Edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
Well, that kind of goes along with what we're going to do this morning. Amen to that. All right. Well, let's y'all can be seated this morning. We want to welcome you to Fire and Grace Church. But why do we seek God? Just for the sake of seeking or that we find him and hear something. We seek God so we can hear from him and we can know his will for our lives. That's all that matters. Romans 8, we're going to start there. Romans 8. Y'all see I brought my this thing right here is probably this is an old plow that of my great-grandfather’s probably over 100 years old. because I know in the 1960s 1959 where he moved where into the house that I inherited that he left to me. I found these in the barn. about by that time they were using tractors and plowing, but before that they would hook up an ox or a mule or horses or whatever they had to one of these. And this one even still has I don't know if you guys can see it or not. Hey, why don't you pick up that end for me down there, Jordan? This thing has got some weight to it. As you can see, still got where the plow and it still got where you hook up the horse or the mule or the you just laying them down there. And I thought, huh, yeah, found that in the old barn. And we're going to get to what that's about. But this is what it says. Romans 8:14. And actually, well, actually, we're going to back up and read verse 12 through 14. Of course, the context of Romans 8 is living your life by the spirit of God and not by your flesh or your carnal mind. That's the context. And then he says, "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh or what our body or emotions or feelings desire." He says, "For if you live after the flesh, you shall die. And that just means you will be separated from God forever. But if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Now notice that he puts mortifying the deeds of the body, meaning getting control of your physical body and not letting it do whatever it wants, right? self-control, fruit of the spirit, temperance, repentance from sin, habitual sin, self-control, right? And then he says it's connected to though the very next verse he adds, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Because the whole purpose of this exercise that we draw near to the Lord that we seek him is so that we may hear his voice and be led by his spirit. If we are led by the spirit then we will not fulfill the deeds and desires of the flesh. Now I'm not saying we'll never sin. I'm just saying we will not live in a lifestyle of satisfying the flesh. Now, too many Christians don't get this at all. They have in their minds because they've been taught by church after church after church, just believe in Jesus, pray this little sinner's prayer, and you're good. And after that, it doesn't really matter what you do. You can sin. You can do your you your own plans and purposes. You can do everything you want with your life. and you're still going to go to heaven. It's the biggest lie, bunch of lies that's ever been told because that is not what Jesus said. That is not what he preached. Being born again through faith is just the beginning. I mean, what would you think about a baby that was born that didn't grow, that didn't change, that didn't mature? it wouldn't be right. Something would be wrong. But this is what we have. We have a bunch of Christians say, "Well, I just be born and stay there." And this is why we have denominations. You know why we have denominations? Because we start a little bit here and we decide that's as far as we're going. And then another church comes along goes not as more here in this book we ought to be doing. And so they start doing that. So it's another denomination. And then that denomination stops at a certain point obeying the word of God and growing and maturing. And then we get another one. And then we get another one. This is why we have denominations because we got a bunch of people that just don't want to go all the way with Jesus. They want to put their hand to the plow and look back. That's why I've called this today no looking back.
No looking back. To me, this is we're going to read one of the most scary passages in the Bible in a second. Luke chapter 9. But again, he says, "As many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God." And I want to go to John 10 verse 27. I talk about this verse a lot because verse 28's a verse they use to teach you're once saved, always saved, no matter how you live. But again, is who's it applied to? And I'm going to get this in people if it takes me, you know, the until Jesus comes. I'm going to keep preaching this. But verse 27, Jesus made this statement. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And then there's a colon. Meaning this is thought is not finished. He says it's connected to the next thing. and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Those two verses are connected meaning there's a condition to having eternal life and not being plucked out of his hand. The condition is that you hear his voice and you follow him. And as I have said many times for the last 30 plus years, 40 years now it's going on 40 years that hear and follow present tense Greek verbs meaning ongoing continuous action taking place in the present. So someone who gets eternal life and cannot be plucked out of God's hand is someone who is continually hearing what the Lord is saying and they are following him in a continual habitual lifestyle. That's why he said in Romans 8:14 that those who are led by the spirit of God are the sons and daughters of God. Meaning, if you're led by the flesh, if you're led by your own mind and your own emotions, your own will, you are not a son or daughter of God, you are not going to have eternal life. And little deceivers and false teachers going to come along and they will pluck you right out of God's hand because you made the choice. God won't hold you there by force. Now
