Verse 23, Proverbs chapter 4 says, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a forward mouth and a perverse lips, or and perverse lips. Put far from thee, let thine eyes look right and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the paths of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right nor the left. Remove thy foot from evil. Father, we thank you for your word, and Lord, we trust your word completely. Have no reservation about your word being true. We have no reservation about the Bible we preach from. Tonight, God, I pray, help us, Lord, to just say some things that will be of a blessing to everyone here. And, Lord, may anyone here tonight know that you're willing to save those that would come to you. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, it's just a matter of them calling on you. And, Lord, I pray that tonight the convicting power of the Holy Spirit would touch some heart where they'd walk down this aisle and just come to know Jesus as their Savior. Lord, not because of us, but because of you. Not that it'd put any feathers in our hat, but Lord, it sure would be wonderful. It'd be a wonderful thing for somebody to escape hell tonight and get saved. Oh God, I pray for everyone here. Bless us all, Lord, we pray. Unite us together, Lord, in these evil, wicked days. Lord, I pray you'll have your way. In Jesus' name, and amen and amen. All right, I've got a lot of scripture. And as I've gotten older, I've used more scripture. And I guess that's because I can't remember a lot of stuff. And I used to preach a lot of topical sermons. But I preach a lot of, I guess you'd say, expository sermons now. And I'm safer there. You preachers will understand what I'm talking about. You don't need my imagination or what I think about something, but you need to know what God says about something, right? More important than what I know, I'm glad that God knows exactly what we need. So I want to start off by just talking about the issues of life, how important they are. And you know, he said, do that or do diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. And the issues here, It means everything that persists, that contains life, that makes us what we are. Amen? Our issues of our life comes out of our heart. So it's got to be guarded. The heart is a wicked thing. It's an evil thing. Jeremiah said, who could know it? It's so wicked. So then we build a fence or a guard around our hearts. And we'll do a lot better in this life. Wouldn't you agree? The best way to live in this life is with a guarded heart. You know, the devil's always after a heart. You know, he started off in the beginning in the garden. First thing he did was he tried to get in Eve's heart, tried to turn her heart against God, make her believe that his word wasn't really all true. You know, that's one of the first ways this devil starts to things or not, that he just comes and says, well, you know, the Bible's not a word of truth. But he just comes and tries to make people believe that there's some errors. just starts off with heirs, or God didn't really say that. That's one of the reasons I like the King James. I've checked it out and found that it's the most accurate translation there is for the English-speaking people. So if you don't mind, I'll just keep it. Amen. I love it, and I was raised on it. It was good enough for me. By the way, it was good enough for the pilgrims, wasn't it? They brought a 1611 edition with them when they came here. Amen. 1620, when they got here, they had the King James Bible. Build America on it. I believe it'll work today. I believe it'll turn America back to God, don't you? Maybe that's old-fashioned, but that's what it takes. I often tell people when they call me old-fashioned, I say, you know what the angel of the Lord said about Jesus? He said, while I stand you here gazing, that same Jesus you see going, that same one now, not a modern one, not a revised one, not one that's different, not one for the time, but that same Jesus you see going away, that's the one that's coming back. He's not, he didn't, Jesus didn't go to heaven to change. Amen. He went there to stay the same. So he'd come back, that same one would come back. Now I believe if anybody could keep their character, I believe Jesus could handle that, don't you? So if you don't mind, I'll just trust the Bible. But I want to just give you a few points. And I don't know if I'll even preach all of them because I've got so much scripture. I'd be here all night and I'm going to try to be as fast as I can. Well, I'll be as fast as I can. God will slow me down or move me out of the way or whatever. I'll just leave that to Him. But first of all, when you're speaking of issues, I think one of the issues of our trouble in our lives daily is our past. So then, how do we handle the issues of our past? You see, you are not, after you're saved, if you always trust Christ, you are not your past. Your past is no longer a part of your