Living a Spirit-Filled Life

Hard to believe that tonight's over and everybody's tired, but it's

that good kind of tired. You wouldn't want to miss all this. And

God will give us grace when we need it, especially when we're wanting

to serve him and know more about him and grow and learn. And

this is a very good crowd for Wednesday night. And so thank you

for being here, Brother McCracken. We had lunch again with

them today and just enjoyed so much. And I wouldn't compare myself

to him in any way. He's taught me so much. But we did find at lunch

today that there's some things that we think very strongly about

together. We're right on the same page, and I like that. I like

to feel like I'm doing right because you told me I was doing right.

Amen. And he's just so much older than me, so I want to learn

from my elders. That's what the Bible says. Learn from your elders.

Okay. So, Elder McCracken, come on. God bless you.

Thank you, preacher. Praise the Lord. Thank you very, very much.

It has been a blessing for Nancy, and I get to spend some extra

time with the Willoughbys. Anyway, I do want to say thank you

for your attendance and being here. And it's a blessing, of course,

when you show up, that's. It's just more opportunity. So I will

a couple things. Let's see. Let's go ahead and do you put a marker

in John, chapter 15. Put a marker there and then turn to Ephesians,

John 15 · chapter mention

chapter two, and I'll talk. Just a minute. Heritage Baptist Church

has been supporting me monthly for. I don't know if it's eight years,

I don't know. But I'm grateful for the kindness and the continued

support Nancy and I used to use it for before Medicare, we used

it for our health insurances and so on. And now we use it. I don't

know which part it is, B, D, or one of those numbers. We give

money to that. So. But anyway, it is a big help and a blessing to

us. So I am grateful. We do live. This is our livelihood. And

so I want to say thank you for being a help and a consistent blessing

like that. Also, I've been praying for Herodies Baptist Church

ever since the things unfolded and so on, and Pastor Crawford resigned

and so on. I've been praying for you guys. I love Brother Crawford.

I'm grateful for his friendship to me and Ms. Tanya, but

I'm grateful for this church. This is the Lord's church, and it

doesn't belong to you, it belongs to Him. And if we get in

the right position of being spirit controlled, all stuff's going

to work out. When our flesh jumps in, well, then there's some

irritations. The Lord can use the irritations for his glory. Just

like we talked about Sunday night. Things that happen are not

always him doing it, but he allows things to happen because of

we're all worldly, fleshly people. And so things like that happen.

So this one, you know, I continue to pray for you and that

God will manifest himself to you. And I do, you know, I had. I

knew that I was probably going to be preaching this series a year

ago. And then when things happened and so on, I thought, well,

there's nothing better that the church needs, needs to be aware

of all of us. If we'll get over here and be spirit controlled,

we'll behave, right? Everybody. You behave like Jesus

when you're not behaving like Jesus, well then Mr. Concarney is

in charge. And so I just knew this is what God would have me bring

to you and so on. And so I appreciate the kind words between

before and after service that people would say about how that God

has touched you and spoke to you. I'm very grateful for that.

Here's what I I'm in my second year of preaching the Spirit filled,

Spirit controlled life. I'm fairly certain I'm going to continue

to be preaching this theme. I know I'm going to be preaching it

for the next two years. Not these sermons, but this theme. And

I've already got the second series done and I've already preached

it a few times. And then the third series is in the works. And

here's what I have accepted. If just a small percentage of Heritage

Baptist Church, just a few of you truly catch what God's allowed

me to catch. I want everybody to know what I know. I want you to

enjoy it like I enjoy it. And if I can preach it and get it across

to you or just. I would love for. I'd love for the majority to

catch it, but I don't. My brain knows that we're all. We're

carnal and we don't want him to be in charge. We want to be in

charge. And I know that. And so, but if, just if some of you would

really catch it and live it, it will show up in your life. You

don't have to say, hey, did you see what happened to me? You

don't have to tell anybody. They know something happened to you

and it'll be an encouragement and a help to them. And maybe you

could even help them along, say, well, this is two or three things.

Your light came on. This is how God helped you as time goes along.

So I wanted to tell you that Nancy and I are grateful. Thankful.

Thank you for how you make us feel like we belong here. Thank you.

