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Hallelujah, let's just keep in the spirit of worship here. I believe the Lord wants us to worship this at least one more song here and let this be the cry of your heart. Listen, if we're not going to be hungry for God's presence and revival, then we won't have it. It's that simple. I'm asking you, are you hungry for more of Him, more of His presence, more of His truth in your life? Yes, Lord. Hallelujah. We praise your name this morning. I say to you, apart from the nations, for I am the Lord your God who called you out of the wilderness. Go forth and proclaim my word, for I am the one who causes the sun to rise on the earth. Go forth, my people, for I am with you always. I am the one who is always with you. I will never leave you or forsake you. Go forth, my people, for I love you with an everlasting love. Amen. In Jesus' name, thank you, Lord. Marlene and the Frick's children, one of them, I don't know which one it was, said they had a fever this morning or had a fever yesterday, I don't know. But Silas wanted to share, they're listening, wanted to share this verse of Scripture with us, Proverbs 2620, it says, where there is no wood, the fire goes out. I'm going to tell you, that's right on with what I want to talk about this morning. You may be seated. If you have a word or something you feel the Lord gave you, feel free to share. Where there is no wood, the fire goes out.
Amen. Where there is no wood, the fire goes out. Boy, that's a good Scripture. As a matter of fact, we're going to start there. I want you to turn there, Proverbs 2620, of course the whole verse says this, where no wood is, there the fire goeth out, so where there is no tail-bear, the strife ceases. This is an important verse here, and I just appreciate that God can speak through anyone. He can speak through the young. But I have all my notes in my phone today, so this will let you know that I'm not making this up. Because basically what my message is called this morning is gut check time, gut check time. Now for those of you who weren't in the military, ever in the military, or you never played football, this is a term that actually didn't really come around until the 1970s. I'm going to give you two definitions of what gut check time means in case you don't know what it means or you've never heard that term. But the Webster's, Merriam-Webster's dictionary says, a test or assessment of courage, character, or determination. Now I looked up also what the Urban Dictionary said, because this is kind of a modern term, but it says here, the Urban Dictionary says, a time, a gut check time rather, is a time to test your willpower, your courage, your fortitude. It says, rarely does it involve any physical strength or skill, instead being almost entirely a mental challenge. First heard in the U.S. Army, but has spread through usage among veterans and wrestling announcers and sportscasters and coaches. And they use the example here when two or more wrestlers have been fighting for a long time and are both exhausted, it's gut check time to get back into the fight. Gut check time. All coaches use this a lot when you're down at half time, you've been beaten up in the first part of the game, and half time is a time to sit down and it's time to do a gut check.
You're going to give in, you're going to lay down, you're going to lose, or you're going to suck it up, toughen up, and it usually comes first with making up your mind. So there's been studies done, many studies done, that the human being is an interesting make up because we can almost do anything that our bodies, if our bodies can physically do it, we can almost, by sheer making up our minds, get our bodies to accomplish things that seem impossible at that time. Amen. It's amazing, the power of the mind, what you set your mind upon, your thoughts upon, what you make up your mind, you're going to do, become hell or high water, as the saying goes. The problem in Christianity, and I'm going to even say it, the problem even in firing grace church is we've got too much wavering going on. We've got too much up and down, in and out, there's not a set determination about what I am to do, where I am or what I am. Now the reason I bring this up, I'm just going to be painfully blunt. The pastor knows things, even if you don't tell him, right? And I know that the devil's been attacking people and their minds and their hearts, and the Lord's had me kind of working up to this the last few weeks. But I'm just going to say this, for some of you, it's gut check time to decide whether you're going to make a change in your life. You're going to get out of bad habits, whether they be sinful struggles, whether they be the temptation to fall back and to fall away from God and the things of the world. For some of you, it's time to say, you know what, it's gut check time, and it's time for me to decide that I'm going to get on with what God's called me to do, and I'm going to do it right. I'm going to be obedient to God, I'm going to live a holy life, I'm going to break sinful patterns in my life, I'm going to break sinful habits. I'm going to, like Hebrews 12 says, I'm going to lay aside every weight and the sin and run the race that's set before me. There comes a point, listen, there's too many Christians, they're hanging on to bad thoughts, they're hanging on to indecision and discouragement and fear and sinful habits, and they're hanging on to these things and they think they can run the race after Jesus with this baggage, all this baggage on them, and that's why he said, real point, look it up, if you don't believe me, he said, let us run the race, right, laying aside
every sin and the weight that does so easily be set up. I say this to Fire and Grace Church, I say this to Christians listening, to those who will hear this on podcasts, when are you going to lay down the sin and the weights and run the race after Jesus with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, so many Christians, listen, so many Christians will not put down the world, and they won't put down the option to go back to some worldly habit or sinful habit. See, let me tell you something, what transformed my life in 1987 was a decision, it was a gut check time. I had been saved when I was 12 years old, 11 years old in a Baptist church, 1979, 11 years old, powerful encounter with Jesus, but of course I didn't learn anything, I didn't know you had to stand strong, I didn't know you had to get in the word and pray, I was just a, you know, a young boy, and nobody taught me the word, nobody taught me what I needed to do, my own parents didn't even teach me because they didn't know. So, because of that, my teenage years hit and I went adrift into sin, you guys know the story, I've shared the testimony, it's in my books, everybody around us, they know the testimony that when I was 19, you know, I had a modeling contract, I had a movie contract, I had screen tests, and all these things, I was about to be rich and famous, but I was doing drugs, and I was drinking, and I was carousing, and it was, you know, all the things that I was doing, but I knew that Jesus was real, see, I never lost my belief that Jesus Christ was the true Lord and Savior, God Almighty in the flesh, that He was the only way to heaven. I mean, that's what was revealed to me when I was 11 years old, plainer than anybody could have made it, I understood fully the gospel, that I was a sinner, that Jesus died on the cross for me, that God in the flesh died on the cross for me, and shed His holy, sinless blood for me, and that if I didn't ask Him to be my Lord and Savior, to forgive my sins, and chose to follow Him, I knew that I would not go to heaven, but I would die and go to hell. That revelation and that reality was made real and clear to me by the Holy Spirit when I was 11 years old. And so even through my years of being a teenager,
