And all God's people said? Amen and amen. God is good, isn't he? And he's good all the time. Isn't that a sweet blessing to know how good he is, amen? Now it is also something you don't want to miss in that. It's also a terrifying thing that God is good. You may not have never thought of it that way, If He's good, and He is, and He's always good, God has to deal with sin, doesn't He? Because He is good. And because He's good, He's not gonna let sin just go away. He can't let sin just go by. He's gotta deal with it, and He only has dealt with it one way. And that's in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, amen? That's the only way that God can express and grant us His goodness is through His grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. God cheerfully and delightfully gratifying Himself for Himself in the face of deserved wrath. I deserve this wrath, amen. But He was good to me. Why was He good to me? Not because I was good. but because his son was good. And his son on my behalf took my sin and then granted me his righteousness so that I could be salvaged and be safe with a good God and then be safe to be sent out by that good God, amen. That's the goodness of the Lord. So when people remind you and you're out and about and somebody said, man, God is good. You say that is him, but you also need to remember if he's good, he's got to deal with sin. And has he dealt with it on your behalf through his son? You want to help people look to him. Well, church, it has been a delight to be with you yesterday and been looking forward to this afternoon, tonight to be able to celebrate with you. and we pray the Lord to help us, He'll speak to us, that He'll minister to us. Stephanie and I have a good ride up. We spend about 100 miles coming up here. So that's about an hour and a half here and an hour and a half home. I have an hour and a half to think about what I'm gonna share with you. And then on the way home, I got an hour and a half to think about what I didn't share with you that I wanted to share with you. Are you with me? So we just rejoice and give God the glory for it. So won't you take the revelation that you brought with you. Go back to Matthew, if you would. Chapter number three. And when you get to Matthew chapter three, I want you to go over to Luke's gospel and find chapter three in Luke's gospel because we wanna look at something that's gonna be explained a little bit more and give us a little historical reference to this forerunner, this herald, this preacher who was sent by God. He came with a word from the Lord, and we'll see how Luke will describe this as well. And of course, we won't cover every aspect of his life. Well, we're gonna look at this one voice that was in the wilderness. preparing the way of the King. We have already seen in Matthew's gospel, as we started in it yesterday, that this Jesus who would save his people, their sins, and that these people would be God's people. And because they're God's people and his people, they need to be our people, amen? Because when we're his people and he's our shepherd, his people become our people. and we have a king, we have a ruler, we have a shepherd, we have a messiah, this kingdom that had been proclaimed for generation upon generation that a king was coming, a messiah was coming, anointed one was coming to reign over that kingdom and I want you to be part of it. I'm glad I'm part of it. And I'm glad Jesus made it possible for all of us to be part of it. But God sent a forerunner. And Jesus says, probably the most significant statement about this man that we know of is John the Baptist. He says, there has not been a man born unto a woman greater than John the Baptist. He was a messenger sent by God. In John's gospel, in chapter number one, he tells us that God sent a man. He was God sent. Scripture tells us as well that he was filled with the Holy Spirit while in the womb of his mother. Isn't that an amazing thought? In his mother, he was already filled up with the Holy Spirit. Why? He's a messenger. He's a messenger sent by God. Well, let's look at Matthew chapter number three and verse number one. It says, in those days, John the Baptist. Now, why do you think they gave him the name John the Baptist? You think that was his last name? No, I don't believe so. They didn't really give them last names like we give names today. He was named that because he was identified with a message that he preached and that he practiced. He was the baptizer. He took people and baptized them in the Jordan River with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Now the forgiveness of sin was not the baptism. It was the repentance that preceded the forgiveness of these sins in preparing the way for the King. So he says, in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven "'is at hand, for this is he who was spoken of "'by the prophet Isaiah, saying, "'The voice of one crying in the wilderness, "'prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.' "'Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, "'with a leather belt around his waist. "'His food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees come into his baptism, he said to them, oh, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance and do not think to say to yourselves, for we are Abraham is our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Indeed, I baptize you with water unto repentance. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. And he will baptize you or immerse you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. May God add a blessing to the reading of his word, amen. Now let's go over in Luke's gospel, chapter number three, and kind of take just a glance how Luke introduces John the Baptist. Luke chapter number three in verse number one. Now, some of these words, if y'all like me, how many of y'all have struggled with some of these names? Y'all ever struggled with some of these names? My Louisiana upbringing didn't help me with this and it probably would if I'd have paid attention, right? If I would have been a little bit better with my phonics and all that and gave a little more attention and quit looking at the pretty girls in class and trying to play ball and really learn something, I would have been able to pronounce a lot of these. So if I say Bubba, y'all know I'm saying somebody that y'all came to pronounce as well. Are you with me? Are we good with it? All right, so he's gonna say this in verse number one, in Luke chapter number three, now in the 15th year. Now that's gonna give you a historical timeframe. Anytime the scripture does that, it is wanting you and wanting us to know that we can place a timeframe on this. So that's gonna put us in the area of AD 29, to AD 30 in that little gap there. This is the timeframe. Last night we was in Luke chapter number two and chapter number two as well. And we noticed how the babe went to the child and the child went to the boy and now the boy has grown up into a man. Now the boy is six months younger than John the Baptist, because Mary and Elizabeth were pregnant at the same time, she was just six months ahead of her. So John the Baptist and Jesus are very close in age, but John the Baptist actually didn't know that it was his cousin who was gonna be the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. For John's gospel tells us that God spoke to John and said that when you see the Holy Spirit come down like a dove upon him and stay upon him, for he is the anointed one. He is the lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. John didn't know who he was. For the people came out and questioned John, who are you? Are you this person? Are you that person? And John just said, I'm a voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. And he preached that message. And one day Jesus came to him and said, I'm the one that you're to baptize. And John said, no, I'm not to baptize you. You need to be what? Baptizing me. But he said, no, you baptize me that we together may fulfill all righteousness. Why? It was part of the will of God. Remember, we talked about last night, Jesus' business was due the will of His Father. Everything He did was in accordance to the will of his father. So we have a historical reference. Now I want you to notice these individuals that are going to be mentioned here, even though we might not be able to draw out their names, they were important people in that day is what I'm going to point out. Now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea. Tiberius Caesar was the Nero. He was over the entire Roman empire. Pontius Pilate was a governor over Judea. Herod that would be Herod Antipas. Herod the Great had died. We've learned that last night. This is his son, Antipas. He was a Tetrarch. A Tetrarch was one of a quarter. That is, he had a quarter of the kingdom that he was over. A fourth of the kingdom. So they were spread out that a way. He was the Tetrarch over Galilee. His brother, Philip, was the Tetrarch of Arturia. of the region of Trachonitis and Licinius, the Tetrarch of Abilene. While not only these political leaders, but also the religious leaders. You got the royal people, now you got the religious people. Annas and Caiaphas were high priest, for the word of God came to who? John, the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And when he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah, the prophet saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord and make his path straight for every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough way smooth and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Now what do we have here? Now something that I want you to think about just this one voice out in the wilderness for as the most part God for about 400 years has not revealed or written anything new. Now there have been people who heard from the Lord. There'd been people who had walked with God. Matter of fact, Zacharias, John the Baptist's daddy had heard from