WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:29.300 Thank you. 00:29.300 --> 00:32.460 I want to thank each one of you for the beautiful music. 00:32.460 --> 00:33.300 Oh man. 00:34.260 --> 00:36.140 And, Williamson, you just come back 00:36.140 --> 00:38.300 and come back and come back. 00:38.300 --> 00:40.260 And I hope, John, that your conscience 00:40.260 --> 00:41.820 bothered you up there, 00:41.820 --> 00:45.380 because you felt like you need to be back here. 00:47.260 --> 00:48.780 Because we love you. 00:48.780 --> 00:52.260 And what a magnificent wedding we had yesterday. 00:52.260 --> 00:54.140 A lovely couple. 00:54.140 --> 00:57.740 Their vows meaning something to everyone. 00:57.740 --> 01:01.900 And I just am excited for that little couple's future. 01:03.300 --> 01:06.420 You know, we have talked before about three ways 01:06.420 --> 01:09.820 that men will hope to change the world. 01:09.820 --> 01:13.060 And that was education and legislation 01:13.060 --> 01:14.780 and change the environment. 01:14.780 --> 01:17.860 Somehow or another, the world's gonna get better. 01:17.860 --> 01:21.300 There have been some interesting things in the news lately. 01:21.300 --> 01:23.020 Did you know that the cigarette folks 01:23.020 --> 01:26.180 have been fined 368 bills in the world? 01:27.740 --> 01:32.220 A million dollars for the cancer and lung problems 01:32.220 --> 01:34.340 they have caused people. 01:34.340 --> 01:35.340 Premature death. 01:35.340 --> 01:36.340 That is amazing. 01:36.340 --> 01:38.620 Do you think it's really gonna help people 01:38.620 --> 01:40.420 cure their bad habits? 01:40.420 --> 01:42.500 No, I don't really think so. 01:42.500 --> 01:45.500 And then, you know, there's another group. 01:45.500 --> 01:49.980 He's headed by Norman Mayo of Bothell, Washington, 01:49.980 --> 01:53.100 who is suing the dairy industry 01:53.100 --> 01:56.900 because he has fatty tissue of the heart. 01:56.900 --> 01:58.860 He loves fatty milk. 01:58.860 --> 02:03.740 And so somehow, if he can sue them, 02:03.740 --> 02:05.740 this is gonna remove his problem. 02:05.740 --> 02:08.620 You clown, why don't you quit drinking milk 02:08.620 --> 02:09.940 if that's your problem? 02:09.940 --> 02:11.500 You see the trend that's here? 02:12.580 --> 02:14.820 And then also, the liquor business now 02:14.820 --> 02:17.220 has soon to be taxed considerably 02:17.220 --> 02:22.020 because they've caused 108,000 deaths 02:22.020 --> 02:23.980 by drinking an accidental thing. 02:24.980 --> 02:26.420 How come the affair of the heart 02:26.420 --> 02:27.940 doesn't have anything to do with that? 02:27.940 --> 02:30.580 It's that old nasty liquor business 02:30.580 --> 02:31.580 that makes me drink. 02:31.580 --> 02:33.500 Devil made me do that. 02:33.500 --> 02:35.180 You know full well it isn't the devil 02:35.180 --> 02:36.060 that makes you do that. 02:36.060 --> 02:37.860 We make ourselves do that. 02:37.860 --> 02:42.500 We are looking for fat people suing McDonald's 02:42.500 --> 02:45.620 because of fatty French fries. 02:45.620 --> 02:50.260 For they have killed 300,000 people a year by obesity. 02:50.260 --> 02:52.180 That's what kills people. 02:52.340 --> 02:55.420 And we are looking forward to a group from Florida 02:56.260 --> 02:58.100 who, this is amazing, 02:59.740 --> 03:01.820 who are suing the state for cancer 03:01.820 --> 03:04.140 because of the sunshine in the state. 03:06.300 --> 03:09.620 So I want you to know that I feel good about the future 03:09.620 --> 03:13.740 when I look at what men and women are trying to do 03:13.740 --> 03:17.580 to restore and make the world a better thing. 03:17.580 --> 03:19.260 Of course we could go on and on with that. 03:19.260 --> 03:21.380 I think tongue and cheek. 03:21.420 --> 03:23.500 Those are by the way from page 57 03:23.500 --> 03:26.100 the US News July 17th to 7th. 03:26.100 --> 03:28.220 I don't have that good imagination. 03:28.220 --> 03:29.500 This is from the big boys. 03:29.500 --> 03:34.020 Now listen to this and it's a wonderful truth. 03:34.020 --> 03:39.020 No man or woman makes themselves good by rules. 03:41.100 --> 03:44.460 And if you're here today because you just feel 03:44.460 --> 03:46.460 you're supposed to be but you don't want to be, 03:46.460 --> 03:49.180 it's really foolishness you see. 03:49.220 --> 03:51.780 If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ 03:51.780 --> 03:55.900 in your heart, if it's not giving yourself freely 03:55.900 --> 03:59.020 to the Lord and to Christ our savior, 03:59.020 --> 04:01.460 it's really a worthless matter, isn't it? 04:01.460 --> 04:02.300 Truly is. 04:02.300 --> 04:04.500 It's an affair of the heart. 04:04.500 --> 04:07.460 And in the old days of the Toquamato, 04:07.460 --> 04:09.620 you could miss church three times 04:09.620 --> 04:12.700 and then you were escorted to the star chamber. 04:12.700 --> 04:15.020 Did we have a better church in those days? 04:15.020 --> 04:18.020 No, we had a hideous church in those days. 04:18.020 --> 04:21.780 Can you imagine what was done in the name of Jesus? 04:21.780 --> 04:24.900 So legislation probably never will cut it. 04:24.900 --> 04:28.580 There is one pre-ultimate master of the human heart 04:28.580 --> 04:31.820 and that is Jesus Christ. 