Set a Watch Before My Mouth

[0:00] But they lose it. The Bible says to have eternal life is to know Jesus Christ.! Some folks know Him. Adam knew Him and had eternal life.

[0:12] ! But Adam sinned and lost his eternal life. Amen? So to know, to have eternal life is to know the Lord, not only to know Him, but to continue to know Him. Amen?

[0:27] You know what the word know means? I get a one I'm going to preach on here in a minute. But do you know what the word literally to know means? In the biblical sense, it means to have a relationship with that produces offspring.

[0:45] Amen? Hallelujah. When we know the Lord, we have a relationship with Him, and that relationship produces offspring.

[0:56] If it doesn't, then something's wrong with our relationship with God. But most of us are happy if we can just give it a little bit for ourselves and not worry about everybody else.

[1:07] Let them, you know, we're not worried about spreading the word. I admire the Jehovah's Witness. Not exactly what they have, but their zeal in getting out what they have.

[1:20] And they're doing what the Bible says. They go two by two. You never catch one of them by themselves when they're going out visiting. Amen? And what they believe, they really do believe it. Amen? Man, I wish, I wish that we believed what we profess to believe enough, amen, that we would live just what we profess to be.

[1:38] Can you say amen? Hallelujah. Tonight, as I pray, I'm going to ask the Lord in the next few minutes, and I've enjoyed the testimony. I enjoyed hearing anybody when they sing in tongues.

[1:49] Amen? That's not a common day occurrence. Can somebody say amen? Hallelujah. But you must know that any time you start to do anything for the Lord, that the devil amounts an attack to come against you and to tear you down, to get you down spiritually and physically and financially and every which way.

[2:08] Amen? So we have, I would say, I do, I cannot recall in recent history when I've seen more people sick at the same time in my life. I mean, just during this revival, I had a cold in one eye and a cold in the other eye.

[2:20] I still got a cold in my head and everywhere else. But everywhere, everywhere in the country, all my grandkids and grandchildren are sick, and up here, everybody's sick. And anybody here who hasn't been caught up by this sickness yet?

[2:35] Anybody hasn't? Oh, you haven't? Okay, well, stay out there with that old man then. He'll keep you well. You get around here with the rest of us, mama, you're going to get sick. I'm going to prophesy.

[2:47] Yeah, I say unto thee. You hang around us, you're going to get sick. But tonight, how many here has a Holy Ghost tonight? How many here don't have a Holy Ghost tonight?

[3:01] That looks like everybody, doesn't it? Well, I might not even have to repeat this then. But I want to ask the Holy Ghost, I want to ask God to make a deposit in our soul and in our spirit of the Holy Ghost.

[3:12] Amen? Now, we talk about a deposit being the earnest, the earnest of what God's going to do in the end.

[3:23] It's a down payment. Amen? What did Paul say? I am persuaded that he which hath begun a good work in me shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Amen? If God started it, if we hold on to him, we will see it to the completion.

[3:39] Amen? We will not only know eternal life, but we will have it and it will be ours. So tonight, I'm going to ask the Lord as we go to the Lord in prayer here.

[3:52] Turn with me to the book of Psalms. I want to read what our biggest problem is in this church specifically and in every church in general that I know anything at all about.

[4:03] In the book of Psalms 141 and verses 1 through 3. Just raise your hand when you find it. And if you're not even looking for it, raise your hand.

[4:15] That way I'll know that I don't have to wait for you to find it. Okay. That's enough. Lord, I cry unto thee.

[4:28] Make haste unto me and give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

[4:43] Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth and keep the doors of my lips. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Lord Jesus, as we come to you tonight, Lord, for the next few minutes here.

[4:57] Lord God, I pray that you would allow me, Lord, to make a deposit. Lord, of your precious word, God, that you reveal unto me. Lord, help me to preach it exactly the way you gave it. That it might, Lord God, somehow, some way, somewhere, Lord, begin to take root downward.

[5:11] That it might one day bear fruit upward. Lord, we don't know the day and the hour that you come, but we do know, Lord, that you're coming. And we're looking and watching for you in Jesus' name. And everybody say amen. Hallelujah.

[5:21] I found out that God may bless us, but it won't take us long to talk ourselves out of the blessing that God is trying to bless us with. Amen. And most of our problems come because we try to confess the wrong thing instead of the right thing.

[5:39] The right confession is I am more than a conqueror. That there's nothing, absolutely nothing that the devil can do to me. Amen. That God has not allowed. And if God loves me, then all things are working together for my good regardless of what comes my way.

[5:55] Can somebody say amen? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So set a watch before your mouth. Put a bar on your lips.

