Chapter number one. The Lord blessed our day. Thank the Lord for being able to ride around with Preacher Jones through the course of the day. I got to pour a little bit of water on the hands of the man of God, took him down for an appointment and a procedure that he had to have and enjoyed every mile of the trip there and back, talking with the man of God and just enjoying being around. I know there's a dozen men in this church that would have done that for him, but the Lord let me do that for the man of God today. and I made some precious memories with him. Thank you for being faithful. Faces are here tonight that have been here in every single service, and I appreciate your faithfulness to the house of the Lord. And thank you, preacher, again for the invitation to be here. All of the hospitality has been second to none. The food has been wonderful. And yes, I am gonna preach a short message because we're gonna have banana splits after the service. this evening. Let's find our place in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. And I'll be reading from verse number 12 in that text of Scripture. And I trust you'll keep your Bible open as we extract several truths out of this verse, make some cross-reference applications. And I want to preach tonight on this subject, the courtroom of my conscience. the courtroom of my conscience." Would you read with us in verse number 12 of 2 Corinthians chapter number 1. Paul said, "...for our rejoicing is this..." Notice what he said, "...the testimony of our conscience." that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to You, Lord." Would you pray with us that God will honor the reading of His Word tonight. Father, we once again come before You tonight asking You to empty us of self, so that we may be filled with the Spirit. I pray, Lord, that the message that You've laid on our hearts will find a resting place in the life of every individual in this auditorium tonight. Begin with me, Lord, work in my heart these truths so that I can help Your people, and we'll thank You for all that You do for us, through us, and in us. In the name that is above every name we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. There is no greater commentary on the Bible than the Bible itself. And I love to run cross-references when I'm preparing for a message. And in preparation for this passage to be preached in our church, I came across the words also written by the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 13 and verse number 18, where Paul said, pray for us. For we trust we have a good conscience in all things, willing to live honestly." The Apostle Paul requested of the Hebrew believers that they pray that his conscience would be good, that his conscience would be clear. And in the two passages that I've read for you this evening, it appears that the Apostle Paul was concerned about the condition of his conscience. His concern for his conscience was so much of a concern to him that he requested prayer of church after church after church in the New Testament that his conscience would be and remain clear and clean. If there was anyone in the New Testament that had a reason to pray for his conscience, it certainly was the Apostle Paul. This is a man that persecuted the early church, divided men from their wives, saw families divided not for felonies but because of their faith, sent to prison due to the testimony of the Apostle Paul in courtroom experience after courtroom experience. It was Saul that stood by and watched as Stephen, the first martyr in the New Testament, took his last breath. The Bible tells us, while those unbelieving Jews stoned Stephen, they laid down their coats at the feet of a young man whose name was Saul. No doubt early on in his life he had memories of dying believers whom he himself persecuted and brought to courtroom experiences and died, not again for a felony, but for their faith. That lived on in the conscience of the Apostle Paul. And he requested of church after church, I'll list them for you here in just a moment, that they would pray that God would cleanse his conscience. He lived with a loud voice in the courtroom of his heart that condemned and affirmed his actions. He often asked believers to pray for him. By definition, the word conscience, and I'll give you a biblical definition tonight, the word conscience is the God-created, self-judging faculty of man. And everyone has one. You don't have to be a Christian to have a conscience. God has put conscience into the heart and into the spirit of every man in this world. Just as when we feel pain on a physical level that warns us about damaging our body, so we feel the voice of conscience that warns us about the damage of the inner man. Our conscience is like a If I could say it this way, it's a kind of moral standard between right and wrong created and implanted into the heart of every human being. As a matter of fact, it's built into the very framework of who you are. It either affirms or it accuses. Just like in a courtroom setting, we find those truths to rise out of the Scriptures time after time after time. It is the facility where we pass judgment upon ourselves. And Paul spoke often of his own. Matters of his conscience took precedence in all of his writings. Two times in the book of Acts, in the words of Paul we read about his conscience. Three times in Romans. Nine times in 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Five times in the Timothys. For one time in Titus and five times in the book of Hebrews, Paul spoke over and over again about the condition of his own conscience. And by and large, when he spoke of his conscience, he did so in judicial terms. That is, in the very passage that we've taken tonight, he said, my conscience, it gives a testimony. That's a judicial terminology. It accuses. It affirms, it accuses, and excuses. In fact, we read that directly in verse number 12. