Have your Bibles this evening. Turn with us, if you would, the book of 2 Kings, chapter number 7. 2 Kings, chapter number 7. Try to share with you a thought that the Lord has on our heart for tonight's service. 2 Kings, chapter number 7. While you're turning, just want to say thank you again for all your goodness and kindness you've showed to us. We sure do thank you. And for adding us to your mission family, what a blessing and honor that is. And we again want to just say that we hope that fruit will be added to your count on our behalf. Amen. 2 Kings chapter number 7. I'm interested in just a few little thoughts here. I'm going to begin reading in verse number 3. 2 Kings chapter number 7. Again in verse number 3. The Bible said there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate. They said one to another, why sit we here until we die? You know, that's a good question I'd like to ask a lot of our churches in this late hour that we're living in. Why sit we here until we die? A lot of people are just sitting around waiting on Jesus to come. Listen, I'm waiting on Him to come, but I don't want to sit here in the meantime before He does come. I don't want to just sit here and die. One old preacher just made a statement in a message he was preaching. I pinned it down. Lord, maybe he'll give me a message on it. He said, don't die dead. Amen. I like that. That's very catchy anyway. Don't die dead. A lot of us just sitting around and dying. That's what a lot's doing. These four lepers sitting around and they brought up a conversation and they said, why sit we here until we die? And verse number four, if we say we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city and we shall die there. And if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come and let us fall under the host of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we shall live. And if they kill us, we shall but die. They rose up in the twilight to go into the camp of the Syrians. And when they came to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host. And they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the king of the Hittites and the king of the Egyptians to come upon us. Wherefore, they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver and gold and raiment, and went and hid it, and came again, entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, We do not wail. This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace. If we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us. Now therefore come that we may go and tell the king's household. So they came and called to the porter of the city, and they told him, saying, We were come to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied and asses tied, and the tents as they were. He called to the porters, and they told it to the king's house within. The king rose in the night and said unto his servants, I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry. Therefore they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying when they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive and get into the city. One of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain which are left in the city. Behold, there are all as the multitude of Israel that are left in it. Behold, I say there even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed. And let us send and see. They took therefore two chariot horses, and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. Father, we love you tonight. We want to thank you for the privilege that you've given us to be able to come back again this way this evening. Lord, I sure want to thank you for Brother Harold and his family. Thank you for this church, Lord. Thank you, God, for all that they're doing for the cause of Christ. in these days and hours that we find ourselves in. Lord, I pray rich blessings upon all that they're doing. I pray, God, that you'd meet every need, God, that they have. Lord, I pray that you'd lead them and guide them and direct them in the days to come as they prepare at the building and doing what needs to be done. Lord, I ask you now, though, for the next few minutes, Lord, would you please just meet with us again tonight Lord, speak to our hearts, give us exactly what we stand in need of this evening. You know where we stand, God, there's nothing hid from you, and I pray, God, that you'd move accordingly. God, touch me just one more time, give me liberty to preach, and whatever you do this evening, we'll again thank you and give you all the glory for it. Lord, for it's in Christ's precious and holy name that we do pray, and amen. Let me quickly catch up on what's taken place here in the text. The Syrians have besieged the city of Samaria. They have it encamped. They have it surrounded, if you will, and they've cut off all supplies into the city. And now those Samaritans on the inside of the city are literally starving to death. And it looks like the Syrians are just gonna wait them out. They're just gonna starve them out and eventually they won't be no problem to overtake. And in the midst of all of this, then the Bible tells us about four leprous men that are seated outside the city at the gate. And again, they brought up and had conversation one with another. And they're sitting there probably twiddling their thumbs like a lot of us do. And one of them said, wait a minute, why sit we here until we die? And they said, well, what can we do? They said, well, if we go inside the