[6:06] Think before you speak. Take a check up from the neck up before you say anything that you're going to have to repent of. And make yourself feel awful when you know that you said the wrong thing.

[6:20] Anybody here ever said the wrong thing besides me? Man, sometimes my mouth is so big I can actually get my foot all the way inside of it. Hallelujah.

[6:33] Set a watch. Set a watch. Set a watch. Now, there's different ways to set a watch. One way that they talked about, there were three watches in the night.

[6:52] If I was to ask you, Brother David, if you see me doing something wrong, now would you please tell me, if I say something, would you please let me know? All right. Then I ask him to watch me.

[7:06] And then somebody over here does something and I begin to let it go. I'm going to tell them off. But Brother Van, you said for me to watch you.

[7:17] Well, what I'm telling you now, shut up and sit down. Now, how many knows what I'm talking about? Hallelujah.

[7:29] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus said some words that, what he said this. He said, occupy till I come.

[7:41] The word occupy means to go about your daily lives, to continue making a living and watching and praying and seeking him. Amen? I don't know how you feel.

[7:55] I just wanted, could I get an invitation to your house tomorrow around noon? You got anything going tomorrow around noon? Yeah, your house. You got something going around noon? All right.

[8:05] All right. All right. I got some things. I want deep things that I need some spiritual insight on. I want to talk to you all about them. Amen. Occupy till I come. Occupy till I come.

[8:17] You know, Jesus spoke those words 2,000 years ago. We've been trying to occupy since then. But in the last few days, in the last, well, see, we've been having a revival here.

[8:31] Now, it's waning here for whatever reason, probably for our like of prayer. We started out fasting and praying, and I got a feeling our fasting and praying has faltered. And then when that falters, then the revival moves on to somebody else that wants it.

[8:44] Because not only is it moving in this church, but it's moving in the Baptist churches. It's moving in the Methodist churches. It's moving across the land to people who really want it. It's moving.

[8:55] Amen? Occupy till I come. Occupy till I come. Occupy till I come. Jesus is coming. Would he say he was coming if he didn't mean it?

[9:05] You know, we can't believe John 14 if we can't believe Luke 19 and 13. Amen? Occupy till I come. I'm coming. I'm coming. Watch ye therefore, for ye know not the day or the hour when the Son of Man shall come.

[9:18] But know this. He shall come. He's coming. Amen? What did the angels of the Lord tell them outside of Jerusalem? He said, this same Jesus which you have seen go away shall so come again in like manner as you've seen him go.

[9:28] Amen? So we're busy trying to occupy ourselves. Now. Now, this doesn't mean to get our mind off of God and to see how much TV we can watch and let's just occupy our time and waste our time.

[9:43] But you know what it's saying? The word occupy means to busy yourself. To busy your mind. To busy your soul and your spirit learning about God.

[9:54] Trying to find out the revelations of his word. I heard a great minister the other day say, I read a different Bible than what you all do. Oh yes, I read the King James Version.

[10:05] But you're reading the surface. And I'm looking at what it says below the surface. Anybody can read what it says on the outside. But it takes a spiritual ear to hear and a spiritual eye to see what God is really trying to reveal to you and I.

[10:21] Amen? Oh, it sounds good just come to the altar and be saved, you know. But that doesn't mean anything. You've got to hear it with your spiritual ear to know what God's trying to do.

[10:31] To occupy until he comes means that we're busy doing the Lord's work until he comes. That's why Jesus said, he said, the works that I do shall you do also and greater works that I do shall you do.

[10:44] Because I go away and occupy. Does anybody know what an occupation is? Brother Jesse, what is an occupation? Hold on just a second.

[10:58] I put him on stop. I put him on the spot. Where you work. Occupation. What is your job? What is your classification? What is your occupation? Somebody say, I'm a welder.

[11:09] And I'm a bricklayer. And I'm a car salesman or whatever. But what the Lord is talking about. Occupy. Occupy. He has given us an occupation.

[11:21] And this occupation is to find this word of God. And then not only just to find it and understand it. But then to reveal it to whoever will listen. Even like the Jehovah's Witness. Can somebody say amen?

[11:32] Now, I believe that Jesus is getting ready to come. And my question tonight, of course, is are we getting ready to go? Can somebody say amen? Amen. In Luke 22 and 53, it says, and right now is the hour.

[11:49] And the hour of darkness and the hour of sin. Right now. This is the hour. How many believe that we're living in the hour of darkness like you've never seen before?

[12:00] When everything is winked at. There's nothing wrong. There's nothing wrong. It's all right for, and I'm not talking about sinners. I'm talking about people that are supposed to be Christians.

