Watch, Pray, Obey | James Buntrock

And uh how many know we're we're we're living in the last days?

And so if we're living in the last days, we've got to understand some things about the times that we're in.

You know, I mean we we kind of flippantly throw that term around that it's the last days, and and then we go to work.

It's the last days, and we we go to school, it's the last days, and we go to the grocery store, it's the last days, and we just kind of live life and do whatever.

And and somewhere in the back of our mind, we know it's the last days, and it's certainly closer to the end than it was when Jesus was talking about the last days, but we really don't know.

Like, it just seems so far off sometimes that you know He oh, he's not gonna come this week or this month or probably not this year, and so we plan a vacation and we plan some things out there and we put some stuff on our calendar.

And it's not wrong to do those things, but we've got to be aware of the times that we're in.

And when you understand the times that you're in, then some things will become a whole lot less important, and other things are gonna become real important.

And I just perceive such an urgency on the inside about the times that we're in.

So I'm not here tonight to tell you that Jesus is coming tomorrow or next week or next month or even this year or in the next 10 years.

I can't tell you that.

But we're in a very unique season, and there's an urgency about it.

And so we're gonna take some time tonight, and I'm gonna draw some parallels and some scriptures.

We're gonna start Matthew chapter 24, and uh we'll just start there.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 24.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

At the top of that, verse 3.

We're gonna look at this in three different places and kind of skim through some stuff here and just see where see what the Holy Ghost does with this.

But in verse 3 it says, Now he sat on the Mount of Olives, and the disciples came to him.

Let me back up.

We're gonna start in verse 1.

We'll go to the beginning.

And Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him, showing him the building of the temple.

And Jesus said, Do you not see all of these things?

So they're in a scene, they're looking at the temple, and the disciples are pointing things out, giving them a tour.

And Jesus says, Do you not see all these things?

Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon the other that shall not be thrown down.

In other words, this temple is going to be destroyed.

And so that kind of blew the disciples' minds.

And so in verse 3 it says, Now he sat on the Mount of Olives, and the disciples came to him privately.

So this is a private setting now, and the disciples are still wondering about what he's just spoken about the temple.

And they said, Tell us, how can when will these things be?

And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

So they had questions right there, really three of them.

And Jesus said to them, Take heed that no one deceives you.

There's a warning, take heed that no one deceives you.

For many will come in my name, saying, I'm the Christ, and will deceive many.

And you hear wars and rumors of wars.

See that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in various places.

All these are the beginnings of sorrows, or the birth pangs, the beginning of something.

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.

And then many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another.

Then many prop false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

And because the lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold, but he who endures to the end will be saved.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations.

And then the end will come.

And we'll keep going.

Therefore, when you see the abomination of the desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Let him who is on the housetop not go down, take anything out of his house, let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.

But woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babes in those days, and pray that your flight might not be winter or on the Sabbath.

For then there'll be great tribulation, such as none has been since the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be.

And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved.

But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened.

Then if anyone says to you, Look here is Christ, or there, do not believe it, for false Christ and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders and deceive many, if even if possible, the the elect.

So I have told you beforehand, therefore, if they say to you, Look, and he is in the desert, do not go out, look, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it.

For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

For whoever for wherever the carcasses is, there are the eagles be gathered.

And then it talks about the coming of the Son of Man.

Immediately after the tribulation in those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven will be shaken, and the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he'll send his angels, and with a great sound, they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

And he gives them a parable.

Now learn this parable of the fig tree.

When it's the branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that the summer is near.

So you also, when you see these things, know that the uh know that it is near at the doors.

Assuredly I say to you, that this generation will by no means pass till all these things have taken place.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

But of that day and hour no one knows, even the angels of heaven, but my father only.

Talks about the days of Noah.

Noah built the boat, and they didn't know when it was going to happen, but then the floods came and it happened.

Verse 42 says, Watch therefore, for you do not know the hour your Lord is coming, but know this that if the master of the house had known the hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not let the house be broken into.

Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.