and drifting away from God, and then going to college, and being totally a heathen and away from God, I never once doubted the Bible as the word of God or Jesus Christ as the true God, never doubted it. Matter of fact, me and a friend almost got in a fight over it, because he tried to tell me, he didn't know if it was true or not, and I said it was, and we almost got in a fight as we were drinking beer talking about the gospel. I look back at that now, pretty amazing, that God was working on me while I was in college. But here's the thing, gut check time. So while I'm doing all that, I am living the full, ungodly life, worldly life. But God comes in there and says, son, you can have everything the world has to offer, and go to hell, or you can finally surrender, give up, surrender your life, and live forever. And I sat there, and there was no church service, there was no 15 choruses of just as I am, there was no Billy Graham preaching, there was no Steve Hill altar calls that make save people want to get saved all over again. But I'm sitting there, and the plain truth, and in essence, this is what the Lord was saying to me, make up your mind, till once and for all, lay down your sin, lay down the weights of doing things your own way, and having your own plans, lay it all down, and start running the race. And what transformed my life, before I was called to be a preacher, before God called me, or before I knew I was called to be a prophet, or a pastor, or a teacher, before any of that, God made it clear to me the most important thing is a decision, time to move on with Jesus, and be real, okay? So that's gut check time, that's gut check time on the salvation level. Now let's look at it more of a Christian and a church issue. Go with me to Matthew 16, and don't get me wrong, we're gonna come back to Silas's verse he gave us this morning, Matthew 16. See, there's a problem in the world right now,
and even in the church world. There's so much sin, there's so much false teaching, there's so much abuse in the leadership of the church, there's almost now, even among many believers, a disdain for the church. And when I say church, I do not mean Roman Catholic Church, but I'm talking about the Church of Jesus Christ, that believes the gospel of Jesus Christ, I'm not talking about a church that prays to Mary, okay? But here's what Jesus said here, and this is Mark 16, and let's just read 13 here. And when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, who do men say that I the Son of Man am? And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, and some Elijah and others Jeremiah are one of the prophets, and he said unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Messiah, meaning, Emmanuel, God with us, is what that meant. He understood that, and the Son and the living God. And Jesus answered and said, and blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Now, this is where the Catholics try to say that they are the true church, because the popes are the apostolic succession of Peter, but this is not what it says. In the Greek language here, Jesus says to Peter, thou art Petros, a stone, a pebble. But he says, upon this rock, Petra, is the Greek word, Petra, meaning the massive mountain of rock, I will build my church. What is that massive mountain of rock? The stone that the builders rejected, Jesus. But it's also not just Jesus, it is the revelation, supernatural, Holy Spirit revelation within the church of Jesus Christ, of who he is, believing who he is, knowing him intimately. That's why he said to Peter, flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, but my Spirit, my Father revealed this to you by his Spirit. And what he's saying, Jesus said, upon this rock, what? The rock of the revelation of Jesus Christ, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So what I want to tell you is, the true church of Jesus Christ that he's established in the earth, the true churches that believe the word of God, amen, that believe and know Jesus, that know who he is, right? The true churches exist. Now they're fewer, much fewer now. And they don't necessarily all have steeples on them
and have big buildings, but the true church is out here. So let me ask, let me just tell you something, be careful what you say about the true church of Jesus Christ, amen? And be careful about your attitude because your attitudes against the church will get you in trouble. And when I say about that, what I mean by that is this. Jesus said that the church, that the gates of hell, the true church now, the gates of hell would not prevail. If you find yourself at odds with a true church, if you find yourself having problems with a true church, if you find yourself resisting and not even wanting to attend a church, a true church, well guess what, my friend? You're setting yourself outside of a place where God says the gates of hell will not prevail. This is why Hebrews 10.25, write it down. Hebrews 10.25, you can turn there and read it. This is why Paul said to the Hebrews, he said, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. That word exhorting means to call people near to Christ and so much the more as you see the day approaching. So what he's talking about the assembling of yourselves together was a church, okay? A church is an assembly of believers that has God called leadership. Now let me just emphasize that for a second. In the same book of Hebrews, and I'm just giving it to you quick because this is just the introduction. In the same book of Hebrews, chapter 13, he talks about submitting yourselves to elders in the church, all right? So God calls elders and he calls leaders to establish assemblies of believers and there's orders for things. But I'm gonna tell you right now, we know the Bible warned us that there would be, Paul said it, 2 Corinthians, there would be false apostles. Now what's a false apostle? What's the difference between an apostle and the other four of the fivefold ministries? The only difference is an apostle is a church planner, but he's also a prophet, he's also a pastor, he's also an evangelist, he's also a teacher. But an apostle is a church planner. Y'all want me to tell you how you recognize an apostle? I know some of you are gonna have a friend. Yes, I believe they're still apostles because Ephesians 4 said that the fivefold ministry, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers were for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, till we all come into the unity of the faith, until we all come into the unity of the faith, sorry. That ain't happening until Jesus comes back, so I guess that means apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers will be in operation until then. My purpose of this sermon is not to say, but I'm just gonna say this. I mean, I'll be criticized for it, but I don't care. Do I believe that I am