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[0:00] It's wonderful. It's still wonderful. Amen. Where do you call that? I mean, why do you call that? You're right around in Moreau in here for 25 years.

[0:10] I'll call you one of those. Amen. All right. It's good to be back tonight. And I'm glad you made it. So on the table back there is my book.

[0:22] Many of you have seen it for years. I haven't written anything new. I was going to write another book. I got so tired of people asking me how it's coming. I changed my mind, scrapped the whole idea. That's what happens when you're Irish.

[0:34] We can't help it. It just happens that way. But maybe since the last time I was here, you met somebody that maybe that would be just a thing that made me get the gospel to them.

[0:47] That's what it was written for is to get the gospel into the hands of people that perhaps wouldn't come to a church. Thank you. So that's there. But what I want to mention is the other book that's back there.

[1:00] It's called Boots on the Ground. It's a daily devotional with a military theme. Every day of the year has a corresponding event in military history.

[1:14] It's one page a day, and I recommend it. It was written by a friend, Randy Wells, who I come to find out is brother Jason's brother. He's up there in Lancaster, and he's a dear family friend of Susan and ours.

[1:30] And so I make it available. A lot of people aren't reading 20 pages a day. This will be a help to you. It will be a blessing. So it's back there on the table.

[1:41] And that's all. Did you get that mute button turned off? Check it. He did. He turned it on. He did it. Thank you. While walking down a memory lane, a path so long ago, old Satan came right by my side, making me feel low.

[2:08] He brought up thoughts of hurt and pain when I had gone astray. He wanted to discourage me as I walked along my way.

[2:19] He said you're undeserving, cause I know where you've been. I have a record of your life when you were bound by sin.

[2:31] I know your darkest secrets that you would never tell. What makes you think you don't deserve a place with me in hell?

[2:43] Well, I heard the old accuser, and this was my reply. You're right for all those things I've done. I sure deserve to die.

[2:54] My righteousness is filthy rags. My goodness is unclean. There's only one thing I can say to what you said to me.

[3:05] It's under the blood. It's under the blood. Oh, praise his dear name. I'm not what I used to be. My life has been changed.

[3:18] Not shackled by sin and shame. It's already gone. I'm happy reminding him. It's under the blood. Victory was given me when I was born again.

[3:34] He washed my stained and sinful past and put my within. No longer do I bear the mark that sin had brought my way.

[3:45] With happiness and peace of mind. Praise God I now can say. It's under the blood. Oh, praise his dear name.

[3:59] I'm not what I used to be. My life has been changed. Not shackled by sin and shame. It's already gone. I'm happy reminding him.

[4:12] It's under the blood. It's under the blood. Oh, praise his dear name. I'm not what I used to be.

[4:25] My life has been changed. Not shackled by sin and shame. It's already gone. I'm happy reminding him.

[4:35] It's under the blood. I'm happy reminding him. It's under the blood. Amen. Amen.

[4:46] I'm glad. I'm glad it's under the blood. Amen. All right. You got a mic, so you don't... Ooh, that's on.

[4:58] Can you hear me? We're not doing variety commercials right now. Ah, ha, ha. What chart can you trust as a light for the soul?

[5:15] When tempest would strand you on some dreadful shore? What compass would point you to heaven's bright goal? God's wonderful book divine.

[5:28] What light is this shining so brightly for me? God's wonderful book divine.

[5:38] And it keeps me so happy. Always so happy. God's wonderful book divine. What light is this shining so brightly for me?

[5:51] That gives me the courage the right way to be. What hope for my trusting so ever shall be? God's wonderful book divine.

[6:03] What hope for the traveler strength almost gone?

[6:27] That makes him determined to keep drawing on. What sweet consolation of heaven's bright goal? God's wonderful book divine.

[6:41] In case you were wondering of what book I'd sing, it's the same one the old-time revivals did bring. It's the only one book authorized by a king.

[6:55] God's wonderful book divine. God's wonderful book divine. Now listen to me. And I love the old Bible. Love the old King James Bible. Fight to my pathway and shine.

[7:08] And it keeps me so happy. Always so happy. God's wonderful book divine. God's wonderful book divine.

[7:22] Amen. Amen. Thank God for the Bible. Amen. If we didn't have the Bible, we'd be left to our own opinions. Well, I don't see it that way.

[7:34] Yeah, I know you don't. Amen. I don't either sometimes. But this isn't about your opinion and mine. It's about what the Bible says. Amen. I wouldn't have made it six months in any other crowd.

[7:46] I was willing to hear from God. And I'm glad to get you a book. Amen. All right. Thank you. All right.

[8:01] All right. All right. All right. Now, take your Bible. I forgot where we're going, but we're going somewhere. I think it's Acts chapter 15.

[8:13] Acts chapter 15. It's good to see the Yabaras. Amen.