Who is that wise and faithful, wise and faithful servant whom the master made ruler over his household to give them food and do seven?

Blessed is the servant whom his master, when he comes, finds him so doing.

I'll stop right there.

I mean, this is an end-time book right here, and it's good to read all of this, but this is talking about multiple things here.

Remember, so we go back to the beginning here, and it says that his disciples asked three questions.

Tell us when these things will be.

In other words, the destruction of the temple, and what will be the sign of your coming, and what is the end of the age.

And so Jesus answers all of these things through here, and people are still debating all of this scripture about what's gonna come first, what do we look for, when is Jesus coming?

And it's all debated.

You got people who think, you know, we're gonna get out of here before the tribulation happens.

That would be your pastor.

Your pastor says, I'm a pre-tribulation guy.

I'm aiming at pre-tribulation.

And if I miss that one, then I'm gonna shift and become the mid-tribulation guy.

And if that's not it, well then praise God, we're gonna get out of here at some point and we're gonna spend eternity in heaven.

So, you know, which is it?

I can't tell you with all certainty.

But I can tell you some of this has already been fulfilled.

For example, that temple has been destroyed.

That happened roughly 70 AD.

It was destroyed.

Things are being answered, prophecy is being fulfilled.

And there are clues in here about the coming of the Son of Man and the end of the times.

But what should we really be focused on?

We need to watch, we need to pray, and when the Master comes, we need to get caught doing our job.

We better obey.

Watch, pray, and obey.

And so that's the title of tonight's message: Watch, pray, and obey.

Nothing else really matters in the whole context of this because he's going to come when he comes.

And it's up to us to know the signs of the times, the generality of when he's coming, so that we can know what we need to be busy about.

And when we look at Bible prophecy all the way through, I mean, things are being fulfilled, things are happening, we're getting closer and closer.

And we're all, and he said we were close then, and we're, you know, a couple of thousand years later, we're even more close to the end of this thing.

And so, you know, we could look at the same set of verses that happened again in Mark chapter 13, and he said, Take heed, watch and pray.

Mark 13 · chapter mention

And then uh later in there, um, again, the same morning came to be busy about the work.

In Luke 21, you know, another gospel gives just really close to the same exact account.

Take heed to yourselves, don't fall prey.

Watch, pray always.

Um, if it says it three times, my goodness.

It's important.

And the coming of Jesus is important here.

John 16, 33, it says these things, so he's speaking comfort now to his disciples.

He's about to get out of here, and he said, These things I've spoken to you, that in me you may have peace.

In the world, you're gonna have tribulation.

Is it the tribulation?

Well, yes, but you're gonna have trouble, is what Jesus is saying.

But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

This Bible is so special.

It is unlike anything that has ever been written throughout the history of mankind.

There is nothing that approaches this.

It is so unique and so precious and so special.

And there's mysteries locked up in here.

And I say they're locked up, but really there are mysteries that are being revealed to his people on a regular basis.

We get revelation knowledge out of this word.

It's the written word of God.

And you think about how this word was preserved for us.

This was spoken for a long time, and it was passed down from generation to generation.

The word of God was spoken, and then it was written, and it was discovered in various levels, and we get to speak it again because it was written and it was preserved for us.

The Jewish culture preserved this word for us.

There were things that have been buried for hundreds and thousands of years that are being revealed that verify and validate that this word is real, that the history aligns with this.

This is not a myth, a fable, an interesting story.

This is so unique and so unlike anything else.

There are 66 books in the Bible.

Roughly 40 different authors.

And authors of a variety of different people.

I mean, learned men, really ignorant people.

Shepherds and fishermen wrote some of the stuff in the Gospels.

You've got kings and prophets.

You've got Paul that was, you know, he was just the Jew of all Jews, and he just knew he was so studied and knew stuff, and he's written the epistles through here.

So you've got all of these variety of people that have written the books of the Bible, they've preserved God's word, and 40 different authors, 66 different books, over 1,500 plus years.

And we've got a Bible out of that.

And it's not disjointed, it's not disconnected.

There are more than 63,000 cross references in the Bible.

