Come to this fountain so rich and sweet. Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet. Punch in today and be made complete. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Thank you, may I have a seat? Thank you, Ms. Carolyn. Let's sing that chorus again. Let's just sing it. I want to hear your voices this morning. Some of you may not feel that well. God knows your heart. Let's sing it just a little bit. Here we go. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood of Christ, glory to His name. All God's people said, Amen. How many are thankful for the Lord this morning? Tell me something you're thankful for. Getting out of it. What's that? Being able to get out of it on the right way. How many of y'all say Amen? And if you're not, some of that are watching home. If you're not from here, that's a big statement to get out of your driveway, up your road, down your mountain. I'm so glad that you're here and it might get a little colder this evening and freeze back over. We're here for a few minutes. Anybody else? Yes, sir. Amen. Amen. Amen. Yes, sir. Amen, amen, it's good to see Miss Ellen here. And don't try to elbow her. Y'all give her some space. Glad she's here. Yes, Sir. Amen, amen, we appreciate all you do to a man. Hey, maybe else I miss somebody. Yes, Sir. Amen, precious gift of our Savior. That's right. Yes. Thank God for the Word. Amen. It stands sure. It stands sure. Yes, Ms. Julia. I just want to thank the Lord during this snowstorm and we were snowed in and did not have power for it from Sunday night until Friday. My neighbors took good care of John and me. Amen. They made sure we were warm and fed. Amen. Amen. Now that's the Christian way. Amen. Amen. Thank you, sister. That's wonderful. Thank you. Neighbors. That's great. That's what Christians do. Amen. Brother Light Brother Mansfield. Amen. Amen. Yes, sir. For the school? Amen. Amen. Amen. We're raising them up right. I saw two Jerry West jerseys last night. I was like, yes! They got a good education. Of course, I know that's family, too. But I love that. I love that. Go Mountaineers. Anybody else? A lot to be thankful for. I'd like to take your Bible turn to Jude this morning. The book of Jude. So good to see you out. And there is not a sign up sheet. I kept saying I'm going to get one and with the weather and things for the for the couples retreat. If you'd like to go to that, you can send me a text and say preacher sign me up or if you have any questions about that. I know sometimes people have questions about taking children. And babysitters and that type of thing can hold that up. And we understand that. But we will make arrangements if you want to go. We'll try our best to help you all we can. That is in Pigeon Forge, by the way. And Brother Roger Pawley this year is going to be the speaker. And we're looking forward to that. I love going to that. And I actually have a Bucky's gift card I'm dying to spend. So I've got to get there. But I'm serious, I really do. But if you'd like to go see me about that, we'll put a sign-up sheet. We've done it for several years. and I have a great, great time. I want you to look with me at Jude, the book of Jude this morning, and I do thank you for praying for Miss Denise and her family and praying for others that are hurting and sick, and I'd ask you to pray. I got to visit the hospital there yesterday. There's a lot of folks hurting. Even in bad weather, people still hurting. Even in the holidays, people still hurting. But I thank God he answers prayer this morning, amen? And I thank God he saves and changes lives. We're going to continue this morning, and I'm going to just share a little outline with you today. I won't keep you too long, but since you're here, we might as well be here for a little bit. Amen? And we will have service tonight at 6. Now, again, if it snows, obviously use some discretion and wisdom. If it snows three inches here from 2 o'clock to 4 o'clock, we'll use some common sense. But it looks like they've missed it, and I praise the Lord for that. But Jude, I want to look at just a couple of verses here. And I'm going to bring a message on one word that I can honestly say I've never preached before. And you're going to see the word. In fact, I doubt very seriously this morning you've ever heard a sermon on it. I have never heard a sermon on it, but I'm going to attempt to do it, uh, within the confines of this passage. And of course, we know that in the book of Jude, this is about false teachers and false teaching. We've been looking at that also on Sunday night. In fact, I'm going to give you five more markers to how to spot a false teacher. We're living in a day of false teaching. By the way, not just today, but surely been since the early church. Jude is addressing this. It says, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. By the way, that's a great verse, isn't it? Aren't you glad that love be multiplied? Beloved, look what it says now. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. As Jude is writing this letter, he's saying, I love you and I want the best, we thank God for salvation, but you need to earnestly contend for the faith. In fact, could y'all say that with me, that one statement, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith. Let's do it one more time. That you should earnestly contend for the faith. And verse four says, for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation and godly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And thank God that he is our Lord today. But I want you to go back to our text and we've been really just taking that statement that you should earnestly contend for the faith. And we talked about being earnest. We talked about contending, and this morning, I wanna bring a message on that little word, for. That's the title, for. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I ask you to be with us this morning. I thank you for these folks who are still getting out of their driveways, still frozen over yards, and still living in an area now that we're trying to recover from the weather. But I thank you, Lord, they're here. And I pray you'd encourage them. I pray you'd bless them and help them. We do pray for those who are at home and pray you'd encourage and help them as well. Lord, I pray for these next moments that you would just help us to study your word, to focus on your word, to let the Holy Spirit lead us and guide us and empower us to live out your word. And Lord, we'll be careful to give you all the praise. And Lord, I think it a great honor to be here. I love our people and I love this church. And Lord, I know Satan would like nothing more than to discourage and to hurt and to harm this place. But Lord, help us to be a lighthouse. Whether it's weather, whether it's the darkness of our culture, whatever it may be, Lord, help us to be what you would have us to be. Well, we need you. I thank you for these prayers of praise. And if we took the time, it'd be even more because we all have those praises upon our heart. Well, we love you. And we ask for your blessing now in Jesus name. Amen. And all of God's people said. That, the word for, of course, if you, I'm not gonna give you an English lesson, you have to have a little bit of English in this. I'm not gonna, oh no, here we go, I thought we wasn't having grammar since I was in high school, but that little word for, of course, in English is a preposition. In fact, we're gonna talk about this just a little bit, because we have to understand what that word means. I'm going to take what that little word means and apply it to our hearts and to our lives, because I think every single word of God is ordained of God. It's preserved by the Lord. And I know people talk about Scripture and what the Bible is, but I've got a Bible in my hands that I believe has been preserved by God. I'm thankful this morning that I can stand and preach, thus saith the Lord. I don't have to wonder, I don't have to question. In fact, when we think about this word for, I thought I knew what it meant, and there's a lot of different ways that a preposition can be used, but it is a purpose or reason for something. In fact, we have to even use the word to even describe it in itself. It is, in fact, an intended goal. Somebody has a reason or a purpose, we'll say that they are for. In fact, I like this one, and there are several definitions of it, but I like this one, and that is on behalf of, or representing. I was thinking this morning as I was driving to church and on the roads that what a privilege it's been. I've been administrator now this year will be 26 years and I've been to a lot of Christian school meetings and a lot of places where I had the honor and privilege of representing, as Brother Justin mentioned, Pipe Stem Christian Academy. And I get to vote for our school. And down here in Summers County, we vote with all the big schools and all the big communities and all the big areas. And I'll say, well, Pipe Stem votes for that. And we always vote for anything that's going to be for Christian education. We'll say, we'll vote, and we are for that. Now, there's been times where I've said, no, we're against that. And I consider that a great honor. And this morning, as we get ready to inaugurate a new president, as we live in a transition time, we will vote in our nations, I'm for that or I'm against that. I thank God for that. Our ancestors bled and died so that we could do that. In fact, we thank being, I'm a representative or on behalf of. In fact, I'd go around this building this morning, and I could ask you what you are for. Now, let me say this. Most people this morning, you don't have to wonder what they're for usually. I mentioned those two young men had on, I saw the picture they had on their Jerry West jerseys. The Mountaineers beat the number two team in the nation. They stormed the court last night. Wearing their blue and gold. And I was like, go! I loved it. I was like, I'm going to storm it with them. Even though I wasn't even there. But you knew in that gym who they were for. You didn't have to wonder. In fact, if you drive down in our community here, you'll see flags and signs up. I love watching the videos where somebody from Europe or England will, they'll ask him, so what is different in America than in your country? And they'll say, well, one thing about it, y'all really put up the American flags, y'all are very patriotic. And I've watched them videos and just scream, just yelling at my phone, that's right, we're for America. Right? I've been out of town and saw a West Virginia symbol, and man, I'm