[8:23] Old friends. I didn't mean that like you're old, but we've known each other a long time. And, well, it's just a joy to be in the body of Christ, people that are faithful.

[8:37] Acts chapter 15. And we're going to read verse 36. Acts chapter 15. I'm right-handed.

[8:50] And it says this. And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do.

[9:07] Amen. Amen. Well, that's good. You guys, did you get one? Oh, sorry. All right. So, and some days after now, Paul and Barnabas had been in a big preacher's conference in Jerusalem.

[9:23] And, boy, I'll tell you what, I've been in a few, and I know they were ready to get out. Get out of there. And they did the right thing. They went back to their home church in Antioch, and they gave a report.

[9:35] They gave a report, but they had a call. And Paul was anxious to get back to business, back to the call that God had put on him. And so that's what it's after.

[9:46] It's some days after. Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city. He's not talking about going on vacation. Amen. And he's talking about, and he says it clearly, And visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord.

[10:02] So he's making the circuit, kind of like an evangelist. Amen. And he finishes the verse with these words, And see how they do.

[10:14] Now, people are different, definitely, I mean, in America, from coast to coast, north, south, east, and west. There's a lot of differences, differences in taste, differences in opinions, things like that.

[10:28] But in the churches that we visit, and we're in all 50 states, the churches that we visit, there's something pretty much in common. And that is a greeting that goes something like this.

[10:42] How you doing? How you doing? Amen. If I'm in Maine, we'll be in Maine. We're in South Florida and everywhere in between. People that we'll see again that we haven't seen for a while, one of us will greet each other and say, How you doing?

[10:56] And the general response is usually doing all right. Amen. Now, and that's just how it goes, and that's a nice icebreaker. There are some people that you don't say, How you doing, too?

[11:12] I mean, unless you're, you got a chair, you can, because they're going to tell you. And we learn to identify those people. And we don't say, How you doing to them?

[11:24] When we see them coming, we just say, Hi. Amen. And move on. But that's what Pope said. He wants to, it said, See how they do.

[11:34] And so I'm going to ask you tonight, and just, you know, How you doing? How you doing? That'd be the title. The sound man left.

[11:45] He left. Oh, there he is. Okay, good. And that'd be the title, How you doing? And so I want to ask you, Are you doing all right? Are you doing all right? And I'm going to get, We're not doing question and answer.

[11:56] This is not that kind of thing. And, but I'm going to give you four areas to consider in that preface right there. Are you doing all right? Now, Father, we do come to you once again in the name of Jesus Christ.

[12:09] And I, I am still amazed that we're able to even do that. And sometimes we get so caught up in the fact that, well, we're just sinners saved by grace. We forget that we are, indeed, as we sang, children of the King.

[12:23] So, God, I pray that we just learn to act a little more like that. Than a helpless sinner. In light of the fact that we have the power of God within us and in our hands.

[12:38] Father, I just pray and help us, help us be better vessels, meet for the master's use. And the time we got left. And I don't know how much time that is. Whether it's a personal level or until you take the church out of here.

[12:52] But I want to be found faithful when that's over. And these folks here on Sunday night do too. And so, I pray you just help me say something that helped out. Pray you help me say something that would be okay with you.

[13:04] Put a smile on your face. I pray that our response to the message would also be according to thy will. And, Lord, if there's somebody in here that's not saved tonight, I pray they'd get saved. That's all I can do.

[13:16] The rest is between you and them. But I know you did your part. Lord, I love you tonight. And I pray you'd meet with us in a mighty way. I'm not begging you to show up. We're two or three are gathered together in your name.

[13:29] There you are in the midst. You're more interested in this than we are. Help us to be submissive to thy spirit and thy leading. And we'll thank you for that. It could be so.

[13:39] In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen and amen. So, number one, Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. And let's look at verse 1.

[13:53] Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 1. And the Bible says this and it's referring. It says, wherefore, and he's referring to chapter 11. It says, wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us.

[14:17] And let us run with patience. Notice it says the race that is set before us. And so the question, number one, is how are you doing tonight at running your race?

[14:31] Are you doing all right? It doesn't say our race. My race is different than yours. Different than Pastor Walski. Different than yours. Yours is different.

[14:42] But you've got one. And that verse says, let us run with patience the race that is set before us. So are you doing all right? Let me just maybe break it down like this.

[14:53] Races have rules. Right? In every sporting event, whether it's NASCAR back in North Carolina or whatever it is you guys do out here. What do you do out here? You run up and down the beach on bicycles.

[15:05] I'm so sick of spandex. I can't stand it. But, and they get in my way. And I'm driving a 40-foot motorhome. Okay, you've got rights to the road.

[15:16] You need to move over when I'm coming through. Because, you know, I'm blind and one eye, all that. So, races have rules. And it's important to follow the rules.