go to Luke chapter 9. And this is the passage the Lord gave me last night. And that's why you can put the title slide up why I entitled this No Looking Back. And we're going to look at what this means from this passage here. I remember reading this when I was 19 years old and it absolutely put the fear of God in me. And if this doesn't put the fear of God in you, something's wrong with you. You hear me? Something is terribly wrong. Now, let's go down to Oh, let's drop on down to where are we here? Yes. Down to verse 57. Now, we might back up and read something in this chapter that gives again more context to this, but it's pretty simple here because there's a lot of people in the world right now who say, "I follow Jesus or I'm going to follow Jesus or I want to follow Jesus or I am following Jesus." All kind of people claim that. And so verse 57, Luke 9:57, he says here, "And it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whethersoever thou goest." Sounds like somebody wants to be a Christian. Lord, I want to follow you wherever you wherever you go, wherever you lead me. You know what's sad is a lot of people start out that way when they're born again and then they cease being that way. But he goes on to say, Jesus said unto him, foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. And Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said,"Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell which are at my house or at home at my house." And Jesus said unto him, "No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God." Now, what's scary about these things right here is we wouldn't call these things sin. I let me go first bury my father. My father's oh, let me go, you know, take care of him until he dies and bury him and then I'll go follow you. Sounds reasonable. Oh, let me go first, Lord. Let me first go back to my house and tell everybody bye, farewell, and then I'll follow you. It sounds extreme. In fact, there would be people who would tell me if I preached that if it wasn't Jesus speaking this, "Pastor Dean, you're just hard. You're just you're just too mean and difficult. You're being unreasonable. Who would not let somebody go and bury their elderly father or take care of them till they die and bury them? Who wouldn't if they were going to leave and follow Jesus, go back to their home, say bye to everybody? But the Lord was making a point and several things he
makes in this. First thing he says, "Foxes have holes. Birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head." He was first telling, "If you're going to follow me, you may not know where you're going to sleep. You may not know what you're going to eat. You may not You may suffer loss. You may be homeless for a while. You may go through all kinds of suffering and rejection and persecution. Are you really Do you really want to follow me? because what they do to me they're going to do to you. Remember him saying that. So he first says you really have you thought about this you want to follow me wherever I go. And another Jesus said to another one he said follow me and let me first go and bury my father. Now you think again very normal thing but see this is what the Lord is saying through this. He's saying when I say to you to do something, you do it. No human reasoning, no justifications, no excuses, no fear of man, no, you know, pandering to man. You obey it, you follow, you do.
And what I've learned over the years is it's just like when God gave Abraham a promise that he would have a son by Sarah. It would be supernatural. He would have a son. And God fulfilled that miracle and brought that about. And then later, as I think Isaac got to be about 12 years old or so, now go take your son Isaac and go up on the mountain where I'll show you and sacrifice him to me. Kill your son. Kill the miracle, the promise. Why? Why would the Lord test Abraham in such a way? because he was going to find out and make Abraham find out whether he really loved the Lord even more than the blessing, the promise, the miracle. You know, I know a lot of parents that have ceased to stand for the truth of the word of God because their children have strayed away. So they have compromised because they want to keep a relationship with their children. Children have become homosexuals, transgenders, and all this other nonsense of demonic mental illness. And we've we've seen it. We saw pastors whose children became homosexual who decided all of a sudden, well, now homosexuality is okay. God's okay with it. Wait a minute. Does the Bible say God's okay with homosexuality? No, he does not. It is a sin unto death. If you practice homosexuality, you live in it as a lifestyle. You'd never repent and get out of it and receive forgiveness and cleansing and deliverance from it. If you die as a practicing homosexual, you do not go to heaven. Amen. You go to hell. That's what the Bible says. You do not inherit the kingdom of God. But the same for the adulterer, the fornicator, the drunkard, the idolater, the thief, the liar. We could keep going down the list. The habitual lifestyle will separate you. But also
the idol and as I have preached it over the years, the idol of self just doing what you want to do and not listening to the Lord, not doing what he wants for your life is the same. You're just you're you're setting up an idol, but the idol just happens to be you. Your own plans, your own will, your own desires. But I want to live here. I want to work here. I want to do this. I want to make this amount of money. I want this. I want that. I'm going to do it this way. I'm going to go here. I'm going to go there. This to me is the greatest sin within the church. self-will, not listening to God, not seeking him enough to be in his presence, to hear his voice, and then to have the courage and the boldness and the dedication to actually do what he says. You are going to give an answer one day. Did you do the will of God? And let's look at how important it is for a second. Remember when Jesus who lived a sinless life, perfect God in the flesh, the lamb of God that came to take away the sins of the world, fully God, fully man, knows the whole time that the will of the father, the plan of God is for him to suffer, to be beaten, to be spit upon, to be nailed to a cross, to have the sins of the world put upon him. And when he gets to that moment in the garden of Gethsemane, just a short while before he is betrayed and this whole process starts, he is in prayer. He is the burden of it all has come upon him. He said he felt sorrowful even unto death. I can't imagine the think about all the sins of the world beginning to be put on you so much that he sweat great drops of blood. That's the stress he was under. And he says this prayer. Think about this. The perfect man, the sinless man. Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass away from me. I don't want to do this. It's too much. But not my will. Thine be done. See, that's where Jesus showed us that you must die to self. But it's going to cause me suffering, pain, rejection, loss. Buckle up, buttercup. God didn't promise us beds of ease.
