Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
churches that are around now that even bother to preach the word of God and the whole counsel of the word of God and the truth. Um, it just seems like there's few people There's a lot of people hearing. There's not a lot of people doing. And And I'm not even talking about unsaved people. I'm talking about people who call themselves Christians, who say they believe in Jesus. And I'm wondering when we're going to stop slipping back. I'm wondering when we're going to stop so much up and down. So much back and forth. It It really blows my mind that even within our church, and I'm going to get real personal here today without calling names, but you'll probably know who you are. But the thing about Christianity, it's not about religion. It's not about just going to church. It's not just about reading your Bible. It's not about giving tithes or offerings. It's not about whether you were baptized, you were sprinkled, or you were dunked, or you know, all those things have their part, but the bottom line is this is this is it right here. You want me to give it to you in a nutshell? I'm going to give it to you in a nutshell. You and I, all of us are sinners. We have broken God's law. Every single one of us, we have broken God's law. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, and that means eternal death in the lake of fire. The Bible calls the death in the lake of fire or living eternity in hell. The Bible calls that the second death. And the reason that it's called second death is because death means separation from God. It does not mean she would mean you will cease to exist. Cuz God is life. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. And if you are separated from him by rebellion and continuance in sin and loving the world, then you will experience an eternal death. You don't cease to exist. You You might as well get this in your head. You're going to live forever. Your spirit and your soul and eventually your body will be raised up and live forever. And that forever will be spent either in heaven with the creator God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit, our our God who is who is one God, but manifest himself in three parts. You will be with him in a place that the Bible says and that that that people have seen visions of and that people have gone even died and come back and said it is beautiful beyond the description of human words, the peace, the joy, the love that's there, the reunion with family members and and friends that have gone on there
before us. But the Bible also talks about not only for the Christian who has lived a Christian life and is ready to die, but the Bible also says for those who fall away or never come to know Jesus and put him 100% in their life, the Bible talks about that they are given also a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction. Meaning you're you will get a body in hell that will constantly burn off, the skin will burn off, and the worms will eat you from within, and then the skin will come back on you, and the flesh will come back on you, and the worms will eat you again, and you will burn again, and it is a torment. Now, some people say, "Well, that just sounds mean, and how could a loving God send somebody to hell?" Well, let me just inform you of something. A loving God doesn't send anyone to hell. If you go to hell, you paddled your own canoe with God trying to stop you the entire way. Putting people into your life that love you, that pray for you, that share the truth with you, get trying to get you to turn around. It's kind of like being on the wrong road. You're headed down a road that the bridge is out, and it's a huge drop. It's a gorge, and the bridge is out, and there's signs, and there's flashing lights, and there's people trying to wave you down and stop you from going going off that cliff and going down in that gorge and killing yourself, but you won't listen. And listen, there's some of you, and I'm going to tell you, and I'm speaking to both some of the older folks in here and the young folks. The bottom line is is that you're either going to accept the fact that you are dead in trespasses and sins, and that without the blood of Jesus Christ washing you and cleansing you, and without you deciding that you're going to give up the evil of the world, the junk that's in the world, and go with Jesus. If you don't go with Jesus 100%, you are lost forever. FOREVER. FOREVER AND EVER. AND SOME OF YOU, and I'm just going to tell you, you're putting trying to put relationships with the opposite sex, pornography, you want to love the the the music and the junk that's in this world. And I mean, there's going to be This is what saddens me. There's going to be just millions of people in hell over either because they couldn't walk away from some boy or from some girl. It's sad. There's going to be a lot of men in hell because they can't keep their pants zipped. And they got to chase every woman they see and try to have sex with. And there's a lot of women going to burn in hell because they want to entice men into sin.