also called to an apostolic, calling apostolic ministry? Yeah, okay. But see, here's what I love about God. The true never looks big and fancy. You gotta remember the Messiah, you know, we're celebrating his birth, this Christmas season, even though he was probably born in September, but we celebrate it in December because the Catholic Church has pagan issues, but there was a birth of Jesus Christ, and this is why I protest other holidays, but I don't really protest the Christmas time too much because at least the world is somewhat recognizing that we're celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, that he came to earth. So I don't fight Christmas, okay? I don't like Santa Claus and the big fat man and the air and all that, and I've never told my kids that their gifts come from some fat man flying around with reindeer, okay? Because when I go out and work hard for that money and buy them gifts, I want them to know, I'm not giving the credit to some mysterious fat guy. I worked for it, I got it for you, I love you, right? And then, you know, if we go down the list, we start telling our kids about Santa Claus and the bunny rabbit and the tooth fairy and all this other nonsense. By the time we get ready to tell them about Jesus, they can't see, why should they believe us? So I've never gone down that road, but I don't have problem with giving gifts at Christmas because the wise men brought them to Jesus, right? They brought gifts. I don't mind the lights because we say the star and the heaven and Jesus was the light of the world, and I don't mind any of that. It's all fine and dandy. I get criticized for that, you know. I know there's some people that don't understand my thinking on certain things, but that's fine. You understand, but, and I just totally digress there, but I think somebody must have needed that for Christmas time, maybe to put you at ease a little bit. I'm not a Christmas hater, all right? All right, where was I? Possible. Oh yeah, Jesus came, and I think about this. God in the flesh, the king of kings, comes as a baby, not born in a fancy palace,
born in a stable, in a manger, that animals would eat out of. And I remember one time God told me, he said, read Matthew chapter one. Whenever God tells you to read something you've read, you know, a hundred times, he's usually gonna speak to you, right? And I remember when he told me, he said, read Matthew one, and I'm reading Matthew chapter one and two, and I remember the Lord spoke to me. I remember the whole story of how, you know, the Holy Spirit came over Mary, and supernaturally she was impregnated by the power of the Holy Spirit to, with this sinless, powerful God Almighty in the flesh in her womb, and this mystery of great power, and yet so that God would take on human flesh. Paul said, this is a great mystery, right? Just amazing, right? But God allowed one of the greatest and holiest things he ever did to have a little bit of question mark around it. Because Joseph even, you know, Mary was engaged to Joseph, and here she comes up pregnant. This looks bad to the world. This looks bad to the community. Why would God do one of his most holy things, but not let it appear holy? Oh, see, everything God does like that's a test, because you know what? We get too focused on the way things look on the outside, instead of discerning what they are on the inside. Now, having said that, let me just say, well, what defines a real apostolic ministry? You wanna know what it defines it? I'm just getting real blunt today. Paul defended his apostleship, so I guess today, in a sense, I'm defending mine, but I'm just gonna speak it out, and I don't care. People say you're a self-appointed prophet. Guess what? I didn't give myself those gifts, and I didn't call myself. So, this is what I'm saying. It doesn't matter. Paul said, hey, I'm an apostle. People didn't say, hey, what are you saying? Are you bragging on yourself? Are you trying to boast yourself? No, it didn't matter of those things. I'm just trying to explain to you. It's funny, it's no shame to call yourself a pastor, is it? These nuts out here say, I'm a pastor, I'm an evangelist, but don't dare call yourself a prophet or an apostle. You're a heretic then, right? No, it's not wrong to call yourself what you are. If God calls you that, then that's what you are. Don't be ashamed of it. He told me one time to quit being ashamed of what I called you to be. Quit worrying about what people think. But I'm gonna explain something to you, because see, there's some of you in this church, the devil, rather, is trying to turn you against this church, and he's always worked real hard
to turn people against whatever ministry I was doing. Even though they would say, hey, man, preacher. Even though they would say, you preach the truth. Even though they'd say, the anointing's on you. Even though they'd say, wow, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And yet, the devil's always working hard in people's minds. And so that's why I like to just be blunt, sometimes like this, and bust him up. And expose his lies that he's talking in your head. I mean, I know some of you are even considering going to another church. Now, if God leads you, if that's God leads you to do that, I'm fine with it. I will never say, I don't want God's will in your life, if that's God's will. But a lot of times, it's not God's will. You're listening to the devil, or you're listening to emotions, or you're being swayed by other people. And there are people that I knew needed to stay in this church to get the truth about repentance, and holiness, and deliverance, and healing, inner healing, and real outer. There are people that needed to stay here. There are couples that came here that should have stayed. But because of they wouldn't let go of certain sins, they wouldn't let go of certain weights, they would listen to the wrong people, they listened to the devil, they left a true church and went to a dead church. And now, those three couples that I can just think of after all three are divorced. Their marriages are destroyed and gone. Now, is that because I think we're big or something? No, but there's few true churches anymore, you guys. There's few churches that are number one led by the Holy Spirit. Number two will tell you the truth, whether you like it or don't like it. There's few churches that believe Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and believe in the gifts of the Spirit for today that cast demons out of folks, will lay hands on you when you're sick, and will tell you in your face if you're wrong, because they love you. Now, you can always go and find a church that'll tell you what you wanna hear. You can always go and find an apostle or a prophet or an evangelist or pastor or teacher that'll tell you what you wanna hear. You'll find one that'll soothe your little weak emotions that'll agree with the devil talking in your head, but I can tell you this. If it's not a true church, if it's not a true church that's preaching the truth, if it's not a true church that's led by the Holy Spirit, if it's not a true leader who's not being led by the fear of man more than he is by the fear of God, you just put yourself, your marriage, your family, your children in danger. I don't care if they have a big youth program, I don't care if they have a big choir and you wanna sing in the choir, I don't care.