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience. Inside of the heart of every individual tonight, there's a courtroom. And that courtroom is the conscience that God has placed into your heart. A testimony is the voice of authentication. You have to have a testimony to determine guilt or innocence, to determine guilt or acquittal. A testimony must be given. And in your life tonight, there's a voice that rings true and loud. Nobody else can hear it, but you can hear it in your heart tonight. It's the accusation of your own conscience. In man, there's a courtroom and our conscience testifies of the actions of our everyday life. Not only through our flesh, but even in our attitude, we are convicted by the things that happen. Paul said in Romans chapter 2 and verse number 15, just an additional cross-reference, their conscience also, listen to this statement, bearing witness, did you hear that? Their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts, the meanwhile, accusing or excusing one another. Interestingly enough, the word conscience is never found in the Old Testament. The first reference to the conscience is actually in the Gospels. You remember the story of John chapter 8, verse number 7, verse number 8, verse number 9. It records the story of a woman who was caught in adultery. The Bible tells us the leaders of the religious right had brought this woman before the Lord Jesus Christ to see what He would do about this woman. For the law had stated, this kind of sin is worthy of death. And so they brought this woman and threw her down at Jesus' feet. The Bible tells us in that episode of condemnation, Jesus stooped down and he wrote on the ground. I have no idea what he wrote. Please don't ask me because I have no idea. Ask Brother Jones. He might know. But I have no idea what he wrote on the ground. But I can tell you this, when those men read what Jesus wrote on the ground, the Bible said they dropped their stones and they went away from the eldest to the youngest, being convicted by their own conscience. Jesus spoke to them through their conscience. In these terms, how can you, who has sinned, determine the guilt of a person who has sinned as well? You have no right to condemn someone when you have been guilty of the same thing that she has done. And then he acted to cleanse her conscience. He said, woman, I'm not going to condemn you. And then he said, I love this brother Josh, go and sin no more. Only the Son of God can say that to somebody. The Bible tells us about the conscience over and over and over again. Several years ago, I was studying on this subject and I came across the story of Avianca Flight 11. Now, that's an old story. It comes back from the 1980s, which that doesn't seem that long ago to me, but it's an old story in comparison to some of y'all that are here tonight. Amen. And Avianca Flight 11 was a flight that would take off from Paris and land in Madrid. The pilot that piloted that flight had made that trip hundreds of times. But on Avianca Flight 11, he flew that jet into a hillside and 191 people perished in that flight. They said that after some time they extracted the data box, whatever you call that, the flight box that has the information in collecting data and what happened to that flight. They found audio recordings of a ground proximity warning that went off in the control panel of the jet and warned the pilot that he was flying too low. but he could not see, and he got aggravated by the voice of the ground proximity warning, and he reached over and muted it. And it came on again, and he muted it again, and it came on again, and he muted it again, and after a while, he said to the box, shut up, you stupid gringo, and he turned it off. And after he turned the voice off, he crashed that plane into a mountainside and killed everyone in that plane along with himself. I'm afraid we do that a lot in church. We turn off the voice, the voice of reason, the voice of repentance. We oftentimes are compelled in a song, in a message. I'll tell you the truth, I'm under a little bit of conviction tonight with this missionary in our presence and how much he's doing with his life and it makes me feel like I'm not doing much at all. And I'm under a little bit of conviction tonight before I even start the message, my conscience bearing witness with what this man is doing and saying, you need to be doing more for the kingdom of God. Are you all with me tonight? Your conscience. Your conscience. It serves as a voice of affirmation or condemnation. And even now, there may be issues that are rising in your heart that your conscience is telling you, you need to deal with that. You need to give that to the Lord. Can I show you three things from this passage? And I mean to be intently short tonight, not just because we've got dessert, but now that is the underlying factor of it all. But I mean to be a little short tonight. And so let me just give you three thoughts, all coming out of verse number 12. 