Listen, if you're a fornicator, an adulterer, if you love the world and the things that are in the world, the love of the Father is not in you. This is what the Bible says. And we have got to understand that Jesus is the one who said in Revelation 3, the lukewarm Christians even. Yes, I said it. Lukewarm. You're halfway. You play one side of the fence one minute and one side of the fence the other minute, and you keep bouncing back and forth. You keep trying to straddle that fence, and Jesus said, "EITHER BE HOT FOR me all the way, or be cold. But if you're lukewarm, I'm going to spit you out of my mouth." That verse in itself, that word from Jesus Christ HIMSELF, HIS OWN MOUTH, OUGHT TO SCARE us to death. And yes, I said scare. The fear of God is a good thing. What is the fear of God? I've said it many times in here. The fear of God just means you believe that he means what he says he means. And my heart is heavy because listen, some of you sitting in this room, you come to church here, you hear the truth, but you're not doing it, and you're not living it, and you're living a lukewarm Christian life, or you're not living one at all. And I'm not going to have blood on my hands when it's all said and done. And there's some adults in here, too, and some young folks in here. I'm watching some of you. I see your crap on Facebook. It doesn't take much crap to see it. And it's amazing that even if I don't see it on Facebook, it's amazing how it gets back to me. And you know, I'm just going to say this as a pastor who wants to see every one of you make it to heaven and have a better life here on the earth, as a pastor, sometimes it just it just absolutely breaks my heart. Because I sit back sometimes, and I just feel like a failure. I'm like, I preach the word of God. I preach the truth. I pray for all of you all the time, and then I see no change. Or I see you bounce up one day, and then you're down for the next two or three weeks. And it gets old. When will you want say, "I love Jesus Christ. I appreciate what he did for me on the cross. I believe in him, and I'm truly going to give my life to him and turn from my sin, and I'm really GOING TO DO THIS THING NOW, I DON'T mean you won't You won't be perfect. But listen, there's a difference between going all the way and scratching and fighting to get close to God and stay close to God and live A HOLY LIFE THAT'S DIFFERENT FROM these heathens in the world. YOU HAVE TO FIGHT AND SCRATCH AND WANT IT. YOU CAN'T LAY AROUND on and play games with God. I I You know what? I almost want to say some of the stuff I've seen on Facebook. AND SOME OF THE STUFF I KNOW you're
doing. And I'm sitting here going, "Do they not understand?" It's not going to be okay with God. God's You're You're not going to You're not going to be able to say, "God, you know, I you know, it's it's just a guy thing. I couldn't turn off the computer. I couldn't turn off the phone. I couldn't keep looking at the porn." You better stop. When you going to put quit putting sex sex sex sex sex, whether it's with the eyes and THE MIND, OR ACTUALLY DOING IT. WHEN YOU'RE TO quit making that the most IMPORTANT THING IN LIFE? AND IT'S NOT JUST YOUNG FOLKS. THERE ARE some men and women that are 40, 50, 60 YEARS OLD AND THEY STILL CAN'T GET CONTROL OF themselves and obey God. You will either accept the fact that you have to repent and turn from sin and put Jesus first, or you're just going to burn in hell forever. I I hate to be so blunt. You're either going to be a lukewarm Christian, spit out of the mouth of Jesus, standing at the judgment seat of Christ saying, "Lord, Lord, I went to church." "Lord, Lord, I went to church. I said my little night time prayers." And he's going to say, "Depart from me, you cursed." "You worker of iniquity and sin. You loved your sin more than you loved me. You didn't want to live for me. You wanted to live like all the heathen in the world." I wonder anymore. You know, when I was 19 years old, y'all, I was a heathen. I was a drinking four or five times a week, dope smoking, coke cocaine snorting, pill popping maniac who would fight at the drop of a hat. And you know what? Oh, and let's not say chase every woman I could possibly chase. Oh, oh yeah, and and even back then, you know, you didn't have iPhones and computers and internet, so porn was a little harder to get, but we still got it.
