Open your Bible. You do carry Bibles? OK. First Corinthians. I want to read chapter 2, but I'm going to speak on chapter 3. Is that OK? Kind of bring you down from Moses. That was so. And you wrote that, didn't you, Mark? No? Well, I was going to give you credit anyway. Take it if you can get it. And when I came to you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. Now this is the apostle. And my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power." And this is the longing of every true preacher, because mere rhetoric won't change your life. Mere elocution changes no one. Only the spirit and the power, as Blake even shared. That your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Now he's going to tell you a little bit about what the princes of the world think of God's word. Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, not even the PhDs at Cal. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Now just think of it. The wise acres of the age consented to the death of God. He's smiting Athens and the capital of Sophia in the Greek world. But as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. And is this about heaven? That's what we always, you know, we think about. But notice, these things that the eye can't figure out, the ear hasn't heard, the mind cannot imagine, these things God has revealed. to us through the Spirit. He's talking about revelation of Scripture. God has shown us things the human mind could have never concocted, invented, or discovered. The princes of this world scoff at it, but all these things we know because God has revealed them to us, and He's going to tell you how He did it. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person? He's using the spirit as the description of the inner man, the knowing part of you. So that who knows the things of a person but their human spirit which is in him. So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. Now watch. If only God's spirit knows the things of God How do we ever get in on it? Watch. Now, we have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given, that the eye could not come up with, the ear could not hear, and the mind could not imagine. We're in on it because the spirit has revealed it to us. That we might understand these things. And we impart this in words. Notice. Not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit. Interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. I would clash with that a little bit. It's really, I think, taking spiritual thoughts and matching the spiritual words. I would go with a guy named Kenneth Wiest on this. He's taking, matching the cloth, as it were, with the pattern. And so spiritual thoughts need spiritual words, so he's revealed them, not in just at random words, revealed in the words of Scripture, so I get the exact thoughts of God in the exact vocabulary that God thinks I can get it, a human mind. The Bible is a revelation. Revelation means to know things I could not otherwise know. God's making them known through scripture. Watch though, there's a problem. Verse 14, the natural person, the non-born-again person, does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, does not welcome them, for they are folly to him. And he is not able. He doesn't get them, doesn't welcome them, and he has a total IQ inability. Not basic IQ, but spiritual IQ. He doesn't have the spirit. You can't understand the things of God revealed in the words of God unless you have the spirit of God. Luther was big on this. A book alone will leave you in the dark forever. Just if you don't know how to read the map, you're still lost. And so the Holy Spirit has objectively given us an accurate revelation and he's subjectively in the believer and he overcomes this natural inability. Just I don't get it. He's not able to understand them. I don't think there's many unbelievers in here tonight. I'm just surprised. Wait, as a whole, there's not a whole lot in church for most unbelievers, unless you're giving the gospel. But a Bible conference is highly unlikely, unless you tell them what's going to happen to ISIS in Syria. They might come for that. And I'm not putting that down. Prophecy will drive you to Christ. But the natural man doesn't get it. Then he goes on. because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things. This doesn't mean judges everybody in the church. They're able to judge the revelation. They're able to take the revelation of God and make accurate appraisal of it. You know, the most favorite verse of unbelievers about the church, judge not that you be not judged. And yet God said we're going to judge men and angels, 1 Corinthians 6. Isn't that interesting? You and I are going to have to judge angels someday. We'll be there to sentence them to hell with Christ. He said, what are you going to judges, unjust judges? Can't you settle the smallest grievances among yourself? Because