Great testimony and song, and boy, talk about something that mirrors the life of our dear friend, Jim Coats. Indeed, he followed Christ. What a privilege it was to get to be here and celebrate his homegoing. Now, Miss Vivian, we love you more than we could ever say, and your precious sister, and thank you for how you took the last days of our brother and made them so special. Brother Jim taught us how to live and he taught us how to die. And I want to remind you in starting, everybody in this room has an expiration date on your life. Every one of us is facing eternity. And I hope you live a long time, but, boy, the days go by in a flash. I'm amazed at how quick, I love the young people, I love teenagers especially, because they're so unbelievably stupid. They're just incredible. They are. And by the way, when you were a teenager, you were just that stupid, too. So don't poke any fingers at them, OK? But I tell them, boy, the life just goes by. You're in your 20s, and you blink your eyes twice. And you're in your 30s, you blink them once more. You're in your 40s, and after that, you don't get to blink at all. It just wishes by. And Brother Jim lived so vibrantly for Jesus Christ. And Vivian, thank you, you were his helpmate, and what a great lady you are. By the way, if you ever have seen Vivian eat watermelon, you want to watch it if you've never seen it. This precious lady can eat more watermelon than I can, and I can eat a lot, but she loves watermelon. Turn in your Bibles to Psalms 1, Psalms 1. And by the way, I apologize for hobbling around up here. A while back, getting in a minivan, I had one leg up in the van and one on wet asphalt on a hill, and my foot slipped out on the wet asphalt. And I went down and broke my ankle. And when I broke my ankle, I went to the doctor, and he said, boy, you have got a really nasty break. He said, the only thing holding your foot on is skin and tendons. I said, well, can you heal it up? He said, it'll heal. Well, it was healing away. And then a dear, precious person in our ministry stepped on my foot while it was healing. And so we broke it a second time. And then it was healing. And at least he said it was an accident, OK? We're letting him get away with that. It was healing up some more and I got long-term COVID in it. I wasn't aware COVID could get in joints like that, but it's got me hobbled a little bit. But the one thing I've discovered is don't take for granted your health. We just all kind of just, that didn't happen to me, so it's not a problem. Boy, our bodies are mysteriously and wonderfully, marvelously made by the Lord Jesus. And I pray you have good health. Psalm 1 was Jim Coats' favorite psalm. He and I recited it together hundreds of times. And when we'd be having devotions at night, I'd say, what passage do you want to recite? Psalm 1. It was George Washington's favorite psalm. And for decades and decades, it was called our nation's psalm because George Washington believed that based on the promise that was found in Psalm 1, America could be an entity. And he would have preachers come out and preach to the revolutionary armies. And he always asked them to preach from Psalm 1. And when George Washington was inaugurated president, he had the preacher preach from Psalm 1. And he said, there's a promise in Psalm 1 that is crucial to the life of every Christian. If you've ever made your way to Mount Vernon, where George Washington lived, you'll find Psalm 1 printed in stone twice. This psalm was his psalm. Now, let me paraphrase and tell you what's in Psalm 1, and then we're going to read it together. In Psalm 1 is a promise, a promise that every child of God wants activated. The promise says this. If you will do three things and God tells you exactly what you should do, do these three things, and he says, whatever you do will prosper. That's a promise from God. That's not a promise from David Gibbs or this precious pastor, not some other man. This is authored by God for all eternity. So if you want whatever you do to prosper, do these three things. But then comes a warning. He says, don't do these three things and you will be hyper unstable. It'll take next to nothing to blow you away. I can't imagine anybody came here this morning saying, I want people to look at me and say, whatever you do, don't be like him, don't be like her. So unstable. Well, God says, do these three, and whatever you do will prosper. But be cautious, don't do them, and it'll take next to no wind to blow you away. Let's read the Psalm together. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, there's number one, nor standeth in the way of sinners, there's number two, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, there's number three. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Now in verse three comes the promise, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither. And now say out loud the promise in unison, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Whoa. Notice God didn't say most of what you do, somewhat what you do. He said whatsoever you do shall prosper. But then in verse four comes the warning. The ungodly are not so. Now remember, to be godly means to do it God's way. That's in verse one. To not do it God's way is the ungodly. Un means not, godly means God's way. He says, don't do it God's way. