Sermon

June 24, 2026 | 1 John Wednesday Night Bible Study | Pastor Carl Henry

Northside Baptist Church of Elkhart, Indiana

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  1. [SPEAKER_00]: All righty, so we're in first John, we didn't finish up last week, so those who were in VBS, you didn't miss a ton.

  2. [SPEAKER_00]: I was looking to see, he didn't make it, so I won't go where I was gonna go.

  3. [SPEAKER_00]: So there was a question last week on the Holy Spirit, and so I kind of answered, but I wanted to build on that just a little bit out of John 3, and that was a great question from a young man,

  4. [SPEAKER_00]: And we have some of you say, well, we know the answer to that.

  5. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you had to learn at some point, right?

  6. [SPEAKER_00]: And so people have a really good question.

  7. [SPEAKER_00]: So we were able to talk about that.

  8. [SPEAKER_00]: And so if they're back next week, we'll hand that on Wednesday.

  9. [SPEAKER_00]: So we're in first John, chapter number two.

  10. [SPEAKER_00]: Let me get there myself.

  11. [SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to start in verse 26.

  12. [SPEAKER_00]: These things have written unto you concerning them that seduce you, or are deceiving you, leaving you astray.

  13. [SPEAKER_00]: But the anointing, which you have received, of him, abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you, but as for the same anointing teaches you all things,

  14. [SPEAKER_00]: and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him.

  15. [SPEAKER_00]: That's what we talked about last Wednesday night.

  16. [SPEAKER_00]: So we talked about how God teaches us his word.

  17. [SPEAKER_00]: He uses Jesus, who is the eternal word.

  18. [SPEAKER_00]: John 14, 26 says, the Spirit will teach you all things.

  19. [SPEAKER_00]: So God uses the Holy Spirit to teach us.

  20. [SPEAKER_00]: And so what we concluded quickly is this.

  21. [SPEAKER_00]: And in Acts 8, as Philip is joining the unit from Ethiopia, he says, do you understand what you're reading?

  22. [SPEAKER_00]: And he goes, how can I send somebody to teach us

  23. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, well, doesn't God just teach us, and we don't need any teachers?

  24. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, in the Bible Ephesians 4, he says to the gift that the church are pastors and teachers.

  25. [SPEAKER_00]: I believe this pastor's and teachers myself.

  26. [SPEAKER_00]: I think there's an article there, and I believe it's a separate blessing to the church, because there's some pastors or horrible teachers.

  27. [SPEAKER_00]: And there's really great teachers that are horrible pastors.

  28. [SPEAKER_00]: and they destroy churches.

  29. [SPEAKER_00]: They're just deep theological.

  30. [SPEAKER_00]: They're just going to level, but they're great teachers, but they don't go to hospitals.

  31. [SPEAKER_00]: They don't visit people, it's like you figured out what that out.

  32. [SPEAKER_00]: So we have both.

  33. [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think, but he does say intimidate that a pastor is to be able to teach or apt to teach.

  34. [SPEAKER_00]: So we do need to be able to explain the word, but I think that there's a gift.

  35. [SPEAKER_00]: So obviously God says God uses teachers, Sunday School, Children's Ministry, Awana, all of these are your explaining the word so that people can understand the word better, right?

  36. [SPEAKER_00]: So that's part of it.

  37. [SPEAKER_00]: But,

  38. [SPEAKER_00]: I believe, ultimately, as I communicate, you communicate with your teaching, I'm not really doing it.

  39. [SPEAKER_00]: The Holy Spirit's inside of you illuminating the Word.

  40. [SPEAKER_00]: So you have to have the Holy Spirit to understand the Word, and that's why 1 Corinthians 2 says, the deep things of God are spiritually discerned.

  41. [SPEAKER_00]: So it's not real easy.

  42. [SPEAKER_00]: So it takes time to develop and look at the Word and God teach you.

  43. [SPEAKER_00]: And so, but he says, we do have the Holy Spirit.

  44. [SPEAKER_00]: We do have Jesus, the eternal Word in us to teach us these things.

  45. [SPEAKER_00]: So that's where we were at last week.

  46. [SPEAKER_00]: And we concluded, according to this text, that in God is only truth.

  47. [SPEAKER_00]: in God, there is no lie.

  48. [SPEAKER_00]: God never deceives, never lies.

  49. [SPEAKER_00]: Everything that comes from Him is absolute truth.

  50. [SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus said, I am truth, right?

  51. [SPEAKER_00]: So that's the key.

  52. [SPEAKER_00]: Truth is a person, truth is the word, his word is truth, we'd look at it all that.

  53. [SPEAKER_00]: Now that will help you.

  54. [SPEAKER_00]: with the next verse.

  55. [SPEAKER_00]: So he says about verse 26, these things that are written unto you, concerning them that seduce you.

  56. [SPEAKER_00]: Remember we talked about the antichrist, people taking people other people away from Jesus because they're anti-Jesus, anti-Christ.

  57. [SPEAKER_00]: and there will be people that will try to draw you away from the simplicity or the singleness that's in Christ to try to believe we got to do the law you got to be circumcised or you got to do this you got to do this and taking you away from what Christ has done and they are masters at that and that's what we're talking about in Colossians also in Sunday mornings.

  58. [SPEAKER_00]: So.

  59. [SPEAKER_00]: We have a Holy Spirit to teach us this function, this anointing, that is coming from the Spirit of God.

  60. [SPEAKER_00]: So we should not be let astray when we compare with what they're saying with the Word of God.

  61. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, verse number 28, and now, little children.

  62. [SPEAKER_00]: abide in him.

  63. [SPEAKER_00]: Is that the first time in this chapter we've heard that phrase, abide in him?

  64. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, we've heard that quite a few times, haven't we?

  65. [SPEAKER_00]: It's almost a theme here with first John.

  66. [SPEAKER_00]: So how do we translate abide?

  67. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that was somebody said, well, yep, well, believe?

  68. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he has to have faith along with it, right?

  69. [SPEAKER_00]: Right, I agree.

  70. [SPEAKER_00]: Saying in a world will be helping us to abide in him, right?

  71. [SPEAKER_00]: That it has a heart-mind dedication.

  72. [SPEAKER_00]: Remain, yep.

  73. [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, abide means you're right here.

  74. [SPEAKER_00]: You're not going anywhere.

  75. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

  76. [SPEAKER_00]: In a way out of Nathan and Ellie, they got married a couple of weeks ago and they'll be here Sunday morning.

  77. [SPEAKER_00]: So that's introduce everybody to Nathan and Ellie.

  78. [SPEAKER_00]: And you know, and I know they're going to be going through hardships.

  79. [SPEAKER_00]: And just like every married couple goes through hardships, you say, we never do.

  80. [SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to get counsel from you.

  81. [SPEAKER_00]: Because all of us, we go through things.