[12:10] People that are supposed to be separated and called out and sought out and bought out and covered with the blood. It's all right if you've got a little homosexuality in the church. It's all right if we smoke a little bit and have a little social drink and look like the world and act like the world.

[12:26] Go to places the world goes and just more or less. Just be like we was before we got saved, but now just feel like that everything's all right and we're going to heaven. That's the age.

[12:37] That's the Laodicean church age. We're rich and increased with goods, and we think we have neither nothing. But then the Lord's assessment is, but I tell you that you are miserable and naked and all these different things that God said that we were.

[12:52] And he said, now I counseled you to buy me gold tried in the fire. And white raiment thought thou mayest be clothed. Somebody say amen. Now, we're living in the hour of the power of darkness.

[13:03] Who is the ruler of this world? Satan is, amen. He's the prince in the power of the air. He is the God of this world. We're living in an occupied territory. We're strangers and we're pilgrims.

[13:14] We're about like the spies that went out to spy out the land. But you know what? They didn't go in to partake of that land and become part of the citizenship like most of us have. But they went into the land to spy it out, amen, to come back and bring back the report that we're more than conquerors.

[13:30] Instead of coming back and bringing out an evil report. You know what most reports is? The way is too hard. The holy life is just too hard. I mean, what do you do for fun once you get saved?

[13:43] You can't go nowhere. You can't do nothing. Brother Paul, what do you do for fun? Just treat what you do for fun. Did you quit having fun once you got saved?

[13:58] Man, I've had so much fun since I got saved. I didn't know what fun was until Jesus Christ saved me, amen. Then I found out what it really is like to really enjoy my salvation. I'm not enduring waiting until Jesus comes.

[14:11] I am enjoying waiting until Jesus comes. You know why? Because I believe that I am in the generation that's going to see, that's going to watch the eastern skies, going to part, amen.

[14:22] Hey, I may be an old man, but I'm going to see because it's going to happen in my lifetime. Woo. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[14:34] Let me read Colossians here. It's a little book. It's hard to find. It's right before Thessalonians. I want to read you a couple of scriptures here real quick. I want to put all these scriptures together. I hope it will make sense to you.

[14:46] We're right now in the hour of darkness, the hour of sin, and the devil is having his heyday. That's why sin is rampant. That's why they can't decide, you know, if they want to, you know, we already got the lottery, which is ain't nothing but an abomination to God.

[14:58] And what's so bad about the lottery, it isn't so much bad that's gambling. It's that the people that gamble are the people that can't afford to gamble. I personally know people that are on welfare that when they get their welfare check, they spend almost the whole stinking thing on gambling.

[15:13] And then before the month is over, they got to take stuff out of their house and go out and sell it just to make it to the end of the month. You think at the end of the month they would have learned their lesson?

[15:23] No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Go down to any place that sells lottery tickets. Right after about the second, you know, when they get their checks, you're watching me. They're all in there scratching it off. Hey, they're looking for the pie in the sky, man.

[15:35] Honey, let me tell you what. You better quit looking for the pie in the sky and start looking for the door in the sky. Now let me get on down home. I ain't talking about sinners. I'm talking about Christians. I'm talking about people that are supposed to know better.

[15:47] Amen. Oh, brother, man, I can't afford to pay my tithe. But I will go buy me $100 worth of lottery tickets. Oh, that's not what I want to preach on tonight.

[15:57] I'm just talking about occupying yourself until Jesus comes because we're living in the hour of darkness and the hour of sin. Amen. But look, in Colossians, the first chapter, 12 and 13th verse, he says this.

[16:09] He says, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet or make us able to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Now, boy, I said a whole mouthful of this.

[16:20] So let me just read it again so that you can understand it. How many knows that the saints have an inheritance?

[16:35] The saints of God have an inheritance. When my daddy leaves this world, I'm not going to inherit anything. All these guys have enough life insurance to put him away. Honey, so my hope is not in this life only.

[16:46] Amen. I'm like the apostle Paul. If my hope was in this life only, I'd be above all men most miserable. But my hope is in Jesus Christ. Amen. Glory to God. And I have an inheritance.

[16:57] My Lord, and it's with the saints in light, not in darkness. The devil is the prince and the power of the world. And he's the ruler of darkness. Amen. But my inheritance is with the saints and the light who hath delivered us from the power of darkness.

[17:13] Hey, you know why I'm in church on Friday night? And why I'm in church on Thursday night? And why I'm going to be in church on Saturday night and Sunday morning and Sunday night? Honey, because I've been delivered. I've been delivered from the power of darkness.

