Acts chapter number 20. I'm gonna begin our reading in verse number seven. Good to be in the house of God on October 31st, isn't it? You'll get that a little bit later. Acts chapter number 20 in verse number seven. We're gonna read verse number seven through verse number 12. I'll bring you what the Lord has laid on my heart this evening and I think that I can be brief in doing so. Acts chapter number seven, pardon me, Acts chapter number 20, verse number seven through verse number 12. Look at what's happening here. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight. Don't anybody get nervous? Now look at verse number eight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus. being fallen into a deep sleep. And as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep and fell down from the third loft and was taken up dead. And Paul went down and fell on him and embracing him said, trouble not yourselves for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till the break of day, so he departed. The Bible says in verse number 12, and they brought the young man, that is Eutychus, they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted. What a story. Every word that is in the Bible is put there for a purpose. The Bible tells us that they are there for our admonition. They have a purpose of communicating some truth to us. Even the form of a narrative, like we have read from tonight, where in the book of Acts, the early church in its earliest stages, story after story after story, recorded by the hand of Luke, the physician that tells us about what was happening in the stages of the early church. And here we have the earliest recording of someone falling asleep in church. What an interesting addition to the book of Acts that is, because through all of the history of the church, we've had problems with people that lose interest in what's happening in the preaching, lose interest in what's happening in the service, and they fall asleep. Every preacher that has preached for any substantial length of time has watched that happen. I'll be honest with you, sometimes it's the stuff of comedy in church for someone to fall asleep. Kids fall asleep in church all the time. I never have a problem with that. Church is rough on children, especially if you have a long service, and sometimes they fall asleep in church. But what about it when the adults begin to fall asleep? I've had couples fall asleep together while sitting on the pew during my preaching. Remember very well down in South Georgia. I had a young older couple in the church I won't tell you their names because of how social media can be but he was a precious man He's in heaven now, but he fell asleep one day and that when I couldn't caught my eye I looked out there and she was falling asleep right beside him They were falling asleep together in church and what made it worse is they were leaning on one another while they were sleeping He was snoring and she was wheezing and I would say something he dropped his Bible and startle both of them awake I've had people that remain seated during the invitation because they fell asleep during the preaching and I've had people drool down their chin and drip drool down on their Bible. I mean, any preacher that has preached any substantial length of time has watched it happen and it becomes a piece of comedy for all of us. We've seen it happen before. I don't fuss about it a lot. Some people have medical issues and some people work long third shift jobs or maybe some people that just had a long week or an activity like you had through the course of yesterday it'll make you tired and sometimes you can come to church and you can fall asleep. So practically I really don't fuss about it a lot even though every preacher that would be honest would admit that it really gets under our skin when someone falls asleep in church. But the picture of verse number 7 through verse number 12 provides us with somewhat of a devotional thought on the danger of falling asleep in the house of God. Especially when the clarion call of the New Testament comes to us in Romans 13 verse number 11 and verse number 12 where the Apostle Paul said in that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Paul said, the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. As I read this story about Eutychus and how he fell asleep in the ministry of the apostle Paul, it brings some important factors to my mind that I'd like to share with you by way of introduction tonight as we prepare ourselves in a generation of people that are falling asleep on God. As you know, the book of Acts records the earliest accounts of worship services in the New Testament. And here we are tonight in the most recent recorded worship service in the New Testament. And throughout the history of the church there have been examples like Eutychus who lost interest in what was going on and fell asleep. In the first mentions that we have in the book of Acts, we are afforded several noteworthy factors that may help us understand what was happening in the church and why Eutychus fell asleep. Three things that I'd like to share with you very briefly, and then we'll get into some introductory material, and then we'll get into the three points of the message very, very briefly. Number one, there's several things I like about what was happening here in this chapter. First thing I like about it is, number one, you'll notice in verse number seven, they met together on the Lord's Day. They met together on the Lord's day. That is a very important factor to the definition of a church. Upon the first day, verse number 7 said, upon the first day of the week. That day is never called Sunday in Scripture. In fact, it is called the first day and the Lord's day over and over and over again. It