“Turn or Burn” - Luke 3 - Jan 26th, 2025 - Pastor Scotty Brown

If you got a Bible, turn to Luke chapter 3.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

We are looking at a spiritual stud muffin here in John the Baptist.

Jesus said the greatest of all the prophets was John being filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb.

And then being a wild man in the wilderness.

And one other announcement I would like to make tonight's Cowboy Church over at the fairgrounds there at Sandy Downs at 6 o'clock.

And a potluck, please support Valleygate ministries as Pastor Justin and company,

minister over there this evening. Just an exciting time.

The Lord grow and hit the body of Christ all over Idaho Falls.

So it's super exciting.

So anyway, please support that and read with me, if you will.

We're going to pick it up in verse 7.

We had finished there where John had talked about crooked places being made straight.

And mountains and hills brought low and valleys filled up or leveled up.

And that's kind of what the Lord does, right?

If you're all high and mighty, he brings you a little bit low.

If you're low and down in the dumps, he'll lift you up.

Right?

If you're crooked, and there we are, folks.

If you're crooked, he'll straighten you out.

Amen?

And that's just what the Lord does.

You know, I heard a preacher here a while back saying, you know, people change,

but not a lot.

And so we still kind of have to.

some of our idiosyncrasies in our life and habits that are hard to break and all those things.

But it's a process, right?

The sanctification process is over time, if you consistently seek the Lord, right, he's going to,

he's going to change your life.

A good friend of mine, we were just talking a little bit ago.

And I remember reading in Isaiah where it said, line up on line.

That means you got to read it.

Precept upon precept.

That means you understand it. Here a little, there a little, and it produces fruit.

And so that's what God has called us to. He's called us to be fruit producers. And John's going to talk about that.

And, of course, I always get to ask, what's your title? The title today is turn or burn.

I know that's not very original, but it does prove a point, right?

turn or burn. And so we're going to read in, and I'll just read through this in starting in verse 7, go through

verse 20. It says, then he said to the multisies, John the Baptist speaking, then he said to the multitudes

that came out to be baptized by him, brood of vipers. Who warned you to flee the wrath to come?

Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have.

have Abraham as our father. For I say to you, that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these

stones. And even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which does not

bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. And so the people ask him saying,

what shall we do then? And he answered and said to them, he who has two tunics, let him give to him

who has none. And he who has food, let him do likewise. Then tax collectors also came to him.

All 87,000 of them. Sorry, just had to throw that in. To be baptized and said to him,

Teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, collect no more than what is appointed for you.

Likewise, the soldiers ask him, saying, and what shall we do? And so he said, he said to them, collect no more than what is appointed for you.

said to them, do not intimidate anyone, one, or accused falsely, and be content with your wages. Now, as the people

were in expectation and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not,

John answered, saying to all, I indeed baptized you with water, but one mightier than I is coming,

whose sandal straps, I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit,

and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his

threshing floor and gather the wheat to his barn. But the chaff, he will burn with unquenchable

fire, and with many other exhortations he preached to the people, but Herod, the Tretarch, being

rebuked by him concerning Herodius, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils, which Herod had done,

also added this, above all, that he shut up. Heard, the shuddered.

John up in prison. Let's pray. Lord, thank you. Thank you for this word. It's your word. And it does a lot of things to us.

Lord, it stirs us. Lord, it can convert our soul. And so I just pray that you would use it in a mighty way.

Lord, as we kind of dig in here a little bit. Lord, may you just reveal things to us, the wonders of your

incredible word in Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay, so he starts off here with a bang, you know.

It's obviously, we saw last time where John is in the wilderness, which, because he was in

the line of being a priest, he should have been in the temple, but because things had been

so turned upside down, the Lord had him in the wilderness, right?

No doubt he probably hadn't shaved in a while.

Probably had a grasshopper leg hanging out of his beard.

Right?

That was his food was locust and wild honey.

And so he was kind of an odd creature.

But like I quoted Spurgeon last week, right?

You set a man on fire and people will come from miles around to watch him burn.

And they were coming to see John there in the wilderness.

And boy, was he on fire.

And so the salvation of God was something that he was pointing to for the people,

because obviously the people were expecting the Messiah to come, and they had a skewed view of that,

and John was coming to kind of line them out and let them know that God's going to save you,

but it starts with repentance, right?

It starts with turning or the changing of your mind.

