WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:20.560 Well, the night the church died, that's a neat one, isn't it? 00:20.560 --> 00:21.760 You say the church can never die. 00:21.760 --> 00:23.280 Oh, yes, it can. 00:23.280 --> 00:24.440 The church can die. 00:24.440 --> 00:26.240 Don't you think that it can't? 00:26.240 --> 00:29.800 Jesus said, well, when he came there, except, you know, he'd come early, 00:29.800 --> 00:34.600 except for the elect's sake, no flesh would be spared. 00:34.600 --> 00:38.760 There would probably be the professing church everywhere, 00:38.760 --> 00:42.640 somewhere across the face of the earth, but not everywhere. 00:42.640 --> 00:48.960 And I wanted to bring a message that has been on my heart a long time. 00:48.960 --> 00:53.040 And I thought maybe Pat, this would be his opportunity to preach tonight 00:53.040 --> 00:55.240 is the reason that I did this. 00:55.240 --> 00:59.200 I didn't know we were going to get hearing this morning. 00:59.200 --> 01:00.800 And so I'd saved the time. 01:00.800 --> 01:03.320 But I've prepared this message a long, long time ago. 01:03.320 --> 01:09.040 As a matter of fact, almost 22 years ago, the day the church died. 01:09.040 --> 01:13.120 You know, can you remember when we had a church? 01:13.120 --> 01:15.800 Perhaps there's some folks gathered around in dark places 01:15.800 --> 01:19.640 and wondering, remember what it was like? 01:19.640 --> 01:21.800 Who is God anyway? 01:21.800 --> 01:23.680 And that question would come up, wouldn't it? 01:23.680 --> 01:27.520 If you didn't have the church, who would say, who is God? 01:27.760 --> 01:29.360 Who would tell them about God? 01:29.360 --> 01:31.760 You see, how? 01:31.760 --> 01:33.680 Well, how did the church die? 01:33.680 --> 01:34.560 What? 01:34.560 --> 01:38.640 It dried up like a tree in a hot wind. 01:38.640 --> 01:41.000 How could such a thing happen? 01:41.000 --> 01:43.440 Just didn't get any attention. 01:43.440 --> 01:45.920 It just shriveled up and passed away. 01:45.920 --> 01:49.600 I doubt if it's going to disappear by outward persecution. 01:49.600 --> 01:53.600 That's perhaps where you think maybe I had a different tangent, but I don't. 01:53.600 --> 01:56.280 I doubt if it's really by persecution. 01:56.360 --> 02:00.640 It probably happens from lack of interest and lack of resources 02:00.640 --> 02:04.240 and lack of time from so many people's lives. 02:04.240 --> 02:08.400 Well, historians noted the truth, and you might write this down 02:08.400 --> 02:09.760 because it's really worthwhile. 02:09.760 --> 02:15.720 I believe this to be absolutely factual, that you must grow at least by 6% 02:15.720 --> 02:22.560 each year in order to maintain a steady number. 02:22.560 --> 02:29.520 You must grow at least by 6% to maintain a steady number of attendance. 02:29.520 --> 02:32.360 Now, that's interesting too, isn't it? 02:32.360 --> 02:34.920 You know how many people we baptize and how many we win? 02:34.920 --> 02:37.800 Well, come one of these nights, the third night in November, 02:37.800 --> 02:39.760 and you'll find out how many we did. 02:39.760 --> 02:44.040 You know, you might hold your breath because it's interesting. 02:44.040 --> 02:46.160 It's fascinating, see? 02:46.160 --> 02:50.120 I think the first signs of the demise of the church, 02:50.120 --> 02:52.800 and you remember what funny things they did in the church. 02:52.800 --> 02:53.880 You remember that? 02:53.880 --> 02:58.040 They used to have pretty girls in a white gown come down the aisle, 02:58.040 --> 03:01.560 and mothers were weeping, and daddies were smiling, 03:01.560 --> 03:05.960 and it was just a wonderful thing, but you know, now the state does it, 03:05.960 --> 03:08.040 and there's a much better way to do it, of course. 03:08.040 --> 03:13.360 The Department of Health and Standards is a better institute, by the way, 03:13.360 --> 03:16.840 to present marriage, probably than others were. 03:16.840 --> 03:20.000 I think there were some funny things done. 03:20.040 --> 03:22.960 You know, they talked about a thing called the immortal soul, 03:22.960 --> 03:24.280 too, didn't they, in that church? 03:24.280 --> 03:25.280 The immortal soul? 03:25.280 --> 03:28.240 What a laugh, man. 03:28.240 --> 03:35.760 Why, man, I heard a woman the other day say that the body is expendable, 03:35.760 --> 03:38.080 and they was talking about little bodies. 03:38.080 --> 03:40.480 They're merely expendable. 03:40.480 --> 03:44.320 I heard that by a learned woman, a doctor's degree, 03:44.320 --> 03:46.920 which gives you what some doctors might be worth. 03:46.920 --> 03:49.680 I don't be too snowed by doctor's degree. 03:49.680 --> 03:55.080 Well, they preached about funeral services, too. 03:55.080 --> 03:57.640 You know, we recently had a funeral service. 03:57.640 --> 04:06.760 That dear and blessed lady, Larry, she's done so much for the church, 04:06.760 --> 04:11.760 and in her death is doing so much for the church and the school. 04:11.760 --> 04:14.440 Just waiting to hear of some of the things. 04:14.440 --> 04:17.720 And I thought that was kind of neat, because the other day, 04:17.720 --> 04:21.160 they read the scriptures in the funeral. 04:21.160 --> 04:23.040 And the state doesn't do that, of course, anymore. 04:23.040 --> 04:24.640 There's no necessity of doing something, 04:24.640 --> 04:27.440 because bodies are expendable, by the way. 04:27.440 --> 04:30.120 You know, if you had to say, when did the church die? 04:30.120 --> 04:33.560 I'll tell you, it's the same thing that Guy B. Dunning said. 04:33.560 --> 04:36.560 It died in about the late 1930s. 04:36.560 --> 04:37.720 What happened then? 04:37.720 --> 04:41.200 Well, you can figure it out, but we'll go through it. 04:41.200 --> 04:45.920 Is it too extreme to say that the church died somewhere in 1930? 