drawn to it like a mosquito. I'm like, who is that? Where are they from? And West Virginians always will find each other. Y'all notice that? I don't think we've ever done that. They can go to a different university, different college, and West Virginians will always find each other, because that's what they're for. And most people will tell you what they're for. They have it on their bumper sticker. They'll say, my child is an honor student. Or they'll have their little school. I was on the road a lot this week, and I saw signs of different schools. I could tell. I went across the bridge, and I guess some schools got a good ball team and said, go Lancers. I don't know who it is, but they were letting me know that that community, as you're driving down 95 or whatever interstate I was on, that that community was for their team. They risked life and limb to let everybody know who they were for. And I was driving down, I said, I don't know who that is, but boy, they were into it. And I saw that again and again. How many of y'all know what I'm talking about this morning? Many of you watching the playoffs, if you watch them today, I mean, our nation will be dressed in whatever colors they are. And I'm not real happy about the way it's going, but we'll save somebody's foursome. Now, you say, all of those things, we understand that. We are very adamant about what we're for. If you talk to somebody very long, you'll know that they're for maybe working out, or they're for hunting, or they're for fishing, or whatever it may be. And I love those things. I like to see somebody that's got a little passion, a little excitement, that they are for something. To be for and against something is the human condition. We ought to be for something. You ought to stand for something. You may have heard the old saying, if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. One of the things that I loved when I first came to Cush Chapel many years ago, and I was dating Miss Cindy, I thought, well, here's a group of people that are actually for something. Instead of just going through the motions and just, you know, whatever, I don't like that. I want somebody to be foursome. Even if I disagree with them, I'm like, hey, at least you're foursome. In fact, speaking of sports, I missed sitting out several years ago, I had the privilege to go to a ballgame and a guy was at the ballgame and he was deck head to toe on the opposing team's callers. But I was so impressed by that, he and I took a picture together. I said, anybody that's for their team, even if I hope your team gets beat, but if you're that much for it, I respect that. How many of you know what I'm talking about? And this morning, church, what I want you to draw your attention to is you and I, it ought to be our goal to represent and be for the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to be for. It ought not be a question. It ought not be any doubt whatsoever. We ought to leave no doubt of who we are for. That we are in the positive. That we are representative. We stand on behalf of. And not be ashamed and not hang our head and not be upset. We are for. In fact, I'm going to give you about four or five things that When we think about being a representative, it is our goal. It should be our goal. Again, look what it says, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith. Obviously, it doesn't say against the faith or be neutral with the faith. but for the faith. It has the idea, in fact, let me give you some thoughts on this one. Number one, it ought to be our goal, we ought to be representing, we ought to be in the affirmative, the positive, but our goal to have a life of faith. A life of faith. I've been studying the last few weeks about the Protestant Reformation and Martin Luther's first and second catechism. I was in a Lutheran church this week and I was learning about what the Lutherans believe. I study this stuff all the time. I enjoy it. One of the things that he did is he read the verse, the just shall live by faith. The Bible says that the just shall live by faith. We believe in faith and we're going to talk about that faith. And of course we know that that's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know about the birth the sinless life, the vicarious death on the cross, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. That is the gospel. That is why we're here this morning. It is not baptism. It is not the Lord's Supper. It is not being a member of this church. It is the faith that was once delivered to the saints. In fact, if you read the next verse, there were certain men crept in, and they were denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. If we deny the Lord in any way whatsoever, we are enemies to the faith. And you and I ought to be living a life of faith. How do we live that life of faith? How does the just live by faith? Now, we live by faith. We trust the Lord each day. In fact, as a pastor, we're like, Lord, we're trying to make the right decisions. Lord, I hope we can do everything financially you want us to do. I want to be careful. But it comes to some point as a pastor, you just say, well, Lord, I'm just going to, I'm going to trust you by faith. I'm just going to live by faith. Let me give you some ways that we do that. There's some ways we do it. First of all, our decisions that we make ought to be by faith. In fact, when you got saved, you remember, you decided to not make a decision is a decision. And this morning when we decided for Christ, we said, yes, I believe that He died for the cross. Our decision was by faith. We didn't understand everything. We don't know all the details. We're not maybe theologians or scholars. We don't speak the original Greek or the Hebrew or Aramaic, which is what our Savior spoke. We don't know any of those things, but we do know this, and that is we're going to make a decision to trust God by faith. We're going to have His Righteousness put to our account. That's the doctrine of imputation. I believed that before I knew what it was. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 says, He became sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We have His righteousness. It is He that died on the cross. And we live a life, we make that decision. Another thing that we do is our directions. are for the faith. Everything that we do. By the way, that's why denominations and churches and whole groups can get off kilter because their decisions and their direction gets away from the faith. Now don't misunderstand me. I want us to have a big crowd. I really do. I want our building to be good. I want the offerings to come in. I want us to, man, I covet new buses. I see a new bus going down the road, I'm like, oh Lord, please give us a new bus at PCA. I've asked the Lord, Lord, before I die, can we just have one brand new bus that I can just ride around in? I'd ride around it just for fun. I want all those things, but let me say this to you this morning, all that's true, but what we need more than anything is to make sure that our direction is going the right direction. We're not just here to have a school for somebody to come and learn science and English and history, and I love all those things. The main reason we're here this morning is to lift up the blood-stained banner of the cross, and if we get off of that, we fail as a church. It must be. In fact, I interview a lot of parents and families that want to come to our school. I said, look, we have a ball team. We have a good education. We want you to have all those things. But let me ask you the most important thing. Do you understand that when it comes right down to it, though, we are for Christ? That's what it's about. In fact, if we're not for that, we don't have anything, church. And thank God this morning, I think I'm with the crowd that wants that. decisions, our directions. How about this? Also our delights. What is it that you delight in? What is it that we are excited about? In fact, you'll notice in this word, in verse four, it talks about a big word. We don't really use it today. It's an old English word, lasciviousness. That's an interesting word because it has a lot of different things that come with it. We would basically just say it today in a hillbilly way, and that is just evil living. It's more than that, but it's living an evil life. It has to do with our flesh and with our fleshly nature. And what happened was is that false teachers will come in and they will appeal to our own flesh. Like, well, preacher, Peyton's too narrow. That church is too strict. Or they're too much on the Bible. They need to go on feelings. They need to go on culture. We need to be, as I've seen recently, we need to be all-inclusive. Got to be very careful, church, this morning that we live a life that even our delights, what is it that we delight in? Our flesh, sometimes we just do what appeases the flesh. What is it that we delight in? What is it? And Jude is talking about that. He said, look, I understand this, but don't let those men that are crept in under the wear. And he goes in, he says, I'll put you in remembrance that how you knew the Lord, keep on following him. Don't let your own flesh. And boy, it's easy sometimes to get looking to the left or to the right because our flesh is weak. You and I need to make sure I'm for Him. I am for Christ. It's a life of faith. In fact, I wrote this down. It really ought to be church this morning. And this sounds cliché. It sounds like what a preacher would say. But I'm going to say it anyway. And that is this. A gospel permeated life. I like what Dr. Clarence Sexton used to say at Crown. He would say that He is on that word preeminence, that He might have the preeminence. He said He's not just at number one on your list. You want to say Jesus first. And that's true. But Dr. Sexton, I love the way he used to say this. God rest his soul. He'd say, but Jesus is more than that. He ought to be the central focus of our life. By that, every list we have, He's first. If it's work, He's on our list first. If it's school, He's on our list first. If it's play, if it's leisure, He is number one. In every list we have, if it's family, He's on our list. Everything we do ought to be about Christ. So when we say that we are for, they're like, man, he is for Christ. I think sometimes even Christians are, we might be for rules or we may be for, you know, some cultural thing. Listen, this is not cultural. This isn't just, oh, that's what the hillbillies believe. That's just what that church believes. No, this is bigger than this, than just us. We live a life