A phrase here that ties it back to this book here that's connected to another one over here.

I mean, this is there is no book like this.

This is God's word, and it's true, and the prophecies are being fulfilled.

I'm gonna read to you some names, and just see if any of these sound familiar.

Shemua, Shapath, Igal, Palti, Gadiel, Gaddy.

Does any of these sound familiar?

Amiel, Sether, Nabi, Guayel.

I probably butchered all those names, but do those sound familiar?

You know why they don't sound familiar?

Because those are the ten spies that spied out the land that came back with an evil report.

They're losers.

You don't know their names because they're new losers.

If I had said, do you know the name Joshua or Caleb, how many would have recognized those names?

Because they had a good report about the promises of God, about the promised land.

You know that Moses sent the ten spies into the promised land.

This is in the book of Numbers.

But he sent them into the promised land to spy out the land because God had given them a promise and he's anticipating, all right, let's go in there and let's see what we need to do to take this thing.

God gave us a promise, that's our land, we're gonna go in and take it.

And the ten spies came back and they said things like, We be not able.

We are grasshoppers in their sight and our own.

And God had to push pause on that.

It cost an entire generation.

Forty years it cost them to sit outside the promised land and not inherit what God said that they could have.

A whole generation passed away, but not Caleb and not Joshua.

In fact, Joshua says, or Moses says, um, this is the one who's gonna lead you in the promised land.

God said, I can't go in because I violated his word.

He said, I get to stand on this mountain over here and I get to see the promised land, but Joshua's gonna be the one to lead you in.

And God told Joshua, as I was with Moses, I'm gonna be with you.

And so there was something in line to happen.

And man violated God's direction, and God said, Okay, pause.

It's not for you.

And then he waited.

How many know God is patient?

He can outweight you, he can outweight humanity.

He will get what he wants.

His word is true and it will be fulfilled.

It never returns void.

And if you won't do it, God's already interviewed your replacement and mine, and he'll just wait for another generation to come and do what we've been called to do.

That's my greatest fear.

That's my biggest concern right now, is that we have been given a window of mercy as the body of Christ, as the nation of the United States of America.

We've been given a window of mercy.

And if we don't do right in this window of mercy in this very limited period of time, God will push pause on this thing.

And all those who had a bad, evil report are gonna get left behind.

You know, they may still make heaven, but they're just gonna get left behind out of the promises of what they could have had here on earth.

They get the promises in the life to come, but here on earth we can have some things.

And I just want to get caught doing my job.

We need to be busy watching, understanding the times that we're in.

Busy praying, praying to know the will of God, praying to understand.

We can, it's it's a two-way communication.

It's not just us talking to God, but we can know some stuff.

We don't pray to know enough.

If you ask, it's gonna be given.

And we need to be seeking out some things and find out some things about what our next steps are corporately and specifically individually in your lives.

You are a critical part of God's plan.

Every one of you is a critical part.

You are a vessel for him, you are an instrument for him.

You're in his kingdom, you're a puzzle piece that's fit together.

You've been fitly joined together with this body and in the body of Christ.

You have a purpose, and it is significant.

And so we've got to fulfill that role.

Y'all remember Michael Phelps from the Olympics?

He had like something like 23 gold medals, but I can't remember a single one that came in second.

Or third.

I don't know anybody else that he beat.

I just remember Michael Phelps.

That's the only one I remember.

Because we remember the winners.

And the Bible is, you know, it it lists some of the losers, but we don't focus on those because the winners inherit, the winners receive, the winners fulfill, the winners accomplish, the winners are the ones that receive the reward and the well done, good, and faithful.

And I want to be one of those.

And so we have got to be busy about the kingdom of heaven.

And there's a lot of things in life that we can get distracted on.

There's a lot of things that can draw our attention away.

And I'm not saying we can't have a life and enjoy life and enjoy your family and have some relaxation and and and and some good things in life.

We ought to have these things.

And there's an abundance of blessing when we walk by faith, when we speak faith, when we exercise our faith, when we put action to it.