life. So you don't live by that past. So then, you know, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6 and 9 says, know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God, be not deceived, neither fornicators, idlers, or adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were, I like that word, just underline that word, such were some of you, amen? There was a time that my past mattered, but my past don't matter now. Because such were some of you, but you're washed. Now, I don't know about you, but I find there's three phases here he's talking about that happens when you get saved. First of all, he says, you're washed, so you know you had a past. The washing took away your past, right? And then he says, but not only are you washed, he said, but you're sanctified. So that takes care of the present. Amen. So I can trust the Lord for the present now. My past don't count anymore because it was washed, but my life is sanctified. Amen. So that's different than just being me. That's not the old me. I'm a sanctified person now. Amen. Not what I've done, but what Christ's done for me on Calvary. And he said, but you are justified. Justified, if you look up the word in the Greek, it just means it just never happened. As far as God's concerned, it didn't happen. So you see, yeah, the old past can come back to haunt you. And I know a lot of people, I took a 12-course lesson in counseling, and they tried to get me to teach it, and I said, no, I'm not good enough at that to do that. But I did learn some things, and I learned that your past is the one thing that will haunt you more than anything else. It'll drag you down, it'll destroy you if you'll let it. It'll destroy the home, it'll destroy our children, it'll destroy our families, it'll destroy our marriages if we let the devil bring up our past against us. But aren't you glad that God made thorough provisions to take away your past? And so the past is not what's important now, it's the future. Right? And then also in Titus 3 and 3 it says, for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that, the kindness, thank God, and the love of God our Savior toward me man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing in the Holy Spirit. which He shed, I like that, that shed's like pouring on something, amen, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. That sounds like a great difference, amen? I'm glad God can make a difference in a ruined life. I'm glad He can make a difference in a life that's wrecked. I'm glad He can make a difference in a drunkard's life. I'm glad, listen, it don't matter what you were, but it's what you can become. I'm glad the blood of Jesus Christ is the most powerful cleanser there is, can cleanse your soul, cleanse your sin, and make it as white as snow, as though it never happened. That's Jesus. That's my Jesus, amen. And then the issues of worthlessness. A lot of people I find that they just feel like they're just worthless. I've been there. I've lived there. I wore that robe. Just feel like, who am I? And I'm nobody. Nobody want to fool with me. Nobody would want to be around me, but I'm glad, thank God, there can be a difference. It says in 1 Peter 1 and 18, for as much as you know that you were redeemed not with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by the tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without spot Now let me see, or without blemish nor spot, let me see if I can tell you how wonderful it is to have a savior that's without spot or blemish. I studied the Bible about that and I heard people talk about, you know, they needed to find a red heifer that was without spot or blemish. And I got to studying in the Bible and the high priest or any of the priests ever looked for a lamb or a ram or a red heifer that was without spot or blemish. They look for ones without a spot. They look for ones without a blemish. But both wasn't required for it to be an offering for a sacrifice. It either had to be without spot or it had to be without blemish. So how precious was Jesus? Amen? He was the lamb that was slain without spot or blemish. There's only one case in the Old Testament where they ever sought for something without spot or blemish, and that was in the case of the red heifer that they killed it and burned it and kept its ashes to anoint the new priest with. Or they either, when the priest prayed for somebody after they'd been healed of leprosy, they sprinkled those ashes on him. And when he went out in the crowd, there was a certain odor or smell about those ashes that it said, cleansed, cleansed, cleansed. You're safe to return to your people. Amen? I'm glad Jesus is able to totally cleanse us. Hey, He don't say, I'm gonna put you on probation for a week or six months, but He said, I'm gonna totally cleanse you because He's without spot or blemish. Amen? That's the kind of Savior He is. So we can trust Him with our lives. And so one of the issues of our life is that we need to