[17:24] Amen. Glory to God. Woo! I feel the Holy Ghost goosebumps running up and down. I've been delivered. I've been delivered.

[17:35] Amen. Woo! Somebody say, I shall woo! Woo! And they say, what's that for? That's just to keep the devil all confused up. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and then hath, hath, hath, hath.

[17:50] Past, present, future tense. Somebody tell me real quick. Hath, hath, hath. No. Past. Past tense.

[18:01] Hath. Hath. Hath is past tense. And hath translated us. Everybody shout hath.

[18:14] Hath. Hath what? Hath translated us. Hath translated us. Am I reading that right? Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us.

[18:26] Hath translated us. You know why? Hey. Woo! Let me tell you what. I wish I'd have got saved when I was really, really, really, really young. Before I knew what sin was. But no, I had to be hard headed.

[18:38] I had to grow up and I went through the military. And I, you know, I got out there and I know what sin is all about. I know what it is to have pleasure in sin for a season. Amen. But I also then know what it is to be translated from that kingdom of darkness.

[18:52] Hallelujah. Over here to the kingdom of light. Amen. Praise God. I have. I have. I have already been translated by the power of the Holy Ghost and by the power of God into the kingdom of God.

[19:05] Somebody said, oh, I wish I was in the kingdom of God. Well, honey, if you're a child of God and you're really a child of God, you have already, you have been translated. Now, you know what the rapture is? The rapture is a translation from this world to another world in biblical speaking.

[19:24] The rapture means to be caught up. Now, I bring that down on a natural basis. When these games come out and you play them on your TV and you get that thing on your hand and you wear blisters on your hand, on your thumb, did anybody ever play them video games so long enough to get blisters on your thumb?

[19:44] 99% of you in here can shake your hand. Well, I might not have got no blisters, but I sure did wear my thumbs out.

[19:57] Playing them games. Pac-Man. You know what happened? They were raptured into Pac-Man.

[20:09] They were raptured into these games that you put your fingers on. They were caught up. Hey, man, you could walk in the room, but a bomb could go off outside. They could holler, the house is on fire. Wouldn't matter to them. I got to get that man. The one with my grandson, they'd be riding in a motorcycle through there.

[20:28] Don't matter what's happening. You'd be hollering, supper's ready. Supper's ready, children. It don't matter. Now, that word also means raptured.

[20:39] You're caught up. Amen. But that's not the kind of rapture I'm talking about. I'm talking about getting out of here. I'm talking about when this mortal shall put on immortality.

[20:51] When this corruptible shall put on some incorruption. Amen. When there's a change. Amen. Hey, now I've already changed. I have already been translated. There's already been a change. I don't go to the place the world goes and do the things the world does and partake of the things the world.

[21:05] Amen. Because I've already been changed. But there's going to come an even greater change to people who are allowing themselves and have allowed themselves to already be changed. Amen. And that change is going to come when we become like Jesus Christ.

[21:19] Son. Son. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Can somebody say amen? Amen. So what happened? When you received forgiveness of sins, you were automatically translated into the kingdom of God.

[21:34] You're no longer of the world. You're in the world, but you're not out of the world. Can somebody say amen? Now, God didn't just deliver us just to occupy a warm seat in a pew like we're so apt to do.

[21:52] And I didn't know I was a poet, but I might just have to rhyme a few words there. But God wants us to be just like him. Do you believe that God wants us to be just like him?

[22:05] Was he satisfied to go to church and sit on the pew all night long? No, you know what happened in Luke, the fourth chapter? It says, and he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as was his custom and was delivered to him the book of Isaiah.

[22:18] And he stood up and he began to read out of that book. Amen. As was his custom. And what was his custom? To get up in the church and to pronounce the word of God. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

[22:29] Come on. Amen. If you know what I'm talking about, somebody shout amen. Woo! Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now, in 2 Corinthians, the third chapter and the 18th verse, it says words like this.

[22:43] We all with open face. That means we're not covered up. Can somebody say amen?

[22:53] You know how many Christians try to cover up what they're doing in the darkness because they don't want nobody to find out? But we all with open face beholding as in a glass. The glory of the Lord.

[23:09] But we all with open face beholding as in a mirror. Everybody say mirror. The glory of the Lord. What are we looking at in the mirror? What do you see when you look in the mirror?

[23:22] You see the glory of the Lord? You should. You should. When you look in the mirror, you should see the glory of the Lord. Why does 1 Corinthians tell you that the head of Jesus Christ is God and the head of man is Jesus Christ and the head of the woman is the man?

