[0:00] All right. Well, I want to first off just thank your church, brother, for the hospitality, the wonderful food, the great fellowship, all the work that goes into putting on a meeting, as you guys know.
[0:14] So, but thank you. It's been really, really sweet. And just the fellowship with the men is sweet. You guys have something different out here. I don't know if it's in the water or what it is.
[0:26] But the West Coast churches, there is such a sense of cooperation. There's no competition. I mean, you could have a church 10 miles down the road where you think, oh, no, they might steal my sheep.
[0:40] And you're saying, ah, come on over to my meeting. Hey, people, why don't you go on over to their meeting? You know, and that does not happen everywhere. So there is, you know, you guys, I'll preach somewhere and people will drive four hours to come and support a guy's meeting for four hours.
[0:58] We can't even get people to drive 30 minutes to church for hours. It's not not even their church. So I just, you know, if I had a hat on, I'd take it off in just good job. Keep up the good work. Keep the camaraderie.
[1:17] You know, you really don't know what you have until you figure out what's out there. Because what's out there is not for your good. What's out there is for their good, not your good.
[1:29] All right. Take your Bibles and turn, if you would, to Psalm chapter 12. Psalm chapter 12.
[1:50] Look at verse 1 with me. Help, Lord. Yeah. Help. Help. Why? For the godly man ceaseth.
[2:01] For the faithful fail from among the children of men. Lord, I thank you for the day. Thank you for this opportunity to preach. And Lord, I just pray you'd fill me with the Holy Spirit of God.
[2:13] Lord, we know there's nothing wrong with the seed. If there's any problem any time, it's with the soil. And I pray, Lord, that we've done our part to prepare the soil for the seed. And Lord, it's funny how a message can be preached.
[2:27] And one guy will sit there with his arms crossed, like impress me. And another guy sitting there leaning forward on his knees, just can't get enough of it. So, Lord, it's all in how we receive it. There's nothing wrong with the word.
[2:38] And I just pray, God, you'd have your will and your way in the hearts of all of us tonight, starting with myself. Help me to say the things that need to be said, even if I haven't even thought about it, in my notes.
[2:50] And I pray you'd take away the things that would detract from the moving of the Holy Spirit. God, we want what you want. Help us, Lord, as we heard in the last message, to love you utmost.
[3:03] Christ, number one, to seek ye first the kingdom of God. Help us to keep you in your proper place. That will help us keep us in our proper place.
[3:14] For these things we do ask and pray in Christ's name. Amen. Question is, why are the faithful failing? Why are there so many casualties?
[3:28] Oftentimes it's right before our eyes. Casual ties. Think about the word casualties. It's made up of two words. Casual ties. Casual ties produce casualties.
[3:42] Casual ties produce casualties. And, you know, we do have casual ties. Number one, to the word of God. You say, no, we don't.
[3:52] Yeah, we do. Yeah. Was there ever a time in your Christian life when you read more of the Bible than you do today? Come on. Okay. You're backslidden.
[4:04] You used to read more. Now you read less. You want me to say you're growing in the Lord? We're backslidden. I mean, we're casually tied to the word of God. The same thing applies to me.
[4:16] Oftentimes we come home from church. That goes on the end table and maybe doesn't get picked up again until Wednesday. If we're a solid churchgoer, maybe not until the next Sunday. Okay. So we can fulfill our duty.
[4:28] But we're casually tied to the word of God. You know, the Bible says in Mark chapter 4, verse you know well. I'm going to read it for time's sake. And in verse 16. And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground.
[4:41] Remember we talked about the soil in our prayer. You notice what it said?
[5:04] Immediately they receive it. And as soon as persecution comes, immediately they reject it. Fast in, fast out. And you know, that's why sometimes I have a problem with guys that get into the race.
[5:20] Get saved and get into the race. And it's not a marathon to them. It's a sprint. You know, one of the things. Proving yourselves as the ministers of God.