04:31.820 --> 04:33.900 And is there anyone forcing you to do anything 04:33.900 --> 04:36.780 you don't want to do because a person convinced 04:36.780 --> 04:39.860 against their will is of the same opinion still 04:39.860 --> 04:43.220 and sin will always reign in that individual. 04:43.220 --> 04:46.620 Jesus Christ must dominate the heart. 04:46.620 --> 04:49.620 You know, as I listened to those beautiful wedding vows 04:49.620 --> 04:54.580 yesterday, and what a lovely, lovely start 04:54.580 --> 04:57.060 for a wonderful little family. 04:57.060 --> 04:59.540 I don't have any doubt about what they intended 04:59.540 --> 05:02.780 of all of their mind to grow old together 05:02.780 --> 05:05.780 and to die together except the Lord Jesus intervenes 05:05.780 --> 05:07.420 and come to carry them home. 05:08.340 --> 05:10.900 And you know it's 52% failure in this county. 05:10.900 --> 05:15.900 It's 50% failure in the counties of the United States. 05:16.660 --> 05:19.820 52% failure for marriage. 05:19.820 --> 05:22.900 And obviously, wedding vows mean nothing. 05:24.020 --> 05:28.860 If only 48% make it and the second time 60%, 05:28.860 --> 05:30.980 and the third time people are remarried, 05:30.980 --> 05:33.060 it is 70% failure. 05:33.980 --> 05:36.260 You know, the rules and the laws, 05:36.260 --> 05:39.580 unless the heart is involved with the vow, 05:39.580 --> 05:41.700 it's a worthless thing, isn't it? 05:41.700 --> 05:44.500 And what it really is saying that every other little couple 05:44.500 --> 05:47.780 is lying to each other because the promises 05:47.780 --> 05:50.780 they made to each other don't mean anything. 05:50.780 --> 05:53.340 And they fully intend to renege on their promises. 05:53.340 --> 05:57.140 They intend to renege on their promises. 05:57.140 --> 06:00.500 And not to be that way, and there will be no peace 06:00.500 --> 06:02.460 when that happens. 06:02.460 --> 06:06.260 How many, even in God's blessed church, 06:06.260 --> 06:09.620 have come face to face with Jesus Christ, 06:09.620 --> 06:13.940 have seen Him fully, have partaken of the communion, 06:13.980 --> 06:16.060 we switched communion tables, haven't we? 06:16.060 --> 06:18.540 That partaken of the communion table 06:18.540 --> 06:23.260 have known the precious blood of the Lamb 06:23.260 --> 06:28.260 and say, Jesus, I don't intend to do what you want me to do. 06:30.260 --> 06:31.940 That's sad, isn't it? 06:31.940 --> 06:36.940 I will not, Jesus, do what I ought to do. 06:37.700 --> 06:40.060 And you know, as long as the church has people like that 06:40.340 --> 06:44.140 in it, it will be a Laodicean or lukewarm church. 06:44.140 --> 06:46.300 Now the world's got plenty of that, 06:46.300 --> 06:49.820 but the church doesn't need any of it, not a bit of it. 06:49.820 --> 06:53.100 Now listen to John 3, 19 through 21. 06:53.100 --> 06:55.980 This is the verdict, hey, verdict, 06:55.980 --> 06:57.780 sounds like legislation, like the judge. 06:57.780 --> 07:00.380 Here come the judge, this is the verdict. 07:00.380 --> 07:01.860 Light has come into the world, 07:01.860 --> 07:04.020 but men love darkness instead of light 07:04.020 --> 07:06.380 because their deeds were evil. 07:06.380 --> 07:11.020 Everyone who does evil hates the light 07:11.020 --> 07:13.780 and will not come into the light 07:13.780 --> 07:17.740 for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 07:17.740 --> 07:19.940 Man a lie. 07:19.940 --> 07:23.800 If you're having troubles, you turn on the lights. 07:25.180 --> 07:27.220 You turn on, have you ever had one of those sensors 07:27.220 --> 07:28.940 out there on the garage? 07:28.940 --> 07:30.460 And even that old kitty cat going, 07:30.460 --> 07:34.460 doop, doop, doop, across there in the house, house lights up. 07:34.500 --> 07:37.780 And if you're in Thieve, you're a sudden problem, aren't you? 07:37.780 --> 07:39.900 Because you can't do those things in the light 07:39.900 --> 07:42.540 that you could do in the darkness. 07:42.540 --> 07:45.220 See, what a frightening thing. 07:45.220 --> 07:47.460 But then he goes on to this, 07:47.460 --> 07:52.020 but whoever lives by the truth comes into the light 07:52.020 --> 07:53.900 so that it may be seen plainly 07:53.900 --> 07:57.300 that what he has done has been done through God. 07:57.300 --> 07:59.140 I like that part, that phrase, 07:59.140 --> 08:02.820 but whosoever lives by the truth. 08:02.820 --> 08:04.980 Now, the world is looking for truth. 08:04.980 --> 08:07.020 I really know that. 08:07.020 --> 08:09.060 As a college teacher for so many years, 08:09.060 --> 08:13.460 I know that even young people are hurting for answers 08:13.460 --> 08:15.420 and needing answers. 08:15.420 --> 08:19.700 Young couples are seeing that their lives are fragmented 08:19.700 --> 08:22.500 and they are basically unhappy. 08:23.540 --> 08:27.380 In one recent survey, 60% of the women surveyed 08:27.380 --> 08:30.060 were unhappy with their marriage. 08:30.060 --> 08:32.580 And I don't suspect they're going to get any happier 08:32.580 --> 08:36.260 to you, not as long as they have empty hearts. 08:36.260 --> 08:38.300 Now, listen to this. 08:38.300 --> 08:40.140 And this is the frightening thing. 08:40.140 --> 08:43.860 He who lives by the truth. 08:43.860 --> 08:46.700 So it's not the words you say, 08:46.700 --> 08:49.340 it's not your intention, 08:49.340 --> 08:53.340 but it's your sanctified heart, isn't it? 08:53.340 --> 08:55.100 That really makes a difference. 