Thank you for downloading this sermon brought to you by the Preaching Ministry of Liberty Baptist Church of Las Vegas, Nevada, Dr. David Tice. For more sermons in both audio and video format, we encourage you to visit experienceliberty.com. Also, for a word of encouragement, insight, and biblical inspiration, follow Pastor David Tice's blog at davidtice.com. So without further ado, let's open our hearts to the Word of God. We've been doing a lot of question and answers on Sunday evening, and so one question that just gets asked at this time of year is, Preacher, what do you think about Halloween? Should a Christian celebrate Halloween? Should we go out, is it all right to go out trick-or-treating? Is it all right to have a trunk-or-treat? Is it all right to have, to be involved in in these things that are part of our culture. Should I get a jack-o-lantern? Should I get a pumpkin and cut out a pumpkin and put a funny face on it or a horrible face on it or just mess up a pumpkin? Is it all right to eat pumpkin pie? All sorts of questions come up about Harvest Day. I had one time several years ago, There was a lady in our church that had Sunday school class and she decorated her Sunday school class during this time of year in orange and black. And there was another family that got offended because she decorated her Sunday school class in orange and black. her room in orange and black. See, they said that's the colors of Halloween and that's the devil's colors. And so I just never heard of the devil creating orange or black. But there was a fence, and so such an offense that one family decided they were gonna leave the church over that. So there's all sorts of questions about Halloween. So I was thinking about this. In fact, our staff had quite a discussion about Halloween at a recent staff retreat. And I thought, you know what? What is it? What are the things that we ought to be cautious of? You know, for years, I've talked to people who have said, I remember several years ago, everybody was, there was the whole Southern Baptist Convention, of which we are not part, but the Southern Baptist Convention decided to, and this is all probably 20 years ago now, decided to boycott Disneyland. And they were gonna boycott Disneyland because Disneyland was promoting, or Disneyland had a, a gay pride day, and they said that we don't want to promote that, and so because they're allowing that to happen at Disneyland, we're boycotting it. And I thought, well, you know what, I do not want to justify homosexuality, and they're boycotting Disneyland, and I'm just not gonna go if they're gonna promote that kind of lifestyle and say that it's all right, because it's ungodly, I'm not gonna go. So we didn't go for two years, and then I realized I'm not Southern Baptist, so I can go. So people have said, you know, you can't go here because they're involved in things. Years ago, I decided that I'm not gonna focus on the negative in life, I'm gonna focus on the positive. Everything you do in life, everything you see in life is gonna have negatives. Everything is gonna have negatives. There are books that are written about why you shouldn't celebrate Christmas. There are books written about why you shouldn't celebrate Easter. There are articles written about everything that there is in life that's enjoyable. I tell people all the time, people ask the question, why do Baptists have food in all their fellowship? They equate fellowship with food. I say it's the only thing Baptists are allowed to do is eat, and we don't preach on gluttony. That's a carnal rule in Baptist circles. What does the Bible say about these things? I mean, there are, again, everything you do. I had a guy, honestly, a friend of mine said, how in the world? I got to know him, we were working at a camp together. I was pastoring here in Las Vegas, and my son was working at a camp, in fact, my two sons and my daughter was working at the camp at the West Branch of the Bill Rice Ranch. There was a guy there that came every year, and he liked to hear me preach. But he said, I just got to ask you a question. How in the world? He said, I don't want to offend you, but how in the world can a Christian live in Las Vegas, Nevada? How in the world can you live there? And I said, well, the way we live is we breathe. That's the way we live. And we go there. I think it's a great place to win people to Jesus Christ. Can you say amen to that? I think that if you're gonna try and reach sinners, that Sin City's a good place to reach sinners. Aren't you glad that you were reached? Say amen to that. And so, the fact of the matter is, you can look for the negative in everything, or you can look for the positive in everything, and I've just determined that Jesus said that I've come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly, and so, I think it's important that we enjoy the things in our life, that we enjoy things in our culture, that we be careful. Now, there have been times in the past, quite frankly, that I've stood up and said, look, because I've, there's very few things in life that I vacillate on, but this is one of them. When our kids were young, I said, no, we're never going trick or treating. And then we would be over somebody's house on a Halloween evening and the kids would say, hey, can we go out? And I'd say, oh, okay, go ahead. And then I'd say, ah, maybe a bachelorette. I shouldn't allow that to happen. And so I've gone back and forth on that. But here, let me give you some conclusions that I have drawn. And I've called this tonight, don't play with the devil's toys. Don't play with the devil's toys. I think it's very important that we understand that though we think oftentimes we cannot be tempted by certain things, that we need to understand, the Bible tells us this, in 2 Corinthians, First Corinthians, I'm sorry, chapter 10, verse 13, the Bible