God that he was going to have a son in his older age, he and his wife, Elizabeth. There was another man, Simeon, who came in when Jesus was brought to the temple And when he saw him, he rejoiced and he said, in his great old age, God had promised that he would see the hope or the consolation of Israel. And when all the priests were doing their sacramental things that they were supposed to be doing, none of them even recognized who Jesus was. But here's this man who had heard from the Holy Spirit, who had heard from God, who recognized this little boy for who he was, and the only way he could see him for who he was is God shown him to him, just like you and me. The only way to see Jesus is if God shows him to you. If God doesn't show him, you will never see him. If God doesn't reveal him to you, you will never trust him. If God doesn't unveiling to us, we'll never repent of our sins and turn to him in trust. And that's how Simeon, when he walked in, he saw him and he realized this is the one who was promised to deliver the people. For God's glory will be upon him. He'll be the glory of Israel and he'll be a light unto the Gentiles. But all the priests in that day, the important people in that day, didn't know who they were working with. Had no idea what they were doing. Here's a picture of grace. You know, Jesus' mama was condemned under the law that she couldn't go into the temple and worship for so many days after giving birth to Jesus, because she was unclean. She was unclean by the law for so many days. The scriptures gave a list of many days that she was to be away from the temple and couldn't enter into worship. And if she had a little boy, it had a certain amount of days. And if she had a little girl, there was another. a certain amount of days for her. But the whole time that the law had condemned her where she couldn't even enter in to the presence of God and worship, she's holding God in her arms though, amen? See, that's what grace would do. That's how grace works. What the law condemned, grace sets free. And here she is holding the Lamb of God, nursing Him and taking care of Him when the law said she couldn't enter in to the, not only the temple, she couldn't even enter into the doors of the temple, much less the holies of holies, but she's actually holding the holies of holies, amen? See, that's grace. That's what grace would do for an old wretch like me. It saved me, amen. and set me free. We'll hear the most important people in that day, Caesar over the entire Roman empire, Pontius Pilate, the governor over Judea. If newspapers was written and heralds went forth, the headlines would be what Caesar had decided to do, or what Pontius Pilate was building, or what Caiaphas and Annas were doing, and all these royal and religious people out there who were the buzzwords of the day. They would be like Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Is the news filled with Donald Trump? in Kamala Harris today? You can't turn around and see not a sign or hear something on everything. How many of y'all tired of hearing them talk on Fox News about Donald Trump and Kamala Harris? Y'all tired of it? I'm tired of it. I'm tired of it. It's just one thing after the other as if everything in the world matters with them too. Y'all, we have to be very careful. I'm gonna tell you something here that might ruffle your feathers. Patriotism is idolatry. Being more loyal to patriotism and taking a stand for it than Jesus is just another idol. You need to recognize that. You don't belong to this world if you belong to Jesus. You are a sojourner and a pilgrim doing what? Path through with a mission from God to bring a mediator who mediated on behalf of God for the souls of men upon this earth. The scripture says that we do not have a continual city in this world we live in. We don't. Now that's hard for us. And you have to, I know that digs deep in. Now, do I need to be civil? Do I need to practice my civil duties? Do I need to let my conscience lead me? Do I need to vote? Yes. Does my conscience need to lead me in voting? Yes. Do I need God's will to walk in it? Did Jesus ever do anything apart from the will of his father? No. Should I function the same way? Yes, but I always have to remember This world I live in is not my home I've got a citizenship and glory. Amen, and I've got another king I serve and he reigns superior to everybody in all people And he can do what he wants to do with America in any way that he wants to do it. Matter of fact, he's the one who is sovereign over all this. He's the one who puts people in authority. And the reason we have the leaders we have right now is because God's placed them where he's placed them. And what I have to be careful of is not only talking bad about them, because when I talk bad about them, I'm talking bad about him. You can't miss that. Don't miss it. You have to guard your flesh because your flesh will provoke you. This world we live in that don't ask God what to do next will provoke you. And they'll