08:55.100 --> 08:58.060 It is this blessed word of God 08:58.060 --> 09:01.740 that I really believe will keep the world from fragmenting. 09:01.740 --> 09:03.580 Oh, I believe that with all of my heart. 09:03.580 --> 09:06.720 It sounds corny to me, tea preacher. 09:06.720 --> 09:08.580 That's so be it. 09:08.580 --> 09:10.000 This is the word of God. 09:10.000 --> 09:12.380 It tells us how to live. 09:12.380 --> 09:14.740 It tells us what our heart should be filled with, 09:14.740 --> 09:16.540 the spirit of Christ. 09:16.540 --> 09:18.140 It tells us what we ought to say, 09:18.140 --> 09:20.940 where we walk, where we go, where we park our car, 09:20.940 --> 09:25.500 what all that involves the living day-to-day circumstance. 09:25.500 --> 09:27.380 This book is also involved with it. 09:27.380 --> 09:29.420 And therefore it's not just a relative thing. 09:29.420 --> 09:31.300 I feel this, I'm changing. 09:32.340 --> 09:36.060 You see, and we have then standards 09:36.060 --> 09:37.260 and we have permanence. 09:37.260 --> 09:39.180 And this, by the way, 09:39.180 --> 09:42.740 is saying that what we see from our own eyesight 09:42.740 --> 09:45.540 is not always adequate, is it? 09:45.540 --> 09:49.420 What we see in our own eyes is not always the truth. 09:49.420 --> 09:52.860 And we often see men alive. 09:52.860 --> 09:54.700 The way I see it is the truth, 09:54.700 --> 09:57.420 but you know, unless it's sanctified eyesight, 09:57.420 --> 09:59.500 that's not true. 09:59.500 --> 10:01.660 And you remember that the Old Testament cried out, 10:01.660 --> 10:05.460 each man did that which is right in his own eyes, 10:05.460 --> 10:09.420 but the way therein too was death, death. 10:09.420 --> 10:11.940 And isn't that kind of the trouble with the world today? 10:11.940 --> 10:12.940 They're just running around, 10:12.940 --> 10:15.100 each going in his own way, 10:15.100 --> 10:19.100 each standing up for the right that he has within himself. 10:19.100 --> 10:20.940 And there isn't any righteousness 10:20.940 --> 10:23.060 and nothing good is coming out of the world. 10:23.060 --> 10:26.740 And so God gave us a panacea. 10:26.740 --> 10:31.500 And that is the church, the blessed body of Christ. 10:31.500 --> 10:35.340 Christ is the head of the church. 10:35.340 --> 10:38.900 And we see the beautiful bride come down the aisle 10:38.900 --> 10:40.620 and the handsome groom. 10:40.620 --> 10:44.500 And we know that's just a minor picture really of 10:44.500 --> 10:48.660 the magnificent groom, the Lord Jesus, 10:48.660 --> 10:52.620 and the beautiful bride, pure and sweet and virtuous, 10:52.620 --> 10:56.140 his body, the church, his body, the church. 10:56.140 --> 10:57.780 How magnificent it is. 10:57.780 --> 10:59.340 The world really needs that church, 10:59.340 --> 11:02.660 but they don't understand that they need that. 11:02.660 --> 11:06.780 Hebrews 10, 24 and 25 says this. 11:06.780 --> 11:09.180 Now not only was the church conceived 11:09.180 --> 11:12.020 for the people who belong to the church, 11:12.020 --> 11:13.740 but the church was conceived for those 11:13.740 --> 11:16.100 who were outside the church that they might have a place 11:16.100 --> 11:20.180 to go to a sanctum sanctorum and intersanctum 11:20.180 --> 11:23.960 and inner house of protection and peace. 11:23.960 --> 11:25.740 If you're living in this wicked world, 11:25.740 --> 11:27.820 you need the body of the church. 11:27.820 --> 11:28.900 You really need it. 11:28.900 --> 11:32.500 And your teenagers need the body of the church. 11:32.500 --> 11:35.140 Believe me, they need it so badly, 11:35.140 --> 11:37.060 more badly even than you. 11:37.060 --> 11:39.500 And Hebrews 10, 24 and 25 says, 11:39.500 --> 11:42.540 let us consider how we may spur one another on 11:42.540 --> 11:45.020 toward love and good deeds. 11:45.020 --> 11:48.420 Now that's not the Hollywood version, that's the NIV, 11:48.420 --> 11:51.900 that we may spur one another on to love and good deeds. 11:51.900 --> 11:53.900 You know, there's real cowboys here. 11:53.940 --> 11:57.060 I'm an Oklahoma cowboy, so that doesn't mean much, 11:57.060 --> 12:00.340 but what do they call this thing here on the end? 12:00.340 --> 12:01.740 It's sticky, isn't it? 12:02.780 --> 12:04.460 I'd like to have you, if you have any doubt 12:04.460 --> 12:06.620 about the function of a spur, 12:06.620 --> 12:08.620 to kind of put your coat aside 12:08.620 --> 12:12.020 and just run it up your ribs real good, see. 12:12.020 --> 12:14.540 And you tell me how that feels. 12:14.540 --> 12:17.440 I've seen many old horse go, oh, how are we? 12:18.660 --> 12:20.420 And you know what that old horse does? 12:20.420 --> 12:23.140 He lays his ears back, you see the white of his eyeballs 12:23.180 --> 12:25.020 and away he goes. 12:25.940 --> 12:28.120 And you know, why did he say 12:28.120 --> 12:31.320 that you need to spur one another on? 12:32.300 --> 12:34.300 The church in this day and age has become 12:34.300 --> 12:36.960 kind of a retirement home for the born again. 12:37.920 --> 12:40.020 That isn't what the church is designed to be. 12:40.020 --> 12:43.020 It's a place where we come to have our conscience pricked 12:43.020 --> 12:46.260 or goaded, same word as goading, isn't it? 12:46.260 --> 12:47.800 Our conscience pricked. 