04:45.920 --> 04:49.680 Well, this was the age of giveaways. 04:49.680 --> 04:52.960 In 1930, some interesting things happened, 04:52.960 --> 04:54.840 and socialism came into the world. 04:54.840 --> 04:57.800 And with socialism, other things went out of the world, 04:57.800 --> 05:00.080 like prayer and some other things. 05:00.080 --> 05:01.800 And you know, without that, the church 05:01.800 --> 05:05.880 doesn't do very good without prayer and without Bible study. 05:05.880 --> 05:08.320 And if it wasn't looked up to, the church 05:08.320 --> 05:12.360 did just kind of shrivel up and kind of passed away, didn't it? 05:12.360 --> 05:16.040 I think I would stick between 1930 and 1960. 05:16.040 --> 05:19.080 Guy said, this is the beginning of the Laodicean church, which 05:19.080 --> 05:20.040 I believe in. 05:20.040 --> 05:22.760 I believe they are also not a specific church, 05:22.760 --> 05:26.760 because that never satisfied me intellectually. 05:26.760 --> 05:30.880 But we were talking about a sequence of time also, 05:30.880 --> 05:36.240 in so much as Matthew 24 was not fulfilled that day. 05:36.240 --> 05:38.280 It's yet to be fulfilled, much of it. 05:38.280 --> 05:42.240 And so I'm just saying that we can see in looking ahead 05:42.280 --> 05:44.120 that there's more to it. 05:44.120 --> 05:48.080 And it has to be not quite obvious 05:48.080 --> 05:49.400 or the enemy gets onto it. 05:49.400 --> 05:52.080 Well, the enemy isn't studying the Word of God, 05:52.080 --> 05:54.160 but I'm afraid a lot of God's people 05:54.160 --> 05:55.920 aren't studying it that much. 05:55.920 --> 05:58.160 You know, the government took care of it all. 05:58.160 --> 06:00.600 We didn't really need the church that time, did it? 06:00.600 --> 06:05.400 It says, those who they begot, they forgot. 06:05.400 --> 06:10.640 And so the government took over from cradle to grave. 06:10.640 --> 06:12.680 And the church had very little to do with anything 06:12.680 --> 06:14.680 of any true relevancy. 06:14.680 --> 06:16.840 Is it really too extreme? 06:16.840 --> 06:19.200 And can the church assembly die? 06:19.200 --> 06:21.480 Well, it can. 06:21.480 --> 06:24.040 The church died in many nations. 06:24.040 --> 06:26.400 Now, if you don't like this, I want 06:26.400 --> 06:31.800 you to get the cross and the crown, or there are many others. 06:31.800 --> 06:35.040 Take Haley's handbook and read the sequence on the church 06:35.040 --> 06:37.200 history, if you just do that. 06:37.200 --> 06:39.120 That should easily take any one of you 06:39.120 --> 06:44.120 no more than 17 minutes, if you go slow. 06:44.120 --> 06:47.720 And there you'll see a record of probably 200 million people 06:47.720 --> 06:49.360 who perished. 06:49.360 --> 06:51.480 Did the church assembly die? 06:51.480 --> 06:55.280 Not in total, not all told. 06:55.280 --> 06:57.960 But in whole nations, the church disappeared. 06:57.960 --> 07:01.760 And it disappeared for hundreds, and in some cases, 07:01.760 --> 07:04.440 1,000 years. 07:04.440 --> 07:06.120 I want to read a name. 07:06.120 --> 07:10.640 You know, a fellow in 1420 through 98 07:10.640 --> 07:13.640 had jurisdiction over the people of Europe, particularly 07:13.640 --> 07:17.000 a place called Spain, who was the Tokwamado. 07:17.000 --> 07:22.760 Remember me singing, and please, all hail to thee 07:22.760 --> 07:29.720 my Tokwamado holy inquisitor. 07:29.720 --> 07:32.160 I'm sure that would be a great benefit to Jesus. 07:32.160 --> 07:34.800 And some of you are saying, what's he talking about, man? 07:34.800 --> 07:38.240 Well, maybe you better find out, huh? 07:38.240 --> 07:41.640 You know I have no imagination whatsoever. 07:41.640 --> 07:46.960 You might find out, because he burned 10,200 people alive 07:46.960 --> 07:51.000 and tortured 97,000 people to death. 07:51.000 --> 07:54.520 The church in the 20th century in that country 07:54.520 --> 08:02.480 is, to this day, deader than a door nail. 08:02.480 --> 08:06.800 And even the countries which that great nation established, 08:06.800 --> 08:10.320 you cannot tack a New Testament Christian church 08:10.320 --> 08:12.960 above your funny little adobe church, 08:12.960 --> 08:17.240 because we tried to do it in Mexico. 08:17.240 --> 08:18.560 It is dead there. 08:18.560 --> 08:26.000 It is dead in every country that that great system went on 08:26.000 --> 08:27.480 to push forward. 08:27.480 --> 08:29.840 The Dominicans and the Jesuits themselves 08:29.880 --> 08:36.160 probably have accounted for the death of 200 million people. 08:36.160 --> 08:37.200 And you know what? 08:37.200 --> 08:38.800 I don't want to dwell on that. 08:38.800 --> 08:41.920 As that's done, I can't do anything about that. 08:41.920 --> 08:43.480 I would say this. 08:43.480 --> 08:46.800 Nothing is more vital on the face of the earth 08:46.800 --> 08:51.360 than the church, the assembly of God. 08:51.360 --> 08:54.800 Your kids can do without school, of all the hubbub 08:54.800 --> 08:56.560 we've been hearing about it. 08:56.560 --> 09:00.840 You can do without hospitals. 09:00.840 --> 09:03.920 But you can't do without the church, 09:03.920 --> 09:07.000 because it is the church that preaches eternal life 09:07.000 --> 09:11.800 and the church alone which preaches Jesus Christ. 09:11.800 --> 09:15.400 Absolutely nothing else is capable of doing that. 09:15.400 --> 09:16.880 Seen kind of tough? 