joseph is reflecting over his life, he's reflecting and he sees that he's in the place of God. His brothers doesn't see it, but he sees it. But then we see that Joseph realizes his purpose here. And do we not realize our purpose? today and you've been saved by the good grace of God, would you like to know from the Bible's perspective what your purpose is? To save much people alive. That's our job in a nutshell. That's it. to save much people alive. That's what Jesus came to do. That's what he saved us to do. As he saved us, he wants us to pass it on down and to pull somebody else out of the fire. And so what we see here is we see the purpose here. Notice in verse 21. Now therefore, fear ye not, I will nourish you. He's telling his brethren, I'm going to take care of you. Now you didn't take care of me, but I'm going to take care of you. And he wants to reassure them he's going to provide their personal needs. And then notice here he says, and your little ones. I'm going to take care of the next generation. Has it ever dawned on to you, has it ever dawned to me that when God saved us, that he wants us to not only reach and not only for us to have a relationship with God and to build some foundation of God's truth in our life, but the reason behind it is not just to keep us out of sin, and that's a part of it, but to keep somebody else out of sin. And has it ever dawned to you that our responsibility is not only unto us, but to the little ones, to the next generation, and to reach them? That's the place of God. God wants us to find our place where God is using us to save much people alive in these last days. But we've got to, like Joseph, we've got to Make the right decisions. Very quickly, let me tell you how Joseph ended up in the place of God. Very quickly. There's many things that one could say, but really, it really evolves around just three. Go back to Genesis chapter 37 very quickly. Genesis chapter 27, 37, excuse me. Notice here that the Bible says that Joseph here, being 17 years old in verse number two, it says, was feeding the flock with his brethren. And notice here some things happen. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. You know what Joseph had that his brothers didn't have? He loved righteousness and he wanted to stand for righteousness. And though Joseph physically, being the younger brother, he could not put an end to it, but it bothered him so much. And he stood for righteousness to the place that he did something. He went back home and he told dad. Brothers didn't like it. And nobody likes a tattered tail. Listen, I was a brother. I have an older sister and a younger brother. And I'm telling you, I told all kind of things on my sister. And me and brother always like to find out those things. Mama, did you hear what sister done? And she'd probably do, she did the same thing to us as well. But here's the thing, though he was, he loved righteousness and second of all, he opposed evil because the Bible says that when he arose on the scene, he basically probably pointed out here that his brothers was doing wrong. The brothers knew that he would go back and tell the father what they had done. He stood for righteousness. He opposed evil. And in Joseph's life here, he also spoke for God. Because when God would give him something, a dream, guess what he would do with it? He'd let somebody know about it. And so when God would give Joseph something, he would let somebody know about it. When God gives you something, you ought to let somebody know about it. When God gives me something, I'll let somebody know about it. And so those three things is what really proposed the issue that the brothers had with Joseph. Because of those three things, that he stood for righteousness, he opposed evil and he spoke the things of God, they hated him and they got rid of him, and they got him out and sold him as a slave. And told lies to his father. And the Ishmaelites took him to Egypt, sold him to Potiphar, and the story of Joseph was just like that because Joseph did what was right. But God took it and he meant it for good because Joseph's heart was in the right place. He stood for righteousness. He opposed evil and he spoke the things of God everywhere that he went. As we get to the conclusion of the matter, I want us to turn to Proverbs chapter 24. Proverbs has become one of my favorite books now for the past three years. Proverbs 24. How do we get to the place There might be some of you here, you've made some bad decisions and you, in a sense, you've, I guess the word complicated your life would be a fitting word. God can take us where we are. Right where you're at, God can take you right where you're at. You get your heart right with God, he'll take you right where you're at, and he will start that new work, and he will build things in your life, and everybody in here could probably testify of that. But there's some roads we don't have to go down that God has to deliver us out of. Chapter number 24, let's look at verse number 27. How? How do I get to the place that God wants me to be? Verse number 27 says, prepare thy work without, make it fit for thyself in the field and afterwards, build thine house. What a tremendous verse. Has anybody in here into carpentry, building houses, things like that? Raise your hand. I want to see if you, if I asked you, you know, do you know some things about building houses? Okay, there's several of you. I don't know a whole lot, but my dad was a carpenter, and so there are some things I do know. When the Bible says here, prepare thy work without, if I'm going to build a house, I'm not going to go out here in the woods and just start building, am I? You say, man, you're a fool to go out there and just get a hammer, nails and whatever else and just start building, be foolish. So the thing that I need to do, the Bible says to prepare thy work without. The first thing I