You see what I'm saying? We want Jesus to be born in the palace. Yeah, he's over here in a dirty old barn. Jesus would step in their temple sometime to preach, but they didn't want him there, and it was those temple folks that ended up killing him. Remember that? Y'all hear what I'm saying? I want you to go with me to 2 Timothy 4. See, here's the thing, this is why I'm bringing this up today, y'all. As you turn to 2 Timothy 4, just hold it there. I wanna tell you that God sent me and Nancy to Auburn sovereignly by the Holy Spirit, because there's nowhere in the Bible that says Dean and Nancy Odell go to Auburn and start a church. So you have to be led by the Holy Spirit, right? To hear those things and to know those things and to let God confirm those things. God told us and told me very plainly to come here and start a church in this area. When we first came here to start a church here, I knew, I even told the Lord, see, this is not the first church I start. Been several, okay? But I remember saying, God, I don't wanna start a church. It's too difficult. You know what his words were? Go to Auburn, start a church. And he was serious about it, because I tried to ignore him for a little while. And God has this way of stepping away from you and letting you dry up and die spiritually for a while to show you you're not listening, right? But I remember when we first started coming, there were great difficulties in the beginning. Great difficulties, not to tear.
Still great difficulties, but there were great difficulties. And there was a dream God gave me. I had a dream about, and I believe it's really a dream about the last five years. Because in the dream, when we first came here, we were living in Georgia and we would drive over to have services here on Sundays and sometimes even twice a week. We'd drive over and do midweek youth meetings. But this dream was, I was at the property that we now live on, which belongs to my aunt, my great aunt. We were at the property. And when we first came here, we would stay with her on the weekend. Sometimes we'd spend the night. Sometimes we would just drive on Sunday morning and drive back Sunday evening. Two hours, one way, four hours on the road. No money, I just have no idea. We would drive here sometimes to do church. And the only way we got home was what, maybe $20 or $40 was in the offering is the only way we were able to get, to buy gas to get back home. No joke. But hey, I loved it because I knew it was God's will, amen? But in this dream, out behind the fence on the property there where the garden used to be, for some reason in the dream, it was a big pond back there, just water. And in the dream, for some reason there was a big fish tank and y'all know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a big fish tank like those you see in restaurants. I mean, a big old thing. And yet it was mostly submerged except the top of it was sticking out of the water about this high, okay? Now in that little fish tank, in that fish tank, there were these little fish swimming around in there, right? And me and Nancy are on one of those rafts, like you lay out in the pool on, those little blow up rafts if you blow up with your mouth. But it was half out of air and me and her are trying to stay afloat on that thing. All right? Now, if that wasn't a hard enough trick at the moment and what we were doing is we were trying to get over next to that, we were getting over next to that fish tank and we were feeding the fish, the few little fish in that fish tank. And then I remember looking over and hearing this big splash and looking up and watching about a 15 foot monster alligator enter the water and head toward us. And I remember all I'm trying to do, the only thing I could do was I tried to paddle us around because it was coming this way and we're on this side of this little thing. I was trying to just paddle us around
to the other side of the fish tank. And I'm just like in the dream, I'm thinking how in the world are we gonna deal with this? And the whole time, and you know what God spoke to me in that dream was how the whole time we've been here trying to obey God and start a church and have a ministry and fulfill that of establishing a church in the Auburn-Opelika area. That the whole entire time we have been barely afloat. We have done our best to stay afloat financially, mentally, emotionally, physically. In every way we were just doing our best to stay afloat. Alligators in the water coming after us, but we kept trying to be faithful to feed those little fish, the few little fish in that little fish tank and keep them protected from the alligators. You hear what I'm saying? Y'all know what the little fish tank is, the little fish tank's fire and grace church. The little fish is you. Oh yeah, and before we came, that's right, I forgot about that part. They were feeding on just, they were starving to death and feeding on whatever they could get off the, there were like little plants inside there and they were just starving. And I know that some of you know that your lives spiritually in a lot of ways was saved through this ministry, through the truth you got, through the ministry you got. Now, having said that, I know, and listen guys, Nancy and I, we know, as your pastors, we ain't done everything right. Nor do we believe we're the best pastors in the world. We fall short. We get worn out, we get tired. There's things we would like to do. We just don't, and sometimes just don't have the time, energy, or strength to do. There's things that slip through the cracks that I wish didn't slip through the cracks sometime. Right? But I think because of that, even with those things, like when Noah after the flood got drunk, was it God's will for Noah to get drunk? No. But his mistake exposed the evil that was in one of his sons. He had three sons, you found out. Noah got drunk, was laying naked in his tent, and that's why he shouldn't drink. Boys and girls, you end up naked.