says, There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. The very next verse says, Therefore flee idolatry. There were people in Paul's time in the Corinthian church who thought, hey, I've gotten this thing of idol worship out of my mind. It's totally gone. I'm not tempted to worship idols. But Paul warns them and says, look, you need to understand that not everything you think you've got power over you've got power over. In fact, the previous verse to that says this, let him that thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall. Can I tell you, I want you to understand, the devil's got a lot of toys out there that he dangles in front of us that, hey, may not be evil in and of themselves, but there's somebody pulling the string. And we need to understand that it's very important that we stay away from the devil's toys. Now, what are the devil's toys? Well, Moses, under the instruction of God, gives the children of Israel some specific instructions. Now, he knows they're going to go into the land of Canaan. And when they get in there, there's gonna be idol worship, there's gonna be all sorts of abominable practices, wicked things that are taking place in the land of Canaan. In fact, he warns them, I have driven them out of the land because all of the wicked things that they are doing. They had child sacrifice, they had witchcraft, they had all sorts of things. And Moses says to them, look, Don't you, God is putting you in there. He's told you how to live. Don't you get involved in the things that are in there. I'm trying to wipe that culture out. I'm putting you in with a new culture and you don't allow yourself to be ensnared in that culture. Can I tell you that in In Jeremiah's day, when God said, go into the land of Babylon, you're being taken captive, he allows 10,000 of them to be taken into the land of Babylon. He tells them, listen, you do right, you live right, you be right, don't be affected by the culture around you. Be careful, the culture is wicked. You're being driven out of the land of Israel because you allowed yourself to be affected by the culture there. So don't, when you get to Babylon, you go there, you do right, you serve me right, and don't be affected by the culture. God wants his people to be a light in the midst of darkness, and we need to be that light in the midst of darkness. We need to understand the wicked world that we live in, but we also need to understand what God is doing, what God wants us to do. So there's four basic points that I want to point out here. First of all, when Paul, not Paul, when Moses is leading the people of Israel in, he gives them certain warnings. He warns his people, they're about to take the land of Canaan. He tells them, do not allow yourselves to get involved in the wickedness of the land. In this particular passage, he's warning them against witchcraft. and he's warning them against human sacrifice. Look what it says in verse nine. When thou art come into the land, this is Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse nine. He said, when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, now God's the one that put them in the land. That's very clear. God put them there. Can I tell you this? You are in America, you are in Las Vegas, Nevada, this is where God has put you. You need to thank God for that. Thank God that it's October and not June. But in June, God still, he's the one that puts you here. Thank God for where he's put you and just say, God, I want you to use me where you've put me. So he says, listen, when thou art coming to the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, You're gonna see certain things. Thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There are nations there that are doing abominable things. I do not want you to do those. I'm putting you there and I'm not putting you there so that you can play with the devil's toys. "'There shall not be among you,' he says, "'one that maketh his sons or daughters "'to pass through the fire, or that uses divinations, "'or is an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.'" Now what is he saying here? We're just gonna go through this step by step. He says, first of all, don't be one, don't be participating with those who cause their children to pass. Let me just finish reading all the way through to verse 12. "'Or a charmer or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard or a necromancer, for all that do these are an abomination unto the Lord. And because these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out before thee. He said, listen, I'm driving these people out because they're involved in these things. What are the things? Number one, causing children to pass through the fire. That was sacrificing children to Moloch. This isn't something that we joke about. This isn't something that we play with. This isn't something we kid about. We, as men and women of God, are to honor life, we are to protect life, we are to revere life, and we don't play around with life. I love the fact that we support and partner with First Choice Pregnancy Center where we do everything we can to protect the lives of unborn children and to teach people how to be saved so they can raise their children for the glory of God. Listen, causing children to pass through the fire is an abomination to God. We shouldn't ever we shouldn't play around or mess around with that, with causing, with that first thing. Number two, he says divinations. Divination means telling things to come. Telling secret things. The ability to talk to someone and they're looking in their little crystal ball and they're telling you what is taking place. This is divinations. And God says, listen, I'm driving people out of the land. He compares this to killing unborn children. Isn't that amazing? He compares this to causing your children to pass through the fire. Don't be involved with these things. the