was John that gave us the book of Revelation and John said, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. The reason why we worship on the first day of the week is in recognition of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, you know as well as I do that in the Old Testament, they worshiped on the Sabbath, which would be a Saturday form of worship. But in the New Testament, we worship on Sunday, which is the Lord's day, the first day of the week. The principle in the Old Testament was that they worked, and they worked, and they worked, and they worked, and then they worshiped. But in the New Testament, we worship, and then we work, and we work, and we work. The principle is that God gives us rest. He gives us strength. He gives us rejuvenation. He gives us an energy for work on the first day of the week, and then we go about the rest of our week with worship in mind secured. The Bible tells us that these were meeting together on the first day of the week. That's important because Paul underscored it in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25 when he said, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another in so much the more as ye see the day approaching. Paul said, as the day of Christ approaches, we don't need less church, we need more church. The more we can be together, the greater our admonition one of another, the greater our exhortation one of another, the greater our fellowship one with another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. 1 Corinthians chapter number 16 tells us when we come together on the Lord's Day, we should come with a gift in our hand to give to the local church, to fellowship with the local church. And the Bible said they met together on the Lord's Day. I like that principle, and we could bear down on that a little more tonight, but we'll leave it as it is said in verse number 7. Notice with me, secondly, in verse number 7, one important factor, they met together on the Lord's Day, and then secondly, they met together for the breaking of bread. Do you see that in verse number 7? Seems to be a common theme in the book of Acts. The Bible said when the disciples came together to break bread. Some would misunderstand this to be a communion service. It was not communion at all. In fact, it appears to be just a typical fellowship style meal that was provided by the church so that families could sit across the table and get to know one another. Church was very much like home in the days of the book of Acts. In fact, they did not have auditoriums like this auditorium. Rather, they met in people's houses. And there was a comeliness about that. There was a sense of fellowship and union and commonality between them in the fact that they sat together and they worshiped together, and they broke bread together. The husbands got to know one another, the wives got to know one another. They had interest in each other's families and in their children. It is very important that we build our fellowship on those kind of activities at the church, amen. It's important that we understand that Jesus tells us, marvel not if the world hates you. You better learn to love one another because everybody else in the world hates us. Jesus said, don't be surprised, don't be ashamed when the world expresses hatred for you. They hated me before they hated you. And if we're going to find hatred out there, we should find love in here. Herein shall all men know that ye are my disciples, in that ye have love one toward another. And so the fellowship of the breaking of bread, meeting together on the Lord's Day, gathering together for the breaking of bread, that was very much common in the days of the book of Acts. And then thirdly, notice with me in verse number seven, they met together for preaching. They met together for preaching. The Bible says in verse number 7, Paul preached unto them. I like what's going on in this church, don't you? I like what's happening in Acts chapter number 20. As they gather together on the Lord's day, as they gather together for the breaking of bread, and then they gather together for the purpose of hearing from the Word of God. Certainly I understand as well as you do that there are many things we bring into the fellowship of the church, but primary to all of it must be the preaching of the Word of God. And you've got a preacher in your church that stands faithfully in this pulpit to give you the Word of God. And here we have at Tabernacle a venue whereby the preacher is understood to be responsible to give the Word of God to the people You're hungry for the Word of God. He is anxious to give you the Word of God. And what a glorious union that creates. And we see that as old as the church in the days of the Book of Acts. They met together on the Lord's Day. Don't ever miss that. The Lord's Day doesn't belong to NASCAR. The Lord's Day doesn't belong to the NFL. The Lord's Day doesn't belong to the PGA Tour. The Lord's Day doesn't belong to Major League Baseball. It belongs to the local church. And so they met together on the Lord's Day. They met together for the breaking of bread. And then thirdly, they met together for preaching. And then something began to happen. As we find these three descriptions in verse number seven, there is something else that began to unfold. Apparently Luke was there. The physician Luke wrote the book of Acts. We find that to be true because of chapter number 1. And his testimony of what happened in this service seems to unfold and reveal for us in his eyewitness account several things that were happening that caused one of the church members to fall asleep and actually die in the church service. These factors are revealed in verse 7 through verse number 12. Why did Eutychus fall asleep? Well, the Bible says in