  82. [SPEAKER_00]: But the key is, but we abide, we're not going anywhere.

  83. [SPEAKER_00]: And that's the thought.

  84. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going anywhere.

  85. [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus isn't leaving you.

  86. [SPEAKER_00]: We have to make sure that we're not trying to depart and leave from his presence.

  87. [SPEAKER_00]: So we're abiding staying right there with him.

  88. [SPEAKER_00]: Now that in mind, he says, when he shall appear, who do you think that he is in this text?

  89. [SPEAKER_00]: And who's going to appear?

  90. [SPEAKER_00]: I would say his Jesus, right?

  91. [SPEAKER_00]: anybody think it's not Jesus.

  92. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

  93. [SPEAKER_00]: So we're pretty much in unity concerning that.

  94. [SPEAKER_00]: So when He Jesus shall appear, shall appear, I don't know sounds like physically.

  95. [SPEAKER_00]: that we're going to be able to see him as he appears.

  96. [SPEAKER_00]: So there are some people to say, well, I had a vision.

  97. [SPEAKER_00]: I had a dream.

  98. [SPEAKER_00]: I had hiccups.

  99. [SPEAKER_00]: I ate too much pizza.

  100. [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever.

  101. [SPEAKER_00]: They're having these visions, OK?

  102. [SPEAKER_00]: That's not what this is talking about.

  103. [SPEAKER_00]: This is talking literally to the entirety of the church, not just a few.

  104. [SPEAKER_00]: He is going to appear to us.

  105. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, we're gonna see him, right?

  106. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, let's go on.

  107. [SPEAKER_00]: that we may have confidence and not ashamed before him at his coming.

  108. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, do you think this is meaning that Jesus is going to come back to the earth to hang out with us?

  109. [SPEAKER_00]: And we don't want to be ashamed because Jesus in the house, now he's going to be coming back down to this earth?

  110. [SPEAKER_00]: Or do you think this appearance is that he's going to be,

  111. [SPEAKER_00]: rather than him coming to be with us on earth.

  112. [SPEAKER_00]: Does that make sense?

  113. [SPEAKER_00]: Because there are plot people that would twist this, to say, no, there is no rapture.

  114. [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is coming back to this earth, and the kingdom is going to start.

  115. [SPEAKER_00]: Hence, kingdom hall.

  116. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, they don't believe in, it was like, oh, no, we're bringing Jesus back.

  117. [SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna be coming back, we're waiting for Messiah to come back.

  118. [SPEAKER_00]: We're doing these things for Messiah to come back.

  119. [SPEAKER_00]: And so, as the church, is there something that we, the church, are called to do for Jesus to appear to us and for us to be with Him?

  120. [SPEAKER_00]: Is there anything you and I are called to do to cause, now let's say I'm saying, to cause Jesus to come back for the rapture.

  121. [SPEAKER_00]: No, we're not ushering in the rapture.

  122. [SPEAKER_00]: It's just gonna happen, right?

  123. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so I sometimes clarify when I'm talking about.

  124. [SPEAKER_00]: So, we definitely see this.

  125. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, just so you know, I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on this, you know why?

  126. [SPEAKER_00]: Because caution's threes coming up.

  127. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not going to give all of this tonight and then in about six weeks from now we're going to be hitting it again on Sunday mornings, go.

  128. [SPEAKER_00]: That's going to be thorough when we hit it on Sunday mornings.

  129. [SPEAKER_00]: So what I want to just talk about is what in this text there's a connection between his appearing and the possibility of you and I being embarrassed or shamed.

  130. [SPEAKER_00]: That's what he says.

  131. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's ended up, well, that's the whole thing.

  132. [SPEAKER_00]: If we abide in him, we're walking with him, we're there, then we shouldn't have shame at his coming.

  133. [SPEAKER_00]: But the point is, it's possible that when he appears that we're countering back, it's like, oh, no.

  134. [SPEAKER_00]: So, hmm, confidence,

  135. [SPEAKER_00]: and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

  136. [SPEAKER_00]: So confidence means boldness.

  137. [SPEAKER_00]: assurance.

  138. [SPEAKER_00]: A shamed would mean to shrink from him, a shamed.

  139. [SPEAKER_00]: So a young man that is preparing for ministry, he just finished ball state, he's getting ready to do his seminary, he and I get together once in a while, and we're here together for three hours, yesterday of the awesome.

  140. [SPEAKER_00]: And so I had just listened, he gave me one of his messages that he had, and it

  141. [SPEAKER_00]: And he wanted to address the subject of shame with them.

  142. [SPEAKER_00]: It was a great message, by the way, fantastic message.

  143. [SPEAKER_00]: And to talk about guilt, difference between that and shame.

  144. [SPEAKER_00]: And guess where he went to, to talk about shame?

  145. [SPEAKER_00]: Mike, do you think anywhere in the book of Genesis, that shame is talked about pretty early on?

  146. [SPEAKER_00]: Well,

  147. [SPEAKER_00]: which would be, yeah, chapter three, it didn't take long.

  148. [SPEAKER_00]: It as soon as they fell and ate of that fruit, what did they do?

  149. [SPEAKER_00]: They were covered, they covered themselves because they were naked and before the fall there was no shame.

  150. [SPEAKER_00]: There was no knowledge of wrong or that.

  151. [SPEAKER_00]: It was nothing, there was nothing embarrassing.

  152. [SPEAKER_00]: They knew those, as soon as they ate, oh, we got to cover ourselves.

  153. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, who are they covering themselves from?

  154. [SPEAKER_00]: They're the only two one earth.

  155. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you ever tell that piece that before?

  156. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I knew you did.

  157. [SPEAKER_00]: And here I come up with that.

  158. [SPEAKER_00]: I thought, finally, I got something that enters, answers and Genesis didn't think of, but I can't, you're like my wife.

  159. [SPEAKER_00]: I always tell her, you are three steps ahead of me.

  160. [SPEAKER_00]: You are so far beyond me, I can't keep up with you.

  161. [SPEAKER_00]: And so yeah.

  162. [SPEAKER_00]: So then who are they covering themselves or hiding from them because of their shame?

  163. [SPEAKER_00]: God.

  164. [SPEAKER_00]: That's the thought here.

  165. [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, oh, no, you know, I'm wondering, you know, there's this shame and not confidence.

  166. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I'm sorry.

  167. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there you go, we should.

  168. [SPEAKER_00]: And so at that moment, if the rapture were to happen while I'm speaking, yay, yeah, yay, yeah, that'd be awesome.

  169. [SPEAKER_00]: And so, and we know what's going to happen really, really fast.

  170. [SPEAKER_00]: And first Corinthians 15, it's how fast.

  171. [SPEAKER_00]: Wait a long time and I, just that quick.

  172. [SPEAKER_00]: So there's no time to change anything.

  173. [SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing you can undo.