And so anyway, I look forward to hearing what God does and how

he accomplishes his will in your lives. So that's a blessing

to me. So, Ephesians. Did I tell you Ephesians already? I meant

to. If you'd stand with me, please. Ephesians, chapter two. Two

of our favorite verses. I should have been in church quarter

quite a while. Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 8 and 9. For by

Ephesians 2:8

grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Flip over a page. Chapter five. The theme verse for the week

has been verse 18. And be not drunk with wine. Don't let wine control

you wherein is excess. But be filled with the spirit. Let the spirit

of God control you. Let's turn over to John, chapter 15. Not going

John 15 · chapter mention

to read right now. I'm going to have prayer with you and then

we'll read it and get going. Okay. Let's pray. Our great God,

I sure love you. Thank you. That you do constantly teach us to

live by faith. The key to Christianity is that we live by faith.

And if we're going to live by faith, we have to surrender to that.

So I pray that we would be people that are walking in the light,

that we are controlled by you and we're enjoying that by faith.

And then I'm grateful that I have privileged to preach at Heritage

Baptist Church this week and these kind people to Nancy and I

and through the years, I'm grateful. God, only you can do what

needs to be done. And I pray that as a congregation from young

to old would have the heart's desire to get out of the way and

just let you be in control. And we would treat each other like

Christians. That as that we're living your life, your life is living

through us. And so as I endeavor to get this across tonight,

I pray to have impact for each one of us. So I'm thankful to say

that you love me and you put up with me, you allow me to be a

servant. I'm grateful. I pray that you would do it again tonight.

So I sure love you, Jesus. I can't wait to see you. And it's in

your mighty and holy name we Pray, Amen. Amen. You may be seated.

The key aspect to Christianity, to salvation, here

it is, I've said it a few times, is that Christ Jesus is in

us. He's in us. It's not a placebo, it's not psychological gymnastics,

it's a reality. People that know that they know it, people that

don't know that, they think that we're weird or they say, how

do you know that? But people that are born again know they're

born again. Here's the thing about us born again people. The moment

we get born again, the battle begins. And, and often Mr. Khan Carney

is so in charge of our life that we think this life is really

not attainable. Only a few people get to do it. It's supposed

to be, it's for all of us. Amen. Thank you for saying Amen.

So let's start here again. In John 15, Jesus says, I am, verse

one, I am the true vine. When you look at that, when Jesus, when

he says I am the true vine, it's just almost giggled that he

has to delineate to say, all right,.

Guys, I'm the one and only. I am the real one.

There's no.

And why would he have to say that?

Because there are imposters.

Even in his day, while he was on the planet, there were others

that saying, no, I'm the Christ. No, I have the answers. No,

I have the hope. And Jesus said, no, no, no, there are, they're

liars. I am the true, the real, the only vine.

Now, I didn't give the illustration or the analogy, Jesus

did. He says, I'm the vine. My dad was my preacher and I have much

of my theology from him and my personality and stuff is delivered

from him quite a bit and so on. But he used to say this. He says,

the Bible means exactly what it says unless it's impossible for

it to do so. Oh, what was that about? Well, when Jesus says I'm

the true vine, he is not a piece of vegetation.

So it means exactly what it says.

But it doesn't mean that he's a piece of vegetation. Everybody,

it's an analogy, it's an illustration.

But if Jesus is going to use the illustration, I'm pretty sure

it would.

Be the correct illustration. It wouldn't go well.

He didn't really mean it all the way.

No, he's the vine. He's the true vine. Then he says, my Father

is the husbandman.

And his disciples that have been following.

Him, they know when he speaks of the Father, he's talking about

Yahweh. He's talking about Jehovah. He's talking about the Lord

God, the Creator. They know that Jesus is the Father's Son. Amen.

They know that. I think that's fascinating in my limited abilities

and so on, that. Here you are on a Wednesday night. You're a church

goer, you believe the Bible. And so you would say, oh, yeah, God

is the husbandman. What is that word? He's the caretaker. He's

the farmer. He's the arborist. He takes care of it. Everybody with

me. What's so comical to me about it? We all go, oh, yeah, God

is the caretaker. Look at verse five. Jesus says, I am the

vine, ye are the branches. Well, who be ye? Well, ye be me.

Those that are born dead again did. Those that have moved from the

Adamic life with the dead spirit to the saved life with an

alive spirit. You're born again. At that moment, you are placed

into Jesus.

We're in him.

He's divine. I'm a branch.