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Chaff is the dust that gets on grain when you're harvesting it. It's part of the stock, but it's hyper unstable. My family was in the cattle slaughtering business as I grew up. And we slaughtered 5,000, 6,000, sometimes more a week. And we raised thousands of acres of corn to feed them. And when we would harvest all that corn, we used combines. But even with combines, there'd be all this corn, all this wheat, and there'd be this dust. And it would be everywhere. And it took next to nothing to stir it up. The slightest little breeze. and that chaff would just go everywhere. It'd go up your nose, down your throat, up into your ball cap, up your pant leg. It's unstable. You know what God said? Do it my way, and whatever you do will prosper. But don't do these three things. You are gonna be so unstable, it'll take next to nothing to blow you away. Hmm. Now no one in their right mind wants to be unstable. So God says be careful. And that's why George Washington kept claiming back to the promise found in verse three. He said without it we can't survive. Go back to verse one and let's look what activates that promise. Blessed is the man. Now the word blessed means blessable. It means approvable, right, correct. How many of you have children? Hold your hand up. Yeah. How many of you love them more than you could ever say? Sure. How many of you want to kill them on occasion? Sure. Sure. There's moments that child is not blessable. There's moments that that child has to hear, have mom or dad say, hey, what in the world were you thinking? No way, no how. You're not going to be allowed to do that. Mom and dad have to be mom and dad when that child is not blessable. Now that's what God's saying to you and me. He says, I want to bless you, but you got to be blessable. And here's the three keys. Number one, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. Here's the simple question, whose counsel last week did you walk in? Everybody here picked the counsel they were going to use. Counsel is that influence that you allow in. It's what you allow to change you. And by the way, this whole world wants to counsel you. And you're in charge of who you let in. And God says, be very careful about this. Council means an influence. People call our ministry all the time. Charlotte Kovra, a lawyer here with me, has been doing these matters for 40 years. And boy, people call us and say, Brother Gibbs, we need your counsel. What should we do? They want us to influence, to direct them. And God says, be very, very careful what you let in. Now, everybody who wants to influence you knows that you've got two access points. And you know these, but we forget them. Anybody who wants to change you wants to capture your eyes and your ears. Anybody who wants and says, hey, hey, hey, look at this, look at this, watch here, watch here, look at this. Because if they can get your eyes, they're in. Hey, listen to this, listen to this. If they can get your ears, they're in. This is real simple, who'd you give your eyes to last week? Who'd you give your ears to last week? Who did you let in? God says, you be careful. The wrong counsel will shatter this promise. Whoa. I promise you in this service, we're doing everything we know how to capture your eyes and ears because we want in. We want in for God's honor and for God's glory, I pray. But right now, we're going through a season in our country when all of the candidates are saying, hey, listen to this, listen to this, watch this, watch this. And all of a sudden, we're letting people in. And God says, you be careful, you be careful. TVs are powerful, iPads are powerful, iPhones are powerful because they want in. The first TV I ever saw in my life belonged to my grandfather. And it was a terrible TV, just terrible. There weren't hardly any. It was all full of white snow. How many of you remember the white snow TVs, right? You could see a picture, kind of, sort of, someone. But all the neighbors would come down to watch the thing for an hour or two. And it was a miracle. And then they'd make the kids hold the rabbit ears. How many of you remember holding the rabbit ears? And while you'd be holding the rabbit ears, your teeth would vibrate, OK? We were nuking them all at the same time. The neighbors were there. We were watching the TV. And something happened I will never forget. The guy on TV said, oh, what the heck. That's what he said. My granddad said, what did he say? I said, he said, oh, what the heck. He said, unplug it and put it in the barn. Nobody's talking like that in my house. You see, we were raised, you didn't cuss, and you didn't use substitute words to cuss. And I said, Grandpa, he said, David, put it in the barn. That's not right for your eyes and ears. By the way, your TV don't say, oh, what the heck anymore. And you sit