12:47.800 --> 12:49.580 That old horse would just get by, you know, 12:49.580 --> 12:51.460 just snorting and panting away 12:51.460 --> 12:53.820 and clip, clop, clip, clop 12:53.820 --> 12:57.540 until you put the gold to his ribs, the spur. 12:57.540 --> 12:58.900 That's exactly what he said. 12:58.900 --> 13:01.580 How we may spur one another on 13:01.580 --> 13:03.820 toward love and toward good deeds. 13:03.820 --> 13:06.580 Why does a person have to be encouraged 13:06.580 --> 13:08.260 to be a person of love? 13:09.420 --> 13:11.620 Because it's just not natural to love. 13:11.620 --> 13:13.300 See, that's the problem in the world. 13:13.300 --> 13:15.340 We will address this in a moment. 13:15.340 --> 13:18.100 It is not natural to be loving and giving 13:18.100 --> 13:21.020 and sacrificial and noble. 13:22.060 --> 13:24.180 Noble doesn't belong to everyone. 13:24.180 --> 13:26.320 It's not fit for their vocabulary 13:26.320 --> 13:29.480 nor is it deed even truthful. 13:29.480 --> 13:33.260 And so we see this other thing which is added. 13:33.260 --> 13:36.300 Let us not give up meeting together 13:36.300 --> 13:38.660 as some are in the habit of doing. 13:40.540 --> 13:44.580 But help us encourage one another. 13:44.620 --> 13:47.260 And all the more as you see the day, 13:47.260 --> 13:49.740 capital D-A-Y approaching. 13:49.740 --> 13:51.620 Well, that's just not tomorrow. 13:51.620 --> 13:54.220 That's the big day of the Lord. 13:54.220 --> 13:56.380 That's the justification of the record 13:56.380 --> 13:57.660 and of the accounts. 13:57.660 --> 13:59.780 That's standing before the judgment seat 13:59.780 --> 14:03.380 of the almighty throne of the Lord of our lives. 14:03.380 --> 14:06.340 Whether he was truly Lord of our lives or not, 14:06.340 --> 14:08.380 we will now determine that, you see, 14:08.380 --> 14:10.580 at the judgment seat of God. 14:10.580 --> 14:14.460 If you are to be prepared, he says, stick together. 14:14.460 --> 14:15.300 Stay together. 14:16.700 --> 14:19.020 I can't for the life of me understand 14:19.020 --> 14:21.260 why Larry likes the three amigos. 14:21.260 --> 14:24.140 But I'll tell you one thing about the three amigos. 14:24.140 --> 14:25.940 They stick together. 14:25.940 --> 14:29.740 And all three of them haven't really got an IQ of 14, 14:29.740 --> 14:30.580 do they? 14:30.580 --> 14:34.260 And so you see, they're very successful 14:34.260 --> 14:36.540 and they got what they wanted done 14:36.540 --> 14:38.820 because at least the amigos, 14:38.820 --> 14:41.580 and by the way, amicus is also true in Latin 14:41.580 --> 14:44.140 as it is in Spanish, friends. 14:44.500 --> 14:46.980 Real friends. 14:46.980 --> 14:48.100 They stuck together. 14:48.100 --> 14:49.660 You know, the world could become a place 14:49.660 --> 14:54.660 where the best thing you could have is a real friend. 14:55.020 --> 14:56.940 That may be worth more than all the money 14:56.940 --> 14:58.620 and all the bank in the world. 14:58.620 --> 15:03.260 And I'm thankful that I have many good friends 15:03.260 --> 15:05.300 in Christ's church. 15:05.300 --> 15:09.580 I really do, and I'm not really a very likeable 15:09.580 --> 15:11.460 or lovable person, 15:11.460 --> 15:14.340 but I know that several of you do like me. 15:14.340 --> 15:18.420 And that I am a friend to you and you are a friend to me. 15:18.420 --> 15:19.740 You know what? 15:19.740 --> 15:21.540 If it was good for the amigos, 15:21.540 --> 15:25.540 it has to be good for you and me and God's people. 15:25.540 --> 15:27.620 It's a direct commandment, isn't it? 15:27.620 --> 15:29.540 That you encourage one another. 15:29.540 --> 15:33.100 Remember that one another is used 70 times in the Bible. 15:33.100 --> 15:34.580 One another. 15:34.580 --> 15:36.280 Friends together, see. 15:37.380 --> 15:40.260 The three amigos stuck together and they won. 15:40.260 --> 15:41.700 Listen, 1 Peter 3-8. 15:41.700 --> 15:46.020 Finally, all of you live in harmony with one another. 15:46.020 --> 15:49.020 We heard some beautiful harmony this morning, didn't we? 15:49.020 --> 15:54.020 Man, how can strings and wooden and plastic material 15:54.500 --> 15:56.980 sing out like that? 15:56.980 --> 16:01.220 How can voices, you know, just two chords that vibrate? 16:01.220 --> 16:03.940 How could they come forth with such exquisite music? 16:03.940 --> 16:05.580 It's harmony, isn't it? 16:05.580 --> 16:07.740 It's one note at peace with the other, 16:07.740 --> 16:10.540 an overall plan working together. 16:10.580 --> 16:14.300 It could be Chopin, it could be Rachmaninoff, 16:15.340 --> 16:17.700 it could be Bessime Hachamaguchi. 16:17.700 --> 16:20.060 It really doesn't matter. 16:20.060 --> 16:22.220 But out of that voice comes something 16:22.220 --> 16:26.120 of melodious harmony, which is a praise to God. 16:26.120 --> 16:27.900 What a wonderful thing. 16:27.900 --> 16:31.140 Such music can be because it's true harmony. 16:31.140 --> 16:32.940 Two pitches working together. 16:32.940 --> 16:37.380 Two dissonant tones made harmonious 16:37.380 --> 16:39.060 by their proper combining. 16:39.060 --> 16:43.380 And that's what God wants of his people and of his church. 16:43.380 --> 16:46.500 Finally, oh, brethren, if you live in harmony 16:46.500 --> 16:50.780 with one another, you will be sympathetic 16:50.780 --> 16:53.620 and in love with one another. 