[5:31] You know what the first thing is? Much patience. Afflictions is in there. Yeah, yeah. But who would have thought that we prove ourselves as the ministers of God by our patience.
[5:43] You know what we don't do? You know what we don't like to do? We don't like to wait on God. You need to move at the speed God moves. Not the speed you want to move at.
[5:54] God's not going to speed up for you. God wants you to speed up for Him. Or to slow down for Him. But we have to have patience. We have casual ties to God's Word.
[6:07] And we know that trees with shallow roots have casual ties to the ground. In Tennessee where I'm from, we have a tree called the Bradford pear.
[6:18] And whenever straight line winds come in from the west, you guys always share your wind with us. Those trees, the next day you'll see them all flopped over in the yard. I mean, they were nice, beautiful trees all blossomed and everything.
[6:30] Boom. Why? No root in themselves. And so they endure but for a time. Just a short time. But you know, if you were walking down the street and you had $1,000 in your hand, how tightly would you be holding on to it?
[6:49] Yeah. Because it's precious to you. Is that book there as precious as the $1,000 you'd be holding in your hand? The Bible says, for truth is fallen in the street.
[7:03] Why? Because they're casually holding on to it. It's just casual. It's not a real grip. It's just, yeah, I got it.
[7:14] Turn your Bible to 2 Timothy chapter 4. We have casual ties to God's word. 2 Timothy chapter 4.
[7:31] And look at verse 3 with me. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. You think we're there? But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.
[7:47] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. You know, nothing feels better than having an itch scratched.
[8:00] Especially when it's one you can't reach. It's right in the middle of your back. And, you know, your wife comes over to scratch it. Oh, honey, that is so good. Harder.
[8:11] Harder. I mean, you saw Baloo the bear, right? Didn't you? Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, that's so good. Oh. Yeah.
[8:22] And that's exactly what those preachers out there are doing. They're not shepherds. They're scratchers. And all they're doing is making you feel good.
[8:36] It's not for your good. It makes you feel good. Last I looked, it said that preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort.
[8:49] With all longsuffering and doctrine. Do you realize two-thirds of that is negative? Your pastor should be preaching negatively to you two-thirds of the time.
[9:02] Because we need it. We need it. But they won't do that. Oh, no. No, no. They're instructed, folks. This is truth. They are instructed to preach the happy text.
[9:14] The happy text. Stay away from things that are going to upset people. We want them coming back. Why? Money, members, and monuments.
[9:27] Yeah. That's why we got to build the next campus down the street. They don't even call them churches anymore. It's a good thing because they ain't one. They that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
[9:41] If there is no truth, there is no worship. If there is no worship, it ain't a church. Come on. Amen. That's good. Call it a campus. Fine. Call it a country club.
[9:52] But it's not a church. Come on. Yeah. We'll turn our ears away from the truth. We heap to ourselves teachers. Notice it doesn't say preachers.
[10:04] We heap to ourselves teachers. Notice it's plural. Say, I'll take you for my finance. I'll take you for my child rearing. Say, I'll take you for marriage. Let's see what else.
[10:15] Oh, I'll take you for my slimming down. They think it's a Christian smorgasbord. Pick and choose whatever you want.
[10:27] That's what's going on out there. I can guarantee you this. That the men in this room know more Bible than most of the pastors that pastor those churches. I mean, who would you go to if you needed help with finance?
[10:43] King James Bible or Dave Ramsey? Who would you go to if you needed help with child rearing? King James Bible or Dr. Spock? Who would you go to if you had health issues?
[10:55] King James Bible or Dr. Fauci? Did I say a bad word? I was talking to a guy at Starbucks and he was from Long Island.
[11:13] I could tell by his New York accent. And I'm from upstate as well. And I had my Bible. He had his Bible. We got to talking. In Nashville, Tennessee is known as the Bible Belt area.
[11:25] You know that. Nashville is the buckle of the Bible Belt. It's the center of it. You can go downtown at any intersection. Almost all of them.
