Facebook is missing all this good stuff here, but you're not able to be here to witness it. Let the Lord say amen. Take the Bible and go to Matthew chapter 24 verse 42. If you know the story, I'm just going to have one verse this morning. If we look at the past, we're ready for the future. I don't know about you, but every time if I attempt to try to watch something on TV, I'm going to the past shows. You just can't beat the original Tommy Seller from Maggie B. I, or MacGyver, or any of those shows. You just can't miss any of those. I prefer all the older things of the past. The new ones today have something that just really don't appeal to me. But I thank God, even though that I'm looking at the past, I'm ready for the future. And here this morning, as we look at the word of God, each and every one of us, I remember as it talks about being able to watch this morning, I would pray that each and every one of you are every day watching and are ready for the future. That's exactly one of the things that he's talking about, Eggman. And so, if you're able to stand this one, if you stand with us, if we honor the reading of the word of God, just one verse, in Matthew chapter 24, verse 42. Let me get my Bible over there, because I'm going to think about it. I'd like to be on that stage and read out the actual word, Eggman. You know, I've got a tablet here. Matthew chapter 24. For you know not what hour your Lord doeth come. You may be seated. Fathers, I look around and those that are faithful to you and Lord, they are here to be able, Lord, to worship you in truth and in spirit. Lord, I pray God that you can just something that was unspoken. Lord, they leave hands because every one of us has a need that Lord that we know you already know about. But Lord, I pray for those needs that nobody else knows but you Father. And I ask you this morning that Lord as we get into the word of God this morning that you will just send your presence, send your word to speak to each individual this morning. Get me out of the way and Lord I pray God that this will be a message that each and every one of us. We know, Father, that we can't walk looking backwards. We don't mean that. We're ready. We're looking for the future. But, Lord, today's morals and standards are so horrible that, Lord, we'd rather look back at the old things than look at the present things in this world, Lord, because the things that they show today are not fit to look at. And so, Lord, I pray God that as we continue to look for you and watch and pray, Lord, I pray God that we will be about your work and Lord, be ready when we know that you come from the church and Lord, I pray God that may many of us reach those that are around us and witness to them and bring them into the family of God before it's too late. All of this, what a great honor it is to be in your house and to speak on your word today. Lord, I pray God that you'll just let the will say, God, it's good to be in the house of the Lord. In Jesus's marvelous mighty name, amen. Well, I thank God at this point, every one of us, as we look and realize that, I don't know about you, but today, one of the things that I do more than anything else is look, and I don't think about the Lord all the time. If you're in love with somebody, I don't know, Back when each and every one of us was in love with somebody, we begin to think of that person all the time. That's exactly how it is with Jesus. And I'm going to tell you, there ain't days that don't go by that I'm walking around thinking about Jesus, because I love Him with all my heart, and that's my life, and it's my future. Just like if you think about the person that you love, The very first thing is a command to watch because the word watch is an imperative mood. It talks about, it is a command and he's commanding his disciples here that we need to be paying attention. And so nobody knows the day of the hour as it goes into this as he was talking about the fig tree, the parable of the fig tree. No, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But he says, but of that day and hour knoweth no man, know not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But he gets on down here and he's talking about two women shall be grinding at the mill, and one shall be taken and the other left. But he says, watch therefore. So he gives us a commandment, amen? And by that, we've got to make a commitment. We've got to make a commitment in order to be successful at watching. I'll go back to you, but every soldier, before they get out of training, they don't get one bullet before they get many bullets. And that one bullet, it better be back in the hands of the person that gave it to you. That's the first thing that you get. You think, man, there's somebody when they give you that first bullet on guard duty. You better not be asleep. Man, they were coming around. I remember I was out, and there's nothing worse than when you're out in the field. And sergeants have to check on the men just like they do back at the post. If I have Sergeant of the Guard, oh, boy, I have to come in and have to check on the men and things like that. Well, when you're down range in a war situation, that's the same thing. They got Sergeant of the Guard, and he runs the perimeter. And what happens is the first sergeant out there Hey, where's the M60 at? Man, the M60 was gone. I knew the first sergeant, we called him Top. I knew the first sergeant that had been around, he had that M60. But you know what, boy? He made them guys sweat for it, but you know what? They're not alone, because they got in trouble. I got