[23:44] And then, in other words, everything's got to cover him. And then there's a glory that's involved there.

[23:55] I won't go into that tonight. Amen. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are changed into that same image.

[24:09] Into what same image? Into what image? What image are we to be translated into? But we're holding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the image of the glory of the Lord from glory to glory to into that same image from glory to glory to glory.

[24:32] Amen. You know what that's saying? It's kind of like this. Line upon line. Here a little and there a little. Precept upon precept. If God had showed me all of my, what amount of flesh I would have had to overcome when I first got saved and I was so small in the Lord, I'd say, God, there ain't no way I quit.

[24:49] I give up. But you know what he does? He shows me just this much flesh, enough that he knows that I have confidence in him that I can overcome it. Then I can overcome that. And I think I got it made and I'll shout for a while.

[25:00] And then he said, but wait a minute. And he showed me a little bit more, see? So just continue growing and glowing and translating. Amen. Hey, hey, but we all with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord are transferred, translated, transformed, transfigured into his image from glory to glory to glory.

[25:20] Now, why does the Lord want us to look like him? Why does he want us to talk like him? Why does he want us to act like him? Why does he want us to heal like him?

[25:33] Why does he want us to love like him? Why does he want us to have mercy like he does? I said this a long time ago and I'll say it again. Because we are the only Jesus the world is ever going to see.

[25:46] What he has deposited inside of us, what we have allowed the word of God to take of our old self and get rid of and put that new man in there, is the only thing that the world's going to see.

[25:58] We're the only Bible that they're ever going to read. Consequently, we're the only Bible that most Christians are ever going to read. Because most Christians that claim to be Christians won't read the Bible.

[26:11] You can say amen or oh me. Amen. But now, why does God want us to look like him? And my answer to that, I wrote it down here, it's because our God is a giver.

[26:22] Now, why did God give us? He's given us salvation. He's given us deliverance. He gave us his blood. He gave us his stripes that we're healed by. He's given us the gift of the Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost. Now, why do we need the Holy Ghost?

[26:34] Do you know why you need the Holy Ghost? Oh, just so you can say, Come see me. Tematai? That's called this kind of economy I told. You know, why did God give you the Holy Ghost? Just so that you make you feel good, you know.

[26:45] Why in the world did God give you the Holy Ghost? But God is giving you the Holy Ghost because it's the power of the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. That transforms you into the image of Jesus Christ. Amen. From glory to glory.

[26:56] It's the power. It's the dynamos. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It's that inherent power that the more you use it, the more that you have to use. See, some of you think probably that when you speak in tongues too much, you're going to run out.

[27:11] But it's not the way it works. The more you speak in tongues, the more power you have to speak in tongues. Can somebody say amen? Hallelujah. So, he's given us the Holy Ghost. Now, Romans 8 and 11 says this.

[27:24] But if. Remember, Brother Don was going to preach on the if last week. And everybody get around to it. I'll preach on the if tonight. But if. The spirit. What spirit? If the Holy Ghost.

[27:35] Of him that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead dwelleth in you. Can somebody say amen? Let me just flip back here in Romans because I want to read it to you. I can quote it to you.

[27:46] But I might leave out a word and I don't want to leave out anything. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead dwell in you. He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal body by the.

[28:01] By his spirit that dwelleth in you. Now, what spirit dwells in us? Does the Holy Ghost really dwell in you?

[28:12] Where's it at when we're throwing that mad fit? Where's it at when we're saying those words? Five minutes later we wish we could take back. Where's it at when we're kicking the car because the car won't start.

[28:25] We're out there just kicking the fender off the car. Oh, you've never done that. Where's that Holy Ghost at, Sister Judy? When everybody don't show up from work like they need to.

[28:37] And you done put in 98 hours that week and you got to go back in. Because ain't nobody else going to show up and it's up to you. Where's that Holy Ghost at, Brother Van? When you expect people to come to church and they don't show up.

[28:49] Where's it at? You got to keep on loving them, amen? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It says, but that the spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead dwelleth in you.

[29:01] Dwells in you. Now, it gets on some folks and they get a little shake. That's as far as it gets. I think they'll shake it off. Like an old song said, I saw one man shook his heart.

[29:15] I thought he had a fit. But it's real. And it calls to bless him. Amen? Amen. He that raised up Christ from the dead.

[29:26] If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal body. How's he going to do it?

[29:40] By his spirit that dwells in you. Does the Holy Ghost dwell in you? Does the Holy Ghost really dwell? Does the Holy Ghost really dwell in you? Does it really dwell in you?