  174. [SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing you can do.

  175. [SPEAKER_00]: It is what it is.

  176. [SPEAKER_00]: And so at that very moment,

  177. [SPEAKER_00]: the preparedness for this day, and we're like, yeah, we can't wait for it to happen.

  178. [SPEAKER_00]: But if it were to happen right now, at this moment, you couldn't go back to anybody and say, hey, I'm sorry, forgive me.

  179. [SPEAKER_00]: You couldn't make anything right.

  180. [SPEAKER_00]: Everything is to a conclusion, it's the end of the chapter of you, if you will, of the church age, and our personal lives, if we're alive at his coming.

  181. [SPEAKER_00]: He is saying, we should have confidence and not be ashamed.

  182. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, let me ask you this.

  183. [SPEAKER_00]: Is God saying in this text, if I'm ashamed at his coming, I'm not going to get rapsured.

  184. [SPEAKER_00]: OK?

  185. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm telling you, people will twist scriptures like crazy when it comes to rapsure.

  186. [SPEAKER_00]: He's not saying you're not getting rapsured.

  187. [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to get raptured.

  188. [SPEAKER_00]: But the key is, as I'm going up, am I, oh man, what more I could have done?

  189. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I shouldn't have done, you know, all of that could be in my mind.

  190. [SPEAKER_00]: Why would we, at the rapture, be thinking possibly, oh no, instead of amen, oh me,

  191. [SPEAKER_00]: They think so in our brains in this text, he's connecting accountability to rapture.

  192. [SPEAKER_00]: So the question is, will we be, oh, man, total confidence?

  193. [SPEAKER_00]: By the way, we say right now, we will be total confident that Laura came right now, but I'll guarantee you deep down in our books and our hearts for like, ooh, yeah, then there was, oh, I forgot about that when no, you know, so I think all of us are going to have something in our brain.

  194. [SPEAKER_00]: that it'd be like, yeah, oops, but we're still going.

  195. [SPEAKER_00]: And obviously, Ben, we know it is time for us to give an account of ourselves.

  196. [SPEAKER_00]: So allow me to save a little time.

  197. [SPEAKER_00]: No, I'm not.

  198. [SPEAKER_00]: I got time.

  199. [SPEAKER_00]: Go with me to 1 Corinthians 3.

  200. [SPEAKER_00]: probably talk about some of the sunny morning coming up, so you can go to sleep when that happens, okay?

  201. [SPEAKER_00]: So first, Corinthians chapter three.

  202. [SPEAKER_00]: In this chapter he talks about Paul,

  203. [SPEAKER_00]: with a Paulus serving God.

  204. [SPEAKER_00]: Somebody's thrown seed in the ground.

  205. [SPEAKER_00]: Somebody's watering the ground.

  206. [SPEAKER_00]: But God gives the increase.

  207. [SPEAKER_00]: And we're supposed to build upon the foundation and the foundation is whom?

  208. [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus Christ, in verse number 11, right?

  209. [SPEAKER_00]: Then in verse 12, we pick up.

  210. [SPEAKER_00]: First Corinthians 3, 12.

  211. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, if any man build upon this foundation, goal silver pressure stones would haste stubble.

  212. [SPEAKER_00]: Every man's work shall be made manifest.

  213. [SPEAKER_00]: For the day shall declare it.

  214. [SPEAKER_00]: Now the question is, what is the day?

  215. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, that's what we're looking at.

  216. [SPEAKER_00]: It will be the day of rapture.

  217. [SPEAKER_00]: So I will want to correct some people because some would say, when I die, that's when I get judged and get rewarded or not.

  218. [SPEAKER_00]: Nope.

  219. [SPEAKER_00]: It's an immediate.

  220. [SPEAKER_00]: It's appointed unto man once too, and then after comes the, well, what's the judgment when I die?

  221. [SPEAKER_00]: Where are you going?

  222. [SPEAKER_00]: Going heaven?

  223. [SPEAKER_00]: Going hell?

  224. [SPEAKER_00]: That's an immediate judgment by God.

  225. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't, you ever hear, you ever hear preacher talk about degrees of heaven.

  226. [SPEAKER_00]: Paco's.

  227. [SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, so it's like when we go to heaven, it sounds like, oh my heaven so much better.

  228. [SPEAKER_00]: The sky so much bluer and the sun is shining here and my house is bigger than yours.

  229. [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like...

  230. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, heaven is not a competition, okay?

  231. [SPEAKER_00]: So it's gonna be heaven.

  232. [SPEAKER_00]: So all like Sandy just got there not long ago, she's up in glory now, you know, that if it's she is there and a host of others over this last year.

  233. [SPEAKER_00]: And so, yeah, so they're all ready there and they're waiting because something gonna happen at the rapture,

  234. [SPEAKER_00]: that will fulfill this text.

  235. [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't say when you die, but that day, there's going to be this judgment that we're going to have before God, and I'll show you other verses that they will connect it with his return, okay?

  236. [SPEAKER_00]: So.

  237. [SPEAKER_00]: Verse number, every man's worst going to be manifest in the day is going to declare it because it's going to be revealed by fire in verse 13 to fire.

  238. [SPEAKER_00]: So try every man's work of what it is or what sort it is.

  239. [SPEAKER_00]: So what are the two sorts?

  240. [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't, it doesn't like give like 20.

  241. [SPEAKER_00]: So it's either wood hay stubble or

  242. [SPEAKER_00]: the gold pressure stone, silver pressure stones, okay, gold, silver and pressure stones.

  243. [SPEAKER_00]: So why do we differentiate between gold silver pressure stone and would-hey, stubble when it comes to fire?

  244. [SPEAKER_00]: Some doesn't burn up, right?

  245. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so would-hey, stubble, yeah, you put a match to it, it's going to be burned up, meaning it's going to be gone.

  246. [SPEAKER_00]: And then the gold pressure zone and silver, obviously, when you put fire to that, and my wife does an incredible job teaching on that, that principle, is it the silver or is it the gold or the silver when it's refined, those who are processing it literally when it's done, they can see their image in it, because then it's purified, that's the thought, God's image in us.

  247. [SPEAKER_00]: And obviously, there's going to be something as a result of this fire.

  248. [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be what sort of it is, members 14 explains, if a man's work abides what he has built there on, he shall receive what?

  249. [SPEAKER_00]: A reward.

  250. [SPEAKER_00]: Not heaven.

  251. [SPEAKER_00]: He's or he got heaven.

  252. [SPEAKER_00]: It's a reward for what?

  253. [SPEAKER_00]: The works that were done on earth.

  254. [SPEAKER_00]: will be then tried and will be receiving a reward for 15.

  255. [SPEAKER_00]: If a man's workshop be burned by that fire, what's the point this way?

  256. [SPEAKER_00]: Who do you think the fire is?

  257. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and this text is Jesus, right?