16:53.620 --> 16:56.860 Love as brothers. 16:56.860 --> 16:58.580 Love as sisters. 16:58.580 --> 17:00.520 Love as family, see. 17:00.520 --> 17:04.660 Be compassionate and be humble. 17:04.660 --> 17:07.300 Love really umbles one, doesn't it? 17:08.300 --> 17:12.220 You know, you just kept to say, 17:13.300 --> 17:17.220 you young brides, honey, which would you rather do? 17:17.220 --> 17:20.020 Would you like to carry out the trash or do the dishes? 17:20.020 --> 17:22.660 See, use a little psychology 17:22.660 --> 17:24.460 and you'll have harmony, won't you? 17:25.380 --> 17:29.140 Use, if you will, that urgent of being humble. 17:29.140 --> 17:32.140 You've offered him a choice 17:32.140 --> 17:36.140 and every really macho guy likes to fulfill a choice. 17:36.180 --> 17:38.220 So use your head, gang. 17:38.220 --> 17:39.780 I sometimes think we don't use our heads 17:39.780 --> 17:41.180 with one another in the church. 17:41.180 --> 17:42.340 We're so pedantic. 17:42.340 --> 17:45.380 We are so demanding. 17:45.380 --> 17:50.380 We are so righteous in our own concepts 17:50.780 --> 17:54.500 that we don't give each other a view of ourselves 17:54.500 --> 17:56.260 as an humble person. 17:56.260 --> 17:59.180 I can really dig an humble person, can't you? 18:00.780 --> 18:02.060 I like that. 18:02.060 --> 18:05.020 And I know that it's something that all of us really like 18:05.060 --> 18:06.940 in an individual. 18:06.940 --> 18:09.060 Second Peter three, one says this, 18:09.060 --> 18:12.540 this second epistle, see, second Peter three. 18:13.620 --> 18:15.940 Beloved, I now write unto you 18:15.940 --> 18:20.660 in both which I stir up your pure minds 18:20.660 --> 18:24.020 by way of remembrance. 18:24.020 --> 18:27.900 That pure mind, stirring up your brother Clyde 18:27.900 --> 18:30.660 like to preach of that often, didn't he? 18:30.660 --> 18:35.660 And I like that to stir up your pure mind. 18:37.540 --> 18:39.940 Stir it up so that's even more holy, 18:40.820 --> 18:45.220 more in the pitch in the harmony of God. 18:45.220 --> 18:49.500 More doing something, not cause your ass to do it, 18:49.500 --> 18:51.820 but because you couldn't keep from doing it. 18:51.820 --> 18:53.540 There's a thunder in your heart 18:53.540 --> 18:57.060 that says I must make a noise for God. 18:57.060 --> 19:00.180 There's a lightning to be spread forth, 19:00.180 --> 19:03.500 Hitler named it, you know, the blitzkrieg, 19:03.500 --> 19:05.420 thunder and lightning. 19:05.420 --> 19:08.420 And it darn near whipped the world, didn't it? 19:08.420 --> 19:10.180 It almost whipped the world. 19:10.180 --> 19:12.700 And we need that spark of thunder and lightning 19:12.700 --> 19:15.500 in God's people's hearts one more time, 19:15.500 --> 19:18.540 who have stirred up their pure minds 19:18.540 --> 19:20.580 by ways of remembrance. 19:20.580 --> 19:22.380 This is one way to remember, isn't it? 19:22.380 --> 19:26.400 We gather at the Lord's table to remember the death, 19:26.400 --> 19:28.600 the burial, the resurrection. 19:28.600 --> 19:33.320 We remember that we take of this until he comes soon 19:33.320 --> 19:35.080 and it's not far off. 19:35.080 --> 19:37.240 It can't be too awfully far off. 19:38.240 --> 19:41.320 That you may be mindful of the words 19:41.320 --> 19:44.080 which were spoken before by the holy prophets 19:44.080 --> 19:46.240 and of the commandments of us, 19:46.240 --> 19:48.720 the apostles of the Lord and Savior. 19:48.720 --> 19:51.480 Everything that we do here this morning, we would pray, 19:52.360 --> 19:55.640 would be because we find here what we should be doing. 19:56.600 --> 20:00.400 Everything that we do is to bring to remembrance things 20:00.400 --> 20:05.120 that God would have us refreshed each week in our mind. 20:05.120 --> 20:07.200 Fundamentals, oh yeah. 20:07.200 --> 20:09.480 Difficult things, sometimes that's the case. 20:09.480 --> 20:13.240 Prophecy, stories of his soon coming, 20:13.240 --> 20:15.720 stories of the fates and the great heroes. 20:15.720 --> 20:17.480 Little kids are starving to death 20:17.480 --> 20:20.600 because most of the heroes have been in jail 20:21.600 --> 20:23.120 or most of them have been sued 20:23.120 --> 20:24.760 because they ought to be in jail. 20:25.640 --> 20:29.160 And that's a sad thing because they need to see David. 20:29.160 --> 20:34.160 They need to see Jesus and his selflessness, see. 20:34.840 --> 20:38.420 We need to know of saints of God. 20:38.420 --> 20:40.440 We need to know of those who were heroes 20:40.440 --> 20:44.760 who stood against all wickedness and won their fight. 20:44.760 --> 20:46.960 Men who fought against loneliness, 20:46.960 --> 20:52.080 against cancer, against disease, against persecution, 20:52.080 --> 20:55.640 against bitterness and who fought the good fight 20:55.640 --> 20:58.640 to stay true to the word of God. 20:58.640 --> 21:01.000 What a wonderful, wonderful thing. 21:01.000 --> 21:04.440 We can show our kids if we would just show them 21:04.440 --> 21:07.200 the heroes of the faith. 21:07.200 --> 21:10.000 How much better could we do than that? 21:10.000 --> 21:13.240 No better, none whatsoever. 21:13.240 --> 21:16.600 And I pray that you be mindful of those words. 