[11:36] And you can see a church on every one of the four corners. There's churches everywhere. It's the headquarter for the Southern Baptist Convention. It's the headquarters for the Church of Christ. I mean, it's church.
[11:49] Everyone is saved there too, by the way. And I can't even count on two hands the number of churches that have over 10,000 members.
[12:00] One church has over 20,000. And this guy here that I was talking to in Starbucks goes to that church with 20,000 members. And I asked him, I said, how's your church?
[12:13] He said, awesome. It is awesome. And I said, well, I'm great. That's great. I'm glad to hear it. What's awesome? He says, the drummer is awesome.
[12:26] What a drummer. They'll play for 45 minutes. You've never heard anything like it. I said, well, just tell me if you would. How's the preaching? He said, well, we're working on that.
[12:38] That's exactly what he said, quote. We're working on that. With 20,000 members? I thought you go to church to get fed. What in the world are they feeding them?
[12:49] It's nothing more than cotton candy Christianity. It's sweet to the taste, melts in the mouth like that, and provides no nutritional value whatsoever. Amen. My Bible says, hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me.
[13:06] And therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. You mean slip as in like a loose grip? You mean like a casual tie?
[13:20] Yeah. And you know, listen, I'm an engineer. I'm a mechanical engineer. I'm not against technology. But if your Bible time is on an iPad or on a smartphone, you're missing out.
[13:41] I'm telling you why. You don't know how to navigate your Bible. Anyone can type in Hebrews 13 and get to it like that. Big deal. But can you navigate it and open this thing up and turn to it?
[13:53] I mean, there's portions of Scripture. There's things that I know what side of the page it's on, at the top or at the bottom, on the left. And I can get to it like that.
[14:04] Why? I've navigated through it. Do yourself a favor. It's not sin. But do yourself a favor and get rid of that thing and get the real thing.
[14:16] Get the real thing. Get your hands flipping through all 66 books of the Bible so you can understand where to go. I mean, you never know what a witnessing opportunity.
[14:29] And there's a Bible sitting right there. You better know how to navigate that thing. Turn to your Bible, if you would, to 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1.
[14:40] You ever notice in this book here, this little book, how many of these hymns were written back in the 1800s?
[14:52] I wonder why they were written back in the 1800s. We don't find too many that were written in the 1900s. What was going on in the 1800s that wasn't going on in the 1900s?
[15:04] Wow. The things they wrote. The words. There's so much doctrine in this thing. This thing has more doctrine than those guys have in their Bibles.
[15:17] You know, sometimes old-time religion is what we need. We don't need this newfangled stuff. You know what they used to do in the old days when people fell asleep in church?
[15:28] They'd have deacons walking up and down the aisle with a long rod. Pop ya! How many of you would stick around the next week after that? How many would come back and say, can't wait to get more?
[15:43] They'd pop ya! Wake up! Wow. They wouldn't have any padded pews. They didn't have air conditioning. And they'd stay there all day long, loving it.
[15:58] There's just something different. You know, the world, probably 50 years ago, had more convictions than Christians have today. My mom and dad were moral people.
[16:13] They were more moral than Christians, I know. You know, they taught me right from wrong. They weren't saved. They just, this is right, this is wrong.
[16:23] They have no idea how many biblical principles they were using. They didn't even know about. It's all in the book. And because of that, they had a great family. They raised great kids except for me.
[16:35] And then, you know, but they did. Even people comment to this day. Me and my brothers and sisters, we get on a group text almost on a daily basis. All four of us texting back and forth.
[16:46] People said, they're so close, yet they're all so different. Two of them aren't even saved. They're liberals. And the other two are conservative Christians. And they all get along beautifully. Why? Because mom and dad implemented biblical principles in the home.
[17:00] And we adhered to it. We'd come to the table. The supper table was sacred. We had supper as a family every single night.