  258. [SPEAKER_00]: He's going to be giving us a judgment seat of Christ's says.

  259. [SPEAKER_00]: So he's going to be testing our works if it burns up, there's a suffering of loss, but he himself shall be saved so by fire.

  260. [SPEAKER_00]: Wow, oh, layman, I thought fire was all about hell, right?

  261. [SPEAKER_00]: No, in this text, he's not talking about hell.

  262. [SPEAKER_00]: He's talking about the fire that is testing the works.

  263. [SPEAKER_00]: And the same fire that burns up the wood, hey, stubble in the person's life, is going to literally rescue the person's soul.

  264. [SPEAKER_00]: You want to talk about a verse about a assurance of salvation?

  265. [SPEAKER_00]: There it is.

  266. [SPEAKER_00]: It's possible that I go to heaven and I did everything for me.

  267. [SPEAKER_00]: That all these things that I've done publicly or whatever, God's like, yeah, you got your reward.

  268. [SPEAKER_00]: You did it if you seen a man, you get nothing from me.

  269. [SPEAKER_00]: Matthew said, right?

  270. [SPEAKER_00]: To be seen a man.

  271. [SPEAKER_00]: And then we have these humble servants that are doing everything for Jesus.

  272. [SPEAKER_00]: And nobody even knows about because they never, they'd never call him.

  273. [SPEAKER_00]: Do you know what I did today?

  274. [SPEAKER_00]: I would, they would, they'd really, really, it tell everybody what you're doing.

  275. [SPEAKER_00]: You already have your reward.

  276. [SPEAKER_00]: That's what you did it for, to be seen event.

  277. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you better know how spiritual I am because what I did, how much you know I pray every and this is how long I pray and then I just need to know and every Friday is when I do my fasting, just sound like a Pharisee.

  278. [SPEAKER_00]: Don't brag on what you do, you just do what you do.

  279. [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody needs to know what you do.

  280. [SPEAKER_00]: You know about three hours of my week of what I do.

  281. [SPEAKER_00]: That's all you know.

  282. [SPEAKER_00]: You say, what do you do?

  283. [SPEAKER_00]: Go fishing.

  284. [SPEAKER_00]: Throw it, I do, I just fish all week long.

  285. [SPEAKER_00]: I hate golf, and so I just fish all day, all day.

  286. [SPEAKER_00]: It's all I do.

  287. [SPEAKER_00]: You know I'm kidding, I'm sarcastic.

  288. [SPEAKER_00]: And so yeah, so, I mean, I'm not working as much as I used to, but, you know, there's calls, you know, three hours yesterday with a guy, you'll never meet probably, but he'll be in a pulpit one day and I can't wait to hear him in a pulpit.

  289. [SPEAKER_00]: We'll see him in heaven, you'll get to meet him there.

  290. [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he'll preach here sometime, I don't know.

  291. [SPEAKER_00]: But just a fine young man, Lori, and I just fell in love with Ashton.

  292. [SPEAKER_00]: He's just an awesome young man.

  293. [SPEAKER_00]: And he comes over and I got a lot of tame machine and he'll come into kitchen.

  294. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, you went latte, but it's salted caramel is what I like.

  295. [SPEAKER_00]: So he'll drink two of those.

  296. [SPEAKER_00]: No wonder he talks so long.

  297. [SPEAKER_00]: Man, we just juice him up with all this caffeine and sugar, you know, and we're in the scripture.

  298. [SPEAKER_00]: We're just bustin' a word, my garage, you know, we're all over, and, um, yeah, and God sees everything, everything, and he knows how you're encouraging people, you're visiting your calls or whatever, but just do it without saying it, just do it.

  299. [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody has to know, because if you, well, I want everybody to know what, everything that

  300. [SPEAKER_00]: You may have over a gotten your reward then.

  301. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want man's reward.

  302. [SPEAKER_00]: I want God's reward.

  303. [SPEAKER_00]: OK, so it's possible this can be burned up and get nothing.

  304. [SPEAKER_00]: And then, of course, the opposite is when we work, we're going to have it under fire, and then we're going to be receiving the reward.

  305. [SPEAKER_00]: So what do you think we're going to do with the rewards that we get from Jesus?

  306. [SPEAKER_00]: Where's that in the Bible?

  307. [SPEAKER_00]: It is in Revelation, exactly right?

  308. [SPEAKER_00]: Where does it say that we, the church, are going to be throwing our crowns at Jesus' feet like the group, casting crowns?

  309. [SPEAKER_00]: Very good, it's not 19 this time, is it Dennis?

  310. [SPEAKER_00]: Very good, it's chapter four, that's exactly right.

  311. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, where in Revelation chapter four, does it actually say that the church is going to be casting crowns at the throne of God, by the way?

  312. [SPEAKER_00]: He makes a distinction to the ancient days and in Jesus, in that day?

  313. [SPEAKER_00]: Ooh, somebody's listening, that's awesome, good.

  314. [SPEAKER_00]: It actually says that the 24 elders are the ones that cast the crowns at the throne of God.

  315. [SPEAKER_00]: It never says the church.

  316. [SPEAKER_00]: But what you learn in that chapter is John, I may teach this anymore, but I don't know how much I'm gonna get into it.

  317. [SPEAKER_00]: But if you look at chapter four, it starts out with, and after these things, well, what's after these things?

  318. [SPEAKER_00]: It's all about the seven churches.

  319. [SPEAKER_00]: So after the churches, he says, I'm gonna take you up and show you things that are here after.

  320. [SPEAKER_00]: Showing you the church age is done.

  321. [SPEAKER_00]: He's up, showing them in heaven.

  322. [SPEAKER_00]: It's a picture of the rapture.

  323. [SPEAKER_00]: And then it says, and I saw 24 elders and they had crowns upon their head.

  324. [SPEAKER_00]: Woo, showing they were aftered, and they've already been given crowns, and then later they give those crowns and throne at the throne of God.

  325. [SPEAKER_00]: And then chapter five, it says that John is crying and weeping.

  326. [SPEAKER_00]: What was John crying and weeping about?

  327. [SPEAKER_00]: That's right, finding somebody somewhere and having or somewhere got to be an angel, somebody that's worthy to open up the seals on the scroll.

  328. [SPEAKER_00]: And then he's crying about this.

  329. [SPEAKER_00]: And then the angel comes up to, weep not, weep not, why?

  330. [SPEAKER_00]: Because the,

  331. [SPEAKER_00]: Lamb of God, the tribe of Judah is connected both lamb and lion of the tribe of Judah, is found worthy.

  332. [SPEAKER_00]: What are the seven seals that need to be opened up by Jesus?

  333. [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

  334. [SPEAKER_00]: The seals are the seven judgments that are going to be coming down from God.

  335. [SPEAKER_00]: who died, it is a coming king, was the only one worthy, will be the only one worthy, to bring the judgment from God to this earth.