of faith. It is a gospel permeated life. Secondly, not only a life of faith, but how about this? It also has the idea of representing to live out our faith. I wrote this down, not just in word, but in deed. It encourages me to hear neighbors taking care of neighbors. Amen? That's what God's people do. In fact, most of us that have been saved for a while, we're like, yeah. That's not really shocking. But you do realize that when you get away from that Christian teaching, why would you do it? Now we do it because of the Lord. The Lord's changed our life, man. We want to be kind. The Bible's pretty clear. If you read your Bible at all, pretty obvious. It just jumps off the page at you. Jesus, when you think of Jesus, you think of Him constantly doing this, obviously. We are following in the footsteps of Jesus. We are representing Him. We are being light to our neighbor. We're being friends, even to people who don't like us. I love the story of dancers in Genesis, and there was certain crowds that were out there and they were protesting, had signs up. And you know what Dr. Ham did? He said, now take some water and sandwiches out to those people that are protesting against us. And I heard it and I thought, yeah, that's exactly what you should do. Pray for them and love them. Jesus said, pray for them that despitefully use you. To love them. That's what our Savior does. And while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. See, I thought, yes, that's the Jesus thing. To help your neighbor, to help your friend, that is living out our faith. In fact, when a person does that, you are screaming to the community and to your neighbor and to your friend and sometimes to your enemy who you are for. I mean, it's fine if you wear a necklace with a cross. It's fine if you have a different collar on or you wear a suit, whatever. That's fine. But that's not what tells the world that you know Jesus. That's not what tells your neighbor that you know Jesus. It is when you put your faith in action. In fact, there's so many ways. I wrote down a few of them. We took up an offering this morning. You know, giving is a way that you can show People don't like that, but it's true. When a person gives, they do that. I was in a church here that Ms. Denise grew up in, and they had beautiful stained glass windows, beautiful. And in the bottom of it, it said, in memory of, and it had a family who obviously I don't know who it is. And they probably may have been, that church has been there since 1870. 1870. Now, think about this. I don't know who that is, but that stained glass window is still there. And that's been there for all those years. Some of them have messages of the cross, messages of the Lord, and by somebody giving and donating, doing that, it kept that there as a testimony. I could tell that story again and again and again. By somebody doing that, hey, they're living out their faith. The sacrifices. Brother Justin mentioned the school that kept PCA here. It's not by accident. It's by design. That's kept this church here. That keeps the buses rolling. That keeps the vans moving. All these things. It's by somebody saying, you know what, I'm going to give. And many times give above and beyond. And many times, it's just a little bit of money. I've seen God take a little bit, a little as much than God is in. He'll take a little bit and do something great. Also, not only giving, but also going. Why do we go? Why do we go do what we do? Why do we do the things that we do as a church, as a pastor? Why does he do that? Why do we do that? It's because we are for Christ. We are for Christ. Well, I went to the hospital yesterday and got to pray. And you know who we prayed to? We prayed to the Lord Jesus Christ for someone. They were praying for me as I was praying for them. You see, this morning, church, we live out our faith doing, and then I wrote this one down, and continuing. I'm concerned this morning as a pastor that some folks start, but they don't continue. I remember in school, I remember in school, I would start out the semester pretty good, but then somewhere along the line, I'd start to fall off. We start out those New Year's resolutions pretty good, but then we're like, oh man, this is quitting day, I'm done. Our cheat day ends up to cheat weeks. And if we're not careful, we'll kind of give up. Let me say this to you this morning. When you say, I'm earnestly contending for the faith, it's not a one-time thing. It's not one day. You know, when I was a young preacher, I was really impressed when somebody would say amen in church. I still am, by the way. I love that. They say, amen, preacher! I love that, because that gets me going. I get excited. I'm emotional that way. But I learned something. There were some people that would say amen, and then two years later, I didn't know where they were at. But there was some that wouldn't say amen, been in church for 40 and 50 years. And I said, Lord, I think that's a little louder amen. That is a scream of an amen. To come in every time the doors are open, to continue to do it. And they're living out their faith by continuing. They might be quiet and have a different personality, but they continue in the faith. In fact, the Bible speaks of continuing. Jesus looked at his disciples and said, will you also go