[15:27] Let me illustrate it like this. Now, years ago now, I did a meeting down in San Pedro. And people say, no, it's Pedro. If you say Pedro, it means you ain't been there too many times.

[15:39] Because that ain't what the locals say. Am I right, Miss Linda? I'm down there preaching for a dear friend of mine, a dear friend of this church, Pastor Steve Andrus. How many know who that is? All right, so we had a good meeting.

[15:52] And we usually have a good meeting. We're going to be there in a couple weeks. So, come. How's that for an invite? And we got done. We had a couple extra days.

[16:03] And we were invited over to their house when they lived just about two doors down up in that apartment. And we had several daughters with us still. And they said, come over and we'll have some fellowship.

[16:16] And they had a game. And I'm not big on games, but I like God's people. And so they had to teach us. We didn't know. It's called Mexican Train.

[16:26] Anybody ever heard of it? All right, I never heard of it. And so they had to teach us how to play. And so that's all I know about it is what Brother Steve and Miss Amelia taught us.

[16:41] And so we played and we had fun. And I never won because I never win. And I don't care. That's not that big a deal to me. But we had a good time. We had such a good time that the children asked me if we could get our own game.

[16:58] Wherever you get them. This is pre-Google. And pre-Amazon. And so I got one. I don't know where. Camping World. Walmart. You got Walmart.

[17:08] That's that big. Do you guys have them in Cal? Okay. And the Baptist Mall, we call it. And we got one in. And we went to several churches. And, you know, they had some time for fellowship.

[17:21] And we suggested we have this game. And nobody ever heard of it. Nobody knew how to play it. We had to teach them. And we taught them exactly the way we were taught. We were taught them exactly the way that Miss Amelia, specifically, taught us to play Mexican Train.

[17:38] And everything was fine. And we had a good time. Then we got all the way back to Ohio. And a family from our church, we got together one night for some fellowship. And brought it up. And they said, oh, yeah, we know how to play that.

[17:49] And I was astounded. They're the first people that actually were familiar with it. And I thought, great. Because we don't have to waste the first half hour explaining the rules. Blah, blah, blah. And so we got going.

[18:01] And, you know, you do whatever you do. And set up. And I had a strategy. Because I've been playing it for a couple weeks, months, whatever. And so I had all my little deals set up. And boy, if I get a plan, I'm going to, you know.

[18:15] And so it comes my turn. And I started. And the dear brother's wife said to me, Brother Spurgeon, you can't do that.

[18:30] And I said, what? I said, I've been playing this for a year. I said, absolutely. That's how you do it. And she did the unthinkable.

[18:42] She reached down on the floor and picked up that lid and started reading the rules. Who does that? Who reads the rules for all these?

[18:55] And sure enough, it said that what I just did was illegal. And I'll tell you, that knocked the wind out of my fails. I didn't have any fun the rest of the night.

[19:06] I don't think I've ever played it since. I'm kind of a sore loser. I don't have to win. But, yeah. What I'm saying is this.

[19:16] You know, for us to run this race for the glory of Jesus Christ, we've got to be all going by the same rules. And I'm glad that we've got a rule book, the inspired, inerrant word of God, the King James Bible.

[19:30] I'm glad about that. The question for you tonight, folks, is, he said, let us run with patience the race that is set before us. How are you doing in running your race? How are you doing in running your race? Take your Bible.

[19:41] Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Paul says some more things about it. So, 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

[19:52] Let me see. I think it's verse 24. Verse 24. Paul said this. So run.

[20:08] I tell them this. I use that as an example. And I'm telling the new Christians here. So run that ye may obtain. Amen.

[20:19] You know, and it's obvious. If anybody's going to compete, whether, like, you know, race, horse race, where's Allie? A car race, a foot race, any kind of race.

[20:30] Man, they are focused on winning. They're going to give it all they got. They're going to train. They're going to sacrifice. They're going to spend money. They're going to do whatever they got to do. They're going to run all because it is their goal and their desire to obtain.

[20:45] It says, but one receiveth the prize. They compete with against one another, but they give it all they've got. For a plastic trophy, usually it's going to end up in addicts and their mom's addicts someday.

[20:58] Paul uses that as an example to encourage brothers and sisters in Christ to also run all, to give it everything they've got. And it ought to be easy.

[21:09] We're already on the winning side. It says that so that one obtains a prize. We can all, for the glory of Jesus Christ, we're already all winners. Let me say this. We are not, whether it's in a church, within a church, within a family, or with other churches, we are not in competition with each other.

[21:30] This is for the glory of God. Amen. We need to run our patience. Amen. You might not realize it, but when you got saved, you qualified. You pre-qualified.

[21:41] Amen. Amen. You got in on this race. And let me ask you, are you running? Are you still running? People get, we see it all the time. I was guilty of it.

