Edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
There is none like you, Lord. Yes. None like you, Lord. Let's just tell the Lord that we love him this morning. Lord, we seek you as treasure. Thank you, Lord. The more I seek you, the more I find you. The more I find you, the more I love you. I want to sit at your feet. Drink from the cup in your hand. Lay back against you and breathe. Feel your heartbeat. Cuz this love is so deep. It's more than I can stand. And I melt in your peace. It's overwhelm me. Oh Lord, you overwhelm me. The more I seek you, the more I find you. The more I find you, the more I love you. And I want to sit at your feet, drink from the cup in your hand, lay back against you, and breathe. Feel your heartbeat. Cuz this love is so deep. It's more than I can stand. And I melt in your peace. It's overwhelming. Lord, you love me. You love me, Lord. It's overwhelm me. The more I seek you, the more I find you.
The more I find you, the more I love you. And I want to sit at your feet, drink from the cup in your hands, lay back against you, and breathe. Feel your heartbeat. Cuz this love is so deep. Yes. Is more than I can stand. And I melt in your peace. It's overwhelming. Thank you, Lord. How you love me, Lord, it's overwhelmed me. Thank you, Lord. I need you more. I need you more. More than yesterday. I need you, Lord, more than words can say. I need you more than ever before. I need you, Lord. I need you, Lord. Let's sing that again. I need you more than yesterday. I need you, Lord, more than words can say. I need you more than ever before. I need you, Lord. I need you, Lord, more than the air I breathe. More than the song I sing, more than the next heartbeat, more than anything. And Lord, as time goes by, I will be by your side. Cuz I never want to go back to my old life. I need you more, more than yesterday. I need you, Lord, more than words can say. I need you more than ever before. I need you, Lord.
I need you, Lord. Cuz right here in your presence is where I belong. Now my broken heart is finally found a home and I'll never be alone. Thank you, Lord. I need you more, more than yesterday. I need you, Lord, more than words can say. I need you more than ever before. I need you, Lord. Yes, Lord. I need you, Lord. One more time. I need you more. More than yesterday. I need you, Lord, more than words can say. I need you more than ever before. I need you, Lord. I need you Lord. Thank you Lord. You know we need the Lord more than we ever have. Maybe now more in the history of the world. Do we need the Lord? We need him. We need a move of his spirit. We need him to touch our area and touch our heart and touch our life. We need to clean us up. And you know what? He desires us to love him. The song said, uh, I'll lean back on your on your breast, Lord, and just, uh, love on you. You know what? That's what the Lord wants us to do. He wants us to love on him. He wants us to give him all. You know what? We We can. We can because the devil's a liar. The The devil says we can't. The devil says we're too busy. The devil says we need this or we need that. The devil is a liar, man. You need Jesus. He is the only way. Amen. Amen. Amen. We love you, Lord Jesus. Yes, Lord. I just pray, Lord, that you would touch each one in here to this morning, Lord. Lord, that you would just fill us all with the power of your Holy Ghost today. Lord, I pray that you would just fill us
all, fill this room, Lord God, with your Holy Ghost. Lord, forgive us for for uh letting things get in the way, Lord. Forgive us, Lord, for uh for neglecting you, Lord. Holy Ghost, we've just neglected you so long. It's time to stop, Lord. It's time for us to to seek you while you may be found, Lord, to call on you. While you may be found, Lord, because you love us. Because you love us so much. If only because you love us. You first loved us and you died for us. We love you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Praise you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. in the glory of your presence. I find rest for my soul. In the dance of your love I find peace makes me whole. I love I love I love your presence. I love I love I love your presence. And I love I love I love you, Jesus. I love our love. I love your presence in the glory
of your presence. I find rest for my soul. And in the depths of your love I find peace. It makes me whole. And I love I love I love your presence. I love I love I love your presence. Yes, Lord. I love I love We love the presence of the Lord this morning. And I love you, Jesus. I love I love I love your presence. Thank you, Lord. I love you. Just tell them this morning, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Let's do that part again. That in the glory of your presence. In the glory of your presence. I find rest for my soul. And in the depths of your love I find peace makes me whole. One more time. I love I love I love your presence. I love I love
I love your presence. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord, we love your presence, Lord. You promised in your word in John 14 that those who love you would keep your commandments and that you would manifest yourself to them, Lord. That you would reveal yourself. Lord, we are grateful for the times, Lord, that we can feel your love and your peace and your power. Lord, you give us the witness of the spirit that we are born again children of God. Lord, in your presence, Lord, truly truly gives us, Lord, guidance and direction in our lives. Lord, we just ask you to continue to fill us. Give us ears to hear, hearts to understand your word, and not just what you have said in the scriptures, Lord, but what you are saying to to us individually, to us as the church. Let us hear your voice that we may hear your voice continually and follow you continually. Lord, I pray that you will just anoint this time today. Anoint this word, this message you've given me to share. Lord, I pray it in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. And amen.