in trouble. And today, every one of us, we're watching, and there's a command that Jesus says, I'm coming back. And it's very serious, amen, that every one of us, with that command that we're obligated, every one of us, And because as things begin to look like they are today, when we see all the changes that are happening, I said, Lord, I'm looking for you even more every day. I'm looking for you every single day. And so the two things that I'm talking about is the command, and there's a cause for watching, amen. Every one of us, our stewardship that is talking about here, he says, watch, therefore. That's the cause. The command was watch. But he says, watch, therefore. He calls for watching. He says, therefore, that's our stewardship. Here, he refers to what Christ has said about the future, amen. Here, in view of what he has said, that we need to do some very spiritual watching. Every one of us. Watching is that application that we've got to do, amen, because I thank God, every one of us, he talks about the schooling of, that's before us here, as he says, that you know not. Not even the angels. I knew he was going to try. But before I could make all I ran, all the way around the perimeter, he done hit that one spot where the A-60 was set up. And then it was gone. Oh, man. I've had that done. You know what everybody be trying to take? They're taking colors. You say, what you talking about? They're taking gun. They're taking flag. Oh, man. Oh, man. I'm going to tell you a reason in Arkansas. I used to go all over the place. In Beasley. Man, these guys had went out with these ladies, and they're waiting for a man to come in. And somehow or another, somebody wasn't on watch, and women came in and stole the honors, the flag, the garland of the whole company, praise God. I mean, man, I'm telling you, we were just in trouble, you know what I'm saying? They had us out there while we were looking at tables. We knew that the flag wasn't there. We knew that somebody had come in and got it, but he had us going all over the whole place. And we were policing everything up and looking, and it wasn't good. And then you know what? Let me tell you this. We never got back. Let's go get some more. There ain't nothing more embarrassing than losing your colors, as they say. That's embarrassing. And so he's talking about our schooling that we don't know. Because of our lack of knowledge about the future times and the angels don't know, we've got to watch at any time that he's going to come back, amen. And so he's talking about our siblings. And so every one of us has our safety about this thing. You know, there are three things about our spiritual life that weakens. And this is the thing that I have to watch about, because when it weakens, I'm not watching too good. I'm not following command. I'm not following the cause. Watch, therefore. And so here, we see that it tells us in Ephesians 5, 18, he says there's a failure to be filled with the Spirit. There's some folks out there that are safe, but you know what? They don't even portray this. I know that they're caught up with some of the other things in the world right now. The other thing that happens in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 that it talks about, Paul says, is we breathe the Holy Spirit. We do things that breathe and makes the Holy Spirit ashamed even to be in our lives. And that's what I'm talking about. Why I'm looking back with it, I'm looking at Tom Selleck back in the P.I. because that version is a whole lot better than... Hey, you know what? They're changing everything. They don't mind changing characters. They're changing whatever they want to be. I ain't got to say anymore about that, but you know what I'm talking about. Today, we've got to look at the older things to be able to have the morals and the standards that we all are applying to. So what? So there's failure to be filled with the Spirit. There's folks out there that breathe the Spirit with the things that they do, they watch. And then there's those that resist the Spirit. The Spirit will want to do a whole lot more for them if they just let that Holy Spirit have that time to get down in their burnt houses, to read the Bible, to have that daily relationship, because if you love somebody, if you love somebody, you gonna think about it. And so I'm wondering, how I check up on myself, I'm wondering, how many times a day do I think about Jesus, you know? You know, I let Him know I love Him, that He's everything to me, amen. I thank God, you know, we don't think about the things that we gotta do. I ran into a deacon in Rockmark the other day, and we took a 10-foot door down, I am not exaggerating that thing, amen, you know, and to fix it. And man, that guy, I'm going to tell you, let me tell you something. That guy knew me, and I knew him. He said, what do you mean? He knew I had Jesus in me, and he knew that I, and I knew that he had Jesus in him. Man, I'm going to tell you, it didn't take him long. And then come to find out, I began to talk to him. He said, yeah, I'm going to dig it over here, and I got a Bible study on Friday nights, you know, and this and that. I said, well, praise God, amen. And what it was is, we could, our spirits did bear witness to one another. And I thought, boy, we just got along so good. That guy wanted me to come to work for him. I said, no, no, no. I said, I wish you the best, but maybe the Lord will run into you again sometime. I said, especially if He hasn't taken me. But the perennial flow of the fountain of the Holy Spirit of God, that eternal indwelling that is in