And you know something? I wonder anymore. When I got saved, my life changed. When I got saved, I understood Jesus revealed it to me. God revealed it to me that that those things were sin, they were wickedness, they were evil, they were damning me to hell, and that for me to be saved and not go to hell and be with Jesus, I had to make a decision that I'm going to either give that stuff up and walk with God and walk differently than the world, or I was going to die in my sin AND BE LOST FOREVER. THIS IS THE HARD cold truth of the gospel that nobody likes to hear anymore and very few preachers preach, but see, here's what's scary. If you sit under my preaching these kind of things and you resist and you don't listen and you don't obey, the Bible SAYS THAT YOUR HEART and your CONSCIENCE WILL GET HARDER AND HARDER AND HARDER until you won't hear anymore. Some of you don't realize it, just coming to this church is dangerous for you if you keep playing games. Dangerous. That's why this church is not big, cuz people can't stay here and not face the fact that they've got to change some things in their life to be right with God. And the moment they decide that they don't want to really live for God according to the Bible and get to know him and walk with him and obey him, the moment they make a decision, "No, I'd rather have this boyfriend, or I'd rather have this girlfriend, or I want to have my pornography, or I want to drink once in a while, or I just want to live, you know, kind of like I want to." THEY'LL BE GONE FROM HERE, QUICK. "OR I WANT TO DIVORCE my wife and marry somebody else, or I want to divorce my husband so I can go off with this one." Or like we've had, "I want to be a preacher and and but but I'm an adulterer." Blindness, it's unreal, y'all. It's unreal. I've taken some screenshots. I can I can pull my phone out. I'm like, "What is happening?" Folks, it is true. Jesus loves us that he gave his life for us on the cross. He took my sins, your sins on the cross. But you can't keep living in it. You got to make changes if you want to be saved. See, I I think some of you I think some of you think you got plenty of time. You you you think you got plenty of time. I remember there was a boy, this was back This was back in like 1990 91, that
time, maybe 89, I can't remember. But I remember my cousin Todd, my friend Lance Lee, we all hung out together. We were Christians, on fire for God and sharing things and and Todd was still going to Beulah High School at the time. And I can't remember for some reason Is it Was it DJ? What was the boy's name? I I didn't know him personally. But Lance and Todd and Mike Pitts that comes to church here sometime, they knew him real well and everyone had talked to him about Jesus. Everybody had witnessed to him. He he'd been given tracks upon tracks upon tracks. These guys had talked to him, they had They They had just done Todd and and and Mike and Lance, they had just done everything they could to get him to to finally, you know, give up the the the drinking and the partying and the chasing women and the everything that he was doing, the fornication, the premarital sex. He you know, just said, "You got You know, it's time." And you know what he would say to them? He'd go, "Y'all know you're right. I know you're right. I know that's what the Bible says. I know that's what Jesus expects, but but And you know what he said? He was He He He had failed one year, so he was 19 years old in his senior year. And this was his senior year. And you know what he told my friends? He told Lance and Todd and Mike and them. He said, "You know what?" He said, "I know y'all right. I know I need to turn from my sin. I need to give Jesus my life. I need to do it right. And I want to do that cuz I want to go to heaven. But the prom's coming up. The prom's coming up and I want to go party with my friends. It'll be my senior prom. I want to go party with my friends. And you know, I got this girl that, you know, we going to have a good time afterwards. And you know, after that, I'm going to give my life to Jesus." Went out on his prom night. Happened right here in Auburn, right up here at exit 57, being Creek exit. Little altercation with some guys in another car, and he was in a pickup truck, and they took out a shotgun, and they shot the back window of that truck and shot him in the head and killed him. 19 years old. Dead. Not ready to be dead. And in hell. And that's been over 20 years. So he's in hell now. He's been in hell for 20 years. 20 plus years. And he's not getting out. Ever. Ever. You got to make up your mind what you're going to love. God loves you. When he I've said this and I'll a million times, I'm going to say it again and again. It's not a matter of him loving you. He loves you
and wants you to be in heaven with him when it's all said and done. Question is, will you love him? And that's what I'm getting at. You will love something supremely. You will love your lust. You will love your hate. You will love your You know, some people even love their pain. They cling to their pain because they've been a victim their whole life, so they cling to their pain and they go, "You know, I've been hurt and I've been a victim my whole life, so I'm I'm justified in trying to make myself feel better." Whether it's drugs, alcohol, or sex, or or just I'm going to do what I want to do. Just rebellion. See, what God's tried to get across to us through the scriptures for over and over and over again is, "Why won't you give up your life here? Why won't you give up your life here to be with me? Why is this temporary? If there's one thing you can say, "Preacher, I doubt I don't know if I believe all that you preach." One thing you know is true, this life, this existence that we live in, this body right here, will not live forever. It will die. That's 100% TRUTH. THE QUESTION IS, are you willing to risk all eternity after that for the stupid STUFF HERE THAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU HAPPY? THAT DOESN'T HELP YOU, that doesn't make you feel better? And some of you young ones why do you have to learn the hard way? Why can't you listen to adults who've blown it and and finally gotten their lives straightened out and go, "Don't do that." And I have I've had teenagers tell me, "Well, well, you made it." Guess what? Barely. I had the guns pulled on me and the knives pulled on me. I fought five guys one night by myself. I whipped two of them, but I ended up losing that fight. And it almost got me killed. I could have killed a guy. I beat a guy so bad one night, his head into a car, I nearly killed him. I put him in the hospital for a while. I could have killed that I killed him and been in prison. The night I fought those five guys, I should have been killed. If some friends hadn't have got there and stopped.