You stand in my presence and you praise me. But do you mean it? For I the Lord, I am coming soon. Get prepared. Get in my word. Read my word for I am my word. I want my children. I want to bring my children home. But you must seek me. When you seek me, you will find me.
Amen. Amen.
We'll receive that tongue and interpretation word of prophecy. If you couldn't hear it out there on the broadcast, we'll put it up with the message. You can put the audio. I think John got it. But it kind of uh clearly goes with where I'm going today. Um I want you to go with me to Luke chapter 19. I simply entitled this today, oh they perish. Um I don't know for the past I don't know few weeks it seems like um I've been feeling this heaviness in my spirit almost a sorrow almost a just troubled over the state of the world, the state of the world, the state of the church because there are so many deceived, so many deceived, so many lost, so many clueless. And death is part of this life. The Bible is clear in the book of Hebrews chapter nine is appointed unto man uh once to die and after this the judgment. And as I have stated many times over, death does not mean you cease to exist. In fact, it's just when you cease living as you are now, but you're going to be living after you die somewhere. And there's only two destinations. You're going to be with Jesus. You're going to have a home in heaven, a home in New Jerusalem, and a home on the earth. You're going to be in his kingdom for all eternity, or you're going to be separated from God in a place called hell, then the lake of fire. And the world doesn't like that. world doesn't like that God has made us choose. But you know what? Uh the creator makes the rules, not man, not churches, not denominations. And you know, I'm I'm struggling with going kind of kind of where this has been going, but I guess in my heart it's just I'm I'm just troubled for people.
Um Luke 19, go down to verse uh 41. Of course, the picture today I just have this is this is the same day that Jesus uh rode into Jerusalem on the donkey. We call it Palm Sunday when all the children were praising him. Hosana the son of David. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. And people were declaring him to be the Christ. And of course the Pharisees were not happy with this day and told them to tell the children to shut up and stop praising him. And he said, "Of course, if if these hold their peace, the rocks will cry out." If that wasn't telling the Pharisees and the scribes who he was, I don't know what would get their attention. But uh of course he goes from there and he goes into the city and we read this and I think we read over things sometimes too much. But verse 41, it says, "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hast known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the day shall come upon thee that thine enemy shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave thee one stone upon another, because thou kneest not the time of thy visitation. And then he went into the temple and began to cast out them that sold therein and them that bought, saying, "It is written, my house is the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." And he taught daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him. They wanted to kill him, and they could not find what they might do, for all the people were very attentive to hear him. So, I think about this, you know, in in the scriptures, I'm sure there's more times when Jesus was here walking on the earth that he wept, but we only have two recorded in the Bible. Um, and that is, you know, over Lazarus, which I think was more going on there than just his sorrow over Lazarus's death, but I think it was had to do with their unbelief. But here he just says that he came to the city and he wept over it because they didn't get it. I mean you you got to think about that. the majority of the people and especially of the noble people, the religious people, the leaders, the shepherds, the uh of the flock, the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees and many of the people and
especially again the more noble they were, the less they believed. And you know, you think about all that Jesus did. He raised the dead. He opened the blind eyes. He opened the ears of the deaf. He caused the crippled to walk. He caused limbs to grow out in front of them. I mean, he did he healed every manner of sickness and disease. He cast out demons. And all of this stuff he did right in front of these same people. And yet because of their pride, because of their stubbornness, because they loved themselves, because the of their sin they wanted to cling to, they were blinded. And Jesus said, "Oh, if you knew what I had for you, the good things that I had for you, but you just would not do it." and he has to tell. Now, you have to understand when he's looking at Jerusalem and he's looking at these people, he's looking at his people. We're not even talking about the lost people because these were the covenant children of Israel and he's looking at his people like, "You don't get it. You don't get what is about to come upon you because you didn't recognize that I visited you. You didn't know the word. You thought you knew the word, but you didn't know the word. You didn't recognize me. You didn't recognize what I was doing. And now, here's what's left. Because of that, everything is going to be destroyed. Now, of course, this happened in 70 AD about 40 years later. Think about this. 1 million people died just within the region of Jerusalem. It was bad. I read this and I think about America. You want a word for America? This is it right here. I almost did part two of the runaway train to tribulation because we're on it. But I want to say that for true Christian, if you're listening to the Holy Spirit, there's no rejoicing in that. I don't rejoice that the majority of the world is blinded, deceived, self-absorbed, listening to all kinds of false teachings and false doctrines and blasphemous ideas. It's sad. And Jesus wept over this. I mean, you think about it, it's like