I think about this. No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. See the thing about looking back when you're plowing and see I know of something about this because my great aunts made me the mule. Literally, I pulled one of these for my great aunt Zola to make her rows in her little garden cuz she didn't have a mule anymore or a donkey. But I know this that I got to do this side of it, too. And if you're looking back like this the whole time, you'll never plow a straight line. You'll never keep the ox or the horse or the donkey. You'll never keep them going straight. And it actually takes work to keep this thing plowing a straight line. And what did Jesus say? Straight is the way. See, it's easy. You know, here's where a lot of people are, too. They've lived a life of sin and rebellion and selfishness and lust and doing whatever they wanted and their whole life is a screwed up mess. Their children, maybe multiple divorces, maybe jail time. I mean, all kinds of stuff, right? And they come to Jesus. Thank God. Yeah. A lot of them come to Jesus and they get saved. They're born again. But as a weak baby Christian, for some reason they get in their mind that I'm going to go back and unscramble this egg. Sorry, you're not. And you're too weak to go back and fix it. You can't fix it. And this is where a lot of people mess up. Well, if I need to go back to this woman here and try to fix it, or I need to go back and try to fix this problem over here. Now, you can go back and apologize for what you did, and you can tell them all that you repented and that Jesus is Lord of your life, but you know what? They're not going to believe you. They're not going to trust you until they see that it's for real. And that may take years before they see that you mean business and that you really changed.
And for you know for a lot of you a lot of it is I can't you can't blame them for not trusting you right so your only real choice in the matter is to go forward with Jesus not looking back and as you go forward with Jesus doing his will walking with him in obedience that is the bestcase scenario for him to help clean up the mess you made in the past. You can't you can't get strong in Jesus and trust him with that stuff back there. You want your children to live for Jesus or know Jesus like you do. Just keep going with Jesus. Don't try to go back to them and fix it. Can't Can't undo what's been done. Can't unscramble the egg. Like I said, you can't do it. And this is why you're not supposed to be looking back. You're supposed to take hold of this plow and go where Jesus leads you. Not looking back. I can't go back there. I can't fix it. But I can go forward. I can get close to Jesus. And I can trust him with that mess back there. Maybe my kids are living with somebody that's not their dad because you got an ex who's, you know, not following Jesus. And you got to go, I can't be there to watch over my kids 24/7. So, what do I do? Lose my mind, go to jail, or trust Jesus to protect them in a bad situation? You get what I'm saying? And I'm one that's been through this. Okay.
I remember in 2008 my kids were now grown, but the Lord was like, you know, I mean, they were teenagers, older teenagers, and it was like, the Lord told me to go to Washington DC to take that job and pastor that church that I started in 2003. Did I want to leave this area being close to them? No. But hear me, your children cannot be an idol or your grandchildren. They do not determine what you do or you don't do. And it was God's will for me to go to Washington DC. Now, I didn't know it was going to be 6 months, 8 months, whatever it ended up being. In my mind, it was going to be at least 2 years. And then all of a sudden, the Lord sends me back and I'm only an hour away from them. But I was willing. I laid them down and said, "My children and what I think is best for them and what I would like is not what leads my life. I'm going to follow Jesus and trust that he will protect them and get a hold of them and work in them." You understand? You cannot compromise. You cannot look back. You cannot go back. You cannot go halfway and stop. This is all or nothing here. And a lot of people don't want to hear this.
They don't want to hear it even a little bit. Look, go with me to Luke chapter 14. See, this is what people like Leonard Ravenhill and Keith Green and David Wilkerson came along preaching and in the 60s and 70s and 80s and through the 90s. You don't hear much of it anymore, but the Lord is very clear here. What did I say? Luke 13. 14. I meant 14. Yes. All right. Go with me down. Go to verse 15. He says, "And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then he, that is Jesus, said unto him, A certain man made a great supper and bade or invited many." And he sent his servant at supper time, saying to them that were bidden, come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground and must needs to go and see it. I pray thee have me excused. This sounds like a fool already. He bought something he never looked at. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove them. Another idiot, I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, therefore I cannot come. And again, this is just putting his wife above the Lord. It says, "So that servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry." Somebody say, "Angry." Angry. What made God angry here in this parable? He said, "Come over here. Come to me. Follow me." And they began to make excuses. I can't right now. How many Christians has God called to the ministry and they've told him I can't
see the problem. You say, "Oh, well, Pastor Dean, you see, now you're preaching that salvation by works thing." No. Here's the thing. When the Lord tells you to go here or do this or I called you to do this and you don't, it's not just a matter of you obeying a work. If you don't do it, then people die and go to hell because you disobeyed and blood is on your hands. It's that simple. Your obedience is not just about your own eternal destination. It's about others. And for some reason, the Christians that get in their head that I can do whatever I want and it doesn't matter. You have been greatly deceived because every single thing that you do or don't do, as Charles Finney, the great evangelist in 1800 said, everything you do, he says, vibrates on cords throughout eternity. That's why Jesus said, you're either gathering with me or you're scattering. And the only place you can be gathering with Jesus is in his will for you. You have to know that you have to hear his voice. Now, that doesn't mean you have to be on the street evangelizing or preaching if that's not what God has said to do at that moment. Sometimes he does want you waiting in prayer. Sometimes he does want you studying and preparing. Sometimes he does want you to be at rest and at peace until he says move, until he says go, until he shows you what to do. I just again I marvel at Christians that finding the will of God for there is not a priority. I'm like, are we reading the same book? Amen. Yeah, because these people began to make excuses and the Lord got angry. He don't like excuses. But let me tell you this how much he doesn't like excuses.