And they were going to kill me. Then there was one night in Montgomery. We used to carry a sawed-off shotgun in the truck that we drove around in. And we drove up in a a gas station and some guys started mouthing off at our girlfriends. And then they pulled out a shotgun and pointed it straight at us. And I reached down under the seat for the sawed-off shotgun. We about to have a shotgun battle. And I reached down to get the shotgun that we carried with us all the time in that Toyota Land Cruiser, and it wasn't there. And I said, "William, where's the shotgun?" He like, "I didn't bring it tonight." I said, "You better leave quick." Barely. Look at Tray back here. Tray has been shot. Run over by a truck, been shot. You shouldn't be here, man. The mercy of God cuz somebody was praying for you. And then we got we got the Trayvon Martin case. Everybody going crazy. No matter who did what, that boy's dead. And it doesn't sound like he was a a sweet Christian boy, either. Ready to die. 17 years old. Death is certain. Unless you're here when Jesus comes back. See, I had you turn to Matthew. Let's read it. Verse 14. Well, let's go back to verse 10. We'll read this cuz Jesus Jesus spoke in parables sometimes to people. Sometimes he'd just tell little stories and people didn't get it. Verse 10. And the disciples came and said unto him, "Why do you speak unto them in parables?" And he answered and said to them, "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he has. Therefore speak I to them in parables because they seeing see not, and hearing hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah." You need to listen to me. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. He says, "By hearing you shall hear and not understand. And seeing you shall see and not perceive, for the heart or this people's heart is waxed gross." That means their heart has become dull or or hardened. Their ears are dull of
hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their hearts, and should understand with their heart, and I should and and should be converted and I should heal them." Then Jesus turns to disciples. He said, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which you see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them." Are you hearing words that are coming out of my mouth, but just not getting it? You know, people doubt this Bible right here. They doubt this Bible, and yet everything that it's ever said that would happen in history has happened. Every detail. What would y'all think and I think I said this before, but what would y'all think if I had predicted the lottery numbers correctly every year for 5,000 years? Think I'd be worth listening to? This is the only book. The Holy Bible. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundred even thousands of predictions about the future written thousands of years before they happened. This is the only book like it in the world. Not the Quran, not the Hindu Vedas, not the writings of the Buddhas. No one comes close to this. This book is unique and powerful. This book is the book of the one true God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of all creation. The God who made the heavens and the earth. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who holds eternal life or eternal death in his hands. He has said everything that he needs to say. It's in this book right here, and you will be judged by it on Judgment Day. Every word that's written in it, you will be judged. And one of the things that's going to happen, the Bible says on the day of judgment, is that every mouth will be shut because you will have no excuse. BECAUSE NOT ONLY does God has God given us this book that has proven itself historically, prophetically, and through archaeology, and in every way it's been tested, this book has been proven. Even though there's people lying out there and saying you can't trust it, the bottom line is it's been proven. And you're going to be judged by the things written in it. And your mouth will be stopped cuz you know what? Not only has God given us