he's he was like saying, "What what more can I do? What what does it take to get your attention? What does it take to get you to see? What does it take to get you to repent? What does it take to get you to be humble? What does it take? Do I have to allow you to be severely judged? Why does it have to be that way?" and his tears shows that he didn't want it to be that way. But they made it where there was no other way. And frankly, the world and particularly America has made it now where there is no other way. They will not listen to sound doctrine. They will not listen to sound preaching. They don't want to hear about hell. They don't want to hear about repentance. They don't want to hear that Jesus is the only way. They don't want to hear that homosexuality is sin. They don't want to hear that abortion is sin. They don't want to hear that that murder is sin and fornication and pornography and everything else is sin and that God hates it and you're not going to heaven if you live in it. They don't want to hear it anymore. So, what's left? What's left? Judgment. God says this in Ezekiel. He says in Ezekiel 18, he says in Ezekiel 33, he says, "Do do I do I take pleasure in the death of the wicked?" He was like, "No, but he said, I would rather that they would turn from their wicked ways and live." God doesn't desire this. But you know what? Mankind is so stubborn and hard-headed that he has to allow things to go to complete destruction and suffering to get anybody's attention. And the world is so bad now that he's going to have to allow the judgment to be as bad so that some will finally fall upon their their faces and repent. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 10. I know that may sound like an odd place to go. We're going to come back to Luke, so hold your spot there. Ecclesiastes chapter 10. I think it's chapter 10 or maybe chapter 8. I'm sorry. Hang on.
Yes, I'm sorry. Chapter 8, verse 10. We're going to read verse uh 10 and 11. And so he says, I saw the wicked buried who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had done so. This is also vanity. And then he says, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." God's saying, "Because I don't judge them immediately and severely when they do something." He says, literally my patience gives them the idea that all is well. that they're getting away with it or that, you know, the the the terrible deception that they think he's okay with it, but he's not okay with it. I'm going to show you something. Go back to Luke. Go to Luke 16. Now, this is the verse, the passage the Lord kept bringing to me all through the night. I kept waking up and this would be what the Lord wanted me to read to you this morning. Verse 19. And there was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his soores. And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom or paradise, Eden. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham a far off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame." But Abraham said, "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou would ascend him unto my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Somebody say place of torment.
You notice when the rich man died, he didn't cease to exist. His memory was intact, his emotions were intact, and his physical senses were still intact. He remembered what was going on on the earth. You're going to know everything. This is why the Bible says on that day you will you will know even as you are known. You're going to know. You're going to remember. And then he asked, he says, Abraham, Abraham said, verse 29, Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. They have the word of God. And he said, "Nay, Father Abraham, if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." And he said unto him, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." You know, you think about it. the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Those historical events are some of the most documented provable facts of history. And that you have people now trying to deny that that they didn't happen. It was a myth. The shroud of Turin is a supernatural demonstration of the resurrection. We have proof, scientific proof. that beyond a nuclear reaction took place that raised Jesus from the dead as he passed through that cloth. We know that people like Peter and John and James and the apostles gave up their lives not just to die for what they believed but to live the rest of their lives for the one who died for them and rose from the dead. We have we have accepted in America, the west, most of the world now a Christianity that does not even resemble what the Bible tells us is Christianity. You know, this morning as uh I got up and I have picked up my phone and I knew this is where the Lord wanted me to go with this today. friend of ours that has been listening, watching for years, Dan Weston, lives out on the the West Coast. He sent me this this morning. He had no idea, but he saw this and he sent me this thing that that was I think it was the