[17:10] They make homesteads that don't even have dining rooms. Because nobody eats together anymore. Dad used to say, you come to the table, you sit in your spot. You don't bring any toys.
[17:21] You don't bring books. You don't bring anything to that table. Because that's where we're going to talk as a family. We conversed as a family. They implemented biblical principles. They weren't even Christians.
[17:33] And I say that 50 years ago, the world had better standards than many Christians have today. 2 Peter chapter 1. Look at verse 20 with me. Knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
[17:48] For the prophecy came not in. Look at those next two words. Old time. By the will of man. But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Yes, casual ties to God's word will produce casualties.
[18:03] We need more of those old time scriptures. Second point. Turn your Bible to Numbers chapter 30. I'm not a long-winded preacher.
[18:17] So you hang with me and we'll get through this. And hopefully the Lord will have his way. Numbers chapter 30. Look at verse 2 with me. Point number two.
[18:41] We have casual ties to our word. Not just his word. Our word. How many commitments have you made at an old-fashioned altar? You told God, I'm going to do this.
[18:52] God, I'm going to do that. I'm going to witness to one person a week. God, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to do, I'm going to pray for 15 minutes a day. God, I'm going to read, you know, five chapters a day. I'm going to increase this. I'm going to do this. How many commitments have you made to God that you've not kept?
[19:05] And then I say to myself, what if God didn't keep some of his promises? What if we got to glory and he said, hey, everybody, I've been thinking about it.
[19:17] And I've decided that I'm not going to allow salvation to be a gift. It's going to be based on your life. And we're going to weigh your good versus your bad. And unless your good outweighs your bad, you ain't coming in.
[19:32] And you say, that's not fair. You promised. He goes, yeah. And let me tell you about a few things you promised to me too. How many commitments have we made to him that we've not kept?
[19:45] If a man vows a vow, he should keep his word. Remember back in the old day when a handshake, you could do just a shake of man's hand. And a man wouldn't break it.
[19:55] He would say, you should go back. I'm not going to do that. I shook his hand. We shook hands. And now what do we need today? 40 pages notarized. Just to protect someone's back end because they have no character and integrity.
[20:15] David said in Psalm 119 verse 106, I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments. I will keep it. I will keep it.
[20:26] And I will perform it. I'll show you why we do what we do. Turn to Psalm 66. Psalm 66.
[20:40] And in verse 13. I will go into thy house with burnt offerings.
[20:51] I will pay thee my vows, which my lips have uttered and my mouth have spoken. When I was in trouble.
[21:05] And isn't that when we make our commitments? Oh, God, if you'll just. God, help. If you'll just do. God, I promise. And we make commitments because we're in trouble.
[21:17] And we don't keep it. Even though God keeps his end, we don't keep ours. I saw some advertisement not too long ago. Someone said, oh, that we could have 9-12-2001 again.
[21:31] Remember 9-11? That's when they hit the trade towers. They said, oh, that we could have 9-12 again. You remember what happened after the towers went down. Everyone's holding the signs. We need God.
[21:41] We need God. We love God. God helped in the United States of America. Everything. God, God, God. People going back to church. Trying to get right with God. What happened to 9-12?
[21:54] You know what? Why did we call on him? We were in trouble. We needed him. And then what do we do after which time it's over? We put our lucky charms back in our pocket.
[22:05] We put our four-leaf clover and our rabbit foot back in our pocket. We'll pull it out next time we need it. Wouldn't you hate a relationship like that? Wouldn't you hate it if you had a friend that only came over to you when he needed to borrow something from you?
[22:18] He never asked you over to his house for supper. Never asked you for a cup of coffee. He just came over to your house when he needed to borrow something from you. That's not a friend. That's sometimes how we treat the Lord.
[22:33] But, you know, like I said to you guys last night, I had a really mean mom. And she never let me quit anything. I wanted to quit everything and she never let me quit anything.