09:16.880 --> 09:19.320 No, I don't really think so. 09:19.320 --> 09:22.960 Because the Holy Spirit is the only significant thing 09:22.960 --> 09:25.520 that you can endow your children with. 09:25.520 --> 09:27.160 And whatever the time, maybe there's 09:27.160 --> 09:29.680 going to be a chicken and ever pot for the next 100 years. 09:29.680 --> 09:33.080 I don't know, and you know I'm not a prophet. 09:33.080 --> 09:37.360 But I tell you what, if your children aren't born again, 09:37.360 --> 09:42.480 they might as well be gone and be dead anyway. 09:42.480 --> 09:44.720 Isn't that what we really believe? 09:44.720 --> 09:49.240 That eternal life is more significant than meat and potatoes 09:49.240 --> 09:52.880 and combing their hair and getting them ready for school 09:52.880 --> 09:56.440 and chasing them to sporting events and all that other thing. 09:56.440 --> 09:58.480 And you and I can just sit here knowing 09:58.480 --> 10:00.520 that these are old friends. 10:00.520 --> 10:03.400 Some of you folks I have known almost all my adult life 10:03.400 --> 10:05.040 in Casper. 10:05.040 --> 10:07.640 And I know that I couldn't say this, 10:07.640 --> 10:11.680 and I wouldn't say it on a Sunday morning bunch. 10:11.680 --> 10:14.960 But you're going to hang in there whatever God brings to you. 10:14.960 --> 10:18.000 You're going to be faithful and you know. 10:18.000 --> 10:20.040 But what we need to do is you need 10:20.040 --> 10:25.200 to tell others too that the one significant thing the world cannot 10:25.200 --> 10:28.720 do without is the church. 10:28.720 --> 10:33.320 The church, the church often disparages, often may light up. 10:33.320 --> 10:37.120 Now if you had turned to Zachariah 11, verse 7, 10:37.120 --> 10:40.480 and I'm going to read verse 10 and 14 and 17. 10:40.480 --> 10:41.840 And here's some interesting things. 10:41.840 --> 10:45.400 May you never heard of these two staffs which God had, 10:45.400 --> 10:47.520 which he promised his people. 10:47.560 --> 10:51.240 Zachariah 11, 7 says, then I took two staffs 10:51.240 --> 10:54.360 and I called one favor and the other union. 10:54.360 --> 10:58.440 Have you ever heard of two staffs, favor and union? 10:58.440 --> 10:59.280 Hey, now that's cool. 10:59.280 --> 11:01.400 Let's define them as the Bible would. 11:01.400 --> 11:05.560 Verse 10, then I took my staff called favor, God speaking, 11:05.560 --> 11:08.800 and I broke it, revoking the covenant. 11:08.800 --> 11:13.560 I had made with Israel and all the nations. 11:13.560 --> 11:16.520 God said, well, I'm going to break my promise to you. 11:16.520 --> 11:17.020 Why? 11:17.020 --> 11:19.600 Because you broke your promise to me. 11:19.600 --> 11:20.360 Honey, do you love me? 11:20.360 --> 11:21.840 Yes, I guess not. 11:21.840 --> 11:25.680 Well, that's the way God's people answered, see? 11:25.680 --> 11:29.360 God said, I love you enough to give you my boy. 11:29.360 --> 11:32.520 Now that's a big deal to give your boy, isn't it? 11:32.520 --> 11:35.000 To give your girl is a big deal. 11:35.000 --> 11:39.240 It's a wondrous thing, isn't it, to give your child. 11:39.240 --> 11:42.880 And God was plenty ticked off. 11:42.880 --> 11:44.280 That's a good way to say it. 11:44.280 --> 11:50.440 He broke that staff and took favor away from his people. 11:50.440 --> 11:51.480 Why? 11:51.480 --> 11:54.520 Because they broke his commandments. 11:54.520 --> 11:58.120 And then in verse 14, then I took my second staff, 11:58.120 --> 12:02.680 which is called union. 12:02.680 --> 12:05.240 Now, union, I mentioned that funny lady coming down the aisle 12:05.240 --> 12:07.120 in a white dress with a thing over, 12:07.120 --> 12:08.600 and then the guy who lists it up like this, 12:08.600 --> 12:11.520 and he goes, oh, the wrong one, puts it back down, 12:11.520 --> 12:13.760 or whoops, I must have not been thinking right. 12:13.800 --> 12:15.080 Whoops. 12:15.080 --> 12:19.320 And that was a funny thing to do called a wedding, wasn't it? 12:19.320 --> 12:22.000 But they made a vow. 12:22.000 --> 12:24.960 They had a covenant with each other, didn't they? 12:24.960 --> 12:26.960 And it was supposed to be that way, see? 12:26.960 --> 12:28.480 And they weren't supposed to break it. 12:28.480 --> 12:31.080 And God broke it because it had first been broken. 12:31.080 --> 12:33.280 Now, that was the attribute, really, 12:33.280 --> 12:34.880 of a covenant anyway, wasn't it, 12:34.880 --> 12:38.440 that both kept their part of the bargain. 12:38.440 --> 12:41.320 When one breaks it, it's all broken. 12:41.320 --> 12:43.080 It's gone, isn't it? 12:43.120 --> 12:44.920 It's truly gone. 12:44.920 --> 12:49.320 And he said, I made that with Israel and the nations. 12:49.320 --> 12:53.640 And then he said, I am going to take my second staff, 12:53.640 --> 12:56.200 called union, breaking the brotherhood 12:56.200 --> 12:57.840 between Judah and Israel. 12:57.840 --> 13:01.400 He says, I'm going to put brother against brother. 13:01.400 --> 13:03.280 Didn't Jesus say that that was one of the signs 13:03.280 --> 13:04.320 of the last time? 13:05.920 --> 13:10.240 When there would be an internecine squabble, 13:10.240 --> 13:13.480 a fight between brothers, sisters, and mamas, 13:13.480 --> 13:17.080 and daddies, and uncles, and nephews, 13:17.080 --> 13:18.840 and all this kind of thing, see? 13:18.840 --> 13:20.960 There would be a schism in God's family. 13:21.940 --> 13:24.360 A schism in God's family. 13:24.360 --> 13:25.200 Well, there was. 13:25.200 --> 13:27.400 Someone said, the day the church that died was, 13:27.400 --> 13:29.720 the day the church died was, crystal knock. 