Church of the Nazarene and some of their their denomination or their pastors or something. But they were basically looking at um the doctrines that the church has stopped preaching over the past 25 years. Listen to this. And this is what they came up with. They stopped preaching number one, the eternity of hell and the final judgment. They have stopped preaching repentance. They have stopped preaching the ex exclusivity of Jesus Christ that he is the only savior, the only messiah, the only way to eternal life, the only way to forgiveness of sins. They have stopped preaching church discipline and the second coming of Jesus. And then as I went to the actual post, I looked and they said they added in also the inherency of scripture. And then I could add for the Nazarines, help them out a little bit, the need of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and and in evangelism. And of course, Dan was very kind and he said, "I can't tell you how much I appreciate you sticking to the truth of all these, brother. I want to just tell you right now, and I don't say this is this is not in any pride in any way. It's it's actually terrifying to me that our church is like a unicorn. Like we're some mythical thing now because you got this old school preacher here who just won't let go of this right here. But I'm going to tell you right now, 99% of them have. It's a social gospel now. It's basically a psychological counseling. It's what church is. The church is supposed to be, as Jesus said through Paul to Timothy, the pillar and ground of the truth. The church, the five-fold ministry, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Well, what is the work of the ministry? The first aspect of the of the work of the ministry is the preaching of sound biblical doctrine on every topic. It is by the foolishness of preaching that God has chosen to save those that believe. And he said, "And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they go unless they be sent?" I don't know why God's chosen to do it this way, but this is the way he's chosen to do it. I was talking to another friend of ours been to Sky Falls and down there's from where Donnie is from down there in Crystal River area. Uh Dan Dustin I mean Dustin I don't know why
I'm thinking of Dan but Dustin Dan Weston. I got Dustin Bosworth. But you know what was a blessing to me is that we were talking. He he he he calls sometime and asks things and we talk. But he was just telling me he said, "Brother, I just want you to know how much I appreciate the fact that you've just keep preaching and teaching the truth on these things." He said, "I share them with people." He said, "I just want you to know people I'm sharing these things with are getting saved. They're repenting. people are going to going through deliverance. He said, "Some of them asked me, "Help me do it." He, "No, I'm not helping you. Go through the the questionnaire, do what it says, and you'll get free from it." I'm like, "I like that." He said, "But people are getting free." But what is it? It's simply the truth of the word of God. It's simply sound doctrine. Now, how how you wonder make me wonder where am I going with all this? God didn't just call me to preach it. Called you to preach it. He called you to teach it and preach it and share it with people out there. You're supposed to do the work of the ministry, not just me. I'm going to ask you, when's the last time you preached the unpopular truths of the Bible to somebody outside of this church? You're supposed to be the preachers, the teachers, the evangelist. I'm going to ask you, are you using what you've been given? And I'm going to tell y'all something. You've been given much. And to whom much is given, much is required. You've heard the truth. Some of you sitting in this church 5 years, eight years, 10 years, some of even longer than that. You have been taught, you have been equipped. I'm almost going to ask you, what are you doing with it? Because they're dying in their sins. And I ask you the question, do you care? I almost entitled this one. Do you care? And don't just tell me you care. If you care, you will get off of your church chair or pew
and let your light shine. Speak the word to people around you. Time is running out. Jesus made that statement and I think it's in John nine or eight, I can't remember, but he made the statement that we must work while it is day because the night comes when no man can work. There's going to come a point where we're not even going to be able to do what we do now. We're not going to be able to travel like we used to. We're not going to be able to communicate like we used to. We're not going to be able to use this. And that persecution is coming quickly. So when we lose all of this modern ability to communicate to the world, what do we have left? Guess what? Exactly what the apostles had their feet going to somebody next door, going to somebody in the next town or the next neighborhood or the next village or whatever and telling them the truth of Jesus Christ and the truth of the word of God and trusting that if you speak the truth to people, regardless of how they receive it at that moment or not, that it is going to bear fruit somewhere that it will be like an arrow stuck in them that they can't pull out. See, don't tell me you care, but you keep your mouth shut. You stay in silence. You're afraid. Uh-uh. We should be deeply concerned about the people around us, whether they be Christians who have strayed away or they're just lost. People who have never known the Lord, we should care. And it should bother us. It should bother us when they don't see, when they don't listen, when they don't repent, when they don't hear. And I don't mean to make you angry or self-righteous or prideful. I'm talking about should bother you for them because deep down you should want them to know the peace, to know the joy, to know the hope that you have.