2 Corinthians 1 and verse number 12. And let me give you three things that Paul delineates that affect your conscience in life. Number one, the testimony of your conscience will affect your simplicity. Notice what Paul said in verse number 12. He said, for our rejoicing is this. Watch what he said. The testimony of our conscience. And I love this next statement. That in simplicity. Do you see that word simplicity right there? The word simplicity in verse number 12 In the broadest sense that it's used in the New Testament, it has to do with holiness. It has to do with the way we live our lives. And the surrounding context bears that out. Go ahead and read it when you get home. Verse number 1 through verse number 11. Then verse number 13 down through verse number 24. You'll find simplicity as a footnote to all of these principles of holiness in 2 Corinthians chapter number 1. But the word in our King James Bible signifies a bit more. The same word is used in the same book in chapter 11 in verse number 3 where the Apostle Paul said this. Now listen carefully. Listen. "...lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ." It's an issue that rose in Paul's writings over and over and over again. Simplicity. Now all of us country folks, now we have an idea of what simplicity means and don't abandon it. I think it can be applied to this passage of Scripture. There is a demand for simplicity in conscience. In other words, let me say it this way. Get me an amen or two ready. Don't let things get too complicated. When we meet Christ, we enter into a relationship of simplicity. It's not complicated. It's not to be overstated. And there are volumes that could be written about Christ our Lord, but His relationship to us is truly a relationship of simplicity. Just like it was with Adam and Eve when they were in the garden. And if the devil wants to violate, oh my, the conviction that's in my heart tonight. If the devil wants to violate you in one area, he wants to violate you in the conscience of your simplicity. He wants to make things complicated. He wants to add layer after layer after layer of complication to your life. So much so that you cannot with good conscience get it all done. Just making sense to anybody in here besides me. Same word is found in Romans 12 in verse number 8. He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. So what we have pictured in the word simplicity is an elementary way. What we have pictured in the word simplicity is the simple way. Now I know what the book of Proverbs says about the simple. That's not what I'm referring to tonight. I'm referring to a different kind of simplicity. A simplicity that is provided only by a good conscience. A life that is lived in bad conscience takes away simplicity. Can I just say something to the young people tonight? I have you in my heart. Don't do anything in your youth that complicates the rest of your life. Don't get in a relationship with a boy that makes it complicated for the rest of your life because you miss the will of God. You'll find yourself battling your conscience the rest of your days if you miss the will of God with a boy, with a girl, and marry the wrong person. Your life can be very simple and very happy and very fulfilling. But if you violate your conscience, you'll find yourself troubled to your dying day. Live so and make decisions so that your life can just be simple. I don't know if this is catching the traction that it did with me, but you ignore your conscience. You start telling lies or start living a lie. Isn't it amazing when you tell a lie, you have to tell a second one to cover up the first one? And then you have to tell a third one to cover up the previous two? then a fourth lie, and you'll find yourself in such a complicated form of communication that you can't even tell the truth, or people will think you're a fool. They're so used to your lies. That's a very complicated way to live your life. I love living my life in simplicity. It's not hard for me to remember when I just told the truth. But when you tell a pack of lies, it's very complicated. You'll lose your mind trying to keep up with all the violations of your conscience. I've said this before in this pulpit. I'll say it again. Your conscience is sort of like a window. The windows in this church, they're stained glass windows and they don't have a source of light. They're not the source of light in and of themselves. I preached in this church on sunny Sunday mornings. I've been in this church in camp meeting morning services when that light was shining through these windows. The refraction of that light came through those colors and that color was pitched over into the pews. You've experienced here many, many times What's in that window, the light's going to expose it into the building, right? If they were clear windows, the light would come in clearly. Let me just say this to you. If you allow your conscience to become dirty, it'll start affecting the clarity of the light that God wants to come into your heart and into your soul. the testimony of our conscience, it affects my simplicity. And oh, I want to live a simple life. I want to live the kind of life where I can go to work in the morning and work all day and go to bed, go home at night and enjoy fellowship with my family and lay down and sleep well at night. I want to live the kind of life where I can sit down to a good meal and just enjoy what God has provided without any bearing on my conscience that takes away my appetite. Y'all can see I've got a good conscience. That's right. Amen. You can't be in the shape that I am and not have a good conscience. That's right. Somebody said, Preacher, you need to get in shape. I said, Amen. Round is a shape. Hallelujah. But with simplicity of life, you can be married to one woman for your entire life. With simplicity of life, you can enjoy fellowship with your children for your entire life. With simplicity, you can go to one church your entire life and enjoy Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night. There's something to be admired in that. There's something to be celebrated in that. Having a good conscience among those that you worship with. Isn't it wonderful? I'm so thankful to come to this church and hear the testimonies of folks that were led to faith by Brother Topping and Pastor Jones and these good men of God that have spent their lives in this church and others that I guess there's just one member left that was here before. And isn't that wonderful to have a church like that you come to where people have been here their entire lives? We got a man in our church that he was a member of our church nine months before he was born. He's been there his whole life. I asked him one day, I said, how did you live one whole life in a church, in just one church with 43 independent Baptist churches around us? Man, when I say that, it bothers my conscience. 