know, thank God, that we're not worthless. Amen? How worthless could I be? Seems to me like that God You know, it didn't take much to make me. Amen? Because God just took dust and put it together and made man and breathed it. You know, of course, that is a wonderful thing to think. Can you imagine God on His knees giving man artificial respiration? That's the only place you'd find in the Bible where there'd be any indication that God got on His knees for man. Amen? He did that, he made man the sixth day, right? Well now, I don't know, but it's been, see me, like about 3,000 years he's been working on saving me. Amen? Do you get it? I mean, man, I am one of the most expensive piece of equipment that God has. The stars and the planets didn't take Him near as much effort as it did to save my soul. It didn't cost Him near as much to make the earth and the moon and the stars as it did to save my soul. It took the precious blood of His only begotten Son. Only that would purchase my soul. And God was willing to pay that price for me. But over a period of over 3,000 years, he worked that plan to bring it to pass and come to fruition in my lifetime that I could be a partaker of it. Bought with a price. I don't belong to me. I'm bought with a price. I shouldn't be trying to do my own thing. I don't have an own thing anymore. I'm God's thing, amen? Belong to Him. Whew, this old world is not my home. I'm just passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. Praise God. So then we look at that and say, well, one of the great issues of our heart is to get rid of the worthlessness. If I was worthless, God would not have saved me. He would not have saved you. He wouldn't have called you. His Holy Spirit wouldn't have knocked on your heart's door if you was worthless. Because anything that's worthless, I mean totally worthless, even worthless to God, He wouldn't have bothered. Amen? But I'm glad that I was worth enough to Him to give His only begotten Son for my soul. So I don't never want to, I think it's almost blasphemous, brother Tom, to go around telling God how worthless we are. He might look back and say, you wait a minute here. Now you're talking about me now. When you say you're worthless, you're talking about what a worthless God I am, because I paid the greatest price. Nobody ever paid a price for anything like I paid for you. Amen. Glory to God. Glad I'm bought with a price, ain't you? Oh, and then another thing that is an issue of the heart is condemnation. You know, the devil wants you to walk around in condemnation. And if you're not saved, you ought to. If you're sitting here in this building tonight, and you're unsaved, it'd be healthy for you to feel condemnation. Because you are condemned. He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the only begotten Son of God. So you are condemned. But wait a minute. Wait a minute, Romans 8. One says, there is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Glory to God. The condemnation left one night an old-fashioned altar. When I called Jesus my savior, I was not condemned anymore. Now the devil's come along and said a few times that I was condemned to this or condemned to that, but I always stick his nose in his scripture and says, I believe in him and I walk according to the spirit as best as I know how, amen? I'm not walking with the law. I don't need the law. I'm not under the law anymore. So I don't need the condemnation of the law, right? Because I'm under grace. So then, there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. I like this one too, Romans 8 and 33 says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who can charge you? Over the years, me being a preacher, you know you're a target. If you're gonna preach this, go ahead and get somebody to paint a big target on your back. Because you're the target, amen? and get used to it, don't pout about it, because it's people's idea. But God's asking, who shall condemn you? Who here tonight's got the authority to condemn anybody? Nobody has that authority, only God. And you know what, I'm sorry if you get upset with me, but a lot of people say, you know, well, you send yourself to hell. You don't have that authority. Only God has that authority. Oh, by the way, Peter's not the gatekeeper. In case you didn't know that, amen? He's not the one who'll throw you in hell. But only God is the one who has all authority over our lives, right? Then, so he says, there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after flesh but after spirit. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. If you went into court, and any lawyer, any judge, I don't care how many nations were there, the United Nations and every nation represented some other person, and you walked in and they was claiming you was guilty, but God said, not guilty. It's finished. When God said to you, when he saved your soul, brother Dwight, not guilty, the trial's over. It's finished. The only judgment you're gonna go to is find out what good you done. A lot of people says, well, I'll wait until I get there and see if I'm saved or not. Not me. That's a bad time to be finding out, amen? I'm glad I know that I know that I know that I know that I'm saved. I've done decided I'm going to heaven a long time ago, ain't you? The devil can throw his stones at his darts and everything, but I'm glad that there's no condemnation of them who are in Christ Jesus. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Boy, if God justifieth, you are justified. What's justified? Justified means as far as God's concerned, you've never done anything wrong. Amen? Now, you say, preacher, I don't see how I could do that. I don't either, but I'm sure glad I know he did. How do you know the Bible said? A lot of people say, well, I'll tell you what I think. I'm not interested. Not a bit in the world. I'm not a bit interested in what somebody might say. I'm interested in what God said. Oh, I won't write a song, brother. It's just this. God said. If God says it, it's settled. Whether you believe it or not, it's settled, amen? I like the Word of God. I like to invest and put my time into something I know that's working right, because nothing in this world is coming together like it should now. Everywhere you look, there's this wrong and that wrong, and our politicians have gone crazy. There's an insanity in Washington, D.C. But I'm glad, thank God, I'm on the solid rock, because God stands for me. So who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. And let's go on, yea, rather. Set at the right hand of God. I preach Sunday night, I believe, well, Sunday night or Thursday, Tuesday, on the right hand justification. I wish I could just think of a whole list of things I could tell you right now. But it talks about His glory. It talks about His grace. Oh, by the way, it is the throne of grace. Amen. He says, let us come boldly unto the throne of grace that we might obtain. I used to say that we might have mercy or get mercy. No, no, no. It's obtain. Mercy. Do you know the difference between obtaining and getting? You can get and lose. But if you obtain something, it's yours. Amen. I'm glad you can obtain, you come to the throne of grace. Come boldly, not arrogantly, not proudly, but you come boldly. That means that you know you have the right and you take advantage of the right. So I can walk straight into the throne of God where as of in the law, a man could not walk in there. The Shekinah glory of God would strike him dead. The high priest would go in there only one time a year and that only behind the blood. means I can walk right in there boldly without worrying about God killing me because when I walk in and I'm his child, he says, welcome son. Did you know no Israeli ever walked in like that except for David? Amen. And so what are you saying? I'm saying, listen, to have God on our side and justifying us and standing for us in our place. Hey, We should not fool with too many of the issues of this world. Help me now. They should not bog us down. I don't know if anybody wants what we got or not. Because you see so many people that are so unhappy as Christians. And they've got so much to say negative about the church. Amen. I'm glad I've got a church to go to. Hey, I'm glad I'm here tonight. The devil fought us tooth and nail all night trying to sing. I mean, I forgot everything at a plate to steal with. The PA system wouldn't work and everything, but I'm still happy. Cause I'm saved. And I'm in God's house. I'm with God's people. That's the best people in the world. You can't find any better. Amen. Now, if you want to pick somebody's bones, you can pick mine because you'll find some fault, right? But I'm glad God's not a fault finder. Let me tell you something, you'll get along a whole lot better with God if you'll leave everybody else alone. Amen? Sure you will. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is He that condemns? It is Christ that died, yet rather that is risen again. Who is even? Now, underline that word, who He is even. Not He is at, it's He is even. That's like saying, not only is He this, but man, He's even this. Right? who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Amen. Aren't you glad you got Jesus to intercede for you? And the Bible says this, does he ever liveth to intercede for the saints? He don't retire. He don't get tired and go to bed. You say, how does he do that? Man, he's omniscient. He's omnipresent. I'm glad I got a God like that, ain't you? But yet, you know, He is also in this body. We have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. What's that mean, preacher? That means that he's got that body that he died in. He went to heaven in it, and he sat down in the right hand of God. And if God says, son, do you understand? He'd say, absolutely. When I come to Him and I've got an issue of life and I say, Lord, I don't feel right about this or that. He said, that's all right, I've been there and I've