[29:51] Drop a bit here to the ninth verse. So then they that are in the flesh, eighth verse, cannot please God, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God dwell in you.

[30:02] Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he's none of his. Now, how many things you got to have the Holy Ghost tonight? None of his. None of his.

[30:13] Luke 24 and 49 says, Behold, I send the promise of my father, but tear you in Jerusalem till you be endued with power from on high. Amen? The promise came 2,000 years ago. And it's still coming every day.

[30:25] Can somebody say amen? Amen. The Holy Ghost is what transforms us. What God uses to transform us. The power of the Holy Ghost into his image and into his likeness. Now, how many things are we going to look like him?

[30:38] See, not necessarily what you plant in the ground is going to look like the same thing when it comes up. Did you know that? You plant a grain of corn in the ground, and what comes up is a little old blade.

[30:52] And then after the blade, it begins to get a stalk. And it's almost in the middle of the hot summertime before the ears begin to protrude.

[31:03] Amen. What happens to us? What happens to us? The Holy Ghost is what it is that transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1 and 3.

[31:14] Now, it says, how many remembers the book of Hebrews? Anybody read Hebrews lately? The first chapter? First three verses. Let me just turn there real quick.

[31:33] It says, God who at sundry times, you know what sundry means? That means at different times. In many parts and in many ways. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake at times fast unto the prophets and to the fathers by the prophets, had in these last days spoken unto us by his Son in whom he hath appointed us to be heirs of all things, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person.

[31:58] Now, let me read that again. Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged all sin and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

[32:18] Who is Jesus Christ? Who did he look like? That's why I could say in John 14, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Now, how many knows that God is a giver? We've got two kinds of people in the world.

[32:31] We've got givers and we've got takers. God is a giver. Now, there's good takers and there's bad takers. God has given us a lot of things that are for us and are to be taken.

[32:46] But we don't necessarily take them. And then there's other things that we don't want nobody to give, but they take anyway. But if God is a giver and God wants us to be like him, he wants us in his image, he wants us to do his works, then we need to find out what is it God's wanting us to give.

[33:04] What is it God's wanting us to give? And I'm just about to close here. I just want to find out, I just want to let you know that you've got something to give. You've got something that the world didn't give you. You've got something that you can't find, hallelujah, outside of being revealed to you by the Holy Ghost.

[33:18] And it begins to talk here in 2 Corinthians, the fourth chapter, beginning of the first verse. It says, do we again, wait a minute, I'm in the wrong fourth chapter. It says, therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.

[33:36] Now, who has a ministry? Just Brother Paul, Sister Pat, y'all got a ministry? How about the rest of us? Do we have a ministry? Brother Bob, you got a ministry?

[33:50] Philip, you got a ministry? Tiffany, you got a ministry? Write twice. We have this ministry.

[34:02] It says, therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, committing ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

[34:18] But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them, which believe not, lest that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

[34:34] For we be not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Christ's sake, who hath commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the presence of Jesus Christ.

[34:50] Can somebody say amen? Hallelujah. It's warming here, ain't it? Set a watch before your mouth. Set a watch before your mouth. Let me read that to you again, because you may not have read that in a while, and it may be a while before you read it again, and you need to read that.

[35:06] Psalms 141. Amen. Set a watch before your mouth. How many knows that the word of God said, the power of life and death is in the tongue? That if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, if you speak it, if you speak it, then there's something about our words that give power.

[35:35] Words can kill, and words can heal. Amen. You know why they have a preacher at a funeral? So that the words that he speaks can try to start the healing process. Amen.

[35:46] Listen. Lord, I cry unto thee. Make haste unto me, and give ear to my voice. I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as an incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

[36:00] And set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips. Set a watch before my mouth, and keep a watch on my lips.

[36:14] Think about it. Where's your problem come from? Most of the time, a problem comes from when we won't profess and confess the proper confession. I am more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.

[36:28] I can do all things through Christ. Amen. Amen. There's nothing, you know, we choose every time we open our mouth to glorify God or to blaspheme God.

[36:41] If we would set a watch before our mouth, we'd be more, more, more conscious of what we're trying to say. Then our life would be a whole lot easier.

[36:53] Let me, let me just give you one more scripture here in closing. It's over in the book of, of Matthew the 25, 14 through 30. I'm not going to read it to you. But the Bible said, the kingdom of heaven is like a man going into a fire country.

[37:03] But before he left, he called his servants together and he gave one man 10 talents and, and one man five talents and another man he gave one talent. And he said, now, I'm going to return.

[37:15] When I return, I'll be expecting to receive of what I've sent. He said, now this is the way the kingdom of heaven is. If you're saved today, God has put a talent in your life.