43 Baptist churches around us. People on the other side of the world never heard the name of Jesus, but in Pickens County, South Carolina, there's 43 Baptist churches. Independent Baptist churches. Y'all listening? He told me. Older, Randall Nix, he told me. He said, God never told me to leave. He said, we had one pastor for 35 years and I married his daughter and that was a pretty good incentive to stay here. Pastor has come and pastors have gone, but he stayed. Oh, the testimony of simplicity that comes along. with that. Now some of you fellas, some of you fellas think, well this seems a little bit too elementary for me and I'm looking for more and I think I want some greener grass on the other side of the fence. Let me just tell you about that green grass on the other side. There may be a septic tank up under there. You stay where God has put you. You enjoy life right in the middle of the will of God. And the storms will come and the storms will go. And the people will come and the people will go. And you'll be a gray-headed old man, a gray-headed matured lady someday. I'm trying to be politically correct. You'll be sitting on the same pew in the church where you got married, in the church where you got saved, in the church where you got called to preach. You'll enjoy the simplicity of life. Only a good conscience can provide that. Don't complicate things. The Bible tells us that a good conscience will supply us with simplicity. Secondly, not only will the good conscience provide us with simplicity, but it'll provide us with sincerity. Notice what Paul says in verse number 12. I'm staying right in the book. Paul said that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God. I want to bear down on that little phrase, godly sincerity, just for a moment. Sincerity is that virtue which causes a man to pour his heart, to pour his life, to pour his desire into a cause. It's impossible to be totally sincere and not have a good conscience. One of the major effects of a bad conscience on my life is it breaks down my sincerity. Y'all listening to me? The word sincerity, precious word in our Bible. The word sincerity is a compound word in the Greek language. The first part of the word sincere in the Greek language has to do with light. Primarily it has to do with sunlight. S-U-N. And then the second part of the word sincerity means to judge. And so the word sincerity in the word picture, according to A.T. Robertson, the word literally means to judge according to the sun. I'm talking about the S-U-N. And I found out about this word that in the days of the New Testament they would buy vessels at the shambles, and those vessels would be over-baked. But the vendors, in their dishonesty, they tried to sell them anyway, and so they'd take wax and they'd fill up the cracks that were in the vessel. Well, you know what happens. Any pressure or heat, and that blows out, the water begins to leak out. That's right. It's not sound, right? So, Brother John, they would take those vessels and out there in the market they would hold them up to the sunlight. And they would turn those vessels around so that the sun might appear through that wax and they could tell, y'all listening to me church, whether that vessel was sincere. It has no cracks in its character. You can pour all you want into it and it'll hold everything that you put into it. and you can put it under heat, and you can put it under pressure, and its sincerity will keep it sound. Do you have a good conscience? Do you have the kind of conscience that's been tried through sincerity? Are you sincere about the place that you worship? Are you sincere about the home that God has given you? Or do you have a wandering eye that's taken away from your sincerity? I remind you that when Eve was tempted by the serpent to eat of the forbidden fruit, it was her conscience that almost kept her from doing what was right. Pardon me, it was her conscience that kept her from doing what was right. There was a time, in fact, let me say it this way, there was a time in God's original creation that we were governed more by conscience than we were by commandment. They only had one commandment in the Garden of Eden. It was their conscience that kept them sincere in Christ. It was their conscience that kept the simplicity of Christ beating through their heart. But when that sincerity was violated, when the devil came in and began to produce cracks in her theology, began to produce cracks in her belief, it was then that she lost everything that she had when her conscience was violated. Y'all listening? The testimony of your conscience will provide you with simplicity, and oh, I want more of that in my life. The testimony of our conscience will provide you with sincerity. Then thirdly, let me close the message with this, and that banana split's calling my name. And it didn't bother my conscience to say it. The testimony of your conscience will affect your, listen to this, your sanctity. Oh my, this needs to be hammered down. We need to drive the nail on sanctity. Countersink the nail. Turn the board over and bend the nail down. Sanctity. If you want to have real, genuine sanctity, you're going to have to have a good conscience to have it. Notice what he said in verse number 12. It's in this word conversation. Verse number 12, we have had our conversation in the world That was Paul's testimony. He said, I remember my worldly conversation. And then he made this statement, and more abundantly to you were. If you've never had the kind of past that the Apostle Paul had, you may not