you're capable of judging. Where Jesus said that in Matthew 7, one, judge not that you be not judged. He goes down to verse three, he says, cast not your pearls before swine. That's a judgment call. How do I know don't be throwing out precious truth to those who will trample them underfoot unless I discern their attitude? You'd call that judging, wouldn't you? Discerning he's not saying don't be writing up the penalty sentence for people, but we do evaluate them Well, you you can't tell me what to do. You can't say that sin. I said I didn't God did All the moral battles were into today all the moral boundaries. Hey, it's not what the pastor says Is that we had a man we were having to discipline for a doctor. He said I'm not in a doctor I'm going to marry her someday And one of our men eloquently said, we don't use your dictionary. We got a different dictionary to define what we call whatever. So these are all side comments that you should be writing down. We're not in the sermon yet, but I just see the blank stare. It makes me sick. I'm giving you nuggets. I don't want swine. I want sheep. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself judged by no one. They don't figure him out. Now notice this. For who has understood the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct him? Here's my question, what in the world is the mind of the Lord here? Is it going vertically to the throne, the mind of the Lord? Or as he just said, God has revealed his mind in words. He has revealed what I couldn't invent, right? I hadn't imagined it, I hadn't seen it, I hadn't heard it. Okay. What do I do to this pulpit? I mean, I was frisked this morning. See, he puts on music. I've got in all these things to keep you awake. So, for who has understood the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct him. I take that to be objectively the Word of God. Right here. But we have the mind of Christ. How do we have the mind of Christ? Well, I first of all understand this in the context. We have God's mind revealed in words, right there. I know what God thinks because I have his word for it. Now, here's an issue he's going to deal with. And we get to our message in chapter three. And I titled it, When will you start acting your age? And the trouble is, we all do act our age. But let's say that people dressed and came to church according to their age and activity, would they come to church in diapers? that they've been saved for 10 years and still throwing tantrums, still self-centered, still all about me, still critics, not doers, not practitioners, not available to do anything. They don't give. They don't pray really for the church that much. They're not available to any kind of teaching ministry. They're just not available, but man, you better cut it straight. I want the word. What are you? Have you? When will you grow up? And he goes on and here's the problem right here, chapter 3. But I, brothers, now he's not addressing Joel's pool hall. These are brothers. I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people. I told you the believer has the Holy Spirit. He has a revealed revelation, the mind of God, that is the mind of Christ. He's giving you the Holy Spirit, but you guys aren't acting spiritual. You don't act like people being animated and controlled by the Spirit, to be taught by the Spirit, to be led. What's the problem? But as people of the flesh, the old King James was carnal. If you don't like carnal, this is the more accurate. Chili con carne is what? Chili with flesh. Carne, from the Latin, is flesh. You act like people of the flesh, the natural man, unsaved people. Christians never act like the natural man, do they? Well, they did here. They wouldn't at Santa Rosa. You've come too far. They do at Valley, but okay. But as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. Now this is not a compliment in this context. The word infant here means inarticulate babbler. It's the goo goo ga ga talk of an infant. all those beginning... You're inarticulate. You don't make sense. Why? I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you are not ready for it. And even now, here's the problem, here's the issue. And even now, you've had time enough to have matured to be spiritually discerning people, but you've had enough time to grow up, but you've not grown up, and you're not even ready yet because you're acting fleshly. I can imagine saying, prove it. Prove it. How do Christians, how do people in this church ever act fleshly? Rob Banks, no? Burn down buildings. No, no. Look, look what he says. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow Apollos, are you not being merely human? And it's an interesting thing, a debate been in the church over the lordship of Christ. And somehow there's no such thing as carnal believers. Well, I've read the man's commentary on 1 Corinthians 3. It's called the carnal Christian. We don't make Christ Lord, he is Lord. It's where are you in your relationship to him is Lord. Have you caught up? Has your obedience caught up with your knowledge of such a Savior? So we need to ask ourselves this. What makes a mature believer? Are you a mature believer? Time alone doesn't make you mature. We know that. and be years old, and that's where that little pun statement, so old in God, you part the whiskers to give them a bottle. So they say, I've had 20 years experience, and they really haven't. They've had one year's experience repeated 20 times. They've not grown in grace. They've not grown up. And so what is that growth? What's going on? What really brings Christian growth is James applied. A practice of truth over time matures you. makes you fruitful, makes you reproduce yourself. In the lives, the first place to start would be the home. That's the primary place to start. Christianity is always hardest at home. It's hard to export what's ruining your home. And so, we wanted to work there. That doesn't mean the home will be perfect. How could it be? You're raising sinners that act just like their mother. and their father. You know, I mean, you passed on your genes. And we're dealing with sinners all the time. We all need grace, we need understanding, whatever. So, let's go on a trip here. Information without application to your life leaves you immature. It's not just time. I've been saved 40 years. Man, I've heard the best Bible teachers in the world. Wonderful, wonderful, what a privilege you've had. What have you done with that? And he's saying to these people, I fed you with milk. You know milk is food that somebody else digested. You're not able to masticate it yourself like the cow and make it your own. You're not that far along with the Holy Spirit. Does God ever illumine a verse to you? So we find out that just experience over time doesn't mature you, but practicing truth over the long haul will grow you up. Let's look at a description, a description of believers who've not grown up. It's right here in the text. And then we'll look probably at Hebrews 5 as another complementary passage. Number one, their diet. an immature believer that's not grown up, they never seem to get beyond basic truths. They struggle with them. We're always having to repeat verses on assurance. What are the basic truths of the faith? Are you sure you're saved? Can you share the gospel with anyone? Can you tell anyone how to come to Christ? Do you do that? Instead of constant repetition. Now, the well-taught believer, if we become obedient, the first thing we've been told to do is the Great Commission. Right? And so we ought to be doing two things. Reach and teach. And then, reach, teach. Reach, teach. And the challenge of churches like ours that have been around for a while, I'm in my 44th year, and taught the Bible, all this, guess what? The hardest assignment in our church is to get people to reach others. The downward escalator in most evangelical churches is evangelism. Everybody believes it, but nobody wants to do it. We've been told, we know all about it, but the Great Commission has become the Great Omission. And we gather in holy huddles, talk to one another, ooh, look at that chart, the raptures here, the tribes here, the this, how long have you been repeating that? Have you ever gone after a lost neighbor? Do you ever visit anybody for the sake of evangelizing them? And I know people paralyzed, spitless when you talk about sharing your faith. I know people, whereas God used you in the body, and I had this one sister, I'm just a wart in the body, I'm not even a functioning member. Excuse. Timid person, good believer, wonderful, loves prophecy, but usually paralyzed in service in many ways. I've got people in our church, we had one sister that could write you in a little note, little letter, maybe drop 30 verses on you. and then left her husband for a man in our church, another married man, and they came by my house to say, we're gonna get married. I said, you're already married, we're gonna get married, God's told us to do it. And quoted more scripture than any woman in our church that I've ever passed. I got another woman in the church, she'd quote more verses, I think, she'd be a running mate to this other sister, who to this day, I believe that I love her, I believe she's my sister. Wouldn't miss Sunday. Been there, I'd say faithfully, 35 years. Has never yet participated in any Christian service. But can quote the Bible backwards and forward. And I'm asking, what's wrong? When will you bear fruit? When will you, uh, whatever? I don't want to judge her. I don't want to be mean to her. I think she's had plenty of pain. I love this sister, but I'm baffled as a pastor. What's keeping you from functioning in this body? You don't do anything in this body, but listen to me preach. No wonder you're not growing. We need to throw dynamite. Is that