away? Will you go away? Sometimes I think he lets us go through things to see, are you going to go away? Are you for the faith? Are you for it? Now, sometimes we mention the Mountaineers, if they lose, we're not quite as happy, are we? We're not really for them as much. If you're a diehard fan, we say, I don't care if they lose every game, I'm for it, that's still my team. We ought to even be more so that way for our Lord. the life of faith, to live out our faith. How about this? Another way that we can represent and be for it is to love our faith. Jesus looked at Peter. Remember after Peter fell away from the Lord? Y'all remember that? Jesus looked at Peter and it's a beautiful scene. It's a convicting scene. It's an uncomfortable scene in the Scripture. And that's when Jesus looks at Peter and says, Because remember how Peter denied him three times. I mean, I've heard some great sermons on it, and I've heard some great teaching on it. You can go back and read that this afternoon, but Jesus basically looks at Peter and quizzes him, and he asks him again and again. I think it's three times there because many, many scholars believe he's trying to equal that out. It's a great passage. But he says, Peter, do you love me? Now, I don't know about you all, but when I read it, by the third time that Jesus said that, I'm already, I'm breaking down. I'm saying, oh man. Can you imagine your Lord looking at you and saying, do you love me? Do you love me? Are we really for? Why did our ancestors go and fight wars for our freedom in this country, the freedom to vote and freedom to assemble and all the freedoms that we so enjoy? It was because they were for something. They loved. You see, this morning, church, the question is, do we love our faith? Do we have a love for God? I wrote down some things that I love, I hope that you love. I love the Bible. How many of y'all love the Bible? The precious old Bible. God's holy word, I love it, I hope that you love it. You're here this morning, you obviously have some love for it. We have Sunday school, we do Wednesday night. Man, we have vacation Bible school. We stay in the word of God. When I think of Cook's Chapel, I think of the Bible. I think of the word of God. That's what we need. Do we have that love for the Bible? How about this? I love church. I had a lot of time to drive. About everybody in here, I thought about you as I was driving. I wonder if they're okay. I wonder if they're doing good. And the Lord puts that on my heart. That's a pastor's thing, I guess. I was thinking, okay, I wonder if they're coming back. I wonder if they're sick. I wonder if they're okay. Are they traveling? And I would think and think about them. I don't want to aggravate them. I want them to check on them. I want to make sure they're all right. And let me say something to you. I love church. I hope that you have a love for church. The Bible says that God purchased the church with His own blood. It is the pillar and ground of truth. In fact, we don't give enough reverence to the local church according to God's Word. We almost act like, well, I'll quit everything else, or I'll quit church before I quit anything else. Well, it ought to be the other way around. It is the church that holds up the gospel. It is the church that does the reaching out. It is the church and what God did with the church. He purchased with his own blood. How about this? Do you love fellow believers? How about this? Preaching and teaching. I'm a preacher so I love preaching. I even love preachers that are not that great at preaching. In fact, when I hear preaching, I'm like, man, he's not that good. He's like, ah, that's pretty good. If they're preaching the Word, and they live in holy and godly, I'm like, you know what? That's pretty good preaching right there. They might not be as a dynamic speaker, but I've heard some dynamic speakers, and they're like, eh, that's not really the Word. I thank God this morning for preaching, for teaching. I thank God for the teaching. I've heard some fantastic. We're in Romans chapter 11 in our Sunday school. And you realize, church, this morning, with just a handful in our Sunday school, there's been more Bible verses shared here than many places in this whole nation. Brother Kevin, going through whole books of the Bible. We're going through Ephesians on Wednesday night. We take that for granted. That's not everywhere. I thank God for that. The preaching and the teaching of the Word of God. How about missionaries and missions? Aren't you thankful this morning for missions? I am for missions. I am for missionaries. Brother Paul Childress has his whole family in Italy. I watched him when he played basketball at PCA. He wasn't a missionary to Italy. In fact, I remember Brother Kevin, they put him in the game. He could foul as good as anybody. He wasn't a great basketball, but he'd tell you that. He could foul, though. He had five. Sees kids serving God. Saw his daughter playing an accordion, ministering in Italy. I mean, just amazing. I could go on and on this morning. I thank God for that. That young man had a heart for the Lord. His church, his parents had a lot to do with that, of course, but how about this? Do we love youth? Man, I love young people. I've been trying to pick up on their language. I'm not very good