Just go to Bourbon Street, you'll find that out during Margot, right? Isn't that right, Louisiana boy? I think there was a country song once. Tequila makes her clothes come off, yeah it does. God wants you to keep your clothes on. Right? Come on now! Where was I? See, I digressed again. Ham. See, that's why I got a helper there. I got a good helper. But Noah's sin, his mistake, revealed that he had two sons that still respected his authority and the hand of God on his life even when he made a mistake. And his, but the evil brother went in and wanted to go tell his sin to everybody and wanted to try to bring that respect and bring that authority down. But when his brothers heard ham saying, you know, father's laying in his tent naked, he's doing stuff he shouldn't be doing, his other two brothers went in and wouldn't even look, went in backwards and covered their father. And when Noah woke up, isn't it amazing, he woke up. He still had enough anointing on him to prophesy over them, all three. And all those prophecies came to pass. But ham was cursed by God for that. There's a verse in 1 Corinthians 4. You can hold your spot, what I told you to turn to 2 Timothy 4. But let me turn to 1 Corinthians 4. I love this verse here. David Copeland and I had a little discussion about this the other day on Facebook. I'll explain that in a second because I really stirred up the pot. I mentioned something about life coaches, but we'll, I'll share that in a second. But this is an interesting verse. Paul writing this to a church he started, a church he planted. And this is what he says. Are you with me? And basically he's having to defend himself because they're accusing him. And look at verse 9. He says, for I think that God has set forth us, the apostles last, as it were appointed to death, for we are made a spectacle into the world, into angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honorable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place.
And labor working with our hands, being reviled, we bless, being persecuted, we suffer it, being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world and the offskering of all things into this day. You want to recognize a true apostolic ministry? It will be hated by much of the church and the world for sure. And look what he says, but this is what he says. Verse 14 and 15 is what I wanted to get to here. I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you. What's the warning? Next verse. For though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be you followers of me. What does he say? You may have all these different people who share things with you, who teach you things about the word of God. And that's all fine and dandy. Paul was reminding the Corinthians. He said, you may have many instructors. You may have many counselors. You may have many teachers. You may have many people. He said, but you have not many fathers. And let me explain the difference. A teacher is somebody who gets paid to teach you. A father is somebody who looks out for you and teaches you whether they get paid or not. That's why I made the comment on Facebook the other day about life coaches, that it irritates me. That pastors and churches are getting into this life coach craze, right? To be mentors, to help you find your dream for a price. And I'm sitting here going, that's what pastors and Christians are supposed to do for people. We're supposed to make disciples. We're supposed to counsel people. We're supposed to encourage people. We're supposed to rebuke and correct people. We're supposed to make disciples whether we get paid or not. Amen. I'm not against a church taking up tithes and offerings or a pastor getting a salary. That's biblical. But here, what I'm saying is, if I'm a pastor and I'm getting a salary and I don't get one here, but if I'm a pastor and I get a salary, you get what I'm saying? And yet I'm gonna create a life coach thing so I can charge you a fee for becoming a mentor to you or a quote, a spiritual father or life coach. No, no. Coaches go where the money is. A father is your father for your life. They are committed to you when you're the prodigal and when you're not. A father loves you and a father will tell you the truth and a father will whip you
and then a father will make you cry and then a father will hug you and hold you and a father is out there looking out for your best even when it's something that's gonna hurt at first. And that's what Paul is saying here. You Corinthians, you don't understand that you can have all these fancy teachers because the Corinthian church, everybody wanted to go preach there because that town had money and that church had money. Everybody wanted to float through the Corinthian church and preach a good word and get a big offering. And Paul was saying, you know what? You guys got all these fancy preachers and you got all your big offerings, but you despise me now and yet I'm your father. So he's a difference. The true church, the true leaders of a true church are spiritual fathers and spiritual mothers. You can preach on now. Now I ain't forgotten. And can I just tell you, the devil will always work real very hard, just like he does with kids. They get, let me tell you, there's nothing new on his son and there's nothing different. Listen to me. Children tend to be more obedient when they're smaller and you can discipline them and deal with them when they're smaller. Teenagers start thinking they know everything. Then you got big problems because they wanna rebel. It's the same in church. Folks start getting some knowledge. All of a sudden they think they know everything. I can't tell you how many people I've run into. 20 somethings. 20 something year olds that, okay, praise God, you got saved, you're on fire for God. You're studying the Bible. You're watching videos on YouTube. You're learning all this information. And all of a sudden, you think after being saved a year or two or five years that you got it on somebody that's been doing this for 20 years. I'm sorry. You don't. It's like teenagers. All of a sudden they think they know better than mom and dad. You don't know squat at 13, 14. You think, oh, cause you know about sex now. You know about drinking. You know about drugs. You know about what the world's doing. You can watch all the videos and the movies and the game and you think you know what the world's about. You don't know squat. That's why you better listen to mom and dad. That's why you better listen to your pastor because you don't know Jack. Cause there's big boogeymen out there that you don't see. But I've fought for a long time. And let me just tell you, there's bigger boogeymen coming.