Who's the caretaker? God. So here's what's comical. How you and

I become whiners and crybabies and disappointed and discouraged

so easily.

As if God. He didn't know a storm was coming.

Did you hear me? Our Father knows everything.

He is the caretaker. He knows when a storm is going to come in

my life. And he's not up there going, too bad, guys. He still takes

care of his children. His vine. It's his vine. Trust him. I'm

so. We're so shallow in our Christianity. How do you know?

Well, just listen to the whiners, listen to the crybabies,

listen to the discouraged. Excuse me. Who's your father?

Did he know that the enemy was going to come and try to destroy

his crop?

Oh, no. It tricked him. He had no idea it was coming. Is anybody

hearing me? It's incredible.

Does he know the varmints are going to come and try to destroy

the crop?

Yes.

He knows disease is coming. Is anybody hearing this? What is wrong

with us that we all believe in God? He's awesome. He knows everything.

It's just that he don't know.

He doesn't take care of us when bad death happens. That's what

bothers me. So, Brother Dave, has it ever happened in your life?

Yeah. How come? I'm human and Mr. Konkarni is often the one that's

ruling my life, and Mr. Konkarney doesn't trust God. Wow.

Well, there's much to preach about that. I think I got to move

on. Let's just believe he's the husbandman, okay? Trust him.

Don't get all bent out of shape when stuff happens as if God's

not there. He's in the middle of it. Amen. Huh? The only way that

any branch can produce fruit, it must be connected to the root

system or the vine. That's impossible. There's no. It's not

going to happen. There will be zero fruit unless you're connected

to Jesus. Now he says, abide in me and I in you. Is there something

that's required for me to do to abide in Him? There's one thing.

What is it? Get saved. Did you just hear it? The moment I got saved,

I was in Jesus. If I'm in Him, I'm in Him. It's secure. Can I quench

him? Can I bend the hose?

Mr. Kunkarni is constantly bending the.

The power, the hose.

It's all there. It's all available. But when we're in charge

and our life, and we take over our life, the fruit of the Spirit

is not going to be evident.

It's going to be the fruit of Dave. Well, I've got a lot of wisdom.

I got a lot of love. I care a lot about people. I got a lot of.

I got a lot of advice. I'm good. I don't want to hear from you.

I want to hear from Jesus. I want to hear how Jesus is working

in your heart and life. Wow. I'm not going to preach it, but I

am going to spill it out. It's. It's weird. It's a good sermon.

But anyway, I'm connected to Jesus and I'm 100 dependent upon

him. He's the vine. He doesn't produce any fruit. The only fruit

that's produced comes off the branch. I don't know if you're paying

attention or not. Do you know what the fruit is supposed to look

like? It's supposed to look like who it's connected to. It's

impossible to go into an apple orchard and expect to see some oranges.

That ain't gonna happen. If you go into the Jesus orchard, you're

supposed to be seeing Jesus.

What is produced out of my life is not supposed to look like

Dave. It's supposed to look like Jesus. It's not supposed to

look like Nancy. It's supposed to look like Jesus.

The other part that's. This isn't Jesus is. He's made himself

dependent upon us branches to be produced. Is that incredible?

He did it.

He said, I'm the vine, you're the branch.

I'm depending on you.

And you're going, why? I ain't got no power? And he goes, hey, dummy,

you're connected to me. You don't need no power. I'm going to

say it again, probably, but he doesn't expect the branch to do anything

on its own. Mercy sakes. That's so good.

Watch this.

I did not graft myself into Jesus. All I did was trust him, ask

him to forgive me. He put me right in there.

There's nothing I can do to keep the graft.

I'm in him eternally. I don't produce any fruit on my own. Everything

the branch has comes from the vine. Michael Wells, the man who

wrote the Sidetracked in the Wilderness that God used as the catalyst

to help turn my lights on, help me see things, he suggested

a prayer that we might pray as branches. Nancy has it pasted in

her Bible. I have. I've not memorized it, and I think it's okay

if you do. I quote pieces of it every day for two and a half years

now. I'll read it to you. Dear Father, I thank you and praise you

for the life of the vine. Today in this moment, I choose to

abide and allow you to fill me with the precious life of your son,

the true vine this day. Lord, I thank you that I am in you and

you are in me. Thank you that no matter how I feel, I abide in

you. Thank you, Lord. That is not a position I must struggle to

maintain, for you have put me there. So in this moment,.