verse number 7, upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread, watch this. Eutychus had eaten. He had eaten. There's something that happens to me on Sunday afternoons. I don't know if it's common to us all or the way that you feel, but you worship and you enjoy the service and then all of a sudden you eat somewhere like a freed hostage and then you go home and the spirit of slumber comes upon you. I don't know how it is that way, but it seems to be not any other day of the week, but on Sunday, man, it just naturally, something happens in me that makes me want to rest. And something happened to Eutychus the same way. He was a young man. I'm going to prove to you that he was somewhere between 7 and 14 years old here in just a moment. And this 7 year old or 14 year old young man has eaten. And the Bible tells us, we're not told that he ate a lot, but it is probable that he ate enough that his drowsy demeanor was created by having a full belly. Secondly, notice what happens second in verse number 7. It tells us Paul preached unto them. And then it says, he continued his speech until midnight. Don't get nervous. But the Bible tells us that they weren't concerned about the clock. They weren't at all concerned about the length of the service. In fact, if you were to turn back to chapter 5, when Ananias and Sapphira came in, you remember they lied to the Holy Ghost. Peter confronted them, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Ananias comes in church first and the Bible tells us Peter rebukes him. He dies and three hours later his wife comes in and she dies. Here's the key. They were having church three hours later still. The church was not regulated by a clock. The church was not regulated by a schedule. The church was not regulated by, now preacher, you need to give us 30 minutes and get us out of here. That was not the mentality of the New Testament church. As a matter of fact, as long as Burdens were being born as long as needs were being met. The Apostle Paul just fed them and fed them and fed them. Your pastor said something to me on the way out this morning. He said, now preacher, it's going to be a while before we get out of here because these people here at Tabernacle, they stick around. They don't just get out of church and just leave. And that identifies us with the way it was in the book of Acts. Are you all getting anything out of this tonight? The problem in the book of Acts was not getting people to come to church. The problem in the book of Acts was getting people to leave church. They just wanted to be there. They didn't have to compete with the television. They didn't have to compete with Facebook. They didn't have to compete with Major League Baseball. They didn't have to compete with the NFL. They just went to church and they were all in. They wanted to be there. Their fellowship was fruitful. Their fellowship was fulfilling. And they enjoyed being around one another. If you have that here, you better do everything you can to protect it. Make sure that that is an unbroken, unmitigated, protected fellowship that you want to be around one another. Amen. I'm going to say amen, Brother Bailey. That's good preaching right there, Brother Bailey. That is the truth. Just protect that in every measure that you can. Paul started preaching and they just sat there and listened. Just like they did in the book of Nehemiah when they found the law. The Bible tells us they started way up early in the morning, and they read the book of the law all the way up until midday, and then everybody worshipped, and then everybody confessed their sins, and all the way, way up into the afternoon, from the pulpit made of wood for the purpose, they just listened to the Word of God, and they stood there, and they heard it gladly. The Bible tells us that Paul was long preaching. The problem in the early church was not how do you get the people to come, it was how do you get the people to leave. They loved it that much. So here's what's happening. I'm trying to build a really big front porch and then the house is really small, okay? The Bible says that Eutychus was full of food. And the Bible says that Paul preached out the longest sermon he had ever picked out, the longest sermon he had ever preached that day. Then something else was happening. Look at verse 8. And there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together. A little bit of manner of customs tells us what was happening here. Lights in the days of the Book of Acts, very different than I'd say LED lighting, incandescent lighting, fluorescent lighting that lights this building. Some of this would be fluorescent, maybe LED lighting. In the days of the Book of Acts, the lights were provided by oil burning lamps. There was a fume that was created as the room was surrounded with these lamps so people could see and fellowship one with another. I remind you it's the midnight hour. So they must have had lamps all over the building and the fumes were rising as the flame burned. And then you can imagine the heat that was distributed by that amount of oil-burning lance. And then, of course, you can imagine also the flicker of that flame and how after a while you concentrate on the flicker of that flame and it causes you to get a little bit drowsy, maybe dry in the eyes. Do you see what's happening? Eutychus is full of food and Paul is preaching his longest sermon on record and the lights are bothering his eyes. And then the Bible tells us In verse number 8, they were in the upper chamber. Heat rises. They were gathered together. And the Bible tells us in verse number 9 that Eutychus was sitting in a window. I can imagine there are several reasons why we could assume that would be happening. I would imagine because he was young, he was probably