there and you say, and I've done the same, oh, I wish they didn't talk like that. Wish they didn't show that. Wish they didn't behave like that. And you're giving them your eyes and you're giving them your ears. That's totally your call. But you're absolutely dynamiting someone. God said, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. I was doing a trial. I was at a church. And we were in Iowa, I believe. And I preached at the church on Sunday, and then Monday was to start the trial. And they were in the middle of all the march madness with all the basketball teams down to the final four. and I wanted to see the games, how they were pairing out. And I'm sitting there with the remote in my motel room, channel surfing, and in that remote, a nifty little thing, I always tell folks, remember, it's in the Bible, the man is to hold the remote, okay? And don't you forget, you say, that's in the Bible, it's there somewhere, I just haven't found it yet, okay? But I'm working on it. But I'm sitting on the edge of my bed, channel surfing, And all of a sudden, I'm watching what is not godly. Wasn't X or R, nothing like that. But it sure wasn't godly. And I'm giving it my eyes, and I'm giving it my ears. And then the Lord spoke to my heart and said, tomorrow in that courtroom at 9 o'clock, you're going to want whatever you do to prosper, aren't you? I said, yeah, that's what I had in mind. And he said, look at what you're watching. You're 100% in control of where you plant your eyes and ears. Oh, be careful. And by the way, if you have children, how many of you know kids are God's little spies? They know what we're watching. Be careful. First key, number one, be careful where you put your eyes and ears. Do not go into the counsel of the ungodly. Number two, nor standeth in the way of sinners. Now this one is just right spot on. You ever seen somebody do something, say, look at the way they're behaving, look at the way they're acting, look at the way what they're doing. That's this word, the way. God says, I don't want you living the way sinners live. There's to be a distinct, noticeable difference. Christians ought to be able to be told by the way they're living. That's incredibly important. Now, if you're a child of God, I have a test that I use, and I use it in my own life dozens and dozens of times every day. My staff knows this. If you're a child of God, and how many of you here know Jesus as your Savior? Hold your hand up. Praise the Lord. All right. If you're a child of God, you're an ambassador for Jesus Christ. The Bible says you are. You say, but I didn't want to be an ambassador. No, the day you got saved, you became an ambassador for Christ. Now, an ambassador has one job in life, just one. It's to make the person who chose them look good. If America picks an ambassador, their one job is to make America look good. And boy, if they don't make America look good, we pull them home and get somebody else. Your one job is to make the Son of God look good. You are His ambassador. Now, the devil knows that. And the question is, last week, did you make the Son of God look good? Not just did you make Him not look bad, did you make Him look good? That's your job. That's my job, to make Jesus look good. And the devil knows that's there. And for the devil to succeed, all that the devil has to do, all that the devil has to do is to get you to forget your one job. My office called me. And they said, get to the San Diego airport quickly. And I said, why? What's up? They said, well, there's been a terrorist alert. A plane has been dynamited. A crash has taken place. And they've shut the airports down. get there, normally we try to get to the airport two hours ahead, an hour and a half ahead. I got to the airport a little over four hours ahead. Now at that airport, I got one job in life, to make Jesus look good, that's my job. But when I got there, I got upset. My airline had shut the ticket counters down, and they had two ticket counters open, and they had long lines in front of those ticket counters. And the lines were huge. Take this auditorium from that corner to there and half again. They were long lines. And I hate lines. How many of you hate lines, right? Not women. I got one job. Make Jesus look good. But when I saw those lines, I forgot my one job. I'm standing in the lines. They're moving minusculely slow. And people are cussing and swearing, they're so upset. And I didn't cuss or swear, I didn't do anything like that. But I came real close to saying amen a couple times. I mean, I'm a... It took two and a half hours to get from the back of that line up to the front. Now once I'm to that counter, I got one job in life Make Jesus look good. But see, when you get upset, it's so easy for you to get distracted from your one job. The lady said, Mr. Gibbs, your flight's in less than two hours. I said, I know. Oh, she said, you're never going to make it. You should have come earlier. I said, lady, if brains was gasoline, you couldn't prime an ant's motorcycle. She said, we don't have to get mad. I said, I'm not mad. You want to see mad, that's