Live like you're dying

But what truth, what truth in that song?

In fact, I've made a mini-series to myself.

And uh Live Like You're Dying's the title of it.

You know what he said?

If I knew, I only had 30 days to live.

He said I would love to eat I would speak and I would forgive.

As I was looking how this song took completely control of our country, the world.

Because what made that song so powerful was because it hey, it forces you and me to confront the reality and the brevity of life.

You know, the Bible says, Whereas you know not what shall be on tomorrow, for what is your life?

It's like a vapor.

It appears for a little time and it vanishes away.

And I I got to thinking, and I've been dwelling on this message for over a month, and I'm thinking to myself, uh, uh, and Rick Vignelle's here was watching his grandson be baptized.

And uh I can remember, Rick, when when we were young in our 20s at Liberty University, getting in trouble with Mark Lowry every week.

And now I'm 68 years old.

And I met this beautiful 19-year-old gorgeous redhead 40 years ago.

And this week, Thursday, she turned 60.

We she doesn't look it, I can tell you that, buddy.

But forty years, where have the years gone?

And I've asked my question, and I and I can say really with all my heart and with all the purity of my heart.

40 years as I look back, honey.

I do it all over again.

It's been wonderful.

Has it been easy?

No.

Can I say something right here?

Let me help you.

Life's not easy.

Okay?

But here's the question this morning.

Here's the proposition this morning.

It's never too late.

To rearrange your priorities.

Can I get an amen?

It's never too late.

And the question this morning is here's the question.

If we only had 30 days left to live, how would it change us?

How would we live differently?

Well, Paul was a master at writing and giving truth through pictures.

And in Philippians, one of my favorite books, it is my favorite New Testament book, my favorite life verse is Philippians 4.13.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

And anytime I get down and out, or I'm feeling having a pity party, I go to the book of Philippians because it's four short chapters, but it's the joy book of the New Testament.

And Paul paints this beautiful picture of the Christian life.

And he uses it as a race.

A race.

I know where I'm hitting.

I know how to throw the punch.

It's not just wandering, swinging wildly.

So he uses a race picture.

And I love racing.

I love to watch the Olympics.

The Olympics are here.

The Winter Olympics.

But I love the Summer Olympics when they're running and racing.

And I got to thinking about that.

And we're very fortunate today to have a track star in our midst in the making.

We may see her running in the Olympics one day.

I'm not joking.

Callie, stand up.

Can we give our future star right here?

Amen.

Not only can that girl run, you know what I nicknamed her?

Roadrunner.

There she goes.

That fox's not gonna get her.

Trouble is you're gonna have to keep the foxes off of her as pretty she is.

What the second, all right, let me get this right.

The second best time in the history of her school.

Is that not correct?

Hey, Kay, that's unreal.

And I got to thinking about that, and I got to thinking about what does it take to be a champion?

What does it take to be an Olympic champion?

And here it is, focus.

That's the key word this morning.

Focus, discipline, sacrifice, skill, tenacity, perseverance, passion.

And I got to myself thinking to myself, with all this effort is poured into creating winners for temporal fading rewards, then how much more significant is it to invest our efforts in being a spiritual champion?

Think about that.

Something that's gonna last for eternity.

I know it's exciting.

I've been there in the races and in the competitions back when I was in powerlifting and all kinds of sports and the football games, just thousands and hundreds of people cheering.

And man, yes, it's a it's so uh, should I say, elading, and it's so unbelievable.

It's so building up and so exciting.

But then I thought, but what?

And how does that compare to one day as a Christian, we're gonna bow before the awesome, hey, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and hear him say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Because you've been faithful over a few things, I'm gonna make you ruler over many things.

Enter into the joy of the Lord.

Wow.

Eye to eye with Jesus, I die.

And to hear him say, Pastor Rick, well done.

Well done.

Woohoo! I thought to myself, wow.

And so here's the number one and unbelievable proposition of the whole paragraph.

And we've got to look at verses 8 through 14 this morning.

Well, actually seven.

And here it is on your outline.

And what a powerful statement it is.

A number one, a focus and passionate pursuit of Christ produces a spiritual champion.

Now let me ask you.

Do you want to be a spiritual champion?

Turn to your neighbor and say, I want to be a spiritual champion.

Think about it now.

Hey, think about it.

Do you really, are you willing to pay the price to be a spiritual champion?

As I was researching, I found this story that was just amazing to me.