I remember when I first came back to Jesus when I was 19 years old and I was so overjoyed that my eyes were opened that God didn't just let me continue in my blindness and my sin and my rebellion that he grabbed a hold of me and got my attention. He shook me a little bit. And you know how he did it? He did it by saying speaking to me and saying, "Son, you can have everything the world has to offer and go to hell or you can surrender your life to me and live forever." He didn't give me a candycoated message. And you know why I believe the Lord spoke to me like that? Because there wasn't a preacher or a Christian who would because that's what I needed to hear. That's what I needed to see. I needed to see where I was headed. I needed to see where the sexual sin and the drugs and the alcohol and the partying and and all of that mess. I needed to see where it was going to take me, where it was going to ultimately put me. And that was going to be in that hell, that place of torment, separated from God forever. And the Lord said to me, "Choose, choose which way you will go. And I made a choice then. And you know, it's it's interesting because you all know the story and I've shared it many times. The next step for me after that summer break was to go to Hollywood and be part of the Die Hard first Die Hard movie. I was going to be in Hollywood. My agents were good. They had handled Don Johnson in the 80s. There wasn't anybody bigger than him. And just even last night while I'm I'm praying and doing research and looking at stuff, a video pops up. Y'all remember the movie um The Outsiders like 83, right? What was interesting about that is all those young actors like C. Thomas How and uh Rob Low and uh gosh I mean just all of them Cruz and every every me and C. Thomas how are exactly the same age at that time. They were a little ahead of me but I would have been in Hollywood at the same time with them. And then what this video showed was the train wreck of their lives that
followed. I should say train wrecks. It was like a curse came upon all of them. And I was like I'm sitting there just shuddering like that could be me. That could have been me. Had I gone that way, a curse would have been upon me of darkness, I would just be a little footnote in history. Yeah, he was in this movie. Died of drug overdose or whatever in Hollywood. I'd have been River Phoenix, Heath Ledger. I mean, it was it it was ugly. And I and it maybe see Thomas how maybe he's one of them that finally gave his life to the Lord. I don't know. But you want to talk about a mess. I mean, look at look at Cruz, Mr. Scientology. But most of them have participated in Satanism and human sacrifice and adrenochrome and everything else. And it's just sick. It's just sick. And I look at that though and I said, I thank God all the time that he slapped me upside the head right before I left to go to Hollywood and said, "You better choose, son. You better wake up and you better choose. Yeah, you can go that way and you can have everything the world wants to give you. Money and fame and you name it. I can tell you right now, I made the right choice. But what I'm sad about is how many haven't made the right choice. Why? Why? See, our job is to convince people they have the disease so that they will seek the cure. The disease we all have is sin, rebellion, deception, blindness. Jesus is the cure. He's the only cure. But if you don't convince a lost person or a completely backsliden prodigal, if you don't convince them that they have the disease and that it's terminal and that they will end up in the place of torment, if they're not convinced of the disease and of the prognosis, they will not take the cure
seriously. And this is why we have so many lukewarm fake converts in the church because we have not preached the gospel that explained the disease. You know, if you if you came into your doctor and he goes, you know, you've had blood tests and every test I you're pretty healthy, but I think you need to go on the cancer treatment. are you going a good you going to look at him like what's wrong with you? But if he tells you you got stage four and you're terminal, it ain't nothing he can do. But there's this maybe you could take the new Ivormect and fin bin, whatever it is, then bend us all. Guess what you're going to go do? You're going to go take it. If you want to live, you're going to try, right? See, the fact is that there's that that the church has spent most of its energy and time convincing everyone they're okay when they're not. Convincing the backsliders they're fine, convincing the lukewarm they're fine, convincing those living in sin they're fine. even telling the world. I remember in Joel Ostein 2008 Yankee Stadium full of people, you're all children of God. You're a devil. Joel Ostein's a devil. He's a liar. He is part of the problem. But how many are there like him? And the people love it. People love it. You're all children. God would just You're so pitiful. You just, oh, we just God loves you so much. He can't help himself. He's going to scoot your little butt right into heaven. Nope. No. He looks at us and he says, "Your problem is sin." Now, here's the thing. The Lord knew we couldn't deal with that problem ourselves. So he comes and dies on the cross for our sins. Takes it all upon him. Every sin you committed, every sin you committed, every sin you committed, every sin I committed, takes it all upon him. Gets spit upon, scourged, beaten, his beard ripped out, a crown of thorns on his head, nailed to a cross as a physical man. pain that was beyond excruciating. We cannot even explain in words. And he was the spotless,
sinless lamb of God who deserved none of it. But he did it for all of mankind. So now he says, "Guess what? You couldn't save yourself. You couldn't get free from your sin. You couldn't get free from your deception and blindness. So, I came and made a way for you. All you have to do is believe it from the heart enough to change the way you're living to repent and follow me. Believe it and follow me. And how many people won't do it? I got to have one more adulterous affair. I gotta have one more pornography. I gotta have one more drug binge. I gotta have one more drunken party time. And always one more leads to another and leads to another and it leads to another. You say, "Hey, Pastor Dean, why are you preaching like this?" Because you should preach like this. I don't do this for my health. I do this because the Lord called me to do this to equip you to do this. Say, "Pastor Dean, I don't have a church. I don't have a pullpit." Guess what? I didn't for years either. It didn't stop me. I went to the street, to the campus, to the projects. I went everywhere, to the prisons. Nobody had to tell me, no pastor had to tell me that I needed to get off my butt and follow him and be a light for him and preach the gospel to the lost because I cared about them. I'm doing this church here because the Lord told me to do this. If he hadn't told me to do this, I would still be just working a job and going and preaching when I could go preach. Before I ever pastored a church, I went to three different prisons once a month. I went to the Auburn University campus. I've preached on the campus of William and Mary and Harvard and Boston College. I'd went to the rough places in Montgomery, Alabama, where you hear gunshots on one street and you're sitting there talking to somebody and they tell you they just got out of jail for murder and rape.