[22:44] And I'm so thankful for that. She wanted me to stick to it. That's why I named my ministry, Pressing On Ministries. No quitting. Because she could come back, you know, from glory and I'd be in major trouble.
[22:57] Turn your Bible to Matthew 5. Matthew 5.
[23:08] Look at verse 33 with me. Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time.
[23:21] Old time. Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. Perform it. From them of old time.
[23:34] Yeah. Maybe we need to go back and ask our parents and our grandparents what it was like back then when a man broke his word. What did that do to his testimony when he didn't keep a promise that he made?
[23:46] Casual ties to our word will produce casualties. We need more of that old time swearing. Good kind of swearing. When I make a commitment and I keep it.
[23:56] Point number three tonight. Turn your Bible to 1 Timothy chapter 4. We have casual ties to God's word.
[24:07] We have casual ties to our word. And we see what's going on in this world. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 and a verse we know all so well.
[24:18] Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.
[24:30] Yes. I preached a message once entitled, Is There a Doctrine in the House? And you know why? There's no doctrine in most of these houses. Doctrine divides. Doctrine separates.
[24:41] And they're all about bringing everyone together, whether it be Muslim, JW, Catholic, Methodist. It doesn't matter who you are. You're all children of God. What a lie from the pit of hell.
[24:54] Man, those guys are going to, there's going to be a special place for those guys that are sending thousands and thousands of people to a godless lake of fire. With a lie.
[25:04] With a lie. The Bible says, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have heard and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies.
[25:18] And by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. That's them. You better thank God you're in a Bible-believing church. But what makes you think you're going to be here next year?
[25:32] A casual tie could make you a casual tee. I get to go around the country about 35 meetings a year. And I get to go back to the same places.
[25:44] And I say, whatever happened to Brother So-and-so? And the pastor tells me, he didn't make it. I go, yeah, but last year he was so excited. He was on fire for God. He was yelling amen and shouting and running the bases.
[25:56] And he's not here anymore. Casual ties produce casualties. Yeah.
[26:10] You know, the contemporary Christian music. And again, there is no Christian about it. Laser light shows, drum sets on stage. The scratchers, you know, dress like they're going to a Jimmy Buffett concert.
[26:22] You know, the Bible says that, Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy. All ye that are upright in heart. I tell you, you know what has done my heart good from being here?
[26:35] Listening to a room full of men sing. Whoa! That was good stuff. I mean, that's like the military stuff when the Marines and stuff do their thing.
[26:46] That was good, guys. You must love the Lord. Amen. More than. More than. That's right. Yeah.
[27:00] You know, sometimes we just got to get past our inconvenience to come and worship. You know, Paul in Acts chapter 20, remember where Eutychus fell out of the third loft? He died. He was, you know, fell asleep.
[27:11] And the Bible says Paul's ready to depart on the morrow. He's got to go trip. He's got to take a trip the next day. And he's preaching until midnight. Then this young boy falls out of the third loft, dead, raises him from the dead, and him and that boy sit and talk till morning.
[27:29] And he's got to go on a trip the next day. Hasn't gone to bed. I mean, how many times do we make some stupid excuse as to why we can't come to church? Yeah, come on.
[27:40] When, you know, my wife, yeah, I love my wife. My wife's taught me a lot. You know, she said to me, she got up one day, she had, oh, just a terrible headache. Oh, it was killing her. It was splitting her head.
[27:52] I said, honey, you going to stay home today? It was Sunday. She goes, honey, I can go to church and have a headache, and I can stay at home and have a headache. Why would I stay home?
[28:04] You know? And I said, man, conviction, where do I get right? There go my Buffalo Bills, yeah. But, you know, it's important.
[28:20] The Bible says in Deuteronomy 19, verse 14, Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it.
[28:35] You know, God gave you this church to possess it. It needs to become your church, not your pastor's church. It's your church. It's personal. It's got to be personal.
[28:46] You got to be part of this. It's got to be part of you. You know, I used to be an altar boy, and I remember we'd have to do the 6 o'clock mass.