Somebody has rightly said, repentance is when you come to the place in your life where you finally agree with God, about yourself.

right? You agree with God about yourself that you've sinned and fallen short of his glory

and that you need to turn from that. So here is the baptizer proclaiming the Lord.

And he starts off there in verse 7 and he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him,

brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Now it's not politically correct

to look at a congregation and said, all right, you bunch of snakes.

Who's warned you to flee the wrath to come?

Because we all are, we are all crooked.

We're all in need of what Israel was looking for there

and being rescued.

They're a Messiah, their anointed one, to come and save them,

though they believed it was going to be a big political sweep.

That sounds familiar.

And that politically Jesus is going to come and take over and overthrow Rome and set on his throne.

But they forgot.

They forgot to read Isaiah 52, 53, and 54, right?

They forgot to read about this suffering servant who, not until the second advent, the second coming of Christ, do we see him sitting on the throne and taking over?

over. And so they were a little bit misled by their own understanding. And he tells them,

brood of vipers. This kind of goes along with what Jesus was talking, right? When he called the Pharisees,

you, you snakes. And you had better change your ways. Right? You had better change your ways.

Right? You had better change your ways. And he says there, he says, who warned you?

right? Who has warned you from this judgment to come? I'm going to do it right now. I'm going to warn you

right now that there's a judgment coming. Are you ready? Are you ready for that judgment?

Because see, even Christians get judged. Correct? Right? We stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

The Bible tells us. We're all going to stand there. And many believe that it's a reward seat. Right? If you

fail in that judgment, at least hell is not going to be your home. There's going to be rewards or

or the lack thereof. Many commentators believe. And I'm okay with that. That's where I want to be.

I want to be at that judgment. I don't want to be at the other one. It's known as a great white

throne judgment. You can read about it in the book of Revelation. And he says, I'm going to, I'm going to do it right now.

I'm going to tell you that you you need to change your ways. Therefore, he says in verse 8,

bear fruits or fruit, fruits, worthy of repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have

Abraham as our father, right? Bring fruit. When you repent, it's obvious. It's obvious to people.

I remember after my brother and I got saved and some of the scuttle butt that was going around

Filer, Idaho. Say, did you hear about them brown boys? They got religion. Yeah, they're

bribal thumpers now. Can you believe that? And sure enough, the Lord started cleaning us up. I remember

Rick calling me right after he got saved. He goes, man, how do you cost when you're a Christian?

He says, everything I say sounds so hokey.

Oh, golly gee whiz.

I said, I don't know.

I don't have it figured out yet, right?

I didn't have it figured out.

But the Lord would convict us as we began to try to do some of the things we had done before

Jesus came and just freight trained us.

And so people noticed.

It's just like, wow.

And I remember her in the first time hearing my little brother preach for the first time.

It was in our hometown at a youth event at the old Mormon church who had been bought by the Baptist church.

Right.

It was quite a little merry-go-round.

And Rick shared his testimony there and Father.

And I'm just thinking, holy cow, the Lord, he's got some stuff in our future.

And it ain't what we used to do.

Thank you, Jesus.

right? And so there's this fruit that happens. It's just a fruit. He says, worthy of repentance.

That's worthy to be acknowledged that there is a huge change. And that needs to happen in you and in me.

There needs to be a change in us. Right. People say, well, I love Jesus. Yeah, but you live like hell.

What are you doing? Your witness sucks.

Sorry.

Am I supposed to say that from a pulpit?

But it's terrible.

It'd be better not to say anything about Jesus.

I've met people like that.

Please don't say anything about Jesus.

Because if they think that you're what Jesus is all about, right?

You've let them astray.

And so there's this, there's this fruit.

that comes and this change that is obvious.

And then he tells these, the Jews, he says, and don't, please, and do not begin to say in

yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I say to you that God is able to raise up

children to Abraham from these stones.

I feel like there's something.

Is this rubbing on something?

Maybe I'm breathing too hard.

But when we come to Christ, obviously, there's this change. And then there's fruit.

And the Bible talks about the fruit of the spirit, right? There in Galatians chapter 5,

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

there's love and joy and peace and long suffering and goodness and kindness and faithfulness

and all these things. And John, when he talks about Abraham here, he's kindphing, their self,

righteousness or their self-deception, should I say, in the bud where he says, don't think, don't think it's

okay to, oh, Abraham, we're just riding the wave of Abraham's faith all the way into heaven.

And this was a, you know, it was widely taught that that Abraham's merits were plenty for any

Jew for salvation. I know a lot of, I know a lot of people like that. Oh, my.