done that. And I'm your advocate. Amen. Glory to God, any good to be saved? Hey, take this whole world, but give me Jesus, give me Jesus. Amen. Amen. I gotta hurry. So then, you know, he maketh intercession for us. Wow. I'm sorry, but, and I hope nobody in here is a lawyer, but, and I don't mean to blast them or anything, but I've seen some of the pitifulest advocation for people who's got problems, ain't you? Now if you shell out the funds, they'll dig a little deeper. If they don't find exactly what they need, you shell out some more and they'll dig a little more deeper. But I'm glad Jesus said, I'll pay this. Paid in full, the blood of Jesus that covers all sin. And he advocates for me. The Bible says he was made sin for us. who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness, righteousness, righteousness of God. Not just anybody, not just right with the nation, not just right with the law, no, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Amen. It's wonderful, ain't it? Y'all worry about me going over to that place too long over there when we come over this way, huh? I'm afraid I'll get tangled up in cables here and get executed. Amen. that's trouble the singers as they make their own traps. Okay, then another thing that I would worry about an issue of love, you're not your old self. Amen. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a what? New creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Now, reconciliation as a ministry is more than just reconciling, right? God reconciled man to Him and gave Him the power of reconciliation. Amen. How much, how important is that? It's really important. Hey, I'd like to reconcile everybody to Christ, would you? If you're here tonight and you're not saved, I'd like to show you how to be totally, absolutely, undoubtedly reconciled to Christ. And you can, because that's what we do. That's what us preachers are supposed to do. It's what we're all supposed to be participating in, is reconciling people with God. Not on certain areas, not just some things they've done, but God is able to reconcile no matter what you've done. There's no sin that you sin too far that God don't have the power to reconcile you. Amen. So then, I'm trying to hurry up, I know you folks wanna go home, but notice what he said, then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God, for he hath made him to be, ooh, glory to God, he hath made him, made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Amen. Glory to God. Not just made right, but made of His righteousness in Him. Glory to God. And then a couple more verses anyway. Number six is, I usually don't get to very many numbers in my message, I just call off the topics or just preach, amen? Sometimes I just preach. When you don't have an outline very good, you just preach the Word, amen? When you can't do a good job, as God does, just read the Word. Amen. Old Tom Malone used to say, he said, just read a lot of Scripture. When you get in trouble, just refer to it. You can't go wrong with Scripture. Amen. But issues of belonging. Who do you belong to? You know, there's many people that they don't know where or to whom they belong. So they're very distraught and very upset with life, very just upset with things going on. It's awful, like sometimes I've dealt with people, they don't know where their mom is, they don't even know who she is. That could be devastating, couldn't it? So then not knowing to whom you belong can be very, very harsh in life. So that's an issue that the heart would really suffer for, right? I've seen where people search for years to find their parents because they didn't know who they was. Then finally, the joy that they would have when they'd finally find their mama or their daddy. Right? I'm glad I don't have that problem. I know who my daddy is. Amen. Hey, if y'all don't care what I'm saying, y'all are my mama. Not just the women here, and I don't mean that, just park any thoughts you've got, but I mean we're all a part of the church. She's a wonderful mama. You say, is everybody right in the church? No, but you know, it's a funny thing how that bothers people, isn't it? You know, God never did come to church and mess it up. The Holy Spirit never did come to church and do something wrong and upset everybody. Must have been some person, wouldn't it? Say amen right there. So who are you allowing to run your life and ruin your relationship with God? Why is it we would not allow nobody to mess up our relationship with our spouse? But it's all right if somebody tries to mess up our relationship with God, why? Why would we allow anybody? Hey, I tell you, as far as I'm concerned, they can peddle their goods on down the road. They can go down to the beer joint and tell their lies, amen? Or they can go someplace that has nothing to do with God and tell it, but don't come to my church and start telling it. I'll call your hand to it. I said, if you come here to lie on somebody, you're not welcome to