placed in that place in the window for respectful reasons. Gray-headed people were there. Older gentlemen were there. Younger, older ladies were there. And so the seats in that house would have been given to the respected members and the young people would sit where you could put them. The book of James actually talks about people who sat under footstools. Now over and over again we read about the Pharisees who loved to have the prominent preeminence seat, the prominent seats, but Eutychus was stuck over in a window. Why was he sitting in a window? Because there were no seats. You know what that leads us to believe? The crowd must have been massive. It wasn't an auditorium like this. It was just a gathering place. And I don't know if there were dozens or maybe 50 or maybe there were 75 or 100 people gathered there. But the house was full. His belly was full. The lights were bothering his eyes. And Paul is preaching a long sermon. And then the Bible tells us that Eutychus was young. I looked up this word young, that's in verse number 9. I looked up this word young the other day, a certain young man named Eutychus. The words young man make up one Greek word, paios, P-A-I-S, which is a word used for boys between the ages of 7 and 14. And you all know as well as I do that boys between 7 and 14, they all have narcolepsy. They easily fall asleep. So Eutychus is young, his belly is full, The fumes are creating a drowsy spirit. The lights are bothering his eyes. His belly is full of food and Paul is preaching this long sermon and the crowd is massive. And the Bible said that Eutychus fell asleep. Now tonight in this building there's no fumes. There's no stuffiness. Tonight in this building we're not forced to sit in a window. Tonight in this building the crowd is substantial, but it's not so substantial that we're uncomfortable. I think the days are well on the way that you may have the size of a church where you're uncomfortable, made uncomfortable by the crowd. That could happen very soon at Tabernacle, but it's not that way tonight. So why do people in this generation, with all of the accommodation that we put in motion to help people pay attention in church, why do people fall asleep in church in this generation? I think Eutychus gives us three pictures of the sleeping church member today that I'd like to share with you tonight. Notice first, three points and three points only. Number one, in verse nine, Eutychus was not inside. Eutychus was not inside. Notice what happened. The Bible says in verse number nine, there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus being fallen into a deep sleep. Here's the picture. He was in, but he was also out. As a matter of fact, the Bible says when he fell into a deep sleep, he did not fall into the church, he fell out of the church. You know what that means to me? That means that he was further out than he was in. And I'm afraid, y'all getting anything out of this tonight? I'm afraid that's one reason why so many of our congregations like we have gathered tonight are not interested in the church service is because you're further outside of the church than you are inside the church. You're in the window. You're one of those kind of church members that is sort of straddling the reality of being in the world and being in the church. And if it comes time for a separation, most people that straddle in their relationship with God like that, when it comes time to fall, they fall out instead of falling in. You know why Eutychus fell out instead of falling in? Because he was further out than he was in. He was not inside. And that's the reason why Eutychus fell asleep during the preaching of the Apostle Paul. And the Bible said he fell into a deep sleep. If you want to know how serious it was to fall asleep in church during a sermon with the Apostle Paul, look at how immediately the Lord dealt with him at the end of verse number nine. And as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep and fell down from the third loft and was, what does your Bible say, taken up dead. What? He died. Now, I'm of the personal belief that every life is in the hand of God. No life comes to an end outside of the control of God Almighty. Every life is protected by God. So we can assume from verse number 9 that God let Eutychus die. God let him die as a result of falling asleep in church. Truth be told, that pictures many in the church of today. They're not in. They're not out. They're in kind of this hybrid existence of having an interest in the church that is limited, but having more interest outside of the church. It has been said, and I find this to be very interesting. Years ago, about 10 years ago, I did a study on listening. listening. The Bible says over and over again, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. The Bible said, Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. It's important because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That's why I appreciate these men back in the sound booth. They provide a service to the church that is monumental. It is important that people hear what the preacher says because faith cometh by hearing. Thank you men for what you're doing tonight. Most of the time we don't even think about the guys in the sound booth until they make a mistake. And then we're all thinking about them and our thoughts are not good. But here they are providing a service for the church so that we may hear. Truth be told, it has been proven scientifically that you think five times faster than I can talk. I'm a country bumpkin from South Georgia and we all talk pretty slow. But your thinking is much faster than any preacher. can talk. You know what that means? That means that as fast as I can put out the truth, as fast as I can put out the message, as