[37:27] We don't know. The Bible talks about when he begins to talk about spiritual gifts, he said, then the spirit devised every man as severally as he will. But the Lord has given us the Holy Ghost and we are to use it to bring glory and honor and praise and adoration and exaltation to the name of Jesus Christ.

[37:47] Can you say amen? Let me just read my notes here. To everyone that hath shall be given.

[38:04] And the Bible says not only given, but given in abundance. But if we hide our talent, if we're just satisfied to come to church and sit on the pew, if we don't let our life be a witness, if we never, never find out if we have an anointing, to do anything for God, then we're like that servant that God gave the talent to.

[38:28] Well, we take it and we hide it in the ground. When the first step you got to take is confess, I have an ability.

[38:40] I have a God-given ability through the power of the Holy Ghost. Maybe I can't preach. Maybe I can't teach. Maybe I can't sing. Maybe I can't play any music. But I can do something. I can use my mouth to tell other people.

[38:51] We have this treasure in earthen vessels. I can use my mouth to tell people about Jesus Christ. Amen? But still, what do we do? We go around poor-mouthing. Anybody go around poor-mouthing?

[39:04] It's almost like the old hee-haw show. Gloom, despair, and agony on me. Cold, dark, excessive misery. If I wasn't Christian, I wouldn't be nothing at all.

[39:15] Gloom, despair, and agony on me. We go around poor-mouthing and, you know, say, I don't have anything. And, you know, the Bible says that when we do these things, then when the Lord comes, He's going to take away even what He's giving you.

[39:32] And why is He going to do this? Because God has given us His Spirit, His grace, His love, His faith, His living water, His spiritual gifts, and all this. And it's His will. It's in His will.

[39:45] Everybody say it's in His will. It's in His will. Anybody know that anybody here got a Bible tonight? This is His will. Last will and testament.

[39:57] Somebody say, well, I'm waiting for God to come down and do a new thing. Forget it. He's not going to do a new thing. He's done that other thing He's going to do. And all the power we need to do it and all the word we need to do it is right here in this book. Amen?

[40:09] This is His will. But you know what we do? Now, my father's going to pass away here one of these days. He's 83. And as the process of life goes, we're born, we're young, we live, and we grow old, and we die.

[40:24] Now, when my father dies, His will will have to be probated. Anybody want to know what the probate is? Can anybody give me a definition on the word probate?

[40:37] Now, I looked it up right before it came out. The word probate means to prove. To prove that a document, which in this case is the Word of God, as a last will and testament is genuine and certified proven.

[40:53] What has Jesus left us in His will? What has He left us? We don't know because we won't read the will. We won't find out if it really means what it says it means. We won't test it to see if it's certified and genuine and real and true.

[41:08] What has He left us? He left us His grace. He saved us. He left us His mercy. He left us His love. He left us His Word. He left us His wisdom and His faith and His gifts of the Spirit.

[41:19] God is a giver. God is a giver. God is a giver. Will you be a taker? Will you be a taker? Then watch your mouth when you say, I can't do it. I can't overcome this heaven.

[41:30] I can't quit smoking. I can't quit drinking. I can't quit cussing. I can't quit chewing. I can't quit dipping. I can't. I can't. I can't. Then, no, you can't. But when you say, I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me, then, yes, I can.

[41:44] It's in the book. It's written. Amen. Hey, He said He wouldn't let anything overpower me. Amen. When He gave me all power, He said, all power in heaven and earth is given unto me, and I give you power over all sicknesses and over all diseases.

[42:00] Amen. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely you have received, freely give. Have I lost you tonight? Am I that far out there in left field? Am I the only one understanding what I'm trying to say?

[42:12] Watch your mouth. Set a watch on it. If you confess, if you confess, have a right confession and say, I'm going to say the right thing. I'm going to do the right thing. Then God will honor your confession.

[42:24] He'll honor the word you speak because He honors His word. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. Amen.

[42:46] You may be here tonight and everything we've done may be a little strange to you. Amen. And no doubt, we are kind of a strange people. But Brother Paul preached a wonderful message while ago.

[43:02] To know God. To know God. To know Him. To be saved. Just to ask Jesus, come in my heart, save me.

[43:14] The old song goes, I was going down for the last time. Amen. Amen. To know God. I'm missing Sandy. I just realized I'm missing Sandy. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[43:30] I just missed her. That was her song I was referring to there. If everybody would please bow your head. Close your eyes.

[43:42] You're not used to ask that and people used to actually do it. Now they don't want you to do it anymore. But you know, you may not know why you're in the house of the Lord on a Friday evening when there's so much going on out in the world.