understand what he's saying there. But anybody who's felt the damage of bad decisions in their youth, you know exactly what he's talking about. There was a conversation we had back then, and now there's a conversation we have more abundantly to you were. In other words, Paul said, I've lived longer for the gospel. I've lived longer for the kingdom. I've lived longer for the Lord than I lived in darkness and for the God of this world. I've lived for the Lord longer than I've lived for the prince of this world. He said, my conversation is more abundantly to you. So let me just say a word about your conversation in your church. The word conversation literally pictures our conduct. We sometimes make a misstep in this word because in our modern language, conversation has to do with our words. But in the language of the New Testament, it had to do with our works. When the Apostle Paul spoke of a conversation, it captures what I say, but it's more about what I live than it is what I say. So the idea is that God has invested in each of us a moral compass that directs us. It gives us a path. It produces a light for us to go forward in the way of righteousness. Not only for simplicity's sake and sincerity's sake, but for sanctity's sake. Our conversation in good things. should be expressed more in our church than anywhere else we live. You better take that in. The most important people in your life are right here in this building with you right now. The most important people in West Virginia are right here in this building right now. It's not, is it Senator Justice? It's not Senator Justice that's the most important person in your life. It's not the governor of this state that's the most important person in your life. It's your pastor and the men that you go to church with and the women that you go to. Those are the most important people in your life. Let me tell you something. Johnny Jones ought to mean more to you than Donald Trump. I make no apology for what I just said. He'll do more to perfect your life than the government can ever do for you. So make sure when you come into the presence of the man of God, you have a good conscience. It's important that you keep a good conscience among those that you go to church with. In fact, the Apostle Paul said, and I'm getting way out in front of myself, preacher, I make that apology, but the Apostle Paul said, he said, listen, if I eat meat and I know that it violates the conscience of a weak believer in the church, this is what he said, Brother Barclay, he said, I would not eat meat if I knew that it violated one of these weaker believers, one of these brethren in the church, I would not eat meat. Listen, he said, if the whole world had to stand by and wait for me, the world would have to wait on me, I would not violate the conscience of one of my church members. You know what he's saying right there? And it's going to get quiet when I say this. He said this. He said, if you've got a choice between offending a sinner or offending a saint, offend the sinner. That's all right. Y'all okay? We'll get the smelling sauce out and ready to resuscitate you. If you're going to offend somebody, stay right with your church, even if it offends sinners. Stay right with your church. Apostle Paul said it in these terms. By the way, this is in 1 Corinthians chapter number 8. For if any man see thee which has knowledge, sit at meat in idol's temple. That's an idol. I-D-O-L. An idol. Temple. Shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? Later on in that same chapter, the Apostle Paul said, In that same chapter he said, You better be careful about taking those extraordinary liberties in your words, your extraordinary liberties in what you say about people, the extraordinary liberties of things you choose to do because you've got liberty to do that. You may have liberty to do that, but there are people watching you. I'm going to tell you something, the church is my team. I ain't never loved the Braves as much as I love the church. I ain't never loved the Georgia Bulldogs as much as I love the church. Y'all listening? I never did love Dale Earnhardt more than I love my pastor. The church is my team. Man, some of y'all choking. I'm gonna say it, the church is my political party. I did my part to vote and y'all know who I voted for. You ain't got no confusion on that. Y'all know who I voted for. But I'm gonna tell you something. Nobody in Washington represents me like my church represents me. So I just made my mind up, if I have to offend every Republican in Wyoming County, if I have to offend every Republican in Pickens County, South Carolina, I'll offend every Republican that's ever walked in shoe leather and stand by my church. There's a simplicity that comes in a good relationship to your church. There's a sincerity that comes in a good relationship with the church. The church means more to me than my own family. He said, take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. You say, well preacher, God has given me liberty to go to the movies. Alright. But what if you offend somebody who's weak in this church by going to the movies? You say, well God gave me that liberty. Okay. We can discuss that. But what about these young people? They're watching you. Say, preacher, God has given me liberty to buy at places that sell alcohol. And I understand, you're not going to find a gas station that doesn't sell alcohol. And I'm not here to preach against any of that tonight. But if I knew that I had a man in my church that just got saved out of alcoholism, you think I'd walk into a liquor store to cash my paycheck in front of that man and him say, well, if the preacher can go in there, I can go in there. Boy, it's getting tight in here tonight. I'm talking about conscience, for conscience sake. And then the apostle Paul said, not my own, but of my