I remember telling the Lord I didn't have time to write the polluted church book when he told me to. He'd been telling me to for months. Oh, I'd halfway done like a few years of research and I had all kind of notes. I mean, I could say I had started. But I remember the Lord that on a Monday told me, "I told you to write this book." I heard his voice clear as a bell, just like somebody sitting next to me. And I said to the Lord, I don't have time. I made an excuse. And it was a legitimate excuse. I was working construction 40 plus hours a week, coming home exhausted and trying to get ready and pastor a church on the weekends and the midweek. Guess what? I knew how much time it took to write a book because I had written a book before. I knew it was time-consuming. And I'm like, where is there going to be? I couldn't figure it out. But you know what? Do you think the Lord cared about my all my excuses? No. So that's Monday. On Thursday, Christmas party at work. We all gathered together to cook out steaks. The boss bought steaks for everybody. So we he had two different businesses. So he had a business where he had a bunch of college students that he had hired. So I start playing three-on-three basketball with all the college students. I'm the old guy killing them though. Inside, outside, it didn't matter. They couldn't stop me. I was Larry Bird that day, y'all. So finally they put the state champion on me who won a state championship in high school. And I go in for a layup down the middle. And he didn't block my shot, but I came down. I landed like this. And he landed on my left Achilles and tore it. Severed it completely. And the moment it severed, I heard the Lord's voice. He said, "Now you have time." And I knew my foot was just dangling. Didn't work. Your brain's telling it to move. It doesn't move when things aren't hooked up right.
And I could see my tendon that was down there cuz it's really It was all in a little ball up here in my calf. I was like, "Well, that ain't good." I remember showing my wife. She goes, "Are you sure? Like, is it?" I was like, "Well, you see that it's on this foot? That tendon back there? You see how it's gone on this? And you know what's so wild about that day is there was no pain. Went to the emergency room, sat there, no pain about four or five hours and then the pain came in. And of course, I had to have surgery a week later to the surgeon had to cut me about this long, go up into my calf, pull that down, sew it back together, sew me back up, and told me I had to sit with my foot up basically for the next six months to let it heal. Now, we had just had faith. She was a baby. One turning one. Nancy wasn't working. I'm the only one working. That's over with. But guess what God did? I said, "Okay, Lord. I'm gonna write this book." And I sat there with the only internet I had was iPhone 3 doing my research wrote that book in six months and obeyed the Lord and repented over my excuses. Now God has used that book to help thousands of people you understand even still to this day. And that was we published it in 2012, June of 2012. But see, you know, it your life is not your own. Somebody said that to me. I don't know it was Johnny or somebody, but you're bought with a price. You are not your own. If Jesus is your Lord and Master, then you hear his voice and you do his will. And you don't make excuses. But did he say do it? Let's keep reading this.
Verse 21. He says, "So the servant came and showed the Lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, "Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind." And the servant said,"Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room." And the Lord said, "Go to the servant, go out into the highways and the hedges, and compel them to come in that my house may be filled. For I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden or invited shall taste of my supper. None of them." Then he says this. He says, "There went great multitudes with him, and he turned and he said to them." So he Jesus turns to the great multitudes and he said if any man come after or come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters and yea, his own life also he cannot be my disciple. Whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Do y'all hear those words? Should be in the red. It's in the red in my Bible. This is what Jesus preached to the multitudes. Not say this little prayer and you're good. You want to follow me. You want to come after me. You want to be my people. And guess what? In comparison, he didn't he doesn't mean you hate your family, but in comparison to loving him and putting him first, you hate everybody else. Jesus is first. His will is first. His plan is first. That's it. And it doesn't matter who doesn't like it or who cries tears, crocodile tears, and gets upset about it or who curses you or who hates you or who doesn't like you or who betrays you or who turns against you or who leaves you in the process. See, that's why y'all know how I feel about congregation, y'all's opinions about things. I don't care. And people have left because I have dealt with problems, being led by the Holy Spirit, praying about it, fasting about it. Deal with a problem in the church. And people out there think he's too mean, he's too harsh, he's too this, he's too that. It ain't your job to deal with it. It's my job to deal with it.
But y'all think y'all know how to tell me how to do my job. Guess who tells me how to do my job? Jesus. Not you. That's why I don't care. love y'all but don't care because I'll listen to you. I'll hear what you have to say. But who's who do I really have to hear from? I got to know I'm hearing from him about every decision we make as a church. Who we allow to stay in, who we have to move out the door. what to preach. I some people Yeah. I love how some people don't tell me what to what I should be preaching on. I'm like, who do you think you are? I mean, I get these people all the time. Not y'all, but out there. You should preach on this. You should not preach on that. You should spend your time with this. you should be. I'm like, man, there's a lot of people think they're Jesus out there. Like, here's here's the thing. This is why I pray. This is why I seek the Lord. This is why I don't just I could I could I know the Bible well enough. I could pick a verse and preach for two hours. I could preach every day of the week on a different verse, different book and you'd think, man, that's good preaching and none of it be what the Lord was telling me to preach that day at that time to that group. So, you could think I was the best preacher in the world and I could be in full rebellion and disobedience doing what I want to do in the ministry.