the compliment of my ministry? Is that you attend and that you yawn well and that you compliment once in a while? Or that you grow up? that you be reproductive, that you at the abema seat, the judgment seat of Christ, He's going to reward you for your contribution, that He made you into something you never knew. Not me, you. The measure of our ministry is not me preaching anymore, me pastoring, it's what's happening in you. You're God's vehicle. It's not a clergyism. Us clergy guys have monopoly on nothing but being wrong a lot of times. We're just as flawed as the people we pastor. Hebrews 5 too said that. When God gave Israel a priesthood, he gave them priests of light weakness that they may sympathize with the people. I can sympathize with you about your family. I've had my family struggle. I've had a girl in trouble. I've had a girl I thought I was going to lose. I know what it is for my wife not to sleep at night because we don't know about that girl. I know what it is to have out of wedlock children. I know what it is to have a girl bring home somebody who didn't look white that was a black man. I know something about that. Still pastor. I resigned the church because I was so broken. And my men were kind enough to say, you're too broken to make a rational decision. Take time off. And I spent three months in Dallas, Texas. Oh, can I sympathize with you and your struggles? By all means, most preachers can and should. But I grieve that this woman is frozen in time And with such a good mind, both these sisters I have in mind, led one to the Lord. The others, I've pastored 35 years, but never seen them produce any fruit. Could quote the Bible all day. Why don't you teach a third grade girls class? No, I can't do that. Why don't you greet people? Why don't you evangelize? I'm frozen in time. What has happened? What has happened? God's frozen saints. What a scary thing. Their diet. Here she loves this sister, can eat on the word, but never got to the point of reproducing themselves. Always a great feeder. Second thing about them, they're depending on the flesh for their behavior. They're fleshly. Some way or another, sin has got in there and is controlling the way they behave. Maybe it's an anger. The big word they, it's their addiction. I've got an addiction. What is it? I like to get angry all the time. But you've got a sin problem. That's a sin problem. Call it sin. Until we call things what God calls them, we never get set free. Don't, renaming it won't make it any different. Just call it what God does. You have an addiction. That means it's habitual. That's it. You're a habitual liar. Yeah. You could say, I'm addicted to not telling the truth. No, you're just a liar. It's brutal, isn't it? Do I want to go to a doctor to rename my cancer? Or why don't you just tell me I'm dealing with a lethal disease? I need help. Well, they're depending on the flesh. They're not depending on the spirit. And I would say in the verse, they begin to despise believers. That's a true symptom of a believer that's not growing. They begin to become critical of the believers they're with. And that's why you see so much church shopping or people that belong to three different churches and serve in none. Spectator in all churches, but contributor of none. What is this? I've had people say, I go here in the morning for the preaching, I go here on Wednesday night for the youth group, and I go here because I like the music. And I said, and which one do you serve in? Oh, we don't serve, we just taste. We're tasters, we're always a visitor. You're not a contributor. God didn't form the body that way. So I see them, their diet is that of an infant. Their dependence is really on the flesh. They've quit depending on the spirit. And it comes out their attitude towards believers. They're being jealous, picky. You know, many churches are broken. More churches split up over being fussy with one another than bad doctrine. A lot of people. Our people don't know enough to split over doctrine. They fuss over this little thing, that thing. So, he goes on. He gives him a prescription. Look at, by the way, the complement to this. Look at Hebrews 5. I was talking with some believers that just heard a message on this this morning, but look at it. Hebrews 11. It's 5.11. They're talking about Melchizedek. And he realizes they're going to sleep. They don't know a thing he's saying. And how many people have you said, let's talk about Melchizedek? Melchizedek, is he related to Kaepernick? I don't have a clue. Come on. About this, we have much to say. And it's hard to explain. Why? You become dull of hearing. That dull of hearing was used of a lion that had gone lame. A diseased animal. You become dull. You're sluggish. There's no push in the hearing. You're not getting it anyway. Why go deeper when you don't get it? And he said, for though by this time you ought to be teachers. Well, that's