need to do is clear me off a spot. Maybe you get a bulldozer, you get something to clear those trees out, to clear that field out, and then make you a spot where you're going to build that house. The first thing that we've got to do is we've got to make room for God to work. Because our lives are so crowded with all the things that doesn't need to be there, and we've got to get those things out of our lives. And so we've got to clear off that space. We've got to prepare thy work without. There are some things that sometimes we find ourselves in the place that, some things that we should not be doing. Some places that we should not be going. Some people that we're hanging out with that we should not be hanging out with. Because those who do not love the Lord will not help you serve the Lord. And you've got to get some things out of your life. I can remember I can remember my life having to make some changes in my life. I was a 16-year-old. I started making decisions on my own. And within a year's time, I was hanging out with the wrong people, listening to the wrong music. But because my mom and dad had a good foundation, put a good foundation in my life of the things of God, God delivered me out of it. It may not be the case with some. I don't know, but I just know that God did that for me, for sure. God can do that for you. But we find here we've got to clear off a spot. Secondly, we've got to make some plans. Because if you clear off a spot and you get those things out of your life and you don't do nothing to put something in your life, those things will come creeping back into your life. and the weeds will start growing, and the trees will start growing again, and then you'll have the same problem you had at the very beginning. You'll have a spot that's full of stuff that doesn't need to be there. So you've got to put something there. So you've got to make plans to do the right things. And so you've got to make plans to build the foundation. You've got to have the people come out to, you know, dig a well or whatever you've got to do. And you've also got to have people to put that foundation down and maybe put your set tank in. You've got to get all that foundation and get the cement people there and get the bricklayers there and get everybody there to get that foundation so that that house can be built. You got to clear the spot. You got to make the plans. You don't want the electrician coming to your house to hook all your electricity up if you don't even got the foundation down. You don't want the roofers coming to put the roof on the house if the framers does not come to frame the house. Right? And that's how a lot of Christians live their lives is they get saved by the marvelous grace of God, and they get in church, and they start to come to church, and they start to get happy in the Lord. But what happens is they start clearing things out of their life, but they never make plans to get the things of God in their life. And it never works out. It seems like the rest of their life, it's always chaotic and things are just never working out. And they've always got all of these other kinds of problems. We'll always have problems, but there's a lot of trouble that we can put upon ourselves by the foolish things that we do and by not going in the way of God. But the next thing we do, first of all, we make some plans and then we build from the foundation, the things of the Bible and the things that God wants us to build in our life. And that is simply this, that after you build your house, that your relationship with God is established, then you start reaching out. You start ministering to others and what God is doing and has done in your life. You said, let me show you how to build your house. God has showed me how to build my house. Let me show you how to build your house. So in the next couple minutes, I hope you got a few minutes on your spare time on your hands. I want to tell you Because I don't deserve to be here. I'm a big zero with the rim kicked out, and there's nothing good in me except what Jesus Christ has done. Absolutely not. You're looking at a very shy guy, and I know some of you could have that same testimony, very shy guy, didn't talk to nobody, always in the corner, didn't have many friends. hated to stand before people, and as I stand before you now, I'm shaking on the inside. But I'm telling you the reason that I'm even here, what am I doing here? Let me go back to when I was a nine-year-old boy. It's that my mom and dad raised me up in church to the place. Thank you, Mama. for showing me the things of God and taking me to church, and not just taking me to church, but putting things in my life at the home. And how my dad would have us all around the altar, and we'd have family altar and family devotions, and they'd put the Word of God in me. And they wouldn't just tell me how it's done, they would show me how it's done. This is how a Christian's supposed to act. This is what a Christian's supposed to do. So as a nine-year-old boy, I got convicted over my sin and I went in there and I told my dad, I said, Dad, can you show me how to be saved because I'm lost and I'm on my way to Hell. And my dad took me into the living room, into that couch, and we knelt down there. He opened up the Bible and he led me to the Lord Jesus. He said, trust the Lord Jesus as your savior. And it was there, it was there that the Lord saved me. But you see, at 16 years old, as I said earlier, I made some bad choices. And let me just say to some of you young people, when you start to get out from among your mom and dad's shelter, get you a job, You're going to school, different things, even going to college and start making your own decisions. If you don't have a good foundation in your life, you will make the bad, you will make bad decisions. You've got to have a good foundation in your life. And so God brought me back