city, then the famine's in the city and we're going to die there. Or we could go down to the Syrians and maybe cast ourselves at the mercy of the enemy and who knows, they may save us alive. But the worst that can happen, they said, we'll just die. Amen, they said let's do something so they got up and rose in the twilight and went down to the camp of the Syrians and when they got down there you've seen it what we read there was nobody in the camp I can almost imagine brother Harold's they get a little bit close down there maybe they begin to holler hello and Anybody here? I mean, no, there's no response. The horses are still tied. The asses are still tied. Everything's just like it was. They just can't find nobody. I can see one of them get up close to a tent. Anybody in there? Hello? There's no response. One of them gets ahold of a tent flap and pulls it back, and they don't see nobody, but he did see everything that he was a-dreaming for. Amen, everything that he was a-longing for, he found in that tent. I can almost imagine as he runs inside the tent and no doubt his belly's growling and he's hungry and he's seen some bread and found something to drink. I don't know what all he's seen but man he probably went to grabbing stuff and probably went to eating a little bit and then he looked over and not only did he see some food, he looked over and he's seen some gold and silver, and looked around, seen some new arraignment, some clothing, and he's grabbing everything that he could possibly grab. He's stuffing pockets full, and I don't know, you remember how we used to do, we used to take our shirt tails, and we would hold them like that, and we could carry more stuff. I don't know what I, he's getting everything he can carry, all four of them now, and they're going out of that tent, and said, let's go hide this somewhere. Boy, we found everything we'll ever need and we'll just take it and hoard it and hide it and keep it for ourselves. Well, they do that. They go into the second tent. That second tent's just as good as the first tent. Found everything they could dream. Again, they're grabbing everything that they can grab, taking it off somewhere to hide it. And in the midst of all of that, one of them said, wait just a minute. We do not wail. Today is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace. If we tarry till morning light, there'll be some mischief before us. Here's what they were saying, they were saying, wait just a minute, we do not wail if we do not tell. Amen? I won't preach on that for a little while tonight. We do not wail if we do not tell. They found everything that not only did they need, they found everything that those just right up the hill was a dying for as well. They're starving to death And all at once they have found the bread that they are in need of. And then they have found it all down yonder in the camp of the Syrians. And they thought about hoarding it and hiding it and keeping it all for themselves and not sharing with those just up the road. I'm afraid that's kind of like a lot of us if we ain't careful. I don't know about you, but I know that I found everything that I could ever need. It happened in 1979 in an old-fashioned cottage prayer meeting. I went and took to church as a kid. Mom and Daddy never took me. They was too busy trying to make a living in this world. They later regretted that. But all they was doing was just trying to put something on the table. That's all honorable. I'm going to tell you something, friend. You better try to provide more than just physical bread for your family. You might want to make sure they got a little spiritual bread as well. Well, there wasn't no churches in our area that had bus ministries or van ministries. If there would have been, brother Harold, I'd have been a bus kid. I loved to go to church, just didn't have nobody take me. I bummed rides and everything else I could do. Bible schools was one of the highlights of my summers. Just love to go to Bible school. I didn't get to go that much, but there was some churches that used to have cottage prayer meet. Y'all know what that is, don't you? They just meet in the homes of somebody, usually a shut-in or something, and have church in the house. They had prayer meeting at my mamaw's one night. I got on my bicycle and I rode my bicycle up the road about a half a mile to where mamaw lived. I remember like it was last night. I pulled up in the yard on my bicycle, I laid it down there, ran up on the porch into the house, sat down kind of in between the living room and the bedroom. I didn't know what prayer meeting was. I was just kind of checking it out. All of a sudden, here comes an old preacher man in the house, in the living room, carrying his old black leather King James Bible. Right behind him was his dear wife, and she was carrying a guitar case. and a handful of people came in behind them and they just gonna have church. I remember Miss Nellie Stewart, that was the preacher's wife, she sat that old case down in the floor, flipped up the latches on that, raised the lid, pulled out an old Gibson guitar. I thought my soul never seen a woman play no guitar before. She put that strap around her neck. Her and her husband stood over beside the wood stove and they began to sing. I remember the very song they sang. They sang, I don't want to get adjusted to this world. Amen. Well, she got through and they put up the guitar and the old man, old preacher man got his Bible and stood there beside the stove