My grandma takes care of that.

She prays for me all the time.

You realize it doesn't work like that?

And yet so many people, right?

So many people are convinced.

And John's saying here, listen,

that ain't the case.

If God just wanted people to impersonally,

be with him, without a personal relationship, he can raise up people from these rocks.

I believe it's literal, right?

Because I say it all the time, and I know I feel like a broken record,

God does not need us. He wants us, but we need him.

Right? We need him. And so John's just calling it, man.

I remember thinking I was okay because I had a grandma that knew Jesus.

And boy, did I have a day of reckoning?

No, I need Jesus.

Just like my grandma needed Jesus.

And so that's what John is telling the people here.

And like I say, I had this boss.

He said, yeah, and we always got in these. And he always brought it up. I would try to be quiet, right?

Zip my lip. We'd be driving down. We'd be going out through the brush, go get a bunch of cows or something, and he'd bring it up.

And we'd get in an argument about God, right? And I'd always say, you keep breathing this up, right? I haven't been bringing this up.

Because he's seen the change in me, right? When I first went to work for him, I was a helian.

And then I got saved and he got, and I remember him telling one of whispered to one of his friends,

hey, Scott, he's one of them. He's one of them born againers.

Born againers. Are you a born againer? I hope you're a born againer. And he's one of them

born againers. And right before I worked for him for a couple years after Connie and I got married and we left,

and right before I left, we had a conversation. And he said,

you know, the God thing, I'm not too concerned about the God thing, because I know you'll take care of that for me.

I go, Bill, I can't do anything. I can't even do anything for me. What do you think I could do something for you?

I have to come to Jesus on my knees, broken and sinful and ready for judgment. And but because of his

Mormon background, he believed that I could, you know, do his work for him.

You can't do that, right?

It's all, it's all on us personally.

God wants a personal relationship.

And that's what John's kind of hammering home here.

Because he says, you know, if he wanted sons of Abraham,

he'd just make him from these rocks.

He says now in verse 9, and even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is,

cut down and thrown into the fire. What's your fruit basket look like? Right? He says, if you don't bear fruit,

you can say you're mine. But like Jesus said, you said all these things to me. You said,

Lord, Lord. And he goes, depart from me. I didn't even know you. Right? I don't know if you're

resting on someone's spiritual laurels to get you into heaven.

but the only way is to have this personal relationship with the living God.

And he says, it's ready.

It's judgment's coming.

The axe is right there.

In that culture, any tree that did not produce fruit, they cut it down and they burned it.

And John is liking that tree to people who hear the gospel, but then does it transform their

does it, does it produce fruit?

And so,

Jesus

suggests in Luke 19

and God's power

with the same thing when the people are praising him,

as John told him, he can raise up.

children from these rocks.

And when they were praising Jesus and he was coming in to Jerusalem down the

Mount of Olives there and the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God.

The Pharisees told him to rebuke.

Rebuk your disciples.

And Jesus answered and said to them,

I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.

that rocks are actually more spiritual than some people.

That they actually recognize the creator.

That you and I are designed.

We are given the free will to praise God or not.

He tells the children of Israel and Isaiah 43,

the people whom I have formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.

That we're the ones.

to praise him.

And not just be barren in our, in our spiritual lives.

Lest that acts should come and cut us down.

God's desires that we make, right, a choice.

And that's truly what true love is, is God gives you a choice.

Because I've had people, why don't God just make me walk with him and make me love him?

Because that's not, that wouldn't be love.

because love demands a choice. You got to make the choice.

It would be so much easier, wouldn't it? Yes, it would be.

It would be so wonderful, wouldn't it? We wouldn't have to deal with this nastiness in our heart.

God would just, you know, no. He wants you to wrestle and get after it and walk with him on purpose.

And so that act.

He says, is ready to start whacking.

Verse 10 says, so the people ask him, obviously, this struck fear in their heart.

They ask him, what should we do?

What do we got to do?

It's that aha moment.

Oh, no.

And so he comes up with four things John does.

First, he says, there, he says,

he who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none. And he who has food, let him do likewise.

He says, be generous. Right, be generous. What's God giving you? Be generous with it. Right?

Give. Find someplace to give something because it helps your greedy tendencies. I got those greedy

tendencies, don't you? Mine. Right? Started when I was like six months old.

Mine. Had siblings. We were fighting over stuff. Mine.