13:29.720 --> 13:32.520 And I've been talking to the, 13:32.520 --> 13:34.400 that sounds fairly good too. 13:34.400 --> 13:36.120 What happened on crystal knock? 13:36.120 --> 13:38.080 The breaking of the glass when all the homes 13:38.120 --> 13:41.080 of the Jewish people were broken into, 13:41.080 --> 13:45.520 and they were carried away into slavery in 45, 13:47.080 --> 13:50.600 34, not 45, because that was the end of it all. 13:50.600 --> 13:55.600 That's when Hitler finally made an ashtray of himself, 13:55.600 --> 13:57.480 and or was helped out. 13:57.480 --> 13:58.720 We're not even sure. 13:58.720 --> 13:59.920 And I pray that it happened. 13:59.920 --> 14:04.200 I'm not, couldn't be dead sure that it did at all. 14:04.240 --> 14:06.800 And so brother against brother, 14:07.640 --> 14:10.800 as a kind of portent of worse things to come, see? 14:10.800 --> 14:12.920 And then verse 17, 14:12.920 --> 14:17.920 whoa to the idle shepherd that leadeth the flock. 14:19.440 --> 14:21.320 Now we're getting ready to vote, 14:21.320 --> 14:23.200 and we need elders. 14:23.200 --> 14:25.320 Church to size needs more elders. 14:26.560 --> 14:28.160 You know, one of the weaknesses of the church 14:28.160 --> 14:30.440 in Wyoming is a lack of eldership. 14:31.720 --> 14:34.080 Now there's several reasons for that. 14:34.080 --> 14:35.520 It doesn't mean just because you got elders, 14:35.520 --> 14:36.640 you've got good elders either. 14:36.640 --> 14:39.000 Not saying that, never did claim to. 14:40.080 --> 14:43.200 But you do need a spiritual guide 14:43.200 --> 14:45.360 in the household of the faith. 14:45.360 --> 14:48.000 There are formidable things facing the church 14:48.000 --> 14:51.680 where you do need a judgment call in spiritual matters 14:51.680 --> 14:54.320 as it relegates to the word of God. 14:54.320 --> 14:56.640 We may not always agree, 14:56.640 --> 14:59.920 but we have to agree to disagree at any rate. 15:00.040 --> 15:02.360 And to do it as gentlemen, 15:02.360 --> 15:05.600 and to do it as one, united, see? 15:05.600 --> 15:09.440 Or he will break our staff and union is lost. 15:09.440 --> 15:11.720 Now the only way you can take this church 15:11.720 --> 15:14.400 is to take it from the inside. 15:14.400 --> 15:19.400 From the outside, we will live forever. 15:19.440 --> 15:20.680 I'm really convinced of that. 15:20.680 --> 15:24.440 From the outside, no one can put us down. 15:24.440 --> 15:26.920 From the inside, I could conceive it would be possible. 15:26.920 --> 15:29.640 When I speak to old friends, see? 15:29.640 --> 15:31.400 We're still here tonight. 15:31.400 --> 15:35.200 In spite of our disagreements, I love you all 15:35.200 --> 15:37.280 and I know what you're made of. 15:38.480 --> 15:40.280 And there's nothing I don't think 15:40.280 --> 15:42.280 that would take you folks sitting here 15:42.280 --> 15:45.440 and separate you from the love of the Lord Jesus. 15:45.440 --> 15:47.840 I just don't believe there is anything in the world 15:47.840 --> 15:50.640 that could separate you from the love of God, 15:50.640 --> 15:53.120 which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. 15:53.120 --> 15:58.120 But from the inside, it might be that poison 15:58.800 --> 16:00.280 could taint the house of God. 16:00.280 --> 16:02.240 I do know one thing. 16:02.240 --> 16:05.380 An idle shepherd is a curse by God 16:05.380 --> 16:08.280 and it cursed God's people, didn't it? 16:08.280 --> 16:11.720 There are wonderful men and women qualified 16:11.720 --> 16:13.680 to do more than they're doing. 16:13.680 --> 16:16.520 And I really just challenge everyone 16:16.520 --> 16:18.720 to just step into the traces 16:18.720 --> 16:20.640 because there are folks here 16:20.640 --> 16:22.720 who have more innate knowledge. 16:22.720 --> 16:25.000 I told a man, he knows more about the scriptures 16:25.000 --> 16:27.600 probably than anybody else around. 16:27.600 --> 16:30.040 And I really believe with all of my heart 16:30.040 --> 16:32.840 that any one of you would be a blessing in any church, 16:32.840 --> 16:34.720 you would be anywhere. 16:34.720 --> 16:38.540 Baptists, Lutheran, Methodists, whatever. 16:38.540 --> 16:40.280 You would excel there. 16:40.280 --> 16:43.680 You would stand out there like a sore thumb. 16:44.840 --> 16:47.320 In many ways, you would be a sore thumb too. 16:48.200 --> 16:51.500 And so I think it's time. 16:51.500 --> 16:55.840 Now, the time of revolution was worldwide 16:55.840 --> 16:58.200 when Jesus instigated it. 16:58.200 --> 17:01.720 And they needed a voice and the voice was Jesus. 17:02.680 --> 17:06.600 And times of revolution need a voice. 17:06.600 --> 17:09.040 This is a time of revolution, isn't it? 17:09.040 --> 17:09.960 Of anarchy. 17:11.200 --> 17:13.800 For two long, 78 years, 17:13.800 --> 17:16.800 two formidable great opponents stood there 17:16.800 --> 17:18.920 with A-bombs across the border. 17:19.740 --> 17:24.760 Stood there with expensive armies and poisoned gas 17:24.800 --> 17:27.440 and the most hideous of all inventions 17:27.440 --> 17:29.800 of killing one another. 17:29.800 --> 17:33.960 And it was actually a far more peaceful time than it is now. 17:35.560 --> 17:38.200 I've said things like Pat can go overseas, 17:38.200 --> 17:39.960 but he's gotta leave that little girl here. 17:39.960 --> 17:41.460 Just kidding, of course. 17:42.680 --> 17:46.520 But I don't know how dangerous the rest of the world is 17:46.520 --> 17:48.200 compared to this. 17:48.200 --> 17:49.120 Oh, it's safer. 