at it. They say no cap and riz and probably words I don't even know what mean. I'm scared to say them. They've got three or four different meanings. But I like being around young people. I like it. I took them. You say, Preach, why'd you do that? I took them. We went and ate Mexican food in the middle of this bad weather on Wednesday night. And I had the best time. And I talked to them. And I talked to them about who they're going to marry, what music they listen to, what's God doing in their life, what's the Bible mean to them. What about, I want to hear them, I want to talk to them, I want to connect with them. I want them to know that, hey, their pastor loves them. But most importantly, that the Lord loves them. It's just the Lord that cares about their life. I remember seeing preachers when I was young. Some of y'all remember Brother Ed Morgan. I met Brother Ed Morgan, long-time pastor. I remember Fred Kinsworth, some of these old, some of y'all that are older know some of these preachers. And I was a teenager and young person. I remember thinking, oh, if I could only be like them. Somebody the other night, Brother Kevin, coming up to me at the ballgame said, you ever talk to Coach Stamper, George Stamper? I said, I thought, Lord, thank you so much. for these men that invested in our lives. Thank you so much for these, even when I was a kid and a teenager. I was so excited one time, I remember I was playing football with my cousins and, this is silly, but I threw a football about, I used to really fling a football, and I made it in a basketball goal, but I was by myself. I was like, nobody saw me. I thought about 60 yards. I looked around. And I got to church that night. Our pastor came up. His father-in-law was our neighbor. And if you're from where we're from, neighbors, we're all very close. And he said, hey, I saw you today. The pastor. I said, what? He said, yeah. He said, you made that shot. He said, that was something else. Hey, he could have told me I won the Olympics and could not have been there. At my age, I've never forgot it because a pastor took just a minute to acknowledge my existence, to see something I've done. And I've never, I always said, in fact, when he passed away, I said, I'm going to go to that man's funeral because he cared enough. He said, preacher, what are you talking about? Listen, when you are for the gospel, when you are for Christ, all of this adds into it. He said, oh, it's not that big a deal. I never forgot it. It's not that big a deal. Listen, when you're kind and you love people, and you pray for them, and you show them the gospel, and you show them that, hey, God is good, it is powerful. Are you for the gospel? Outreach, love, truth, godliness. I like hearing the truth. I like hearing, even if it upsets me a little bit, even if I get aggravated, I thank God for the truth. The people that I most respect in my life are the people that love me enough to tell me the truth. Then shoot it straight, even if I get a little offended. Many of you know my testimony. I did not care for my granddad, because he would tell, he would shoot me straight. He'd about half of y'all offended, I'll just be honest with you. But he shot me straight all the time. I was like, man, Papa, you hard on somebody. But I knew if I wanted to hear the truth, who to go to. And I knew he would tell me straight up. And as I got older, I realized he truly loved me, because he told me the truth. If somebody lies to you, they don't love you. I'm thankful this morning for that. Number four, real quickly. Hey, when you're for the faith, you let go of some things. See, if you're for something, you gotta let go of something. What are some of the things that we need to let go of? What are some of the things, anything that makes us stumble, anything that makes us stagger, anything that makes, that sidetracks us? How about, how about this, anything that's sinful? Are we willing to take up the cross and follow Him? We don't have to. We almost act like we're doing God a favor. I learned a long time ago, church, and I think most of you know this, I'm not doing God any favors. God, it's a privilege and honor. If I say, well, I've gotten discouraged, I've gotten frustrated, I think I'll just quit. You think God's gonna quit because I quit? The sun will still come up, those flowers will still bloom in the spring, the gospel will still be preached, I just won't have the privilege of being in on it. He is still good. He is still wonderful. And by the way, we got to let go of whatever it is that's holding us back. You better let go. If you're for the Lord, you got to let go. We would not want to be, in fact, I study a lot. I love early American history. You do not want to be a Benedict Arnold for the Lord. You study that, man. They bring up that name, you about getting a fight. Because they, it's like, man, he turned, he's a turncoat. Whatever you be, don't do that, especially on the Lord. You can be that on your sports team. You can be that on your favorite food. You can be that on something that doesn't matter. But when it comes to the Lord, hey, let's make sure that we are for Him. And we need to let go. Maybe this morning you say, yeah, I need to let go. I got something in my life that's keeping me out of church, keeping me out of the Bible, keeping