Don't Miss Your Visit

Look what he continues to do. Covet your prayers

this evening. For some strange and unknown reason,

I accepted an invitation to preach a night of

revival at Brainerd Hills. I was out of my mind

when I don't know what I was doing the day he

called me to come on a Sunday night. But it'll

be at Brainerd Hills this evening. Some of our

music folks are going to help us out and help

the church out, small church. And we just want

to be a blessing to them. Amen? And so we'll

be in prayer for that service this evening. Six

o 'clock, I think, they start. Braintered heels.

Luke's Gospel, chapter 19. Beginning at verse

37. And when he was come nigh, even now at the

descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude

of the disciples began to rejoice and praise

God with a loud voice for all the mighty works

that they had seen, saying, Blessed be the King

that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace in

heaven and glory in the highest. And some of

the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto

him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. There's always

some of them folk around. Amen. And he answered

and said unto them, I tell you that if these

should hold their peace, the stones would immediately

cry out. And when he was come near, he beheld

the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hast

known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the

things which belong unto thy peace, but now they

are hid from thine eyes, for the days shall come

upon thee. That thine enemies shall cast a trench

about thee and compass thee round and keep thee

in on every side. And shall lay thee even with

the ground and thy children within thee. And

they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another.

Because thou knewest not the time. Of thy visitation.

With the help from the Lord this morning. As

we step back in time again. I want to preach

on this thought. Don't miss your visit. Don't

miss your visit. Father I love you. I thank you

for your goodness and your mercy. Lord the anointing

that I know is stirring. In this house. I pray

now that you would continue to move. Continue

to bless. Stir our hearts and stir our minds.

Lord as we glorify thy name. In your house. In

your presence. Lord hearts have been lifted up.

Voices have been raised. Worship has extended

toward the heavens. So even now Lord. Our hearts

are prepared. Let the spirit move among us. May

the Holy Ghost speak to the hearts and minds

of your people. That as we leave here today,

we leave blessed. And we will give you the praise

for it all. In Christ's lovely name. The church

said, amen and amen. Tell your neighbor, don't

miss your visit. This passage that I've read

to you. most often is read and preached from

during the Easter season for Palm Sunday as it

is the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem

just prior to his crucifixion and resurrection.

But that's not what I'm going to preach on today.

From this text, there is one of the most powerful,

I think instances of the compassion of Christ

as he enters Jerusalem, he sees the city of God

and he just weeps for it. There is the shortest

scripture in the Bible that we most memorized

for memory verse, Jesus wept. But I'm not going

to talk about his weeping and his compassion

over Jerusalem. We want to focus today our attention

on the lack of vision, perception, and acceptance

of God's people of His Son. Verse 42 reads, Their

spiritual Messiah, for the sake of an earthly

king, they wanted out from under the hand of

Rome more than they did the sin that God could

deliver them from. They wanted out from under

Rome so they could exercise their own authority

and exercise their own power and be themselves

more so than to surrender and accept The son

of the living God. Who had multiple proofs of

his existence of being the son of God. The manifestation

of God's power was before their eyes. None other

had raised the dead. None other had opened blinded

eyes. None other had opened deaf ears. In accordance

to Isaiah 61. Where the prophet then, that eagle

-eyed prophet 700 plus years before the birth

of Christ would prophesy. The spirit of the Lord

is upon me for he has anointed me to preach the

gospel. Right? Heal the bruised. Deliver the

captive. Set at liberty. Open the blinded eyes.

But yet they failed to put Christ in the prophecy.

So now the end is nearing for sure. He's about

to be the sacrifice for you and I. And so as

he's approaching the city, he's making this visit.

You and I, many times, we have visitors at home,

not as much as it used to be. How many of you

remember the day of yesteryear when you'd be

sitting on the porch in the evening without a

text? Somebody would just pull up in the driveway,

get out, well, come on the porch. Or here's a

seat, grab a chair under the shade tree because

we'd be relaxing. And the visit would last who

knows how long. Visits were surprises and they

were some looked for and some were longing for

them to leave. We know what it is to expect visitors.

But in the south, if you're new to the south,

if somebody says, I'll be over after a while,

don't get in a hurry. You've got a few minutes.

Right? Or if they say, well, we might run by

directly. How many knows what directly is? That's

after a while. But the caveat there is we might.