observers of times. These were astrologers. Astrology is not something that Christians should be involved in. You're not some way because you were born in a certain month. You were born in July and so you are cancer. You were born in June, so you're cancer free. That is not what God wants you to be involved in. Now, are there astrological things that you can look at? I mean, do we believe in astronomy? We believe in the stars and you can look at the stars and that's nice, but we're not supposed to observe the stars to find out how our life is supposed to be. We need to stay away from that, from the observers of time, and from the use of enchantments. the use of enchantments, that is calling out names and terms and repeating terms over and over and over again, expecting that if you do that. I remember when our son was born, somebody came over immediately. It was like within a few like days of Matthew being born, and somebody came over and said, hey, we want to do this. I can't remember the entire thing, but they wanted to wave something over the body, and then they wanted to say a few things, and I thought, you're not doing anything over my kid's body. You're not doing anything. I'm not going to have enchantments. Oh, this is like a good spell. I don't want good spells. I don't want spells at all. All I want is the blessing of God. You say, well, isn't it just a silly little thing? No, it's not a silly little thing. People say, well, you know, my daughter got a Ouija board. What do you think about that? I'd say burn the thing, break it up, kill it, destroy it, throw it in the fire. You say, why? Because that's not, that's the devil's toys. I don't want to play with the devil's toys because there's something about it. When you're trying to figure out, when you're doing something mystical and coming up with answers that are just not natural, then if there's a supernatural element in it and it's not of God, then it's of somebody else. Don't play with the devil's toys. So he says, very simply, and he's talking to his people who are going into a land, and he's very simply saying, look, these things are bad. They're like killing your baby, causing children to pass through the fire, divinations, observers of time, one who uses enchantments, Alakazam. Abracadabra, these are silly things. Yabba dabba doo, Fred Flintstone. Bippity boppity boo, I don't know, I'm just saying. When we have to say something, people will send, in your emails or your Facebook, somebody will send you and say, you do this and you send this to 20 more people and the charm will go on and go on. You don't need to get involved in any of that stuff. You say, well, isn't it just silly stuff? Yeah, but it's the devil's toys. and you're playing with something, and people play all the time, again, with things. I have problems with some of the movies that have come out, like Harry Potter and that type of thing, because God warns us about wizardry. We need to understand, he says, don't associate with a witch. We think of witch. I remember growing up watching the TV show Bewitched and thinking, man, this is so funny. In fact, it was one of my favorite shows because I like the supernatural. I like, you know, I like the fact she could move her nose like she did and tinkle, tinkle, dink, and boom, something happened. And it was just a cute little witch story. Witches aren't cute little things. And there is no such thing as a good witch. We have the Hallmark Channel at my house, and my wife makes me watch it. No, she doesn't. She doesn't make me watch anything. She would tell me after this, if I didn't correct that, she would say, David, you lied. And so, don't lie from the pulpit. No, she doesn't make me watch it, but she does like, there's certain shows that are on there, like there's this new show called Home from the Heart or Heart... throb thing. It's about a Mountie in a western town up in Canada, and it's like Anne of Green Gables, you know. Nice, soft, girl stuff. Anyway, so... But on the Hallmark Channel, there's a whole series about the good witch, the good witch. I don't know, I haven't watched it. I'm just not gonna watch it because I don't think I wanna mess around with witches. I really think that sometimes we play with the devil's toys and we think, oh, it's not gonna affect me. The Bible says take heed when you think you stand lest you fall. A witch is one who has a covenant with the devil. Witchcraft is real. We don't play with witchcraft. You shouldn't play with witchcraft. What's this got to do with Halloween? Listen, we've had our kids dress up and go out and do things, but don't dress your kid up like a witch. Don't dress your kid up like a wizard. Don't play with that. Witchcraft is something real. and it's satanic. A charmer, he says don't mess around with charmers. That's one who charms serpents or other cattle, puts them under their spell and gets animals to mold to what their thought processes are. We look at that and we think that's silly stuff. No, God talks about it very seriously. Fortune telling, someone's able to tell your future or some hidden secret. That's serious stuff to God. Consultors with familiar spirits. That is one who has a spirit guide. We hear about this all the time. I can remember going to different amusement parks and you go in and they're gonna tell you about, they tell you the back story of the ride you're gonna ride and they'll talk to you about the spirit guide who will guide us through this thing. I hate to hear that. The Bible says not to consult with familiar spirits. Why? Familiar spirits in the Bible are demonic spirits. Familiar spirits, somebody says, well, I'm, in fact, we'll talk about necromancy in just a few minutes. But the idea of a spirit guide, somebody from the unknown who's guiding us through, this isn't something we play with. This isn't something that is cute. This is something God