interesting as I can make it, you are thinking five words past what I just said all the time. And what happens is, while the preacher is preaching, our mind is acting on that vacuum of information, and we're liable to take all kinds of expeditions from the church service while we're sitting there with our Bible in our lap. It looks like we're listening, but in our mind, we're at Walmart. Or we're in the deer stand. Or we've clocked in to work from Monday morning. Or we're thinking about how the holidays are near. Or we're thinking about our shopping list. Or we're figuring our bowling average. Whatever you think about doing in church, you're thinking about something a whole lot different than what I'm preaching about most of the time. That's what happened to Eutychus. Eutychus was not inside. He was somewhere else. And the Bible tells us that he fell asleep. And he fell asleep so deeply that he died from that slumber. I don't have time to preach everything that I have in my list to say tonight. Let me say a few things about some characters in the Bible that fell asleep at inappropriate times. What about Jonah? What about Peter, James, and John? What about Samson? I'm thinking about Samson tonight. Samson was the strongest man that ever lived. The Bible tells us that he came in one day and laid his head down in the lap of Delilah. And the Bible tells us she called in the Philistines while he was asleep and they gave that man a haircut. He lost his strength. His Nazarite vow had been broken. And the Bible tells us that Samson rose out of that sleep when Delilah said to him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he woke up and the Bible said he shook himself as at other times. But he found out that that time when he fell asleep, something got on him that he could not shake off. And the Philistines took him into custody. And they put out his eyes. And he is now being led around by a lad of the Philistine boys. The Bible says that his hair began to grow again. I've been praying that prayer for years. You, brother? Dear God, give me the power of Samson. Let my hair begin to grow again. God has not performed that miracle for me, as you can see. But thank God, some people, he gives hair. The rest of them, he makes perfect. Amen. I don't call it balding, I call it solar power, amen? But the Bible said that his hair began to grow again. And when his hair began to grow again, he killed more Philistines in his death than he did in his life. But he found that while he fell asleep, something came on him that he could not shake off. Eutychus was not inside. Secondly, not only did we find in verse number 9 that Eutychus was not inside and that's why he fell asleep, but secondly, Eutychus was not interested. He was not interested. Let me make this brief for you. The Bible says that his sleep was deep. Verse 9, being fallen into a deep sleep. I don't know how it is with you, but if I'm interested in something, I can stay awake. That's a fact. If I'm interested in what's going on, I don't battle sleep at all. If I'm interested, I can stay awake. But if I'm not interested, I may battle sleep all the way to the end of it because it does really have my interest. Church is an interactive event for me. If your pastor was preaching today, I'd sit on the edge of the pew and just listen to him preach. I want to say amen when he says the truth. I want to be interactive when he tells something that is true and he brings a doctrine to the pulpit that is feeding my soul. That is an interactive activity for me. I'm involved in a man's preaching. I'm involved in what's happening in the church. I'm thinking about how this message is going to mold my life and how it's going to forge a path for me to be better. I was thinking about that in the Sunday school hour this morning, how I could be better in management of my time, especially with relationship to my wife. I was interacting with all of that. It's hard for me to fall asleep when I'm interacting with someone. But when you're not interested, it's very easy to just doze off and fall asleep. Matthew Henry said we must look upon this sin as an evil thing, as a bad sign of our low esteem of the Word of God. People are going to sleep in church in this generation and the prayer that they pray is not, Lord, thy will be done. It's now I lay me down to sleep. And we have pew loads of people that are just not interested in the church. Interested in what's happening with the missionaries that are supported by this local church. Interested in the well-being of the pastor and his wife and his children. Interested in the community and the reaching of this community. Are you interested in what's happening at Tabernacle? Are you interested? The Bible tells us that Eutychus fell asleep because he was not inside. He was not interested. And number three and lastly, Eutychus fell asleep because he was not involved. He was not involved. Notice with me in verse number 9. He sunk down with sleep and fell down from the third loft and was taken up dead. The reason why Eutychus fell out of the window in sleep was because he did not involve himself in the service. Neighbor, if you have something you bring to your church, with a talent, you're qualified to do that, you ought to get involved. Get involved. Don't be one of these church members that's just busy warming a few inches of a pew and have no desire to serve the Lord in the church, but rather just to be there Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night and sit soaking sour. Just there only to see and be seen. Just there to discharge my testimony of faithfulness. That's all. Not really there to be involved at all. We have few loads of people like that in our Baptist churches, just like Eutychus. He was not involved. Matter of fact, the