A couple of years, uh, well, it's been many years ago, but they had the annual London Marathon race, and this year there was a man named Lloyd Scott that finished.

Hey, he had the record for the slowest time in history.

Hello.

The slowest time in history for running a marathon.

Would you like to know how long it took him?

Five days, eight hours, twenty nine minutes and forty six seconds.

Unlike other runners who were wearing their running shorts, their nylon shorts, and their tank tops, and the hey, Lloyd, listen to what he was wearing.

A deep sea diver suit with the metal helmet itself.

What a poignant picture of many of us in the Christian life today.

I thought about that.

Think about that.

Think about that.

We get saved and we are on the starting line, and we start, but the problem is we're what?

Running the race in a sea diving, deep sea diver suit.

We got all the stuff, all the things of the world, all our problems, all our difficulties, every kind of situation, and then we got life itself, especially in this generation, we're so fast.

Hey, and by the way, I got to thinking about this.

I mean, we have so much entanglement that we barely, hey, get off the starting line of the Christian life, and when we do, we're running like a snail.

Speed and focus.

You know what I learned?

Speed and focus do not make good partners.

While life is like a race, you cannot develop spiritual intimacy on the run.

Can't do it.

The pace of life in this culture continues to accelerate and has become an addictive, should I say, trap that Satan sets for all of us.

I would be willing to bet, and I'm gonna be conservative.

80% of the people watching online right here now are addicted to this phone.

Forget television, that's gone.

And what I mean by this phone, now I know what you said.

I'm not addicted to my phone, I bet you are because I, hey, it's more than a phone.

You can play games 24-7.

Hello?

All the time.

And if you're not playing games, you're you're working.

If you're not working, you're reading.

And if you're if you're you're not reading, you're texting.

If you're not texting, you're doing something, you're you're searching for something.

How many of you now don't, hey, don't even go to Walmart?

Used to be my favorite store.

Now I don't.

Amazon.

They bring it right to my door.

I told Susan I'm gonna have to go to AAA for Amazon.

Amen.

Really?

I mean, they pump up, oh, and oh, isn't it nice?

They put up and bring you a little thing.

Oh, I hey, and they even know my name.

Oh, how do they?

They know everything about me.

They know what I like, they know what I'm tempted with.

Oh, Danny, oh yeah, I've got a nice suggestion.

Oh yeah, I need one of those.

And then all I gotta do is touch the button and I get it.

Are you feeling me, folks?

Are you feeling me?

Susan said, I'm gonna give you a credit card with a limit for Amazon.

Now here's the truth, and we can't afford to miss it.

God speaks in the margins.

Let me repeat that.

God speaks in the margins.

To hear God and know God, you must create space in your life.

You must create a mar, I call a margin, and I put a little when I do sticky moments when I used to teach uh I'd say now this is a sticky moment, so get your sticker and put it in put it in the margin.

Hey, but hey, you must create margin moments in your day when you can symbolically, hey, speaking, sit at the feet of Jesus.

You have to.

These times will not only help you grow, they will replenish and nourish you and build you up.

I have to have mine every morning.

The word in Psalms 46, verse 10, says, be still and know that I'm God.

Psalms 46:10

But the word there, be still, it's the Hebrew word, and it's a powerful word.

It's Rafa.

And here's what it means to relax.

Now I'm gonna tell you something.

You are not relaxing when you are engaged 24-7 with this.

And here's the bad thing.

When I just turn totally turn mine off, I do it every Sunday morning.

And I usually forget to turn it back.

And then when I do, after Monday, I say, nobody's called me or hardly text me, so I turn it back on, and then there's 20 messages, and then I try to run, and they say, I couldn't get you, I couldn't get you.

Well, bless God, I didn't want you to get me.

Where you been?

None of your business.

I needed you.

You knew where I lived, didn't you?

You know, used to, I meant, come on, guys.

And I know there's good in it.

I know.

I I I keep up with all of y'all, what's going on on Facebook.

Uh I I do, and I I'm able to pray for you and more intimately, like with Brand in his situation, because of the I'm able to really engage.

I understand the good.

I understand the good.

Don't get me wrong.

I really do.

But listen to what else it means.

It means to withdraw.

Be still.

It means to relax, it means to be quiet.

It means to let God speak into your life.

It means to let God handle your problems.

Can I get an amen?

Paul knew that the ultimate target in life was a personal, intimate, growing, ongoing relationship with Jesus.