21:16.600 --> 21:18.400 And that's what we're here for. 21:19.480 --> 21:21.160 We'll come back Sunday night. 21:21.160 --> 21:22.600 Why? 21:22.600 --> 21:25.080 Well, there's no decree that says you have to do that, 21:25.080 --> 21:28.040 but you want to be mindful and bring to remembrance 21:28.040 --> 21:29.400 the pure things, the good things, 21:29.400 --> 21:32.280 to crowd out the busy things of the world. 21:32.280 --> 21:33.800 I was a little depressed because Wednesday 21:33.800 --> 21:36.360 I only had three little kids. 21:36.360 --> 21:40.000 I can't bring three junior high kids in. 21:40.000 --> 21:41.040 The only reason they were there 21:41.040 --> 21:43.160 is because their parents brought them 21:43.160 --> 21:47.760 and wanted them to hear somebody who loves the Lord 21:47.760 --> 21:50.640 teach them about the Lord. 21:50.640 --> 21:52.800 You may do a better job than I. 21:52.800 --> 21:54.920 I'm not the best teacher on Wednesday night. 21:54.920 --> 21:58.800 I know that, but I do know that we could have 21:58.800 --> 22:02.360 lots more kids having their minds stirred up 22:02.360 --> 22:04.920 because boy, are they getting it in the school system. 22:04.920 --> 22:06.840 Boy, are they getting it down on the street corner. 22:06.840 --> 22:09.200 Boy, are they getting it over at the swimming pool. 22:09.200 --> 22:12.520 They're getting another version of life. 22:12.520 --> 22:15.040 And if the church is to be successful, 22:15.040 --> 22:18.040 let's fill our children with the mind of God 22:18.040 --> 22:21.200 and stir up their pure remembrance as well. 22:21.200 --> 22:22.960 And I come to the conclusion that maybe 22:22.960 --> 22:25.240 we don't want to be stir up. 22:26.440 --> 22:30.160 Maybe we don't like that, but neither did the horsey. 22:31.160 --> 22:34.280 And I think quite often Christianity is a place 22:34.280 --> 22:37.920 where people are born again and then retire. 22:37.920 --> 22:39.000 It's kind of a retirement. 22:39.000 --> 22:40.240 Oh, I don't like retirement. 22:40.240 --> 22:41.080 You can have it. 22:42.920 --> 22:47.400 What an ugly, decadent word, retirement. 22:47.400 --> 22:50.760 I hate it, but this is the church. 22:51.800 --> 22:56.360 And retirement isn't for the members of the church. 22:56.360 --> 22:58.080 Joshua 24, 15 says, 22:58.080 --> 23:00.920 is choose this day whom you will serve. 23:00.920 --> 23:02.880 That's deliberate, isn't it? 23:02.880 --> 23:06.040 What does your heart tell you you ought to be doing? 23:06.040 --> 23:08.520 Is there a mission that some person setting here 23:08.520 --> 23:11.960 has wanted to accomplish, but just hadn't got it done? 23:12.880 --> 23:15.040 Is there a dream that you have? 23:15.040 --> 23:17.640 And somehow or another you just haven't been 23:17.640 --> 23:21.040 stirred up enough to do it. 23:21.040 --> 23:22.760 Talk with someone who is excited 23:22.760 --> 23:24.360 about the Lord Jesus Christ 23:24.360 --> 23:27.440 and maybe they will help you to come to terms. 23:27.440 --> 23:29.080 For this isn't a retirement home. 23:29.080 --> 23:33.440 This is the church, the blessed church. 23:33.440 --> 23:35.880 Oh, I would die for it. 23:35.880 --> 23:38.480 I would die for it. 23:38.480 --> 23:41.240 I would die for it. 23:41.240 --> 23:45.760 It's all that's really worth living for 23:45.760 --> 23:46.960 in this veil of tears. 23:46.960 --> 23:48.800 And I'm not discounting family 23:48.800 --> 23:50.560 and all the importance of that thing. 23:50.560 --> 23:55.120 I'm just saying that the house of God 23:55.120 --> 23:59.880 is worth everything that you can give it. 23:59.880 --> 24:01.520 And old Joshua said, 24:01.520 --> 24:04.000 now as for me and mine, 24:04.000 --> 24:09.000 me and my household, we will serve the Lord. 24:10.000 --> 24:11.920 You buy that? 24:11.920 --> 24:13.280 He meant that. 24:14.280 --> 24:16.240 And he lived his life. 24:16.240 --> 24:18.360 It's like that verse up there who, 24:18.360 --> 24:19.800 men who live by the truth, 24:19.800 --> 24:21.360 women who live by the truth, 24:21.360 --> 24:24.520 teeny boppers who live by the truth. 24:24.520 --> 24:25.360 You don't have to ask them, 24:25.360 --> 24:27.440 you guys go to church somewhere? 24:27.440 --> 24:29.720 They know you go to church, man. 24:29.720 --> 24:31.240 They know where you are. 24:31.240 --> 24:33.240 They know what you do with your time. 24:34.560 --> 24:35.960 I had a woman one time say, 24:35.960 --> 24:39.080 man, I know what you talk about all the time, Al. 24:39.080 --> 24:40.620 It's pretty boring to me. 24:41.800 --> 24:44.320 Well, church may be boring. 24:44.320 --> 24:45.160 I don't know. 24:45.160 --> 24:47.040 The body of Christ may be boring, 24:47.040 --> 24:48.600 but I'll tell you what, 24:48.600 --> 24:52.080 it's a direct commandment of God. 24:52.080 --> 24:55.280 And when he comes to get his sweetheart, his bride, 24:55.280 --> 24:59.160 it will be the church. 24:59.160 --> 25:00.000 Buy that? 25:00.000 --> 25:01.040 You believe that? 25:01.040 --> 25:03.440 If you don't, you better get the scriptures 25:03.440 --> 25:05.400 and find out what it's all about. 25:05.480 --> 25:07.000 Now this is a great thought. 25:07.000 --> 25:08.520 It's not mine. 25:08.520 --> 25:12.840 Oswald Chambers, a great preacher of the last hundred years, 25:12.840 --> 25:15.520 said this, I wish I had said it. 25:15.520 --> 25:17.080 For I think young couples, 25:17.080 --> 25:20.560 particularly need and young people, 25:20.560 --> 25:23.560 teenagers need to understand this truth. 