do the will of God. That's why let's go let's go back. I read it last week. I'm going to read it again. Second John, I mean 1 John, chapter 2, look this church, let me just say this. this church, this Fire and Grace Church, Fire & Grace School of Ministry, the hundreds upon hundreds of videos, none of that would have would have happened unless over the years the Lord said, "I want you to do this and you do that." That's what I've done. That's how come we've reached hundreds of thousands, probably even millions at this point. The debate with Greg Locke, did I want to do that? Nothing in me wanted to get on stage with that angry little man. He's an angry elf. But that I prayed about it. I knew God wanted me to do it. And it reached really millions of people. We don't even know how many people it reached.
I remember when the Lord told me, I didn't even know who Robbie Davidson was at the time. I was doing a radio interview with a guy out in I think he was in Reno at the time. I'm doing a radio interview. Robbie Davidson's on the interview with me. Again, don't know who he is. They talk about this first international flat earth conference. And the Lord said to me, while I'm on the interview, I'm talking to a guy and the Holy Spirit says to me, he's gonna ask you to come speak at the conference and I want you to go. I want you to say yes. Power of God fell on that message that I preached at that conference like almost like no other I've ever preached. Flat Earth won't save you. And I preach to that bunch of newagers and witches and enemies that you must be born again, that Jesus Christ is God Almighty in the flesh. He's the only way to salvation. And then I got interrupted by a witch and they had to security had to take her out. I mean, it was crazy. But again, hundreds of thousands of people saw that. But I'm sitting that night I speak the second morning. That night I'm sitting out in the crowd. Had no idea they were about to announce that they're going to do another conference like that the next year. The Lord spoke to me sitting there right by my wife said, "You're not going to the next one. In fact, this is it for you." Now, if I was hunting fame and wanting to be upfront and what you know, if I had my own ideas about how to do things, oh, I said, "Sure, I'll go." But the Lord told me, "You're not going to 2018. You're not doing any more of these." And so, guess what? Oh, they begged me. I said, "The Holy Spirit told me no. will not go. And let me tell you, I know why they shoved the Christians off in a corner and let the Freemasons and the newagers have the platform. See, Robbie Davidson, he was a he was a plant. He was an agent. Go by their fruits, not by their mouth. But the Lord wanted me at the first one, not the second one or the third one or any more of them. God wanted me to debate Greg Locke. There's other people that want to debate me. I will not do it because I'm not trying to make a show. I'm not out for I'm not trying to find every publicity and every view I can get. Why? Because I just want to do God's will. That's it. Nothing else. That's all I want.
And that's the way I believe all Christians are supposed to be. We want God's will. We're not looking for fame. We're not looking for money. We're not looking for big ministry. We're looking to do what God says to do. And just be faithful in the little things. If you're faithful in the little things, then he can make you ruler over much. But let me just tell you one thing. You don't want to be ruler over much. Unless it absolutely has to be that way. Everybody thinks they want all that. It's not always more is not always a blessing. Bigger is not always a blessing. More people is not always a blessing. Just ask France right now. Right. Second John. I know I said turn there. This just keeps ringing out to me. this passage verse 15 chapter 2 1 John 2:15 love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world and the world passes away and the lust thereof but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever somebody say he that doeth the will of God will of God abideth forever. I don't know about y'all, but I want to abide or live forever with the Lord. So when I read this, I go, hm, I guess I ought to do the will of God and not my own selfish will. Come on. Is that is that the Bible? Is that Pastor Dean?
Go to Proverbs chapter 3. This verse kept coming to me this morning. This passage as well. Familiar. I remember when everybody used to have this on bumper stickers and t-shirts and everything else, but nobody did it. Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways," did he say, "In some of thy ways?" In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, marrow to thy bones. Honor the Lord with the with thy substance, with the first fruits of all thine increase. So he starts giving this. Don't despise the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. And he goes on down. But the whole point of this is trust in the Lord. Don't lean to your own understanding about things. This is where we get ourselves into trouble. We start planning. We start thinking. We start going, "Okay, this is how this is going to work and this is how that's going to work. This is how this going to work. This is what I'm going to do. This is where I'm going to go. Where I'm going to live, this is who I'm going to marry." All this stuff. We decide. We start leaning to our own understanding. But he says, "In all your ways acknowledge him." And it and that means you're acknowledging he is Lord. He's master. He's the boss. Elfe, right? He's the boss. And this is telling you, and he, if you'll do this correctly, he will direct your path in all your ways.