another whole level. Boy, was I ticked off. Now, wait a minute. I got one job with that lady. I got one job at that counter. Make the son of God look good. I said, well, are there any other flights? She said, none for a week. I called my office, I said, can you get me a motel room? They said, there's not a motel room on planet Earth right now. I said, get me a rental car. They said, there's more motel rooms than rental cars. There are none. I'm there and I'm saying to myself, how did I get in this mess? How many of you ever said that to yourself? How did I get in this mess? Wait a minute, I got one job. Make Jesus look good. I said, give me my ticket. She said, well, let me tell you how long you got ahead of you. She said, you see that line over there? I said, yeah. She said, that's the security line. And she said, you see that sign right there on the security line? I said, I see it. She said, from there in is an hour and a half to two hours, and it's three to four hours to get to that sign. So you've got four to five hours ahead of you. What's it take to make you forget your one job? I walked out over a man bridge. We're in the parking lot at the San Diego airport. The lines are just serpentine like meandering back and forth. And I'm standing out there saying, what in the world? I'm no sooner out in that parking lot and I hear somebody call my name. Brother Gibbs, Brother Gibbs. I look up and here comes a preacher. I don't know his name, I just know his face. And he's coming at me and he's all bubbly and happy. And I'm looking at him and I'm saying, Lord, I am not in the mood to mess with a preacher right now, I'm just not. How many of you understand, there's times you do not wanna see a preacher, you just don't. He comes up by me, oh, it was terrible. Oh, Brother Gibbs, Brother Gibbs, so good to see you, so good to see you, and he wants to hug me and everybody's looking at us like, what's going on? And I said, yeah, good to see you too. He said, I heard you preach two weeks ago. I said, oh yeah? He said, you remember what you preached on? I said, no, I don't remember. He said, you preached on this is the day the Lord hath made and will what, Brother Gibbs? I said, will rejoice and be glad in it. And this thought flooded my mind. His elevators are hitting none of the upper floors in his brain, none of them. I mean, this is a nightmare. And he's going to be out here preaching to me. He said, isn't this great out here? Isn't this great? And he's just bubbling. I said, great out here? What are you talking about? This is a nightmare. He said, you haven't figured it out? I said, what? He said, Brother Gibbs, everybody in these lines is upset. I said, I figured that out. And he said, everybody's wondering if they should get on a plane because they're afraid they're going to die. I said, I've heard a lot of them talk about that. He said, this is the easiest soul winning you've ever done in your life. He said, watch this. Our line's going this way. Another line's going this way. He tapped on the guy's shoulder. And he said to the guy, crazy day, isn't it? Makes you wonder whether you should get on a plane or not. And the guy never got to answer. His wife, who was standing behind him, jumped in and took over the conversation. I mean, if you men know ladies, they'll answer the phone when it don't ring. I mean, she just was in. She said, will you talk some sense into my husband? Neither one of us is sure what would happen if we died in a plane wreck, and we should not be climbing on a plane. I'm scared to death. He should be scared to death. Will you talk some sense into my husband? He said, well, let me talk to your husband. And the preacher reached in his pocket and got a gospel tract out. And he said, you know, I think you're gonna be just fine today, but one day will be your last day. And this can tell you how to know for sure you're on your way to heaven. Could I give this to you, would you read it? And he went to hand it to the guy. The guy never got it, his wife snatched it. She took it and she said, I'll read it to him. And she did out loud. Let me tell you what happened next that blew my mind. Five people that way, six people that way said, have you got any more of those? He said, I do. And he's handing them out. He said, isn't this great out here? He said, Brother Gibbs, we have a problem out here. I said, what's the problem? He said, your face. He said, you're as upset as all these people. By the way, your face talks whether you want it to or not. It's called in the Bible your countenance. And he said, Brother Gibbs, here's a bunch of tracks. Now fix your face and start representing Jesus. Oh, wow. Before he and I parted later that day, we personally got to pray with 60-some people to trust Christ. And I had a lady hug my neck, Brother Peterson, and say, oh, thank you, thank you. Oh, praise God you were here. I said, no, ma'am. Thank that man right over there. I forgot my one job. All the devil has to do to destroy the nation, all he has to do to destroy your family, all he has to do to destroy our lives is to get us to forget