17:49.120 --> 17:53.640 I'm not saying that we live in any imminent danger, 17:53.680 --> 17:55.120 at least for a few months. 17:55.120 --> 17:58.600 And I think that the point that could be made here 17:58.600 --> 18:02.240 is wherever you're in God's grace, 18:02.240 --> 18:06.600 you're in God's will, you're safe. 18:06.600 --> 18:07.880 Would you buy that? 18:07.880 --> 18:09.200 That you are safe. 18:09.200 --> 18:12.820 Now, Jesus broke the revolution of the cruelty of Rome. 18:13.840 --> 18:17.040 I mentioned that one island in the Mediterranean 18:17.040 --> 18:19.840 had 5,000 men whose right eye had been removed 18:19.840 --> 18:21.800 and filled with hot lead. 18:21.800 --> 18:25.320 I'll tell you, that's not excessively cruel, 18:25.320 --> 18:27.680 but it's not really nice. 18:29.320 --> 18:31.080 Really is it? 18:31.080 --> 18:34.480 And that cruelty of Rome, women finally became something 18:34.480 --> 18:39.400 besides just common property when Jesus began to preach. 18:40.360 --> 18:42.280 A lot of the folks are badmouthed in Jesus 18:42.280 --> 18:45.200 because he thought that women were put down 18:45.200 --> 18:47.120 or they thought that Jesus put women, 18:47.120 --> 18:50.280 Jesus liberated women if you just read what he had to say 18:50.720 --> 18:51.880 and listen to what he had to say. 18:51.880 --> 18:53.640 Paul took up that voice and that voice 18:53.640 --> 18:57.600 which turned the world around and he gave it to the world 18:57.600 --> 18:59.280 and he made a better place of it. 18:59.280 --> 19:00.400 I believe that with all of my heart 19:00.400 --> 19:02.520 because Paul preached what Jesus preached, 19:02.520 --> 19:04.960 the world was a better place and started a new revolution. 19:04.960 --> 19:07.640 Nothing much happened until Augustine in the year 430, 19:07.640 --> 19:09.080 he wrote a marvelous book. 19:09.080 --> 19:12.800 Augustine was the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa. 19:12.800 --> 19:14.480 And he wrote the city of God, 19:14.480 --> 19:17.580 which had the most profound effect of one book 19:17.580 --> 19:20.420 that has ever been written outside the Bible. 19:20.420 --> 19:24.100 And it had to do with the secularization 19:24.100 --> 19:29.100 of great nations using scriptural precepts, see, 19:30.260 --> 19:34.420 and putting a father in charge of everything. 19:35.820 --> 19:39.460 And that probably led to the death of more people 19:39.460 --> 19:40.380 than any other thing. 19:40.380 --> 19:44.540 And for 1,000 years, I think brought on the dark ages, see, 19:45.420 --> 19:46.780 and gave us the TOKU model. 19:46.780 --> 19:47.700 I just read about it. 19:47.700 --> 19:50.300 That was just the closing few years. 19:50.300 --> 19:52.140 Most of the dirty work had already been done. 19:52.140 --> 19:55.020 Martin Luther comes along in 1517 19:55.020 --> 19:58.620 and single-handedly was a voice that changed the world. 19:58.620 --> 20:01.340 And I swear that's the bravest man who ever lived. 20:01.340 --> 20:03.500 I, you know, we can't agree with everything he said. 20:03.500 --> 20:05.060 He said, don't you name a church after me? 20:05.060 --> 20:07.700 And of course we didn't do that either, did we? 20:07.700 --> 20:12.100 But he was a profoundly spiritual man 20:12.100 --> 20:15.180 and he sought the truth and he saw it as best he could. 20:15.180 --> 20:17.500 And we have the advantage of his great intellect 20:17.500 --> 20:19.540 and his great bravery and have done less with it 20:19.540 --> 20:21.140 than he did. 20:21.140 --> 20:24.140 The French Revolution came along in 1789 20:24.140 --> 20:25.660 and liberated the mind. 20:25.660 --> 20:30.660 Remember the third estate, which was the religiosity 20:30.660 --> 20:35.460 and the fourth estate became the newspaper or truth 20:35.460 --> 20:38.660 and being able to publish the truth and liberty. 20:39.740 --> 20:43.860 And that brought on the age of reason and madam guillotine. 20:43.860 --> 20:44.700 That's funny. 20:44.700 --> 20:48.080 The age of reasons was really brought about by this. 20:48.080 --> 20:50.820 They got rid of the old hierarchy, 20:50.820 --> 20:55.820 the old clergy laity system and they became free to think 20:56.260 --> 20:58.140 and the age of reason was born. 20:58.140 --> 21:00.860 Now the age of reason has sure caused a lot of peace 21:00.860 --> 21:02.100 in the world, hasn't it? 21:03.340 --> 21:05.620 My land, that scares the britches off me 21:05.620 --> 21:07.580 when I think of what scientists can do 21:07.580 --> 21:08.820 who have no morality. 21:08.820 --> 21:10.660 They scare me to death. 21:11.660 --> 21:14.260 A big six foot nine guy with a machete 21:14.260 --> 21:15.740 can be shot down with a newsy. 21:15.740 --> 21:17.940 Just like that, you don't have to go through that. 21:17.940 --> 21:20.140 Oh, hold this. 21:20.140 --> 21:21.540 Heavens, there's a jillion ways 21:21.540 --> 21:23.700 to dispatch someone with hairy palms. 21:24.580 --> 21:26.820 But a guy sitting back there thinking, 21:26.820 --> 21:30.860 thinking ways that you can't handle is a worrisome thing. 21:30.860 --> 21:35.700 See, and so that was a marvelous point. 21:35.700 --> 21:40.700 Now, at taking it over, there was no great voice. 21:40.820 --> 21:43.420 Napoleon almost pulled it off. 21:43.420 --> 21:47.400 Napoleon was defeated finally at Waterloo. 21:47.400 --> 21:48.860 He was defeated by the Russians. 21:48.860 --> 21:52.620 I saw a pile of 1,000 of his cannons 21:52.620 --> 21:55.460 and every Russian gloats to it, you know. 21:55.460 --> 21:59.540 The mightier conqueror, we conquered 1,000 cannons. 