not my spiritual gift. He didn't say it was. If you've been saved five years, you ought to be able to teach anybody how to be saved, shouldn't you? Are you doing that? Or is everybody here in this Bible Belt saved? Santa Rosa is known as a Bible Belt. Just like Berkeley, you know, we're the buckle of the Bible Belt, you know. That's where they live, Dallas, the buckle. Man, where I live, to be a Republican is to be an endangered species. You've got to go incognito. In Dallas, if you're a Democrat, you're in danger. I've been in churches in Dallas. I could not imagine having, they had one guy that was a fireman that was a Democrat in that church, and they got him in the back door some way. You ought to be teachers, not because that's your gift, just because it's the content of your knowledge, the content of your spiritual growth. Where are the women to teach younger women today purity, modesty, and the excitement of Christianity? Are there any women that are pretty enough and do not look like Sister Haggard? that I could teach a young woman the Christian life. I used to send my kids to schools, places. Their motto was, get the ugliest teacher you can get. And I'm not talking about any teachers here. They don't come up to me. I don't know any of you. But my poor girls would come home and say, Dad, why do they always get someone that desperately needs help? I mean, their face looks like a wreck. I know God beautifies the meek with salvation, but is there any pretty Christian women? We grew up, keep them ugly, keep you from lusting. So we couldn't wear makeup, couldn't do anything else, keep you pure. Stupid. Some of you need a little life. One guy said the last time he saw any twinkle in his wife's eye was the night the electric blanket shorted out. So, you know, you need to work on the face, the heart. Where are the women mentoring women? Because, boy, in our church, you don't know. I mean, we cry if we get someone normal. We get so many kids out of drug culture. We get so many kids out of broken homes. I mean, I met them in the church. My mother was a prostitute. I grew up with that. Men were in my house all the time. My mom was a meth addict. I said, is there anybody here that came from a home where they had a Bible? Whoa, I'm sorry. I mean, this place is big for me. Yeah, I mean, to find somebody that knew what a Bible, they never heard of James Dobson. They knew the drug dealer that their mama was getting drugs from. And that pitiful, and that sickly, go to hell. No, no, God sent me there to see that they don't go to hell. But then when they get saved, they have nothing. They don't know anything about morality. They don't know about you, so you bust every time you come to church. They know nothing about cleavage. They've been around prostitutes and drug addicts. I don't know anything about church. And will you let me come to your church or will I dirty it up? Can I come like I am? We used to have homosexuals always come, bringing their purses, girls wearing micro-minis. I saw more girls lingerie in the first two years sitting on the first row because they didn't know how to dress. They were going to hell. They were sleeping with their boyfriends since they were 14. I grew up in strict Pentecostal circles. Now what do I do with them? I came to our church. I've been convinced of the doctrines of grace out of Romans and convinced that only God can change and only God loves a fallen girl like enough to give a son. And I can tell that young woman, you were worth a son to the father. The father would sacrifice a son just to make you his daughter. And I'm not here to be uptight about it. Come as you are, honey. Come as you are. You can't do anything to shock me enough. I was raised in these neighborhoods. Sin is God's specialty. He knows how to clean up a sinner. But are we even catching the fish? I don't have to clean them up. I just got to catch them. Who among us is mentoring a few young people? Or do young people say, I don't want to go there. They would never understand my struggle. They're too legalistic. They're too rigid. They don't understand. They don't care. That's why I stay where I have all these years. I got a daughter always trying to get me to move to Carolina. There's a church on every other corner in Carolina. I say, why should I go where men are not as desperate as where I am? God didn't call me to Idaho. He didn't call me to pasture trees. He called me to go after sinners. You ever heard of sinners? Any sinners in the house? Yeah, good, I feel comfortable already. God does too. He's a friend of sinners. He's a savior of sinners. Oh, what a disintegrating generation. The Bay Area is going to hell quicker than it's ever gone. Lost, lost, lost. Is there any hope? The gospel says, if the church will grow up and act like the church and do what it ought to do, we could have a last day harvest, but we must grow up and not just hoard ourselves around a Bible that we never pour into another life. The Bible wasn't just to hoard, it was to change you to help change them. Is that true? Or am I being dramatic? I don't think so. Well, are you walking in the spirit? He says here in this Hebrews passage, you ought to be old enough to be teachers of the word, but you're still needing to be, you know, you want another meal. I'm hungry. I'm hungry. A lot of saints are like a bad photograph. They're overexposed and underdeveloped. that they eat, eat, eat, but they don't exercise. Truth has to be, and watch what he says in this Hebrews passage. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he's a child. There's nothing wrong with being a child. I got a one-year-old granddaughter back in Carolina. Well, she's still nursing. And the daughter calls, well, let's talk, mom. I'm nursing the baby. There's nothing any more beautiful than a one-year-old baby. But nothing could be more tragic than a 25-year-old adult in a crib because of physical disabilities or mental retardation or something of that nature. That would be heartbreaking. We have a Down syndrome girl in our family. She's in her 30s now, I believe. Vicky's about 32, 33. Man, the parents have fought. They're adoptive parents. Brought Vicky, put her through special school, going to college. Nothing touched her heart anymore than to see them take baby steps and learning things to overcome the physical setbacks. But, to see a 20-year-old believer, a 5-year-old believer, never functional. Chris, and some know here, we had a guy named Steve Fernandes in our church. I was going to seminary in San Francisco with a bunch of guys at my land. They loved the Bible and They would bring lexicons to church to win arguments with me on the Bible. They'd bring kiddo to win an argument. Real hunger for the word. And real astute guys. But these Fernandes boys, I started letting them teach after I taught certain things. They got it so quick and they were so related to the culture of Pinole at that time, druggies. immorality, Berkeley, all of that. But I immediately put them to work. Other guys came to me and said, how can you let these novices be teaching? I said, well, number one, they got it. They've got good minds. I taught them this stuff. They want to pass it on. And it's setting them on fire. They can't get enough of it. And they're willing to reach these kids over at the park, shooting up. Are you? Are you willing to even go over there and visit them? Are you saying they're untouchables, unreachables? No wonder many of our churches are growing old and drying up, because if we don't rediscover the reach, there's no one to teach. We're always repeating to the same people, the mission of this church, you must reach people. How can we do that in a difficult, non-need God community just like ours. How do we reach this culture? How do we reach them? One thing, we must grow up. God is raising children to be soldiers in this battle. We desperately need front line. We need them to be 20 years old on the front line. I started preaching at 15. Don't tell me how old you've got to be. I'm 70. I'm not stopped. I'm on the radio. I'm writing books. I work for Jews for Jesus. I do Bible conferences. I'm doing a midweek Bible study. I preach on Sunday. I do, and they're all telling me, when are you going to lay down? I said, well, I'm not quite sure, but God has a way of arranging that. I don't want to sit around and study my navel in the meantime. We've got one hour before midnight to win our victories, Robert Morrison said. We'll have all eternity to celebrate them. This is no time to stop. The night will come when none of us can work. We've only got a little time, just a little time. When will we grow up? when we grow up and become functioning, vibrant men. I'll tell you, we got a woman in our church, Marion Johns. Marion is 92, 93, maybe 94. She's been gray-headed all the year. I've known her 40 years. She's always been gray-headed. And she's got a million. She's one of the prettiest women I've ever seen. She has a million-dollar Jesus smile. Do you know what I mean? Jesus is all over her face. I want to tell you, Mary Kay can't give you that. Jesus does something to a face that Mary Kay can't touch. And this Marian, I've seen her wrestle in prayer for grandchildren, for a daughter that became a drunk. I've seen her weep over kids, over grandchildren, and she still teaches in Arowana every Wednesday night at 93. And I got young bloods around that church. They got tired blood. They just got enough energy to get to Starbucks. What done happened? Why do you get tired as soon as you come to church? You mention the game, they'll go to the game, they got energy. Well, let's go to a prayer meeting. God has not called me to that. Could you make it a latte? We can't win wars with Starbucks specimen. And I drink it when I backslide. I've been drinking peach over at