our one job. Our one job in life is to make the Son of God look good. Whoa, does that change everything. Brother Steve Kluth, who is here, has heard me say this again and again. Everything can be going wrong. Our job in the midst of all the nonsense is to make the Son of God look good. That's our job. That's our privilege. We don't deserve this right. It's a grace of God by which we get to do it. Number one, be careful who you give your eyes and ears to. And please be careful. The news media, I don't care whether you're watching Fox or MSNBC, it doesn't matter who, they're all upset. and they're all mad at what's going on and they want you mad at what's going on. Listen, don't you let them take away your joy and your peace. The bottom line is be careful who you give your eyes and ears to. And number two, oh, be careful, don't forget your one job. You're an ambassador for Jesus Christ. Write number three down and we're done. Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, I've got to confess, this is my toughest one to deal with personally. I hope it's not for you, but it is for me. You know what a scorner is? It's a griper. It's a complainer. It's an unhappy camper. It's a sin to gripe. It's a sin. In the Old Testament, God killed by the thousands the children of Israel for griping. For griping. Not for griping too much, for griping at all. It's a sin, a wicked sin. Wow. If God killed Christians today for griping, we'd have a lot of funerals to do. Do you realize God wants you and I to live without murmuring, without griping? The Bible says in everything give thanks, everything. for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. You are totally out, I am totally out of God's will if I'm griping. It's a sin, a wicked sin. When my mother got polio when I was eight years of age, they took her to the hospital and for almost three years she'd lived in an iron lung. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move anything. My mom was our church pianist, conservatory change, Juilliard trained. And when we talked to the doctors and nurses, they'd say, your mother never cries. She always tells us she's praying for us. It's a sin to cry. If I could talk to your kids before you could talk to them, and before you could tell those kids whatever you do, don't you tell that lawyer nothing, and that'd be good advice. If I could talk to them, say, mom ever gripe? No, of course not. That's sin. Mom wouldn't do that. Does grandma gripe? No, of course not. Does dad gripe? No, that'd be sin. How did we ever get comfortable with that sin? Let your speech be always with grace, always. You say, well, I just can't. Yes, you can. We can't do it in and of ourselves, but by the grace of God, we absolutely can do it. We absolutely can do it. Have you ever said even one day in your Christian life, I'm not going to gripe about anything today? Nothing. Not rush hour, not aggravating. And by the way, the world is full of aggravating people. They all want to know me, and it's just aggravating. Listen, it doesn't matter what we encounter. By the grace of God, we're to give praise and honor to the Lord and not gripe. I had finished a trial and I drove about five hours, six hours to get to the next town where I had to do a trial. And I arrived at the motel at three in the morning. And when I got there, a nice young lady at the counter checked me in and I said, I got to be down at the courthouse at seven. She said, no problem, we'll get you there. Well, I went up to my room and something happened in that room I was not ready for. It only happened this one time, but I wasn't ready for it. My room had no running water. There was none in the sink, none in the shower, none in the commode, nothing. No running water. So I called down to the front desk and I said, hey, my room has no running water. Now, I don't know what she should have said, but what she said just sent me over the edge. I said, my room has no running water. She said, I know. And I said, what do you mean you know? She said, well, it wasn't your room. It was another guy's room. And he was so mad about no running water. It's the only room in the whole place with no running water that we gave him your room and you his room because we didn't think you were coming. You were so late. I lost it. I said, young lady, to call you stupid would be to defame the word. You are dumb beyond words. I said, you owe your mother an apology for the day you were born. Can I tell you the problem? When I get upset, words just come to me. By the way, most of you, when you get upset enough, words just come to you. And you know who's sitting there applauding David Gibbs? The devil. Way to go. Go on, say some more nasty things. Blow sound one out of the page. Whoa. I let her have it. Finally, after a minute or two of me going on and on, I said, you still there? She said, yeah, I'm still here. I said, you got anything to say? She said, well, since you asked, I got one thing to say. And my voice was dripping with contempt. I said, what, I want to hear it. She said, I go to a Bible college where you come preach