push you to make decisions and do things that are contrary to the will of God. And you will take a stand on a thing that Jesus ain't taking a stand on. And you have to watch it. I've got to guard myself. That's why the scripture says that in Proverbs 4, 23, guard your heart for out of the heart proceeds what? All the issues of life. All the issues of life. That is that nobody makes a decision on what they do unless it runs through their faculties and their heart and how they think and why they think. And if you don't have a filter, that is filtered by God, where you take those thoughts captive unto the obedience of Jesus, the thoughts and the actions you take and I take will be void of him. And we don't wanna live that away, amen. Why? Because we wanna live in such a way that reflects the glory of God in everything we do. Can I vote for a certain person and that person not be put in office and me still be in the will of God? Yes. but God ultimately will put in authority over this nation whom he's chosen to place over it. And he tells us that throughout the scriptures. Matter of fact, I'll give you a place to look tonight. We may talk about it before the end of these meetings here, but I'm pretty sure it's in Jeremiah 27. This is an important place for you to go look at. It'll radically change how you think about all this stuff. that's going on around us. But in Jeremiah 27, in verse number 5, God tells the people in that day, He said, I want you to go tell every ruler and leader that from the beginning of time and all the way through time, I'm the one who delegates who will be an authority and who will not be an authority. That is my sovereign choice. The world belongs to me. This world belongs to my father. Now Satan operates in a realm that people don't factor him into. That's the world. That the scripture teaches us we're to hate, not the people, but a system that never asks God on what to do next. That's where the lust of the eyes function, and the lust of the flesh operates, and the lust of the pride of life. And he says, if somebody loves that way of thinking, the love of the Father's not in them. Why? Because the flesh says, I want it, I need it, and I have the right to deserve it, and they go after it without ever asking God about it. But 1 John 2 teaches us, that we as the brethren, we as the believer, as the disciple of the Lord, we don't live that way. But Jeremiah 27 in verse number 5 tells us this is what God was going to do. He says, I've chosen to give all this to Nebuchadnezzar. Everything's going to him. The people, the land, and all the beast. or at his disposal. He can do with it as he chooses. Now will Nebuchadnezzar give an account to God? Yes, he will, ultimately. But God's people had to submit to him because it was God's choice. He says, I give it to whomever I choose and I've given it to him. And if you don't surrender to him and follow his lead, you will be destroyed. You'll die. You're gonna die if you don't follow him. I've given it to him. And he tells us in the language there is that's how he always operates and he operates that way in every land that he gives it to whom he chooses. That's why the New Testament would say that we're to pray for those who are in authority. all who are in authority. Why do we pray and bring supplications before the Lord? Because we are the people who have a task given by God to bring his message to a dying world and God desires to see people saved no matter who's upon the throne over a land, amen. And he's made that possible. So Timothy, when Paul wrote to him in 1 Timothy 2, he taught him to be careful how you speak about your rulers. Why? Because there are no authority given unto men apart from God, Romans 13. It's God divinely ordained. So when we approach it that way, we've got to recognize that just like in that day, Caesar Augustus, he's the world power. Pontius Pilate has the authority over Judea These others Herod is just a vassal type ruler an Edomite who's just doing whatever he wants to do Caiaphas and Annas or what just instruments of the Roman Empire who are working in Coherent with them because they allow them to do what they want to do in all these people. What did they do with Jesus? I They crucified him, didn't they? They crucified him. They eventually will crucify him. But you know what? When the word of the Lord came, it didn't come through those important people, did it? Who did it come through? It came from a one voice out in the wilderness, a nobody. An isolated man way out in the wilderness. God sent a man with a word in his word was different than everybody else's word. His word was repent for the kingdom of God. The Messiah, the one that's been promised is near. and we're gonna make his paths straight. And we're gonna bring down the high places and raise up the low places. We're gonna clear out the lands because the king is coming. And John stood in the gap and he preached a message. that when all the high profile people of the world who thought they were