the Hawkins. I'm a peach fan. Go ahead, drink it without guilt, but do something. Get enough caffeine to work for Jesus. I mean, instead of this, I'm laying around the church trying to find my gift. You've been searching 20 years. Why don't you just start doing something? Then you'll find out what you can't do and what you can do. When will we grow up? Here's his prescription. I think he would say to them, Why don't you stop walking in the flesh? And Romans says, put to death the deeds of the flesh. When you're jealous, according to John Owens, quoting Romans 8.13, put it to death. That's a wrong spirit. It's a wrong attitude. When I'm jealous, when I'm lusting, when I'm in a rivalry spirit and attitude, oh my. You know, in the Valley, we do very little voting. We do very little voting. You know why? I told our elders one time, I said, oh, you know, we'll be doing constitutions. I said, stop, stop. I don't want any more constitutional meetings. What? What? I said, American Christianity has invented a bunch of voting. My problem isn't voting. My problem is obeying. I got more legislation to carry out. I don't need you guys to make five more rules that we won't keep. When are you going to do the New Testament? Are we known for our doing? Are we known for whatever we do? Oh, what a day. Do we need revival? Do we need a heart swarm? Do we need to get serious about the final hour of history for our lives? If it's not for the country, Jesus waits a thousand years, I won't be waiting. I'm going to be dead before long, and you will too. And when you go to that grave, what will we say about you that is true? You'd love this. My dad told us kids, whenever I die, I only want one thing on the epitaph. One thing. What, dad? What do you want? He said, all I want is he was a Christian. He said, if that's true of me, it will be the greatest legacy I could ever have for others and for my kids. He really knew Jesus. And when my mother died, and we did her epitaph, you know what we put? And she was too. We saved a little bit on the engraving. Fewer words, you know. You got to be economical at funerals. So let me not wear you out all night with this explosatory preaching. and I've called it other things I won't say here. Let me ask you two things, maybe three. If you described your prayer life, what would it be like? Have you learned to have a daily time with the Lord? I thank for growing. God did something for me when I, I was saved at 14, backslid over rock and roll. I went to play in a rock band and going back to dances and stuff and so that made me backslid and I walked away. Six months of that and God brought me back. So 15, I burned all the bridges, okay. But I heard a youth evangelist who was about 19 years old from Dallas, Texas. I held our church a youth revival, and I used to go with him to pray. He prayed four hours a day. I know, I was with him. And I couldn't keep up, but he liked to play ping pong, so I'd wait till he'd get through that, and we'd play ping pong. But I made a covenant going into ninth grade, because everybody in my neighborhood was immoral, If they weren't immoral, many were dangerous. I didn't want to be immoral. I wanted to be pure. The worst thing in the world God does to a young man is save him at 15 when he's good looking. How are you going to be pure? Purity is hard. It was easier to talk in tongues than to keep your pants zipped. That was the issue. You're going to preach for youth groups? Can you be pure? So I made a vow. I'd pray six o'clock every morning at this church. I prayed every night, 3.30. Prayed three hours a day, ninth grade through the 12th. All the doors opened up for me to preach. I didn't know how to preach, but I learned how to pray. Dr. Henry Jowett said I'd rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach Jesus never did teach anyone to preach, but he did teach him how to pray So what's your prayer life like? You can't grow without communicating with God That and then I'd say what's your daily intake of the word and Not you just read three chapters. I'm going through The Navigator. How many of you have gone through The Navigator? I'm in Exodus now, just finished Mark, just finished Genesis. I'm in Psalms, read the Bible daily. But it's when the Bible reads me, when I stay there long enough in the morning that it reads me, reads my attitude, reads my motives. When I was 16, I asked God, keep me in three areas. I wasn't profound enough to get it. Keep me in morals, because that was a big neighborhood battle. Keep me in motives. I don't want to speak, because I like to be in front of people. I was a stutterer at one time, and I'll whisper. And keep me straight on money. I didn't want to be in for money, and God knows, he answered that prayer for years. I finally said, you could let up, Lord. Especially three weddings. I went down the aisle with my pockets pulled out and said, donate. And then when I