[28:58] That's early in the morning. I mean, I'd get up at 4, get there, you know, all dressed up and everything. But every morning, I'd do it from a Monday through a Friday when it was my time to do it.
[29:11] The same little old ladies and the same little old men were there every morning. Nobody dragged them there. They wanted to be there.
[29:23] And I said, oh, man, how do we get that into Christians? How do we get that into Bible believers? That every time the doors are open, you ever notice there's a difference in the population of a church between Bible study and morning service?
[29:37] I wonder why. And then why at nighttime, Sunday evening service, half of those people aren't there? Well, I wonder why.
[29:49] If it had been that little old Catholic lady, she would have been there. Interesting how the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. Well, that's a whole other message, and you're getting that tomorrow, church.
[30:06] All right. So casual ties to God's worship will produce casualties. We need more of those old-time services.
[30:17] Services. You know, there was a Nashville paper, an article in the Nashville paper about a Mrs. Lila Craig. She was in her 80s, and she had not missed church for 1,040 consecutive Sundays.
[30:32] And they wrote this big article about her saying, what's the matter with Mrs. Lila Craig anyway? Doesn't she ever have events to go to or family reunions? You know, doesn't she ever have, wake up sick or have to read the newspaper?
[30:46] Or, you know, does her car ever break down? Or, I mean, what's the matter with Mrs. Doesn't she ever have problems with the preacher? Or with another brother or sister in Christ? Why is it 1,040?
[30:56] I mean, what is the matter with Mrs. Lila Craig anyway? Hey, nothing's the matter with her. She's exactly doing what the Lord would want her to do.
[31:07] Pleasing her Savior. All right. Next one. Colossians chapter 4. We're almost done. Hang with me. Colossians chapter 4.
[31:19] We have casual ties to God's Word, casual ties to our Word, casual ties to God's worship. And the fourth point, casual ties to God's will.
[31:31] Look at Colossians chapter 4, verse 12. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in some of the will of God.
[31:51] Yeah. All the will of God. And what does all mean? All means all, and that's all all means.
[32:02] You got to remember that one. That's what it means. You see, doesn't the Bible say something in Romans 12 about the good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God?
[32:14] How come we're satisfied with good? Yeah. What's wrong with perfect? Paul says here that you may stand perfect and complete.
[32:26] Perfect doesn't mean sinless, it means mature, grown up, and complete in all the will of God. All the will of God. You see, that's what I call the gap theory.
[32:37] The good, the acceptable, and the perfect. There's your gap, the difference between good and perfect. There's a gap there. About the size of the gap between our ears.
[32:50] And why are we so often settling for good when we should be striving for perfect? When you go out and shoot bow and arrow, do you shoot for the center, or do you shoot for the outer ring? I want a bullseye.
[33:03] Yeah? How about a bullseye with Jesus Christ? In all the will of God. All of it. Rather than just having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.
[33:16] We don't want just a form. Yeah, I mean, I've got a tie on. I must be a Christian. I've got a King James Bible under my arm. I've got shoes. They're shiny. You know? I've got dress slacks.
[33:27] I mean, I must be a Christian. I say amen every now and then. I must be a Christian. Yeah? Only problem is, it's this thing in here that you can't see.
[33:38] And he can. Right in here. The thing that knows the thoughts and the intents of the heart. The word of God. And this is deceitful above all things.
[33:48] Even more deceitful than the father of lies himself. Because this thing is with you 24-7, 365. And it's your biggest enemy. So the best thing you can do every morning is wake up, stand up, look in the mirror, and tell yourself to drop dead.
[34:05] Amen. Amen. Amen. That's what you should drop dead. Amen. I die daily. Amen. And the inward man is renewed day by day. Every day there needs to be a crucifixion, and every day there needs to be a resurrection.
[34:20] Amen. Every day. Why every day? You need it every day. Matter of fact, how about every hour? Come on. We can imitate the part very well.