21:59.540 --> 22:02.060 You know, that's a big pile of rusty iron. 22:03.100 --> 22:05.060 But you see, it wasn't a good voice. 22:05.140 --> 22:06.300 It wasn't a decent voice. 22:06.300 --> 22:08.460 And all he did was defeat himself 22:08.460 --> 22:10.380 and ruin his people, see. 22:10.380 --> 22:12.420 No voice really captured the world 22:12.420 --> 22:14.580 and no great religious principle happened. 22:14.580 --> 22:17.700 John Wesley in the 18th century saved England 22:17.700 --> 22:19.820 from that very same thing at the very same time 22:19.820 --> 22:22.340 while they were having treason and Madame guillotine 22:22.340 --> 22:25.540 over here and hundreds of thousands of people perished. 22:25.540 --> 22:30.060 And the age of reason and science was born without God. 22:30.060 --> 22:31.940 England was spared. 22:31.940 --> 22:35.860 And John Wesley, who is far different 22:35.860 --> 22:38.260 than the church we see today, 22:38.260 --> 22:41.580 but he preached that Jesus was Lord 22:41.580 --> 22:43.700 and he was a man of great piety 22:43.700 --> 22:45.200 and England was spared. 22:45.200 --> 22:47.420 He was a voice. 22:47.420 --> 22:50.860 What has France amounted to since the revolution? 22:50.860 --> 22:51.700 Does anyone know? 22:52.860 --> 22:56.020 There are nothing, absolutely nothing. 22:56.020 --> 22:58.500 And they will remain absolutely nothing 22:58.500 --> 23:01.540 with sophistication, education, talent, 23:01.580 --> 23:02.700 history in their favor. 23:02.700 --> 23:04.340 They will always be nothing. 23:04.340 --> 23:05.180 Why? 23:06.100 --> 23:07.940 They didn't put God first, see. 23:07.940 --> 23:09.540 And there was no voice. 23:09.540 --> 23:11.980 In 1917 and October 7th, hey, 23:11.980 --> 23:14.980 that's just the end of October right now, isn't it? 23:14.980 --> 23:16.220 And people's around the world 23:16.220 --> 23:20.460 that celebrated the October revolution. 23:20.460 --> 23:21.580 And there was a voice. 23:21.580 --> 23:23.620 Lennon had it for a while, didn't he? 23:24.620 --> 23:26.980 And Lennon went on to kill more people, 23:26.980 --> 23:28.920 probably than any other philosophy 23:28.920 --> 23:30.860 on the face of the earth. 23:30.860 --> 23:32.980 And it rocked the world, 23:32.980 --> 23:35.020 but there was no counter voice. 23:35.020 --> 23:38.980 America couldn't come up with a great Bible scholar 23:38.980 --> 23:42.100 or a great teacher or a great prophet 23:42.100 --> 23:44.180 to convert the people. 23:44.180 --> 23:46.580 And we need a voice tonight. 23:46.580 --> 23:48.680 And I believe with all of my heart, 23:48.680 --> 23:50.620 woe to the idle shepherds. 23:50.620 --> 23:52.340 If you have the ability to be a shepherd 23:52.340 --> 23:54.780 and aren't doing it, let's do it. 23:54.780 --> 23:57.220 The days of automatic growth of the church are over. 23:57.220 --> 23:58.820 Have you discovered that? 23:59.660 --> 24:01.500 It's kind of scary, isn't it? 24:01.500 --> 24:04.180 We've had it easy here to four. 24:04.180 --> 24:06.540 When I thought about that, I almost threw up. 24:06.540 --> 24:09.540 It's easy here to four. 24:09.540 --> 24:11.980 We know it's not easy, is it? 24:11.980 --> 24:14.620 But it's fixing to get a little harder. 24:14.620 --> 24:16.620 Some people say we've got lots of preachers. 24:16.620 --> 24:19.500 They're soothing, moving and satisfying. 24:19.500 --> 24:21.140 Yet they're like locust preachers. 24:21.140 --> 24:22.620 See, they come and swarms 24:22.620 --> 24:24.780 and they eat anything on the loose. 24:24.780 --> 24:28.060 And you watch a TV set and see if that isn't true. 24:28.100 --> 24:30.300 It's like the little darky guy says, 24:30.300 --> 24:31.900 he saw a whole field of water well. 24:31.900 --> 24:35.340 He says, oh Lord, bless my lips and make them up to it. 24:37.620 --> 24:39.380 And evangelism is the life of the church. 24:39.380 --> 24:42.540 I go back, you must grow by 6% or you perish. 24:43.580 --> 24:45.860 And anytime that gets out of the church's budget, 24:45.860 --> 24:47.820 out of the people's mind, 24:47.820 --> 24:51.820 when that gets out of the necessity of being in the church, 24:51.820 --> 24:56.540 you can't get tired of talking about evangelizing. 24:56.540 --> 24:59.380 You can't get tired of talking about missions. 24:59.380 --> 25:00.820 You cannot. 25:00.820 --> 25:03.620 And I really believe that probably the church today 25:03.620 --> 25:06.180 less resembles the church of the New Testament 25:06.180 --> 25:10.300 that it has in 2,000 years, 1,800 years. 25:11.580 --> 25:13.740 People were won everywhere, 25:13.740 --> 25:17.340 but in the church in the opening days of Pentecost. 25:17.340 --> 25:18.620 Where were they won? 25:18.620 --> 25:23.020 Well, in the marketplace, along the road, 25:23.020 --> 25:24.740 enrollment was in the back door 25:24.740 --> 25:26.140 in the homes of wealthy folks, 25:26.140 --> 25:29.580 as slaves preached of the freedom which was born 25:29.580 --> 25:30.780 in Jesus Christ. 25:30.780 --> 25:34.900 And the exposure of the human mind to the word of God 25:34.900 --> 25:37.860 caused the greatest revolution of all time. 25:40.140 --> 25:41.820 That was a revolution, wasn't it? 25:41.820 --> 25:43.460 And we want it and we need it. 25:43.460 --> 25:45.580 And maybe there's a voice sitting here. 25:45.580 --> 25:48.780 I always thought you had something in your voice. 25:48.780 --> 25:51.820 Whatever you do, don't you get away 25:51.820 --> 25:54.020 from preaching the gospel. 25:54.060 --> 25:56.260 It's good to feed the hungry. 