There's all kinds of benefits to be had in this life.

But if we become consumed with the joys of this life and forget our purpose in his kingdom, he's going to push pause.

He's going to come, he's going to show up, and we were going to be like, oh, but I was at the baseball game.

I didn't see you coming.

And so I just want us to have the right perspective about the times that we're in and uh and not miss out.

You have a job to do, you're a critical part.

And I want to get caught doing our job.

And so here's an unpopular verse for you.

We've got a lot of nice Christians.

Christians are real nice.

We don't like to offend people, we don't like to disturb things.

We like to just get along.

We talk about peace and unity.

I mean, Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

And what, you know, I hear Christians out there in the world all the time talking about how divisive the time is that we're in.

And oh, that con that that subject matter is so divisive, and we shouldn't talk about those things.

We shouldn't talk about things that divide us.

That is a constant message people are hearing.

That's what your kids are hearing.

That's very divisive.

That's not nice.

Don't say those things.

You're gonna hurt somebody's feelings, you're gonna offend somebody.

Don't be offensive.

That is a constant message that people hear in this world today.

And that is antichrist.

In Luke chapter 12, verse 49, Jesus says, I came to send fire on earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.

Luke 12:49

He has got such a passion for his mission on earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.

But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished.

He's talking about the coming of the Holy Ghost.

He is driven to accomplish his mission on earth and get out of here so that the Holy Ghost can come, so that there can be a baptism of fire where we're filled up, where we're empowered, where we're equipped for the work of the ministry, where we can be multiplied because Jesus was one.

But unless a seed fall to the ground and rise again, there's no multiplication.

And he was that seed.

And we're his multiplication.

And every branch that doesn't bear fruit is going to get cut off and thrown into the Fire, so we better be busy bearing fruit.

And so verse 51, he says, Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth?

I tell you, not at all, but rather division.

This is the nice Jesus that gets us.

That people want to take the wheel and drive their car and drive their life for them, and nobody is offended, and everybody gets along, and there's no division.

And he said, I didn't come to bring peace on earth, I came to bring division.

For from now on, five in the house will be divided, three against two, and two against three.

Father will be divided against son, and son against father, and mother against daughter, and daughter against mother, and mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

That's why he came.

In Matthew 10, he said, I didn't come to bring peace, but a sword.

We are not here to bring peace on earth and unity amongst all men.

We're here to bring people to a point of decision.

And that's it.

We're not even here to force people to make the good decision.

Those who will will, and those who won't, won't.

So we've got to get out of the business of doing what God does and do what we're charged to do.

If Jesus was called to be a sword, to bring a sword, to bring division, to bring separation, and we're the multiplication of that.

This is such a divisive time.

You know why?

Because God has a plumb line that He has dropped, and there is a clear line between good and evil, right and wrong, truth and lie, between Jesus and the Antichrist spirit at work in the world.

And people want to get along.

And I say we've got to get comfortable with making people feel uncomfortable.

We don't do it to hurt people.

We bring people to the point of decision.

We speak the truth in love.

We minister the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And then it's on them to decide.

Now, thanks be to God who always leads us to triumph.

And through us diffuses the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ in every place.

We're diffusers of the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ.

We ought to be talking Christ.

We ought to be talking Jesus.

We ought to be talking Bible.

In every place, in every place that we touch, in every place that touches us, we ought to be doing that.

In our schools, in our workplaces, in our families, in our government, at the Thanksgiving table, in the grocery store, in church, out of church, in the parking lot, wherever you are, there's an opportunity for you to diffuse the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ in every place.

And it says, when you do that, everyone who hears is going to come to Christ and be saved.

It says, for some, you're going to be the fragrance of life, which leads to life.

In other words, people are going to be attracted to what you have and they're going to be ready to receive it, and it's going to yield eternal life and populate heaven.

And for others, you're going to be a fragrance of death leading to death.

In other words, they're going to hear the gospel and they're going to refuse the gospel and they're going to go to hell.

That's the reality that we're in.

And we're in the desperate time of that right now.

Solomon wrote three books.