[21:51] Some of you were. You get saved, man, and it just opens up a whole new world. And you get fired up, and you go, and you go. And isn't it exciting to see new Christians all fired up?

[22:03] Unless you're an older Christian who's not fired up anymore, then they bother you. Amen. You know why? Because there's a lot of people, sure enough, saved, believe the Bible, got some experience, done some things for God, but they're not running with all they got anymore.

[22:22] And I want to ask you, why not? Because you should be. I watched a track event one time when I was in high school. I was up in the stands, and they're running around.

[22:33] Some guys are running around this track. I don't know how long it was. I don't care. And the whistle blows. It was a long one, like 440 or something, 440 meters or something.

[22:44] And they take off, and ones that are more experienced, you know, they just started pacing themselves. And then the younger ones, you know, they're out there. They're pulling out ahead, and, you know, what they didn't realize, they weren't running their race with patients.

[22:58] They got kind of wore out early and started dropping back. And the ones that were experienced, I've got to keep stepping back. The ones that were experienced, let's just pull this. Okay.

[23:08] And it's kind of heavy. And they just kind of laid back, paced themselves. And during the course of that, and I think they made, like, several laps, I watched some of these, you know, some of these younger guys kind of drop back, fall away.

[23:22] One guy fell down. He tripped. He tripped. And it was gravel. And I remember watching that. He tripped. He fell down. And, of course, the pack pulled away from him. And he got up.

[23:34] His knees are bleeding. He's got gravel. And he brushed himself off, and he kept on running. And I took note of that early on as a teenager, and I had respect for that.

[23:45] He didn't quit. Nobody would have blamed him. He didn't have a chance at winning. He knew that. But he did finish. He didn't give up. Amen. I also noticed this.

[23:56] As it's coming around in the last lap, the last part of the last lap, even the guys that have been doing this for several years, you know, the guys with the letters, you know, this high school thing, and they were dragging, man.

[24:09] And they were, you know, huffing and puffing a little bit. And I wondered for a second, is any of them even going to be able to finish? And when they came around that last turn, I noticed something, man. So they reached.

[24:19] There was a group there for them reached down somewhere deep within them. And they started picking up the pace. And that finish line came into view.

[24:30] They not only made it. They not only finished. Some of them sprinted to the finish line. I said that to say this. The finish line, beloved, is coming into view.

[24:44] It's not time to lighten up. It's not time to back off. It's time for us, child of God, child of the king, it's time to pick up the pace a little bit.

[24:55] Let me ask you something, man. How are you doing at running your race? Are you doing all right? What are you doing? No show of hands. I believe you.

[25:05] This is just something for you to think about. Amen? Are you giving it all you got? I'm glad some did. I'm glad Paul did. I'm glad many, many have. Some of us here are the fruit of people that ran their race.

[25:20] Amen? And I'm one of them. And amen. Paul said this. He said there in Acts 15, 36, And let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do.

[25:34] Can I tell you this? Some places are more fun than others. Well, they just are. But Paul, he didn't pick and choose. Let's go back to the place that treated us real well. Let's go back to the places where we had a good time.

[25:48] He said every city. Because I'm going to tell you what, there are little churches all over this country, little outposts to people that are, usually they're small works, that are standing for the gospel of Jesus Christ, standing for the word of God.

[26:03] And what an honor it is for Susan and I to be able to make the rounds and try to encourage that. And I don't know if we do any good in it or not, but I know this. They sure encourage us. So stay in the fight.

[26:13] Stay in the race. All right? And see how they do. So let me ask you number two. How you doing? How you doing? Take your Bible and go to James chapter 4. James chapter 4.

[26:32] And read with me verse 7. And James wrote this right here. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Period.

[26:44] Resist the devil. And he will flee from you. That's not just leave you alone. It says submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

[26:57] How you doing tonight at resisting the devil? Don't you know as it gets later in the church age, he's madder and madder. You can tell.

[27:08] Because he's fighting harder and harder. Some of the crazy, goofy, unbelievable things that we're reading in the news on a regular basis. That's the work of the God of this world.

[27:19] And he's stirred up and he's fighting hard. And I don't know what to say. Sounds to me like maybe we should be fighting hard too. Let me say this. I saw a lady one time.

[27:30] Here we go. What is your plan, young man? No, it's like I feel like a Methodist now because they have like two pulpits.

[27:40] Is that okay, preacher? Because I don't want Gary getting me in trouble. You know how Gary can be. Is that okay? I'll try that. Okay, now, Brother Gary, now the next challenge for you then is to figure out, you know, how we're going to put a little cup holder for my...

[27:55] Okay. All right, next time. You can work on that next time. This is much better for me. Wow, I can actually see you. Man. Quit frowning at me like that.