But they might not. So you don't know if you're

going to have company or not. Sometimes you do.

Sometimes we did. And sometimes they just never

made it by without a text to say they weren't

coming. And we survived. Amen? We survived. We

survived the letdown. If they didn't come by,

well, maybe they'll come by tomorrow. And they

just might. Right? To visit just simply means

to go to or to receive. God has often shown himself

as a visitor in our lives and the lives of many.

Beginning from creation of humanity. He's always

visited his creation. God has always visited

his creation. Why? Because he longs to be with

his creation. He created humanity so that he

could be with humanity. He created humanity without

sin so that he and his holiness could walk among

and commune with his creation. What a novel idea.

Amen? What a grand and glorious thought that

would be. He always desires to be among his people.

And the good thing about a visit from God is

you might not ever know when he's going to show

up, but he's never late. He's always on time.

And you never know why God is going to stop by

your life. You never know what he's going to

bring into your life. But I know this, any and

every visit from God leaves the visited one different

than when he showed up. Hallelujah. And so I

want us not to miss the visit that God has in

our life. And as the Scripture shows us, that

God would visit at various times for various

reasons. In Genesis 3 and 8, as I've already

declared to you, that God desired to be with

his creation, they heard the voice of the Lord

God walking in the garden in the cool of the

day. And they hid themselves, Adam and his wife

hid themselves from the presence of the Lord

God amongst the trees of the garden. I know this

is the visitation that they did not want to have.

This was the one that they, you see them turn

off the driveway if you've got any distance and

you run to the back of the house so you don't

hear them knock on the door and you ignore all

that stuff that you try to do so that you don't

have to have the visit. That's exactly what Adam

and Eve are doing. They heard the voice of God

in the cool of the day. Can I tell you, it wasn't

the first evening that God ever come to walk

with his creation. It lets me know that they

have had communion with him before on. many different

occasions, and it was a familiar thing for them.

It wasn't a strange and odd thing that God show

up, but it looks to me like it was something

that maybe God would do about every evening.

He would come in the cool of the day and stroll

through the garden and commune with his created

beings, amen, those whom he had created in his

own likeness and his own image. Why? So that

he could be with them and they could be with

him. And there he is now. He's having to hunt.

them out. God didn't have to hunt them out. Amen.

He knew exactly which bush they were hiding behind.

But don't you just love it when God shows up?

He's inquiring toward us. He said, Adam, where

art thou, Adam? Well, Lord, I'm over here. I'm

hid. Well, why are you hiding? I am naked, God.

Well, it didn't bother you yesterday evening,

so why is it bothering you this evening? Who

told you you were naked? Can I share with you

sometimes God just wants to come and walk? with

you. He just wants to come and talk with you.

If you've never heard this song in the garden,

go look at it. Go listen to it. Look it up. YouTube

it. And you'll hear a beautiful rendition of

how I feel like it might have been with Adam

and Eve in the cool of the day. I come to the

garden alone. Amen. And that voice I hear falling

on my ear gently calling. That's what it was.

God was just simply coming to visit his creation

just to be with them. I don't know about you,

but There are days I just need God to just show

up and walk with me and talk with me and tell

me I am his own. I know there's sin there. I

know sin resides. But through the fount that

flows from Jesus' precious blood, it has cleansed

me and purified me. And as long as I walk upright,

then I know that I can expect a visit from God

on any given day at any given moment of the day.

Matter of fact, I invite him throughout the course

of every single day. Lord, I want to walk with

you. And just to know that he will come and visit

just for visiting's sake. That's the first way.

You don't want to miss that. You don't want to

miss that. You don't want God to show up and

say, hey, first of all, before I can get close

to you, come out from behind that bush and let's

get some sin taken care of. Let's deal with it.

No, I just want God to feel at ease and my life

to be upright before him through his son that

he can just come anytime he wants to. Hallelujah.

Matter of fact, about 345 this morning, he come

into my bedroom and visited me. Hallelujah. Just

to let me. and know that I am his own. Don't

miss your visit. I don't want to sleep through

those moments. I don't want to have sin be the

regard to keep God's company away, but I want

to be upright before him that my visit can happen

at any moment. There are many others throughout

the book of Genesis that God would just visit.