the ones that was the decision makers and the important people of the world, God chose this isolated man out in the wilderness and sent a word to him. It just reminds me, look, you don't have to be on TV to have a word from God, amen? You don't have to be on the radio. You don't have to be on TikTok. How many of y'all know what TikTok is? All you young people know that, right? And some of you older people that's got young people, right? Y'all know what all that is. How many of you know what Facebook is? What about Instagram? You don't have to be popular on there to have a clear word from the Lord, amen? You don't have to have a gigantic following of folks out there today. You don't have to, Fox News ever invite you to come on and do an interview with them? They don't even know your name, do they? They don't know mine either. And prayerfully, they may not never know it, amen? Who knows? You never know. Didn't these CNN know about you? Miss Priscilla, MSBN News, they know anything about Jerry King? No. Most of the world don't know nothing about Mount Peoria community, are you with me? Just don't know. You don't have to be on the world scene to have an influence and an impact, amen? God's planted light in this community so that y'all can have an influence on the people you live around. You see, there wasn't people coming from Iraq and Iran and Syria and all over the world. There wasn't Indians on the boats coming across the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean to come to be baptized by John. But those around Jerusalem and Judea were coming out to him. Why? Because God planted a light in the path that his son was coming. And just like he'll send you and me into a path that he's on his way. And he's coming for a visit. And he's coming to influence somebody. And he sends people like you and me, the nobodies of the world. People that most people would never know other than our family and our close friends may never know anything about us. But you see, the King of Kings knows us, amen. And when you've been sent by the King of Kings, You don't have to have a important title on your name. You don't have to be a Caesar or a president or anything like that. You don't have to have a big cabinet of people. You don't have to be the commander in chief over the largest military in the world. You could just be a mama. You could be a housewife who has a word and been sent by God, amen. that have influence over those arrows that God brings into your life. Do y'all know that raising kids is tough? Y'all know that? Have y'all realized that the older your kids get and they have kids, your grandkids, how many of y'all know grandkids are special? Aren't they a treasure? How many of y'all realize your older kids still bring drama to the house? Y'all ever recognize that? Why is that, amen? Don't they? Holly, you know it, right? They just do. Why? You see, why was John the Baptist sent? He was sent to proclaim an immersion of repentance for the forgiveness of what? Sin, why? Because we all inherited sin. Everybody, everybody needs to be forgiven. Everybody needs to be rescued from themselves. Everybody needs the washing of the blood of Jesus, amen? Everybody. And mamas, does your job ever end? No matter how old your kids get, whether you got grandkids or great grand, how many of y'all got double greats? Great, great grandkids? It's still, you're always mama, right? You're always mama. It's a never ending road. You think you get so far, you take them so far, but then all of a sudden something else happens and it's another issue. The issues just keep coming, don't they? The problems just keep coming. Why? We live in a problematic world that's full of what? Sin. And sin affects who? Everybody, amen? Everybody. That's why those important people that were in the political and even in the religious area, they wasn't receiving a word from the Lord. Why? Because what they were doing wasn't going to affect the sinners on the streets. but a man was sent to see lives transformed at the base root level, amen. Turn to Genesis. I wanna show y'all mamas this, and you daddies too. Genesis, go to Genesis chapter number three. One voice. There's no greater ministry than the ministry you've been given just to help your people that are immediately connected to you, see the need for loving and living for Jesus. I mean, look, you don't have to have thousands of people or even hundreds of people or even 25 people or 15 people. You just have your mission right in your home, amen? Right in your home. But notice what he says here. In chapter three, in verse number 16. This is where it all went downhill for us. All of us. Verse number 16. To the woman, and what was her name? Eve. To the woman, God said, I, God, will do what? Increase you what? greatly multiply, my translation says. I'm using the newer King James version. It says, I will greatly multiply. The Hebrew word is rabbi, and it's a double emphasis. He says it twice. I will rabbi, rabbi. I will increase and multiply your