and began to preach Jesus. Holy Ghost of God showed up in Robbinsville, North Carolina, and showed a little nine-year-old boy that he was lost and needed to be saved. I walked up to the preacher and knelt down beside the old wood stove. He took that Bible, turned over to Romans 10, started pointing out verses to me. I'll never forget verse number 13. He said, Look right here, son, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You know what happened that night? I went into a tent that I had never been in before, and I found everything that I could ever need in one night at my mamaw's house in her living room. And if I ain't real careful, I'll take what I found. and I'll hide it, and I'll hoard it, and I'll keep it for myself while others around me are starving to death for exactly what I found. Ed Mann, we do not wail if we do not tell. You ever found anything? Was you ever hungry at one time, but you found the bread of life? You know there's somebody around you, there's somebody up the road, there's somebody up the hill that's starving to death for what you have. And Lord, help us, if we're not going and telling, I'm saying this, we do not wail if we do not tell. Amen? Now, I got about three or four things real quick I'll give you, and then we'll be done. First of all, I thought about the news that these old boys had to tell. Boy, they had some good news, didn't they? I mean, listen, they had some good news. And just up the hill, they was dying to hear what they had to say. Amen. I thought about that news. First of all, that news had something to do with rations. Y'all know what rations is, don't you? Rations, I don't know if it's much of a civilian phrase, but it's a military phrase that tells what food is. Amen. I remember when I was in the army, there was B rations and T rations and C rations, and there was no good rations, but it was nourishment, and it'd keep you alive. Amen. Well, they found something nourishing. They found food, and just up the hill they starvin' to death. And man, I'm tellin' you friend, they had some good news. They could tell that crowd up the hill where bread was. And man, I gotta ask you tonight, you ever had any bread? I'm not talking about what your mama baked in the oven. I'm talking about the bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. They had some good news about rations, but not only did that news have to do with rations, that news had to do with something with raiment. Now why on earth did the Holy Ghost want us to know that they found raiment? Remember this morning I mentioned this book's Holy Ghost inspired. Everything's in that book for a reason. Now there's a whole lot in there, I don't have a clue why it's in there. Every now and then the Holy Ghost lets me in on something. And I got to wondering, why did the Lord, why did the Holy Ghost want us to know about raiment? Why did He want us to know that they found something to wear? I got to thinking about that and you need to understand that these were leprous men. You need to understand something about leprosy. Leprosy was a disease that eats away at the flesh. The flesh literally rots on the body. I mean, it may start in the hands. It may start on the head. No telling where it's going to start. But it starts turning white. And then after a while, it starts making holes and starts just rotting away. And they would have to take rags. and they would wrap themselves with rags just to hold on the flesh. And there would be pus and blood oozed through those rags. And when they'd start getting dirty, they'd just have to take more rags and keep covering themselves with old rags. Now, these are four leprous men. They have leprosy. It's far advanced enough where they're outcasts. They're not allowed, and there's a reason why they're seated outside the city. They're leprosy. Anybody gets near them, they have to holler, unclean, unclean, stay back. They couldn't go around nobody, hadn't they? So the leprosy's advanced enough to where everybody knows they've got it. No doubt in my mind. They probably weren't filthy rags, amen. Isaiah compared our righteousness to filthy rags, amen. That's rags of a leper, unclean rags. I got to thinking about when them boys went inside that tent and grabbing that food. That food probably looked better than anything else they saw. I really believe that food looked better than the gold and the silver. Man, when you're starving to death, money don't mean much, amen. but they looked over and happened to notice there's a new robe hanging there. And man, he's grabbing that bread and probably biting off a little bit. And all at once, so he looked down, all he could see on himself was old filthy rags. He looked back up and he seen that new robe. He looked back down at himself and seen old filthy rags. Looked back up and seen that new robe. I don't know if he took anything off, but I do know he put something on. Head man, I can see him running one arm through one sleeve, pulling it around his body and running his other arm through the other sleeve, taking that robe and pulling it closed on the front. And when he looks down, He don't see filthy rags no more. He's all at once been clothed in a new robe. I don't know if any of you are getting this or not, but I've got some good news. I can tell you not only where you can get some bread, I can tell you where you can get a new robe. Amen. If you're here lost tonight and you're wearing your self-righteousness, You're wearing old filthy rags, spiritually speaking, but