He appeared unto Abram in the land of Ur of the

Chaldees, didn't he? He called him out. He visited

with him there. In that visit, he said, lift

up your eyes and count the stars that's in the

heavens. I'm going to make a covenant with you,

Abram. I'm going to make a promise to you, and

it's more than a promise. I am the guarantor.

Hallelujah. I'm the author of it. I'm the originator

of what I'm about to tell you. If you'll just

leave everything, forsake everything, and just

get away from here, wherever your foot shall

trod, you just lay out the boundary, and that'll

be the property line, and that'll belong to you,

and those stars that you cannot count, your descendants

will flow from you. And not just for him only.

He visited with his son. Did he not visit Isaac?

Did he not visit Jacob? Jacob lays his head upon

a pillow, and he thinks he's getting away from

his brother Esau. He's running for his very life.

He's thought he's escaped, but let me tell somebody

in here today, you may feel like you're trying

to escape from something that's after you. Esau

was out to get Jacob, but look, he thought he

was running away from it, and some of you may

even feel like you're getting away from something

that's trying to take over your life and trying

to take and pull you down. But if you'll ever

stop for a minute, you may just have a visitor

show up in your life. It's in the camp the evening

at a place called Bethel that he lays his head

upon a stone pillar. And in that night, he had

a visitation from God. There's a ladder that's

extended to the heavens and angels going up and

down. My God, and there's a reaffirmation of

a covenant that was made to his dad and then

to his granddad. It was also reaffirmed to him.

Here's what I'm going to do for you, Isaac. going

to be blessed. He was the son of prophet Abraham.

Makes that trail and that trek up Mariah's mountain

for another visit in worship. Can I tell you

God will show up and visit you in your moment

of worship if you'll just sacrifice and be willing

to lay it all. He will visit you in your moment

of worship and he'll do something great for you.

You don't have to outrun it. Don't miss your

visit. Don't become so preoccupied with the trial

that you miss your visit from God. Moses, Exodus

3 and 4, we sung about it just a minute ago.

Moses had a visit in the desert on the backside.

Oh, how many of you have ever felt like you're

wandering around on the backside of the desert?

You're way past the pace. Way past being out

of sight, out of mind. You're way on the other

side of that. On the back side of the desert.

And he thought he had escaped everything that

Egypt had to hold for him. But can I tell you,

sometimes you feel like you may be running away,

but you're running headlong into a visit with

God. And it was there. Listen to what, when the

Lord saw that he turned aside to see, we've got

an old shepherd on the backside. He's not even

tending his own flock. He's tending the flock

of his father and everybody else, and he's way

off over there. But can I tell you, sometimes

God will get you singled out just so he can visit

with you. My God. God, don't think it's a strange

thing that's coming against you because it's

just God separating you so that he can show up.

He don't need distractions. He don't need anybody

else. What he needs is you all alone. And you

and I cannot afford to miss our visit. So don't

be hanging your head. Pick your lip up. Get your

shoe top off of it. Get your head lifted up.

Lift your eyes to the hills from where your help

comes from. Your help's coming from the Lord.

But I'm on the backside of the desert. I'm all

alone. No, you are not. You are being singled

and separated. so that God could come up and

visit with you. And when the Lord saw that he

turned aside to see, Moses would have walked

right on by. But when he looked and he saw something

that caught his eye, it was a bush burning, but

yet not being consumed. And he turned to see.

And when the Lord saw that, he knew he had him.

He had a visitor that day, my Lord. And when

he turned to see the Lord, God called unto him

out of the midst of the bush. And he said, Moses,

Moses. And he said, here. Here am I. Look, you

can't miss your visit. You've got to recognize

the voice of your father. And when he begins

to speak to you, even in your dilemma, even in

your outcast feeling, you've still got to have

an ear turned toward the father's voice. And

when he calls your name, stop. Here I am. As

you approach him, take your shoes off. You're

on holy ground. You've come as far as you can

in what's carrying you here. It wasn't just about

the shoes. It was about the contact with the

holy. It was about getting the flesh in contact

with the holy. Take your shoes off, son. You're

on holy ground because you're going to need everything

that I'm about to give you. You're going to need

all the power that I can pour into you. So just

come on down. Get a little closer. Come on in

here tight, Moses. I've got a job for you. Can

I tell you, a lot of times we don't want to hear

what God's got to say because he may have a job

for us. He may have a responsibility for us.