He really did.

And what I loved about this whole passage of scripture here in verses 8 through 14, and we will get to it, I promise you.

When Paul talks about knowing Christ, look at verse 10.

He says that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformal.

Look at what he's saying.

The Greek word there is ginoscope, that means to know, and it means to know by an experience.

It doesn't mean to know by knowledge, it means that you have experienced him personally through your life.

In other words, he's engaged you personally.

See, you can know about something, but still not know it.

And what is that?

You can have knowledge about something, but that doesn't mean you know it.

You know it when you take that knowledge and apply it to your life and experientially you see that it works, then you know.

So you can know all about Jesus.

You can know all about God, you can know all about religious things, but until you experience a relationship with Jesus Christ, you do not know Him.

And that's what Paul's saying here.

He really is.

And boy, is it powerful.

So the number one thing in your outline, and it really is, focus on life's priorities.

That's it.

You got to focus.

Now, here's the exciting thing.

Look at the word focus.

I've got an outline for you.

How do I focus on knowing the Lord?

I love acrostics, it helps me memorize the principles that need to be applied to my life.

Letter elf.

Paul focused on the right things.

Jesus focused on the right thing.

You know what he'd do every morning?

He would find time to get away early in the morning to spend time with the Father.

Can I get an amen?

Paul had a daily, he says, I die daily.

Focus.

So, letter L, find time for Jesus every day.

You got to.

Every day, not sometimes every day.

I love the Berean Christians in Acts 17, 11.

Here's what they said.

They were stirred.

The word, the Greek word there means they were stirred.

They were excited about seeking the scriptures daily to see if those truths that were taught were so.

Acts 17, 11.

Our Iwana verse, all the teenagers that's gone through Iwana.

2 Timothy 2.15.

I got Job when he first took over Iana.

I said, Joe, quote to me 2 Timothy 2.15.

He went, blah blah blah blah.

He got half of it the first time.

Now he knows it.

You know it now, though, don't you, Joe?

Study to show thyself approved unto God.

A workman, that not be ashamed.

What?

Rightly dividing the word of truth.

You got to spend time daily.

Let me, you know what?

I would have never gotten to know this beautiful redhead if all I did was spend a few minutes with her weekly.

Or maybe just when I wanted to go on a date.

Hey, go with me.

But it's every day.

We spend time together.

If you're going to be an Olympic champion, you spend six to eight hours a day training.

How much more time should we spend with Jesus in his work?

Think about that.

Letter O.

You got to open your ears to hear, your eyes to see, and our hearts to receive.

Matthew 13, verse 15 and 16.

Matthew 13:15

The Lord says, Hey, they've got a hard heart.

He said, the Jews have a hard heart.

And here's why.

They've closed their ears, they've closed their eyes.

They've closed the heart.

And then he goes on and he says in verse 16, but if you open your eyes to see and your ears to hear and your heart to receive, you can be changed.

Wow, that's good.

And then let her see in the word focus.

You've got to confess your sins.

Isaiah 66, 18 says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, God would not hear me.

You cannot have a relationship with Jesus if sin's in your heart and life.

Can I get an amen?

And we're going to see that in this passage.

Letter U, you got to understand his purpose for your life.

Every person sitting in here this morning, watching online, that's a Christian.

God has a purpose.

David, God's got a purpose just for you.

And guess what, David?

Nobody can feel that purpose but you.

That's why he called you.

Let me get you excited.

Say I'm ready to get excited.

Do you know what really ought to get you excited about the Christian life?

Not that you just got saved and you're not going to hell, but that's a good reason to get excited.

But you ought to get excited because when Jesus, by the way, you didn't choose him, you say, Yes, I didn't.

No, you didn't.

You accepted his choosing.

He says, You've not chosen me.

I've chosen you.

John 15, 16.

I've chosen you and called you to be fruitful.

So you ought to get excited.

When God saved you, he chose you, and here's why.

Oh, I'm about to have a running spell.

Jeremiah 29, 11.

Here's why.

Here's why.

He says, I'm thinking about you.

Woo! God's thinking about you.

Turn to your neighbor.

God's thinking about me.

And he says, my thoughts are not bad.

Can we get an amen?

Because in my life, sometimes I'm thinking, I bet those thoughts aren't too good.

He says, they're not bad, they're not evil, but they're good.

And I've got a plan for you.

I've got a purpose for you.

And it's going to be great.