See the church, the true church, the true church that has true leadership, that has true spiritual fathers is the place where you will learn to fight the enemy where the gates of hell will not prevail against you. That's why the devil tries to separate you from true churches and true spiritual leaders, true spiritual fathers and mothers, true elders. That's why he's always trying through little criticisms, through little attacks, through little mental games in your head. That's why these preachers out here with these big churches and that's why they're always trying to lure you with the carnival, with the cotton candy. Mom and dad's trying to get you to eat some meat and vegetables and the carnival just wants you to come there and spend money. They want you to buy the cotton candy and the caramel apples and the funnel cakes and ride the rides and throw up and have a good time and they don't want you, they don't care if you eat the meat and vegetables. They don't care if you put your life in danger as long as you're buying the tickets and riding the rides. That's most of the church world. That's the instructors. The spiritual fathers want you to eat meat and vegetables. They want you to be healthy spiritually, emotionally, physically. Want you to grow up right and know right from wrong. You hear what I'm saying? That's why I look at Jesus talked about the hirelings versus the true. The hireling sees the wolf coming and runs. The churches out here and the so-called preachers that won't expose the wolves and won't fight the demons and won't pray and won't fast, they're there for a paycheck, folks. They're there to give you cotton candy and keep you happy in a pew or a chair. You put your entire spiritual life's eternity on the line when you don't go to a true church and you're not submitted to true elders and true pastors, true spiritual fathers and mother. See, it's easy to pay a life coach because they're gonna tell you what you wanna hear so they can keep getting your money. A spiritual mother, a spiritual father will tick you off because they care about you. There's places that we need to go. Look at, I'm gonna show you. I may go a little long today. I hope y'all don't mind. How long have I been going?
50 minutes. See, I'm under my hour still. Second Timothy four, verse one. And this was the charge the apostle Paul was giving to Timothy, I believe, that at the time had the calling of pastor on his life and teacher, but really that Timothy was gonna take Paul's place and become that apostle and he did, okay? He said, I charge thee, speaking to the pastor of the church, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine, for the time will come where they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap in themselves teachers having itching ears and shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things endure afflictions. Boy, pastors have to do that. Do the work of an evangelist, meaning you gotta reach these lost people, make full proof of your ministry. And then Paul says, for I am now ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give to me at that day and not to me only, but also all them that love his appearing. Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me. Now listen to this closely. For Demas has forsaking me, having loved this present world and is departed unto Thessalonica, the Cretans have departed to Galatia and tied us unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with thee for he is profitable me for the ministry. And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus, the cloak or the coat that I left at Troas with Carpus when you come bring with you and the books, but especially the parchments. Alexander the Coppersmith did be much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works of whom be thou where also for he has greatly withstood our words. Now look at verse 16. Paul says this is a sad commentary at the end of an apostolic ministry, probably the greatest apostolic ministry that's ever been. This is what Paul says. At my first answer, no man stood with me but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me, the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. Now I bring this up because Demas had been a close associate of Paul's
and had worked with him in the ministry. Mark had been with him and left him. But isn't this a sad commentary? And when Paul says at my first answer, that means when I was going through my trouble, when I started going through my time of difficulty, look it up, you'll see. He said at my first, he said no man stood with me. All men forsook me. You want a sign of a true apostolic ministry? People run away. Just being honest. People run away. Because see a true apostolic ministry is a true spiritual father and mother. Don't really care if the truth hurts your feelings. Don't care that you make it, that you grow up, that you learn the truth, that you learn how to live the Christian life, not eat cotton candy and ride rollercoasters. See this whole mentality that the church is here to be seeker sensitive meaning is here to make everybody comfortable is a lie from hell or that you got to have this group or a singles ministry, a youth ministry. You got to have a big church. You got to have a patted pew. You got to have a choir. You got to have this. You got to have that. That's all fine. If it's truth, the whole truth. See folks, it's not just what you preach, it's what you don't preach. The sin of omission is going to get a lot of people damn to hell. I like what the great preacher Leonard Ravenhill used to say. It's not the things that I do or that I did that scares me to death, it's what I should have done. Some people say well, doesn't Joel Osteen preach the Gospel? Yeah, he preaches some Jesus, but he doesn't preach the whole Gospel. And the parts that he leaves out that he leaves out are critical. So the sin of omission is damning people in his church and then people that listen to him because he doesn't bring it up. And of course, because he goes on Oprah and says that he believes practicing homosexuals will go to heaven. And the Hindus practicing Hinduism will go to heaven. He doesn't really preach the Gospel, but it's cotton candy. It feels good. I'm just going to be honest with you this morning.