this book, but the Bible says that God has written his laws in your hearts. I mean, you see, here's what's so bad. This is why you get so miserable sometimes in church. Because your own heart condemns you. I don't have to condemn you. You say, "Preacher, you sound mean and condemning." No, I don't have to condemn you. Your own heart condemns you. Why? Cuz God's law is written in there. So, when you do something contrary to it, your own heart condemns you. And guess what? THAT'S NOT A BAD THING. BECAUSE IT'S THROUGH THAT CONVICTION, it's through that condemnation, it's through God showing you that you are in danger and that you are wrong and that you are lost and that you are in trouble. It's through that uncomfortableness that he tries to wake you up and get you to change. Some of you can't even look me in the eye right now. God has put me as a minister, as a pastor. I'm I'm in between which y'all don't realize this. I'm in between you and hell. I stand in between you and hell. I'm trying everything I can do to keep you from going to hell. And some of you are stiff-necked, hard-hearted, wishy-washy, lukewarm, can't make up your mind, love the world one minute, love Jesus the next. Get on one side OR THE OTHER. ALL THE WAY. QUIT PLAYING HALF GAME. ALL THE WAY. LISTEN, ALL THE WAY with Jesus is the only way to do it. It's the only way you have peace. It's the only way you have joy. It's the only way you have strength. And you got to be determined. I mean, you got to become like uh you know, you just got to be you you've got to really determine, "I'm going to do this thing." See, that was the difference when I was 19 years old. When the Lord spoke to me, he showed me that I could have everything the world had to offer. I was going to be I was going to be rich and famous in the movies and television. And I was going to have all of that WAS COMING MY WAY. BUT I WAS a partying drunkard, fornicator. I was reckless. I was an alcoholic at at 19 years old. So, don't even play that game. I know I've been there. I did it. Do you think you have You might try what I tried and not live through it. I thank God I didn't come up with with a venereal disease. I know that was just the mercy of God. But when I was 19, the Lord spoke to me real clearly one day. 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. And you know what? I sat there and I contemplated. It was a
decision. You know what? I didn't feel any goosebumps. I didn't feel any power from heaven. I didn't feel anything. God just made it clear to me. Jesus died on that cross for me. What was I going to do with that? Was I going to be a religious hypocrite and play both sides of the fence, see how much I can get away with and still make it? Or was I going to surrender my whole life to God? And I remember these were my words to him that day after I sat there and thought about it for a little while. And I knew that for me to be saved, and this goes for you, too. For me to be saved, I had to walk away from the sex, the pornography, the drugs, the alcohol, and my own plans that I had planned for myself. And I said these words to the Lord. And this is what changed my life. It changed the whole direction of my life. And it's when I saw the power of God. It's when I got to know Jesus. But when I said these words and I meant it and I did it, is when Jesus came into my life and filled me with the Holy Ghost and revealed himself to me. And I've seen every miracle and power of God that could happen for for a Christian. But when I said these words, I said, "Lord, I'm going either I'm going all the way with you or I'm not going at all. I will not be a hypocrite." And from that point on, I quit. I turned from that lifestyle I was living and I started seeking God, reading my Bible every day, praying every day, and seeking to know Jesus for myself. And you know what happened? He filled me with the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues. I began to see miracles happening. I remember that one day I was in prayer at about 4:00 in the morning and heavens opened up and I saw a vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of God at the Father. And I saw the glory and the light of God was shining down FROM HEAVEN. I'VE SEEN HEAVEN. I'VE SEEN JESUS. I'VE ALSO SEEN THE flames of hell coming up under the floor of people's feet when I'm preaching to them. I've seen visions of heaven and hell. I've seen the reality. I've watched Jesus. I've seen Jesus walk into a church and touch people. Literally seeing the visions of him do these things. God just allowed me to see in the spirit realm. And listen, that's what I'm getting at. When you go all the way, all kind of possibilities open up about knowing God and hearing God's voice and walking with God. And that's when I began to see people get saved, come out of of sin and darkness. When I saw people get delivered from demons. I've cast demons out of people. I've seen I've laid my hands on on people who were deaf and they heard. I prayed for people who were crippled and they walked. I prayed for dead babies in their mother's womb where the doctor said, "We got to remove the baby. It's dead." AND THE BABY COME BACK TO LIFE. JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, and forever. He is powerful. He