every year. I said, hey, you knew I was kidding, right? I don't need water. Who needs water? I was just funning with you. They didn't know what I said. I left that room and went down in front of her and got on my knees and begged her forgiveness. I said, what I did to you, I'd never want someone to do to my wife or my daughter. I said, I broke God's heart. I know better and I hurt you. She started apologizing to me and got on her knees and I said, no, no, no, it's not your fault. It doesn't matter what happens. Neither murmur ye. Get out of the seat of the scorn." Whoa. That next morning, she went to court with me, sat there all day while I did that trial. Never forgot, she said, I have hardly any money. but I send your ministry a little money because of what you're doing. She said, I'm so sorry I upset you. I said, please don't you dare apologize to me. I'm the wrong one here. A year later, I went to her home church, walked in on Sunday morning and the pastor said, you know, a girl from our church was working at the counter in a motel where you came in and stayed there. I said, oh really? And I knew just what he was talking about. but I decided to play dumb. I mean, you know, sometimes playing dumb. You ever been pulled over for a traffic ticket and just played dumb? You realize how fast you were going? You know just how fast you were going, but you played dumb. So with the preacher, I said, oh, really, what'd she have to say? Well, just that she loves you and what a joy it was to go to court with you and what a privilege for her to be able to know you. I said, that's all she said? He said, yeah. I said, preacher, let me tell you what I did to her, and I told him the whole story, every bit of it. I said, she didn't tell you any of that? He looked at me and he said, Brother Gibbs, she never gripes. She never complains. Let me tell you what you don't know. When you told her she owed her mother an apology, she doesn't know who her mother is. She doesn't know what her birthday is. She doesn't know who her father is. They found her in a foreign land in the dumpster. Somebody had thrown her away. She has nothing except Jesus. So when you said that you must have harpooned her heart, I wept. Your words are powerful. And you have the ability with that tongue God gave you to hurt people. And God says, that's why I want you to bridle it and get out of the seat of the scornful. And I told that preacher, I want to be like her. It's inexcusable for what I did. What would it take for you to absolutely say, I'm going to be careful who gets my eyes and ears, because I want whatever I do to prosper. By the grace of God, I'm not going to forget my one job in life. My one job is to make the Son of God look good. And I'm done griping. Done. Not going to cut back on it. I'm done. because it's a wicked, wicked sin. Have you ever seen somebody who's so profane they cuss so much that they cuss and don't even know they're cussing? It becomes them. Now listen and I'm done. That's a terrible thing. Profanity is a sin and when that becomes their speech pattern and when that language becomes them, That means sin has really got a grip. Gripen will do the same thing. You will gripe so much it will become your speech pattern. And you'll gripe and not even think about griping. Oh, listen, don't do it. Do these three things and whatever you do will prosper, whatever you do. But don't do it. and you will be so unstable, it'll take nothing to blow us away. I was in San Diego, not San Diego, pardon me, San Jose. It was in a rainstorm and I'm catching a jitney bus to go to the motel and I walk outside and all the vans come but not mine and I'm soaked. The rain is getting us. So I went in. The guy at the motel said, oh, she forgot. She'll be right there. So I go back out. And it's almost another hour before this young lady comes up driving this van. And I mean, I'm so soaked. My shoes are sloshing. And she hops out. And she says, boy, you look wet. And I'm talking to myself. Now, be nice. Be nice. And I thought, man, her powers of observation are amazing. I put my bag in the back. I get in the back seat of the van. She's driving out. She says to me, how's your day going? And I thought, Lord, she asked. I ought to be able just to let her have it. I said, well, before I tell you how my day's going, I'd like to ask you a question. She said, what's that? I said, you don't go to Bible college anywhere, do you? I did. And lo and behold, she turns around and she says, I do go to a Bible college and you preach there all the time. I said, Lord, I was that close. Oh, I have to watch my tongue. Please, I'm begging you, whatever you do will prosper if, if by the grace of God, You're careful where you put your eyes and ears, what counsel you let in. If, by the grace of God, you remember you got one job in life to make Jesus look good, and if, by the grace of God, not that you cut back on it, you get out of the seat of the scornful. If you forget everything I've said this morning, that's of no consequence. Don't forget those verses. Success with God depends on it. Bow your head. Father, thank