there's a new robe available just for you. Amen? Now listen, church, if you look at me and if you examine me, I promise you, you're going to find some faults. I have not yet arrived. Hey man, I still slip up and I make mistakes. Boy, I don't like to, but I do pretty well on a regular basis. Hey man, but boy, when he looks at me tonight. And man, when he looks at me, he no longer sees me clothed in my filthy rags. He looks at me, he don't see my mistakes and my faults and my failures. He looks at me, he don't see my sin no more. When he looks at me, all he sees is I'm clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm wearing a new robe tonight, thank God. Boy, didn't they have some good news to tell? They had news about rations. They had news about raiment. Then notice they had news about riches. I told you that bread probably looked better than anything else, but they are still flesh and blood. Amen? And as they're grabbing food and grabbing a new robe and putting it on, one of them happened to notice some sparkle and some shine, and he's seen some gold and silver. Well, I'll tell you what we would have done. We would have done exactly what they've done. We'd grab some of that too. Amen. Be honest with me now. You can try to act spiritual if you want to. But we would have probably been grabbing some gold and silver. Stuff in our pockets full with that. They had some good news about riches. Well, I'll tell you, not only do I have some good news about bread or about rations and about rhema, I got some good news about riches. Would you like to get rich? Hey man, y'all help me out now. Wouldn't you like to be rich? I got news for you, if you're saved you are. Hey man, you're looking at a poor boy tonight that owns everything in Christ Jesus. Little did I know as a nine year old boy, I tapped in on everything. I became rich in Christ Jesus. Here's the thing church, I just hadn't received my inheritance yet. But it's a coming, thank God. It won't be too much longer. I'll be treading the streets of gold. Amen. I'm rich in Christ Jesus. They had some good news. Their news was about rations. Their news was about raiment. They had some news about riches. But watch this, there's something else they had to tell. They had some news about the rival. Amen. I mean, for weeks, if not months, those inside the walls of Samaria have been cowered down, hiding from an enemy. They're defeated. They don't have no victory. They're looking at doom and gloom because of their enemy. Amen. But all at once, these old lepers have found out that the enemy has been defeated without any of them lifting a finger. Amen. God done took care of the rival. God done took care of the enemy. Here we are, 2016. It looks like sometimes, y'all help me out here now. It looks like every now and then that we're on the losing side. At least to this world, if you look at things carnally, it looks like we're just a bunch of losers gathered together in here. And man, I got news for you. Victory's already been won, thank God. And there's an enemy that looks like he's a tearing us apart. It looks like that he's a winning it all. He's about got our country ruined. He's tearing churches up from inside out. He's tearing up our homes and families. He's ripping little children away from moms and dads and dragging them off into the world and into hell. It looks like we're on the losing side and it looks like Like the enemy is a winning and taking everything. I got news for you. That enemy tonight, that's a giving us a fit. He's already been defeated. And you and I don't have to lift a finger to do it. Jesus done took care of him at Calvary, thank God. And his days are numbered. Ain't gonna be too much longer. I done read the back of the book. Amen. John said, I saw an angel come down from out of heaven having the keys to the bottomless pit and a chain in his hand. And he laid hold of that serpent, the devil. It won't be too much longer. He's going to be bound for a thousand years. Somebody said the other day they thought he's already bound. I said unto God if he's bound, he's on the longest chain there could possibly be. Amen? I don't think he's bound yet, but he's gonna be. Amen? And then after a thousand years, he's gonna be loose for a little season. And then after that... I like this. After that, he's going to be cast into the lake of fire. Amen. The enemy that's given us a fit tonight is already a defeated foe. Why don't you stand and proclaim the victory that Jesus has already given you? They had some good news. Amen. They had good news. I thought about the news, but then let me look very quickly. the need for the news. My soul them people up the hill needed to hear what these boys had to say. They needed to hear it worse than they know they needed to hear it. It's so bad Just up the hill, inside the city. Just up the hill amongst their people. It was so bad that they were paying big bucks for a donkey's head. Amen. A donkey's head. Any of you like donkey head? It's okay to interact with me here. I mean, You want to go out tonight after church and fellowship around the donkey's head. We probably won't get much meat if we're going to be honest about it. Right? I mean, how much meat can be on a donkey's head? But they're paying what would be equivalent to today's time of about $10,000 and some dollars for a donkey's head. I think it's 80 pieces of silver. for a donkey's head. You're going to get a little jaw muscle, I guess. And I'm telling you, if we're going to pay that