  336. [SPEAKER_00]: Now question, this 24 elders, in chapter 4, are already raptured,

  337. [SPEAKER_00]: judged, receive the crowns, cast the crowns at the throne of God before Jesus is even found to open up the seals, which happen, what chapter goes after five?

  338. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, six, that's right.

  339. [SPEAKER_00]: So in chapter number six, you're going to see the first six seals opened up.

  340. [SPEAKER_00]: After we're raptured, that's 24 elders, after we are judged and have the crowns, after we throw our crowns at God's throne, and we worship, we're singing, we're praising God, and then it's gonna happen.

  341. [SPEAKER_00]: And you say, are you sure we're going to be raptured before the tribulation?

  342. [SPEAKER_00]: There it is.

  343. [SPEAKER_00]: I have total confidence in this and I have shared just with a couple of preachers and they're like, oh yeah, teacher of people, man.

  344. [SPEAKER_00]: Because, well, you know, it's really vague, it's very obscure.

  345. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, the timeline might be in the middle of the trip, you know, the trip, it might be at the end, because it talks about there's going to be all these things happen.

  346. [SPEAKER_00]: And then he's going to be coming back and Matthew 24 and 25.

  347. [SPEAKER_00]: And they'll always go to Matthew 24 and 25 to say, maybe we're post-trip.

  348. [SPEAKER_00]: And we have nailed Matthew 24.

  349. [SPEAKER_00]: Haven't we here?

  350. [SPEAKER_00]: Is Matthew 24 talking about the rapture?

  351. [SPEAKER_00]: Does it even mention the rapture?

  352. [SPEAKER_00]: Are you in that Matthew 24 and 25?

  353. [SPEAKER_00]: You guys are Brainiacs.

  354. [SPEAKER_00]: Good.

  355. [SPEAKER_00]: I just saved you 1999 on buying that book for them to try to persuade you that I'm in wrong, and that's okay.

  356. [SPEAKER_00]: So, now let's go back.

  357. [SPEAKER_00]: That took way longer than I thought.

  358. [SPEAKER_00]: So, go with me now to the revelation, but we're going to the end this time.

  359. [SPEAKER_00]: Revelation 22, and let's look at verse number 12.

  360. [SPEAKER_00]: How many of you have read letter additions?

  361. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, most do, some don't, and that's okay.

  362. [SPEAKER_00]: But if you don't have that, if you don't have read letter, you're not gonna realize maybe quickly that Jesus is actually saying this, okay?

  363. [SPEAKER_00]: This is in God, this isn't John, this is Jesus is saying this in verse 12.

  364. [SPEAKER_00]: Secondly, my reward is with me.

  365. [SPEAKER_00]: Thirdly, to give every man according as his work shall be pretty cool verse, isn't it?

  366. [SPEAKER_00]: So in this verse, he is saying, I'm not delaying.

  367. [SPEAKER_00]: So some of you guys watch chosen,

  368. [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you didn't want shows, I love shows.

  369. [SPEAKER_00]: If you haven't seen it, don't worry.

  370. [SPEAKER_00]: I've just given you the punch line.

  371. [SPEAKER_00]: So throughout these whole series, there's a word that keeps coming up.

  372. [SPEAKER_00]: It's the word soon.

  373. [SPEAKER_00]: And if somebody in there's this is going to happen, what does soon mean three hours a week a month?

  374. [SPEAKER_00]: But God soon,

  375. [SPEAKER_00]: We're thinking, oh, it's got to be in my lifetime then.

  376. [SPEAKER_00]: And then we always have the people to say, if you see these things, then you will know that you're going to see the coming of the Son of Man.

  377. [SPEAKER_00]: And then I say, okay, we saw Israel we come in nation, so we got to be raptured in this generation.

  378. [SPEAKER_00]: That's no, we're talking about, but people twist it and they get confused.

  379. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, soon to God, we learned about in 1 Peter, 2 Peter.

  380. [SPEAKER_00]: And they, by remember how God defined time when it comes to eschatology, a day is as a thousand years.

  381. [SPEAKER_00]: Now is a day as a thousand years to you, but it is to God.

  382. [SPEAKER_00]: So God is really patient when it comes to this eschatology.

  383. [SPEAKER_00]: So when Jesus says, I'm coming quickly, I'm coming soon.

  384. [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't mean within five minutes.

  385. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay?

  386. [SPEAKER_00]: He's just saying, in the scope of eternity, it's like a blink of an eye to God.

  387. [SPEAKER_00]: And he said, I'm coming, and I'm going to come quickly.

  388. [SPEAKER_00]: Then he says, yeah.

  389. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that could be true.

  390. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it could be translated.

  391. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to be coming, you know, just at a quick moment, yeah.

  392. [SPEAKER_00]: Yep.

  393. [SPEAKER_00]: And that there you go.

  394. [SPEAKER_00]: There's another thought with that.

  395. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

  396. [SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't disagree with that.

  397. [SPEAKER_00]: But when he comes, what is he bringing with him?

  398. [SPEAKER_00]: I reward.

  399. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, who would the reward be for?

  400. [SPEAKER_00]: So he'd back to the church.

  401. [SPEAKER_00]: He's closing down the revelation.

  402. [SPEAKER_00]: You say, how do you know that?

  403. [SPEAKER_00]: The spirit and the bride say, come.

  404. [SPEAKER_00]: And who so ever will let him come and take of the water of life freely?

  405. [SPEAKER_00]: He is not talking to the Jews right there.

  406. [SPEAKER_00]: The church is us.

  407. [SPEAKER_00]: So he's addressing the conclusion of the revelation.

  408. [SPEAKER_00]: He is saying, listen, I'm going to come back and when I do, I'm going to have a reward.

  409. [SPEAKER_00]: There's a connection between rapture and reward.

  410. [SPEAKER_00]: in this text.

  411. [SPEAKER_00]: And then he's going to be giving it to some of the church, no.

  412. [SPEAKER_00]: He's going to be giving it to every person who was a believer, the church age, according to his works.

  413. [SPEAKER_00]: So, two times we have seen the judgment is to receive rewards.

  414. [SPEAKER_00]: Never, in these texts, tell them I said hi.

  415. [SPEAKER_00]: She just gave me 15 more minutes, right, Belly?

  416. [SPEAKER_00]: And she can't even get her phone.

  417. [SPEAKER_00]: I might get a half hour.

  418. [SPEAKER_00]: If I think he's ringing, now I'm just kidding you, Belly.

  419. [SPEAKER_00]: So you'll notice that there's something that he doesn't say in this text.

  420. [SPEAKER_00]: Does anybody think about the connection of judgment that most people think we're going to be judged for?

  421. [SPEAKER_00]: sin.

  422. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, we're going to be judged for our sins.

  423. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, he never said that there.