Jeremiah 29, 11.

Great.

So what you ought to get excited about, God, when He saved you.

He's got a fantastic plan for your life.

But here's the key.

You got to get focused.

You got to start training.

That's good, preacher.

And then let it rest.

On the word focus, you gotta submit.

I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I.

But Christ liveth in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

You with me, church?

You gotta be focused.

You gotta be focused.

I wrote some things down that I think will be so illuminating.

Do you realize that your highest and holiest calling in life is to come to know Christ?

That's it.

That's the most important thing in your life.

Now, watch this.

The goal of life is not just raising good kids.

The goal of life is not having a million-dollar portfolio.

The goal of life is not to have your own business.

The goal of life is not to travel around the world.

The goal of life is not to, hey, of life is not the acquisition of fame.

The goal of life is not even to be a productive worker for Christ.

Oh, oh.

You know, a lot of people get caught up in that.

The praise of themselves for what they're doing for because of Christ.

Jesus said, here's the priority.

Are you ready?

And Rick, this will get you excited as a new pastor.

The priority is what this church was founded on.

It's a proposition, it's a purpose statement.

And don't ever forget it, church.

Matthew 22, 37 through 40.

Jesus said unto them, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all their mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is likened to it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

And on these two commandments you can hang all the others.

That's who we are.

Loving God and loving people.

Say that with me, church.

Loving God and loving people.

I can promise you, when you walk in those doors and you walk out those doors, we pastors are going to be loving all over you.

Somebody said, that's the most lovingest church I've ever seen and most friendliest church I've ever seen.

Folks, that is one of the greatest compliments you can get.

Have you ever been to a church and nobody said anything?

And oh, here's what they did and said, Hey, we're so glad you're here.

Is it the first time?

How'd you hear it?

Just to, you know, to make a fellowship and then they just look, they do this.

Hmm.

And then they turn around because they don't want to talk to you.

You ever been there?

So we see that's the greatest, hey, purpose.

You know what I'm convinced maybe one of the reasons there's so much restlessness among Christians, and I see it right now badly.

I know the COVID and all the stuff and all that, but but let me tell you what I think it is.

They don't have a clear goal of what their purpose is.

Let me tell you about Olympian.

Callie, if you're gonna be an Olympian one day, and I think you can, you gotta focus.

And that word focus I just gave you.

You have to do that every day of your life.

You gotta be focused.

You gotta pay the price.

One of the reasons there's so much pettiness among Christians and bickering, they don't know their purpose.

They're not focused.

If you don't, all right, Adam, here's your saying.

He likes these little one-liners.

If you don't know what you're aiming at, you'll hit it every time.

Amen.

Is that not good?

If you don't know what you're aiming at, you're gonna hit it every time.

That's so true.

The highest calling in life is a love relationship with Jesus.

Can I get an amen?

A love relationship with Jesus.

Look at verse 9.

Paul said this.

Well, let's start at verse 7.

But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ, yet doubtless, and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, from whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung.

That's a pretty good word there, rubbish, uh, manure that I may win Christ.

Here's what Paul said.

He in fact I wrote this to myself.

All right, are you ready for this?

Here's another one-liner.

You want to write it.

What Paul said, and if you read read the first part of Philippians chapter 3, he gives you his pedigree.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

I've accomplished all these things.

I'm the Hebrew of Hebrews.

I'm the I've been I've been the master teacher in the synagogue.

I've done all this stuff.

And back then he was trying to kill all the Christians too.

But he had all the degrees.

He had reached the highest level.

He had been taught by Galamo, I mean Gameleo, and he had been taught.

I mean, he was he was the Hebrew of Hebrew.

He said, My resume is the best of anybody.

Compared to anybody, I'm the best of the best.

And then he turned around and he said, That means nothing.

All these great things, and by the way, there's good things.

Hey, sports is good.

All these things, fishing's good.

I know Danny's a fisherman, and and and uh he called me this morning, need to pray for his wife, she's sick.

But but but all these things, good, all your hobbies, those are good things.

Things that you like doing, those are good.

But let me tell you something.

And I wrote this down.

Here it is.

A good thing can become a bad thing if it keeps us from the best thing.

I'm gonna say that again.

A good thing can become a bad thing if it keeps us from the best thing.

But Paul said that I might know him.

I want to know, hey, I want to I want to have a faith relationship with Christ.

I want to experience the power of Christ.

And then he says, I want to experience the suffering of Christ.