There is no excuse. Find somebody that's lost, that's backsliding, and preach the truth to them. You say, "Well, they may have never listened to it again." It doesn't matter. They need to hear it once at least from somebody's got to do it because they're perishing. Jesus is the one who told us, "Go you into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." But see, why why did he do it? Why did he come here? And why did he go to Jerusalem? And why did he teach and preach in their synagogues? Why did he do all that? He said, he told us he came to call the sinners to repentance. They that are whole, he said, don't need a physician, but they that are sick. I'm sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And then once he died on that cross, the door was open to not just the Jews, but also to the Gentiles now to everyone. And then he says, "Come, go out into the highways and to the hedges and compel them to come in to his house." And that doesn't just mean invite them to church. You come into somebody's house, what? You respect their rules. You change your behavior, right? I hope so. Or you're a barbarian, right? But see, we don't want to upset anybody. We don't want to lose a relationship. It's interesting though, the man that went to hell. Go back to Luke 16. The rich man in hell says, "Oh, send the someone to my father's house. send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brethren that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment." Isn't it amazing how quick the rich man went from being a glutton who cared for no one to being an evangelist?
Just took a a few moments in hell to wake him up. But see, then it's too late. And I have never seen in my lifetime till now, I have never seen the church world in such a bad place. We are now we are now seeing the fruit of 30 years plus of seeker sensitive seeker friendly watered down lukewarm milk toast Christianity. You wonder why everybody needs a safe space and can't be offended. Can I just go and tell you right now, the Christian's job, the church's job is to offend the sinner, to offend the backsliden and the lukewarm and the prodigal, to offend them enough to get their attention that they need to repent. That they need to flee fornication. They need to flee idolatry. They need to flee drunkenness. They need to flee murder and abortion and homosexual. They need to flee from sin. like it's a rattlesnake chasing them. And follow Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. I mean, really, I've done a lot of things in my lifetime, but you know, when I I I you know, when I when I got close to dying from COVID, when I got close to dying with the heart issue recently, You start thinking about what's really important and you start reflecting. What have I done that's eternal? What's of a eternal value? It's not going to matter what houses you built or buildings you built or how successful you were or not successful in some business adventure or whatever. But you're going to look back and you're going to go, did I do anything? Did I accomplish anything that is going to go with me forever?
You came into this world with nothing. You're going out of it the same way. You know, I thought death sucks. Let me just tell you, I think about how much I miss my mom. She passed away in 2010. How much I miss my sister. Here's another one. How much I miss my dog, Storm, who was my shadow. Loved me like and I thought I was thinking death, man. I hate death because we we You know, Jesus said that it's, you know, through Paul that it is the the final enemy. It's an enemy. It wasn't supposed to be here. You see, the wages of sin, the payment for sin and rebellion and disobedience to God, the wages of sin is death. So you live in the works of the flesh, you're going to receive the wages. And death means separation from God. And I think about I don't know, it just the people who die and they don't know him. Does that bother you? Bothers me. There's been times in my Christian life where I have been in the place of prayer and I have just wept until I could weep no more. because I said, 'Lord, I don't want to do anything that's going to cause somebody else to stumble or fall or miss eternity because of me. I don't want to not hear you and obey because I know if I hear and obey and I'm in your will that I'm going to be able to minister and help the the the most people possible.
See, that's what's motivated me. I I've never I've never been motivated by I want a big church or lots of money or a Ferrari. I could care less. Am I am I doing what God wants me to do? Am I a living example and witness to the people around me? Do I preach the truth to them? Do I care enough even if they get mad at me, even if they hate me, even if they persecute me? Even if I lose friendships, relationships, family members, friends, co-workers, even if I lose these people, they get mad. They walk away. See, love tells the truth. Love, in fact, 1 Corinthians 13 says, "Love rejoices in the truth and doesn't rejoice in iniquity. It rejoices in the truth. Love tells the truth. Even if the truth hurts, right? And y'all are quiet as Episcopals in this place is more. Let me show you something. I'm going to read it. Book of Daniel. This is speaking of the antichrist stepping in to pollute the sanctuary. This is the abomination of desolation. Did not This is hasn't happened yet. Little C's and freaks. And the arm shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant, he shall corrupt by flatteries. But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many.
Yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame and by captivity and by spoil. And he says, "Now when they shall fall, they shall be helped with a little help, but many shall cleave unto them with flatteries, and some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them white, even to the time of the end." And he goes on to describe the Antichrist, the time that we're headed into. But notice in verse 33, they that understand among the people shall instruct many. And then when he says that that chapter 12 verse one, when there's going to be a time of trouble since there was never a nation, exactly what Jesus spoke in Matthew 24 verse three, he says this, "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever." Y'all hear that? Guess what? The stars in the firmament. They're not hidden, are they? Not hidden under a bushel or in a closet somewhere. You walk outside, everybody can see. He says, "They that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. They that are wise, let everybody see." And because they let their light shine, the light of the truth of the word of God that's in them, the light of Jesus Christ, they will turn many to righteousness. Did it say just get them to believe and they're once saved, always saved? No. Turn them to righteousness. That means living righteous, walking with the righteous one. Amen. See, this is either going to be you in these last days or it's not. But you choose. What will I do? Will I be afraid? Will I hide my talent in the earth, hoping I can just barely hang on to what I got? or do I get out there and mix it up in the world? Because let me tell you, if you get out there and mix it up with them, you will bear fruit. But you got to mix it up with them. You got to get in the ring. Say, "Pastor Dean, I don't want to get in the ring. I might lose." Well, guess what? If you don't get in the ring, you don't even have the chance to win. Right? Get in the ring. And he says here,
"Some of these that understand among the people shall instruct many." He says, "And some of them are going to fall by the sword and by the flame and by captivity and by spo." Yeah. You get in the ring, you might get taken out. But guess what happens? Every single time the blood of a martyr hits the ground, starts bearing fruit everywhere. They can't stop you. You understand? They can't stop you. Let's go to one more. Let's go to G Galatians. I think it's chapter 4. Yeah. Verse 19, Paul makes a statement to the c the Galatians because what were they doing? They were they were falling back away from the gospel he had given them. And it wasn't just they were falling away from the truth of the gospel. They were falling back into sin because he has to go and explain in chapter five that you can't live in these sins. And he gives a big long list. But he says this. He says, "My little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. I desire to be present with you and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of you. Why? What? What is he talking about? It takes great burden and travail to literally birth someone into the kingdom of God. It is through prayer. It is through spiritual warfare and battle. It is through burdens being upon you for a person. And what's so wild is you get them here and you think, "Woo, I got somebody to get born again, to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. I I I fought for this person. I prayed for this person." And boom, it happens. And then a little while later, you watch him sliding right back, sliding into some error, some stupid deception. getting away from the word, going back to the world, living a lukewarm life.
And you go, and this is what Paul was say to the Galatians. He goes, "I got to travail in birth again over you. I got to go through this same burden and struggle and travail and warfare and pain over you again because you're stubborn and backsliding. And I got to birth you again until what? Until Christ is formed in you. until you decide, I'm going to live for Jesus and I'm going to let Jesus live through me. See, it's it's all the way or nothing, y'all. It really is. You can't go halfway. They ain't little doses of Christianity. Those little doses make you immune to the real thing. So when somebody comes along like me and starts preaching the REAL THING, IT'S LIKE at first it's just like terrifying and troubling and disturbing. But see, sometimes you got to have people that'll shock the system a little bit. I refuse to go along with it. I refuse to go along with this backsliden lukewarm prodigal church that refuses to preach the word of God from Genesis to the maps. I refuse to compromise with it. I would hate to be them on judgment day. Can you imagine? Can you imagine a preacher that's gotten up for 52 weeks of the year and never preached repentance, the gospel of Jesus Christ, how to be born again, what it means to live for him, what sins will damn you to eternal hell, what will separate you from God. Don't talk about what it takes to make it to heaven or to make it to hell. Can you imagine 52 Sundays you sit in that and they don't even talk about it? You wonder why the young people, the millennials are gone. Oh, the pastor, you just some oldfashioned fire and brimstone preacher. You better be glad I am. And let me just tell you something about it. The truth is never oldfashioned. Think about this. You read the stories going back to
Finny, Wesley, Whitfield. They came to a church that was lukewarm and dead and thought it was okay. This is not a new problem. It's just now it's worse than ever because we're entering into the time that Jesus said is going to be worse than ever. Right? It's going to take some people to rise up above. Y'all hear me? You got to rise above your fears. You got to rise above timidity and anxiety and worry. You got to rise above. Look, you say, "Well, I might lose this. I might lose that." Yeah, well, hey, join the club. Yeah, you're going to lose some things. You're going to lose some people. If people walked with Jesus for a season and turn around and walk no more with him, he was perfect. So, we're going to have the same thing happen. But hear me, you will see fruit if you just stay with it. Keep walking with Jesus. Keep preaching the truth. Keep being bold. The righteous are bold as a lion and the wicked flee when no man pursueth. Right? See, I'm going to get flat cuz I said little season freaks. They go, "Why are you making fun of Christians?" I don't know. Why did Jesus call them hypocrites, blind fools, snakes, vipers, whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones. I mean, I can just throw them out with you, too, right there. Preaching that Jesus already has come and he hadn't yet. What kind of devil deceiver you are. You say, "Pastor Dean, you should be nice to them." No. No. Jesus, remember when he went in the temple there, what did he do? He made a whip and started driving people out and the animals and threw the tables over. I'm telling you, man, if Jesus walked into these churches today and did that, they would have him arrested. Yeah. You think they're any different than the Pharisees and the Sadducees back then? No. Just as bad. Well, it's 12:17. I guess I ought to quit, huh? I wish somehow I could get through to every person on