  424. [SPEAKER_00]: He never said sin.

  425. [SPEAKER_00]: He said, we're going to be judged for our works.

  426. [SPEAKER_00]: There you go.

  427. [SPEAKER_00]: Where was our sin penalty taken care of from the cross at what point collocians help help me out here?

  428. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, moon were saved, our position in Christ is secure.

  429. [SPEAKER_00]: The sin problem, sin, and death have been taken care of to the cross.

  430. [SPEAKER_00]: The law that was against us, our sin, the remember, we sin because we're sinners, okay?

  431. [SPEAKER_00]: We have a nature inside of us, okay?

  432. [SPEAKER_00]: So, it's the sin nature, it's the penalty of that.

  433. [SPEAKER_00]: is what Christ took care of.

  434. [SPEAKER_00]: Now, are we forgiven for our actions of sin?

  435. [SPEAKER_00]: I agree with that too.

  436. [SPEAKER_00]: But we have to take care of the root.

  437. [SPEAKER_00]: And the root problem is the nature that we got in Adam.

  438. [SPEAKER_00]: In Adam all die, he doesn't say because you did something wrong.

  439. [SPEAKER_00]: It's a sin.

  440. [SPEAKER_00]: For wages of sin is death.

  441. [SPEAKER_00]: And Adam all die.

  442. [SPEAKER_00]: For one man sin entered into the world and death by sin.

  443. [SPEAKER_00]: So the death passed upon all men because all of sin.

  444. [SPEAKER_00]: We all inherit this sinful, sinful nature.

  445. [SPEAKER_00]: And that's why we do wrong.

  446. [SPEAKER_00]: So, when it comes to judgment, if we don't live a dedicated life abiding in Him and we decide that we're going to live it our own way, we will call that sin.

  447. [SPEAKER_00]: Because of that, will I be rewarded in heaven then?

  448. [SPEAKER_00]: No.

  449. [SPEAKER_00]: I will suffer loss because I decided to live in pride,

  450. [SPEAKER_00]: in anger, or not walking in a spirit, impatient.

  451. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to do it my way, I believe in Jesus and everything, but I got it from here, God mindset.

  452. [SPEAKER_00]: And so, yeah, people can suffer loss because of the sinful nature that they've done.

  453. [SPEAKER_00]: They can suffer losses, result of doing wrong.

  454. [SPEAKER_00]: But that's not what God's going to be bringing up.

  455. [SPEAKER_00]: that, you know, the old chick track, this is your life showing that, you know, your centers, then they can say from that and everything.

  456. [SPEAKER_00]: But I think we have this idea that God has a bigger screen than we do.

  457. [SPEAKER_00]: And that Justin, you know, we're going to sit here as a crowd of millions of Christians and we're going to say, okay, it's time for Justin, we're going to, this is your life.

  458. [SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to watch everything that he did, all the good, but also every sinful activity that he did, and we're all going to see it.

  459. [SPEAKER_00]: I'd have people have that, like as a message, he's evangelist, I'm like, that's creepy.

  460. [SPEAKER_00]: Because it's like,

  461. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I can't believe he did that.

  462. [SPEAKER_00]: And now I'm thinking, oh, no, I'm next.

  463. [SPEAKER_00]: Because then it's gonna be my life, that everybody's gonna be watching, you know?

  464. [SPEAKER_00]: That's not the judgment seat of Christ.

  465. [SPEAKER_00]: Dennis Whitt explained the judgment seat of Christ better than anybody I've ever heard.

  466. [SPEAKER_00]: I love that I love this guy.

  467. [SPEAKER_00]: He said, this is how I envision it.

  468. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to embellish it a little bit, you know, Carl, I embellish.

  469. [SPEAKER_00]: So if we all had a prayer meeting right now, and we all started to pray the exact same time, would we confuse God?

  470. [SPEAKER_00]: And some of you might speak, you know, German, we got some people can speak Spanish, you know, or French, and now we're gonna all speak in a different language to God at the same time is God confused.

  471. [SPEAKER_00]: and people in China and people in South America and Canada and here over just praying that this God confused.

  472. [SPEAKER_00]: Good.

  473. [SPEAKER_00]: So here's one that I think he is right on.

  474. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think the judgment scene of Christ is going to take thousands of years.

  475. [SPEAKER_00]: And I believe

  476. [SPEAKER_00]: and we're all going to have that great small rich poor doesn't matter.

  477. [SPEAKER_00]: And I wish my wife and I will be holding hands there.

  478. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, but it doesn't work that way.

  479. [SPEAKER_00]: I gotta do, she's got to, all of my children, grandchildren, everybody has to stand for what I have done.

  480. [SPEAKER_00]: And God is going to be able to commune with me.

  481. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to realize shame.

  482. [SPEAKER_00]: This is your reward.

  483. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, God's not limited.

  484. [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's what Dennis was trying to bring up is that it could be done like that.

  485. [SPEAKER_00]: And because they're in heaven, it's not like, look at the time.

  486. [SPEAKER_00]: He is late again, it's 735.

  487. [SPEAKER_00]: Where is Carl at?

  488. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, we're all about the clocks and calendars.

  489. [SPEAKER_00]: And so, I do believe it's one where there will be, you know, be there in the 24 elders.

  490. [SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's going to happen quickly, as maybe someone say, even as we're raptured and going up into the air to the clouds, they could happen there.

  491. [SPEAKER_00]: It could happen in the clouds, it could be, okay, we're gonna go here because they're like that and we're there.

  492. [SPEAKER_00]: Guess what, we'll find out when it happens.

  493. [SPEAKER_00]: I have no idea how we're gonna happen.

  494. [SPEAKER_00]: That's God's Department, okay?

  495. [SPEAKER_00]: But anyways, so yeah, and my reward is going to be with me.

  496. [SPEAKER_00]: Now go to Romans 14 quickly and then I got a shuttered down here.

  497. [SPEAKER_00]: I know, some people got to get up really early.

  498. [SPEAKER_00]: That's right.

  499. [SPEAKER_00]: This is really relevant to us, isn't it?

  500. [SPEAKER_00]: And that's why, again, I'll probably need a couple of sunny mornings to deal with it with the sunny morning crowd because I really have to take my time because this is brand new to a lot of people.

  501. [SPEAKER_00]: And maybe for even some of you, you never really study and connect to all these verses with it.

  502. [SPEAKER_00]: So I really need to take my time on sunny morning with this.

  503. [SPEAKER_00]: But look with me to Romans 14.

  504. [SPEAKER_00]: verse 10.

  505. [SPEAKER_00]: But why does that judge or criticize your brother?

  506. [SPEAKER_00]: Or why does you set it not thy brother?

  507. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's like, why you putting them inside?

  508. [SPEAKER_00]: Why do you have this despising?

  509. [SPEAKER_00]: Why are you looking down on your brother and Christ?