All I will.

Be concerned for is that you put me there and I accept my position

of abiding with joy. Wow. Amen. For two and a half years now,

in the mornings when I wake up, I sleep on the right side and

my right leg comes out first as I'm laying there getting ready

to get out or while I'm getting out. I say these words 98%

of the time in the last year, two and a half years. Thank you,

Jesus, that you're the vine. I'm just the branch. There's nothing

you expect me to do today on my own. Bless his holy name. This

life is in and from the vine. Remember I mentioned that it's supposed

to be rivers? Amen. Jesus. The one that said it's supposed to be.

There's another word that we use, fountains of living water. Here's

what I would say about the rivers and the fountains of living

water. That this would be what I would. We could Call the abundant

life the victorious life. Bless his name. So this life that

I have in Christ, it allows me to produce fruit that looks like,

tastes like, walk like, talk like, be like. Well, Jesus. Wow.

So I'll say this. I would say that I know that there's. I think

there's six times the word fruit is used in the Bible and you

could use it as illustrations and so on. But I'm just. I know the

fruit of a Christian is another Christian. I know that. And

so on. And I'm not opposed to.

But what we've talked about this week,.

Here's what I would say, the abundant life, I'd say that's considered

fruit, the victorious life. It's not because of me. I'd consider

that fruit of being connected to Jesus, the spirit filled. The

spirit control life is because I'm connected to Jesus. The love

that the vine produces and the fruit that I get to have of his love,

I'd say that's fruit. In fact, since we're talking about it, some

of us would know that there is a place in the Bible that talks about

the fruit of the spirit. I don't know if you know this, but

there's. There's nine of them. But I don't know if you know the

word fruit is singular. It's the fruit, not fruits. It's the fruit

of the spirit. And there's nine revelations of this singular

fruit.

These are not the only ones. There are others, but there's nine

that.

Are mentioned in the text. This is fascinating to me. Some of

you can quote all nine. I'm super proud of you. Way to go. And

so on. The first one is love. If I have him in control, it would

be obvious I'm supposed to love like him. Love who? Who does

he love? You. And I pick and choose. There's people that aggravate

us, or there's people that are so wicked. Like, in my opinion, if

Washington D.C. disappeared, I wouldn't be super sad because they

aggravate me. For me to say I love Nancy Pelosi. Is anybody hearing

me? You can name a whole bunch of people that doesn't matter. Does

Jesus love her? Does he care about her soul? Does Dave McCracken?

Well, whatever. Is anybody hearing me? No, no, no.

It's the people that live inside your house, the people that

are your neighbors, the people you work with that just constantly

get on your nerves.

Is the people you go to church with. Do you love them the way Jesus

loves them? He's a. Without sin casts. Whatever. Is anybody hearing

Me, I'm weary with our shallow Christianity.

Well, yeah, I'm one of the finest Christians in our church.

I just don't love like Jesus loves, because that's impossible.

Excuse me, who are you connected to?

Joy, Man, I don't have time to preach these, but it is a fascinating

thing to me how much lack of joy we have in our churches. It's

joy unspeakable. We should be happy people. Oh, brother, you're

just a weirdo. That's what. If anybody should be happy, it should

be people that have the joy of the Lord.

Not my joy. Peace.

I'm not going through all nine of them, but I'll just do this last

one. Peace. I've said it since I was in my 30s and I'm no longer

in my 30s. We could get Christian psychologists to set up

their offices in our churches and they can make a living because

our churches are full of people that don't have peace. Where

do you get it from? It's his peace. Amen. So there's nine of them.

I'm sorry, some of you can't.

It's.

This is backwards. I'll change it. Okay, five over here. 9:04. Anyway.

All right, there's nine of them. Here's what I've learned. Watch.

If I'm missing one. Did you just see? If I'm missing peace, if

I'm missing meekness, if I'm missing one, that means I don't.

The door is shut. I got like three of them.

Well, you're not connected to Jesus.

You got some of it quenched off.

Act. We are so shallow. We act like we're men and women of God,

but we go, well, nobody can have nine.