[28:08] We had a lady say, Pastor, shake it, raise your hand. She's like 115 or... No, she's probably 90. She said, but she's a seasoned Christian and she said, a pastor, talked to the pastor, she said, I resist the devil and he doesn't flee.

[28:24] Now, I'd heard it preached. I hadn't read it. I'm a brand new Christian. But I thought, wait, how can that be true? You've been telling me the Bible's true. And here's a lady who's been in the Bible for 50 years.

[28:35] And she's saying she resists the devil and he doesn't flee. And I'm like confused. I'm a young Christian. So I get out. I didn't get out my phone. I didn't go to my computer.

[28:48] I got out this big red book called A Strong Concordance. Amen. Little tiny print. Every word in the Bible's in there. And I started looking up. I guess probably resist.

[29:00] And I found the verse. And it says, resist the devil and he will flee. And when I read the verse in the Bible, I also found out the problem. It says, first, it says, submit yourself, therefore, to God.

[29:13] So if the devil's giving you the blues, it looks to me like the problem's obvious. Amen. Let me say it like this. I'm asking you, how are you doing? If you're not submitted to God, and I'm not asking you if you're saved or love Jesus or believe the book, this day and age of disclaimers, we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings.

[29:32] Actually, it wouldn't bother me, but amen. I'm just going to say, tell you straight up, if you're not submitted to God, you're not doing near as well as you think you are. Amen. Remember something about the devil.

[29:44] Now we're talking about resist the devil. He's the author, all right, not confusion. Amen. Well, yeah, he is the author of confusion. He's the author of pride.

[29:54] He's the author of doubt and discord. And he's still subtle. And he still has devices, plural. And according to John chapter 8, he is the liar and the father of it.

[30:07] And he needs to be resistant. And think about this. If you're not submitted to God, not only are you not resisting the devil, not only are you not causing him to flee, he might actually be moving in on you.

[30:23] He might actually be getting closer to you. I'll give you a verse. Job chapter 1 and verse 6 says this, Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

[30:40] And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it.

[30:50] That's two different days.

[31:17] Amen. Just for example, what I'm trying to say is the devil is not sitting still somewhere watching over you. He's making the rounds. He's moving around. Maybe the last time he came by your way, you were doing pretty good.

[31:30] You were submitted to God. Amen. Your prayer life was good. You're asking God to help you. You're keeping a lid on sin in your life and temptation. And the Bible says the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.

[31:42] And you're in the sword and the spirit's fighting and the devil say, Well, why would I mess with them? There's much easier praying that and just moved on. And then he makes the rounds and he, what is, how's he going to find you the next time?

[31:57] How's he going to find you this time? He comes by. Are you still submitted to God? Because if you're not, he's not moving then. He's going to crouch down like a lion in the long grass and watch and wait and pick his time and he's going to move.

[32:12] It says in 1 Peter 5 in verse 8, Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour.

[32:23] And I'll tell you how he gets away with what he gets away with with, I mean, in Christian's life is because they don't remain sober or vigilant. They don't keep their guard up. They just, you know, cruise around like everything's cool and I'm going to do what I want to do and you said do this but I think and that's your problem.

[32:40] You do too much thinking and not enough submitting to God. You're very welcome. Amen. I'm trying to help you. So let me ask you something. How are you doing and running your race?

[32:50] You got one. It has way more to it than just showing up at church a couple times a week. That's religionists. That's what religionists do. They go to church faithfully.

[33:01] They put money in the plate. They might support good causes. There's people that, there's people that are not saved, do not know Jesus Christ personally that do all those things better than we do.

[33:13] Submitting to God is like Paul in Acts chapter 9 and verse 6. He says, Lord, what would you have me to do? And you know what the Lord told him?

[33:25] Going to the city and there's a man that's going to give you some instruction. And what he did was laid a groundwork right then for how he's going to do it. And I'll tell you the problem and I'm going to tell you why a lot of people aren't submitted to God because, bless God, they're not going to be told what to do by anybody.

[33:41] And you're selling yourself short and the devil loves it. How you doing at resisting the devil? How you doing at running your race?

[33:51] Number, number next, whatever that is. Number three, Psalm 60. I'll be right back. Psalm 60. Now, we'll move it again.

[34:07] In verse four. Russ, since I'm way over here, why don't you read it for us in a loud voice? Not that soft one you sing with. I want to hear it. Oh, okay.

[34:22] Anybody actually did turn there? Amen. Acts chapter, are you ready, bro? Sure. King James now. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, all right.

[34:44] Let's read it in the King James this time because I don't think that word's barrier. Because if it is, that blows the whole point because my next point is how you're doing it raising your banner.

[34:55] And if I got to rethink raising your barrier, I don't think I can make the transformation. All right, thank you. I promise not to be calling on you anymore and the rest of you can relax too.