brother. I am, are y'all listening to me tonight? I am going to be judged by how my life affected another man's conscience. Back in the Richard Nixon days, he had a presidential aide. His name was Jeb Stuart Magruder. It was Mr. Magruder that testified in the trial against Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal. Some of you are old enough to remember that. And of course, now there's some of y'all in here old enough to remember when Lincoln got shot too. Right? Some of y'all served in the military and fought in the Korean conflict. Others of y'all were in the Civil War. Still are, right? We don't call it the Civil War where I'm from. We call it the Battle of Northern Aggression. Anyway, let me get back to the Bible. Listen to what Magruder said after they had been investigated. He said, we had conned ourselves into thinking we weren't doing anything wrong. And by the time we were doing things that were illegal, we had lost total control. He made this statement in his testimony. We had gone from poor ethical decisions into illegal activities without even knowing it. And it brought down a presidency. A lapse of conscience. Can I just add one more layer to this? It's about 8.30. We need to go on back here and enjoy our fellowship together. Let me add one more layer to this. Turn to 1 Timothy 4. I'll just ask you to turn to one more place and I'm gonna make a few comments about this, just a few footnotes to what we've said. In 1 Timothy chapter 4, the Apostle Paul once again speaks of the conscience He made this statement in 1 Timothy 4 and verse number 2. I want to give you a moment to turn there. It deserves a look with your own eyes here. If you have your place in 1 Timothy 4, verse number 2, say, Amen. Look at what the Apostle Paul said. There's a preceding context, a following context, but watch this in verse number 2. Speaking lies and hypocrisy. Watch this, what he said. Having their conscience seared with a hot iron. The word seared in the Greek language is kartarizo. It's where we get our word kartarized from. The idea is a burning, a searing, a red-hot effect that's had in nerve endings to a place where a person no longer can feel with that portion of the body that's been burned. Any of us that have worked on hot equipment, you know how that feels to burn your hand, burn your arm, and you lose sensibility in that area. You ladies that cook, you know what it feels like to push that into the oven and burn the top of your arm. I can't tell you how many times my wife has had those burn marks on the top of her arm from pushing something into the oven. And you lose sensibility in that area. Y'all know what I'm talking about? Paul said that your conscience could be seared, burned, carterized is the word. A conscience that has been burned to the point that there's no emotion. That there's no appreciation. That there's no affection. That there's no sensation. That you walk in, you do your part, you walk out, never feel a thing. Never sense anything. No showing of affection. No returning of affection one to another. It's a very dangerous place to get in in your life when you can't feel anything anymore. Amen. Feelings are never gonna produce faith. I know that. Feelings are never gonna produce faith. But faith can produce feelings. I feel my faith. It's more than just an academic understanding. I'm glad when that missionary was talking tonight, brother, man, there was about 40 acres of heaven coming down in my heart. The wind was blowing in the gable into my soul. I'm telling you, it was helping me to see what the church did for him tonight. I'm glad I can come to church and feel something, aren't you? feel something. Our conscience is given to us to act like that moral compass that helps us with emotion and appreciation and affection and sensation. But once that compass is gone, our direction ceases with that compass being gone. And your conscience can be seared. Listen to me. Three things I want to say by offending it. You continue to offend your conscience and that voice surfaces in your life and you shut that voice down and then you offend it again and that voice comes back and you shut off that voice again and that voice returns after another act of evil and you shut it down again. You keep offending your conscience and it becomes very quiet after a while. By ignoring it, by offending it, listen to me, by wounding it, by wounding it. I'll say something to the young people tonight. Every relationship that you have, and I've got, we've got a 21-year-old in our home, we've got a 20-year-old in our home, we've got a 17-year-old in our home, please pray for me. Y'all need to take up an offering from me. I'm trying. I'm trying to make it without going back to drinking. I just want to tell you, I've told my kids, you better be careful about giving your heart to every boy and every girl that comes along that wants a piece of your heart. You better be careful. You know there are some things that you can only have when you give your whole heart to that. The Bible said, you shall seek for me and you shall find me. What does it say next? Jeremiah said, when you shall search for me with all of your heart. There are some things you can't find unless you have your whole heart to find it with. Be careful about giving a little piece of your heart to every boy and every girl that comes through here. Be careful about giving your love to everybody. Make sure you keep that love for the one that God has for your life. I've said that to our children a hundred times. If I've said it one time, I want to say it to you tonight. Be careful. That'll violate your conscience and you'll find yourself without feeling and making bad judgments. when the voice and the direction of your conscience is offended and ignored and wounded. So much more can be said. I'll ask you to stand tonight.