Well, if you're connected to Jesus, it's supposed to be his life,

not your life. Wow. So I'm going to ask some questions. You

don't have to answer out loud. Is it possible to quench the Holy

Spirit? So is it possible for the door to shut? Okay. So we learned

we shut the door by the works of the flesh. Disobedience. So don't

answer. I wonder how long we could go with the door shut. How

long can Dave McCracken, a believer, a man of God, a preacher,

an evangelist around the world, how long could he go with

the door shut? No, no. How long could your wife go with the

door shut? She lives in your house. How long could she go with

that door shut? How long could your parents just. In your head,

I wonder how long we could go. How long could we go without that

moment? By moment filling, controlling of the Holy Spirit. Is

it possible to go about our daily lives with the door shut? Is

it possible to serve God and.

Do all church stuff and do a.

Lot of things with the door shut? Is it possible to be kind,

benevolent, giving, helpful, do good and right things and have

the door shut? And here's what I wrote down. Yes, yes, yes. Wait

a minute. If I. If I got the door shut, I'm still doing church

stuff. I'm writing sermons, I'm preaching, singing songs, passing

out tracts, still giving my tithe and missing. But the door is

shut. Is God going proud of you? No. Do you know that everything

that we do over here when Mr. Konkarni's in charge, here's what

the Holy Bible calls it. Works of the flesh. You mean writing a

sermon? Yeah. Given to faith, promise, works of the flesh. If Mr.

Concarney is in charge. I don't know if you know this, but

the Holy Bible calls it wood, hay and stubble. A Christian that

is living with Mr.

Con Carney in charge. I don't care how many sermons they.

Preach, how many people got saved.

I don't care how much money they gave to missions. They. All

of this they're doing is called wood. God will not accept

what we do in the flesh. He hates it. It makes him sick.

And yet most of us spend most of our life right here. I don't mean

just to be self deprecating, but we're going to stand before him

and there's a pile of works. And if we imagine this room was my

barn in heaven and it's full, it's stuffed.

It's stuffed. Dave McGregor's been serving God. He's been preaching

since he was 18. World, look at all this stuff.

Mercy, it's stuffed. And then God says, okay, my fire is going

to come down and judge what sort it is. You know what's left?

Gold, silver, precious stones. Have you ever been sitting at the

table, you're eating with some other people and so on, and you see

a couple of grains of salt, the table. Have you ever done what

I've done? Have you ever done that? It's a weird thing. There's

not a traditional thing that we do with it. Very few people go

put it on their plate. Some people would do this. Just a little

tiny grain of salt.

Thank you.

Many of us. I'm ashamed and embarrassed. I hate to say it out

loud. I've been a preacher. I surrendered when I was 17. I've been

preaching since I've been in Bible college. I've worked in churches.

I love the Bible.

I love to find stuff. It's awesome.

But most of my Christian life has been like this. And when the

fire comes down, I don't know, Two or three grains there. I'm just

telling you I'm ashamed and embarrassed that I have to say that

out loud to you. It shouldn't be that way. It should be that most

of my life has been lived here. I've apologized to my wife

and my two daughters to say to their face, I'm sorry that you've

lived with your dad or you've lived with your husband, that most

of the time he's been carnal rather than letting God control his

life. That will humble you. It'll break your heart. But I am

glad to say the last two and a half years, I've spent more time

here than I have over there. Do I still get bothered? Oh, yeah.

I'm still breathing air, but I've spent more time here than I

have to let Mr. Kankarney be in charge of my life. God will not

accept carnal, fleshly service. I'm trying to decide what

I'm cutting out, so I'm going to cut out some stuff. But anyway,

It's. We are. When we are in the wilderness, we're here because

of lack of faith. So when Mr. Konkarni is in charge, that's the

idea. We are in the wilderness. Is God stop loving us

when we're in the wilderness?

No.

Isn't that wild? When the children of Israel were in the wilderness

40 years. Years, he still loved them. Do you know he provided

for them for 40 years, food every day. Their clothes did not

wear out.

He got enough water out of a rock to feed over 2 million people

and all their cattle. He protected them from the enemies that

did not want them there. Incredible. 40 years,.

And he still loves them. He still desires to work in their life.

He wants them to learn how to trust him and not themselves. You

and I in our life. I'm amazed that God has put up with me all these

years, but he still loves me. He's still at work in my life. He

protects me. He meets our needs. He does marvelous, exciting,

wonderful things to us. Even though I've been carnal so much,

you got to hear this. Here's how foolish and shallow Dave McCracken

has been most of my life. I thought, wow, he keeps blessing me,

and I'm still an idiot. He and I both know. He knows that's in my

life, and he keeps blessing me, protects me. He meets my needs.