[34:37] But how filled are you with the Holy Spirit of God? That's where your power comes from. A verse we all know well. 1 Peter 3, 5. For after this manner in the old time, the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands.
[34:57] Old time. Boy, that word keeps popping up. Old time. We just need that old time religion. We need the old time stuff that, you know, made our great nation.
[35:07] It was a great nation. It's still probably the best nation on earth. But boy, it sure was a whole lot better in years gone by than it is today.
[35:18] And you know one thing I notice? Tasual ties to God's will. I go around. When I go to churches around the country, and I'm not talking about down south.
[35:30] I'm not out west. I'm not talking about up north. I'm talking about all over. I look at the missions walls. And I ask myself, and I ask the preacher, where's the 20 and 30 year olds?
[35:43] I see 40 and 50 and 60 and 70 year olds still on the mission field. And the Mike Roberts and the Mike Dobbins and men that have been out there forever. Where's the 20s and the 30 year olds?
[36:00] I don't see them on the walls. I used to get so many phone calls I couldn't take them all. I don't get any. I asked my son, who's pastoring now, I said, how many times do you get phone calls for missionaries?
[36:11] He goes, hardly ever. I said, I used to get so many every month. We'd have a missions conference every year and take on like six or seven new missionaries every year.
[36:21] Our wall was packed with them, with 40 of them. But now they're not even calling. Where are they? That you might be found perfect. in the will of God.
[36:36] Yeah. People are starting to live as if the Lord's coming back soon. Why go to the mission field? Why go on deputation? You know, the Lord's coming back soon. Well, if he is, which I do believe he is, you know where I want to be found?
[36:52] Exactly where he wants me. Doing what he wants me. Occupy till I come. If he wants you in Bible school, the best place you can be when he comes back is in Bible school.
[37:08] If he wants you to get married, best thing you can do is get married. If he wants you to have kids, I'm not going to have kids all over this world. Don't forget, as bad as this world can get, he overcame the world.
[37:20] Amen. And he still overcomes the world. Amen. And he is in you. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Amen. We have casual ties to God's work.
[37:35] Colossians 4, 17, and say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfill it. Do it. Do it.
[37:46] Some of you have already said you feel like you're called to the mission field or to preach or to pastor. Do it. Do it. In God's time, do it.
[37:56] Don't outrun God, but do it. You won't be sorry. My Bible says, My son, keep thy father's commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother.
[38:10] Bind them. Does that sound like a casual tie to you? Bind them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee.
[38:21] When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. Bind it. Tie it. It's not going to be a casual tie. Yeah. How are you going to finish?
[38:35] What are you talking about? Because how you finish is how you'll be remembered. None of you would have a problem calling your kids David. Yet he committed two of the most heinous crimes in the Bible.
[38:49] And you would call your kids David. No problem. Why won't you name your kids Lot? Huh?
[38:59] The Bible says in Peter he was a righteous and just man. Why won't you call him Lot? Because of how he finished. How he finished.
[39:11] David didn't stay down. David got up. Even Peter. You'll call your kids Peter and he denied the Lord three times. Why? Peter got up. Demas didn't get up.
[39:23] Lot didn't get up. Yet Demas walked with the apostle Paul. How would you like that? You think Paul was whipped 39 times five different times and none of that went to Demas? You're guilty by association.
[39:36] You walk with Paul you're guilty. I'm sure he took more of a beating than we've ever taken. I don't know if I would have stuck it out as long as Demas did. But you won't name your kids Demas.
[39:47] For Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present world. 2 Timothy 4.10 Are you going to get up? I hope you get up.
[40:01] My righteousness I hold fast. Hold fast that which is good. Hold fast the form of sound words. Hold fast the profession of our faith. That which you have already hold fast. Hold fast the confidence. Hold fast and repent.
[40:13] In other words get a grip. Eliezer's hand grew weary yet he claved to the sword. Amen. Gideon and his men were weary yet pursuing.