25:23.560 --> 25:25.600 Now listen to its import. 25:25.600 --> 25:28.480 It's a very simple statement. 25:28.480 --> 25:32.880 The basis of life is tragic. 25:33.880 --> 25:38.880 The basis of life itself is a tragic thing. 25:40.280 --> 25:43.560 That's why we need each other at our old age. 25:43.560 --> 25:45.800 That's why we need the church, 25:45.800 --> 25:48.640 where ourselves we're lonely. 25:48.640 --> 25:50.000 You see? 25:50.000 --> 25:51.480 By ourselves we can be hurting, 25:51.480 --> 25:53.920 but together we can be strong. 25:53.920 --> 25:57.560 Now the reason that that is really a fundamental truth 25:57.560 --> 26:00.240 and the reason I see so much unhappiness 26:00.240 --> 26:04.240 in young people of the world is this, 26:04.240 --> 26:07.800 that human nature is not noble. 26:07.800 --> 26:11.320 There is a word, three-lettered word. 26:11.320 --> 26:14.560 Sin, S-I-N. 26:14.560 --> 26:17.400 Sin makes the world a tragic place, 26:17.400 --> 26:19.840 and the only answer is through the love of God, 26:19.840 --> 26:23.120 through the Bible, through holy living. 26:23.120 --> 26:24.840 That's the only answer. 26:24.840 --> 26:27.680 I think I've given a pretty clear analysis, 26:27.680 --> 26:32.680 that legislation and environment and education 26:33.080 --> 26:35.320 is not going to make the world a better place. 26:35.320 --> 26:37.840 I don't care what you say, I don't believe that, 26:37.840 --> 26:41.560 but the church can, the word of God can, 26:41.560 --> 26:46.560 the Messiah can make the world a better place. 26:46.760 --> 26:49.160 And by the way, some of you are scientists, 26:50.080 --> 26:51.600 and maybe you don't understand this. 26:51.600 --> 26:54.080 Evolution says the very same thing, 26:54.080 --> 26:56.520 and there's a fair argument for evolution now. 26:57.480 --> 26:59.560 And I want you to know this, 26:59.560 --> 27:02.480 that it's a survival of the fittest. 27:02.480 --> 27:04.560 And that's in the rock record, 27:04.560 --> 27:06.160 whether it's called evolution or not, 27:06.160 --> 27:09.720 that's so much, that there's a tremendous survival 27:09.720 --> 27:11.080 of the fittest, what do you mean? 27:11.080 --> 27:14.320 The guy with a machine gun has the last vote. 27:14.320 --> 27:16.000 The big man beats the little man. 27:16.000 --> 27:17.880 The swift beats the slow. 27:17.880 --> 27:22.480 The clever beat the dumb ones, 27:22.480 --> 27:27.480 even the amigos are in jeopardy from time to time. 27:28.560 --> 27:30.680 Oh, me amigos. 27:35.280 --> 27:37.280 I tell you, I believe that's true. 27:38.280 --> 27:40.560 Life in itself, per se, 27:40.560 --> 27:44.240 just of itself is a tragic thing. 27:44.240 --> 27:47.120 And the answer to that has to be the love of God. 27:47.120 --> 27:51.240 We do have an answer, we can cope with sin, 27:51.280 --> 27:56.280 we do have a canceling of that wickedness. 27:56.400 --> 27:59.120 I think that you find when you counsel people, 27:59.120 --> 28:02.280 their past is just a moorling of things 28:02.280 --> 28:04.640 they have not been able to live down, 28:04.640 --> 28:07.480 do not feel forgiven for, 28:07.480 --> 28:12.320 and maybe no desire to be forgiven, you see. 28:12.320 --> 28:17.320 We can have that counseling of God. 28:17.960 --> 28:19.960 We can be forgiven. 28:19.960 --> 28:22.760 Blessed is that man, Paul said, 28:22.760 --> 28:26.640 whose sins have not been remembered. 28:26.640 --> 28:28.880 And that's you and me, those who love the Lord. 28:28.880 --> 28:31.560 But that's not true of the world. 28:31.560 --> 28:33.700 Go tell the world that, see. 28:33.700 --> 28:35.500 We're not safe in innocence. 28:35.500 --> 28:39.560 Little children are of all people most vulnerable. 28:39.560 --> 28:42.680 They're innocent, they just don't know what's happening, man. 28:42.680 --> 28:44.240 And that isn't always the best thing. 28:44.240 --> 28:46.920 Now, Christians should be innocent, 28:46.920 --> 28:48.260 but they should be more than that. 28:48.260 --> 28:53.260 They should be safe only by virtue and purity. 28:53.380 --> 28:55.020 And then they're really safe. 28:55.020 --> 28:57.700 I want to conclude with this verse. 28:57.700 --> 28:59.780 Luke 22, 53 says, 28:59.780 --> 29:01.860 when I was daily with you in the temple, 29:01.860 --> 29:04.420 you stretched forth no hands against me, 29:04.420 --> 29:09.420 but this is your hour and this is the power of darkness. 29:09.700 --> 29:11.700 Boy, you see that coming over the world, don't we? 29:11.700 --> 29:15.060 A shadow, a power of darkness, 29:15.860 --> 29:19.540 oh, a roiling of fair meadows, 29:19.540 --> 29:23.220 a screening out of the sunshine of better days. 29:23.220 --> 29:24.220 And you know what? 29:24.220 --> 29:27.940 This is Jesus speaking, and he admonishes them. 29:27.940 --> 29:29.620 And they're all church folks, by the way. 29:29.620 --> 29:30.620 He's not talking to the world. 29:30.620 --> 29:32.940 He's talking about the priests, the scribes, 29:32.940 --> 29:35.380 the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. 29:35.380 --> 29:36.860 He's talking to those four categories. 29:36.860 --> 29:38.100 They're all godly people. 