We want the power without the suffering.

But let me remind you, you can't have the power without the suffering.

You go back and study the Old Testament.

Shabrak, Meshach, and Abendigo were thrown in the fire furnace.

In the fire furnace, guess who shows up?

Ha ha, you got it.

He showed up.

Jesus, and I believe it was Jesus.

That's just me.

But I we know it was angel of God, and we just he shows up.

And guess what?

He delivers them out of the fire furnace.

He didn't deliver them from it, but in it.

And then they're promoted.

Daniel and the lion's den, same thing.

Then he was promoted.

Listen to me.

Write this down.

Faith has to be tested before it can be trusted.

It has to be tested.

If you're going to be used greatly by God and for God, you will suffer for God.

Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

So we see.

But there's a second thing.

Not only did, and I love this, not only did Paul, and boy, did he not have a focus on life's highest priority, and that was to know Christ in an intimate way.

But secondly, he developed a holy discontent.

Look at verse 12.

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I followed out, if I may apprehend that for which I also am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Brother, and I count myself to have apprehended.

In other words, Apostle Paul's talking about, he is one of the greatest Christians right here.

And he's what he's saying is, he's saying that I'm not satisfied.

You know what I'm convinced of for every Christian?

If we're going to grow.

Two things.

God taught me this.

This is my life.

When I have really grown, I've got to do two things.

Number one, I've got to admit my failures and my faults.

Hello?

I've got to admit my failures and faults.

He that covers his sins shall not prosper.

But whoso confesses and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Proverbs 28:13.

Proverbs 28:13

Listen, church.

Listen.

You have to.

You have to.

And then the second thing you gotta do.

Not only omit your faults, but right here.

You gotta seek to be holy.

You gotta turn from your sin.

In fact, two things here.

And I really believe.

God lays hold of all believers for two key purposes: holiness, be ye holy in all manner of conversation.

For it is written, he said, be ye holy, for I am holy.

And then he said, usefulness.

But guess what?

You can't be useful if you're not holy.

He grabs believers for two reasons: to be holy and to be useful.

The Lord grabs us.

He wants to live in and through us.

He really does.

Paul put it this way, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course, watch, with joy.

And the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul said, not only do I want to know him, but I want to finish the course.

And it should be so joyful.

There's nothing more joyful than, hey, stretching out and going across that finish line in a race and being number one.

Do you know the difference between the gold medal and the bronze medal?

Oh yeah, the gold medal person's better.

No, no, no, no, no.

Anytime you get to the platform, your abilities are about the same.

You may be, I meant really.

You know the difference?

You know the difference between the gold and the bronze?

Focused.

They didn't look back.

They didn't look beside them.

They weren't worried about what their opponent was doing.

They were focused on that finish line.

And have you ever watched them when they get right to the finish line, they go, they extend with every ounce of energy they've got.

Because they're focused.

Focused.

You can never be satisfied.

Then the third thing, to live like your dial.

Leave behind the past.

Verses 13 and 14.

Got to leave it behind.

When he says forgetting those things, that's a powerful Greek word there.

But now let me tell you what that means.

That doesn't mean that you don't remember the bad situations.

Because when you remember a bad situation, God uses a bad situation, or if you blow it, or whatever.

Listen to me.

He uses that for our growing.

He wants us to learn from our mistakes.

Can I get an amen?

It's okay to make a mistake, okay?

But just don't keep making the same mistake.

You hear me?

Hear me, church?

Now listen, this is good.

So Paul right here says, look, and let me tell you what else.

It's not bad to remember your blessings.

Okay?

But here's what I'm trying to tell you this word means.

It literally means when you're forgetting those things behind, that you are forgetting, hey, so that those things that you leave behind, blessings or what?

Defeats, that they don't influence your life anymore.

Can I get an amen?

Why?

Because you know greater is he that is in you than he that's in the world.

And because of him you've overcome greater seeds in you.

You've paid, you've put behind.

It no longer influences you.

I am convinced most Christians never make it to the finish line because they allow the past to influence them.

I struggled with it for years.

And I'm gonna be honest with you, sometimes I struggle with it now.

Forget it.

Turn to your neighbor and say, forget the past.

Don't let it influence you.

Let me ask something.

Do you believe greater is he that is in you than he is in the world?

Well, there's nothing you've done that he can't forgive.

There's nothing you've done that he can't forget.

And then notice what you gotta do.

You ready?