you. Thank you for your love and your mercy and your grace and your blessings. Thank you for saving us by grace. Thank you for saving sinners, us. Now, Father, we want to be what you've called us to be, your ambassador. May we never forget we got one job every day to make Jesus look good. Heads are bowed, no one looking around. I'm here to say, Brother Gibbs, God spoke to my heart this morning. And God helping me, I want to leave here different than I've come. If that's true, hold your hand up right now. Hold your hand up high. Just slip your hand up. God spoke to my heart. God bless you. God bless you. You raise your hand as the piano plays. I want you to step out and come down to this altar for a brief word of prayer. This service is going to be over in mere seconds, but I want you to come forward right now. We're going to pray. All through scripture, God summoned people to an altar when they made a decision. And you're not coming to an altar for me. We're coming to an altar because God spoke to your heart. My words are totally inconsequential. God's words are eternal and true. And we're here to show honor to his word. Oh, I beg you to come. Father, I humbly bow with these people. Forgive us, forgive me. How easy it is to forget and give our eyes and ears to the wrong counsel. How easy it is to forget our one job in life, that's to make the Son of God look good. Oh, wow. God, how easy it is to just kind of gripe, not realizing there is no such thing as kind of griping. to gripe, to moan, to be an unhappy camper, we've got to climb into the seat of the scornful. And that violates your word. Father, we want whatever we do to prosper for your honor and glory. And we don't want to be unstable. Hear the cry of every heart. Here I pray in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen. Amen. God bless you. If you're here this morning and you've never personally trusted Jesus as your savior, boy, don't leave here. Do not leave here without talking to pastor or someone here, someone from our staff. I hope you live a long time. I hope I live a long time. Seven times, though, in my life, I've preached the last message a healthy teenager ever heard. They thought they had forever. I thought they had forever. Little did they know, little did I know that when we said amen, that's the last time they'd ever hear an amen. Within a matter of minutes, they'd be in eternity. No one has a lease on tomorrow. Today is the day of salvation. That's what the Bible says. So boy, I beg you, I believe it's a free gift. You can't buy it. You can't do one thing to earn it. I used to love to hear Jim Coates give the gospel to people. People would always say to him, oh, I'm a Christian. Jim said, oh, that's wonderful. But he said, take a trip with me to heaven right now. You're standing at the pearly gates. And the Lord comes down and says, why should I let you in? That was Jim's coming. And I watched him lead countless people to Christ who were just comfortable, quote, I'm a Christian. They had no idea what they were talking about. and Jim would lead them to Jesus Christ. Don't leave here, my friend. Do not leave here without Jesus Christ. Right now, if you're sitting next to somebody, turn to the person sitting next to you and tell them, stop your griping. Tell the person sitting next to you, stop your griping. Okay? I see a few men back here have been waiting a long time to get away with that one. By the way, if you can't laugh at yourself and see your own faults, get a better mirror. I'm telling you, the reason I tell stories on me is I was there and I know they're true. And so that's why I teach them and preach them. Every month, our ministry sends out a newsletter. How many of you get our newsletter? Anybody here? Oh, praise the Lord. Please, I'm begging you, let us send you our newsletter. We are legal missionaries. This is our 53rd year. And we defend God's people when they're sued or challenged for the faith. And we get in excess of 120,000 calls a year asking for help. And I want to promise you, America's off in a strange direction. Charlotte Cover will tell you this. Michael, one of our lawyers here, We are litigating now what I didn't think my grandchildren would ever see. It's bizarre what's happening in America. And if we're not careful, and I believe the Lord's coming soon, but if the Lord doesn't come for another bit, what in the world are these babies gonna be living with? And we need, the reason we have the liberties we have is somebody before us took a stand. Now it's our turn to take a stand. And what I'm begging you to do is let me send you our newsletter and at least pray. There's a prayer checklist in the newsletter that you can go through in three, four minutes a month. Please do that. That'll change everything. We need your prayers. The Bible says you have not because you ask not. And we're not the hope. The gospel's the hope, the church is the hope, and prayer is the hope. So please. If you don't get our newsletter, guys, come forward with those envelopes. Brother Gibbs, I don't get your newsletter, but send it to