He's credited with writing three books anyway.

The wisest man on earth.

You know, he's one, you got the fisherman, you got the shepherd, you got the king, the prophet, and here's the wisest one of all.

And he's got three books: Proverbs, Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes.

And I want to read to you Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 13, in the Amplified.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

Ecclesiastes 12, 13, in the Amplified.

And it says, All has been heard.

So he, this is the last book of Ecclesiastes, the last of the books that he's written, the last chapter of the last book that he's written.

He's kind of summing things up right here and putting a cap on it.

He said, All has been heard, and the end of the matter is this fear God.

That is, revere and worship him, knowing that he is, and keep his commandments.

For this is the whole of man, the full original purpose of his creation.

The object of God's providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness.

The foundation of all happiness.

The adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun.

And the whole duty for every man is to fear God and keep his commandments.

Why aren't things going right for me?

Fear God, keep his commandments.

I got trouble in my family.

I got trouble in my work.

I got trouble in my relationships.

Fear God, keep his commandments.

Things just don't seem to be aligning right with God's word in this area of my life.

Fear God, keep his commandments.

The answer to everything that is inharmonious with God's word, inharmonious, every circumstance, every condition under the sun, through the history of mankind, the answer to that is to fear God and keep his commandments.

If we could do that, if you could fear God, the keeping the commandments would just happen.

The problem is people fear men or other people.

We have a fear of what others think of us.

We have a concern about what our boss thinks of us.

What are they going to think of me?

If they don't think of me good things, then how can I minister God's love to them and truth to them?

I've got to have a good reputation.

Well, it's good to have a good reputation with people.

But if speaking God's word causes you to have a bad reputation with people, let it be.

You're a fragrance of life to life and fragrance of death to death.

Now, if you're going to have a bad reputation because you're violating God's word and you're on the wrong side of God's word, that's not the name that you want.

But if you offend the whole world, the whole planet, every living creature on this planet, you upset and make mad, but you just pleased your sovereign, we did good.

If we just please the one.

And we're in such a uh an acceleration of time right now.

There's no time to get this wrong.

What does it mean to fear God to care more about what he thinks than what anyone else thinks?

We gotta watch and pray and act.

Romans 1.16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

It's the power of God unto salvation.

For everyone who believes, the Jew and the Greek.

Y'all say it with me, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

It's the power of God unto salvation.

You ought to get that one in you.

You ought to wake up and say, I am not ashamed.

Look in the mirror and stare at yourself.

I am not ashamed.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

It's the power of God unto salvation.

I'm not ashamed.

Verse 17 says, For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

And then another one of those unpopular verses talks about the wrath of God.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness.

There is such a move to suppress the truth in the world today through all media sources.

They work to suppress the truth.

And the wrath of God is being revealed against them.

They're on the line.

Judgment is falling.

What is judgment?

A line.

And you're either on this side or you're on that side.

That's a division.

Yes, it's divisive.

It's separation.

That's what harvest is.

It's separation.

Scripture talks about the tares that grow up amongst the wheat and they look like the wheat all the way through.

But the problem with the tares and the wheat is that the tares don't look like the wheat when the wheat finally mature.

And you don't get to separate those two out until harvest time.

And those who looked like something that they were not really, those who looked like they were religious, that they looked like they're Christian, they looked like they're nice, they look like something we ought to be.

When we get to the point of harvest, they're on the wrong side of this and they're going in the fire.

And the harvest is coming into the barn.

We're at that place.

And the wrath of God is being revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, and especially those who suppress the truth and unrighteousness.

If we read on in Romans 1, in verse 19, it says, Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

So these are people who have recognized, A, that there is a God, and B, that He's sovereign, and C, it's right for me to serve God, the sovereign.

It's been revealed to them because what may be known of God is manifest to them, and God has shown it to them.

So sometimes, you know, Christians get caught up wondering, you know, what about that little kid in the Amazon jungle?

What about, you know, who who we've never had a missionary get there?

Nobody ever preached the gospel of Christ to them.