the earth and shake them and wake them up. Do you wish the same? I'm going to tell you this. There's some of you in here and some of you listening. It's time to get busy. It's time to start tending to the father's business and not your own. You hear me? Now, we got to tend our business. I know that. But put his business first. Ain't that what he what he said in Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all these things will be added to you." The Lord said he knows what you had need of. He knows you got to eat. He knows you got to have a roof over your head. And yes, he wants us to work. And yes, he wants us to be faithful with our money and all that kind of stuff. But we still in all that in in living here and all that we must do to live here. He wants us to put him first and his kingdom first and righteousness. It does matter how we live. It does matter how we follow. Amen. Hang on a second. Text. I got to answer right here. Oh, okay. Here we go. Heretic. My wife sent me this. Here we go. commenting on today. Wait, what? What sins will damn you if Jesus paid for all of them? Does that mean his work wasn't complete and didn't take away the sin of the world? See, this this is a fool. This is a fool who doesn't know the Bible. This is a fool who is probably teaching people error. Yes, he paid for it all, but it does not operate for you without faith and obedience. Period. I It just blows me away here. Let me read it for you, Derek. Galatians 5:19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envings, murders, drunkenness, reings, and the such like of which I have told you before, I tell you also in times past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
He wrote this. The the Apostle Paul, Derek, wrote this to Christians. Repentance means you admit it and quit it. You confess it and you forsake it. You don't live in it habitually as a lifestyle and say Jesus paid for it all. That is the greatest deception Satan ever came up with. And this guy's listening to our service. Where did you come from? What rock did you crawl out under to put this on this service today? Are you a Calvinist? Whitewashed tomb full of dead men's bones that men pass over and don't even realize. He's one of these that he's going to make his own disciples and they're going to be twofold the children of hell than they were before. That's right. Derek, what is his name? Schiffner. Schiffner. Beware of Derek Schifner. Whatever his name is, the sniffer. I don't know. Mark and avoid. Repent, Derek. I hope you repent putting that on my page. God, what an read the Bible and stop with this false religious theology that's made up by men. Jesus paid for it all, so I can do what I want. Oh gosh, thank you. He just helped helped close out the message today. Thank you, Derek. Now, let's stand. They're everywhere, man. I'm telling you, they're everywhere. I I made a post a couple of days ago just saying the Bible is the God breathed truth to mankind. Anything contrary to it is a lie. 300 comments later and some of the nonsense that was put on there that I had to correct. And I'm just like, and these are supposed to be people that claiming to be Christians. Do you even read the Bible? Do you even study the Bible? If you don't, stop commenting on social media and acting like you're a teacher of everybody. Golly, it's unreal. The false teachers are everywhere and
they are in they are in abundance and they love social media. Time will come they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teach teachers having itching ears and shall turn their ears away from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. See that that's a when you see well repent repent of that foolishness. I don't know who taught you that, but you need to repent of that foolishness. Golly. I mean, here here's the thing, Kamari. Let's just say today that I paid for your lunch, right? And you need it to live, to survive. You got to eat, right? And I paid for it. It's downstairs ready to go. But you don't show up downstairs. Do you benefit from that at all? There you go, Derek. You can have the table spread before you, but if you don't sit down and eat, you don't benefit. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I ask you Lord God that your truth would penetrate every heart, every soul, every every person out there deceived in religious error that's all spread throughout Christianity that people would just get a a basic understanding of what it means to have faith and that faith without works or corresponding actions is dead being alone. That we must respond to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the call to repentance. We must repent. Lord, these basic things that are so Christianity 101, the first message of John the Baptist, the first message when Jesus started preaching, repent and believe the gospel, follow me. Jesus said, ain't about doing what you want. Lord, raise up many, many more Christians who will go forth and preach the whole truth, the whole council of your word, that will preach the repentance and the faith required to benefit from everything that you have provided for us through the cross and
your resurrection. Lord God, I pray wake them up, shake them up, and let there be a revival as Christians rise up out of their church chairs and pews and go forth to be a bold witness and bold preachers and teachers of the truth of your word. Lord God, we know it will bear fruit. It will not return void. We thank you for it in Jesus name. Amen. And amen. All right, we're going to say bye. Y'all know the drill out there. Hug some necks before you leave. Y'all stick right here. Got a couple of announcements I got to deal with before we go.