He lets me keep preaching. This is incredible. Do you know how

shallow I am? Here's what I thought. I must not be as bad as

I thought I was. I must be doing okie dokie.

Cause he keeps doing it.

Is everybody hearing me? I didn't even know this was called

the Wilderness Psalm until I prepared these sermons. We're not

going to turn there, but I'm going to read you a couple verses

out of the Wilderness Psalm. Psalm 78. But God, being full of

compassion, forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not.

Yea, many a time turned thee away his anger and did not stir up

all his wrath.

Did you hear me?

When the kids in Israel were. When they were in the wilderness,

God.

Didn't say, well, they're better than they think they are.

They're doing pretty good. No, no, no.

Many a time turned away his anger.

And destroyed them not.

It's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. He's full

of compassion. Mercy sakes, Lord, Thou art full of compassion.

Gracious, long suffering, plenteous in mercy and truth. 41

times in Psalm 136. 26 times in 26 verses. God's word says, his

mercy endureth forever. Do you know why I'm breathing air tonight?

His mercy. You and I know that grace means that he gives us what

we do not deserve. He gives it to us. We don't deserve it. We can't

earn it.

What's mercy? Mercy is when he does not give us what we deserve.

And I'll say it to your face, my testimony many a time turned his

anger away and destroyed me not. That is the only reason I can

stand in front of anybody and open up. His book is his mercy. Most

of you might have the ability to be honest enough to say you don't

want what you deserve. You want God's mercy. Bless his holy

name that his mercy endureth forever. There's an old song that

came out some years ago that it says that he's the potter, I'm

the clay. This vessel is broken, but he doesn't throw the

clay away. And his kindness and love, he remoulds me and reshapes

me. And today I could be a vessel of honor. Not because of me,

but because his mercy endureth forever. I'll conclude with one of

our heroes. His name is Peter, one of the famed apostles. He was

gregarious, he was outspoken, he was loud, he was passionate in

many things. It's awesome. He's the only one that walked on

the water. Just before Jesus was going to be crucified. Jesus

begins to wash the disciples feet. I told you that Peter says,

no, no, no, you're not washing my feet. Okay, okay. Watch me all

over. And that meeting that that night, Jesus told Peter, before

the cock crows, you're going to deny me three times. You're sitting

there in this precious moment, you think Peter's going?

Probably.

I can see that he's going. There's no way he didn't maybe say.

It out loud in his head. There's no way I would ever, ever.

I love you. I've been serving you, following you for three and

a half years. I'm the one that said, thou art the Christ, the son

of the living God. I know who you are. You're the Messiah.

I would never ever deny you. Not too long after this, Jesus goes

to what we call the garden prayer. And he's praying. He takes

three of them with him. John, James and Peter. And he says, you

guys wait right here. The Bible says he went about a stone's

throw away. He said, I'm just watch him pray. And he goes over

here and he prays three times. Jesus goes over there in that prayer.

Either every time or one of the times. Jesus said, father, if

it be thy will, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my

will, thine be done. He comes back to them and he wakes them up

and he says, judge, you're not watching. Pray one hour. Then he

says to them, listen to these words. The spirit's willing, but

the flesh is weak. Just a few moments. Not too long after that,

Jesus is being arrested and they're taking him over to Ki because

only Peter and somebody that knew someone at the gate followed

him. There was a big window at Caius House, if it's a house that

they say it is. I've had privilege to see it. There's a window

there. It's not as big as this window here, but it's almost that

big. There's a large window on the second story. It's kind of on

a hillside, so you're like in a courtyard down here. And then there's

a basement area. And then you can see up on the second floor, Caiaphas

and Jesus and some soldiers and some Sanhedrin are up there.

Peter is down here. It's 3 o', clock, 4 o' clock in the morning.

He's warming himself by the fire, it's a little chilly. And someone

comes up to him and says, you're one of them, aren't you. He

goes, I don't know who he is. I know not the man.

In Peter's head. You got to be going, what? What?

There's no way I should say that.

I love him.

He's my master. He's the Messiah. Not too long after that,

someone else comes. You're one of them. You follow him, don't you?