only impact he had on the church was trouble. Did you notice in verse number 10, when Eutychus fell out of that window and died, you say, why is his name Eutychus? Because if Eutychus fell out of the third loft, Eutychus too, that's a fact, brother. I probably shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry. Take that off the live stream, I probably shouldn't have. Look at verse number 10. The Bible said, Paul said to the congregation, trouble not yourselves for his life is in him. I looked up that word trouble just the other day. I was looking at that word, very interesting word, especially in the original language. The word speaks of a wailing. It speaks of a lamenting. It is the weeping and the lamenting that goes on when someone has died. Do you see what happened here? That young man that was further out than he was in, that young man that was not inside, that young man that was not interested, and that young man that was not involved, he's the one that troubled the church. They were wailing, they were weeping. Just like he had died, they were wailing and weeping. And he did die, the Bible said. He had to be resurrected. And so, many times, this is the caliber of people that bring trouble into the church. The people that are further out than they are in. They're not inside. They're not involved. And they're not interested. The church sleeper is guilty of a handful of obvious flaws. I'm no sleep therapist. I don't know a lot about it. I try to do more. I wish I could sleep more than what I do. I don't sleep well at night sometimes, and I wish I could do better. My wife has had that testimony as well, sometimes not being able to sleep all the way through the night, sometimes up at 3 and 4 in the morning. And if you just get a handful of hours of sleep, you're thankful for that. My wife has had that testimony. I've had that testimony at times. I'm no therapist for those kind of things. Matter of fact, I need a therapist. But I do know several things that are true about me when I am asleep. Number one, when we are asleep, we're in a state of insensibility. Insensibility. Out at the end of our driveway on Tuesday nights, we wheel our garbage can out there. Way up early in the morning, 4 o'clock in the morning, 4.30, 5 o'clock in the morning, a garbage man comes by the end of our driveway. He gets our garbage can. I never run out there to have a conversation with him. I never go out there to say, what are you doing to my garbage? You know why? Because I'm not interested in what's happening. I'm asleep. And if I'm asleep, I'm in a state of insensibility. All of my guard has been let down. Sleeping brings that state of insensibility. If there is anything that identifies a church member in need of revival, it is his apathy. It is no wonder, brother Sunday School teacher, that the greatest revivals that we've ever had were called awakenings. And the church is in A state of insensibility. We need an awakening. I know this to be true, that when I'm asleep, I'm in a state of insensibility. And then when I'm asleep, I'm in a state of illusion. Illusion. You dream about things that are ridiculous. Y'all know what I'm talking about? Stuff that don't make any sense whatsoever. I mean stuff that has, especially after you watch a documentary on the Discovery Channel about snakes and spiders. and you just assume that there's a 14 and a half foot anaconda under your bed. They don't live in North Carolina. You're totally insensible and it's illusion. I've had some of the most absurd dreams that you could ever imagine. Sometimes we'll get up in the morning and my wife will say to me, you're not gonna believe what I dreamed last night. She'll begin to tell me her dream and I say, that's crazy. And then I tell her my dream and she says, that is crazy. I remember one time I was dreaming that everything was too big in my life. I don't know how that happened. Everything was large. I was really small like Flat Stanley and everything else was massive. I got out of the bed that morning, and I rolled my feet out of the bed, and I noticed that when I got out of the bed, I just fell down to the floor. It was so far down there to the floor. And then I went to my dresser to change my clothes, and I couldn't reach the drawers on my dresser. I kept trying to pull the drawers open, and I couldn't reach them. And I went in the bathroom to try to turn on the sink, and I couldn't reach up on the sink to turn the faucet on. And then I got it. This is all in my dream. I got into the car, and the steering wheel was way up here, and I couldn't even see out in front of me. What in the world is all of that about? And I told somebody about that one time, and they said, it's because your ministry has gotten tough. It's because your ministry is too big for you. I said, whatever. Whatever. One time I dreamed that I woke up out of my sleep in my dream. Y'all are never going to have me back after this message. I was in my dream asleep and I woke up out of my sleep in my dream and when I rolled my feet off the bed to walk out onto the floor, the whole bedroom floor was covered with about three inches of grape jelly. And I walked into the bedroom and I said, what in the world did all this grape jelly come from? And I looked around and it looked like it went out into the hallway. So I walked out into the hallway and the hallway was full of two inches of grape jelly. And I walked over into the pantry area and it was full of jelly. And I walked into the kitchen and the floor was full of grape jelly. And I heard some racket being made in the living room. And so I walked into the living room and all the grape jelly was in the floor of the living room. And there was an American Indian woman standing over in the corner of the room. She had a big papoose on her