Here's what I need you to do, Moses. I need you

to go back to Egypt and get my people and bring

them out. the one who was brought out of the

river. You are the one who I have ordained to

be the deliverer of my people and I will empower

you. Here's the first thing you don't do. Do

not start making excuses when God comes to visit

you. He don't want your excuses. All he wants

is your surrender. Oh, he began to stutter. He

didn't have a problem when he was standing beside

a Pharaoh executing judgment over God's people

or anybody else. He spoke with a stutter and

he had authority when he spoke it. Now God didn't

want to hear his excuses. He said, I want you

to be the mouthpiece. I can't do it. Well, here's

what, you're not getting out of it that easy.

I will tell Aaron, you tell him, and he will

go and speak and be your mouthpiece. But you're

not getting out. How am I going to take authority?

What do you got in your hand? I've got a rod.

Well, throw the thing down, Moses. And when he

threw it down, it turned into a serpent. That's

when I left right there the wilderness. I'd have

been done. got to come up with something else

other than a serpent. Give me a lizard. Give

me pound for pound the meanest critter in the

woods, a coon. I'll take him by the, a tiger,

but a snake, Lord. He reaches and it turns to

the rod again. Now, here's what you're going

to do. And he received a mandate from God. You

never know what your visit may not turn into

a mandate from God. God hadn't just called you

just to save and spare you hell. He's called

and saved you in order to empower you that others

may be saved from hell, not just you. My God,

he's empowered you with a purpose and a plan,

and he's already given us a mandate going to

all the world and seeking to save those who are...

Teach them the gospel. Hallelujah. We get so

caught up in witnessing. It's not our authority.

It's not our power. When you proclaim the power

of the gospel, it's a stumbling block to some.

But it's the power of God unto salvation to others.

When we understand when God visits with us, we've

been mandated. You'll visit, will you? Joshua

5, 13. Don't miss your visit. These fellows,

they're keeping their visit. It came to pass

when Joshua was by Jericho, God called unto him

out of the mist. As he's by Jericho, that he

lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there

stood a man over against him with his sword drawn

in his hand. One of my favorite stories right

here. Joshua went unto him and he said unto him,

Art thou for us or for our adversaries? Nay,

was the old boy's answer. Now they had to puzzle

young Joshua. What do you mean, nay? You're either

for us or against us. Now which one is it? Neither.

Well, who are you? Well, I am the captain of

the host of the Lord's army. That's who I'll

be. I can just, in my mind, I read between the

lines a lot. I can see this sword -drawn captain

talking to Joshua. If you're on my side, I'm

for you. If you're not, I'm against you. I'm

here as captain of the host of the Lord's army.

Now, if you're with us, we're good. But if you're

with them, it's not going to turn out so good.

And he falls to his face. But what I love about

this visit. Is that Joshua was prepared to confront

the man before he found out who he was. When

he saw him over there, he didn't run, he didn't

try to hide. He was on a mission, remember? He

done heard from God, Moses, my servant's dead,

you're in charge. What a visit that would be.

Huh? What a visit that would be. God shows up

and says, hey. He tells you, James, on Friday,

Pastor Cliff's dead. I buried him. They don't

even know where he's at, but you're preaching

Sunday. Yeah, see? Same thing. It's the same

thing with Joshua. Huh? I'm doing what? Well,

I can't. We start right there. I can't do that.

You're right. You can, but he can through you.

He approaches the soldier ready for battle without

fear. Why? Because he had already had a visit.

God, you've done had a visit. You don't have

to run. You don't have to hide. It doesn't matter

if they're for you or for them. Get on up there

and find out. You never know. It may be God saying,

I am on the side of the Lord. And if you're on

his side, we're about to take a mighty victory.

We are about to conquer because the promise that

he has made to you in that visit is going to

come to pass. As I was with Moses, so shall I

be with you. No man will stand in front of you.

Let's go take Jericho. What a visit. You can

take the devil. Well, like that you won't. You

won't. There should be, at some point, there

should be a stirring in the depth of your soul.

I know we want to be passive as much as we can,

but you can't be passive with the devil. You

can't be dismissive with the devil. You've got

to be violent with the devil. Oh, you're promoting

violence with the devil. Yes, I am. Oh, yeah,

a proponent of it. If I weren't a proponent of

it, then why have I got all this armor to do

it with? If God wasn't for it and not against

it, why did he give me all of this to do it with?