turned 40, I met with Howard Hendricks because I'd run out of anything. I ran out of all my life's goals. I'd been at Valley 18 years. I'd hit a wall. My girl got in trouble. My wife had a great bout of depression trying to get over a heartbreak. I was at my wit's end. I resigned the church. I met with Hendricks. I don't know what to do. I'm done. And as I began to pray, God gave me a fourth M, and that is, I want to die on mission. What are you about? Because Hendricks told me this, most preachers over 55 are sliding towards home plate. They have no more dreams, no more visions. They're just looking for retirement. They want a church next to a lake and about 80 people and no problems, don't want to grow, just want a check and someone to pay my social security. They died at 55. And how are you going to die too? Unless God gives you a mission. And God gave me numbers 14. This is scary and I'm done with this. That 12 men, 12 men had 40 days to determine what would happen to 2 million people for 40 years. 12 men. One man from each tribe. Only two of them, Caleb and Joshua, believed God, had a mission, and could give them the land. The majority said the giants are bigger than God. You know, some people see an obstacle in every opportunity. People of faith see an opportunity in every obstacle. The evil report of the spies was this, they brought the grapes, they described the giants, and they described themselves as grasshoppers, and if you read the narrative, they never mentioned God. And he called it an evil report, because I promised this land to Abraham, I got you out of Egypt, and there ain't any giants big enough to undo your God, but you're looking at giants and not God. And I went to the church at that time, and I met with my elders, and I said, we've got 40 days to figure out if I'm going to continue, if we're going to just buy time and decline, or if we've got enough guts to believe God for our future. And we started a program called Project Canaan. in which we rediscovered why we're there. And we came up with five E's. We're going to stay here because we want to evangelize. We want to stay here because we want to equip saints to do their ministry. We want to stay here because we want to enfold people in the body. We want to stay here because we want to enlist them in service. And the goal of all of it is that we might exalt our God. Those five E's have given us our reason for existence and I would go to my grave panting to make it happen. We're falling short all the time, but at least I know what I'm supposed to be doing. And so it scares me to think, even for Santa Rosa Bible, you've only got a few days to maybe determine what happens to this church in years to come Because it just takes a few people that believe God's bigger than the liberalism and the I-don't-need-God attitude of wealthy Californians. God's big enough to break through. You've been here a long time. We need this church in every lamp stand more than ever. But sometimes it's dark as at the base of the lighthouse. We must get clarity. We've got a few days to see if we're all gonna just watch each other die and we bury each other, or can we rebirth a new church, a new vision? Is there enough left? Is there enough prayer? Is there enough faith that our God is bigger than our age and bigger than maybe any challenges we face? Is the God of the Bible we trust in Does he have any Joshua and Caleb's and young people to say, I'm going to plan a brand new work right on top of this work. God's not through yet. He hasn't sent his son. So we're constantly trying to say, what's our mission? To decline or to be desperately dependent on God to do something fresh. I'd rather go out trusting. It's trust and obey or doubt and pay. You want to trust. When will you grow up so you can help us solve the problem and not be a part of it? Our Father, we thank you. We thank you that you're not through with us because we're still breathing. You're still patiently holding us all up, giving health, giving resources. given us these, look at these lovely facilities. This lovely location. Oh, I pray, may the wind of your spirit blow afresh in this church, in Valley, in every Bible-believing, Christ-loving fellowship throughout the world. Oh, wind of the spirit, blow afresh upon these embers of ours. Let us go out burning a fire. Timothy, stir up the gift of God in you. Fan it into full flame. Let us not become lukewarm. Let us not become so pessimistic with so much darkness that we forget we've got light. We've got truth. We've got hope to offer this world. Let us be convinced. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Our purpose is to lift up the Lord by living out the word, loving one another, and leading others to Christ. Be sure to visit us on the web at www.srbible.org or come visit us in person at 4575 Badger Road, Santa Rosa, California 95409. You can also give us a call at 707-538-2385.