[35:05] next time use deborah's bible would you all right so uh let me ask something how are you doing tonight at raising your banner raising your banner amen you've been given one that has given a banner to them that fears they bible says the fear of the lord is beginning wisdom it says uh that may be displayed because of the truth my book said i said it's morning the truth to make you free are we on the same page here you've been given a banner let me tell you something you need to raise that banner amen i'm paratrooper i got an airborne flag you just don't do that fold them up put them away amen the banner is it identifies something how many veterans we got in here how many army vets we got in here all right no we got one and uh appreciate it and uh and so when i was in uh when i was in the army and uh they had a big deal on the parade field they'd bring over some uh brass top brass general or something from fort bragg and uh and we'd be out there and then we lined up in formation we had a combat battalion and the first guy in every company uh had a thing called a guidon remember that and it was a little pennant and it gave you the name of the company it gave you the company designation and the battalion and ours was bravo slash 509 uh bravo company first stallion 509 there born infantry battalion combat team and buddy that identified our company and we wanted to be identified because we didn't want to be confused with them bums and alpha company or charlie company we wanted people to know we were alpha company amen and uh that book says in act chapter 11 verse 26 it says them the disciples were first called christians at antioch and they were identified not because they were of a different nationality or race or language they were uh they were identified because they were different something changed the bible said therefore if any man being christ he's a new creature uh behold all things uh uh old things are passed away behold all things are become new and those people those disciples were not ashamed to take a stand for jesus christ and that's when it was a little rougher than it is now you think well we we got it hard in california well think of what it was like in antioch got 2 000 years ago amen and so a banner it says uh let me ask you how are you doing it raising your banner a banner identifies something amen a banner declares something i heard brother mcgahee preach a message in 1994 the night i met him in 1994 at our church based on romans chapter 1 and verse 16 and paul said for i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of god unto salvation everyone that believe us uh to the jew first and also to the greek and i uh i don't think i'd ever read that or it didn't sink in when i thought about that i said all them years in the motorcycle gang tattoos colors i wasn't ashamed to let people know what i cared about what i loved and there paul said i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ and i said bless god how ludicrous would it be for some of us uh that weren't didn't have any problem letting people know what we were interested in what we love what a crying shame it'd be what a travesty it would be if we were ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ you better not be better not be a banner declares something listen people don't mind letting you know what they love if you don't believe me go to a big shopping center walmart's a good example uh and instead of being in a holding pattern around the door looking for a spot you know using a quarter tank of gas have you seen the prices no you're used to it i just got here two weeks ago are you kidding me amen we need to take two offerings at least a night and uh i'm kidding about that uh but yeah park way out park way out just once you're not gonna die and walk in and read all the bumper stickers on people's car are you

[39:08] i'd have bumper stickers out here that they tax that i don't know and and and watch the people walking out of the store with their t-shirts and their jackets and their ball caps and you're gonna see all kinds and out here you're gonna see some weird causes too and uh well here's what i'm saying people aren't they're not even the least bit ashamed to let you know what they're interested in what it is they love and i just want to submit to you something that you've been given a banner i'm asking you how you doing at raising your banner amen because the banner declares something uh let me give it to you like this jesus christ himself said this in john chapter 10 of verse 27 my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me amen uh are you saved yes i'm saved uh who are you following you don't even know you ain't following nobody what i don't know about you i'm having a little problem with that i'm saying this if you're safe your life your very life ought to declare that you believe in and you belong to and you follow jesus christ maybe it's just me but it's not just me i got a lot of brethren that feel the same way number oh no we're still on banner ready a banner is to be displayed it's to be displayed you know what your banner is it is your we're not talking about flag we're talking about it is your personal testimony amen that's your banner and that's to be displayed that's what interacts with people amen that's what people see uh one time many many years ago we had old greyhound bus we're coming home uh we actually do have a home in uh beaver creek ohio say that sounds nice it is you know what's even nicer being parked in your driveway being able to come in here and open up the bible the only thing i've found that's more exciting than riding motorcycles and fishing and all is doing what we're doing right now we are fired up about serving the lord amen we got coming home one time and uh we had to drive by this uh fire station and uh and i man i saw it up on the pole is american flag and it is faded and it is ragged and it is shredded and again i'm a veteran i don't like that i put my life on the line for that flag somebody said what's a veteran i'll tell you what a veteran is a veteran is somebody that writes a a blank check to the united states government and says you do whatever you want with my life for the next x amount of years and if you think that's a small thing it's because you never tried it hold on hold on let me show you something amen gotta learn to do that in the ministry these days gotta amen yourself don't worry i can do it no problem because you guys sure not help me much amen that's okay i go by this uh fire department and uh and uh i get home and now this is weird you're gonna have to bear with me i had to actually go into the kitchen and there was a machine on the wall there he had a long coily cord and and and that you know before cell phones i know right and and i and then to make it even worse i had to go honey where's the phone book some of you don't even know what that is google it and uh and uh i had to go down and get the phone number for the fire chief and i found it and i got on the phone in the kitchen and i called him up and answer him and i said yeah my name is this and i live at this address which i'm not sure it was a good idea when you're gonna give the fire department a hard time thank god we never had a fire amen but i said listen i just came up uh dayton senior road and uh i told him about the flag he didn't say nothing i said uh it's gonna take me about five minutes to get back over there uh and when i hang up i'm going back over there and uh if that flag is still on that pole when i get there i'm cutting it down i was offended