stay here. Or else come forward and get on the altar and ask God to forgive you and we'll take you in the church. But if you just come to find fault, we'd just as soon not have you. You say you sound pretty harsh. Well, I'm sorry. Amen. I just like people that likes God, don't you? I don't know about you, but I like church. I'm a church man. I've been a church man. I don't understand it by a person that says they're saved and they don't like church. I got a real problem with that. Talk about an issue. Well, that is an issue of life. How could you like God and not like His church? I'm sorry if that offends you, but somebody explain that to me. I never did figure that out. What about you? But I love God's people, don't you? It grieves me when I find out somebody's kind of falling out with God, and they're kind of not walking with God, and they're upset at the church. Oh, it grieves me so hard. I think, man, if I could just smooth it out and fix it, I would. But you know, they gotta have somebody to blame. Whereas if we just accept that we failed, we messed up, and say, God forgive me, I'm glad he's so willing to forgive. If we'll confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That sounds good to me, don't you? So if you got a problem, just tell Jesus about it. Tell him, Lord, I messed up. Don't try to give him some harebrained excuse. Well, it's mama's fault, because they didn't treat me right when I was growing up. Or is it my daddy's fault because he whipped me a little too hard one time? Woo, I'm glad God's far above all that. Let me tell you this, if you don't have a God, listen to me now, I'll give you a counseling lesson here in just a minute. If you don't have a God that can give you something that's stronger than that, I'd trade him off for one, I'd get me a real God. Somebody done something to you that hurt your relationship with God, I'd trade that God off. Watch out lest you just pity and pouted and pity and pouted and pity and pouted and just blame somebody else rather than getting right with God. Help me now. Just get right with God. Just get right with God. It ain't worth it. It ain't worth it. Pouting ain't no good. You say, you ain't never been in my place. I beg your pardon. Amen. I've had my trials. I've laid all night and cried, amen, just like some of you women. Some of you say, get up out there and quit. You want to be strong in that, you're a man. But I've been through some trials, amen, that broke my heart. But God said, I'm here. Won't you just get up and go on? I found there ain't nothing like walking with Jesus. He's so wonderful of a partner. Amen. Oh my, when the griefing time comes, and the other night, like I told you after I mentioned Ty and told his story, because Colton had preached that night, and he said, he said, I want Papa to come and tell you. And I said, oh no. So I got up and I told him that night. I laid there and I began to cry. And I said, Lord, did I fail somewhere? What happened? Got up the next morning, I was moping around, and the Lord just kind of spoke to me through the Spirit and said, won't you stop? Amen. Won't you stop that? Look what you got. Count your blessings. Amen. Does anybody here got nobody that loves them? There's nobody that loves me. Raise your hand. Well, that ain't a soul in here that's got nobody's love. Well, then count your blessings. Amen. Anybody here don't have any food? tied it in this evening. He was a pitiful shape. We had to stop at McDonald's and get him something because he was on starvation. Well, everybody does. But anyway, let me finish if I can. The issue of belonging, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Every Christian ought to be called the sons of God. Have the right. You might say, oh, preacher, nobody loves me. God does. And he wants to call you his son. Amen? Therefore, the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. Let me see if I can quote again. Now are we. Now, are we? Now, not when I get to heaven someday. I hear a lot of people say, boy, you wait till I get to heaven. I'm gonna shout all over heaven. Won't you do it now? You got a reason to do it now? Go ahead, go ahead, amen. You're a son of God right now, right now. Boy, you just wait till I get my new lungs. Hey, shout with your old broken down lungs. It's got silicosis and all that. Just go ahead, do it now. Cause you're already a son of God. What are we waiting on? Help me now, what are we waiting on? Whoo! Glory to God. Let me see if I can finish. Oh, my. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we do know, or we know, that we shall, when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. Now, there's two things there that I like. Number one was, I'll be like he is. Hey, right away, pretty soon, just in the future, near future, I'll be like He is. You know what else? I'll see Him like He is. What a sight to behold. What an experience to be had. I'll be like Him and I'll see Him like He is. That's a guarantee, isn't it? Amen. wherefore remember that you being in a time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands that at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise having no hope and without God in the world but now Not when you go to heaven, but now. Not when you get things worked out, but now, if you're saved, but now. Let's be what we are. Let's claim who we are. Let's claim what we've got. Let's don't pout about everything we don't have. Amen? But now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Amen. You know, I'm happy because I'm nigh. I know this. I go back on the hill sometimes, and I like to build up a fire and just talk to the Lord or sit there and just look at nature and thank. But when I get cold, I like to throw a little bit of wood on the fire. Amen. So why not just enjoy the heat now? Enjoy the warmth of God now. He said, I've got to go away, but I'll send you another comforter. And I think he does mean comforter. I know that it also translates into helper or a person who walks beside us and guides us. But I like the word comforter. That's what the Bible uses. He's a comforter. Amen. I don't know about you, but I need comforting in this whole world. But you know something, you can look out or you can, you know, lately TV's kind of, I don't much, much ever watch TV. I don't watch the news. I don't like the news. Ain't much truth in any of it, don't waste your time. So I don't waste my time sitting there in front of TV watching, listening to all the lies. But during this time that we're going through right now, I've listened to try to hear what's going on. And you know what I find? I find that I get depressed. It's depressing. And then I say, well, it ain't my problem. It's God. What could I do about it if I did make it my problem? Amen. I just need to pray for Israel. I pray for Israel for two reasons, because they need my prayers and I need God's blessing. Because God promised to bless those who would bless Israel. And he cursed them that didn't, right? So I think in order to not get the didn't, I want to ask him and say, Lord, can I pray for Israel? You say that's selfish. That's all right, God promised. If you, brother, if you meet me outside and I'll give you $100, I'm gonna be there. You understand what I'm saying? If God said, I'll bless you if, I think I'll just take advantage of the blessing. I wanna say, I'm gonna shut up after this, cause I'm gonna get in trouble right now. I'm not so sanctimonious that I'm so spiritual that I can just pray a prayer. and say, God, oh God almighty, please, Lord, bless Israel. Just for their benefit. When God said, I'll bless you if you do. I'm sorry, Brother Tom, if I'm wrong, but amen. I'm a little bit selfish, ain't you? If God promises, take advantage of the promises. Tell the devil to get his nose out of your business. He don't know nothing. He's a liar from the beginning. He lied from the very beginning. All he done was got us in trouble through Eve, right? Amen. I'm going to try to shut up. I hope that you've gotten something out of this. Praise God that he's still guiding our lives and we can depend on. He's dependable. He is dependable. Amen. So I'm going to get out of the way. I'm going to let Brother Tom come. And let me say this before we sing a song of invitation, whoever's going to sing. You've got somebody. What you ought to do if you're here And you don't know God. He's not your Savior. You ought to make this the night. A lot of people say, well, you know, I've been thinking about it. You're really giving a lot of thought. Stop thinking and start doing. I'm sure there's a lot of people in hell saying, I meant to. I meant to get right with God. But I just, you know, just put it off and put it off and put it off. Don't let this be another put it off night. If God's spoken to your heart what you ought to do, you ought not waste any time. And listen, it is not embarrassing. It only embarrasses the devil when a sinner gets up out of his seat and walks down front and says, I want to be saved. The devil's the only one that don't like it. There ain't nobody here that won't like it. Nobody. Nobody will make fun of you. The devil will, but nobody here will. And certainly God won't. He'll receive you just like you are. I like that old song, Just As I Am. without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me." So as we stand and sing, if you're here tonight and you don't know Jesus, if you're here and you just don't feel like you got everything you ought to have, that's what this altar is about. Say, Lord, I just feel like there's just things in my life that just hinder me, that just hold me back. Tell Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Amen? He can help you. And as we sing, Brother Tom is going to come and take the service, and KJ is going to sing a song. You come and pray if you need anybody, whatever the need is. Hey, I don't know your heart, but God knows. Just come and tell Him about it. Amen. Brother Tom.