is real. HE IS TRUE. THIS BOOK IS TRUE. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH IT? YOU'RE GOING TO play halfway? ARE YOU GOING TO GET IN HERE and do this right? Listen, I'm not just preaching to you young ones. I'm preaching to everybody. I'm tired of seeing SOME OF YOU OLDER ones slip and do stupid stuff. I'm like, "When will they once learn?" It's time to get serious. Boy, if there was ever a time. What's it going to take? Somebody close to you dying? Russian troops paratrooping down from the airplanes onto our soil? A mushroom cloud somewhere? Then you'll believe? Then you'll change? WHAT'S IT GOING TO TAKE? MAYBE YOU LIVE TO SEE THAT. MAYBE you don't. But what's it going to take? How many sermons are you going to listen to? You know what was said to me? People that go to church and never change. Never. Never change. Jesus loves you enough to die on the cross for your sins so you could have eternal life. What are you going to do? Are you going to do it his way or you just going to play games? You going to love him and his ways or you going to love the world and your own ways? Which is it? And let me just tell y'all, every time you have sex outside of marriage, you pick up demons and you get worse. Every time you look at pornography, you pick up demons and you get worse. Every time you watch foul movies with foul language and sex and and witchcraft and play video games and even associating with the wrong people, you pick up demons. And you know what those demons do to you? They lie to you. They make you worse than you were before. You're going to gradually give yourself over to more and more of the power of Satan or you going to give yourself over to the power of God? I'm tired of seeing slipping. Let me Let me read this. I was going to close, but I'm going to read Hebrews 3. This is exactly what I'm talking about today. Hebrews 3. And then I'll quit. I'm going to quit early. Look at this. We're not even at at We're not even at noon.
Preacher, you just too heavy, man. You ain't seen anything. Wait till you stand at the judgment seat. There going to be people in hell. Some man saw a vision of hell. I can't even remember who this was, but he saw a vision of hell. And hell has different parts. You know this. It has different structure, different I mean, it's a real place. It's like heaven's a real place. He's got He said he the Lord took him down there and showed him and said he saw these people these little individual pits. There were people had their own little hell pit where they were burning and skin would burn off and come back and burn off and come back and He said this one man was let out of his pit for a minute and he started going pit to pit and he'd grab He'd reach down and he'd grab the person by the hair and he'd pull them up to see if No, it's not that one. And he'd walk over to the other pit. And the Lord was allowing him to do this. He'd pull pull this one up. And so the man that Jesus took down there to show him hell, this vision of hell, he said, "What's that man doing?" I said, "He's looking for the preacher." I didn't tell him the truth. Oh, yeah. There going to be preachers in hell. Oh, yeah. A whole bunch of them. You know why? Because they refused to preach to you what I'm preaching. Y'all get mad at me. You can think Pastor Dean's mean and hard and and all this stuff, but I care about you. I'd rather make I'm just going to be frank. Uh I shouldn't say it this way, but I'd rather piss you off and finally get you to get right with God than to to than to candy-coat sugar you right into hell. And I've said that a bunch of times. Yes. And guess what? I said piss off. And that's in the Bible. Along with jackass and bastard and several other words that they're Bible words. It's true. I hope I'm getting in your way. You know You know, here's here Here's my desire. That one day in heaven when I get there, that I walk up and I see you and you and you and you and you and you and you. And we can hug each other. And you say, "Thanks, Pastor Dean, for telling me the truth."