And with an oath, he says, I do not know him.

Peter's going, what have I said?

I can't believe I even said it out loud. What is wrong with me?

And then another person comes by and says, your speech betrays

you. You're a Galilean. You're one of them. And with a curse and

an oath, he says, I know. And the rooster crows and Peter is brokenhearted.

This is amazing to me. Jesus is looking down and he catches Peter's

eyes while the cock is crowing and they are eyeball to eyeball.

The Bible says Peter went out and wept bitterly. I don't know if

you've ever been that broken for your sin, if you've ever been

that humble that you cannot.

Believe where you've been and what you've been doing.

That's how Peter feels. Do you know when he went out, don't you

know what he was thinking? I don't deserve to be a disciple. I

don't deserve this. I shouldn't even tell people I follow

Jesus. This is embarrassing. How can I say I love him? How can

I say he's the Messiah? When I do this, I might as well give it

up. I might as well quit. I probably should just go back to my

old job, go fishing. Jesus is crucified. He's buried. Peter's not

there. The only one we know for sure is John. They bury Jesus

three days later. Some girls go, and they're going to go anointing

with some perfume ointment. They go, who's going to open? Who's

going to put that big rock out of the way? Who's going to move the

big stone?

I get there, the stones are moved. They go in. There's a young

man sitting there, looks like an angel.

And he said, who y' all looking for? Jesus. Where have you

laid him? Where have you taken him? He said, he's not here. He's

risen, as he said he would be. Then the angel said these words.

I love it. He said, go tell the.

Go back.

Go tell the. Go tell the disciples that he's risen. That's

not all they said, go tell the disciples and Peter. Why would God

send an angel from heaven to say, and Peter. Because Peter was

about to quit. He's about to hang it up. He's about to give up.

Because he thought he's gone so low so bad. That he doesn't even

deserve to say Jesus out loud. And God said, no, you go tell the

disciples and Peter that he's alive. Wow. I don't know if you're

catching that or not. In my life that the enemy has told me,

McCracken, you might as well quit. You're a loser. You're lousy.

You're the worst Christian probably that ever lived. Why are

you.

Why do you even pretend like you're.

A preacher and you stand in front of people? It's of the Lord's

mercies that I've not consumed. Many a time turned his

anger away. And he said, hey, McCracken. It would be like that

angel showed up in here tonight. Said, hey, Heritage. Want

y' all to know Jesus is alive. Would y' all go tell Dave McCracken

he's alive? God doesn't want me to quit. The enemy does.

My flesh wants me to quit. But God Almighty says, I don't throw

the clay away. You still can be a usable servant if you'll just

respond to me. Confess your sin, humble yourself and say, I don't

want to be in charge. I surrender you and by faith. Thank

you, Jesus. You're in charge of my life. Thank you that you didn't

throw the clay away.

Thank you, Christ.

I don't care how bad and how wicked and how crummy you've lived.

I'm telling you, he doesn't throw the clay away. His mercy. I

love those words. Endureth forever. Tonight, right now, his

mercy is available to you. If you'll humble yourself, ask him to

forgive you and surrender to him by faith. And say, I'm tired

of Mr. Klein Carney being in charge. Thank you. You're now in

charge of my life. Will this stuff keep bothering you? It'll show

up. But it doesn't have the same teeth it used to have. Doesn't

have the same chain it used to have. No. No, thanks. You're dead

to me. I'm just a branch. You don't expect me to do anything on

my own. I can't handle that. You know I can't handle it. But you

can bless his holy name. Would you stand with me, please? Thank

you. Thank you for listening. I'd like to pray with you. Our great

God. I come to you again and thank you for the Bible. Thank you

for its truth. It's pointed, it's direct. It is directly to our

hearts and souls. God, many of us know who we are and what we are.

And many a time we've wanted to quit and give up because we're

not worthy, we're not worth it, and we are not on our own. But

we're just branches, and we're totally dependent on you. I pray

that we would surrender to that and we'd stop trying to live

for you. And we would surrender to you. Jesus, if someone's

not saved, I'm so thankful you give them another opportunity. I

pray they'd get saved, that they'll say yes to you tonight. Us

believers, I pray we'll say yes. Our heads are bowed, and Brother

Donaldson's going to begin the invitation. You're welcome to sing

with him, but our heads are bowed. Give people privacy. Let's

surrender to him.