So be generous. We're building a new church. Please be generous.

Just kidding. Where God dies, God provides, right?

So, Proverbs 11.25, a generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be.

refreshed.

God loves a cheerful giver.

If you can't be cheerful about giving, then keep it.

Don't give it.

I love what First Chronicle says in 29, verse 14.

But who am I?

And who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this?

Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.

Think about it. That's so true. Everything you and I have, God has given us. Are we not?

Aren't we not to be generous? Because God's been generous with us. It's just, it's just kind of the way he works.

Right? The next one says, and the tax collectors also came to him to be baptized and said to him,

teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, collect no more than what is appointed for you. Be honest.

Just be honest.

I'm honest, doesn't that mean I have to tell the truth?

Well, yeah. Even about me? Yeah.

I don't want to tell the truth about me. The truth about me is scary.

Just, just be honest.

Colossians 3 says, do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds

and have put on the new man who is renewed.

and knowledge according to the image of him who created him.

Just be honest.

How many times when people ask, how are you doing? Good.

When all hell is breaking loose in our lives, right?

Oh, good. It's just great. Praise the Lord.

Liars.

Thirdly, thirdly, he says, be humble.

Likewise, the soldiers ask him saying, what shall we do?

And he said to them, do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.

Right?

He says, be humble.

You're not better.

Just get you wear a badge.

You're not better than anybody else.

It's so funny when I hear police officers.

I know there's some in the room, but sometimes police.

Leafs officers, classify people, right? There's people groups. There's the bad guys and the good

guys. That's a misnomer. There's only bad guys. Some of them have a badge on. Right? There's the bad guys and

good guys. No. There's just bad guys. The only good guys are the ones who actually know Jesus.

Because he's the one that's good and brings that goodness to our life. So be humble. Know what you are.

Don't elevate yourself.

Just because you're not guilty of being a drug addict,

don't look down on a drug addict, right?

Because Lord knows you've got your own stuff, don't you?

We all got our own stuff.

And so don't be looking down on people.

Don't these guys, you know, he says, don't intimidate people because of your position.

You realize we're all in the same boat.

And if Jesus ain't in the boat with you, sorry, it's sinking.

So be generous, be honest, be humble,

and don't be greedy, be content with what you got.

What do you got?

Right?

Whatever I got, sometimes I just want more.

Why do you want more?

Have you not learned?

the more you have, the more headaches you have.

That's just so true.

If I had that, it would just, you know, it would just kind of soothe my soul.

Yeah, for five seconds.

And then it's labor.

Just keeping up on the thing.

Whether it's a new home or a new car.

Some people go as far to get a new wife or a new husband.

Yeah.

How's that go for you?

All you do is trade trouble.

right?

Just a little bit of different color.

That's all. It's just trouble.

The grass is so greener.

Oh, it ain't either.

Right?

Be honest with yourself.

But we have this tendency to be greedy.

Ephesians 4 says,

Let him who stole steal no longer,

but rather let him labor working with his hands.

What is good, that he may have something to give him who is in need.

Right?

Right back to the first one. Be generous.

So in verse 15, he kind of shifts gears here.

It says, now as the people were in expectation, what were they in?

They were in expectation of the coming in the Messiah.

Are you in expectation?

I'm telling us a great way to live, folks.

Right?

These guys were in expectation of the first coming of the Messiah.

You and I need to be an expectation of the second coming.

Or the rapture of the church as somebody reminded me yesterday at a funeral.

I just wish the rapture would hurry up and come.

Right?

Because you already missed your loved ones.

This one had been married for 65 years.

And no about the spouse that was left behind, there is a ripping and tearing and a huge void in that life.

I just want to go. Just want to go be with them.

Want to be gathered to my people.

And the Bible says that better is the day of one's death than the day of one's birth.

And when it comes to faith, that's absolutely true.

Paul says it's, you know, to live as Christ, but to die is gain.

And being in the ministry, you know, you get to be around it probably a lot more than you would like.

But man, does it put things in perspective?

So they were in expectation.

It says, and all reasoned in their hearts, right?

They'd probably been watching John's life.

You know, some of the religious leaders had been watching John's life all this time,

thinking, what is up with this guy?

There's something up with this guy.

And maybe even Jesus, and they reasoned in their heart whether he is the Christ or not,

And John answered, saying to all, indeed, I baptize you with water.

But one mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap, I am not worthy to loose.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

And John says he just puts them right in their place.