every one of us, it will flow, praise God. know about us yet. You know, when they guarded the gates, and we had that a long time ago about the gates around Jerusalem, every one of them had something about them that was special. And so, I thank God, you know, they had the Fountain Gate that represented the spiritual water. I'm not going to go into all of them. You know, they had the Eastern Gate that had been shut down and sealed up because of the farters that had come in. They didn't want nobody to go through there because they'd heard the prophecy the other day, man. And so, every one of us, we realized that through And so all these gates, they represent something that means something significant. But the eastern gate was the watch gate, the steady gate, if you watch, because that's the place. That gate is that location that when the sun rises in the east, and the tabernacle that faced the east, as always, that gate, that it talks about how Jesus will be coming. Matthew 24, 27. that he talks about, look up there. He says, for as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Man, I'm gonna tell you, I'm getting excited about that right now, I'm serious, because that's the most exciting thing going on in my life. You said, man, you ain't got much going on in your life. Maybe not, but I'm ready for the Lord to come back. And I hope and pray that each and every one of you are today as well, because those hundreds of years ago, when those farmers, Shut up those who seal that gate, amen. And I'm gonna tell you, it ain't gonna stop our Lord when he comes back, praise God. Each and every one of us is gonna go through life today and begin to realize that we realize with the man that he's returning one of these days. And he tells us here, he says, our redeemer will personally be coming. He ain't gonna send none of the cherubims. He ain't sending none of the seraphims. He ain't sending none of the archangels. He's coming himself for us, hallelujah. Praise God. That job is for him, and he's coming back personally to get it. each and every one of us, as we look and realize that, as he says, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Boy, thank God, every one of us, he's telling us that, how he's working on us in our past, our present, and our future, because he's made us righteous in our past tense, reminds me of a little girl that she was talking to her mommy one Sunday on the way home from church. And that little girl, she turned to her mother, and she said, Mom, you know, that preacher served this morning. It confused me, you know? Mother said, Oh, why is that? Well, the little girl said, Well, he said that God's bigger than we are. And is that true? And he said that, God lives inside us, amen. Is that true, Mom? Yes, yes, God lives inside of us. And then the little girl asked, well, if God is bigger than us and if he lives in us, then wouldn't he show us through? And I thought, God, what he basically, that little girl was saying is, is every one of us, is he's gonna show up in our lives at some time because he's bigger than us. We don't want to know everything about him during the day that we think about Jesus Christ. And that's why I'm asking you, how many times are we thinking about him? Because when we think about him, I say, man, I'm ready to go, Lord. I might get up in the morning and start out with that thought a lot of times. And so we say our sanctification, amen, the present work of redemption, amen, the future prospect of that work, that every one of us, if we're going to get up and get out of here, amen, because And so our return is unknown, and no one else knows that time frame that's going to take place. The hour of his return is unpredictable. He means we've got to keep what we've got to keep our eyes on the sky and keep looking each and every day. And so there's that preparation that all of us that he says, this is what I like about this. And I don't know if you've got it in yours of all the Bible, but one of the things I like about it that it says in verse 42 is this, he says, your Lord, he's your Lord, our Lord, your Lord do it come. I thank God he is my Lord. He's your Lord this morning if you know him. That's our preparation, because we've already made plans. I thank God, every one of us, that he's a part of our lives every day, amen. each and every one of us, this whole fleshly nature, what I'm talking about. I'm glad that every one of us, we look because we're all prepared for him. And so that's the cause that therefore his return, praise God, that he's coming again one of these days. That expectation that we have, praise God, that we're looking for him. Titus 2.13 tells us, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ is coming back again to receive I wonder how many people, when that time comes, are going to be so ashamed. They say, man, I haven't been living, I haven't been loving the Lord, it hasn't been happening in my relationship. And I've used this story before, but it came across as I was researching this past week. Billy Graham wrote this story in his book. And in that story, he tells about the lot, the Eisenhower, how his term as president, he was vacationed over in Denver. And while he was over in Denver, it came to his attention that this little six-year-old boy named Paul Harvey, not the Paul Harvey that we know of, but it was another little boy. He was dying of an incurable cancer. And that boy, that Paul Harvey that was six years old, he had one dream. He said, let's go see that Paul, I said Paul Harvey, but it was Paul Haley, Paul Haley was his name. And so Paul Haley, he