Nobody ever told them about Jesus.

God is not an unjust God.

He will be revealed to the entirety of mankind.

Everybody on this planet will have an opportunity to receive him or deny him.

Whether it's one time or a thousand times, they're gonna have an opportunity.

He is not unjust.

And you know, pastor talked this morning about the warning from Oral Roberts, the wake-up call.

And God warned Oral Roberts.

Dr.

Oral Roberts said, the church is not ready for my second coming.

We're not ready.

The church at large is not ready.

And God is not going to send his son Jesus to come back when the world is not ready because they haven't heard or seen, they haven't had the opportunity, and the church isn't ready, and we haven't put the sickle in and pulled in the harvest.

He talked about that combine harvester this morning.

And there's a need for the gospel right now.

The harvest is ripe.

There are ripe fields right now, and we can't let that waste.

You know, there was a time in my life where I didn't always serve God.

I know what you're thinking.

I know, I know James is perfect.

He must have served God his whole life.

I know it.

That's what y'all were thinking.

But I didn't.

And I didn't like reject God and say, God, I hate you and I'm running away and I'm never going to serve you.

I wasn't, it wasn't a rejection like that.

It was just I knew what was right on the inside, and I willfully chose to do something different.

And I knew I had a purpose in my life to serve God, and I just kind of ignored it and pretended like it wasn't there, and I went and did my own thing.

So some of y'all know the story.

I didn't know what to do or be in college, and I loved sailing.

I grew up sailing in Corpus Christi.

I was a sea explorer.

I loved the ocean.

I'm a real introvert.

I didn't like being around lots of people.

I get my recharge off of peaceful, quiet settings.

The water is one of those things.

I mean, really, my worst day at sea was better than anybody's best day in anything else.

I mean, like, I just loved being on the ocean on the water.

And uh, and so when I found out about a uh a tall ship, a square rigged tall ship, that was a replica of a British ship from the 1700s, and it was on the East Coast in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and I dropped out of college, told my parents I'm leaving, I'm going to sail on this ship.

I just dropped out of school.

They said, Great, I hope it works for you.

And I drove hoping to get a job.

And I volunteered for a couple of weeks, and I got hired.

I got paid$100 a week to live on board this ship.

And we sailed across the Atlantic and been all over the place, lots of different countries, and I've seen some stuff and been in some storms, and I've been out on the ocean when it was calm and flat, and I've seen nights so dark that I couldn't see the hand at the end of my arm's length right here.

It was so black.

And other nights it was so bright with every star across the sky, and there were shooting stars so bright, and it was so spectacular.

I mean, I've seen things, and so throughout that entire experience, I say this that what may be known of God was manifest to me.

All of creation points to God.

Nobody can exist on this planet and not recognize that there's a God and be drawn to Him.

It just is.

So for since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, His creation, and His eternal power and Godheads, so that they are without excuse.

Because they knew God and they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and were foolish, and their hearts were darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things, they started to worship things that weren't the creator.

Verse 24 says, Therefore God has given them up to uncleanliness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies amongst themselves.

Listen to the progression here.

Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who was blessed forever.

Amen.

Verse 26, for this reason God gave them up to vile passions.

For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is what is against nature.

Likewise also the men leaving their natural use of a woman burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which is due.

I mean, man is on a downhill slide.

In verse 28, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting.

Now the hope of their recovery is even harder because their mind has been turned over to a deception.

And God turned, he said, if they're willfully rejecting the obvious and choosing something different, I'm gonna make it even harder.

He turned them over to debased minds so that they would do those things which ought not to be done, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those things which practice them.

So this is those who approve those things.

Those who do them and those who are approving, those who are accepting of those, the allies of those lifestyles, and the committers of those lifestyles.

All in the same boat.

They're being turned over to a mind that is not impossible to recover, but it's a lot harder.

We gotta be busy about God's work, but there's no excuse for them.

So I want to show you an example of God in nature.

And you can go ahead and pull up that first still image there.

So Benjamin went out last night because he likes to take pictures and he captured this image of the Milky Way.