kind of money, we ain't letting nothing go to waste. Donkey tongue, donkey eyes. I don't mean to upset y'all, but I'm just trying to get you to understand, man, they needed to hear about what these boys found. And they ain't going to let skin go to waste. Amen. They're starving to death. Let me stop and say this. I'm thankful I don't know what that's like. I say bless the Lord O my soul. I don't know what that's like. God's been good to me. If I've missed a meal, it's because I wanted to. I've chosen to. Always had something to eat. It may not have been the best, but I always had something to eat. Always some beans and always some taters. Always something around. I don't know what it's like to be hungry. So it's kind of hard to put myself in their shoes and understand how bad it was. But I sure do know what it's like to be spiritually hungry. Man, they're in bad shape. Donkey's heads going for $10,000. But if you think that's bad, it's worse. They were selling a fourth part of dove's dung for what would have been equivalent to about $600. Five pieces of silver. Do I need to tell you what dove's dung is? Surely I don't, do I? It's in Chapter 6. But check me out, I promise you, I'm not giving anything off the wall. It's right out of the book. A fourth part, dove's dung, they're dividing it in fourths. Just a taste, I guess, would be about all there would be. Money don't mean nothing, though, when you're starving to death. I give you five pieces of silver for a fourth of that. They're in bad shape. You think that's bad? It's worse. You say, preacher, how could it be worse than $10,000 for a donkey's head or $600 for a fourth part of a dove's dung? It's worse. According to chapter 6, there was the day when the king was walking along the wall. I don't know if he's looking out at the enemy. I don't know if he's looking in at his people, but he's walking along the wall. And a lady came running up to him and he said, what aileth thee? She's crying to him and she said this, yesterday me and another lady agreed to boil and eat my son. And today we was going to boil and eat her son, but she took him and hid him. It's so bad that they're devouring their own children. in bad shape. Now that's physically, and we can agree that that would be bad. But may I say tonight spiritually, we're just as in bad a shape, if not worse, than the days here in 2 Kings chapter 7. We're devouring on them children to save a job, to save inconvenience. We've got them going out and playing the games and having to pay the price, having a child and wanting to go and abort those babies because it'd be inconvenient. Amen. Devouring our own... That's not even an issue no more in 2016. You don't even hear that mentioned much anymore, but we're still killing them hundreds a day on a regular basis, devouring... Look where we are tonight. I mention this, but can you believe we're voting on what bathroom to use? Unto God we're in bad shape. Look up here. Jesus is fixing to come about any time. I hope you're ready. Amen? We're in bad shape. And people out here in Randleman, North Carolina are dying to hear about what you found when you got saved. We do not wail if we do not tell. Man, they need to hear it. Have you found anything? Ever got saved? There's somebody dying to hear about what you found. They're looking for what you found. They're longing for what you found. They're looking in bottles. They're looking in needles. They're looking in relationships. They're trying to find what you found. And we've got exactly what they need. But we're hiding it and hoarding it. me and there's a need. I thought about this, let me give you this and I'll be done. I thought about the neglect. What if they had continued just to hide it and hoard it? You know what would happen? They would have lived high on the hog. They would have enjoyed what few days they had left. They're lepers, they ain't going to last long anyway. They would have enjoyed what few days they had left, but all of their people would have died of starvation. if not before them, soon after them. Amen. But one of them said, we do not wail. He realized that God had shined upon them. He said, today is a day of good tidings. We hold our peace. One of them said, Brother Harold, if we wait till morning light, he said, there will be some mischief befall us. In other words, let me give it to you in old mountain language. He said if we don't go tell, there's something going to happen. Now he was afraid something was going to happen to them if they didn't go tell. That could be the case. Let me turn that just a moment. If we don't go tell, something may not happen to us, but something may happen to them. Can I ask you a question? You know anybody that's probably lost tonight? Never come in contact with any. It's really not hard to find them. Might be hard to find one that admit they're lost. But boy, according to lifestyles and fruit, and we're not being judgmental, but don't you look at some of them and just wonder and worry a little bit. They sure don't look like they're saved. And we probably come in contact with people on a daily basis, probably. How often do we tell them about what we found? No, more often than not, the conversation's more about, boy, it's a pretty day, ain't it? Boy, this weather's been something, ain't it? Hey, did you kill any deer this year? What about that ball game last night? It's easy to talk about stuff like that, isn't it? I don't know why, but it seems like the hardest thing in the world to do