said, let's go see that Paul Haley. And so he got into the presidential limousine and all of a sudden the flags fell. was there, that limousine come up with all the flags and everything, the flags were on the fender, they were flying, a black limousine drove up, and the door slid open, I walked in front and knocked on the door, and Donald O'Haley, the father, answered the door. And he was just wearing what you would be at home, comfortable, just in those blue jeans and holey shirts and stuff, and a dazed row of beard, and he opened the door and said, yes, can I help you? And Donald O'Haley, yeah. He walked around his father's legs and he stood and he looked into the president's eyes and face and he admired him. And all of a sudden, Eisenhower kneeled down and he shook his hand and he took him out to see the presidential limousine. And before he said goodbye, he hugged little Paul. And they shook hands and he left. And it was exciting to everyone except the father, Donald Haley, the father. And this is what he said. They're dressed like I was in those jeans and an old, dirty shirt, unshaved face, to meet the President of the United States. He said, what's the point? That's how it's gonna be when Jesus comes back. There's gonna be a lot of folks that, just like they are, they're gonna be caught just that way. And there'll be no way to make it any other way except, man, they'll be disappointed. They'll never forget that. Some people that could be doing a lot of things. that will benefit the Lord today, that they've fallen way off from it. I remember one time at the Oldsman House, they were like, oh my goodness, they were several young preachers at one time. There were so many preachers, they did what they call this preaching roundup, where everybody got up, they had so many minutes to preach, and sit down and preach, and sit down. And man, and Arthur Ryan was back. Remember Arthur Ryan was back coming on a Sunday night and did a 10-committee thing. And he was a part of all that with those young preachers. He got books for them and helped them and had classes and all. But before long, it wasn't long that all of them young preachers, we didn't know where they went. We didn't know what was going on. And somehow or another, something had changed. Somehow or another, maybe the president had come by their house. And if he did, he'd catch them with no shirts and grow a beard. And it's sad to this day that I hope and pray that out of all the preachers, many of them that were starting out, I hope and pray that they got back into the right place where they needed to be. Each and every one of us is getting ready to go here this morning, and I'm already doing it. So it ain't gonna be another 15 minutes, amen. And they got each and every one of us. Can you imagine all the famous people? You know, I was looking at all of them. That guy, what is his name? Is it Knight that made it to the big thing in Hartsville that was on Jurassic Park? that's akin to all the Knights in the county, or in Marquette over here in this area, you know, we made it big time. And he first started out and was on the side field, I believe. Who's that guy? His name is Knight, if I'm not mistaken. Wayne Knight. Wayne Knight, thank you, amen, Wayne Knight, amen. And so, you know, everybody, somebody that's all the time, we've got our quarterback, man, he's big time now, he's famous, you know, all the people, A lot of us folks say, how do you represent the Lord when you run into people out there? I can just tell you how I ran into a stranger that I didn't know that come by and do a door. And we ended up staying way on past the hour with a dude to fix that door. He'd never fixed a door like that before. And I hadn't either, but we had some idea that the two of us, we could fix it. And we did. But I'm gonna tell you, the thing about that, it wasn't so much about the doors. What I'm trying to tell you is as soon And it was something about me that he said, praise God. Every one of us, when we get busy today, I wonder, how many of us are gonna be so busy that we ain't gonna pay attention? Because as I told him, it reminds me about the story about the little boy that pitched the perfect game. And he pitched and struck everybody out. And they weren't no mom or dad there to see. They weren't there to watch a perfect game be impeached, no. You know why? Well, the mom had a baseball game down the road, and the dad had to go with the other son in another baseball game. And when they got back there, the little boy's coach was telling the mom, you missed the game of a lifetime. He struck everybody out, hallelujah. Boy, you know what? Ain't it bad to know that we were so busy sometimes that, really, that we missed some of the greatest things that we could ever do because we could share the gospel with somebody out there. Thank you this morning, Lord, that you've given us a very quick message, a one verse that's very powerful, that it commands us and it gives us a cause to our stewardship. And Lord, there's a cost that is involved, Lord, because as we keep ourselves faithful to you in the word of God, in our relationship, we love you. I'm looking for you because we're ready. Lord, I know. Father, I may be looking at some of the things in the past, but I'm ready for the future. And so this morning, Lord, I pray for people that are not as sure as that. Lord, many people are gonna be caught, and they'll be so busy with what we got going on that they think it's more important than being ready for the Lord's return. This morning, Father, I pray, find us ready. Find us available as the students