You know, I have all the time I have things come up, issues that I have to deal with being a pastor and just like, you know, we've had to remove some people over the years from the ministry school, right? We have a very clear code of conduct and we have had people violate that code of conduct and you know I won't go we've had quite a few actually violate the code of cond then fall under conviction and the fear of God and confess and just because somebody breaks the rule or a rule in our code of conduct. I haven't booted them out immediately. You know why? Because I go and I pray about it first. I can say technically, yes, we said if you do this, you're out. But people mess up. There is grace and forgiveness. You might get a second chance. But what I do is I go pray about it because I don't want it to be my decision leaning to my own understanding. The Lord knows their heart better than I know it. So I always pray, Lord, am I supposed to show mercy and give them another chance, or am I to show them justice and discipline and that they need to learn consequences to behavior and boot them out? And I got a situation had a situation this past week and I've been praying about it and I said, "Lord, all right, I got to know. Yes or no?" And he said, I heard him clearly, "No, they got to go." All right. And then Kelsey, my wife, both felt the same thing from the Lord. And I knew, okay, that's that's him. But see, these are people's lives we're dealing with. When we do counseling, this is why so many times we do counseling. I don't try to tell you what to do. I ain't trying to lead your life. Oh, Pastor Dan, we won't move here. Did God tell you to do that? Love to have some of some of people I'd love to have here. But I tell them, "Do you know the Holy Spirit is leading you to move here? Don't do it unless you know that you know that you know." I tell people the same thing. Oh, I want to join the school of ministry. Don't do it unless you know the Holy Spirit is leading you to do it.
Say, "Well, how do I know?" Pray and fast and seek God and ask him acknowledging him in all your ways and he will direct your path and you trust him. See this is where it's like ah but I got to have some people are so fearful. This is you want to know why some people are control freaks? It's not really it's not even really pride. It's fear. They are afraid. They are insecure. Therefore, they got to try to control every little thing, right? But somebody that trusts the Lord goes, "I don't know how this is going to work, but the Lord said to do it." So, here we go. Can't tell you how many times I've had to do that in my life. I don't know how in the world we're going to do this. I don't know how financially or mentally or physically or I don't know how we're going to handle it. I don't know how we're going to do it, but the Lord's saying go do this. This is why I feel right now about this building. Oh, by the way, we got our permit, last permit from the environmental people. We can now disturb dirt on our own land. So, we can start building. Hallelujah. But even this is terrifying to me. Y'all understand? Cuz I'm looking at it and I'm looking at the world and I'm looking at the prices and I'm looking at everything else and I'm like, probably going to cost us more now than it would have a year ago or two years ago. But the Lord's like, "No, it's what I want you to do." Like, oh gosh. Okay. And I'm sitting here sometimes I look at this church on Sunday mornings and half of you aren't here and I go why are we building a church? I really like this building handles everybody just fine. But see that's my own human reasoning and I'm not to lean to my own understanding. Do we know this has been God's direction for us over the last few years to buy that land to do this? Yes. And there must be a reason that he wants us to have that for the days ahead because I like I said nothing in me wants to do this. So I'm just trusting. Oh, I'm like, okay. And I think about the state of the world. And I'm like, "Lord, I don't want to get everything halfway done and then we can't finish." He's like, "Trust me and obey." Right? The old hymn, trust and obey, for there is no other way. Right?
And let me just say this to some of our younger people in here. Some of you, high school, college age, getting there, whatever, you're at, believe it or not, one of the most critical times of your life. That the decisions you make will set the course for the next 5, 10, 15 years. That's why you better be drawing near to Jesus and hearing his voice. You understand? Are you going to do what he wants or are you going to do what you want? And see, a lot of people want to put their hands on the plow, don't they? They want Jesus. They want heaven. They want some eternal security. They want their fire insurance policy from the Lord, right? But they're not really serious about really doing what Jesus wants them to do. You know, plowing a field is not easy, especially with one of these It was hard work, tedious work. You could plow a whole field, plant it perfectly, water it perfectly, and then the weather destroy it.
Say, "Pastor Dean, what if I do all this for the Lord and all everything comes crashing down on me?" Guess what? Jesus never sinned. And yet part of the will of God and the plan of God for him was for everything to fall down upon him. Because sometimes the Lord will let everything go wrong. He will let Satan have you for a season. You can lose everything. I've lost everything or I've lost my home, my cars, my job, my income. I look back on that best thing ever happened to me. Cuz sometimes you need to just find out that you know what? You can be at the bottom of the barrel. But see, the Lord is something else. He's not just the God who went to the cross. He's the God who went to the grave and then rose from the dead. You see, he's in the resurrection. See, think about Herod, all of they thought they won. Pilate, Caiaphas, they all thought they won. We got rid of that Jesus guy. But he made that statement before he died. I am the resurrection and the life and you'll understand. He told his disciples, you'll understand this. When the son of man is raised again from the dead, they said they couldn't even comprehend what he was saying even though he raised the dead in front of them. Think about that. This is why you trust the Lord. Because even if the Lord drives you into the wilderness to lose everything, to be tempted of the devil, to go through a season of warfare and pain and loss like Job, he is able if you will hold to him and do his will. He can raise you up and give you everything back and better. Hallelujah. Let me tell you, I lost everything and I got everything back better. Amen. Amen. I did. The only thing I think I'm on I'm I got my hand to the plow. I think sometimes about that and I say, "Thank you, Lord, that you didn't leave me back there. I don't want anything back there. I don't want to go back there. I like right here."