If you're contemplating that you can't handle fire and grace church, that's fine. If it's God, let God lead you. But if the devil's putting all kind of crap in your head and you're being led by emotions and lies and deception and manipulation, snap out of it. Because God wants you planted in a church that preaches the truth, the whole truth that'll make you grow up, that'll teach you how to fight the devil, that'll point out when you're falling away, that'll point out and get specific about sin, that'll hear from the Holy Spirit. You heard what I'm saying? Do I think we're the only church in town? No, I just know they're few. Listen, I get the emails, I get the letters, I get the calls from all over. I wish we could find a church like yours. You know, and I think about some of those people. I say, I wonder how long you could really take it. So some of you I commend, you're still here. But here's what I'm getting at, and I'll close with it. Because there's a lot I could say, there's a lot of scriptures I could go to about this. The vision of this church, the call of this church, the purpose of this church is to be a Pentecostal, spirit-filled, spirit-led church, unafraid of the word of God, anything in it. We will preach it, teach it. We are a deliverance ministry, we cast out demons. And we are believing and praying, and part of the vision was to help facilitate and bring about a revival in this region. I'm not talking about Pentecostal pep rallies. I'm not talking about a good healing service. I'm all for healing services. I'm talking about a revival of truth, of repentance. Now hear what I'm about to tell you. Hear me, let everybody eyes forward, look at me, hear what I'm about to tell you. I think that we have gone through a difficult period, even if it's been five years of a difficult period. Because the devil doesn't want to get us to get to where we're headed. Do I still believe after five years of struggle
that our church can see a revival and many souls saved? And true growth, I do. God has spoken to us very clearly that that will not happen until the bovine excrement hits the fan. The bovine feces hits the fan. Y'all know what it is, all right? I'm telling you, stay the course with me. You hear what I'm saying? I know it's been a rocky ride, but I need you. Because I'm gonna be honest with you. I got a little frustrated Wednesday. During prayer meeting, I was just like, why does our church show up for prayer? Why is this so difficult? And it's not just now, it's been a struggle to get people to prayer meeting since we began. Consistently. I'm not talking about you drop in once a month or once every, I'm talking about consistent prayer meetings. You want this church to have power. You want this church to grow. You want this church to flow more into gifts. You wanna see more people healed, more people delivered. Let me tell you where all that comes from. It comes from the power of prayer. Leonard Ravenhill and all the great preachers said, you can judge any church's strength by its prayer meeting. See, the problem is, the prayer life of this church, the prayer meeting of this church has not ever been what it has needed to be. But the reason that we've had any strength or even a little strength is because we have stood for the truth and God has blessed and honored that with grace because we will not back away from the truth. But I'm gonna tell you right now, if this church doesn't become a praying church and a fasting church and a church that's determined to stand together united with the vision and purpose of this ministry, this church will not continue because I'm gonna tell you, I won't continue doing it if you don't step up to the plate and help me get it done. I don't have to do this. And I've already told the Lord, I said, I'm tired of the stubbornness and the laziness and the up and down and in and out. I got frustrated Wednesday night at prayer meeting because I'm like, where are they?
And like I said, it wasn't just about that night. It just kind of all came in on me. I don't have to do Sundays. I don't have to do Wednesdays. I don't have to do Bible studies. I don't have to get up and pray. You know what I'm saying? You get what I'm saying? I'm reaching, listen, God's using us right now to reach thousands of people. We could just stop having church and do an internet ministry and go preach in churches or go preach on the street somewhere. You get what I'm saying? But then the Lord kind of got onto me. I told you to establish a church here and I'm like, well, Lord, I got some of them thinking about leaving. They won't show up to prayer meeting. They can't handle, some can't handle what I preach. Some want a youth group. We don't have a youth group. Some want children's ministry. We don't have that. We don't have this. They want the buffet. We're not a buffet. We're a steakhouse. You get a steak dinner, some salad, baked potato. We're not a carnival. Hey, I'm just being real. Is that okay? See, I think about it. Think about, you know, even though our teenagers in here, our kids in here, I know it's been tough being in this little church sometimes. Well, be where a bunch of people are. I understand that, but you know what? I think about when this young man was at the altar cry. I seen this young man at the altar cry. The presence of God touching these, that's what's more important. Now, I am praying about something, about making some changes. And instead of having prayer meeting on Wednesday night, which seems to not work, is doing it on Friday night. But I'm still praying about that, because I'm like, let's see if we switch to Friday nights. Will that work? I don't know. My Friday nights, especially if I've worked during the week. I like to chill. We'll see. I don't know. But y'all hear what I'm saying? I think God wants to take us somewhere. I think God is gonna add to this church when the bovine excrement hits the fan. But if there's no church here