25:56.260 --> 25:59.140 It's good to look after those who need counseling, 25:59.140 --> 26:04.140 but ultimately preach to those who don't know Jesus first. 26:04.980 --> 26:08.340 Everything else is twit business in the kingdom of God. 26:08.340 --> 26:10.180 That's for you, Pat, and it's a little sermonist 26:10.180 --> 26:13.300 for you anyway, that's what it was about. 26:13.300 --> 26:15.380 You know, where folks were, 26:15.380 --> 26:17.580 that's where the gospel was preached. 26:17.580 --> 26:20.540 And tell them that there's an authority in the scriptures, 26:20.540 --> 26:22.820 it's an authority in the church. 26:22.820 --> 26:25.380 Now, Americans today are preaching another gospel 26:25.380 --> 26:28.980 and that is that authority lies with the individual. 26:28.980 --> 26:31.100 But we all know that isn't working, is it? 26:31.100 --> 26:32.780 Why can't the world see that? 26:33.940 --> 26:35.980 You know, I had a course up here. 26:35.980 --> 26:37.980 I donated some to the National Guard 26:37.980 --> 26:40.060 because that ticks me off. 26:40.920 --> 26:44.060 They're so under budgeted they can't do anything. 26:44.060 --> 26:47.300 And I'm sure if I knew more about what was really going on, 26:49.140 --> 26:51.140 hey, I may join the national, 26:51.140 --> 26:52.700 why don't they take an old man? 26:55.100 --> 26:57.020 It is time. 26:57.020 --> 27:01.580 We need people like that, the old ways, the strong ways, 27:01.580 --> 27:03.860 the powerful ways, the old fashioned ways 27:03.860 --> 27:07.260 we could use a great deal of that. 27:07.260 --> 27:10.300 Now, each man does that which is right in his own ways 27:10.300 --> 27:13.340 and what the Bible say, the end therein too is what? 27:14.460 --> 27:16.300 Death, it's death. 27:16.300 --> 27:18.300 I wonder why the world hadn't discovered that. 27:18.300 --> 27:20.380 We're just dying right and left 27:20.380 --> 27:21.740 and don't seem to get the message. 27:21.740 --> 27:24.500 I conclude with this, 1 Corinthians 16, 8, 9, 27:24.500 --> 27:27.340 for a great door and a factual is open unto me 27:27.340 --> 27:28.860 and there are many adversaries. 27:28.860 --> 27:32.740 Case A, we could get seriously killed doing this. 27:35.260 --> 27:38.080 Now, you think about that, it's possible it could happen. 27:38.080 --> 27:39.860 Will the church die? 27:39.860 --> 27:44.460 Not from the outside, only from the inside, see? 27:45.340 --> 27:48.400 We could get seriously killed and if that's the case, 27:48.440 --> 27:50.680 some of you may think, this is deja vu, 27:50.680 --> 27:53.640 I've heard this before and now you listen. 27:53.640 --> 27:56.840 Maybe it's time, talk to me about it. 27:56.840 --> 27:58.760 I'm a reasonable person. 27:58.760 --> 28:01.080 Maybe we need to have a little food cached away. 28:01.080 --> 28:03.280 Maybe some of you have access to some medicine. 28:03.280 --> 28:06.440 Maybe some of you could spare 10 bucks a month 28:06.440 --> 28:08.840 and put it in a thing so that when one of us is hurt 28:08.840 --> 28:10.000 and we could be helped. 28:12.320 --> 28:15.240 Maybe there's a place that you could hide somebody. 28:16.240 --> 28:18.960 Maybe there's some way that if you were strong 28:18.960 --> 28:22.280 and a number of people, the weak could be helped. 28:22.280 --> 28:24.320 If you're hungry, you're not gonna help your brother 28:24.320 --> 28:28.360 and sister and the Christ, the Lord Jesus at all. 28:28.360 --> 28:31.200 You think about that, I just throw it out. 28:31.200 --> 28:35.160 Safest place to be is where God wants you to be 28:35.160 --> 28:37.640 and I really believe that with all of my heart. 28:37.640 --> 28:39.920 Go do what God will bid you to do 28:39.920 --> 28:42.920 and you will be safe after his fashion, 28:43.320 --> 28:45.280 not after yours, but after his fashion. 28:45.280 --> 28:50.280 And the biggest problem in us is us. 28:50.680 --> 28:54.280 And among yourselves, he said, grievous wolves should arrive. 28:54.280 --> 28:58.320 So he said, take a sad song and make it a gladsome song. 28:58.320 --> 29:00.200 Take a bad song and make it better. 29:00.200 --> 29:02.560 Does that sound like something you've heard? 29:02.560 --> 29:07.400 Take a sad song and make it better. 29:10.160 --> 29:12.480 But he had it right, didn't he? 29:12.480 --> 29:13.320 He had it right. 29:13.320 --> 29:15.140 He was talking about a hashish dream, 29:16.600 --> 29:18.720 but that's what the church is supposed to do. 29:18.720 --> 29:20.560 Take a sad song and make it better. 29:20.560 --> 29:22.460 The world's a crummy place. 29:22.460 --> 29:26.160 The church has a better pattern and a better wall. 29:26.160 --> 29:28.840 Deuteronomy 30 is this. 29:28.840 --> 29:32.360 Now see, I've set before you today life 29:32.360 --> 29:35.240 and prosperity and death and destruction. 29:35.240 --> 29:36.240 Got a choice. 29:36.240 --> 29:38.920 For I command you today to love the Lord, 29:38.920 --> 29:40.760 your God to walk in his ways, 29:40.760 --> 29:43.800 to keep his commandments, his decrees and his laws, 29:43.800 --> 29:46.200 then you will live and you will increase 29:46.200 --> 29:48.320 and the Lord your God will bless you 29:48.320 --> 29:51.040 in the land that you are entering into. 29:51.040 --> 29:54.800 Now you got kids, you who have children, 29:54.800 --> 29:57.080 listen to this, attend to me. 29:57.080 --> 30:01.800 Verse 19, chapter 30 of Deuteronomy. 30:01.800 --> 30:06.800 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you 30:07.600 --> 30:12.600 that I have set before you life and death 30:13.640 --> 30:16.760 and blessings and curses. 