is bring up a conversation about our Savior. when they're starving to death, needing to hear about Jesus. Let me tell you this, I'm about closed. It's been several years ago now. Brother Harold, I had a dear friend of our family. His name was Fred, and he was the sheriff of our county. I don't know how many terms he served as sheriff of Graham County, but he was just a great guy. I mean, he would, I believe he'd give you the shirt off his back. He loved to pick and grin. And he would come to the house sometimes while he was on duty, drive up in the sheriff's car, be in uniform, get out and pull out his guitar, and we'd sit on the front porch and pick and grin. I mean, we just had us a time. Loved him. Dear friend. A little later on, I got concerned about Fred, spiritually. Just because somebody gave you the shirt off their back don't mean they're saved, that's for sure. I got to thinking, you know, I've never seen Fred in church. Not one time. I don't recall him ever going. I don't ever remember him mentioning anything about Jesus, unless he might have sung a gospel song once or twice, and to be honest with you, he didn't sing too many of them. I got concerned about his soul. I thought I'd wonder about Fred. Boy, I hope Fred don't die and go to hell. That's what I said. I got Fred on my heart pretty heavy. I said, I've got to go see Fred. I've got to go see. Well, I'm like most good Baptists. I had real good intentions. But I was busy. It was back in the days, Brother Harold, when I was pastoring. I was pastoring and and working full time job I was paramedic with the county EMS. And man I was so busy I had so many irons in the fire. But it wouldn't really been hard because Fred lived between me and town. It wasn't a quarter of a mile off the main road between me and town. I could have easily, it wouldn't have took 15, 20 minutes. It really wouldn't have been hard. But boy I was busy. Had good intents. I was going. And I don't know how long that went like that. Pretty good spell there. And just so happened, I was on duty. My shift. And we was at the ambulance base and we got a call. You can always tell how bad the call is going to be by the tone of the dispatcher's voice. And they called us on the phone and we called it the bat phone. When it rang, you know you had something. It rang and I answered and the dispatcher was pretty upset. He said, you need to go to Fred's house, 1018. 1018 means urgent. He said, you need to go to Fred's house, 1018. He's having a heart attack. We jumped in ambulance and I said, oh, Lord, no. Not Fred. Please, Lord, not Fred. We got there and Fred, sure enough, is having a major heart attack. We jumped in and got Everything started, her IVs and all that was trained to do and we just so happened got him stabilized. Now we don't have no hospitals in Robbinsville, Graham County. We actually used UT Lifestar all the time. That's Knoxville, Tennessee's helicopter. They could be over the mountain and land in Robbinsville quicker than we could get to a decent sized hospital. So we called the helicopter and they flew over and got Fred and took him over to UT. And they done a good work with Fred and got him stabilized. Stayed about two weeks in the hospital and sent him home and said that he only had about 10% of his heart working. Fred's a walking time bomb. And boy, the burden got heavier. I said, Brother Harold, I got to go see Fred. Man, the Lord's giving me another chance. See, Fred, but see here's the problem. My schedule hadn't changed. I was still real busy. Real busy. Still had good intentions. Man, I was busy. Almost a year went by, you believe that? This is a shame, me even telling it. Almost a year went by. I don't know if God gave him another year or if God was giving me another year. Got to go see him. But after several months, just so happened, I was on duty again. Believe it or not, it's the same dispatcher. Same phone rang, and it's the same tone of voice, if not a little more excitable. Said I need to go to Fred's house. 10-18, having a heart attack. Wife said he's laying in the living room floor, and he's turning blue. I said, oh God, no, not Fred. Please, Lord, no. We jumped in the ambulance, got there as quick as we could, ran inside the house, and sure enough, he's laying in the living room floor. Fred ain't breathing. We jumped in there and done everything we was trained to do, and we pumped on his chest, and as I was doing CPR, tears were running down my cheeks and falling on Fred. You know what happened? I waited till it was too late. Fred's gone. Now here we are in 2016, and I don't have a clue where Fred is. Brother Harold, I don't know if he's in heaven, and I don't know if he's in hell. One or two. There ain't no in-between. I hope he's in heaven. There's a good chance he might be in hell. I told you this morning I'm a little bit nervous about the judgment seat. There's a good reason why. You got any friends? Anybody you know you need to go talk to? We're busy, ain't we? So much going on this day and time. Running to and fro, and we've got kids to take care of, and got work to get done, and we've got Preacher, it just got so much. Maybe if Harold would go, maybe if somebody else... Why don't you go? Why don't you go? We do not wail if we do not tell. That Bible does not say that the pastor is supposed to get out and tell everybody. As a matter of fact, if you're saved, you're supposed to be a part of that. You need to go tell somebody. Some of you young people, you're not