pain. The word pain there, the idea of sorrow. Notice that. I will greatly increase your sorrow and what? Your conception. Your sorrow and your conception and in difficulty, pain, you will bring forth or rear children. Your desire shall be for your husband and he, your husband, shall rule over you. right from the start as a result of sin. And sin meaning missing the mark with God, that is they went rogue and did it their way. And right from the start as a result, here's a problem that comes in the world. God gets involved and when God gets involved, God says, I will greatly increase your difficulty in life. Not just when you give birth. Now, I praise God, I'm not a woman. Amen. Men, and y'all said? Amen. Y'all can say amen with me. Mr. Jim, aren't you glad God made you a man? Amen. God knew what he was doing when he made me a man. And everybody said? Amen. But he knew what he was doing when he made you woman, woman. Amen. Now, how many of you ladies ever gave birth in here today? Raise your hand. Was it painful? Raise two hands. You know what mankind has been doing for a long time? They have, in our advancements through time, they've done everything we can to alleviate the pain and the sorrow. A God-given gift. It's a gift. You say, preacher, you ain't never had a baby. You're right. But see the fruit of that womb is a gift, isn't it? But why did God increase that sorrow, that pain, that difficulty? He did it as a gift to remind us that we are what? Fallen and we need a Redeemer. We need a Redeemer. But what mankind has done is they've made every every effort to alleviate the sorrow, the trouble, the pain, and the difficulty without God's help. You just think about the advancements of technology. We've got a couple mechanics in here. You work for John Deere, right? You work, Caleb, you work for Striblin. So you work on what, case equipment or what? John Deere. Now, how many of y'all in here are grateful for a John Deere tractor and you ain't pulling a mule no more? Okay, now think about that. That's a great advancement in time, but what did God tell Adam that his curse would be? that by the sweat of his, he would what? Work the land and eat his bread because every time he had to struggle in the work, what would it remind him of? That he was fallen and he needed God's mercy. But mankind has done everything that we can to alleviate and reduce the sorrow, the pain, and the work. But in doing that, what has mankind done? Got further and further away from who? Got further and further away from the Lord. That's what it's created. And the further we get away from it, it's gonna continue to progress that away. What did he say the ground was gonna produce for him? What did we do? weeds, thorns, and how many of you ever had a thorn get in your finger? How many of you ever stepped on one and couldn't get it out and it got infected and hurt and swole and you had to go see somebody and grandma or the community doctor had to get the old blade out or had to get that, y'all remember that old black salve they used to put on you? That drawing salve, y'all remember that? Some of these young people don't know nothing about that, right? My daddy used to take and wrap my fingers or my feet, my toes in bacon. Y'all ever wrap it in bacon? Wrap it in bacon and put a sock around it and go to sleep, and the next morning that bacon would draw that out. It'd draw it out. See, but what was the thorn in the thistle for? It was to remind us that man has done life man's way, and as a result, this is what it produces. But man needs a what? A redeemer, a redeemer. Man needs a savior. So I wanna tell you mamas in here today, and I know you know this, but it's a gift from God that all your life, from the time that you begin to bear children to the day that you die, they're gonna bring you a lot of joy. but they're also gonna bring you some pain. Can you tell me, Willie? You just look around and you start not only seeing your kids and then your grandkids and then the next generation, and you realize that, man, we need a redeemer. Our grandkids need a redeemer, don't they? This world we live in needs a savior. needs a savior. Washington ain't going to do it. Jackson won't do it. Montgomery is not going to do it. Tiger Stadium and LSU ain't going to do it. Mississippi State ain't going to do it, huh? Them rebels won't do it. That roll, crimson tide ain't going to do it. But I tell you who will save people. His name is Jesus. Amen. And you know who he uses? He uses people who are like you and me, just nobodies who want to tell everybody about somebody who has saved their soul. Amen. Just a voice, just a voice out in the wilderness, out at Mount Pelier, down in Phoebe or Mantee or Maben or West Point or maybe up to Houston or wherever we may be, wherever we may be. Why? Because what are we? We just pilgrims passing through this old world, one step at a time, one day at a time, who has a mission given by God, just to be a voice preaching righteousness. Doesn't matter how many will