Why do I have the sword of his word? Why do I

have the security of his salvation firmly ingripped

on my mind? Why do I go forth with righteousness

in front of me? Why do I walk in the shed preparation

of the gospel of truth? Why do I have truth wrapped

around? Why do I have a shield of faith if I

don't need it? I'm here to tell you my shield's

dented up, but my blade isn't. It may be chipped.

It may be a little rusty because I'm on the battlefield

and I'm in the weather and I'm in the trench.

But I tell you one thing, it is sharp and ready

to do damage. Don't be afraid of the enemy. Confront

him. This is no place. I almost said this is

no place for the limp -wristed and the liver

-livered. Lily -livered. You've heard that. Some

of you have, old enough to know. What's that

mean? Don't be scared. Don't be weak. Don't be

frightened. Why? The devil's big. Greater is,

come on now. Are you going to make me preach?

Greater is he that is in you than he that is

in this world. Christ has conquered. Christ has

conquered. It's Christ who is in us who reveals

the hope of eternal glory. It's Christ in us.

Don't miss your visit. What if Joshua would have

ran? I'm glad he didn't. Who else had a visit?

1 Kings 19, 11 through 13. Go forth and stand

upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the

Lord passed by in a great wind and an earthquake

and fire. And then a still, small voice. Elijah

almost missed his visit. What a travesty that

would have been. Now we're talking about a man

of God who just prior had been on top of the

same mountain. Prayed a little old simple prayer

after he had poked fun at the devil's prophets.

Cut yourself some more, boys. Shout a little

louder, he may be asleep. Oh, he was wearing

them out. You're talking about trash talking.

Elijah was a trash talker. Oh, he goaded them

all day long until it got about the time for

the evening sacrifice. He said, it's about time

for my visit. Get out of the way, put me up some

new stones, build me a new altar. Dig a ditch

around that thing. What do we need a ditch for,

Elijah? We're going to pour barrels of water

in. We're going to do what? Don't you know we're

in a drought? Yes, I know. I'm the one who spoke

it a little over three years ago, and I know

we're in a drought. Dig the ditch and pour the

water in. Saturate the altar. Saturate the wood.

Saturate. Let it be a soggy sacrifice. And then

he just simply prays. Can I tell you, you don't

have to go on a 19 -page expose to get God to

hear you. It can be as simple. God, you watch

these idiots down here all day. You've seen this

fiasco that's gone on. This would be the way

I'd pray. Elijah didn't pray this way. You've

watched it. You told me it wouldn't rain until

I said it was going to rain. But to prove to

this bunch of nod heads that you are God, today's

the showdown. It's the Mount Carmel showdown.

Just to prove to them. I know, God, you don't

have to prove a thing to me. But to them. And

it's been laid down that the God that answers

by fire, let him be God. So let me back up a

little. I'm about to move. I can see him saying,

where are you going? I'm getting out of the way.

Why? Because fire is about to fall. And not just

a spark, but there's an ember from glory about

to hit this place. And it did. More than the

sacrifice went up in smoke, the stones went up

in smoke. Matter of fact, it was as steamy as

a sauna because all those barrels of water were

evaporating. And then the man of God goes over

to the cliffside so he could... pray out toward

the Mediterranean. I've been up there. It was

probably, I want to say that was probably one

of my most memorable moments of being in the

Holy Land. Because there's an unquestionable,

there's only one Mount Carmel, right? And it

ain't that big once you get up there. And standing

out there looking toward the Mediterranean Sea,

my Lord, I had. It just come up my spine. I thought,

boy, right here. Right here is where the fire

fell. Right here. Right in here somewhere is

where the finger of God ignited a sacrifice.

I began to get excited thinking about that because

I know the rest of the story. As he's over on

the cliff's edge looking and he sends his servant,

what do you see? Nothing. Can I tell you, you

may have to go more than once. To get your visit,

you may have to show up more than twice. It may

take more three, four, five times. You may have

to show up a dozen times, but don't stop short

of your visit. On the seventh trip comes back,

the servant says, Master, all I see is a little

old bitty cloud way out over the sea about the

size of my hand. My Lord, it hadn't even been

that cloudy in three years. And oh, the prophet

knew they were about to have a divine visitation.