to himself at 17 years old, June 10th of 1995. I was sitting in Lighthouse Baptist Church, Brian, on the left-hand side about the middle row back, and the altar call was given. Had no idea what the preacher preached. He could have preached on tithing. I don't know. But all I know is this, is that he was a Clint Neifert preach that day, but it wasn't Clint Neifert that I heard. It was the Lord God Almighty and he called my number. He said, Brandon, you know you're not living in peace and you don't have no peace in your life. If you'll surrender your life to me, I'll give you the peace that you need. I should have went down to that altar and I should have bowed down and I should have surrendered my life right there, but I didn't. In fact, I waited until I got home and I couldn't sleep that night. Very odd, very strange thing because boy, I can do some sleeping. I lay my head on the pillow and I'm gone. Some of you know what I'm talking about. I have no problem sleeping. That night I could not sleep. And about two o'clock in the morning, my eyes lifted up to the ceiling. I said, Lord, I don't know what you're doing in me, but Lord, I surrender my life to you. Whatever you want to do in my life, I'll do. You want me to get rid of whatever I want, whatever you want to get rid of, I'll get rid of it. I surrendered my life to the Lord and my life has never been the same since that moment. That was a choice that I made. And every person has got to come to that choice of surrender. You say, well I'm saved. But are you surrendered? There's a lot of saved people, but are there surrendered people? But 17 years old, I began to put the things of God in my life. Well, let me back up for a second. You know what happened? It's the very moment I surrendered my life to the Lord, the devil sent me a girl. That's how he works to get you off, to get you sidetracked. Boy, he got me sidetracked for a year. I tried to put the things of God in my life, but it was hard with her around because she was going this way and I wanted to go this way. And there came a time that God said, you got to let that thing go, and I did. I did. And then at that time, at 18 years old, I started reading my Bible like I've never read it before. And I was praying like I've never prayed before. And I was in church and excited about the things of God like never before. I'm telling you what, I've never experienced such great peace at that time, before that time. And God began to put things in my life. And at 20 years old, the church decided to go to the Philippines on a mission trip. I said, right here. And the church was going to pay my way. I said, definitely right here. And so there were several of us to go to the Philippines on a mission trip. And I went and I'm telling you what, I saw things I'll never forget. And God used me in such a way that I don't deserve. We saw hundreds of people saved and I saw things there and saw God move in a mighty way. Why was that? Why did I end up in the Philippines? I made a choice for God. And then it continued on and there were several other women that, you know, I was looking for a wife during that time. But you see, I was looking in the wrong places. And God brought me, at 24 years old, God brought me the woman I was supposed to meet. Listen to me, young people. Listen to me good. At 14 years old, 14, my Sunday school teacher told me that I needed to start praying for me a wife. And so for ten years, I'd been praying for me a wife. And it seemed like all of these other girls that was coming into my life, they was going one way, I was going another, except for her. And God brought me to the place where he gave me a good thing. For if a man finds a wife, he finds a good thing. But I can tell you this, at 29 years old, I walked the aisle. She did, too, and we got married. And I'm telling you what, I've experienced the great love of God through what a marriage could be like, just simply because back years ago, I yielded myself to God. I made that decision. You see, I don't want you to think that I'm just going to The decisions of our life will take us to different places. But God wants you in a place where he can minister to you, where he can help you, where he can put things in your life that's going to not only help you, but that's going to enable you to help somebody else. And I don't know if this is helping you. I don't know. But if God can use me to help one person in this room, then it was worth, at 17 years old, me surrendering my life to God. And that's why I'm standing here before you. It's because I surrendered my life to God to do whatever God wanted me to do. I don't know where God's going to take me from here, but I can tell you this, wherever God wants me to go, I'll go. Let's look at two fellows very quickly. It won't take long, probably just a couple minutes, less than five. Go to Acts chapter, go to 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and I'm done. And by the way, why are you turning? You might wonder why I'm at Faith Baptist Church. Why not the Baptist Church down the street? Why not the one over there in Concord? Well because we was, at the time, we was looking for a church that was close to our house because we was doing so much driving, and the prices of gas was like five dollars a gallon. Some of you might remember those days. I'm telling you, it's so overwhelming. So we was praying about it. We said, Lord, you know, we would really like a church close to our house, and lo and behold, You putting up with me because of Charlie Marshall. Charlie Marshall referred us to this church and that's the reason why we're here. The Lord used a great man of God, Charlie Marshall, in our lives. So 2 Timothy, chapter 4, and look at verse number 10 and 11. It says, for demons have forsaken me, having loved this present world. Then notice verse 11, only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with