He drove two and a half hours away from Tulsa, Oklahoma, into the darkest place he could find to capture that image.

So go ahead and roll the next one.

And you can see the time lapse that he spent an hour letting his camera roll there.

And while you're watching that, Psalm 8.

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth, who have set your glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants you have ordained strength because of your enemies, that you may silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider the heavens and the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the Son of Man that you visit him?

For you have made him a little lower than Elohim.

That's God.

And you have crowned him, talking about man with glory and honor.

You've made him to have dominion over the works of your hands, and put all things under his feet, all the oxen and the sheep and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea.

O Lord, how excellent is your name and all the earth.

You can get that from looking at that time-lapse image of the Milky Way in the universe, and you can see the magnificence and the excellence of God in the universe.

There is no excuse for these people.

There's a God of the universe, and he loves you.

And the universe is so big and so expansive, and we're so small.

What is man that you are mindful of him?

And yet God has made us just a little lower than the God of the universe.

He put us into a special class of being and then put us in charge over the earth and gave us dominion and power and authority.

And Jesus did that for us.

He bought us back and gave us a right standing there.

And so many are ignorant to that right there, or they choose to be ignorant.

They've heard it, they've seen it, they've walked outside.

People get in the busyness of life and they'll never see that image.

And but somewhere they've heard it.

You know, what about the people in false religions and in various places?

You know, you hear these stories of the man in white, they're dreaming dreams in these places.

One of our missionaries in the South Pacific, he's talking about people who are having a dream or seeing visions of a cross out over the ocean.

They're looking westward and they're seeing the image of a cross, and there's nothing in their culture that is a cross.

And so they see that image, and then they come and see this missionary who has a cross around their neck, and they're like, What's that symbol?

I dreamed about that.

I saw that.

Tell me about that.

And he tells them about it, and they get saved, and they reject the false religion of Buddhism or in Islam, and they receive the saving grace of our Lord and Savior.

They see the man in white and they want to know who that is, and he's got an answer for who the man in white is.

God is making sure, right?

It's happening more and more often right now.

It's happening at a pace that the coming of Jesus is near, and we've got to be busy doing his job, doing his, doing our jobs, doing the work of the ministry.

And you're being equipped in this church for the work of that ministry.

You're not being here to feel good about yourself, to keep a seat warm, to occupy a space, to hear something nice on a Sunday morning, and then at the end of Sunday morning, sometime after lunch in your nap, you forgot what was ministered.

That's not the point of this.

You're here to be equipped for the, like saints, for the work of the ministry.

You have a ministry, you have a critical part, and if you don't do it, if we don't do this, God's got a replacement.

Only be strong and very courageous.

He said to Joshua, only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do all according to my word.

You know, we don't have a law to live by.

Jesus fulfilled that law.

And he brought us back into right standing.

You know, when the attorney came to Jesus and asked, What's the great commandment?

He said, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.

He said, and you asked for commandment one, but I'll give you the second one, love your neighbor as yourself.

And on those two things, the entire law of all the prophets hang.

He was telling him, if you do those two things right, you'll get all the other ones right.

They'll just fall into place.

And that was the old covenant.

And here we are.

We've got a new covenant.

If we just fear God, then we will keep his commandments.

If we fear God, we'll care about what he thinks.

If we fear God, we'll prioritize the things that are his priority in our life.

Jesus said, Be of good cheer, I've overcome the world.

He said, In the world you're gonna have trouble, in me you're gonna have peace, I've overcome the world, and you don't have to overcome it again.

He just repositioned us in that moment.

And so we're in a position right now to keep the Antichrist spirit at bay, to win the lost, to bring people to a valley of decision, and to have an answer for the hope that lies within.

That's the position we're in right now.

And there's such an urgency.

I mean, the Great Commission.

Jesus said, All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me.

Go therefore.

We don't have to go very far to minister the gospel of Christ.

We don't have to go very far to diffuse the fragrance of his knowledge in every place.

He said that there would be some signs that would follow us who believe.

He'd back us up.