And no, I am not the Messiah.

Right?

I baptize with water.

This is a baptism of repentance.

But the one that comes is mightier than I.

and he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, because that is where the fruit comes from.

That he was talking about earlier.

It comes from the Holy Spirit.

That's the difference.

So it talks about actually three baptisms right here.

The first baptism is repentance.

The second baptism is the baptism of regeneration.

That's where, that's what Jesus set the stage for us.

That's what happens.

to us when we follow the Lord in baptism. But then he talks about the third baptism here,

baptism of fire. I always thought these went hand in hand that the Holy Spirit, right, would

you would be baptized in the Holy Spirit. You would receive this unction of the Holy Spirit,

God directing your life, and you would be a person on fire. But in context, here, that doesn't

seem what it's talking about. It seems like it's two distinct things. Baptism of the Holy Spirit,

right, which bears the fruit of the spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long suffering.

We've been talking about the gifts of this spirit, which is much different than the fruit of

this spirit.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, we've been looking at that.

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

But this next one, the baptism of fire, is not alluding to the Holy Spirit, but most believe to judgment.

judgment.

Emmerced in fire.

Because that's where the unrighteous dead will be.

Jesus said they will go to a place

whose fire is not quenched

and their worm does not die.

They're torment.

John's not really pulling any punches here.

It really is turn or burn.

And so, because,

why we believe that this is talking in context about the baptism of fire as judgment.

It says the next verse 17, his winnowing fan is in his hand.

And he will thoroughly clean out the threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn,

into his presence, right?

But to chaff, he will burn with unquenchable fire.

Most believe that's what this is.

is talking about. Right? The difference. It's kind of like the sheep and the goats. Right?

The for me or against me? No neutral ground. It's one or the other. It's turning or burning.

Or burning. So the difference is the wheat in the chaff. And who fears God?

Who fears God today?

A lot of people don't.

It almost seems like there's kind of a shift maybe back towards looking even in society.

People are starting to look.

Oh, wait a minute.

Things haven't been that great over the last little while in our country.

And things are turning a little bit.

And the Lord is being proclaimed more and more.

And so.

But the fear.

of God is a pretty important thing. It really does to dictate how you live your life.

Hebrews chapter 12, verse 29, our God is a consuming fire. Then back a couple chapters in

Hebrews 12:29

chapter 10, it says, for if we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will pay, says the Lord.

And again, the Lord will judge his people. It will. It

is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.

The people that I know that leave this world, you're always wondering, right?

Where they are?

It's a fearful thing to fall under the hands of a living God, especially if you're not

prepared for that.

It's important to be prepared for that.

And so John, he's, he's telling them, this one who's coming, right, his winnowing fan is in his hand,

and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor.

He's going to burn all the chaff, all that stuff that doesn't bear fruit.

It's just, it's just hell fodder.

It's going to be burned up.

consumed. And then in verse 18, he doesn't stop. Really, he just kind of keeps rolling, but

kind of a different subject here. And with many other exhortations, he preached to the people.

But Herod, the Tetrarch, this is Herod Antipus, being rebuked by him concerning Herodius,

his brother, Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done. He called him out. He called out a public servant,

on his wickedness.

It's not lawful, right, for you to have your brother's wife.

Because he had wooed, wooed Herodius away from Philip.

History says that Philip was a lot better guy than his half-brother, Herod.

And like I said last week, maybe he was just a wanny and wasn't willing to stand up for

and go to cut fisticuffs for.

I don't know what happened there.

but John called him on it.

And he shut him up in prison.

He put him in jail.

I love his boldness.

His time was up.

Here's a guy 30 years old.

Kaching.

It's almost like, you know,

we know that he's going to cut his head off, have his head cut off.

And John, 30 years.

His lot.

in the whole time continuum was 30 years.

It's all they got.

It's kind of like when Moses went up on the mountain and Aaron went up on the mountain.

He goes, all right, take your clothes off.

You're dead, man.

You're going to die right now.

See, to God, that's no big deal.

And I don't know why it's such a big deal to us, but it is.

Right?

I know it's a big deal to me.

It hurts when people die.

But John realized,

no doubt he had doubts later when we hear him from prison telling his disciples to go ask

Jesus are you the one or should we look for another?

Was I wasting my time here?

He called a spade a spade.

He called sin what it was.

And we live in a world today, even in Christendom, even in the church.

People don't want to hear about sin.