thee for he is profitable to me for the ministry. And some of you have done some study on both of these fellows. We've got two different kind of fellows here and we've got two different kind of Christians in this room. There's three kinds of different people. You're either lost, you're either saved and living for yourself and carnal, Well you're saved and surrendered. You're one of the three. And so notice here Demas. Oh Demas. He started outright. He started getting into the ministry and helping Paul and in three different letters of the New Testament, Paul commends Demas. He commends him for his faithfulness. But there came a time that he loved this present world. He got his eyes off of what God had purposed him to do and he left the ministry and he left it all for this world, for the things, to have things in the world. Things will pass away. But I'm telling you, souls and the Word of God are the two things that is worth investing your life in because they're eternal. And so Demas left the present world and he left it. He forsook it. He was in there, but he left it. There was things that got him sidetracked. And then you got the other guy. His name was John Mark. He got in there, too. He was a young boy and he got in there and he got in the fire, and boy, it got a little bit hot. He saw Paul started doing some things that was a little weird and he left and went home. He got out. He left. But I tell you what happened to John Mark. You just read it in Timothy. Here you got Paul commending him. He said, he's profitable unto me. You see, he wanted to get back in the fight. He left it. He left it. And then he got back in and Paul went and took him with him in Acts chapter 15. You see, he left in Acts chapter 13. And in Acts 15, he says, hey, I want to go with you, Paul. Paul says, you're not going with me. I can't trust you. You left me the first time. I'm not taking you again. And old Barnabas. Old Barnabas came alongside that encourager and he says, he's going with me. And he gave him another shot. And I'm so glad for second chances. And he got right back in the fight. He started being faithful to God. And Paul, at the end of his ministry, right in Timothy, he said, he's profitable unto me. And I tell you, it doesn't matter where you are. You said, man, I left God a long time ago. I'm still in church, but I left and I'm not surrendered like I should be. You can start right here, right today, and you can say, God, take my life and make it what you want it to be. And you know what God will do just like He did John Mark? He'll take you right where you are and says, come on back and get in the fight and get back in the ministry and let me use you to save much people alive. So let's stand to our feet. Don't know your heart today, only God does. But I pray that God would take something, something that was said, something that was read, my testimony, whatever God wants to use, to trigger some things in your heart and life that five years from now you can look back and say, you know what, I am where I'm at now because of the decision I made back then for God. We don't need to fill our lives full of bad decisions. We need to start making good decisions based on the Word of God so that we can get to the place where Joseph was when he said, For am I in the place of God? Are you? Are you in the place of God this morning? You say, well, I'm lost. Well, if you're lost, you're not in the place of God. But I can tell you, you can be. You can be in the family of God. You can be. You say, well, I'm saved, but I'm just not where I should be. Well, God can take you where you are and he can put you where you should be. He can build those things in your life that can help you and nourish you and take care of you so that you can reach others. I wonder if there would be anybody, whatever God's put on your heart, if you feel the need to come down and just pray for a little bit. Listen, there's nothing special about these steps here. It's just an outward sign of what God's doing on the inside, that God's been putting some pressure on you. Maybe there's some things you need to get right. Maybe you're like Joseph's brethren. Maybe like you look back and there's a lot of bitterness in your life that you need to get rid of. A lot of things that's happened to you that you're angry about. And maybe you're in the place where you are now because you keep holding on to the bitterness and the anger. Well, you need to let that anger go. Maybe you're here and you know you're not where you need to be, but you know exactly where God wants you to be. Maybe you just need to come and pray. That's your decision whether you come down here or not. You do what you know you need to do with God. So as the song, you can go ahead and sing a verse or so of the song. All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I I surrender all. I surrender all. my blessed Savior, I surrender all. All to Jesus I surrender, make me Savior, I can promise you if you make the first move, God will help you with all the other things that needs to happen in your life. God will work those things out as He did with Joseph. He'll work them out. He'll take the bad and the good. He'll mix it together. He'll bring forth His purpose in your life. My blessed Savior, I surrender. Amen. I hope minds and hearts are clear today. And somehow if they're not, then you know what the Lord has spoken to you about. And I pray that the Lord would not stop, and I don't believe He will, as He got a hold of my heart even after I left the church. God still was dealing with me and I pray God would still deal with you even after you leave this church. God would impress upon your heart and life to make those decisions to get to the place where God can start moving in your life to get you to the place of God in your life. So praise the Lord for the good things He's given us today. Praise the Lord.