head. She had a drum and she was doing an Indian dance in my living room in grape jelly. What is going on in my head? You can't make that stuff up. Truth be told, I know a lot of churches that are in a state of illusion. They're imagining things that are not even true. There are churches all over this community right here. We're in the Bible Belt. And there are churches right in this community right here that think, by and large, somebody else will reach my neighbor for Christ. I don't have to do that. You're dreaming. God gave you that responsibility. There may be people right here on the pews of Tabernacle Baptist Church, as good a church as this is. There may be people on the pews of this church right here tonight. You're in a state of illusion in your dream and you think that it doesn't matter whether you give to missions or not. You don't think it's important to give extra money to missions. That's not my responsibility. You're dreaming. There are people that think that, well, we don't have to do that at the church. The pastor will take care of it. You're dreaming. Over and over again we find people that are in a state of illusion in the church. And it seems absurd to us that they would think this way, but Satan has destroyed many good things while the church has been asleep. The Bible tells us about a sower. The Bible said he sowed indiscriminately on four different kinds of ground. Matthew chapter 13 records a story. You can read it for yourself. Some seed fell among the thorns. Some seed fell on the wayside. Some seed fell at the wayside. Some seed fell among the stones. And some seed fell into good ground and brought forth fruit. Do you remember that story? And the Bible tells us that in those other three kinds of ground, while those that sowed were asleep, the enemy came and stole the seed. Bad things happen when the church goes to sleep. We're guilty of involving ourselves in everything but the things that really matter. I think we better be careful in this generation lest we become like Eutychus and we get really good at doing things that have no eternal value and we fall asleep on the things that really matter. I'm thinking about a man named Jonah. I'm thinking about a commandment that was given to him to go to Nineveh. The Bible tells us that he paid the fare to go in the exact opposite direction. He didn't go to Nineveh. He went to Tarshish. The Bible tells us when he got into that ship he was surrounded by other men and those men were unbelievers and storms came and they began to call upon their gods. And the Bible says while they were calling upon their false gods, Jonah was in the bottom of the ship asleep. I'm thinking about the Garden of Gethsemane. I'm thinking about the Son of God, who the Bible said he went a little further in that garden. And the Bible says as he prayed earnestly, his sweat became as great drops of blood. He walked back out of that garden that night and he saw with him the inner circle Peter, James, and John. And the Bible said they were asleep. While the Son of God is praying for the redemption of mankind, Peter, James, and John have fallen asleep. I'm thinking about ten virgins. The Bible tells us that a midnight cry came. Five of those virgins had been wise and five of those virgins had been foolish. And when they were awakened out of their sleep, they realized that they had no oil. The Bible said that when the midnight cry came, I'm paraphrasing all of this for the story. When the midnight cry came, those that were unwise said to the wise, give us of your oil. And the wise said, no, you can't have our oil unless there not be enough for us and you. You can't have ours. And it was while they were asleep, they became very, very foolish. Very foolish. And I'm thinking about Eutychus. who had the greatest preacher outside of the Lord Jesus Christ that any church has ever had. And the Bible tells us that he fell asleep right there while the Apostle Paul, and I'm telling you, there's a lot of men I'd like to hear preach, but I'm telling you to sit at the feet of the Apostle Paul. Eutychus sat there and he fell asleep. I'm not here tonight to fuss about people that have long schedules and early mornings and diabetic problems and fatigue, and I'm not here to fuss about that on a practical level tonight, but on a spiritual level, there's a call for this church to wake up, as there is for all of us to be awake. Let's stand tonight. Thank you, Pastor, for the opportunity to stand here again As was the scenario this morning, our piano player is coming, and if you need to come and pray about what you've heard tonight, the challenge is as practical as I could make it. I wanted to make it as simple and as practical as I possibly could. The truth be told, many of us have fallen asleep when we should have been awake. We've fallen asleep in the will of God, on the will of God, in the kingdom of God. We've fallen asleep when we should have been alert. We should have been watching. We should have been praying. We should have been awake and we fell asleep. Is that your testimony tonight? Are you further out than you are in? Are you outside? Are you not inside? Are you not interested? Are you not involved? You'll find yourself paying a high price for falling asleep when you should not be asleep. As Samson paid a high price. As Jonah paid a high price. As the five foolish virgins paid a high price. You can find yourself paying a high price. The Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter number 13, for now is the time that is high time to awake out of sleep. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us put off the works of darkness. Amen to that. Thank you, brother Paul, for those words. Let's be awake and aware. Pastor is coming to lead the congregation in the invitation.