They want to hear about love and peace and joy.

and grace and mercy and all those things.

Yeah, but don't they have each other intention?

Because without judgment, what is grace and mercy?

Right?

Without judgment, what is grace and mercy?

Grace and mercy mean nothing if there's not a judgment.

But if there is a fiery, ferocious, eternal judgment that is bearing down on you and me,

that makes that grace and mercy look a whole lot better.

don't it? Thank you, Lord. And we know what we deserve.

The historian Josephus says that the reason for the arrest was that hered, Herod,

feared lest the great influence that John had over the people might put it in his

power and inclination to raise a rebellion. For they seemed ready to do anything, he said,

should advise. Right? That's when Jesus asked the, asked the Pharisees. Was John the Baptist? Was he from,

was he from men or was he from God? And they finally said, well, we don't know. Because they knew that

if they reduced who John was, because they believed he was a prophet of God. And they. And they finally said, well, we don't know. Because they knew that if they reduced to John was,

And they said, we don't know.

Because John rebuked Herod Antipus for his adulterous marriage to Herodius,

he was in prison by the king and finally beheaded.

However, he had faithfully finished his God-given assignment and prepared the people to meet the Messiah,

the son of God.

And here comes Jesus.

You and all have a call on our life, right?

I'm convinced we all have a call on our life.

A lot of people's calls not to do what I do here.

A lot of people's calls just to live out your Christian faith in your realm of influence,

in your family.

How's that go?

Right?

I know some people that, man, they can play the game here at church.

church, but when they get home, right? I know dads that kids and wife both, they just want to keep their

distance because he's a jerk at the house. Oh, he's nice at church. He's on the board. Does well.

But then he's a jerk at home. What's with that? If you can't be a witness in your home for the Lord

and be generous to your wife and your kids with love and affection?

He's called us to that as men, as moms, to be that, that nurturer and that one who prays for

her children.

Simple, it's not easy.

Christian life isn't easy.

It gets mundane.

It gets repetitious.

It's a labor.

But it's a good labor.

Right?

God gives us an opportunity.

to be faithful with what's he put in front of what about your job just show up get there

five minutes early pray for the people you work for be a witness hard work a hard day's work for

hard hard hard days work for hard hard hard days pay just just do it be a witness wherever you're out

that's God's call on your life at this time and maybe the Bible says when you're faithful to little

He'll give you more. Just be faithful to little things. God's given you. Because he has this call on all of our lives,

just like he had on John's life. And we who know the truth should be quick to point out what's right

and what's wrong, even if it's unpopular, even if it may get us thrown in jail. However, I do. I was pretty

excited about all the pro-lifers that were in jail that got pardoned. That was, that was kind of,

kind of nice. God's good. God's good. God's good. God can get you out of prison.

The most important thing, though, is God will call you out of the grave if you happen to take your

last breath before this, before the rapture of the church. So turn or burn, right?

It's not to say that everyone that doesn't follow Christ perfectly is going to burn,

but it should be our purpose.

It should be our pursuit.

And so may we consider the Lord in all that we do.

May we find ourselves being generous, being humble, being honest.

and keeping our greed at bay by simply giving.

It can be of your time.

It can be of some of your resources.

It doesn't have to be your money.

My grandpa told me years ago,

God don't want your money.

He wants your devotion.

And we can prove by giving him what he's given us.

And so may we do that with all of our hearts.

Shall we pray?

Father, thank you for your word that is,

a light, it's a lamp. Lord, just the right and the wrong that we see proclaimed by your

servants from Genesis all the way to revelation, Lord, it's in there. It's a truth that leads us and would

cause us turn away from our selfish ways and turn completely and totally to you. May we do that today.

And I just pray for anyone who hasn't done that today, Lord, that you would give them your mercy,

your grace, Lord, that we would truly fulfill the call that you have on all of our lives.

Lord, may you inspire us. May you give us wisdom for the future. Lord, may we not take for granted

our freedoms and the forgiveness that you've given us. Lord, may we extend it to others and

truly fulfill the law of Christ Jesus. And it's in your name, Lord, we pray. We pray.

Amen. Let's all stand, shall we? We're going to sing a little ditty that when I was first saved, the pastor used to sing these words.

And it's really just the Christian's call. And it goes, love, love, love, love, love. Christian, this is your call.

To love your neighbor as your son.

for God loves us all. For God loves us all. God loves us all. God bless you. If you need prayer, come over here. Have a great week in Jesus.