  510. [SPEAKER_00]: For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

  511. [SPEAKER_00]: Ooh, there it is.

  512. [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I

  513. [SPEAKER_00]: See inscriptions, the same thing that I see today, some Christians think they're God and their job is the judge everybody.

  514. [SPEAKER_00]: And criticize, no, you know, I don't think you should have done that.

  515. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you know, you should have been over, and they become critical of other people.

  516. [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, why are you doing that?

  517. [SPEAKER_00]: That's not your job.

  518. [SPEAKER_00]: God didn't die, I'm gonna give, make you boss.

  519. [SPEAKER_00]: He's boss, you're not boss.

  520. [SPEAKER_00]: Because every one of us, you say, well, that person, they should do this, or, you know, they don't do this enough, or I don't think they're faithful enough.

  521. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, God says, here in His text, don't you worry about that, because they gotta stand before me about that.

  522. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not gonna stand before you, by the way, I will be standing before God for you though.

  523. [SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, you preachers don't give the Hebrews 13, 7, and 17 very much.

  524. [SPEAKER_00]: So this is where I do it.

  525. [SPEAKER_00]: I actually am going to give an account of you, to God.

  526. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh!

  527. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how it's going to work out.

  528. [SPEAKER_00]: I just know that those have to give an account for 17.

  529. [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, so there's going to be a whole lot in heaven that happens, we're going to be like, I didn't know that was happening.

  530. [SPEAKER_00]: God's like, I wrote it in my Bible.

  531. [SPEAKER_00]: You should have known that was going to be happening.

  532. [SPEAKER_00]: What else am I going to judge you from?

  533. [SPEAKER_00]: My imagination?

  534. [SPEAKER_00]: God says, it's right here.

  535. [SPEAKER_00]: So don't criticize.

  536. [SPEAKER_00]: Don't have that judgmental critical spirit.

  537. [SPEAKER_00]: Judge not that you be not judged for what judgment you judge.

  538. [SPEAKER_00]: You shall be judged.

  539. [SPEAKER_00]: Matthew 7-1, that really helps you with this, then he goes on and says this.

  540. [SPEAKER_00]: For every one of us in verse 12, oh, I'm sorry, verse 11 has written a lot, say at the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, every tongue shall confess to God.

  541. [SPEAKER_00]: So then every one of us shall give him an account of himself to God.

  542. [SPEAKER_00]: Within the text is he talking to the lost world.

  543. [SPEAKER_00]: Who is he talking to within the text?

  544. [SPEAKER_00]: Us.

  545. [SPEAKER_00]: So be careful, be careful, not to be a Pharisee, to criticize people, make sure you realize, okay.

  546. [SPEAKER_00]: I've done, this is what I've concluded.

  547. [SPEAKER_00]: I have enough to stand before God about.

  548. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to worry about what you have to stand before God about, because I got enough to be given a count for.

  549. [SPEAKER_00]: My right James says in chapter two about teachers, there's like a condemnation because of our talking a lot, there's like there's a greater condemnation to us who communicate the word.

  550. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, man, I'm not in trouble.

  551. [SPEAKER_00]: I preach like back in the day, I'm preaching five, six messages a week, sometimes two hours on Thursday, nice, and all of that I got to give an account to God for.

  552. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a big travel mister, and all the things that I have said if it's wrong, Carl, that was inaccurate.

  553. [SPEAKER_00]: You taught my people wrong, or, you know, you forgot that cross reference, it was right over there, you should have known that one, you know?

  554. [SPEAKER_00]: And so yeah, so I better know when I'm talking about better know, so we all have to, I have to stand before God.

  555. [SPEAKER_00]: So as a human being, Carl is a human.

  556. [SPEAKER_00]: What is the most important, no?

  557. [SPEAKER_00]: What is the first thing that God is going to be judging me as?

  558. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, all right.

  559. [SPEAKER_00]: So do you think my first judgment is going to be as a pastor?

  560. [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be Carl as Christian.

  561. [SPEAKER_00]: Do you think I'm going to be standing before God as a husband?

  562. [SPEAKER_00]: So how I treated my wife, I have to stand before God about that.

  563. [SPEAKER_00]: Because God says, husband, you better love your wife.

  564. [SPEAKER_00]: This is not a suggestion.

  565. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna be preaching on that in Colossians, too.

  566. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I have no idea how this is gonna go.

  567. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't even know I'm gonna say it yet because our culture is crazy.

  568. [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, so I'm gonna be accountable for my love for my wife, how I gave and if I'd loved like Jesus, et cetera, and the same thing for my wife, you know, she'll be given account for how she was a wife to me.

  569. [SPEAKER_00]: Did she do it with the right spirit?

  570. [SPEAKER_00]: the respect, you know, and the oldeness and stuff that feeds us off about in closions.

  571. [SPEAKER_00]: And so yeah, so we're going to be talking, I'm going to be saying before God is on, you think I'm going to be saying before God as a father?

  572. [SPEAKER_00]: How I brought my children up?

  573. [SPEAKER_00]: So if I'm not loving my wife, it's like, ah, you know, that's not important to God.

  574. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, he designed that right away.

  575. [SPEAKER_00]: That's like priority, right?

  576. [SPEAKER_00]: And then, the same thing with a father.

  577. [SPEAKER_00]: Father, don't provoke your children and anger.

  578. [SPEAKER_00]: Ah, you're wrong.

  579. [SPEAKER_00]: And if the son and the kids are off, and like, I'll teach you about King Saul and John is in the hypocrisy and causing this anger that was in him.

  580. [SPEAKER_00]: So if I did that, I guess, same for God.

  581. [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a grandfather, too.

  582. [SPEAKER_00]: Not with him as too much as a grandfather, but everybody's really, really busy, and then comes the pastor thing.

  583. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I gotta stand before him about all what I'm doing here too.

  584. [SPEAKER_00]: But usually they look at a preacher at a mission.

  585. [SPEAKER_00]: He's like, oh, that's the first thing to God's gonna judge him for it.

  586. [SPEAKER_00]: No, it's not.

  587. [SPEAKER_00]: It's who I am, it's Carl.

  588. [SPEAKER_00]: And you also.

  589. [SPEAKER_00]: So we are all going to give an account of our own selves to the Lord and we will be rewarded for the laborers that we did for him.

  590. [SPEAKER_00]: We did it with love, we did it the right way, not to be seen in men.

  591. [SPEAKER_00]: And so we were busy with Jesus.

  592. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll just say this.

  593. [SPEAKER_00]: I got, I got winded down, but listen, when I first became a Christian, my wife and I, man, we were involved with some really radical people.

  594. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it was like, hey, so in so's preaching, now in a half a way, get on the bus, go here and preach, get yelled at, get up, five o'clock, go to work.

  595. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we were gone.