come. We want all to come, amen. but we'll be faithful to the message and to the means that he's given us just to take his word to a world that we live in. God's used single people, not that he wants us to operate by ourselves. God's always gonna bring you to people and bring people to us, but he did that with Abraham and Sarah. He called them out. They were Gentiles and said, separate yourself from your family and come. and I'm gonna give you something. And scripture says, over a period of time, Abraham and Sarah took God at his word, and they what? Followed him. There was another man who found grace in the eyes of the Lord in a day when things were terrible in the world, and his name was Noah. And you know the Bible refers to in Isaiah 54, and about verse number nine, the Bible refers to the floodwaters, as the waters of Noah. Like John the Baptist is known as what, John the Baptist, because he was a baptizer. He immersed people in water. Well, Noah was a preacher of righteousness who preached waters of judgment were coming. And he became known as one who preached the flood, waters were coming. And the Bible even identifies that time as the waters of Noah, but he was just, that God called, a voice out in the wilderness. Moses, we talked about him last night at the burning bush. God called him, Moses said, I can't do it. I can't speak for you, Lord. I've got an infirmity, I can't speak. And God said, that's all right, I already got your brother set aside. He'll speak for you, amen. God'll work it out. He's not gonna take our excuses, Willie. We just yield ourself to him. There was another guy by the name of Caleb. Y'all remember about Caleb? You know, six times in the scriptures, like in Numbers 14 and Numbers 24 and over in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 1 and in Joshua chapter 14, six times the Bible says Caleb was a man who wholeheartedly followed the Lord. And as a result, as this one man who took God at his word and followed him, now he had a buddy by the name of Joshua that walked with him as well. But you know, Caleb was 45 years old when they went into that promised land and for the next 40 years, He walked with those people, and he watched generation upon generation die, millions upon people die, but then God came to him in Joshua's time, in Joshua 14, and he says to Caleb, remember that mountain God promised you up there? He said, oh, I can't help but remember that. Why? He says these words. Ever since God told me that I could have that mountain, he's made me strong. And I'm 85 years old today, and I'm as strong today as I was when he promised it to me. He's given me strength. Why? Because Caleb had a word from the Lord, a man sent by God, a voice in the wilderness, and God strengthened him. as he was on the journey. And you know this man here, this insignificant guy by the name of John the Baptist, who nobody knew anything about until he started preaching that baptism of repentance, making the way straight for the glory of the Lord. You know what's gonna happen to that man? They're eventually gonna get tired of him preaching. They put up with it for a little while. But he kept preaching about that pain and that sorrow that sin brings. But God will, God will, He's not gonna alleviate the pain. He's not gonna alleviate the sorrow. He's just gonna give you hope in it. He's gonna give you hope in it. And they got tired of hearing the message. So you know what they did with John? They put chains on his hands and on his feet and they put him in a prison. And while he was in prison, he sent one of his guys to Jesus and went to ask Jesus, are you really the one? And Jesus said, you go back and tell John what you've been seeing, that the lame are walking, that the blind can see, that the deaf can hear, that lost people are being saved. And you know what eventually took place in John the Baptist's life? That voice who stood, you know, those religious people and those rulers that were the known people in that day, that Herod Antipas, you know what he said one day? He said, go get John and bring him to me. And they brought John to him and you know what he did with him? He severed his head from his shoulders and the man died. But you see, absent from the body is what? Present with the Lord, amen. He went from this earth into the presence of God. Why? Because John's home wasn't here, was it? He was what? Passing through. All right, before we close tonight, what was that passage in Jeremiah I told y'all to write down and go look at? Jeremiah what? Jeremiah 27. Start in verse one, read down to verse number 10. But about verse five, you'll see what you wanna look for in there. And you'll see God letting his people know. Now God doesn't tell us the whole story in every place all the time. That's where we have the ability to go search his word out of the 66 books that he's given us, and we piece these things together. So I've given you enough tonight to go look at and see. Matter of fact, if you was to look in Jeremiah 30, God