[43:59] And you're not here by accident. Hallelujah. But you're here because the Spirit of the Lord drawed you this way. You don't know why. I remember the first time I came to church when God was going to save me.

[44:13] I just thought I was going to please somebody else and get them off my back. I didn't know. I didn't realize. I was so ignorant. I didn't realize that it was the Spirit of the Lord that was drawing me. Hallelujah. Maybe you're here tonight and you don't know why you're here but you know that you haven't got them left yet.

[44:27] Maybe God's got something for you. Listen to the words of this song and if it means something to you and you want to be saved. I was preaching last Sunday night.

[44:37] Sunday night before last night Calhoun had some new folks there and when I got through I just went back there and said are you saved? They said no. I said do you want to be saved? And they said I sure do and I said well come right on up here we're going to pray with you.

[44:48] Ask the Lord to save you. Amen. Are you tired of all the lonely? Sleepless nights and lonely? Wasted days that drive you to your knees?

[45:07] Are you sick of all the crying? Emptiness and lying Telling yourself you couldn't make it without Him Don't you want to stop your hurting?

[45:26] Know one thing for certain when you're all alone and there's no place enough to run God's door is standing open and He's right there where you left Him and the road that got you lost will get you home Turn around Listen Please turn around Left and right You've been let down How many of you here tonight feel like you've been let down?

[46:08] Turn around Before it's too late Turn around To the voice that you thought was calling Did you walk or did it leave you crawling?

[46:26] Did your dreams survive or slowly fade away? Have you gone from smiles and laughter happy ever after To where you're just barely getting by from day to day?

[46:46] Does your mind sometimes seem hazy? You think, my God, I must be going crazy All your good time friends have left and you're all alone God's door is standing open and He's right there where you left Him and the road that got you lost get you home Turn around Please turn around Left and right You've been let down Turn around Please turn around Before it's too late Turn around Before it's too late Turn around You know,

[47:49] I believe the Spirit of the Lord is speaking to somebody tonight I'm telling you before it's too late why don't you turn around Won't you give your heart and life to Jesus Why don't you turn around Hallelujah Do you want to be saved?

[48:21] Or do you want to go to hell burning fire? I'm about like about like the Apostle Paul that we had here tonight I didn't get saved because I love the Lord I got saved because a preacher was preaching on hell fire and he made it so hot I knew I didn't want to go Turn around Turn around Please turn around Left and right You've been let down Turn around Please turn around Before it's too late Turn around Turn around You know after the rapture takes place it's going to be too late When the Antichrist takes over

[49:23] You can't buy or sell unless you take the mark or the number It'll be too late If I just doesn't make my decision to follow the Lord today Praise the Lord Amen Well I like what David said I was glad when they said unto me Let us go into the house of the Lord Amen Got announcements to make May the 23rd, 24th and 25th Sister Becky and Brother Ronnie Trammell are going to be having a spring revival in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee My wife and I are going and anyone else that wants to go is welcome to go If I know you want to go we can try to get a group rate and maybe get a lower price on our rooms

[50:27] But the ladies went down in Was that November or December? You sure? I told my wife it was December and she was trying to tell me it was November and I knew she was wrong Anyway and they had over 200 ladies show up and they had just a wonderful time I don't know where they're going to put them all If as many came then as this time and bring their husbands with them I don't know where they'll put them But it will be a grand glorious spirit filled ma'am Oh the room opens up bigger Oh last year she was only going to open up one square there would have been about 50 people and she wound up opening four squares and there's more to open so if you're interested don't forget that the big revival is going to be taking place down there and I expect miracles to happen

[51:29] I expect people to get saved and and I talked just a little week about last week just a little bit about when the Lord is going to come back when the day and the hour and I believe it's going to be soon real soon amen as soon as I get it sorted out in my mind I'm going to go talk to Brother Paul and Sister Patsy about it tomorrow and show them evidence and get their opinion on it and but I tell you what you remember back in 88 when there's 88 reasons why Jesus is going to come in 1988 remember how many people started coming to church and then when he didn't come they all quit you're not going to fool the Lord you're not going to fool him he cannot be fool then they came out with 89 reasons why they're going to come in 89 they didn't come in 89 and I just about halfway expected him to come in Y2K but he didn't come in

[52:29] Y2K but you know what I'm still expecting him to come the day you hear me say I'm not looking for the Lord to come anymore you can just take me out and shoot me because I won't be worth a plug nickel for anything amen let's all stand up and let's be dismissing tonight I'm not targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this I'm targeting this