In my name, they'll cast out demons, they'll speak with new tongues, they'll take up serpents.

If they eat or drink any deadly thing, it'll by no means hurt them.

And they'll lay hands on the sick and they will recover.

We've got a ministry.

We've got things we can do.

And his disciples went out and did those things.

And it said that they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming his word with signs following.

If you'll just speak his word, if you'll do this word, he'll back it up.

We don't have to do his side.

He'll back it up.

He will back you up.

And every time you put his word on the line, he will back you up.

He will confirm his word.

He'll give signs, accompanying signs, so that those who have just seen and heard are without excuse.

And really, those signs are God's dinner bell.

Like people are drawn to that.

And people are going to get saved because of that.

Fear God.

Keep his commandments.

Let us go up at once.

They're ready for us.

They're bred for us.

We can do this.

We are not grasshoppers.

They're ready for us.

We can take them.

Let's go up at once.

Let's do this.

Let's get this job done.

The world needs what's on the inside of you.

You've been sitting in this church a lot of years and hearing this gospel, and they're ready for the harvest.

The harvest is ready.

It's ripe.

There's a time to put the sickle in.

People need this.

We don't need to waste our time, spend our time on something that's not ripe and ready.

Go after the low-hanging fruit.

Go after what's ripe, what's white with harvest.

Let's go after the things that are ready.

Don't waste your time with the other stuff.

People who disagree with you and argue against you on Facebook, you put a comment out there and they and you feel like you have to defend the gospel.

Don't defend the gospel.

Jesus didn't defend the gospel.

When Satan twisted the gospel to him, Jesus answered just with the word.

You don't have to explain the word, you don't have to defend the word.

You don't have to tell the person why the word is true and accurate and correct.

You speak the word and let the word do the work.

The work always accomplishes, not the one who spoke it.

We answer with these things.

But what if they don't receive it?

Don't cast your pearls before swine.

Keep walking.

There's somebody else who will receive it.

We've got to be busy about this harvest.

Fear God and keep his commandments.

And whatever is not right in your own life.

There's sins and there's weights.

And there's a race that we're in, and we've got to run our race, and we've got to lay aside those sins and those weights which each easily beset us.

And so the sins are the obvious things, the direct violations of God's word.

We've got to get that stuff out.

You know what it is.

God knows what it is.

Confess it, repent it, repent from it, turn around, and stop it.

Whatever it is, stop it.

What if you have another accident?

You accidentally did whatever it was again.

You got this pattern in your life, and you're repeating these things.

Well then repent, turn around, and stop it again.

And you do that enough times, and the Holy Ghost will help you win that fight.

You'll do it one time.

And you mess up and you did it again.

And you repent and you did it again.

But the second time, there was a lot more time that went by.

You had a higher level of success than the first time.

You're going to go from level to level, you're going to have improvements along the way.

Jesus is not looking for perfection right now, but he's looking for you to be perfected.

And so lay aside the sin.

The weights will get in your way, the weights will distract you.

The weights will keep you out of the call of God in your life.

The weights will keep you from ministering this gospel to a lost and dying world.

The weights.

If he were to show up and you'd be like, I didn't remember, I was busy doing this.

And he came like lightning.

We don't want to miss that.

Let's get caught doing our job.

So lay aside the weights, lay aside the sin.

The things that are inharmonious in your life with God's word are generally things that we let happen.

We can let or we can let not.

We have the power to bind the loose.

Matthew 16.

We can allow, we can disallow.

You don't like what's going on in your family?

Stop it.

The Holy Ghost will help you.

You don't like what's going on in your workplace, put a stop to it.

The Holy Ghost will help you.

You don't like what's going on in your body, stop it.

There's healing in our covenant.

Whatever you need, the answer to every inharmonious circumstance and condition under the sun is to fear God and keep his commandments.

If we do that, you're gonna hear, well done, good and faithful.

And we're not gonna miss out.

He's not gonna push paws on you.

He's not gonna bring in your replacement.

You'll be the one.

We will be the one if we fear God and keep his commandments.