and there's no faithful people here, there won't be anything here for them to come to. You are the church. Be the church. You are not an island to yourself. Can I say this before I close? This is just the truth. When one of you, or one of the families here, when you're not in church, it changes the service. Did y'all know that? It's amazing. I've watched this over years. And you say, well, all I did was sit here and listen. Sometimes that's all you needed to do. But your presence encouraged me, or encouraged someone else. And you never know when the Holy Spirit's gonna move on you and you're gonna be the one the gifts flow through, like Andy did this morning, prophesying, and Bill did this morning, prophesying. You never know when you come to church, you may have felt like hell. And you get up and come to church and you bring your children to church. One of them get touched by the Holy Spirit that morning and save them from something you didn't even know they were doing. You see what I'm saying? It's not about Pastor Harper being in church. I didn't make the rules. But people take the church lightly that Jesus said it was the church, the true church that he would build, that the gates of hell would not prevail against. I'm gonna ask you something. How many of you have been touched by God, the presence of God in services in this church? At some point or another. Raise your hand. Can everybody in this room? How many of you have learned something that you didn't know before? How many of you can say that your spiritual life, your Christian life has been strengthened and you've learned how to fight the devil better? Can everybody raise their hand? And what does that tell me? What does that tell you? You've been part of a real church. But you think about it. Just as much as you need a pastor and elders, the pastor and elders need you. We are a team. Whether you're in leadership or not, it's a team. And if we're gonna reach people,
other brothers and sisters who are floundering and being starved to death at the carnivals, if we're gonna reach them, if we're gonna reach the unsaved, if we're gonna be here for the people when the stuff hits the fan, if we're gonna be here, it's gonna take us all being for real and being unified. God placed us here. We have a mission. Listen, John Kilpatrick, we talk about the Brownsville Revival sometimes, but John Kilpatrick was the pastor of Brownsville Assembly of God for 14 years before the revival happened. 14 years it took of prayer and intercession and fighting and getting the church to get focused on prayer and on revival and on doing things right. 14 years it took them. But when the power of God fell and the revival hit, millions of people were impacted. Many prodigals came home. Many bodies were healed. Many demons were cast out. Many people were saved and born again when the power fell. It was worth, John Kilpatrick, and you know what? He got down there at the end right before the revival hit, he wanted to quit. Do you know that? He wanted to resign from his church. The morning the revival hit, he was so depressed, he was so discouraged that he even told, he told Steve he was supposed to preach that morning. It was Father's Day. He said he never gave up his pulpit on Father's Day. He said, I can't do it. You go ahead. He wanted to quit. So don't worry on me. Five years, that's nothing. When a revival, we finally get a revival and a move of God when we finally start acting right and get unified and become a praying church, it'll all be worth it. Amen. Remember, Jesus lived 30 years before he started his revival. 30 years, he waited on the timing of God, fasted and prayed, went out in the wilderness, fought the devil, came out and Jesus had a revival for three years. Amen? But 30 years was the process. For us, maybe it's five years, maybe it's six years. I believe because we're in the last days, we're running out of time and God's about to do it. We just got to be, not grow weary in well doing, not let the devil separate us and divide us, not let us be found an island to ourselves. I know a lot of Christians that do not attend a church. Sad, I guess I ought to quit.
So it's gut check time. Are you planted at Fire and Grace Church? Is this your church? Are you unified with the vision? Do you want to get down and get to business and become a church that the gates of hell do not prevail against? I'm telling you. There's an old saying in the church world, new levels, new devils. You want God to bless us? You want God to graduate us? You want God to take us to another level? Well, guess what? There's bigger devils. So that means you got to have a bigger prayer life, with more of a fasting life. You got to be more determined. You got to have a more disciplined mind and emotion. You got to be ready to fight. See the difference between a true church and the carnival churches is we want to move on in the Holy Ghost. We want to get deeper. We want more. We want to see the power of God. We want to see the will of God. We want to see the kingdom of God come on the earth. We want to see the demon possessed and the demon of prayer set free. We want to see the unsaved, people that are in darkness saved to the uttermost. We want to see people delivered from all kinds of stuff. We want to see bodies healed. We want to see cancer go. We want to see everything. We want to see Jesus do what Jesus does in the church. But there's an old saying and I love it. It says God doesn't answer prayer. He answers desperate prayer. Jesus said certain things are not going to come out, but by prayer and fasting. You're not going to deal with certain demons by just hanging around in church once in a while. You're going to have to become a prayer warrior, a fasting warrior, a Bible warrior. You're going to have to become a committed church member. You understand? Committed to your church. Now I know some of you are. Don't get me wrong. Some of you are and you have been through some thick and thin, some battles and you're committed. I thank God for you. But we got to get more unified. Amen? I could preach a while on this. Gut check time. Kevin says he's got a Keith Green song. Go ahead, bro.
Wood, what do you have to do? You got to put some work into it. Cut the trees and split the logs and stack it and haul it and restack it and go get it and carry it in your house. That's what it's about. You don't have a fire in your fireplace with the trees out in New York. You hear me? That's what the church thinks we can do. We think we can have a fire, a Holy Ghost fire, but we want to go out and get the wood. We don't want to go out and do the work. We don't want to go out and have the prayer life, the fasting. We don't want to change our habits. You want a relationship with God. It's something you got to go after. Something you got to work toward. It's something you got to put some effort into. You want a strong church. It takes all the links. So the chain have to be strong for the chain to be strong, right? Hook up a chain to pull the truck and there's a weak link. Takes all of us. And I'm just hoping, I'm just saying, I need all of you. I hope you're all, you know, that we can all be unified and see this thing through. I know it's been difficult. Nancy and I are having to move around. Nearly everybody in here, financial struggles, marital struggles, struggles with family, children. We've had a rough time. Health struggles. We can do it.