But you know for a time seven years almost I went through hell you know I might finish this spiritual warfare book finally started writing it 1999 199 right after the Columbine massacre I sat down and I wrote an introduction and the anointing of the Holy Spirit fell on me in my office. This was 1999 but the Lord said this to me. and actually wrote it. I have it to this day. It's written in the book. I forgot it was there until I went back and I'm working on this book to finish it. And it said the Lord spoke to me and he said, "The next 10 years of your life are going to be very difficult." And it wasn't until that was 1999. And it wasn't until the end of 2008 that God brought restoration into my life via my wife Nancy and to restart a church which I had started churches and lost all of them and started this church in 2009 exactly 10 years. God doesn't promise us no tribulation, no difficulties, no betrayals. You know, in fact, if you're going to take up your cross and follow him, right before that, there's got to be some Judas's in your life. Judas's are part of the plan. Remember Jesus prayed all night and picked Judas to be one of his disciples. That wasn't accident. Sometimes the will of God is to put a Judas in your life. One of the best ways to get you on the road to crucifixion. And they'll betray you with a kiss, too. You might call some you be put in jail, lose everything. But guess what? If you don't let go of Jesus, you hang to him, you hang on to him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, you're the winner. And let me tell you something. I look at some of these folks that betrayed me over the years. Their whole life and everything around them is a disaster zone. Disaster upon disaster upon disaster. And it's not because they're being tested. It's because of their disobedience. It's because of being a Judas. I think about what Jesus said about Judas. Been better for that man. He had not been born.
Hear God's voice and do his will. The word of God is his will. He will speak to you through this first and foremost. He will never contradict this. He will never have you do anything against this. He will never have you compromise this. He will never have you water this down. He will never have you change it or take it out of its context or any such thing. The written word of God first and foremost is his will to you. And then the Holy Spirit can speak to you and lead you and guide you and order your steps. This is the type of Christian you have to be. You just have to ask yourself, am I a Christian that's led by the Holy Spirit, or am I a Christian led by my own reasoning, my own desires and plans, my fears, or my lust? Either way, see, courage is this. Courage doesn't mean you don't have fear. Courage is when you have fear and you obey the Lord anyway. That's courage. Be strong and of good courage. And he said, "Don't let your heart be disouraged." Think about that word. What's the devil trying to rob from you? Courage. Courage to obey. Courage to do the will of God. Courage to face persecution, rejection, loss, pain. to do his will. I can promise you this. See, there's a difference between happiness and joy, y'all. Happiness is when you think everything's going right the way you like it. Joy is when you can be in the midst of hell, but know you're in the will of God and that you have hope of eternal life and you're going to be with him forever and that you're not going to have to live down here in this garbage can in this wicked evil world forever. That there's a day coming that he's going to come back and he's going to end all this wickedness and evil and darkness and corruption. See, that's that's that's the hope. The hope of eternal life is that we don't we will not have to live in this state, in this situation, in this atmosphere forever.
And if you do live 70 years or 80 years or 90 years, the Bible says that is just like but a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. So many people sell their eternal life for a little pot of sin porridge for something so temporary here that is not going to last forever. The Lord is going to put an end to all sin, evil, and wickedness. All lust and perversion. All of it's going to end one day. And that little pot of porridge that you're selling your soul for is going to be gone. And then what? What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Jesus said, "Is there anything here? Is any sexual perverance, sin, lust, drugs, alcohol, homosexuality, whatever it is, is anything like that worth losing your relationship and your eternal destiny in heaven and in the kingdom of God forever? Is any of that worth it? YOU CAN WALK OUT OF THE DOOR. YOU KNOW, I JUST THINK ABOUT IT sometimes when I when I had the heart issue, when I had COVID, it's made me realize you don't know. You could be gone today after this service. You could be gone tomorrow. You could be gone next week. It could be your last week on the earth. And you don't even know it. And you enter eternity then. And what will your destination be? Hey, Pastor Dean, it's just too hard. You know, I think if Jesus preached it, it's good enough. Wouldn't you think? Over and over he says the same thing. Follow me. Trust me. Believe me. Do my will. What are you going to do?
I did a message years ago about Lot's wife. You simply remember Lot's wife. Remember Jesus? He's preaching. just said, "Remember Lot's wife? Remember what happened. Angel told, "Don't look back. Get out of here. Don't look back to this wicked, evil place. Ain't nothing here. It's all going to get burned up." You see, her problem was not just that she looked back. The problem is that's where her heart was, is Sodom. She loved Sodom. She loved the lifestyle. She loved the perversion. She loved the lust. She loved the wealth. She loved the ease of life there, the abundance of food. It was easy. It's easy to live in Sodom unless you were a child. But he told them, "You want out here? Here's the condition. Don't look back. See, Lot fled. He let go. His wife turn around. I believe her pillar is still there. Think Ron Wyatt found it. She turned into a pillar of salt. But all that means is she God made her a monument to looking back. See the will of God for her. Don't look back. But she did her own will. She didn't look back. Oh. Oh Sodom. Let me tell you, when it says love not the world, there ain't anything about this world system that I love. The Republicans are corrupt. The Democrats are corrupt. Most of the churches are corrupt. Most people are bound are bound in adultery or homosexuality or pedophilia. The leaders of the world worship the devil. The media, the celebrities, they worship Satan, sacrifice children, molest children, eat children. This is the evil world we live in. I hate it. I'm glad the Lord Jesus is going to return here and put an end to it.