exempt. If you're saved, you probably got some friends you go to school with. Good chance they ain't never been saved. Why can't you tell them? We do not will if we do not tell. I've heard the excuses. I just don't know what to say. I'm too backward. Hard to talk to people. I understand all that. My soul, we can talk to them about anything else. It's really what we're most excited about is what we can talk about. Well, if the preacher would schedule maybe some kind of discipleship class and train us at what to say. I thought about that woman at the well. Y'all remember her? Jesus gave her a drink of living water. She didn't go sign up for no discipleship class. She ran through the city saying, come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Amen. You don't have to have no training. All you've got to do is be in a tent somewhere and find what I found and go tell somebody about it. Preacher, what did I say? If you've ever had a drink of water, you'll be able to tell somebody where the well is. We do not wail if we do not tell. Some of you thinking, boy, it's getting late. You got that right. That clock's a ticking. And your freds are losing time real quickly. Either you're losing time real quick. Why don't you give them a call? Why don't you quit making excuses? Why don't you make time and go tell somebody about Jesus? You can start out easy. Invite them to church. You can start out like that if you want to. There have been a few I invited to church and didn't tell them about Jesus and they never showed up. Invite them to church. That's a good way to get the conversation started. Tell them about Jesus. Tell them about what you found. Amen. Tell them about how good He's been to you. You get to bragging on Jesus and it'll just start coming easy. They might run off. I know what we say. We say, we're afraid to. We don't want to drive them away. Y'all ever heard that before? Can I ask you a question? Where are you driving them to? They're already lost. Already going to hell. You're not going to speed the process up. You ain't going to drive them away. Who knows? You might bring them home, thank God. We do not wail if we do not tell. I thought about this, I'll give you this, I'm done, I promise. Back several years ago during World War II, there was an old feller that had the bad job of delivering bad news. He was a chaplain in the U.S. Army and he had the responsibility of knocking on doors and telling loved ones that their boys wasn't going to be coming home. He had the job of telling wives that their husbands had been killed in action. He had the job of looking at little boys and saying, Daddy didn't make it. How'd you like to have that job? Talking about bad news. Man, that'd be tough to do on a daily basis. Sometimes, right after the hottest parts of the war, the hottest battles, they said he would get a stack of papers just 50, 60, 70 names on there. He'd have to go tell all those families about their loved one. He remembered one case in particular. He got one of those letters and opened it up and saw the name, saw the address, got in his automobile and he drove to that house, to that address. He said he remembered it well. He remembered pulling up in a driveway and there was a little white fence around the yard Little small cottage, little house there and a little short sidewalk. He remembered getting out and walking up that sidewalk and walking to the door. He said he remembered knocking on the door and it didn't take long for this little elderly lady to come to the front door. She saw who it was and saw this man in uniform and kind of had an idea of what it was. He said, Ma'am, I hate to tell you. He's your son, and gave the name, and she's already trembling and crying, said, yeah, that's my boy. He said, ma'am, I'm sorry, but your boy's been killed in action. He watched as the little lady just kind of fell to her knees and began to weep, because her boy wasn't coming home. A couple of weeks went by, and he's still getting letters, carrying out his job. But he opened up one and it happened to look a little bit different than the others he'd been opening up. He opened this one up and he recognized a familiar name and a familiar address. It was that same name and that same address of that young man whose mama lived in a little white house with a little white fence around the yard. He looked on down and he read It said that the boy had been found alive. He had some good news now to tell. He pushed all the other bad news aside for a moment and he grabbed that letter and he ran out and got in his automobile and maybe drove a little bit faster, maybe a little too fast, but he got down to that house and pulled up in that yard, that driveway, where that little white house was with a little white fence around the yard and a little short sidewalk and he jumped out of his car and he ran up to the front door and just about the time he begins to beat on the door, that door opened. And he couldn't wait, he couldn't introduce himself again, he couldn't ask no questions, he just said, he said, your boy, the son, he's alive! He's alive! He had some good news to tell. Boy, here we are in a world of just pure bad stuff. Bad news. We have found out, church, that the son is alive. Why don't we go run and tell somebody that there's good news? Push the bad aside, it'll be there tomorrow, and let's go tell somebody some good news tonight. Let's go brighten up somebody's day. Say the son's alive. He's alive. Good news. Heads bowed, knots clasped.