Look at the fourth thing.

Last thing.

Here it is.

You gotta lunge into the future.

Lunge it into the future.

I press, verse 14, toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

You know, I am convinced that I just baptized a lot of people right there.

That's Methodist baptism.

Alright.

Now, what's this?

That's a joke.

It's a all right, what's this?

I wrote this, I put a star by it.

What are some common things that keep us tied to the past?

I almost missed that.

Thank you, Lord.

All right.

Ready?

I'm gonna help you.

And this I wrote down for me.

Hurtful relationships.

That really hurts.

I can get bogged down with hurtful relationships because I really do want everybody to like me.

And you know what?

That's impossible.

I'm not joking.

I'm being honest with you.

When somebody leaves the church, it hurts me.

It hurts me because I love them.

I care for them.

And I've tried to help them every way I can.

It hurts.

But I also know that everybody couldn't be here.

I understand that.

But what I'm saying is I have a problem with that sometimes.

And that's the greatest problem you ever have, Rick, is hurtful relationships.

When you go, you you minister to, and I can say this because he's the pastor now.

Hey, when you minister, you can't fire me, I'm gone.

But hey, hey, hey, listen, you wouldn't fire me.

You wouldn't fire me anyway, I hope.

But listen to me, listen to me, listen.

The most hurtful thing for a pastor is to give his heart, love you, care for you, feed you, minister to you, and then you just up and leave and not even say bye.

That hurts.

I don't mind you if you need to go, God's moving you good, but at least tell me.

Can I get a know me?

I'm serious.

Next thing that bothers me.

Failure.

She knows.

I hate to fail at anything.

I can't stand it.

I can't.

That's why I'm gonna work as hard as I can work.

And I was a part of a ministry.

I gave it everything I had, and it just seemed not to work.

It still bothers me.

And then the third thing, shame.

Shame will hold you back.

But, preacher, you don't know what I've done.

I don't need to know what you've done.

I know this.

You haven't done all that Paul did.

Paul killed Christians.

He threw them to the lines, he held the code to watch Stephen being stoned to death.

And you say, hey, listen, he said, I'm the greatest sinner of all.

That's what Paul said.

And guess what?

This guy ended up writing 13 books of the New Testament.

He's the chief of sinners, he said.

So it didn't matter.

Get over the shame.

Don't let Satan take that shame and bury you.

You have a tendency if it goes and get stuck.

Now listen to me.

I don't care what you're doing.

And you're not being successful.

You're in the fire.

And you're trying.

You have a tendency to go back to your successes.

And just go back there.

Where it's safe.

You remember how the good times were.

Oh, have I done that, church?

So many times.

Crawl up in my wife's arms because I know she's going to love me regardless.

Because she has to.

No.

But here's the thing I've learned from that.

Now listen to me.

Please listen to me.

Young preachers, young Christians, listen to me.

Please listen to me.

What that does, it stops you from growing.

Because, see, it's in that fire that he's burning off all that dross.

He knows you got to learn, even though you've just been body slammed.

Through the grace of God and the power of God, the power of the resurrection.

The righteous fall seven times, but they get back up.

That he's going to get you back up.

And you're going to be stronger than you were.

Finally, my brethren, be stronger than the Lord.

Here in the power of his might.

And he's going to use you to accomplish even more.

You become a greater champion.

You want to be a champion?

You got to pay the price.

Forget it.

Focus.

Forget the past.

And lunge forth for the future.

When you go down, get back up.

Forget it.

Satan, you can't win.

By the way, he can't win.

Folks, he's already been defeated two thousand years ago.

Some of you this morning, you're right where I'm preaching.

You're going through it.

But now some of us may be going through it because God's trying to get our attention because our priorities are out of order.

So He's trying to bring us back.

So let me ask you something right now.

Here's the invitation.

If you had 30 days to live, okay?

What would you change?

That's all.

Hey, you don't have to tell anybody, don't tell your mate.

Just you.

I want a heart-searching time.

Search me, oh God.

Know my heart, know my thoughts.

See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting.

I want you right now, Danny Love it, and I have thought through this this whole week, folks.

And I'm telling you, I did a lot of confessing.

A lot.

Remember the word focus?

See if you took good notes.

Letter F, do what?

Find time.

Oh, open our eyes, our hearts, our ears.

See, confess.

You understand what God's purpose is for your life.

And then let it rest.

Submit to it.

Man, that's good.