He leaps to his feet. He takes his old robe and

he girds it up and he ties it around his waist

and he gets ready to run. And as he's going by,

he tells old King Ahab, you better get off the

mountain because I hear the sound of the abundance

of rain and the power of God hit the man of God

and he ran out. Ran the chariots of Ahab and

he made it all the way. My God, he outran them.

But you can't outrun your trouble. But your visit

prepares you to conquer your trouble. He stops

when he hears the report. Jezebel's mad. Well,

good. I almost had a comment about Jezebels,

but I'm going to leave that alone. It has nothing

to do with a visit from God. Other than to say,

that spirit still exists. As he runs from the

report, your head will be off of your shoulders

as soon as I can find you. Despair strikes the

man of God who just outran chariots. Fire fell,

consumes, and it's already starting to sprinkle.

And he's sitting under a juniper tree. Oh, I

just wish I was like my fathers before me, just

dead. Woe is me. Oh, despair. If it wasn't for

bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. As he's sitting

there sipping on juniper berry juice. Probably

as bitter as persimmons squeezed early. Draw

you up like alum. That's the way he's looking.

Don't take that picture. She's sneaky with his

phone. That would have been the one that would

have made it. He's sitting there. Having his

own pity party. I'm all by myself. And he has

a visit. Look, boy, would you hush? Water's parallel.

Paraphrase. Nowhere near divine. You like that,

baby? Would you shut up? Would you get up from

here? I'm not finished with you yet, man of God.

I didn't do all that just to let her take your

life. That's not, can I tell somebody, he hasn't

done everything he's done in your life just to

get you to this point and forsake you. Pour your

juniper juice out. Come on. Straighten this up.

Get a little joy in your soul. And get ready

for your divine visit from God. Because he's

going to tell you, here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to send you some groceries, son. So

he was fed by the ravens. I don't know why the

Lord liked to use ravens, but he did, didn't

he? And so there he is. He said, now get up and

go till I tell you to stop. And he went 40 days

in that good lunch. And he finds himself. In

our text. In a cave. And then he hears his visitor.

What you doing here, Lodge? But you know what's

so good about it when God shows up? He doesn't

rehearse your failures. He didn't go over Elijah's

failures and what brought him to where he was

at. He just simply gave him his next man. Go

out here and stand, and I'll be right back. I

want you to watch what all is happening. The

earth is shaking, rocks falling, winds howling

and blowing. Fire comes through, and God was

in none of it. But then he said, Elijah, anoint

Jehu, anoint Elisha in your stead, and get on

about our business. Not a word about what had

just happened. He's not worried about the past.

He's not worried about your failure. You make

it right with him, it's right with him. He's

not worried about what got you to where you are.

He's just worried about getting you to the next

assignment. What a visit. Stand with me. I'm

just going to rush through these last few. You

don't want me to take all this kind of time.

Luke 1, Mary has a visit. An angel came in unto

her and said to her, Hail thou that are highly

favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou

among women. Shepherds have a visit. Angelic

beings in heaven. For unto you this day a Savior

is born in the city of David. Go see him. Right?

Visit the Lord. 19 and 5. Earlier in our text

when Jesus came to the place he looked up and

he saw him. and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make

haste, for I'm going to your house today. Wow.

Zacchaeus, the tax collector, as Brother Randy

pointed out so beautifully that evening, not

just any old tax collector, but he was on up

the chain, a chief tax collector. And he stops

not by coincidence. You need to make a note of

this in your mind. If he comes to where you are,

it's not a coincidence. It's not an accident.

He's there on purpose. Zacchaeus, son, get down

here. Get on toward the house. I'll be there

directly. And he did. He showed up. Zacchaeus

begins to tell him, Lord, this visit has changed

my life. You stopping, addressing me has changed

my life. If I have taken anything unjustly from

any man, I'll restore it unto him fourfold. Now,

can I tell you, if you get a greedy tax collector,

first of all, to admit that they extorted, you've

accomplished something. But then to go one step

further and proclaim restoration, you've got

transformation. That's what's happened to those

who, when he come by. You do realize that we

can't get saved when we want to. We receive salvation

when the Spirit draws as Jesus. So the invitation

is given. And we accept. What a visit. How many

remember your salvation visit? My Lord, I let

my mind go to that several times just so I'm

refreshed. And so when the enemy comes by to

tell me that I'm not saved, it's ready in my

mind and I just go right there and say, be gone.