[43:12] amen and i what'd you do i hung up i got my car and i went back over there and it wasn't that fire chief got on got on the phone and got that flag down say why did that bother you because it's disrespectful it's disrespectful to our country i'm an american i don't apologize for that to anybody i don't care how crazy it is but i'm gonna tell you what's worse than being disrespectful to the united states of america much worse is a christian with a lousy testimony is disrespectful to jesus christ amen and your banner is your personal testimony and i'm asking you how you're doing it raising your banner you know we do we get so caught up in this busy world that we're in that we don't even give it a thought and we think we're doing god a favor by coming to church or not shooting heroin or whatever and a little more to it than that let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven we've got a reason for being here amen and then last of all some of you already done but i i'm almost done amen uh take your bible go to matthew i'm sorry mark chapter 5 mark chapter 5 mark chapter 5 and uh look at verse 18 this is uh one of my favorite passages in the bible it's about the maniac gadara i relate me and him had a lot in common often bound fetters and chains you know i think we'd have got a long time amen uh and uh lord moved in cast the demons out of him the devil out of him and uh and in verse 18 when lord's getting ready to leave leave that area uh it says in verse 18 and when he was coming to the ship that's the lord he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him he's ready to go with him he didn't have anything he didn't leave anything behind and verse 19 how be it jesus suffered him not but sayeth unto him sayeth unto him go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the lord hath done for thee and have compassion on thee amen and uh beloved that's what god left us here to do to tell other people what he's done for us he didn't send the maniac off to bible college somewhere where they could talk him out of the divine inspiration of the word of god amen or to make it complicated he said look starting day one just go tell people what i did for you to me seems like anybody could do that you don't have to have any verses memorized to do that you know amen i have people say well i'm not very good at talking to people and then i watch them get uh two foot out that door and that cell phone comes out and they don't stop talking until they get the other end of the parking lot you're good at talking about what you want to talk about you need to get a handle on the fact that you're left here to tell people about jesus christ i understand some people are more outgoing than others i get all that but all of us have a duty to amen to what reach the lost how are you doing it reaching the lost again anybody can tell a person how great things the lord has done for me and have that compassion on thee right any saved person ought to be able to do that well i was a sinner and the bible says christ died for my sins and and and was buried and rose again the third day and uh and i believe that bible said believe in your heart and you know there's a lot of things i don't know there's a lot of things i don't know i've been reading this for 30 years but boy what i do know i can tell someone else now let me ask you something i haven't got this figured out maybe you got the answer if you can't do that if you can't tell somebody what happened to you when you

[47:12] got saved how could you possibly be saved i just wonder about that how could you be saved if you don't know what a great thing the lord had just done for you amen something to think about i'm not a retreader i'm not trying trying to get you to rethink talk you out of your salvation listen i just tell i just hope that you're counting on some oh i said a little prayer when i was five years old that ain't believing in your heart beloved we were left here to reach a lost and dying world for jesus christ is that right all right we're not online you can respond you're not in your living room this is okay we can hello and uh first timothy chapter one verse 16 paul says this how be it for this cause i obtained mercy are you saved you obtained mercy didn't you how be it for this cause i obtained mercy that in me first jesus christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern of them which you'd hear after believe on him we are to be a pattern to the people that aren't saved yet amen and uh so let me just i'm gonna close when's the last time uh you invited somebody to church that's a good start invited somebody to church we had a great opportunity and from the looks of things uh it went well and we had a lot of visitors today did we amen praise the lord and that's what we're supposed to do amen invite people to church amen get them in here let them they christians think i mean lost people think we're a bunch of weirdos that were a bunch of people had never done nothing wrong don't know anything about sin and we're gonna look down on them and we're not gonna if they only knew right people need to hear the gospel message the bible says faith comes by hearing hearing by the word of god that's what we're left here to do this isn't a club this isn't a clique this isn't our little social organization where we go and gather and down the block they got a different one this is the church of the living god amen and we need to let other people know what we got in on amen i'm gonna amen myself again in a minute when's the last time you had a good witness one-on-one you got to look for opportunities i know it's not the same as it was 20 years ago but so what it's today you got to figure it out when's the last time you actually led somebody to christ i got two granddaughters on a brazil mission trip for two weeks right now my wife and and my our prayer they're at 17 and uh my wife and i are our prayer is that and they're winning people on the street they're winning people to the lord and uh and our prayer was that our our granddaughters would individually get to lead a person to christ because let me tell you if you've never done that that'll ruin you that'll ruin you there ain't nothing going on in this world as neat as seeing somebody be born again it's the closest you can get to being born again and born again again yourself amen and uh it was cool amen first time it's still cool i was in louisiana in uh january february something like january and uh guy was visiting and i got him out of the parking lot evening service i introduced myself started talking to him his dad is a hell's angel doing life in angola prison in louisiana which is a very rough prison it's so far out in the middle of the swamps with the snakes and the gators people don't want to escape they just stay there their whole life because that's better getting eaten my alligator i would think amen and i got talking to him and he dabbled around with the clubs a little bit and then he knew it wasn't for him he also knew it was a dead end and he also didn't have any hope and here he is in church because a girl from the church invited him