That's what I hope. Listen, I don't do this to get rich, obviously. I don't do this because I don't have anything better to do on Sunday mornings. I I this for two reasons, cuz God told me to. And because I care about people and I don't want people to not know the truth and not be warned about what's coming. I want people to to make it. Long before God ever called me to be a preacher or ever knew I was going to be a preacher, I just wanted people to know the Jesus the way I knew him. So they could go to heaven cuz I knew I'd been deceived. The devil had pulled one over on me. Man, I was living in all that I was living in all those that evil sin and I thought I was okay. I really thought I was okay because I prayed a prayer and accepted Jesus when I was 11 years old. I thought I was okay. It's not once saved always saved no matter how you live. And if you're willing to gamble on that, good luck. I want to see you there. Don't let another person, a female, a male, a boyfriend, a girlfriend don't let lust, don't let anger, don't let unforgiveness, don't let anything keep you from Jesus and making it to heaven. It's just not worth it. You can blow a lot of things in this world and you in this life, but don't blow that. What I'm giving you is the most valuable thing and I said I'm sorry. Hebrews 3, I'm going to read it. I'm sorry. This is what he said. Verse 7. Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me and proved me and saw my works 40 years. Wherefore why was I grieved with that generation and said they do always err in their heart and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but
exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. While it while it is said, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. He said for some when they heard they did provoke, howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses, but with whom was he grieved 40 years? Was it not with them that sinned whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom he swear that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. And of course he says unbelief and sin. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Boy, isn't that good? Let us fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest. What is his rest? Heaven. He said the gospel was preached, the word of truth was preached to them like it's been preached to us, but it didn't profit them when they didn't mix it with faith. What is faith? Faith without works is dead being alone. Faith does something. Faith not only believes something, faith does something with what it believes. So what do you do? Are you going to hear his voice? The voice of God saying, come to me, I'll forgive you of every sin you've ever committed. You couldn't even be forgiven of it. So I had to go and die on the cross so that my blood could wash it away and I was willing to do that for you. I'll wash your sins away. I I I I mean, how how awesome can that be? That God just says, you know what? No matter how evil you've been, no matter how sinful you've been, lustful you've been, I'll forgive you. That's pretty good deal. But then he asked this, but your faith. Your faith means you change. You give your life to me. You follow me. Will you do that? See, a lot of people want to be forgiven, don't they? Don't anybody want to be forgiven? But they don't want to do what it takes to get forgiven. They don't want to confess their sins and turn away from them. That's repentance. They don't want to turn away and really walk with God. And God says to be forgiven, you have to turn away and walk with me. You won't be perfect, but you won't live in it. Remember,
there's a difference between tripping over tripping over a branch and falling down versus going and crawling in the pig pen and living there. There's a difference. So, today I'm going to quote this verse. Today if you will hear his voice, you're going to do one or two See, see those of you today this you know who I'm talking to. You've been lukewarm or you haven't really been walking with Jesus. You got all kind of sin in your life. You're making all kind of excuses. You're doing all kind of unclean evil things. And today you've heard God's word. You've heard his voice through this preacher. You've heard it. And you will do one of two things. You will harden your heart and say no. Or you will say yes. And you'll say, Jesus, forgive me. Today's the day I'm making this change. And it's not just saying it here. You know, I tell people all the time. I've had people come to altars. Listen, y'all I've preached in churches that are big as 20,000 people. I've preached to thousands of people in Africa. And I've had altar calls. I've had I can't tell you how many altar calls in prisons. I've preached in prisons. I've preached on the island of Mauritius. I give with them in five different churches on the island of Mauritius out in the Indian Ocean. Give altar calls just people flood the front of the church crying their eyeballs out. But you know what I always tell them? It's not what you do today. Will you be still be doing it tomorrow? The next day? A month from now? If I come back in 5 years, will I find you serving God, walking with God? On fire for God. That's all it matter. It's not just how you start. It's how you finish. That's why in the Bible says better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. You can start not finish. That's no good. No bueno. No good. Run the race with Jesus and finish the race. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. And we're going to let's let's do that song. Jesus friend forever after we pray. Everybody stand. Father in heaven, we ask you this morning, God, to help us
make up our mind to not harden our hearts. To surrender and finally get off the fence and get out of the sin and get out of the compromise and get out of the world and get out of the junk and really really surrender to Jesus. I'm afraid some though even today they're going to hear what I'm saying and still not do it. The Lord, as sad as that makes me, the blood is on their hands, not mine anymore. Their eternity is on them, not me. So Father, I pray today though that they'll understand your great love for them and desire for them to be with you. But that is going to have to be on your terms. So as we sing this song this morning, Jesus friend forever, are you going to let him be your friend forever? Or not? And if so, if you want to make that public cuz Jesus said this. He said if you'll confess me before man, I'll confess you before my father which is in heaven. So the reason we give altar calls is because you're supposed to publicly declare what you're going to do. So, as we sing this song, if you are ready to get your life right with God, get out of the sin, walk with Jesus, get out of the lukewarmness, get out of the anger, the unforgiveness, the bitterness, the victim mentality, whatever it is holding you, the pornography, the fornication, the bad relationships, whatever it is. I want you to come forward as we sing this song, and then we're going to pray together.