  596. [SPEAKER_00]: It's bus ministry, it's Sunday school, it's junior church, it's nursing home, it's quartet, it is choir practice, it is go to school, it is take care of your family, and we have one car and there were no cell phones invented yet.

  597. [SPEAKER_00]: And my wife was home with the children, unless somebody could come and pick her off and take her to church.

  598. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it was hard years.

  599. [SPEAKER_00]: but we had to do it all we felt.

  600. [SPEAKER_00]: It's like if you don't do, if you're not there, you're not right with God.

  601. [SPEAKER_00]: I took one Sunday night off, and I stayed home, I was, I wanted, I just wanted to be a lot of life.

  602. [SPEAKER_00]: Next Sunday, hey, Carl, I noticed you weren't, in church last Sunday night.

  603. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I need to stay home with my life.

  604. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, there's no better way to spend family time than in church, you know.

  605. [SPEAKER_00]: And I was a Johnson.

  606. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm working 40 hours doing all these things in the church.

  607. [SPEAKER_00]: 17 credit hours driving one hour, one way to school and another hour back, and then I have to study.

  608. [SPEAKER_00]: And I get yelled at for not being in one service.

  609. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, okay, keep going, keep going.

  610. [SPEAKER_00]: Live on three hours of sleep.

  611. [SPEAKER_00]: You can do it.

  612. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm broke, so a bag of heartless ships with my meal for the day sometimes.

  613. [SPEAKER_00]: That's all I can afford, and it was filled me up.

  614. [SPEAKER_00]: And then chug water, you know, just to fill your belly up because you need to food for your children.

  615. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, you just do with owls.

  616. [SPEAKER_00]: But it's never enough.

  617. [SPEAKER_00]: That's all I always felt with never, ever, enough.

  618. [SPEAKER_00]: I think they got to stand before God for that one.

  619. [SPEAKER_00]: There's a balance in life that I wish I would have learned early on as a Christian and I think this service Wednesday night is probably one of the most important services that we have at this church.

  620. [SPEAKER_00]: because this is where we bust into and get into the teaching.

  621. [SPEAKER_00]: So any morning we get soft, Tuesday morning, but this one, to me, is more of the practical living for the Christian, and it don't have to be Superman.

  622. [SPEAKER_00]: It don't have to be Superman, okay?

  623. [SPEAKER_00]: You're not.

  624. [SPEAKER_00]: And there's nobody you have to impress except for God.

  625. [SPEAKER_00]: A God reads your heart.

  626. [SPEAKER_00]: And if somebody's going to have the audacity to try to micromanage and control you, you just smile and say, I'm busy for Jesus.

  627. [SPEAKER_00]: You just don't see it.

  628. [SPEAKER_00]: Just because you don't see it, doesn't make it not happening.

  629. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's not happening.

  630. [SPEAKER_00]: So you serve a Lord, key, plowing.

  631. [SPEAKER_00]: Some people can do more than others.

  632. [SPEAKER_00]: So those who are able to do a lot more, and you can do the 56th of hours.

  633. [SPEAKER_00]: Good for you.

  634. [SPEAKER_00]: Wait till you get a lower, and you can't do as much as you used to.

  635. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that doesn't make them evil.

  636. [SPEAKER_00]: something lies within us, all is an individual.

  637. [SPEAKER_00]: And I watch some of you, man, you are decanting and trusting and doing.

  638. [SPEAKER_00]: Sun just go and VBS and you're doing all this stuff.

  639. [SPEAKER_00]: Praise the Lord.

  640. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna pay right now.

  641. [SPEAKER_00]: If you miss a Wednesday night because you're exhausted, you're never gonna hear the car all say, where were you?

  642. [SPEAKER_00]: Stay home!

  643. [SPEAKER_00]: But don't stay home!

  644. [SPEAKER_00]: Come back once you're arrested then.

  645. [SPEAKER_00]: We, you know, you'll want to be here.

  646. [SPEAKER_00]: You'll want to be part of it.

  647. [SPEAKER_00]: But you follow me, we have this pressure that Christianity has put upon us, that it's like everything is guilt and conviction.

  648. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, you're gonna stand before God because you missed.

  649. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

  650. [SPEAKER_00]: So, there's joy in serving Jesus.

  651. [SPEAKER_00]: Serve Jesus.

  652. [SPEAKER_00]: And my goal is to please God.

  653. [SPEAKER_00]: And I pray that as I please God, I'm pleasing you.

  654. [SPEAKER_00]: You follow me.

  655. [SPEAKER_00]: And so yeah, but we're not perfect, aren't we?

  656. [SPEAKER_00]: Not one person here.

  657. [SPEAKER_00]: But we all have to stand before Lord one day for what we have done.

  658. [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, thank you for the folks here tonight.

  659. [SPEAKER_00]: I pray that you'll bless them.

  660. [SPEAKER_00]: And I thank you that they came.

  661. [SPEAKER_00]: And I too pray that it's been a help and encouragement.

  662. [SPEAKER_00]: And we talked a lot about a lot of different things.

  663. [SPEAKER_00]: And may we do our best to apply your word to our life.

  664. [SPEAKER_00]: And I pray that you'll help us to constantly

  665. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm accountable.

  666. [SPEAKER_00]: And Lord, you know me, I mean, you know me.

  667. [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing hidden, everything's open.

  668. [SPEAKER_00]: And so Lord, we just come and say, forgive us where we fail you.

  669. [SPEAKER_00]: And may we, when we do fall down, as Proverbs says, be that righteous man and get back up and go.

  670. [SPEAKER_00]: and help us to put you first.

  671. [SPEAKER_00]: And Lord, as the revelation closes down, even so Lord Jesus come back for us.

  672. [SPEAKER_00]: That is our prayer.

  673. [SPEAKER_00]: And we wish it would be tonight.

  674. [SPEAKER_00]: His Lord were hungry for you, or thirsty for you, and I pray that you'll help us to put all the idols to the side.

  675. [SPEAKER_00]: And as saying his favorite verse was seek first the kingdom of God, your righteousness, and all these things that we need are going to be added, Lord may we just rest in you.

  676. [SPEAKER_00]: And I pray, Lord, that day when we are snatched away, I think it would be really awesome if we were having church when it happens.

  677. [SPEAKER_00]: And we all go up together, no roof can contain us, no room can contain us, we'll be caught

  678. [SPEAKER_00]: And so we look forward to that day.

  679. [SPEAKER_00]: So help us to occupy till you come back, help us to be patient.

  680. [SPEAKER_00]: And I pray that Lord will not lose our reward.

  681. [SPEAKER_00]: Or we all know that verse that we want to hear well done.

  682. [SPEAKER_00]: We want to hear that you call us faithful.

  683. [SPEAKER_00]: and forgive us where we fail you in that.

  684. [SPEAKER_00]: So Lord bless, help us to know your word, and we'll thank you for this time, and Jesus' precious name, amen.