says, every nation upon the earth that he has sent his people, the Jew, the Israelite, every nation upon the earth that he has sent his people out to in their dispersion, in his chastisement of them, every nation he is ultimately gonna destroy. You know who that would include? Y'all know any Jews that live in America? There's a bunch of them, right? They live all over America. So you can count on God doing what to America. He's gonna destroy America. It's just inevitable in his time and he's just not chosen to do it at this moment. We still got an opportunity to do his work while we still here, amen? But the ultimate end of this land we live in is gonna be destroyed. That's why we don't put our hope in America. That's why we don't put our hope in our government. That's why we don't put our hope in our physicians. Look, I'm a man with cancer. I take medicine every day for it. I'm grateful for the advancements in the technology and the people can see things I can't see, but my hope is not an end. I'm thankful that it's helping me, but it's only helping me so that I can keep doing what he set me apart to do, amen, until he's done with me. And when he's done with me, he'll take me home. When I'm finished with the course he's given me, my days here are done. upon his decision. Amen. God's witnesses are indestructible until God's ready to take them home. And you can count on that. Amen. You can count on it. But Jeremiah 30, he says every nation he's going to destroy. That's why we don't put our confidence in it. Now, do we want to be good citizens? Do we want to help one another? Do we want to build one another up? Do we defend? Yes, we do those things, but our hope is not in them, nor do we put our hope in men. We put our hope in the Lord, and therefore we become missionaries, ambassadors in His hand so that we're always doing His work while we're doing the work we do in everyday life. Amen? So I would go look those passages up. And one more before we close, I'm gonna read it to you, and you can turn there, but it's in the book of Hebrews, chapter number 13, and then we'll wrap it up with this idea of one voice walking through this wilderness, proclaiming our message of what he's called us to do, and then we'll wrap things up tonight. And then I'm gonna spend an hour and a half thinking about all that I wanted to tell you tonight and didn't get it out, amen? Hebrews 13. Well, verse number eight. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and what? And all God's people said? So he's, you can count on him in what he does and how he works. Verse number nine. Therefore, because of this, do not be carried about with various and strange teachings, the word doctrine means teachings, for it is good that your heart be established by grace. And all God's people said? Not with foods, chicken on the bone. Or pumpkin pie. Pigs in a blanket. What was them good sandwiches you made last night? Ham and cheese sliders. Those things were good. I even ate some bologna last night. But food ain't what's gonna make us, right? Now it may fatten us up. May thin us down, but it does nothing for our soul. Does nothing for our journey. The Bible says the stomach is made for food and food for the stomach, but the stomach and food are all gonna dissipate. They're all gonna go away one day. He says in verse number 10, we have an altar from which those who serve the tapernacle have no right to eat from. That would be the Jew who practice the law. They have no right to eat from that altar. Verse 11, for the bodies of those animals which blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood and all God's people said, he suffered where? outside the gate at Calvary's Hill, Golgotha. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing Jesus's reproach. For here in this world, we have no continual city, but we seek the one that is to what? Amen? That's how we live out the life of Jesus in this world we live in. Let's keep seeking him. Let's keep serving him. Let's keep speaking up for him and being the ambassadors that he's called us to be. Pleading with me and be reconciled unto God through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. He'll salvage your life. He'll make you safe with God. and then he'll make you safe to go to work for him in this world we live in. Amen. Put your trust in him tonight. Would you stand with us? Father, we bless you and thank you. We ask you right now in this time that you would stir in our hearts, you would help us recognize where we are. and that you have sent us forth to be messengers. We wanna be sent by you, we wanna hear from you, we wanna serve you, and therefore we wanna lay our life down to be a blessing to those you plant in our life. And that we don't wanna alleviate all the troubles and the problems, we wanna recognize you give them to show us our need of your mercy and your grace. So help us, Lord, help us. Help us recognize a fallen world, but a Savior who gives us hope in the midst of it. In Jesus' name, amen.