[51:17] he worked at an oil change place and he drove all across that 30 miles across lake poncho train from new orleans to this little church on the north shore and that afternoon on the back of an old beat up rusted out painted ford torus he bowed his heart and trusted jesus christ we didn't even go into the service yet and he got saved and i thought thank you lord i know people aren't getting saved by the thousands or the hundreds or the dozens but one soul living forever me and her we can run a long time on that now i know some christians and they ain't been in a place where somebody got saved for so long and the devil the world the flesh and the devil beat you down and beat you down and beat you down and we need to get back in the work of trying to reach people with the gospel and if they don't respond they don't respond that's their problem but don't let the problem be because you didn't try paul said it like this let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the lord preach the word of the lord and see how they do so i've given you four areas in your life to consider number one running your race somebody told me early on it's not a 50 yard dash it's a marathon paul finished his course i want to finish my course don't you i want to finish it with joy i want to finish it for the glory of jesus christ and sometimes you can get so fired up that without you can have zeal without knowledge without wisdom and burn out and i don't want to burn out i don't want to be an empty pew i don't want to be a used to be christian i don't want to be a has-been i want to stay in the fight till the fight's over amen so you need to he said let us run with patience the race that is set before us and uh and uh how you doing it resisting the devil i understand it this is his world his domain i get it we're no match for him i get it there's only one way to resist the devil amen and it's getting as close as you can to god that's it that's it submitting yourself therefore to god god says do this way yes sir you take and then god says i want you to do this and you say yes sir and you get closer to god and finally the devil says forget it i'm going after that one because they're not and he gets them he said well i'm saved he can't get me no but he'll be happy with your children yeah it ought to be quiet right there amen all right how you doing raising your banner it matters you know some of the cults can recite their false doctrine better than we can recite the truth amen it's a crying shame but i'm going to tell you what no religion no religion can argue what they can't give any of them is they can't give evidence of a sure enough changed life nobody can argue when a person's life really changes people turn over a new leaf it doesn't take long that leaf turns back over next time the wind blows what you heard about this morning was a testimony of a changed life i did not go straight i did not turn over a new leaf amen i got saved and things changed and he didn't make a wimp out of me when i got saved he made a man out of me and i ain't got over it yet and that's why uh that's why we try to encourage others to get in a fight raise your banner and reach others how you doing how you doing simple simple things if you're doing okay some of you have been at it a long time you've had good foundation here

[55:17] you've had good preaching for years you're getting good solid bible preaching now so if you're doing okay you can honestly answer that way within your own spirit in those areas now if the lord showed you something else address it but if you're doing okay in those areas praise the lord keep it up be a good example to others but if in your honest analysis of what the holy spirit may be trying to bear witness to if you're not doing okay in one of those areas then give it some spiritual attention that's what a meeting's for let's say god show me listen if we were all as perfect as we try to pretend we wouldn't need preaching at all we could just have singings all the time amen but we need preaching because we got a world that's going to hell all around us amen all right and be in there and you're not saved i'm asking how you doing i'm just here i'm going to close it right now probably maybe who knows if you're not saved you're not doing well at all you're not doing well i'm not talking about your finances your health your family your status in life if you're not saved you're on your way to hell and jesus christ went to the cross to make a way so that you don't have to go and he did the work amen he made it possible he made the first move says he died for our sins you're not saved it's your move i hope you make the right move i hope you make the right move while you can say how much time do i have you tell me people are stepping into eternity that never dreamed they would young people older people amen it's happening all the time i don't know several three of my friends have died in the last month most of them were a couple of them a few years older than me amen we're that but man young people die too unprecedented rate for me young is anybody under 60 so that means you let's all stand preacher come on how you doing tonight hope you're doing all right for real fashion little people do thank you for the overall job not that I did in the last before you i'm a a abuse crazy

[57:43]  Angela and he was almost нет me for just on your phone they you and your the family have having baby also has heard