30:16.760 --> 30:21.760 Now you choose life so that you and your children may live 30:26.040 --> 30:29.840 and that you may love the Lord your God 30:29.840 --> 30:33.640 and listen to his voice and hold fast to him 30:33.640 --> 30:36.640 for the Lord is your life. 30:36.680 --> 30:40.960 And he will give you many years in the land 30:40.960 --> 30:42.480 he has sworn to give you. 30:43.320 --> 30:44.960 I don't know about you. 30:44.960 --> 30:47.520 Just reading that old, you know, I committed that to memory. 30:47.520 --> 30:48.440 I can do it in King James. 30:48.440 --> 30:53.440 I can't do it in this Hollywood version of the NIV. 30:53.640 --> 30:55.640 I like the old stilted English. 30:55.640 --> 30:57.400 It's easy to memorize. 30:57.400 --> 31:01.320 It's got class to it and guts to it, doesn't it? 31:01.320 --> 31:06.160 See, I've set before you a choice and you have life. 31:06.160 --> 31:08.520 You want life for your children? 31:08.520 --> 31:13.520 Well, don't worry about a financial policy for them, 31:13.720 --> 31:17.840 but rather worry that you've brought them up 31:17.840 --> 31:21.160 in the Lord Jesus Christ so that you 31:21.160 --> 31:25.120 and your children may live. 31:25.120 --> 31:27.480 If you've done that, you've made the right choice. 31:27.480 --> 31:32.040 Reiterate, recapitulation is the heart of affirmation. 31:32.040 --> 31:34.160 The church is everything. 31:35.160 --> 31:40.160 Secondly, there's only one voice worth hearing 31:41.040 --> 31:44.640 and that's the voice of Jesus through his body of the church. 31:44.640 --> 31:49.000 And thirdly, God will keep his covenant 31:49.000 --> 31:51.400 if you will keep yours with him. 31:51.400 --> 31:53.600 Let's stand and sing our hymn of invitation. 31:54.920 --> 31:56.600 Did anyone have a song tonight? 31:58.200 --> 31:59.680 Number 350. 32:00.680 --> 32:05.960 Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. 32:05.960 --> 32:09.600 And that's what we have in the trust in Jesus. 32:15.600 --> 32:19.600 Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus 32:19.600 --> 32:24.240 just to take him at his word 32:24.240 --> 32:28.280 in a sewerage upon his promise 32:28.280 --> 32:33.160 just to know the saying of the Lord. 32:33.160 --> 32:37.480 Jesus, Jesus, how I've trust him, 32:37.480 --> 32:42.040 how I've proved him more and more. 32:42.040 --> 32:46.600 Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, 32:46.600 --> 32:51.600 all for grace to trust him though. 32:52.160 --> 32:54.680 Before we depart tonight, 32:54.680 --> 32:59.040 does anyone have anything on their mind, witness, Elsie? 32:59.040 --> 33:00.880 I'd just like to say I've been concerned 33:00.880 --> 33:04.480 about the religious nature of the faith. 33:04.480 --> 33:07.840 I think we should pray about that. 33:07.840 --> 33:09.840 It's so much junk. 33:11.720 --> 33:12.560 Yeah. 33:12.560 --> 33:14.560 Some do, but so much junk. 33:16.800 --> 33:20.840 Now we can do more about that, I think, and let's try. 33:22.600 --> 33:24.040 It's a little harder than the radio. 33:24.040 --> 33:25.960 I find it's easier to do business with the radio 33:25.960 --> 33:27.000 than the paper. 33:28.720 --> 33:29.560 Yeah. 33:31.720 --> 33:34.520 But that is correct and maybe there's something 33:34.520 --> 33:36.560 we can do about it and thank you for the idea 33:36.560 --> 33:38.200 and to watch for it too. 33:39.080 --> 33:42.000 By the way, November 8th, that Monday, 33:42.000 --> 33:45.040 that's a week for now, we'll be on the radio again. 33:45.040 --> 33:50.040 On this time on KCSP, they gave us two free slots. 33:50.640 --> 33:53.120 So November 8th, you'll be sure and ask a friend 33:53.120 --> 33:55.880 to listen and we'll be on the radio then. 33:55.880 --> 33:57.280 Anyone have any other thing? 33:58.880 --> 34:00.920 Was it not an exquisite day? 34:01.880 --> 34:04.440 And you know, I just thought about it. 34:07.840 --> 34:11.980 I'm just glad that somehow or another my destiny was here. 34:13.200 --> 34:16.240 And I don't know what the future's gonna bring to us, 34:16.240 --> 34:20.280 but I receive it with joy. 34:21.120 --> 34:24.520 I look forward to the training. 34:24.520 --> 34:27.280 God has hardened me with, trained me with, 34:27.280 --> 34:30.640 and which you have received as well. 34:31.760 --> 34:35.760 I've heard a thousand good scriptures, haven't you? 34:35.760 --> 34:38.920 I really have and I pray that you have 34:38.920 --> 34:40.960 and just go tell somebody about some of the things 34:40.960 --> 34:42.380 that you've heard. 34:42.380 --> 34:44.840 I've heard some marvelous voices. 34:44.840 --> 34:49.440 We've got geniuses and guitars and violins 34:49.880 --> 34:51.480 and the beautiful voices. 34:51.480 --> 34:53.360 The church here has got something to peddle 34:53.360 --> 34:55.840 and that Larry was saying this morning, 34:55.840 --> 34:59.200 we're too hard on ourselves so many times, aren't we? 34:59.200 --> 35:04.200 We're too hard on ourselves and make much of the church. 35:04.440 --> 35:06.880 There may be a day when it won't be this easy 35:06.880 --> 35:09.880 to meet in this beautifully well-lit room 35:09.880 --> 35:12.320 and there's this warmth and comfort, 35:12.320 --> 35:16.600 but what the cob, it may go on like this for a thousand years. 35:16.600 --> 35:20.880 I pray that you resolve that you'll not be 35:20.880 --> 35:24.200 an idle shepherd in God's flock. 35:24.200 --> 35:29.120 Let's bow our heads and well, Pat, 35:29.120 --> 35:30.880 would you dismiss us in prayer? 35:30.880 --> 35:33.260 Watch the psalm. 36:00.880 --> 36:02.880 You