says, look, don't mess around with it. A consulter of familiar spirits, he's gonna wind up consulting a fallen spirit, a demonic spirit, and we ought not mess with that. A wizard, one who has the ability to reveal mysterious truths in your life from an extra-biblical source. God says you don't mess with him. And then a necromancer, that is one who talks to the dead. One who talks to the dead. Do you remember the story of Saul going to the witch at Endor and calling back Samuel? The question all the time is, was it really Samuel that came up from the dead? Or was that a demonic spirit imitating Samuel? I don't know the answer to that, but I do know the answer to this. Should Saul have done it? No, the next day he was dead. I don't like the consequences of playing with the devil's toys. Can you say amen with that? And what we do is we play around with these and we make light of these things and we don't, we need to understand that God doesn't want us to do that. So number one, don't play with the devil's toys. This is the prohibition. Do we have the points up there, the major points? The prohibition is, don't do that. These are the things that God prohibits. Does God say anything in there about dressing up like a farmer and going door to door, or dressing up like a fireman and going door to door, asking for candy? No, he doesn't. But if you're gonna participate in Halloween, then I would say listen to these prohibitions. And be careful that you're not somebody who's celebrating death, or witchcraft, or wizardry, or familiar spirits of any kind. Make sure if you're dressing up, and you're doing something that's fun, and you participate in things of the culture, then participate in things of the culture, but avoid the devil's toys. Avoid the devil's toys. The prohibition very simply is listed here. Don't get involved in these things. And don't play with these things. And teach your children these things. Why can't I dress up like a... Because, let me explain, and take time. This is a great teaching opportunity. This is why we believe witches are real. We believe war hawks are real. We believe that charmers and observers of times are used by Satan. And we believe there's a real Satan, just like we believe there's a real God. And so I would say this, that there is a prohibition, but the prohibition is clearly marked out about what you stay away from. Now, that's the prohibition. Let me tell you the problem. The problem, that's the second point. The problem is these actions are intriguing. I'm watching it on television. Man, I loved Bewitched. I loved when she made, when the mother-in-law, Endora, see some of you are still watching reruns. Endora, she would do things to Darren and make him small or make him big and have a cat chasing him down the road. I remember, I loved that kind of stuff. That's intriguing. It's intriguing that the supernatural, witchcraft, the wizards, all of that is very intriguing. And though you as an adult may say, hey, you know, I just know that's nothing and it's just a sort of a fun thing. These people can mislead you. And I do remind you that God's word says that you need to take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall. That temptation is common. These people are Satan's tools. These people are real. And when we're talking about witchcraft and we're laughing about it and the little, it's okay, this is the good witch, it's all right. The people that are promoting witchcraft in reality are not thinking it's a fun little thing. These people are people that sacrifice babies. There are Satanists in this country that do get involved in those kind of things. So there's a prohibition, and there's a problem, and then this next thing is gonna be wrong. It's supposed to say, and sometimes my secretary can't read my handwriting, so it says they play around, but it should say the playground. It should say the playground. What is the playground that Satan uses in our minds, or uses to get us away? Number one, he uses your mind. You think you can handle it, but you really can't. Again, take your Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Here in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, we've been going through this on Wednesday night. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, The Apostle Paul is talking about eating meat that's offered in sacrifice to idols, and he starts off by saying, hey, look, we all know that idols are nothing, we all know that, and we know, but we also know that a lot of, some people don't know that, and so he indicates that it's all right to do certain things, but maybe because of our love, we should limit certain things. Then he comes in chapter 10 and says, moreover, brethren, I would not have you to be ignorant. This is very interesting. He says, I would not have you to be ignorant how that all of our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized into Moses. That's talking about the fact that the children of Israel came out, they were all delivered. These were children of God. They were baptized into Moses, they went under the sea, they came out of the sea, that is they walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. They were all baptized unto Moses and in the cloud and in the sea, so these were children of God. and did all eat the same spiritual meat. And they did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. They drank of Christ. These were children of God. But with many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. You know, everybody over 20 years old, 20 years old and older, died. Now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as also they lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play, neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day, three and 20,000, neither let us tempt Christ as some of them tempted and were destroyed of serpents, neither murmur ye. as some