[40:26] They wouldn't quit. How about you? Are you going to make it to the finish line in good shape? How are you going to finish? Will your legacy be something your grandkids and your kids can be proud of?
[40:42] What will your tombstone say? Here lies Papa. You sure showed us a good time. Where here lies Papa he was a friend of God. He loved God.
[40:56] You know the Bible says thus saith the Lord stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths. We need more of that old time standing.
[41:07] You know God sometimes uses his creation to teach us lessons. I'm going to close with this illustration. One day I came out of my house and I got into my truck and I had to go up to the store and I noticed sitting on my windshield right in eye's view a little red wasp sitting right there on the windshield.
[41:33] And I said interesting. I just put it in reverse didn't really think much about it. Figured he'd fly away as soon as the vehicle moved. Well I backed out of the driveway and he stayed on my windshield.
[41:44] And I started to drive through my neighborhood around 20 miles an hour just you know and he stayed right there on my windshield. I said that's interesting. I said I thought for sure he would have flown off by now.
[41:57] I said well wait until we get out onto the main road that's like 40 miles an hour. He'll probably fly off then. Get out there onto the main road around 40 miles an hour and he's sitting right there on the center of my windshield.
[42:08] I said I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to take the interstate. I can get up to 65, 70 miles an hour. That'll definitely get him off.
[42:21] Definitely. So I turned on the on ramp and going up I'm doing 50, 55, 60, 65. That's as high as I'm going to tell you I went. And he sat right there but what he did is he crouched down and he put his head into the wind.
[42:37] just like he was gone off a ski lift a ski jump or whatever with a head down and arms back. His wings were back and he had all six of his legs on the windshield.
[42:50] And I got up to like 70 miles an hour and all of a sudden I saw one of his legs lift from the wind. He's 70 miles an hour and this little guy's on my windshield. And I said good night how am I going to get him off?
[43:04] I could hit the windshield wipers but that's cheating. So I decided I said I know what I'll do. I'll get in behind a tractor trailer because you know all the gust that it produces off the back of a tractor trailer.
[43:20] I'll get like 10 feet behind a tractor trailer. That'll get him. So I got in right behind a tractor trailer. We're doing like 70 miles an hour and I saw another leg come up. Two legs were up now and four legs were down.
[43:33] And his wings were back and his head was down. And I stayed right there. I couldn't believe what this little guy was doing to hang on. God gave him what was necessary to survive this thing.
[43:49] What I was doing to him. And so I'm going a little bit faster. Just a little bit faster. Just a little bit faster. And still one more leg came up.
[44:00] Three legs up. Three legs down. Wings back. Head down. And all of a sudden I got to my exit. I got out from behind the tractor trailer. I pulled into the grocery store parking lot.
[44:11] And as soon as I put that thing in park, he lifted off. After turning around looking at me and sticking his tongue out at me, he lifted off and just flew away. I said, he just survived 70 mile an hour winds.
[44:26] And he's only a little guy. And he hung on. He said, I'm not letting go. Because if I let go, it would probably kill me. Probably splat into the windshield or whatever.
[44:40] But he wouldn't let go. And I asked myself, if God's designed that little guy to be able to hang on in the most horrific of storms, what in the world can he do through us?
[44:57] has he not equipped us with everything we need to be able to hold on in the most horrific of storms?
[45:08] I pray if I ever come back here again, that I'll see you here. But there is no guarantee. Let he that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
[45:21] When's the last time you got a grip? When's the last time you examined your own life and said, you know, in some of these areas, I am casually tied. And if I don't do something about it, it could produce a casual T.
[45:35] And I don't want to be a casual T. I want to make it to the end in good shape. I want my kids and my grandkids to be able to remember that I was a man that loved God and that they could follow in my steps.
[45:49] I pray that you not be a casual T because you had casual ties. Preacher, you have good time.
[46:00] I have to have a