So that's why he says you better pick what side you're on. You want to be you want to be ready for that, you better get close to Jesus and do his will. The lukewarm Christian will be spewed out of his mouth, his body. That's the person say, "I want to follow you, but I got other things to do." Lord, I just want to add you on the shelf of the rest of my idols just to make sure. Little Jesus insurance. Nope. That will never do. That shelf has to be [unclear] into the fire and Jesus must be Lord and master and your shepherd. You know what happened to sheep that kept wondering first what the Lord would do? This is a shepherd looks at the 23rd Psalm. the shepherd. He said, "First thing you do when you got a little one, little lamb. It keeps wandering from the fold." He says, "You grab it, you snap its little leg, then you mend it, you put it in a brace, and then you put that little lamb, what the shepherd would do is put that little lamb on his neck. And while his bones were healing the next six to eight weeks, that little that little lamb was forced to be with the shepherd every moment of the day. And most of the time that was enough to teach that little lamb a lesson that there's consequences to going outside the boundary, outside the fence. Consequences from getting out of the voice of the shepherd, the range of the voice of the shepherd. And a lot of times because that little lamb will never stray again. But the one that kept straying and then started leading others to stray, guess what happened to that lamb? That lamb became dinner that night.
And that's the difference. See, I don't want to wander out of the range of the shepherd's voice. Some people say, "I don't hear from God." Well, hearing has to do with proximity. He's always talking. But see, y'all can hear me because you're right here in this room. I'm talking, but someone down a mile down the road here can't hear can't hear what I'm saying even though I'm talking. Why? Because they're too far away. You say, "Well, I'm not hearing God's voice." Well, maybe it's time for you to get closer. Maybe it's time to fast for a little bit. Maybe it's time to repent over some things. Maybe it's time to ask the Lord, "Am I in your will or am I doing my own will?" Sometimes you need to check yourself. Examine yourself. See whether you're even in the faith. That's what Paul told the Corinthian Christians, by the way. Examine yourselves to see whether you even in the faith. Because faith ain't just what you believe. It's what you do. Somebody say, "Amen." Or, "O me." Amen. All right, let's stand. No looking back.
I can tell you honestly tell you right now 100% 100%. Ain't nothing in my past that I want to go back to and live that way. No way, no how. Tried it. It was death, depression, darkness, evil. I don't want any of it. Now, having said that, guess what? What's so wild is that our fleshly nature wants some of that stuff back there. And that's where you go, no, I crucify the flesh with the affections and lust. And you hear what the Holy Spirit is saying, and you go do that. See what did what did Jesus say to the two that he gave the talents to and they went out and traded and they made more. He said, "Well done, good and faithful servant." The one that took his talent he was given and went and hid it and did nothing because he was afraid. Said, "Go take from him what he has. Give that to him that has 10 talents. Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness that should be weeping and gnashing of teeth." All three were servants of the Lord. All three were given stuff they didn't earn. They were handed a blessing and said, "Here, be faithful. Do my will. Bear fruit." And it ain't how much fruit you bear. Well, it don't matter if it's five or it's two or if it's even one. But if you're obeying the Lord and doing his will, you will bear fruit. If you're abiding in him and walking in him and continuing in him and living him, you will bear fruit. But if you're doing your own will, you've taken what you know, you took the talent, you took what was given you, which was grace and faith. You took that, but it's like went and buried it over here. I'm going to do what I want now. And when the Lord comes, I'll go over here and dig this back and give it back to him and say, "Look. Look what I have. I have what you gave me. Didn't I do good?" But see, deep down, the man goes, "I knew. I knew you expected more than this. Don't be that guy. Let's say that guy's name's Joe. Don't be Joe. Be the other two guys, right?
Let's pray. Father in heaven, we come before you today and we want to hear your voice. We want to know your will for our lives and we want to do that, Lord. We want to continue in a relationship with you. And we know, Lord, if we abide in you and you abide in us, that we will bear fruit. That's what you said in John 15, that we would bear fruit. But if we don't remain in you, if we don't abide in you, if we don't stay with you, then we're cast forth as a branch. We wither and then we're cast in the fire. Now, I don't care. There's all these people out here want to just preach these lies of unconditional eternal security. They can just once they're saved, they're always saved no matter what. And they just are deceived. And they're deceiving people. Lord, you said those who do your will live forever. It's that simple. But that's not a list of good works. That is a relationship that hears, walks with you, and obeys your direction. Thank you, Lord. Make that real to everyone in this room, everyone that's been watching and listening, everyone who will watch this in the future. Convict them of the sin of self idolatry, self-will, self-plans. Convict them about putting their hands on the plow and looking back. They've heard this now. They know it's time to move forward. to trust you, Lord. We thank you for that. Jesus name. Amen. Amen. All right,