me. I'll give you three, four minutes a month and pray for that prayer checklist. Hold your hand up. Would you do that? Hold your hand up. We'll get this envelope in your hand. Oh, please. We have used these envelopes for 50 years, for 50 years. Right over here there, Michael, that gentleman. Thank you, sir. Thank you. And the minute you get it, fill it out. Would you do that? And I always beg people to print. Many of you, your handwriting is like mine, borderline hieroglyphic. And I have to go to my staff. I've gone to Charlotte how many times and said, what did I write here? What was I saying? And Charlotte has to decipher. Please print. And we're going to pick these right back up. We'll immediately get you on the prayer list. Thank you. Thank you for this. We're so bold, and this church has been so kind to us. Your pastor's such a precious friend, and pastor's son is a lawyer with our ministry and does a great job. We love, love your preacher here, and please fill those out. In the back are some books, and we absolutely sell these books, but if you're here and you have no money or you're short on money, I'll give you a book for free. We've given tens of thousands of books away. because we decided early on we were never gonna let money stand between us if we could help somebody, if we could work faith and give a book. The one back there, One Nation Under God, 10 Things Every Christian Should Know About the Founding of America. It's absurd what they're saying about God had nothing to do with the founding of America. Go to Washington and read the monuments. Go to the battlefields and see what's carved in stone. How in the world can you say God had nothing to do with it when the people who were there at the time doing it memorialized it for everybody to read? And so please, one nation under God, 10 things every Christian should know. Then the stories of things that's happened in cases across the miles. And we've had all these incredible cases. And just remember, I had a young man come up to me. He's probably now in his 30s or 40s. He said, you represented me in court. I said, I did. I don't remember. He said, that's because I was a second grader. And they were going to take me away from my parents because we went to a Christian school. And you defended me. And then he said, I remember you standing in court and your knees were shaking so bad, your pant legs were rippling. I said, I remember. Listen, you have liberty because some people took some stands. That's these stories across the miles. And then here's the one that Georgie said. These were my wife's. My wife decided that before our kids went to kindergarten, They were gonna know 90 verses by heart. And I always asked her, why 90 verses? Why 90? She said, I don't know, I just picked that number. Well, to help them memorize them, she created a little green frog called Georgie, just a fictitious frog, and she would make up stories to help them remember the story, the verses. And the kids all knew 90 verses when they went. And when our kids went to school, they'd say, where'd you learn all these Bible verses? They'd say, we got a little green frog at our house who taught them to us. And their teachers looked at them like, what in the world? OK. These are for parents. And then the one my wife just wrote, choices matter. Following God in the teen years. Oh, listen. Teens make decisions that we think are inconsequential. And what they're doing is crafting the rest of their life. That's what Choices Matter is about. Thank you so much for your grace and kindness. If you've got your envelope, please turn it in back at the book table. Don't take it home. We want to pick them up at any time we can. And once again, if you don't have money, please, please, if you would, get a book. We want to make sure you have. I want to pray for these teachers with school starting tomorrow. My sister, she's never gotten anything but an A+. She never got an A, always an A+. And a Rhodes Scholar in Cambridge, she'd done it all. Then there was me. And until the 10th grade, every teacher just wanted me gone. I had numerous teachers say to me, you don't deserve to pass, but I can't take any more of you, David. And so you're going to get past." I said, good, I've had enough of you two. And on my way I'd go. Then I had a teacher one day, a senior English teacher, who told me to not talk. I was a talker. And she caught me talking and she came up behind me, me and another friend by the name of Jack. And she grabbed us both by our earlobes and twisted them and raised us up. And what I learned in senior English is where your earlobes go, the rest of your body will follow. Man, when that teacher's got you hung out there. And I'll never forget what Miss Finney said. She said, I don't know what you boys are going to do in life, but you're going to have to find something you can do with your mouth and not your minds. And so I became a lawyer, and Jack is a US Congressman to this day. So thank you for all your grace. Turn to your neighbor one more time and say, I mean it. No more griping. I mean it. No more griping, Pastor.