me away from walking with God. It's keeping me from defending the faith. It's keeping me from being who God wants me to be. I need to let go of that. And by the way, that's a whole lot harder to do than you think. and only by God's grace. And then let me say this, we'll close. If you're for the Lord, you notice here, he has the idea, we're talking about it on Wednesday night, about putting on that whole armor, put on that belt, that breastplate of righteousness, that helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit. We need lastly this morning, if we're for, we're gonna earnestly contend for the faith, we need to launch out by faith. I've been thinking about it. If not us, who? If not here, where? If not now, when? Whatever we do, we need to do it for the Lord. We need to do it. Oh, I'll get to it later. I'll do it next year. I'll do it sometime. We need to be for God and for Him today. We don't have another moment. We're not guaranteed another time. When the Bible says earnestly contend for the faith, it has the idea of right now. I'll get in that battle later on. Those young people, we teach them and train them to love the Mountaineers. Absolutely. I love that. But what we really want for them is, hey, even at a young age, I'll tell you what, if Pastor Gal said to be for the faith, I'm going to be for the faith. If my mom and dad said to be for the faith, I'm going to be for the faith. If it's what the Bible says, hey, I'm going to do what God's Word says. Even if it makes everybody mad. Even if it turns the world upside down. Whatever it is, don't let those certain men, cryptic and unawares, have the day. We have to have God's people say, absolutely not. Absolutely not. We're going to stand for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. And we're not going to budge, and we're not going to hedge, and we're not going to give in. We're going to stand without apology. And then not only that, we're going to launch out by faith. We're going to keep doing what God wants us to do. We're going to stay on the radio. Keep on passing out tracks. Keep on knocking on doors. Keep on checking on people. Hey, how's your faith? How are you walking with God? Hey, do you know a friend? Invite a friend. Invite a neighbor. Hey, teenager, we're coming for you. Hey, kids, we want you to come. We're still going to have Bible school. We're still going to have baptisms. We're still going to have a Christian school. We're going to keep on launching out every day for the faith in Jesus Christ. And not let up. I mean, it's easy to say, well, you know, I just kind of want to know. We want to make sure, church, to earnestly contend for. This week, I want you in your heart and in mine just to say this, just to pray, Lord, help me to be for. Help me to be for the Word. Help me to be for church. Help me to be for the faith. Help me to be for the Gospel. Help me for the outreaches. Help me to give whatever it is. Lord, help me. to be for the faith. And so I'll stand with every head bowed and right closed this morning. Heavenly Father, you've heard every word. Lord, I know I fail you in a thousand places, but Holy Spirit of God, help us to be for you. Help our church to be for the gospel. Lord, I think here in the middle of this weather, this good crowd coming, there's some folks here, Lord, they are for it. That's why they're here. They're voting for the preacher. They're voting for the church. And most important, Lord, they're voting for You and Your Word and the Gospel that's preached here by their very presence. I pray You'd encourage them. I pray You'd help them. I pray You'd embolden them. I pray You'd help their families. And even those who cannot be here or would not be here, we pray for them. Lord, help us in our hearts to say, Lord, I want me and my family. I want me as an individual. I want me and my work wherever their life leads them to be for the faith. Help us, Lord, to be for it. With every head bowed and every eye closed, we're not going to hold you long. There's a piano against the play if you want to come, just as I am, without one plea. If you want to come this morning and say, man, I'm not saved. I want to come and get right. Will you come? Maybe you're saved, but you're not where you need to be if you want to come. Maybe you want to pray where you're at and say, Lord, help me to be for you. Help me to be for the faith. Make this one little small decision. It could be getting something out of your life. It could be letting go of something. I don't know. I don't know every heart. God help us to be for you. Let's take our handbooks. 270, 270. Most of us know it. Let's sing just as I am. We'll close. I'm not going to keep you long. Let you go here just a second. Let's sing, Just As I Am. Let God speak to your heart. Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bidst me come land of God, I come, I come. Amen. Church, I'm going to let you get on out to your vehicles. I'm not going to stand in the back, but I'm going to pray and dismiss. Be safe going home to heavenly father. I pray you'd be with our church. I love them. We love those who've watched online, but I pray Lord now, as we travel home, you'll be with us. Help us Lord to be for you in Jesus name. Amen. All of God's people said be safe. I will announce this afternoon.