29:38.100 --> 29:39.740 They're all religious people. 29:39.740 --> 29:44.400 And he says, this is your dark hour. 29:44.400 --> 29:46.720 Folks, we don't have a dark hour. 29:46.720 --> 29:47.760 We don't want that. 29:47.760 --> 29:50.040 We're not gonna have a dark hour. 29:50.040 --> 29:51.840 There was a time in a moment of weakness 29:51.840 --> 29:54.480 they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, 29:54.480 --> 29:58.520 often in the name of that very God that he stood for. 29:58.520 --> 30:00.600 He was the son of God, you see. 30:01.600 --> 30:05.120 And church folks, we're not gonna have a dark hour 30:05.120 --> 30:10.120 because Matthew 28, 10 says, do not be afraid. 30:10.400 --> 30:14.760 Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee 30:14.760 --> 30:17.160 that they'll see me soon. 30:17.160 --> 30:18.400 Don't you like that? 30:18.400 --> 30:19.560 You go tell each other. 30:19.560 --> 30:20.920 You encourage one another. 30:20.920 --> 30:23.640 You build one another up. 30:23.640 --> 30:25.960 My, we needed that, didn't we? 30:25.960 --> 30:28.040 To be built up, to be encouraged, 30:28.040 --> 30:31.680 to be refurbished for another week. 30:31.680 --> 30:33.280 And I believe with all of my heart 30:33.280 --> 30:36.560 that we've had exposure to the mind of God, 30:36.560 --> 30:40.040 we have drank, drunk of his blood, 30:40.040 --> 30:43.320 and that is one of the most important things. 30:43.320 --> 30:46.080 G.K. Chesterson said this, 30:46.080 --> 30:49.800 the men who drink the blood of God 30:49.800 --> 30:54.800 go singing to their shame. 30:56.240 --> 30:58.760 That's why I love the church. 30:58.760 --> 31:00.320 That's why I love the church. 31:00.320 --> 31:04.480 It's not a quadripetal Elk Moose Club. 31:04.480 --> 31:06.360 It's something else. 31:06.360 --> 31:08.360 It's men who drink the blood of God 31:08.360 --> 31:13.360 and go singing to whatever is our destiny. 31:13.920 --> 31:16.240 If it's trumpets blowing, 31:16.240 --> 31:19.160 if it's the jail gate closing, 31:19.160 --> 31:23.760 if it's rocks and stones from an outraged world 31:23.760 --> 31:26.000 who do not like the love of God, 31:26.000 --> 31:31.000 so be it we go singing, we go singing. 31:34.400 --> 31:36.400 I'd conclude with one other verse. 31:37.240 --> 31:40.680 It's O John 1, 1 through 5, 31:40.680 --> 31:44.600 my you all know it in the beginning was Word. 31:47.920 --> 31:49.400 And the Word was with God. 31:49.400 --> 31:52.600 And the Word was God. 31:52.600 --> 31:56.520 Lagos, personification of intellect and will, 31:56.520 --> 31:58.560 the mind of God dealt with us. 31:58.560 --> 32:00.120 His name was Jesus. 32:02.040 --> 32:04.600 All things were made by Him 32:04.600 --> 32:08.220 and without Him was not anything made that was made. 32:09.720 --> 32:11.520 I look at the world and I see that everything, 32:11.520 --> 32:13.840 I can tell you, a geologist can tell you that much, 32:13.840 --> 32:18.480 everything has been made by a divine creator. 32:18.480 --> 32:23.480 Dinosaurs, Shaisalmosites, human beings, 32:25.880 --> 32:28.560 little plants, artificial or not, 32:28.560 --> 32:33.040 they have been made by a creator. 32:33.120 --> 32:35.440 He is in heaven and His name is Jesus. 32:37.480 --> 32:38.440 I like that. 32:39.840 --> 32:40.760 Then he says, 32:42.320 --> 32:44.720 and the life of the world, 32:44.720 --> 32:46.560 he was the life of the world. 32:49.220 --> 32:51.560 And the light shined in the darkness, 32:53.720 --> 32:57.720 but the darkness comprehended it, not. 33:00.280 --> 33:01.520 Do you see? 33:01.520 --> 33:02.720 Go tell your brothers. 33:03.360 --> 33:06.840 Be a light shining in the world, see? 33:07.960 --> 33:12.720 He was the life of the world. 33:12.720 --> 33:17.440 And the life was the light for men, verse four. 33:18.280 --> 33:20.040 Ah, but the light seeing it, 33:21.400 --> 33:23.080 it shined in the darkness, 33:24.280 --> 33:26.880 but they didn't understand the light. 33:26.880 --> 33:29.760 If you need to make a decision this morning, 33:29.760 --> 33:31.920 kind of a heavy thing, wasn't it? 33:31.920 --> 33:33.160 What's the exciting thing? 33:33.160 --> 33:35.280 The only answer that the world is gonna get 33:35.280 --> 33:37.760 is the church of Jesus Christ, 33:37.760 --> 33:40.600 based upon the word of God. 33:40.600 --> 33:43.040 And that's all that will make this world 33:43.040 --> 33:46.360 a final, better place. 33:46.360 --> 33:49.400 Let's stand and sing, our hymn of invitation 33:49.400 --> 33:52.920 is number 332. 33:54.180 --> 33:56.520 332. 33:56.520 --> 33:57.720 Please sing. 34:26.520 --> 34:36.520 Jesus, oh Jesus, we love you today. 34:36.520 --> 34:46.520 May God turn in the name of Jesus. 34:46.520 --> 34:59.520 May God turn in the name of Jesus, of Jesus. 34:59.520 --> 35:09.520 May God turn in the name of Jesus. 35:09.520 --> 35:21.520 Jesus, save your Christ anointed one. 35:21.520 --> 35:27.520 I pray that this sermon, not really pleasing to the ear, 35:27.520 --> 35:34.520 may have touched the inner abscess of a spot in your heart. 35:34.520 --> 35:39.520 So be it then, know that Jesus loves you 35:39.520 --> 35:43.520 and the only happiness you're ever going to get in this veil of tears 35:43.520 --> 35:49.520 will be through Jesus Christ. Would you be seated please?