of them murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all of these things happened unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world came." He's saying, look, they were children of God, but they messed up, and they died in the wilderness. This is not saying you can lose your salvation, but he's saying they're an example to us. They are there for us to learn from, that you can be walking with God and get all messed up. And then he says in verse 12, that's the verse we've already quoted, wherefore let him that thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall. There's no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. Every temptation is common. That thing which you think you've overcome, hey, it's not overcome. Oh, I've overcome depression. Okay, well good, I'm glad you think that, the devil says, because I can really mess you up. Oh, I've overcome gambling. Oh, good, good, I can really mess you up with that one. Oh, man, I have no problem falling to idolatry. Huh, good, good. Keep thinking that, because I can really mess you up with that. Oh, I have no problem with lust. Oh, good, good. You keep thinking that, because I'll really mess you up with that. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted of that you are able, but will with a temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Well, what is the way of escape? Here's the way of escape. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. Here's the way of escape. Run, run. Don't play with the devil's toys. What is the playground? Do you got that up there yet? The playground, no, they play around. That should say the playground. What is the playground? Your mind is the playground. Your mind is the playground. Your children are wide open. Your children's mind receive things. It's the playground of the devil. Train up your child the way he should go, and when he's old, he'll not depart from it. If this is just a joke, if this is just a big thing, it'll be a laughing matter, and you're making them open and receptive to something that you may regret. Your culture is the playground. Yours is a culture of life. The Bible says this, that the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. There is a culture of death. There is a culture of death. Paul said this in 2 Corinthians chapter one, he says, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raises the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. Paul said, listen, there is a culture of death. We had the sentence of death, we've been delivered from death, we live on life, so don't focus, don't allow your mind to be used by the devil. Don't allow the devil to play games with your mind. If the Bible says stay away from certain things, then just mark those as the things I'm staying away from. Don't think, hey, I can overcome these things. Be careful what you mess around with. So, having said that, let's go to the next point, the proposition. The proposition. The proposition is this. I think that God wants us to enjoy life. I think that God wants us to enjoy everything that's around us. So we just enjoy everything and we try to focus on those things which are good and right and holy. Enjoy the season. Here's what Paul said in 1 Timothy, he says, us, richly, all things to enjoy. We're not to trust in riches, but if we have something and if God's placed us someplace, it's good to enjoy them. If God, listen, it's good to enjoy. I was talking to somebody today, I have a 1979 Ford pickup truck, 40 years old. And I like playing with that. It's just an old beat-up truck, and my wife and I got in it the other day, drove out to the desert, went walking through the desert together. I'm not sure that if I drove it out in the desert, it would make it back. But we just enjoy getting in there, put the dog in there, and we're driving around, having a good time. We enjoyed that. It's a fun thing that we do. It's a nice toy. We play with it. God gives us all good things to enjoy. We enjoy everything in our culture. We enjoy, I have always, for years I've made Halloween a fun time. In fact, it's some of a part of our Christian culture that actually named Halloween Halloween. You see, the October 31st was used by the Druids as a time to celebrate death. And when the Catholic Church was overpowering the world, they wanted to change the culture of the demonic culture. They wanted to change all their holidays. They weren't holly days. The word holidays comes from holy days. And they wanted to change their celebrations into something that would be Christ-honoring. So they made November 1st and 2nd All Saints Day. And the day before All Saints Day was All Hallowed Evening. And it was the day that you would, that was hallowed to remember those who had died in the faith before we come to All Saints Day and celebrate the saints, the saints that the Catholics had put together. And so they called the evening the Hallowed Evening, which came to be known as Halloween. So there was an attempt, by, centuries ago, by the Catholic church to culturally change a demonic holiday or a demonic day into a Christian holiday. But it still has a lot of the bad things, in fact, it's creeped back into it, the bad things that were part of the original Druid's celebration. So you need to be careful about those things. Now, the vast majority of Americans know nothing about what I'm talking about. The vast majority of Christians know nothing about what I'm talking about. So what we have in our culture is, I think, an opportunity. Over the last many years, when I'm at home on Halloween evening, which is very seldom, I think, man, kids are coming to my house asking for gospel tracks. I'm going to make sure I give every one of them candy and tracks. Every candy bar I give out is going to be a nice candy bar and it's going to have a track attached to them that's going to tell them how to get to heaven. We've had a lot of fun on Halloween just by going out with our children, our grandchildren now, and doing things at different times. A lot of times, frankly, we're out of town, but you can take that which is negative and you can turn it into a positive. Enjoy the season, but stay away from the devil's toys. Enjoy the festivals and the culture. Enjoy that. We have a harvest festival here to celebrate the good times of harvest, and there's a lot to celebrate. In Jeremiah, And I alluded to this earlier, but in Jeremiah chapter 29, God's telling the children of Israel, you're going to Babylon, this is what I want you to do. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon, build you houses, dwell in them, plant gardens, eat the fruit thereof, take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, excuse me, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, that ye may be increased there and not diminished, and seek the peace of the city, whether I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it, for in peace thereof shall you have peace. So the idea is this, avoid the things that got you in trouble in Canaan. Avoid the things that you were told to avoid. Stay away from those things that are demonic and that are witchcraft and wizardry and all of those things. Our culture is more and more celebrating evil. It really is. And so you need to stay away from that celebration of evil and that celebration of death. Avoid those things that are wicked and celebrate that which is good. Enjoy those things which are good. Bring light into the midst of darkness. So when it comes to Halloween, do what you will, but avoid the devil's toys. And don't make light of what God takes seriously, because God doesn't want you to play with the devil's toys. Now I hope that'll help you in answering the question, what do you do about Halloween? If you have any other questions, Watch this, reverse it, and watch it again. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for the opportunity of sharing. I pray, Father, this will be a help to the men and women and boys and girls here at Liberty Baptist Church. I pray, Father, that we might live in such a way that honors you, that we'll avoid those things that you have given us a prohibition on. And Father, we won't make light of things that you take seriously. But help us at the same time to enjoy the culture and to enjoy what we are in. Enjoy this time of year. It's a wonderful time of year. And Father, help us to focus on life and not death. With your heads bowed and eyes closed, I want to ask a question. Do you know for sure if you died right now, you'd go to heaven? The Bible tells us this. The Bible says every one of us are sinners. The Bible says because of our sin, every one of us deserve to go to hell, to be separated from God forever. The Bible says that God loves us and he doesn't want us to go to hell. He suffered and died and paid the penalty of our sin and our place. He was buried. Three days later, he rose from the dead. And now the Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The question I want to ask is this tonight. Have you called on Jesus? Do you know for sure if you died right now, you'd go to heaven? If you do, would you slip up your hand as a testimony to that? Thank you. You can put your hands down. Maybe you couldn't raise your hand. Maybe you're hearing you say, preacher, I don't know for sure I'm going to heaven. I would like to know that, but I don't. God wants you to know you're going to heaven. He doesn't want you to hope so or think so. He wants you to know you're going to heaven. Maybe you'd say, preacher, pray for me. I don't know I'm going to heaven. I'd like to know that. Now, I won't embarrass you, and I won't point you out, but I'd like to tell you what you can pray. in order to know you're going to heaven. Maybe you're here and you say, Preacher, I don't know for sure I'm going to heaven. I want to know I'm going to heaven. Pray for me. Would you slip up your hand and let me pray for you? Anybody like that at all? I don't know for sure I'm going to heaven. Please pray for me. Anybody like that at all? Okay, I don't see any hands going up. Let me just say this to you. Where you're seated right now, you can say to Jesus, Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. And I believe that you are God. And I believe that you died to pay for my sin. I believe that you were buried and rose from the dead to pay for my sin. And right now in the best way I know how I'm calling on you and I'm asking you to be my Lord and my Savior and my God. Thank you Jesus for dying for me. Help me now to live for you. If you prayed that prayer and you meant it, Then, let me tell you this, the Bible says you're on your way to heaven. That's a wonderful truth. And we'd like to know about that so we can help you with that. Christian, would you just say, Lord, help me. Help me to take what I've heard tonight and live it. Help me to stay away from the devil's toys. And help me to enjoy the culture you've put me in. But to avoid those things which you've told us to avoid. And to honor you in doing so. When we make that kind of commitment to God, God knows our hearts and he'll direct our paths. That's surrendering to his will and his direction in our life. And when we surrender to his will and his leading, he'll protect us. He protects us through his word. That's why he's given us these passages. Father, I pray you'll help us not just be hearers of the Word, but help us to be doers of the Word. And Father, I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. We hope that message was an encouragement to your heart. Now, for weekly updates and for information about Liberty Baptist Church, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook at LBC of Las Vegas. Well, that's it for today. Thanks again for listening. Until next time, God bless.